Goals and Objectives

The goals and objectives of Unit 1 are to

• Provide a short overview of essay structure

• Provide a short overview of MLA style

• Begin the plagiarism quiz

My assumptions are that you are familiar with the academic essay and MLA from your ENG 1113 class. These overviews are to introduce you to my particular way of handling the academic essay and to remind you of important MLA documentation requirements. I have provided several supplemental readings if you need more help with either the academic essay or MLA.

Our focus this semester is on the argumentative essay, a specific type of academic essay, but the basic structure is the same as any academic essay. The MLA you learned in ENG 1113 should be sufficient for any task in this semester; however, we may be using it more than you had to in ENG 1113.

Resources

These sources are review, so you may not need to read everything under each subtitle. Consider these files part of your course handbook - here for you if needed. Some of the PDF chapters from the Norton Field Guide may take a while to load. You can also access them from the SHARED FILES component in TimeCruiser (TC).

Required reading is indicated by (READ) after titles below.

• Class Syllabus (READ)

• Essay Grading Rubric

• MLA format for class texts (READ)

• MLA Overview (READ)

• MLA Powerpoint PDF version

• Essay Development Packet (READ)

• Documentation

• Avoiding Plagiarism

• Quoting, Summarizing and Paraphrasing

• Guiding the Reader

• Beginnings and Endings

• Getting Response and Revising

• Generating Ideas

• Drafting

• Editing and Proofreading

• Reading Strategies

Assignments

These will also be available in Cruiser under Assignments.

• Read Syllabus

• Plagiarism Quiz

• MLA Take Home Exam Pre-Test

• Introduce Yourself: Write a biography of yourself as an introduction to your classmates and teacher. Include what you think you would like to do career-wise, the highest level of education you plan on achieving (AA, BA, MA, PhD), where you attended school, who you had for ENG 1113 (and where if not here at SSC), a favorite hobby, and something interesting about yourself. You can also include info about family, job, or yourself if you wish. Finally, provide a short description of yourself as a writer and what you hope to learn and accomplish in this class. What are your strengths that you bring to the task of argument and essay writing? Respond to at least one other classmate's biography posting.

• Read Essay Development Packet

.