Course Syllabus

Fall 2026 | ENG-1061-VO05 - English Composition

Online Class

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

Faculty

Tib Di Giulio
View Faculty Credentials
View Faculty Statement
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.

Methods

English Composition is an asynchronous online course, but it is designed around regular participation rather than working through the course independently at your own pace. Each week builds on the work that came before it, moving from personal and expository writing into critical analysis and, ultimately, a sustained research project.

Instruction will include weekly course overviews, readings, short lectures, discussions, informal writing, grammar and style practice, drafting, peer review, revision, and formal essays. Rather than treating grammar, research, citation, and essay writing as separate skills, we will practice them as parts of the larger writing process. Early weeks emphasize narrative writing and developing voice and awareness of audience and purpose. The course then moves into expository and analytical writing, including a unit examining the use of generative AI in learning. Later weeks focus increasingly on critical analysis, research, source evaluation, thesis development, opposing viewpoints, and revision.

A significant part of this course is learning through writing and revision. Major essays develop over several weeks rather than appearing as isolated assignments. You will draft, receive feedback, participate in peer review, and revise your work before submitting final versions. The Personal Narrative, for example, moves from readings and journal work through a rough draft, peer review, and final revision. The Critical Analysis Essay follows a similar process, and the final Research Essay develops through a research question, source collection and evaluation, thesis development, a rough draft, peer review, and final revision.

Discussion is also part of the instructional method. Weekly discussions ask you to engage with readings, examine examples of writing, test ideas for your own essays, and respond thoughtfully to your classmates. Initial discussion posts are generally due by midnight Friday, with follow-up responses due by midnight Sunday. These discussions are intended to function as part of our classroom conversation rather than simply as assignments to complete.

Throughout the semester, we will work deliberately on grammar, rhetoric, and style in the context of actual writing. Weekly activities address concepts such as independent and dependent clauses, sentence combining, punctuation, parallel construction, transitions, quotation integration, and clear, economical prose. Additional grammar resources are available throughout the course for review when you need them.

Research instruction is similarly scaffolded. You will learn how to develop a research question, search for sources, distinguish among types of sources, evaluate information and bias, use the SIFT method for online material, recognize misinformation, integrate evidence, and document sources appropriately. The course includes VSCS Libraries resources as well as instruction in both MLA and APA citation, allowing you to work consistently in an appropriate citation style.

Above all, this course treats writing as a process rather than a single performance. You are not expected to begin the semester already knowing how to do everything we will practice. The work of the course is the process of reading closely, trying ideas, writing drafts, receiving feedback, revising, and gradually becoming a more deliberate and effective college writer.

Evaluation Criteria

English Composition is an asynchronous online course, but it is designed around regular participation rather than working through the course independently at your own pace. Each week builds on the work that came before it, moving from personal and expository writing into critical analysis and, ultimately, a sustained research project.

Instruction will include weekly course overviews, readings, short lectures, discussions, informal writing, grammar and style practice, drafting, peer review, revision, and formal essays. Rather than treating grammar, research, citation, and essay writing as separate skills, we will practice them as parts of the larger writing process. Early weeks emphasize narrative writing and developing voice and awareness of audience and purpose. The course then moves into expository and analytical writing, including a unit examining the use of generative AI in learning. Later weeks focus increasingly on critical analysis, research, source evaluation, thesis development, opposing viewpoints, and revision.

A significant part of this course is learning through writing and revision. Major essays develop over several weeks rather than appearing as isolated assignments. You will draft, receive feedback, participate in peer review, and revise your work before submitting final versions. The Personal Narrative, for example, moves from readings and journal work through a rough draft, peer review, and final revision. The Critical Analysis Essay follows a similar process, and the final Research Essay develops through a research question, source collection and evaluation, thesis development, a rough draft, peer review, and final revision.

Discussion is also part of the instructional method. Weekly discussions ask you to engage with readings, examine examples of writing, test ideas for your own essays, and respond thoughtfully to your classmates. Initial discussion posts are generally due by midnight Friday, with follow-up responses due by midnight Sunday. These discussions are intended to function as part of our classroom conversation rather than simply as assignments to complete.

Throughout the semester, we will work deliberately on grammar, rhetoric, and style in the context of actual writing. Weekly activities address concepts such as independent and dependent clauses, sentence combining, punctuation, parallel construction, transitions, quotation integration, and clear, economical prose. Additional grammar resources are available throughout the course for review when you need them.

Research instruction is similarly scaffolded. You will learn how to develop a research question, search for sources, distinguish among types of sources, evaluate information and bias, use the SIFT method for online material, recognize misinformation, integrate evidence, and document sources appropriately. The course includes VSCS Libraries resources as well as instruction in both MLA and APA citation, allowing you to work consistently in an appropriate citation style.

Above all, this course treats writing as a process rather than a single performance. You are not expected to begin the semester already knowing how to do everything we will practice. The work of the course is the process of reading closely, trying ideas, writing drafts, receiving feedback, revising, and gradually becoming a more deliberate and effective college writer.

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

Being present in an online course is determined by participation, timeliness, task completion, and logs-in.

Missing & Late Work Policy

Late work will not be graded.

If there is an emergency or an issue that impacts performance in this course, please contact the instructor and/or your college counselor to see if a solitary exception may be made.

Accessibility Services for Students with Disabilities:

1. Provide disability documentation to the Accessibility Coordinator at your academic center. https://ccv.edu/student-support/accessibility-services/
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.