SANTA BARBARA CITY COLLEGE

ASSOCIATE DEGREE CREDIT COURSE OUTLINE

Department: English

Subject Area and Course Number: English 110 HR

Course Title: Composition and Reading, Honors

Discipline: English

Units: 3

Repeatability: None

Catalog Course Description: First semester of freshman English for students enrolled in the Honors Program. Expository writing based on critical reading and coordinated with other Honors courses. Designed to improve students’ skills in writing effectively, reading carefully, and thinking critically.

Description for Schedule of Classes: Expository writing based on critical reading and coordinated with other Honors courses.

Lecture Hours per Week: 3

Laboratory Hours per Week: None

Plus Hours: None

Prerequisites: English 100 with a "CR" and English 70 with a "CR" or qualifying score on SBCC Placement Exam.

Co-requisites: English 120

Skills Advisories: None

Course Advisories: COMP 123

Limitation on Enrollment: Acceptance into the Honors Program

Course Objectives:

General

At the end of the course, the student will be able to:

1. Write critical papers which thoughtfully and objectively assess the effectiveness of an assigned text.

2. Employ logical patterns of organization and standard grammatical form in expository essays.

3. Confidently write expository essays in response to a variety of assignments.

4. Critically evaluate the logical consistency and validity of both literary and non- literary prose forms.

5. Identify the author's themes and rhetorical methods.

Specific

At the end of the course, the student will have:

1. Produced a series of coherent, unified, logically developed, grammatically correct essays of at least 700 words each.

2. Increased his/her reading comprehension skills through the reading and study of short selections in an anthology as well as book-length work.

3. Demonstrated in writing the ability to distinguish fact from opinion.

4. Demonstrated in writing the ability to incorporate materials from outside sources and to conduct library research

5. Given evidence--in writing and in oral responses--of the ability to comprehend lecture materials and to follow class discussions.

6. Participated in group work, if any, and class discussions.

Course Content and Scope:

1. Careful and analytic reading in at least two genres (non-fiction prose as the major reading component, with some occasional fiction, poetry or drama) in short selections and one or more book-length works of literary merit.

a. Developing background and skill in reading analytically and responsively, integrating areas of knowledge, and forming intelligent value judgments.

b. Gaining a chronological and cultural perspective for the works read.

c. Developing communication skills through expressing ideas about readings in discussion.

2. Practice in writing of expository prose, with students completing a minimum of 7500 words.

a. Development of essay-writing skills: invention, composing (focusing a thesis and producing an effective introduction, well-developed paragraphs of support, and a logical conclusion), proofreading for grammatical correctness, revising and editing.

b. Development of a writing style characterized by variety, fluency, and a clear sense of audience.

c. Experience with a variety of rhetorical modes, such as comparison and contrast, synthesis and analysis, and argumentation.

d. Introduction to research and documentation skills: practice in their use in essays. At least one essay will be a research paper requiring library use, citations and a works cited page.

Methods of Instruction: A typical class period will be devoted to (1) five to fifteen-minute written response at the beginning or end of the period; (2) thirty-minute discussion of assigned reading; (3) thirty-minute lecture/discussion of strategies for writing topics, rhetorical modes, revision, etc. (These arrangements are approximate and flexible.)

Required Assignments: Six to ten essays of 700-900 words, generally based on course readings, plus a brief research essay should achieve the 7500 articulation guideline; essays will emphasize explanation, analysis, and critical thinking, while de-emphasizing narration. Other assignments may include journal writing, in-class writing, reading-response exercises, group and individual projects. College-level reading assignments selections will be of a length and difficulty as to be considered challenging as well as thought-provoking.

Method of Evaluation:

1. Finished essays

2. In-class writing

3. Research paper or essay

4. Class participation

5. Final exam

Appropriate Texts and Supplies:

Hirschberg, Patterns Across the Disciplines

McCuen, Reading, Writing & the Humanities

Percy, The Message in the Bottle

Foley and Gordon, Conventions and Choices

Shrodes, The Conscious Reader

A standard college dictionary.

Fiction or non-fiction book-length selection

CO/mej/Rev September 25, 2008/FRC (WPC)