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ENG D150—Developmental Writing Skills

Three Semester Hours

MG 6/13

Prerequisites

University Requisite: Placement or recommendation and WARNING: no course in ENG above 1500

Course Overview

Develops skills through attention to coherence, mechanics, syntax, and writing conventions. Does not satisfy Tier I or Arts and Sciences humanities requirement. (Non-native speakers take D160.)

Methods of Course Instruction

All material for this course is print-based. Instructor and students communicate and exchange materials through postal mail. 

E-Print Option

In this course, an option exists to use e-mail to submit your lesson assignments. Your assignment will be returned to you either as an e-mail attachment or as a hard copy sent through the postal mail, depending on the preferences of the instructor and/or program. 

Textbooks and Supplies

• Ankler, Susan. Real Writings with Readings: Paragraphs and Essays for College, Work, and Everyday Life. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013. [ISBN: 9781457601996]
• Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America. 10th anniversary ed. New York: Picador, 2011. [ISBN: 978031626686]

Number of Lessons

The course has 11 lessons, including a portfolio. These lessons include:

• Lesson 1: Writing Process 
• Lesson 2: Narration 
• Lesson 3: Illustration 
• Lesson 4: Description 
• Lesson 5: Process Analysis
• Lesson 6: Classification
• Lesson 7: Definition 
• Lesson 8: Compare and Contrast 
• Lesson 9: Cause and Effect 
• Lesson 10: Argument 
• Lesson 11: Portfolio

Types of Writing Assignments

Be sure to read each lesson carefully and in its entirety before responding and writing your assignments and essays. Responses need to be written in the order presented in the lesson with each activity clearly labeled. Answers should be developed but also focused and concise. Be sure to read all questions carefully and answer all being mindful to answer directly. Practice exercises from the textbook, Real Writing, as well as essays should be typed or neatly printed and double-spaced with margins on both the left and right. 

Do not complete more than one assignment at a time. Wait until the previous lesson is returned to submit the next lesson. Each lesson will build on content and skills so the mistakes made in an early lesson should be corrected in the proceeding lessons. In other words, if mistakes are made with sentence fragments or essay focus in Lesson 2, the sections on these topics should be reviewed so there is a better understanding and these mistakes are not repeated for Lesson 3. This will not only help your overall grade but, more importantly, it will help your writing ability.

Feel free to correspond with the instructor as needed for clarification on course guide materials, textbook material, and/or grading comments. It is important that you understand the comments made to your lessons so that you can correct these issues for the final portfolio.  

Grading Criteria

The course will be graded on a 1,000-point scale. Lessons 1–10 will be worth 60% of the total grade. This correlates to 600 points total with 60 points each. 

For Lesson 1, the writing assignment will be worth 50 points and the grammar portion 10. For Lessons 2–8, the writing assignment will be worth 20 points, the grammar review 10, and the essay 30 points. For Lessons 9 and 10 the writing assignment will be worth 10 points, the reading response 20, and the essay 30 points. While these assignments are not worth as many points as the final portfolio, they should be taken seriously. Success in these assignments will be needed to have success in the final portfolio and the course. 

The final portfolio will be worth 40% of the final grade, or 400 points. The reason this portfolio is weighted so heavily is to benefit your writing ability and improve your final course grade. It is impossible to review all necessary materials in the first lesson or before the first essay is due. The lessons in the course progress, but also build upon each other to help you grow as a writer. The first lessons are not worth as many points to lessen the pressure as you learn. The final portfolio will be where you revisit essays to showcase all that you have learned. It is a way to create a final project that you will be proud of and combine all of your new knowledge into a final finished project. 

Points will be added together and final grades will be determined based on the following scale:

Letter Grade	Percentage	Points
A	100-93%	1000-930 points
´¡â€“	92.9-90%	929-900 points
B+	89.9-87%	899-870 points
B	86.9-83%	869-830 points
µþ–	82.9-80%	829-800 points
C+	79.9-77%	799-770 points
C	76.9-73%	769-730 points
°ä–	72.9-70%	729-700 points
D+	69.9-67%	699-670 points
D	66.9-63%	669-630 points
¶Ù–	62/9-60%	629-600 points
F	Below 60%	599 or below