Course Syllabus

Fall 2025 | ENG-1061-VO04 - English Composition

Online Class

Online courses take place 100% online via Canvas, without required in-person or Zoom meetings.

Faculty

Jason Robtoy
View Faculty Credentials

Hiring Coordinator for this course: Heath Fuller

General Education Requirements

English Composition

Note

Many degree programs have specific general education recommendations. In order to avoid taking unnecessary classes, please consult with additional resources like your program evaluation, your academic program catalog year page, and your academic advisor.

Courses may only be used to meet one General Education Requirement.

Course Description

In this course, students develop effective composition skills and research techniques. Students learn strategies for organizing, evaluating, and revising their work through extensive reading of a variety of essay styles and literary texts; apply writing and research techniques to their papers; and demonstrate proficiency in first-year college-level writing and information literacy.

Essential Objectives

1. Consistently apply an appropriate writing process that includes planning, drafting, revising, and editing.
2. Demonstrate in written work an awareness of the relationship among writer, subject, audience, and purpose.
3. Demonstrate writing proficiency with a range of rhetorical approaches to include narration, exposition, argument, and critical analysis and recognize the stylistic and structural strategies in the writing of others.
4. Discuss writing by authors from diverse backgrounds to explore how perspectives and experiences may shape voice in composition.
5. Focus written work around an explicit central thesis, a position statement or proposition advanced by the writer that is arguable and supportable and develop the thesis systematically, using specific details and supporting evidence.
6. Compose written work that demonstrates effective use of sentence structure, paragraphing, grammar, syntax, punctuation, and spelling.
7. Discuss the use of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the writing process, including appropriate use, prompting techniques, and proper attribution.
8. Demonstrate proficiency in research writing skills by completing one or more papers that:
a) Develop and support an arguable thesis;
b) Locate, evaluate, and incorporate appropriate scholarly and professional sources, including primary and secondary evidence as needed, to address an academic research question;
c) Appropriately acknowledge and document sources, using standard MLA or APA styles.

Required Technology

More information on general computer and internet recommendations is available on the CCV computer recommendations Support page.

Please see CCV's Digital Equity Statement (pg. 45) to learn more about CCV's commitment to supporting all students access the technology they need to successfully finish their courses.

Required Textbooks and Resources

*** This is a no cost textbook or resource class. ***

This course only uses free Open Educational Resources (OER) and/or library materials. For details, see the Canvas Site for this class.

Artificial Intelligence(AI) Policy Statement

CCV recognizes that artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI tools are widely available and becoming embedded in many online writing and creative applications.

Integrated: This course's generative AI policy acknowledges the use of AI is an essential skill in today's world. By using genAI for specific purposes, students become equipped with relevant skills and tools necessary to thrive in a technology-driven society. Emphasizing the mastery of generative AI should empower you to harness its potential, enhancing your problem-solving abilities and preparing you for future challenges and opportunities. Be aware, however, that any time generative AI is used at any point in the assignment without attribution it may be considered a violation of CCV's Academic Integrity Policy.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) resources like Chat GPT or similar large language models (LLM) can be powerful tools in many areas, including writing. However, tools are best used by people who know the concepts behind them. Remember, the purpose of this class is to learn the basics of writing, and relying on AI to write your papers for you negates that purpose.Therefore,in this class, turning in AI-generated material and claiming it as your own is considered plagiarism. If your paper shows evidence of AI-generated content, you may be asked to prove that you wrote the material by providing proof such as notes, drafts, and time-stamped documents. For example, google docs keeps track of the history of a document as it is written.

Are there appropriate uses for AI in this class? Yes. For example, having AI generate a list of pros and cons for a persuasive topic could jump-start your writing. If you do use any AI in your work, be sure to cite it appropriately. MLA has recently clarified how to cite AI:https://style.mla.org/citing-generative-ai/?utm_campaign=sourcemar23&utm_medium=email&utm_source=mlaoutreachLinks to an external site..

If you have any questions about this policy, please reach out to me. Beware of our robot overlords! – Jason

Methods

As an asynchronous course, there are no required real-time meetings via Zoom or anything like that. To help develop a sense of community, though, we will do discussions and other assignments most weeks that requre you to log into the class multiple times per week. You will also be looking at some of your peers' writing and making comments on drafts of papers. For your best chance of success, move through each module (1 per week) from top to bottom.

Evaluation Criteria

Grading Criteria:

Grades for the course will be calculated as follows:

• 4-6 page narrative essay = 15%
• 4-6 page persuasive essay = 15%
• 4-6 page comparison essay = 15%
• 8-10 page research paper = 25%
• Homework = 30%
  • Assignments other than final drafts
  • Discussion assignments
• Essays may be revised for grade improvement.

Discussion Grading:

Most discussions will be graded as 5 point assignments:

• 1 point for a thoughtful, detailed post
• 3 points (1 each) for 3 thoughtful, detailed replies that include a question for further inquiry
• 1 point for responding to a classmate's question
• In general, Post by Thursday, reply by Sunday, re-reply by Monday.

Late Work Policy:

• One of the four major papers can be handed in late with no penalty.
• Any late papers after that will be docked one letter grade
• late homework assignments or discussion assignments may not be graded if they are handed in after the due date.

Grading Criteria

CCV Letter Grades as outlined in the Evaluation System Policy are assigned according to the following chart:

	High	Low
A+	100	98
A	Less than 98	93
A-	Less than 93	90
B+	Less than 90	88
B	Less than 88	83
B-	Less than 83	80
C+	Less than 80	78
C	Less than 78	73
C-	Less than 73	70
D+	Less than 70	68
D	Less than 68	63
D-	Less than 63	60
F	Less than 60
P	100	60
NP	Less than 60	0

Weekly Schedule

Attendance Policy

Regular attendance and participation in classes are essential for success in and are completion requirements for courses at CCV. A student's failure to meet attendance requirements as specified in course descriptions will normally result in a non-satisfactory grade.

• In general, missing more than 20% of a course due to absences, lateness or early departures may jeopardize a student's ability to earn a satisfactory final grade.
• Attending an on-ground or synchronous course means a student appeared in the live classroom for at least a meaningful portion of a given class meeting. Attending an online course means a student posted a discussion forum response, completed a quiz or attempted some other academically required activity. Simply viewing a course item or module does not count as attendance.
• Meeting the minimum attendance requirement for a course does not mean a student has satisfied the academic requirements for participation, which require students to go above and beyond simply attending a portion of the class. Faculty members will individually determine what constitutes participation in each course they teach and explain in their course descriptions how participation factors into a student's final grade.

Participation Expectations

Most weeks, students will need to interact with the class multiple times. To be considered Present for the week, there needs to be some evidence of interaction, such as turning in an assignment, participating in a discussion, or communicating directly with me.

Accessibility Services for Students with Disabilities:

1. Provide disability documentation to the Accessibility Coordinator at your academic center. https://ccv.edu/discover-resources/students-with-disabilities/
2. Request an appointment to meet with accessibility coordinator to discuss your request and create an accommodation plan.
3. Once created, students will share the accommodation plan with faculty. Please note, faculty cannot make disability accommodations outside of this process.

Academic Integrity

Apply Now for this semester.