English 111 Expository Essay
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Dr. J. Pierce Phone: (828) 689-1237
Office: Cornwell 203 Office Hours: TTh 10-11 & 1-3 and by appointment E-mail: jpierce@mhc.edu
Printable Syllabi: Word97 | Text
Course Description
English 111 is designed to develop and refine expository writing, oral communication, and critical thinking skills that will prove useful in and beyond the English classroom. Writing will be approached as a process and as a product, a finite solution to a problem. Students will master the main steps in writing as a process—prewriting, outlining, writing, revising, editing—and apply them to their expository writing. They will apply critical thinking to the analysis of a variety of essays, and they will practice oral communication through class discussions, small-group activities, and formal presentations.

Required Materials

  • English, Fall 2000—ENG 110/111: Expository Essay. Dr. J. Pierce, instr. [New York]: McGraw-Hill, 2000.
  • Raimes, Ann. Keys for Writers: A Brief Handbook. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999.
  • Flanagan, Barbara G., & Ann Raimes. Exercise Booklet—Keys for Writers: A Brief Handbook. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999.
  • a college-level dictionary (preferably one that's easily portable)
  • a portfolio folder to contain all your writing for the course
  • a 3.5" PC-formatted floppy disk

    Course Goals & Objectives

    1. Write in a variety of forms about well-defined subjects drawn from personal experience, from focused reading, and from careful reflections about either of the above. The primary form of writing will be the expository essay. Each essay must meet the following criteria:
      1. Afford a clear sense of introduction, body, and conclusion, with a clearly stated thesis as part of the introduction.
      2. Achieve unity, coherence, and appropriate emphasis in sentences, paragraphs, and the whole essay.
      3. Demonstrate comprehension of standard written English, including conventions of sentence structure and punctuation.
    2. Write in meaningful depth for different purposes and different audiences, partly through mastery of the elements of style (appropriate diction, varied sentence structure, consistent tone, and effective figurative language).
    3. Read a variety of essays and stories for content and style to cultivate reading skills, gain knowledge, generate ideas, and comprehend the elements of rhetoric.
    4. Approach writing as a multi-step process.
    5. Edit assigned writing to eliminate errors such a faulty spelling, mechanics, and punctuation.
    6. Assimilate constructive responses from the instructor and other readers at various stages in the writing process.
    7. Prepare and deliver in class an oral presentation.
    8. Demonstrate proficiency in word processing.
    9. Demonstrate competence when writing essays in a timed situation.

    Instructional Methods
    This course is primarily discussion-based with occasional mini-lectures. Students will spend class time examining essays to develop an understanding and an appreciation of accomplished writing, working on exercises to improve their basic writing abilities, and cooperating with peers to polish their revisions skills.

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