ENGL 1101 Common Policies – Spring 2024

University System of Georgia Core Impacts for ENGL 1101

ENGL 1101 ENGL COMPOSITION I

This is a Core IMPACTS course that is part of the Writing area.

Core IMPACTS refers to the core curriculum, which provides students with essential knowledge in foundational academic areas. This course will help master course content, and support students’ broad academic and career goals.

This course should direct students toward a broad Orienting Question:

    •  How do I write effectively in different contexts?

Completion of this course should enable students to meet the following Learning Outcomes:

    • Students will communicate effectively in writing, demonstrating clear organization and structure, using appropriate grammar and writing conventions.
    • Students will appropriately acknowledge the use of materials from original sources.
    • Students will adapt their written communications to purpose and audience.
    • Students will analyze and draw informed inferences from written texts.

Course content, activities and exercises in this course should help students develop the following Career-Ready Competencies:

    • Critical Thinking
    • Information Literacy
    • Persuasion

Georgia Tech General Education Outcome for Communication

Learning Goal A1: Communication
Student will demonstrate proficiency in the process of articulating and organizing rhetorical arguments in written, oral, visual, and nonverbal modes, using concrete support and conventional language.

Learning Outcomes for English 1101

Rhetorical Knowledge

Rhetorical knowledge focuses on the available means of persuasion, considering factors such as context, audience, purpose, genre, medium, and conventions.

 Explore and use with purpose key rhetorical concepts through analyzing and composing a variety of written texts. These concepts include:

    • Rhetorical situation: purpose, audience, context
    • Genre 
    • Argumentation: controlling purpose, evidence

Develop an understanding of the ways in which rhetorical concepts can be transferred to multimodal artifacts

Gain experience reading and composing in several genres to understand how genre conventions shape and are shaped by readers’ and writers’ practices and purposes

Develop facility in responding to a variety of situations and contexts calling for purposeful shifts in voice, tone, level of formality, design, medium, and/or structure

Critical Thinking, Writing, and Composing

Critical thinking is the ability to analyze, synthesize, interpret, and evaluate ideas, information, situations, and texts.

Use composing and reading for inquiry, learning, critical thinking, and communicating in various rhetorical contexts

Read a diverse range of written texts, attending especially to relationships between assertion and evidence, to patterns of organization, to the interplay between verbal and nonverbal elements, and to how these features function for different audiences and situations

Use strategies—such as interpretation, synthesis, response, critique, and design/redesign—to compose texts that integrate the writer’s ideas with those from appropriate sources

Processes

Writers use multiple strategies, or composing processes,to conceptualize, develop, finalize, and distribute projects. Composing processes are recursive and adaptable in relation to different rhetorical situations.

Understand that writing is a process

Develop a writing project through multiple stages

Develop flexible strategies for reading, drafting, reviewing, collaborating, revising, rewriting, rereading, and editing

Use composing processes and tools as a means to discover and reconsider ideas

Experience the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes   

Learn to give and to act on productive feedback to works in progress  

Reflect on the development of composing practices and how those practices influence their work

Knowledge of Conventions

Conventions are the formal rules and informal guidelines that define genres, and in so doing, shape readers’ and writers’ perceptions of correctness or appropriateness.

Develop knowledge of linguistic structures, including grammar, punctuation, and spelling, through practice in composing and revising

Learn common formats and/or design features for different kinds of written texts

Explore the concepts of intellectual property (such as fair use and copyright) that motivate documentation conventions

Evaluation Equivalencies

In this course, this is what your letter grades mean. Your instructor has the option of using +/- in grading an individual assignment; he or she will indicate the grading policy on the course syllabus. Remember that Georgia Tech does NOT use +/- for course grades.

Letter grade
(NB: Georgia Tech does NOT use +/- for course grades. Likewise, some instructors do NOT use +/-  for grading assignments. If your instructor uses +/- for grading assignments, the table shows the equivalencies.)
Numeric Equivalent
in this Class

A: 90-100

Superior performance—rhetorically, aesthetically, and technically—demonstrating advanced understanding and use of the media in particular contexts. An inventive spark and exceptional execution.

 A+
98-100
A
94-97
A-
90-93

B: 80-89

Above-average, high-quality performance—rhetorically, aesthetically, and technically.

 B+
88-89
B
84-87
B-
80-83

C: 70-79

Average (not inferior) performance. Competent and acceptable—rhetorically, aesthetically, and technically.

 C+
78-79
C
74-77
C-
70-73

D: 60-69

Below-average performance. Less than competent — rhetorically, aesthetically, and/or technically.

 D+
68-69
D
64-67
D-
60-63

F: 0-59

Unacceptable performance. Failure to meet even minimum criteria rhetorically, aesthetically, and/or technically.

 F
1-59
0 (zero) Work not submitted
0

Common Feedback Chart

Click here for the programmatic Common Feedback Chart.

 

Course Completion

In all sections of ENGL 1101 and 1102, failure to complete any component of the course, including projects, assignments, and stages of projects or assignments, may result in failure of the course, as determined by the instructor of the course in consultation with the Director of the Writing and Communication Program.

 

Attendance, Engagement, and Participation

Writing and Communication Program courses require students to be active in engaging with their courses. This engagement takes different forms depending on the instructor’s expectations and requirements for the course. Students should attend, participate, and engage in the course according to the instructor’s requirements, as indicated on the course syllabus.

Required Textbooks

ENGL 1101 uses two required texts:

  • The Everyday Writer, available through The Bedford Bookshelf
  • The WOVENText Open Educational Resource, available at woventext.lmc.gatech.edu.

Individual instructors may have additional required books and/or resources for your section—please consult the class syllabus or your instructor.

Access codes for The Bedford Bookshelf are available at the GT Barnes and Noble bookstore. You can also purchase and access the textbook directly through Macmillan Publishing.

Dean of Students and Center for Mental Health Care and Services

Attending college can be a stressful time; don’t hesitate to ask for help if you’re feeling overly anxious, stressed, or depressed. Georgia Tech has two main ways to seek support: through the Office of the Dean of Students and through the Center for Mental Health Care and Services. Both units work closely together to support Georgia Tech students. You can seek support by using the contact information below—whether or not you are currently on campus.

Office of the Dean of Students
http://studentlife.gatech.edu
Charles A. Smithgall Jr Student Services Building (also known as the Flag Building), Suite 210
(404) 894-6367

Center for Mental Health Care and Services
https://mentalhealth.gatech.edu/
Charles A. Smithgall Jr Student Services Building (also known as the Flag Building), Suite 328
404-894-2575 (including 24-hour, seven-day-a-week access to a counselor on call).

Statement Regarding Insecurity

When students face insecurity regarding food, shelter, clothing, or other necessary resources, it can be difficult to learn. It’s important to know that you are not alone in dealing with these issues. Georgia Tech offers support for students through the Students’ Temporary Assistance and Resources office located within the Division of Student Life. These resources include a food pantry, campus closet, temporary housing options, and emergency funding.

Hall Building Food Pantry

Students facing food insecurity can find food in Darcy’s Pantry, located on the upper level of the Stephen C. Hall Building (215 Bobby Dodd Way). The pantry is named in memory of Dr. Darcy Mullen, a scholar of food security and activist for student welfare.

Campus Carry

Familiarize yourself with the guidance from the University System of Georgia regarding House Bill 280, commonly known as “campus carry.”

Safety

Classroom and campus safety are of paramount importance at Georgia Tech. Safety is the shared responsibility of all of us throughout the entire campus. The Writing and Communication Program urges faculty and students to follow the ALERT, ASSESS, ACT protocol for all types of emergencies and the RUN, HIDE, FIGHT response for active shooter incidents.

  • Remain ALERT through direct observation and emergency notifications.
  • ASSESS your specific situation (e.g., threats, people, location, conditions).
  • ACT in the most appropriate way to ensure your own safety and the safety of others if you are able.

Please view the FBI’s RUN, HIDE, FIGHT response for active shooter incidents: https://youtu.be/5VcSwejU2D0.

Please make sure you are familiar with GTENS (Georgia Tech’s Emergency Notification System), which allows you to receive time-sensitive emergency messages in e-mail, voice mail, and text messages, as well as the LiveSafe app, a comprehensive safety app that enables you to call or text GTPD quickly on your mobile phone. Please review and act on these five safety practices:

  • GTENS Notification: Review the Georgia Tech Emergency Preparedness notification information and register (if you haven’t already) through the link at https://passport.gatech.edu.
  • LiveSafe: Use this link to download the LiveSafe app to your smartphone (if you haven’t already): https://livesafe.gatech.edu
  • GT Police: Make sure the Georgia Tech Police Department number is in your Smartphone: (404) 894-2500. Call this number for any on-campus emergency.
  • 9-1-1: In an emergency, you can always dial 9-1-1. If you call 9-1-1 from your cell phone, the call will be directed to the City of Atlanta Dispatch Center. Immediately tell the dispatcher that you are calling from Georgia Tech, and your call will be transferred to the Georgia Tech Police Department Operations Center.
  • Classes for Safety and Emergency Preparedness: Classes in crime prevention techniques, self-defense, property protection, and emergency preparedness, as well as additional resources, are available through the GTPD website: police.gatech.edu

Student Support Resources

The following resources are available to all Georgia Tech students. Remember that help is available.

Non–Discrimination and Inclusion

The Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, and the Writing and Communication Program support the Georgia Institute of Technology’s commitment to creating a campus free of discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or veteran status. We further affirm the importance of cultivating an intellectual climate that allows us to better understand the similarities and differences of those who constitute the Georgia Tech community, as well as the necessity of working against inequalities that may also manifest here as they do in the broader society.

Alternative viewpoints are welcome in this class; however, statements that are deemed racist, sexist, homophobic, classist, or otherwise discriminatory toward others in the class or outside the class will not be tolerated.

Communication Center

The Communication Center is located in Clough Commons, Suite 447 and is Georgia Tech’s tutoring center dedicated to supporting all students (undergraduate or graduate) in their communication-related projects. The Center’s trained consultants can help with projects ranging from multimodal assignments for English 1101 and English 1102 to graduate school applications, from engineering and science reports to oral presentations, from storyboards for videos to poster designs, from grant proposals to job cover letters and resumes.

The Center itself is physically located in Clough but offers both in-person and online appointments. For online appointments, students have the option to meet with a consultant via Zoom or get written feedback (an asynchronous appointment). Staff include undergraduate and faculty consultants who are each uniquely qualified to provide students with feedback on their projects. The Center is open for in-person and online appointments MTWRF 9:00am-5:00pm, and for online appointments MTWR 5:00pm-8:00pm.

For more information or to make an appointment, please visit the Center’s webpage at http://communicationcenter.gatech.edu. If you have any questions or want assistance making an appointment, please email us at commlab@gatech.edu.

 

Accommodations

Georgia Tech is committed to creating a learning environment that meets the needs of its diverse student body. If you anticipate or experience any barriers to learning in this course, please discuss your concerns with your instructor.

Students with disabilities, whether physical, learning, or psychological, who believe that they need accommodations, are encouraged to contact the Office of Disability Services as soon as possible to ensure accommodations are implemented promptly. Students must provide documentation of their disability to ODS by uploading the forms into the AIM portal.

  • Visit: Smithgall Student Services Building (Flag Building), Suite 221 on 353 Ferst Drive
  • Email: dsinfo@gatech.edu
  • Phone: 404-894-2563 (V); 404-894-1664 (TDD); 404-894-5429 (fax)
  • Website: disabilityservices.gatech.edu

Academic Misconduct

One serious kind of academic misconduct is plagiarism, which occurs when a writer, speaker, or designer deliberately uses someone else’s language, ideas, images, or other original material or code without fully acknowledging its source by quotation marks as appropriate, in footnotes or endnotes, in works cited, and in other ways as appropriate (modified from WPA Statement on “Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism”). If you engage in plagiarism or any other form of academic misconduct, you will fail the assignment in which you have engaged in academic misconduct and be referred to the Office of Student Integrity, as required by Georgia Tech policy. We strongly urge you to be familiar with these Georgia Tech sites:

Syllabus Modifications

This syllabus—especially the required reading and assignment schedule—may be modified as the semester progresses to meet course outcomes and address the needs of members of the class.

Final Instructional Class Days and Reading Periods

Institute policies regarding Final Instructional Days and Reading Periods can be found in the GT Catalog.

Final Instructional Class Days

No tests or quizzes are to be administered on Final Instructional Class Days.

Graded homework or assignments, course projects, demonstrations, and presentations may be due during Final Instructional Class Days, provided they are listed on the syllabus at the start of the semester.

All assignments, other than the final portfolio, should be graded and reported to students on or before the last final instructional day.

Reading Periods

No classes meet during Reading Periods.

No assignments, projects, presentations, or other graded activities can be due or take place during Reading Periods.

Instructors may schedule optional study review sessions for students during Reading Periods (but no credit or extra credit may be attached to these optional sessions).

Multimodal Reflection Portfolio

The portfolio assignment information and technical instructions can be found here. 

In lieu of a final exam, ENGL 1101 and 1102 require you complete a final multimodal portfolio due during your section’s scheduled final exam time (see here for the final exam schedule). The portfolio will include examples of your WOVEN work products, a substantial reflective essay, and brief introductions to each artifact. Your portfolio counts between 15% (minimum) and 20% (maximum) of the course grade, as indicated by your instructor; you must submit a portfolio in order to pass the course.

The portfolio assignment information and technical instructions can be found here. Please note that your instructor may have more specific instructions or requirements related to the portfolio; these instructions or requirements will be specified prior to the withdrawal deadline. You will develop your portfolio throughout the semester and work on finalizing it during the final two (for T/Th classes) or three (for MWF classes) class sessions of the semester.

Multimodal Reflection Portfolio Submission Policies

If you submit the portfolio incorrectly so that your instructor is unable to access it, or have incorrect settings on your portfolio so that your instructor is unable to access it, your instructor may penalize you according to the policies listed in the syllabus, including assigning a zero for the assignment.

While Canvas allows you to continue updating your portfolio after submitting the link, please note that any editing of the portfolio after the submission deadline will be considered a violation of the Georgia Tech Honor Code and may be referred to the Office of Student Integrity.

Technical Support

Canvas Support

Phone (24/7): 1-877-259-8498

Chat (24/7): Chat with Canvas Support (Students)

Email: canvas@gatech.edu

Bedford Bookshelf (Writer/Designer) (VitalSource) Support

Call/text/chat/email: https://support.vitalsource.com/hc/en-us/requests/new