*8/29       *自傳or 學習歷程自述 in English

                # Individual interviews and critical thinking tests

9/4           “Writing with a Central Idea” (Pt. I, chap. 1, pp. 1-7; 15-25; 27-28)

                The importance of understanding your readers

                How to build your vocabulary

                        Using the dictionary

                        Building vocabulary from your readings

                        Turning passive vocabulary into active vocabulary

9/11         “Writing the Research Paper” (Appendix, pp. 447-58)

                How to take notes for your readings

                        Choosing the tools

                        Building categories for your notes

                        Developing symbols

                How to take notes in class

                        Catching the key ideas

                        Finding the examples and explanations for the key ideas

                        Using your notes to review the materials

                @The exercises: “Sentence Combining: Embedding Adjectives, Adverbs, and Prepositional Phrases” (pp. 32-39)

9/18         “Using Narration as an Expository Technique” (Patterns, pp. 497-501)

                The reading for narration (1): “Without Emotion” (pp. 9-11)

                Speech: the life experience of an English major

                #The thesis statement and topic sentences for your narration essay-draft

                *A reading note and a class note for IWL

                *Class notes for speech 1

                @The exercises: “Sentence Combining: Coordination” (pp 67-75)

9/25         “Reading for the Central Idea” (Pt. I, chap. 2, pp. 41-45; 49-51)

                The reading for narration (2): “How to Stay Alive” (pp. 48-49)

                *A reading note and a class note for IL

                #The thesis statement and topic sentences for your narration essay-revised

10/2         “Summarizing and Responding to Reading” (Pt. II, chap. 1, pp. 155-58; 162-65; 167)

                Finding a topic from your readings

                Asking meaningful questions about your readings and provide an answer

                @The exercises: “Sentence Combining: Using Subordination” (pp. 108-13)

10/9         The reading for narration (3): “Pain” (Patterns, pp 514-20)

                *A summary of a story from IWL, three questions, and one answer with supporting materials

10/16       Introduction: “Supporting the Central Idea” (Pt. I, chap. 3, pp. 76-90)

                The reading for narration (4): “The Neglected Suicide Epidemic” (pp. 98-102)

                *An essay about yourself built on narration-draft

10/23       The midterm examination

10/30       “Illustrating Ideas by Use of Examples” (Patterns, pp. 43-48)

                The reading for example (1): “My Long Distant Life” (Contemporary, pp. 335-39)

11/6         Introduction: “Unity and Coherence” (Pt. I, chap. 4, pp. 114-26)

                The reading for example (2): “Liem and Anton” (Patterns: pp. 75-82)

                #The thesis statement and topic sentences for your example essay-draft

                @The exercises: “Sentence Combining: Verbal Phrases” (pp. 147-54)

                * An essay about yourself built on narration -revised

11/13      The reading for example (3): “Taking Care of Aging Parents” (Contemporary, pp. 344-48)

                #The thesis statement and topic sentences for your example essay-revised

                @The exercises: “Sentence Combining: Appositives” (pp. 195-99)

11/20       Introduction: “Explaining with the Help of Description” (Patterns, pp 441-46)

                The reading for description (1): “The Yellow Door House” (Patterns, pp. 480-84)

                *An essay about family built by examples-draft

11/27       The reading for description (2): “More Room” (Norton, pp 83-87)

                #Find one example of description from readings of IWL and explain its implication

12/4         The reading for description (3): “Once more to the Lake” (Norton, pp. 53-58)

                #The thesis statement and topic sentences for your description essay, with a picture-draft

                *An essay about family built by examples-revised

                @Sentence Combining: Parallelism” (pp, 230-35)

12/11       Presenting your understanding of who you are and who you want to be

                #The thesis statement and topic sentences for your description essay, with a picture-revised

12/18       The final examination

                *An essay about a space and its significance-draft

12/31       *An essay about a space and its significance-revised

Course Requirements:

1. Attendance and participation in class discussion are essential.  Students who have four or more than four absences, excused or not, will fail this course.

2. All reading assignments must be finished as instructed BEFORE class for discussion.

3. Students need to bring a notebook to class.

4. 3C products can be used only for the quiz or a quick check for vocabulary.

5. No late exercise will get full credits; late exercises will be penalized or rejected at the instructor’s discretion.

6. Students who cheat in exams or plagiarize will fail this course and be subject to disciplinary action.  Using AI to do the reading or writing exercises is considered a form of cheating.

Grading:

1. Class attendance and discussion: 15%

2. Writing and Reading Exercises: 50%

3. Quizzes: 15%

3. Midterm and Final Examination: 20

Required:

McDonald, Stephen, William Salomone, Sonia Gutiérrez, and Martin Japtok.  The Writer's Response: A Reading-Based Approach to Writing.  Sixth Edition.  Cengage Learning, 2017. (900è765)

Dictionary of Common Errors.  Eds. N. D. Turton and J. B. Heaton.  Second Edition.  England: Longman, 1996. (https://ia903109.us.archive.org/33/items/longmandictionaryofcommonerrors_201911/Longman%20Dictionary%20Of%20Common%20Errors.pdf)

Bibliography for the readings

Schwegler, Robert A.  Patterns of Exposition.Seventeenth Edition.  New York: Longman, 2004.

Peterson, Linda H., John C. Brereton, and Joan E. Hartman, eds.  The Norton Reader: an Anthology of Nonfiction Prose.  Shorter 10th Edition.  New York: Norton, 2002.

Goshgarian, Gary.  The Contemporary Reader.  Eighth Edition.  New York: Longman, 2005.

Suggested:

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary.  2^nd Edition.  Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2005. Print. ($850è723)

Chalker Sylvia.  English Grammar: Word by Word.  Hong Kong: Nelson, 1990.  (300è255)

Collins Cobuild Advanced Dictionary of American English.  Boston: Harper Collins P, 2007. Print.  ($980è500)

Oxford English Dictionary.  Oxford: Oxford: UP, 2013.  Web.