Composition Standards and Policies

California State University, Bakersfield
Composition Standards

English 100: Critical Thinking and Writing

Prerequisite: Total English Placement Test score between 142 and 154 OR a grade of C- or higher in English 80 or 90.

To advance to English 110, students must earn a grade of C- or higher in English 100.

To be eligible for a C- in English 100, students must earn a C- or higher on at least one in-class writing assignment and a C- average on all other course assignments.

Course Description: Study of rhetorical patterns as critical thinking strategies to help students develop effective college-level writing skills. Frequent short papers in a variety of essay modes are assigned, and the fundamentals of grammar, usage, and spelling are reviewed as necessary. Tutoring is required with this course.

Course Goals
At the end of ten weeks, students in English 100 should be able to do the following:
1. read and write literally, interpretively, and analytically or critically;
2. recognize the differences among thesis statements, topic sentences/main ideas, and supporting details/evidence;
3. understand how the thesis statement, topic sentences, and supporting details work together;
4. recognize a writer’s tone and how it informs a text’s statements; this includes analyzing diction and syntax;
5. begin to recognize how a writer’s choices affect and inform the text;
6. summarize the main and supporting points contained in an article or essay on a particular topic;
7. write essays that are logically organized, well developed, coherent, and mechanically sound;
8. recognize bias in readings;
9. synthesize ideas from various sources;
10. incorporate quotation, summary, and paraphrase, using in-text documentation;
11. use a handbook;
12. recognize plagiarism;
13. revise and edit their own writing using standard, edited American English.

Reading and Writing Requirements
Assignments will move from reading to writing and may be distributed among the following:
● Silent Sustained Reading (SSR) fifteen minutes per class meeting
● reading strategies (i.e. think aloud, chunking, annotating, highlighting, key words, T
charts, and “Say, Mean, Matter”)
● three one-paragraph summaries or readings
● three to five essays (2 to 3 pages in length), at least two of which will be written in
class
● one documented synthesis (3 to 4 pages in length), which may be informative or argumentative


Writing Workshop
You are responsible for completing 10 MyWritingLab topics in conjunction with your English 100 class. This requirement is worth 10% of your overall English 100 grade. To receive full credit, you must earn a score of 80% or higher on both the Recall and Apply sections for at least one MyWritingLab topic per week, for a total of 10 topics. Since this is an online workshop, you can work on these topics outside of class, so long as you master at least one topic per week. This means that you should not wait until the end of the quarter to complete all ten topics.

To use MyWritingLab, you need to register to the site and create a user profile using your access code packaged with your Quick Access and the following course identification number:

Course ID#--####

For more help registering to the site and creating your user profile, view the power point at the following Web site:

http://www.csub.edu/mwl/eng100mwl.html

Note: To avoid double enrollment in MyWritingLab, students should not be enrolled in Humanities 277.1 while also enrolled in English 100. If you are enrolled in Humanities 277.1, please let your instructor know immediately.



Note: In order to be guaranteed a spot in English 110, you will need to clear all registration holds, including your mandatory freshman health hold. To do this, you need to go to the campus Health Center and follow their directions about your particular hold. If these holds are not cleared, you will not be registered into English 110.



Note: Please be aware that you are responsible for registering for your other classes.