Mercer County Community College



•    ENG 112 Comp. II With Speech -- Online Syllabus    •

Instructor:         Assistant Professor Holly Mathews (Prof. M)
Office hrs:      
     Office hours are held in LA 131 Mon. & Wed. 9:00-10:30am and 1:30-2:30pm and online by appointment. 
Email:              mathewsh@mccc.edu

Table of Contents:


Course Goals

Upon completion of the course, the student should be able to perform the following tasks with a reasonable degree of proficiency:
To read the full course outline that clarifies all learning goals, learning outcomes and General Education components click here.

Texts

The text used in this class is Technical Communication, 11th Edition, by John M. Lannon. For links to online retailers, click here.

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Student Requirements


Grades

Your grade for the course is determined based on the following criteria:

  • 15% = class discussion
  • 20% = quizzes
  • 20% = technical documents
  • 20% = research paper and presentation
  • 15% = mid-term exam
  • 10% = final exam
In order to be in ENG 112 you must have received a grade of C or higher in ENG 101.
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Drafts

For many documents students write, there will be a drafting process. For these assignments students will email rough drafts both to the instructor and to assigned classmates, and the student will follow a checklist for evaluating their peers' work. Any student who does not send their rough draft on the day it is due will receive an automatic deduction on the grade of their final draft. This is particularly important to keep in mind when it comes to the research paper, which has not one but two rough drafts.
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Research Paper

The research paper is a primary component of ENG 112. Students learn how to use the library and the Internet to find information on their topic. Students are given a list of topics to choose from, or may, with special permission, write on a topic of their own devising. Completing the research paper takes most of the second half of the semester. Students must submit a proposal, an outline, a first rough draft, a second rough draft, give a PowerPoint presentation on their topic, and then submit their final draft.
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Exams and Quizzes

Six quizzes are given to ensure that students have thoroughly read all assigned texts. Quizzes take 20 minutes. If you miss a quiz, you will receive a grade of zero on that quiz. The lowest of the six quiz scores will be dropped at the end of the semester.

There is a mid-term exam that is made up of 20 questions like those found on the quizzes plus two written sections. In the first written section students analyze a single technical document and evaluate its success or failure as a technical document. In the second written section students analyze and compare the merits of two documents.

The final exam follows the format of the mid-term but also covers material pertaining to the research paper, such as MLA citation, research skills, ethics, scholarly vs. popular resources and so on.
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Academic Integrity

Plagiarism is simply not tolerated. We will cover this topic in class. Familiarize yourself with the school’s academic integrity policy, at www.mccc.edu/admissions_policies_integrity.shtml. We will cover proper citation procedure, but it is each student’s responsibility to abide by the rules described in the policy, in this and every course he or she takes in college. Failure to do so will result in swift and severe disciplinary action. Your instructor may use the various Internet plagiarism tools, such as Turnitin.com to randomly check your work or if she suspects a plagiarism violation. The consequence of plagiarism is course failure and all violations will be immediately reported to the academic integrity committee.
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Extensions and Missing Work

This is a fast moving class. From time to time a student may need an extra day or two to finish an assignment (this does NOT include quizzes or exams), and may request an extension. If the student is in good standing, the request will likely be granted, however, the request must be made before the day the assignment is originally due, and the student must remain caught up on all other work. If a student does not ask for and receive an extension, but turns work in after a due date, this will result in a reduction to the final grade on that assignment. Missing work is unacceptable. Any student who has not submitted all assignments will receive a failing grade in the class. No exceptions.
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Special Accommodations

Any student needing special accommodation because of disabilities should contact the instructor during the first week of class. She will be happy to help. Students with documented learning disabilities should see Arlene Stinson in the Learning Center so they can provide their instructors with an accommodations letter. In English classes students with documented LD's are often allowed to take tests untimed. If you think you may have an LD but have not been tested, you should go to the Learning Center and ask them to help you set up testing. You may be entitled to accommodations.
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Email

Students must check their Mercer email account on a regular basis. In any emails to the instructor, please identify yourself, use proper English, good grammar, and respectful language if you expect a reply.
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Office hours

Office hours are held on the West Windsor campus in LA 131 Mondays and Wednesdays from 9:00-10:30am and 1:15-2:15pm and online by appointment. 
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Respect

Politeness and self respect are expected in the online classroom just as they would be in a regular classroom. No matter what one’s skill level in the subject matter, every student can and will maintain a fundamental level of human decency. Students who are disrespectful will be penalized in their discussion grade for the class. Ongoing behavior issues may lead to the student being withdrawn from the course.

Click the link for more on the meaning of "respect": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect
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Assignment Due Dates