Ocean County College
Professor's Syllabus
Course Objectives | Catalog Description | Course Requirements | Teaching Strategies | Grading Scale | Plagiarism | Learning Disabilities | Texts
Contact Information
Instructor: Dr. Bordelon
Office: Russell 103
Tel: 255-0400 x2408
dbordelon@ocean.edu
Course Start and Completion
Send an email (dbordelon@ocean.edu) to me as soon as you register (It's tough in an online course to "see" who's in the class) so I can send you logon instructions.
Our 10 week semester begins and ends at the same time as on campus college courses. See your registration information or the college's online calendar for specific dates.
The course work begins the first week: see Announcements on course site for more information – or email me.
Remember, if you have any questions or would like a "face to face" meeting to discuss the course or your work, just make an appointment to see me.
The course will help you:
This course develops students' skills in expository writing through instruction and practice (totaling 3500 words, minimum) in the organization and development process of the essay form, including research writing.
My usual teaching method involves discussions of readings and then workshops on writing each essay, but since this is an online class, most of our "discussions" and "workshops" will be conducted asynchronously (not at the same time), and all of them will be conducted online.
The lack of my smiling face encouraging you to look once again at your rough draft means that you will rely on your own initiative to both spur your imagination and, more practically, complete the work in a timely manner. To help pace your work, I include required dates for each weekly assignment. To help develop a classroom atmosphere, you will be divided into groups and will comment on each other's drafts. This contact with other students should make the online experience less anonymous and help you learn different ways of communicating with peers in an electronic environment -- which, given the proliferation of E-jobs, is a skill that will look good on a resume.
You'll write three to four essays of varying lengths. Detailed instructions for the essays are found in the weekly assignments on the course cite and in the assigned readings. Students are also required to participate in class and group discussions and peer evaluations, as well as out-of-class exercises.
All work must be handed on the date noted in the course schedule. Any essays handed in late will be dropped a letter grade for each week after the due date. After three weeks, an F grade is given. Using a paper from another course to fulfill a paper requirement for this course is not allowed.
You must save all work generated in this course for the entire semester. Given the anonymous nature of online courses, it is crucial that, for each essay, you save and print rough drafts of all your papers and store them in a folder along with any notes, comments, etc. This folder will be submitted to me after submitting your final draft so I can review the process which led up to the completed work.
To pass this course, you must complete all of the essays, and you must hand in at least 80% of the homework. All homework is due on the day noted on the Weekly Assignment page: no late homework will be accepted. To give you personal instruction, you will be required to send rough drafts of your essays to myself and your group mates to plan revision strategies. Read and follow the instructions for the essays posted on the site and in the reading assignments. All assignments are in writing -- it's your responsibility to keep up with when they're due.
You must complete all of the essay assignments in order to receive a passing grade. There are no tests in this course: all assessment will be in essay/paragraph form.
Proctored Exam: About midway through the semester you will be required to write an in-class essay in the college’s testing center. You will have three hours to take the test, and you must complete the test during the week noted in the class schedule. All other work may be completed at home and transmitted online. If you are out of the state, contact me for other arrangements.
If you become ill, or are otherwise unable to complete an assignment in a timely fashion, please notify me. If I don't hear from otherwise, you will receive the late grade.
Since this is a writing class, it should come as no surprise that your final grade is based upon an average of your essay grades. I use the college's grading scale (A, B+, B, C+, C, D, F) for final grades. Homework, class participation and quizzes may make the difference between a plus or minus C or B grade, but will not be used to determine whether you’ve passed the course: your ability to write a competent academic essay will determine whether you’ve passed the course.
Specific criteria for each assignment are found on the Weekly Assignments posted on course site or in the assigned readings. In general, assessment of written work is based the clarity of your expression and the depth and range of ideas.
Plagiarism is defined as taking the words or ideas of another person without documenting them. A form of academic theft, the college holds that any instance of plagiarism may result in a failing grade. In this course you will be taught to recognize and avoid plagiarism.
If there is any student who has special needs because of learning disabilities or other kinds of disabilities, please feel free to discuss this with me.
Contact the book store (732-255-0333) about having texts mailed to you.
Most of the readings for this course will be posted on the course site. The books below are necessary for the course.
Hacker, Diana. Rules for Writers. 5th edition.
American Heritage or other paperback dictionary
Bordelon, David. Ideas & Communication. Long (150+ pages) handout posted online. You will download and print this packet.
See you online!
Page Created by David Bordelon
Last updated 3/25/08