Honors 110: Honors Academic Writing
Official Course Description
An accelerated introduction to the practices necessary for successful college writing at the quality expected of Honors College students.
Course Objectives
You will learn the fundamentals of good argument, especially how to write an argument, how to recognize a good argument, and how to resist a bad argument. These are the necessary skills of citizenship in a democracy, and this course intends to cultivate responsible, mature citizens. While the course’s theme focuses on public policy on the local, city level, you will be required to practice the critical-thinking techniques that are necessary to all academic pursuits and most vocations.
As a course that fulfills the general education first-year writing requirement, HONS 110 has the following learning outcomes:
1: Students construct persuasive arguments, (persuasive arguments require focused theses, appropriate use and evaluation of evidence, effective organization, and control of syntax and mechanics).
2: Students effectively evaluate sources and incorporate them with appropriate documentation into their own arguments.
These outcomes will be assessed using the researched analytical essay.
By the end of Honors 110, students should
Process
- Understand a writing assignment as a series of tasks, including invention, drafting, revising, and editing
- Shape a written work according to the requirements of purpose, genre, occasion, and audience
- Construct an effective argument using appropriate evidence
- Understand conventions of academic writing
- Document work appropriately
- Follow the conventions of standard American English
Reading and Research
- Develop skills for studying college-level essays and academic articles
- Develop skills for summarizing and paraphrasing college-level essays and academic articles
- Evaluate, analyze, and synthesize appropriate primary and secondary sources
- Integrate their ideas with the ideas of others effectively
Rhetorical Analysis
- Understand how a text is shaped according to the requirements of purpose, genre, occasion, and audience
- Understand the difference between summary and analysis
- Evaluate the persuasiveness of a text’s argument
Materials:
The Seagull Reader: Essays, Joseph Kelly, ed.
Charleston Post and Courier
Grading
Your final grade will be determined according to these percentages:
| Paper 1: Summary/Application | 15% |
| Paper 2: Evaluation | 15% |
| Paper 3: Op-Ed | 15% |
| Paper 4: Research | 30% |
| Professional narrative | 10% |
| Homework/Quizzes/Blog | 15% |
Papers are late if they are not received before class on the due date and will be penalized 5pts. for each day they are late.
My grading scale is as follows:
| A | A- | B+ | B | B- | C+ | C | C- | D | F |
| 95 | 92 | 88 | 85 | 82 | 78 | 75 | 72 | 65 | 50 |
Attendance:
Much of the success of this course depends on your presence, because we will be doing a lot of work in the classroom. You are allowed three absences during the semester, but you are responsible for material you’ve missed. Do not come to my office and ask, “What did I miss?” Ask your fellow students.
I make no distinction between excused and unexcused absences. You do not need to inform me why you missed a class. It doesn’t matter to me if your first absence was to go to the beach. It doesn’t matter to me if your fourth absence was for illness—you’re still over your allowed absences.
Each absence over three will result in a three-point reduction in your final grade for the semester.
If you are not in class when I call role, you are late. I will count every third tardy as an absence.
Blogs
Throughout the semester, you will post public messages to the class. These are responses to the readings. The blogspace is a place for you to practice civil discourse, especially how to argue. It is important that you pursue differences of opinion, that you’re open to being persuaded to change your mind, and that you try to convince others to agree with you. It is also the one place in the course where you are in complete control of your grade: excellent effort = an A grade.
Blog posts must be at least 150 words, they must be on-task, and they must be submitted before the start of class.
Blog posts cannot be made up.
Homework
I frequently will assign homework in addition to the blogs. These will vary from asking you to write a paragraph on topic X to bringing three sources on Y to the next class to any number of other types of assignments. Homework will be posted on the blogspace: if you are absent, be sure to look consult our webpage.
Also, you are expected to read the Post and Courier every day, certainly every class day. We’ll discuss in class which articles you need to read and which you do not.
Quizzes
I may periodically give assignments in class for a grade–a pop quiz, a short essay, etc. These will be unannounced and will generally test for class preparation.
Public Meetings
At least once in the semester you must attend a public meeting–city council, county council, school board, commission or committee, etc. Fill out a “Public Meeting” form.
At least once in the semester you must attend an extra-curricular campus event or lecture related to the theme of our course. From time to time, I will announce eligible events; you can also suggest such events ahead of time for my approval. Fill out a “Campus Event or Lecture” form available on OAKS and turn it in through the Drop Box.
Each public meeting, event, and lecture will count as two homework/quiz grades.