Course Goals

Course Schedule and Assignments

Anlon

Technical Help!

Read, read, read......Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read!

-William Faulkner

Woody Allen once said the hardest thing in writing is going from nothing to something. And I think he's right. I struggle so much getting that first draft down.

-William Least Heat Moon

Those who are learning to compose and arrange their sentences with accuracy and order are learning, at the same time, to think with accuracy and order.

-Hugh Blair

When you stop learning, stop listening, stop looking and asking questions, then it is time to die.

-Lillian Smith

I think writing is really a process of communication.....it's the sense of being in contact with people who are part of a particular audience that really makes a difference in writing.

-Sherley Ann Williams

FUNDAMENTALS OF WRITING - COMM 006 SYLLABUS

Instructor: Pat Speckman
Northwest Technical College
905 Grant Avenue SE
Bemidji, Minnesota 56601

755-4270 or 800-942-8324
pspeckman@mail.ntc.mnscu.edu

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COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is designed to help you develop your writing skills through practice. You will use the writing process to create various types of written work that effectively communicate your ideas and meaning. The course includes

• constructing proper sentences using Standard English
• developing and organizing paragraphs and essays
• writing for various purposes
• individual and group writing
• revising your work
• proofreading and editing for correct usage and mechanics.

  (Students who need to develop their writing skills must take this course prior to other communications courses.) Prerequisites: None (3 lecture credits)

TEXT AND COMPUTER REQUIREMENTS

Required Text

Evergreen with Readings, Sixth Edition. by Susan Fawcett and Alwin Sandberg. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999. ISBN# 0395958474

TO ORDER: This text must be ordered through our online book vendor. Please order the text immediately if you have not yet ordered it.

Computer Requirements

Even before you order your book, make sure you have the correct computer requirements. Questions? Either e-mail your questions to our tech support person Sheila Lapp at sheila.lapp@mail.ntc.mnscu.edu or call her at 1-800-942-8324.

COURSE GOALS

The course goals will be addressed throughout the course but not necessarily in the order given. You will notice as you progress through the course that all of these goals correspond to your assignments.

STUDENT CONTRIBUTIONS

• Spend six to eight hours per week preparing for this class.
• It's easy to ignore an online class; don't!
• Each person is expected to exhibit behavior that demonstrates respect for others.
  
• Students who have a disability that may affect their performance in this class are encouraged to contact the instructor at the beginning of the course.

COURSE EVALUATION

Grades will be calculated through the accumulation of points earned on course assignments including writing assignments, tests, journals, and peer review groups. Click here for an overview of the course assignments. Those points will be translated into a percentage of the total class points. Percentage grades are as follows: 90 - 100% = A; 80 - 89% = B; 70 - 79% = C; 60 - 69% = D; 0 - 59% = F for Feedback (or what can I do differently or better next time?)

COURSE SCHEDULE

Ready to begin? Go the course schedule and assignment page and get started with your first assignment.