ENGLISH COMPOSITION:
A Guide to the Possible Dream

PART I: POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

To be awarded a degree in any program at GCC, a student must complete six units of composition with a grade of C or higher. Most students meet this requirement by taking English 101 and 102; students must complete English 101 with a grade of C or higher before taking English 102. Students with especially strong verbal skills have the option of participating in sections of English 101 and 102 designated for Honors students; completion of English 101 with a grade of C or higher, appropriate placement scores, and acceptance into the Honors Program are required to take Honors English 102. International students for whom English is a second language satisfy the composition requirement by taking English 107 and 108, which are equivalent to English 101 and 102; completion of English 107 with a grade of C or higher is prerequisite to English 108.

Placement Procedure
The English Department at GCC makes every effort to register students for the courses most likely to help them to realize their goals, both immediate and long-range. Faculty members have, therefore, personalized the procedure for placing students in composition courses. Instructors consider both the student's skill as demonstrated on a standardized test and the student's response to a writing assignment in a classroom situation.

The Assessment Center is in the (SPS) Building; Phone: 623.845.3134.  Hours are Monday-Thursday: 8:00 a.m.-7:30 p.m., Friday: 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

The placement process works this way:

1. Before registering for a composition class, all students in the Maricopa Community Colleges are required to take the English part of the ASSET test, a standardized assessment of writing skills; students should consult the "Assessment Information" section in the college's Schedule of Classes for specific times when the test is administered. The following scores on the English section of the ASSET test determine initial placement in composition courses:

23-33 ENG 061
34-39 ENG 071
40-50 ENG 101
51-54 ENG 101 Honors

To succeed in ENG 061 with a score of 23-28, students would need tutors and more time outside class than usual for a three-hour course.

2. On the first day of class, instructors give students in English 061, 071, 101, Honors 101, and 107 a writing assignment. By considering both the students' ASSET scores and the students' writing samples, instructors assess the students' s kills and potential for successfully completing the course and then make appropriate recommendations. A student whose ASSET score indicates English 101 may demonstrate in the writing sample a need for the instruction provided in English 071; the instructor   may recommend that the student transfer to a section of that course. On the other hand, a student whose ASSET score indicates English 071 may demonstrate in the writing sample the skills typical of the student entering and success   completing En English 101; the instructor may then recommend that the student take that course. The instructor and the department chairperson make every effort to transfer the student to a section of the appropriate course as quickly and easily as possible.

Helpful links:

• Admissions

• Assessment & Placement

• Academic Advising

• MCCCD Course Placement Assessment includes Student Study Guide for ASSET

Background Courses
Students who want or who need to review basic writing skills before beginning English 101 have the opportunity to take English 061, or 071 even if they place into other courses. Although these courses do not satisfy the basic composition requirement, taking one or more review courses often saves a student considerable frustration and time (sometimes a full semester's work). Attempting English 101 without the necessary background is like taking Life Saving without having mastered basic swimming skills: futile. Students are encouraged to work with advisors in order to choose the courses best suited to their individual experience and objectives.

Transfer Credit
English 101 and 102 as well as the corresponding Honors and ESL courses are similar in objectives, content, writing requirements, and evaluation standards to first-year composition courses at other colleges and universities. Credits for these courses transfer to the other accredited colleges and universities in Arizona and satisfy first-year composition requirements. Credits also transfer and meet similar requirements at many out-of-state academic institutions. A grade of C or higher is necessary in order to transfer credit. Tranfer guides are online for ASU Main/East, ASU West, NAU, and U of A.

Transfer Help

• Course Applicability System

• MCCCD Program Information

• Transfer Articulation Guidelines

English Student Computer Use
GCC offers students one of the finest academic computer environments in the nation. All GCC students have access to a standard suite of software tools that includes word processing, internet access, email and other programs. Certain writing courses are designated as computer-assisted, which means that using the computer classroom is part of the course requirements. Some sections meet regularly in the computer classrooms for instruction, workshops, and examinations; others use the labs at designated times. All students have access to current software and laser printers for print copies. Students who are not in a designated English Computer class can use the computers in the High Tech centers.Students can usually learn the basics of one of the word-processing programs used in the High Tech centers in less than an hour and then enjoy the numerous advantages word-processing offers the writer:

• Ease in generating ideas
• Ease in trying different arrangements of ideas
• Ease in gaining enough distance from a draft to see what it really says (Just seeing the words on the screen helps, but printing a draft of an essay or an individual paragraph is even more useful!)
• Ease in inserting useful material and in deleting inappropriate ideas and details
• Ease in working and reworking individual sentence structures to find just the right way of expressing an idea
• Ease in checking spelling and correcting errors
• Ease in documenting sources

These advantages and others more than compensate for the time spent learning the hardware and software. Students who take advantage of word processing, the Internet, and electronic mail early in the semester give themselves a significant advantage in fulfilling the requirements of their writing assignments.

Student Computing Help

• Student Computer Access

• Goals for Computer Supported English Classes

• Student Helpdesk

• Maricopa's Computing Resource Standards

Writing  Center
The GCC Writing Center in HT2 113 offers students free individual instruction and professional help with writing for any of their courses.  The purpose of the Writing/Reading Center is to improve the quality of all students' writing and to promote writing in all subject areas.  Tutoring is available, usually by appointment, from 9 a. m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.  Students sign up for specific times and faculty at the HT-2 East Control Counter. This tutoring is offered free of charge  because faculty members volunteer their time.  Most of the staff are English or Reading instructors, but volunteers also come from various other departments.

THE WRITING CENTER IS NOT OPEN IN THE SUMMER

The Writing/Reading Center offers students help in the following areas: writing assignments, writing process, writing problems, and study skills. The student may meet with the same tutor or seek help from a variety of instructors.  These sessions work most effectively when students bring samples of their writing and copies of the specific assignments they are currently working on.  Students should understand that the Writing/Reading Center exists as a source of additional individual instruction.  Tutors help students to master a specific element of composition, but they do not write or revise students' papers for them.  Students are encouraged to visit the Writing/Reading Center early in the semester to familiarize themselves with the assistance available.

Center for Learning
The Center for Learning, located in CL 45, provides free tutoring in most subject areas. Students may either schedule appointments for one-on-one tutoring or "drop in" to meet with any available tutor. Other services include cognitive style mapping and computer-aided instruction on reading, grammar, vocabulary mastery, and study skills. They also have several computer-aided instruction programs free for students who wish to review grammar, mechanics, and usage.  "Skills Bank" is a comprehensive program that offers instruction in capitalization, grammar and usage, punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, and paragraph skills. "Skills Bank" also offers instruction in reading skills, reference skills, vocabulary building, and critical thinking skills. Other programs which provide help in reading and writing skills are "Grammar Tools," "Sentence Skills," and "Comprehension Connection."

Many programs designed specifically for ESL students provide extra practice in grammar and usage. A list of the software is available at the Literacy Center. Students must have a student ID card in order to check out software disks. Students must use the computers in the Center while doing the lessons.

Course Syllabus
The common goals and objectives for the various courses in composition are briefly explained in this Guide. Individual instructors, however, take different approaches toward realizing these common objectives. Students should expect to find that the order and details of assignments differ from one first-year composition class to another, that instructors place different emphasis on one or another component of the course, and that procedures and policies vary with the instructors.

So that students understand what is expected of them in a particular section of a composition course, each instructor will present to students at the beginning of the semester a course syllabus that includes pertinent information about procedures and policies to be followed in that particular section during the semester. The syllabus usually explains the course objectives, lists the texts required or suggested, and provides students with the instructor's office telephone number and office hours. The syllabus may also describe the form the instructor wants students to follow when they submit papers and the instructor's individual policies on late papers and attendance. Many faculty members have peer review for one or more essays; therefore, nothing private should be written that other students should not read. The syllabus often also includes a tentative schedule of assignments and activities for the semester. The syllabus, then, is an informal agreement between individual instructors and their students on matters of policy, procedure, and assignments; students will benefit from studying the syllabus carefully early in the semester and by referring to it regularly during the weeks that follow. If a student realizes he can't meet the requirements in the syllabus, he should switch to another section within the first week of classes.

MCCCD Policies

• Attendance Policy

• Children on Campus

• Grading

• Copyright Act Compliance

• Taping of Classroom Lectures

• Other Policies

Preparation Time
For each hour spent in the classroom, students should plan on spending at least two hours' preparation, for example, for a three-semester-hour course, at least six hours' preparation. A student who has four three-hour courses would spend twelve hours in classes and twenty-four hours in preparation for a total of thirty-six hours a week. A student experiencing difficulty in a particular area would need to spend more time.

Instructors' Office Hours
English instructors are available and willing to help students. Full-time instructors indicate their office hours for fall and spring semesters (not summer) on the course syllabus, inviting students to confer individually with their instructors about progress, problems, and performance in the course. Part-time instructors do not normally keep office hours because they do not have an office. Some of them meet with students in the library before or after their classes. Students need not wait until l they are having a problem or have received low grades to talk with their instructor. Students often find that "talking through" an idea or requesting a few minutes of individual instruction can be of great help to them as they work through their assignments. Students may "reserve" the instructor's time by making an appointment, or they may informally visit the office. If a student's schedule conflicts with an instructor's office hours, the student can usually make an appointment to meet with the instructor at a mutually convenient time.

View English Instructor's contact information

Conferences
As the semester progresses, many instructors schedule mandatory conferences, which sometimes replace formal class meetings. This one-on-one instruction focuses on the individual student's strengths and weaknesses as a writer and often clarifies ideas that might be by-passed in general instruction. Students benefit most from these sessions when they bring with them the work they have done up to that point in the semester and a list of specific questions they hope to have answered during the conference.

Plagiarism
Plagiarism means stealing or passing off as one's own the words or ideas of another. Plagiarism occurs in academic writing in various ways:

Whatever its form, plagiarism is cheating. Like other forms of cheating, plagiarism carries serious consequences, which are determined by the instructor's evaluation of the nature and extent of the violation:

• The student will fail the assignment.

• The student may, and probably will, fail the course, regardless of other grades.

• The student may be dismissed from college.

Instructors seldom actively search for instances of plagiarism. On the contrary, plagiarism tends to make itself evident. Instructors sometimes detect plagiarism because they recognize material encountered in their own reading; the instructor may recognize the paper as one submitted in the past, perhaps to another instructor; most frequently, plagiarism involves a noticeable change in sentence structure, tone, or diction that signals to the experienced instructor that the work is not the student's own.

Honest Use of Sources
How can a student avoid plagiarism? The surest way to avoid plagiarism is the scrupulous acknowledgment of use of any source, even when the assignment does not specifically call for research or documentation. Every good writer who wants t o inform readers in a convincing way needs specific details, which the writer gathers from a variety of sources: friends, family members, experts in the field, books, magazines, and scholarly or professional journals, to name only a few potential " idea banks."

The rule-of-thumb for using these sources in writing is simple: let readers know the source of the idea or information. If the writer uses another's exact words (even a few of them), the writer encloses these words in quotation marks. Even when the writer summarizes or paraphrases another's ideas, the writer is responsible for letting readers know where the ideas as originated or where the pertinent information was discovered. If you are not sure how to credit sources, ask your instructor for help p. When in doubt about whether or not to acknowledge a source of information, give the source credit. Doing so guards the writer against charges of plagiarism and increases the writer's credibility with readers.

View the Plagiarism Policy and Resources to Avoid Plagiarism