English 2 Online

English 2 (Critical Reading, Writing and Thinking) is a transfer-level course which teaches students to read and analyze college-level texts and to write college-level papers with the focus on critical thinking approaches. This online version of English 2 does not require face-to-face meetings on campus. All coursework will be done online using a course management software, Canvas.

In this course we learn the techniques and practice of personal, analytical and argumentative writing based on our critical reading of texts. This course is designed to teach you to write an organized, well-developed expository essay with a minimum number of mechanical errors--in short, to write college-level prose. To this end, we will address the writing process (pre-writing, writing and revising) as well as questions of sentence structure and error identification.

The student learning objectives and outcomes for this course include the following: 1) Apply critical thinking skills to writing and complex readings; 2) Demonstrate academic (analytical, argumentative) writing based on reading of complex texts; 3) Demonstrate analysis, comparison, synthesis, and documentation of independent research.

**All of the required course materials will be provided for you.  They are available on our Canvas course site.**

Course Requirements:

This class will require approximately 8,000 words of graded writing: 3 essays and drafts, several short writing assignments, online discussion assignments, and a final analytical paper. All coursework will be submitted through the course management software or by email. Each assignment is described in detail on our class web site.

  • Essays and Drafts: The graded essays counting for the bulk of your course grade will be formal writing assignments graded numerically according to a grading standard. The essays will be analytical responses to the required texts.  The essays will involve peer editing, the first drafts reviewed and critiqued through assigned peer groups. TO HAVE A CHANCE OF PASSING THIS COURSE YOU MUST COMPLETE ALL ESSAY ASSIGNMENTS AND FINAL PAPER. Late essays will be penalized in points. Failure to submit essays in a timely manner will result in being dropped from the course. Instances of plagiarism will not be tolerated. You will fail the course if you plagiarize ideas or parts of a paper. Throughout the quarter we will work on integrating and citing outside sources in your essays. All essays and the final paper will be submitted on our course site AND on Turnitin.com.
  • Final Analytical Essay: For your final paper you expand one of your previous essays to include secondary sources and an extended examination of an application of your idea.
  • Discussion Assignments: You will be expected to log in to your class web site on a regular basis to access course materials, complete and submit assignments, and participate in discussion forums. For every essay assignment there will be discussion forums set up to facilitate informal writing consisting of posting responses to discussion questions and prompts and responding to a classmate’s post.  There will be due dates for the initial posts and responses to a post, and the discussion forums will remain open until the corresponding essay is due.
  • Quizzes: Timed reading comprehension quizzes will be assigned throughout the term.

Note that in order to maintain active status in the course you must login within the first week of the term and submit all of your essay assignments by each of their ultimate deadlines.  Failure to complete the writing assignments and to post and respond to the discussion forums may result in being dropped from the course and will ultimately affect your course grade.

Grading:

3 Essays 45%

Final Analytical Paper 20%

Discussion Assignments and Quizzes 35%

Grading Scale by %:

A=93+; A-=90-92; B+=87-89; B=83-86; B-=80-82; C+=77-79; C=70-76; D=60+; F=below 60

If you need support services, you can find more information about tutoring and disability accommodations at the following sites:

Student Success Center: http://www.deanza.edu/studentsuccess/

Disability Support Programs and Services: http://www.deanza.edu/dsps/

A Suggested Routine for doing the coursework:

  • Log in to the class web site on a regular basis.
  • Check the schedule of reading and writing assignments in the weekly lessons.
  • Read the weekly lessons and access course materials (if necessary).
  • Participate in class discussion by posting responses to discussion assignments in the Topic Discussion Forums.
  • Ask questions about course materials and assignments in the appropriate Q&A Discussion Forum. Please note the particular areas for posting general questions about the course and specific questions about the readings and assignments. Asking questions is an important part of this class for it initiates the feedback process that is crucial to online instruction.
  • If you do not understand something, DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT YOUR INSTRUCTOR thru Canvas messaging or by email.  For those questions whose responses you think will benefit others in the class, please post in the appropriate Q&A Discussion Forum.
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