English 102: Composition II (Spring 2012)

Required Text(s): 

Introduction to Literature, An (16th Edition)

Course Goals

• Write Successful Academic Essays!

  First, this course will initially emphasize the writing process. In other words, you will develop an understanding of how to complete writing assignments in various stages. Prewriting strategies (which you will see shortly and may have seen in previous classes) will help you loosen up and get your ideas and creativity onto paper.

  This course will also demand that you edit and revise your work into a finished product. You will practice focusing your writing, organizing it, and developing it with supporting detail. These qualities of writing, among others, will be introduced in the notes and will be emphasized in my evaluation of your papers.

  If you haven’t figured out thesis statements or how to write strong paragraphs, now is the time to ensure that you’ve learned these things (it is assumed that you have a basic understanding of formal essays from previous experience: this is English 102).

  Finally, you will need to successfully integrate research into your writing.

• Sharpen your ability to think critically!

  By reading literature and trying to wrestle with it, you will develop a better ability to critically think about language and the issues raised by the literature. Those issues pretty much include anything under the sun: anything pertaining to life and death, joy and sadness, the political, the religious, the controversial, and the absolutely necessary. Literature pretty much covers everything related to human experience! If you keep your eyes, ears, and mind open, you might make some profound discoveries not just about language, but about yourself and the way you think.

• Appreciate language and literature!

  I’m hoping that something will spark your interest or at least garner a bit of your appreciation. Perhaps you will even find yourself enjoying a type of writing that you never knew you could enjoy. Some of my favorite student comments to hear at the end of a semester sound something like this: "I never knew I could enjoy literature this much" or "the writing assignments were challenging but they made me think!"

• Have Fun!

  The more you make this class your own, the more you become intrigued by the reading, and the more you are willing to experiment and have fun with the assignments, the better! It's easy to be intimidated by college writing and reading assignments. Just remember that your voice and thinking matters. Don't let your sense of adventure and exploration become muted; reading and writing can be a thrilling journey, if you are willing to take those first bold strides forward.

  "Remember what Bilbo used to say: It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to." ~ J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings)