English Language Department

ENGLISH 101-091: Introduction to Academic Discourse

Your teacher: David Berry

Student Name: ______________________________________

Student E-mail: ______________________________________

Student Mobile: ______________________________________

David Berry

Table of Contents
Part 1: Introduction
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Course Info Sheet

Student Survey
Student-teacher contract
Office Visits Record
Introduction to Blackboard
Assignment # 1

Part 2: Lessons
Unit 1: The process of writing
Brainstorming & organizing ideas
Outlining
Revising & editing
Editing checklist
Revising checklist

Unit 2: Essay overview

Introduction to academic essays
Understanding introduction paragraphs
Grasping thesis statement
Learning about body paragraphs
Unity
Developing a conclusion paragraph
Surveying types of essay

Unit 3: Cause / effect essay

Process of writing this cause/effect essay
Effect essay: model & template
Peer editing form
Grammar of cause / effect
Cause essay: model & template
Cause & effect essay: model & template
Grading Table
Writing Task # 2 Practice: Benefit of exercise

Unit 4: Compare & contrast essay

Introduction
Essay organization A: subject-by-subject essay
Model & template
Essay organization B:: point-by-point essay
Model & template
Grammar & vocabulary for CC essay
Process of writing a CC essay
Peer editing form
Grading Table
Writing task 3 Practice: Bedouin

Unit 5: Argument essay

Introduction & process
Layout 35553
Layout 3773
Grading Table
Peer editing form
Essay organization A: layout 3773

Model & template

Essay organization B: layout 35553
Model & template
Vocabulary & grammar
Writing Task 4 Practice 1: At-home assignments
Writing Task 4 Practice 2: Internet

Appendix 1: Lessons in correspondence-writing

Introduction
Template & example for a letter
Template & example for a memo
Template & example for an email
Phrases for correspondences
Practice
Resume writing
Grading Table

Appendix 2: Lessons in grammar & mechanics

Making subjects and verbs agree
Understanding verb tenses
Using compound sentences
Taking a look at complex sentences
Identifying sentences and sentence fragments
Parallel structure
Capitals done right
A positive attitude to appsitives
The little words count: Articles

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Part 3: Assignments (in-class & at-home)

Writing Task # 2: Cause & effect essay
Writing Task # 3: Compare & contrast essay
Writing Task # 4: Argument essay
E-Portfolio entries 1-6: see Blackboard Discussion for instructions
Oral Presentations
Quiz readings

Part 1:
Introduction to course

Course Info Sheet (CIS)

1) Teacher Info
Name

David Berry

Office

Building 14, Room 257-4

Online contact

Blackboard mail

7:00 7:50
8:00 8:50
9:00 9:50
10:00 10:50
11:00 11:50
1:10 2:00
2:10 3:00
3:10 4:00
4:10 5:00

Office hours
Saturday
Sunday

Monday

Office hours

Office hours

Office hours

Tuesday

Wednesday
Office hours

Office hours

2) Classroom policies
a) Absence & medical excuses:
Missed class work & announcements: All students are responsible for class work

& announcements during missed classes. Students should:

Ask about any missed class announcements or tests. Ask teacher or students.
Prepare required class work & homework assignments.
Excused & unexcused absence: An excused absent = student has an official medical
excuse from the Department of Student Affairs or the KFUPM Clinic. No other hospital
excuses will be accepted.

Missed class work (medical excuse): Students will either be allowed to make
up any graded class work that contributes to your final grade or be given an average of
the terms work.

Official excuses: must be presented within one week of returning to class or they will not
be accepted.

Missed work for personal reasons (unexcused absence): According to ELD

policy, if your excuse for missing a class (and test) is personal, your teacher is not, under
any circumstance, permitted to excuse you so, do not ask him. You grade is zero.

Unexcused absence policy:

Unexcused absence
04
5
6
7
8

Grade deductions
No deduction
-1%
-2%
-3%
-4%

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10
15

-5%
DN
DN

b) Late: Students who come to the class 5 minutes after the class starts are LATE. Three lates and
that student is absent for one class.

c) Plagarism: You must do your own work. You will receive a full grade if your writing is
original and not from other people or sources.
d) Come to class prepared: Every class, students should bring:
Binder (with all course documents)
Writing paper (blank)
Pen/pencil & eraser
Students who dont bring these will receive a lower Participation grade.

e) Emailing the teacher SUBJECT line: The SUBJECT line of your emails to your
teacher must be acceptable.

ACCEPTABLE: For example: 18-2-WT2 (your section number=18; serial number=2; your main
subject = Writing Task 2)

UNACCEPTABLE: urgent, emergency, hi, help, begging, please, problem, thank you, question

3) Grades
A+

93 100%

90 92%

B+

85 89%

80 84%

C+

75 79%

70 74%

D+

65 69%

60 64%

0 59%

Students who have final grades of 59,

69, 79, or 89, may have their grades raised to
the next level if they meet the minimum
requirements of 2 or less unexcused absences,
have completed all major assignments on
time, and have achieved an appropriate level
of performance.

ENGL101 Student Survey

(1) Name: ___________________________ Student ID #: _______________
(2) Age: _____________ (3) Phone number: ______________________
(4) Previous instructors:
001: ___________________________________________________________
002: ___________________________________________________________
(5) Hometown: __________________________________________________
(6) Where do you live during the week? _______________________________
(7) What company do you want to work for? ____________________________
________________________________________________________________
(8) Program/Major: _______________________________________________
(9) How many courses are you studying this semester? _________________
________________________________________________________________
(10) What was the easiest course last semester? ________________________
(11) What was the most difficult course last semester? ____________________
(12) How many hours can you do homework every night for all your courses?
___________________
(13) What are your interests or hobbies? _____________________________
_______________________________________________________________

(14) What do you do on the weekends? ______________________________

_______________________________________________________________

Lets make a contract about learning in the classroom. Think about your classroom, your teacher,
and your learning. What should we do to make this Course very helpful?
First, write in your opinion in 1,2,3 and 9, 10,11. Then we will complete the others together.

Learning Contract
We, the teacher and the students of ENG101, agree with these policies for our English class.
The teacher and students should follow these policies. If anybody breaks these policies, he will
explain to the other students. These policies are agreed class policies from today for two weeks.
We will discuss these policies after two weeks.
In our English classes...
1. The teacher should ...........................................................................................
2. The teacher should ...........................................................................................
3. The teacher should ............................................................................................
4. The teacher should ............................................................................................
5. The teacher should ............................................................................................
6. The teacher should ...........................................................................................
7. The student should ..........................................................................................
8. The teacher should ..........................................................................................
9. The student should ..........................................................................................
10. The student should .......................................................................................
11. The student should ........................................................................................
12. The student should .......................................................................................
13. The student should .......................................................................................
14. The student should ......................................................................................
15. The student should ..........................................................................................
16. The student should ..........................................................................................

Signatures: _____________________ _________________________

Date: __________________________________
Adapted from Finch & Hyun (2000). The Way Ahead. Seoul: Hakmunsa, p.18.

Office Visits Record

Name:_____________________ Section: ______ Serial #: _____
This semester (082), you will be evaluated on the number of useful visits you make to your instructor. Please bring this
office visit record slip with you whenever you visit me in class, the Library or my Building 58 office. In order not to lose
this record of your visits which must be presented to your instructor at the end of the semester, please staple it into your
textbook. You are responsible for the safety of this record. (Jameson/Spring 2007)
Date of Visit

Purpose of Visit

Instructor's Initials

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Introduction to Blackboard
Part 1: Finding your classes in your Blackboard CE8 account:
4) After clicking Academic tab,
click My Courses Page in

1) Open www.kfupm.edu.sa:

Blackboard CE 8

2) Click Portal. Enter your username

& password.
5) Click your classes link (for
example: 091-ENGL-101-09
Introduction to Academic
Discourse)

3) In the portal, click the Academics

tab.

6) Your course homepage should now open.

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Part 2: Features of the course homepage

1) Course Tools
z How many tools? ___
z How .can you
check basic class info? _____
check for due dates and class events?
_____
submit an assignment? ____
write a discussion post? ____
check for useful websites? ____
check for important class
announcements? _____
send teacher mail? _____

2) My tools
z How can you
check your class progress? ____
store your files? _____

3) Course content
z How can you
...check your grades & attendance?
______
study the weekly vocabulary?
______
get help with Blackboard?
______

Part 3: Post a message in the Discussion forum

1) Click Discussions -- Do you want to write a new post or respond to an old post?
a) New post: Click
b) Respond to an old post: Click

2) Write your message. Click SUBMIT.

Part 4: Sending attachments or email with Blackboard

1) Open the course homepage. Click Mail.

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2) You see the left window below. Click Create Message. Then, you see the
right window below.

3) Click Browse for Recipients button. Search for my name (D BERRY). Click
my name. Click SAVE.

4) Click Add Attachments and add your attachment. Click Send button.

Part 5: Example of Calendar page in Blackboard.

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Part 6: Viewing My Progress

Part 7: Viewing My Grades

Each student can see his grade in My Grades. Comments will be posted there
also by your teacher.

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Assignment # 1
Assignments & tests schedule: Calendar Search
(a) Look at the list of Assignments and tests. How many Assignments do you see? ____
How many tests do you see? _____
Assignment

Test

Writing Task 1
Writing Task 2 draft
Writing Task 2 final

Submission procedure
Class
Bb
Print
writing
submit submit

10
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.8
0.02

0.02

At home

0.02

0.02

In class
At home
At home

0.02

At home

0.02

At home

0.02

At home

0.02
0.02
0.02
0.02
0.02
0.02
0.02
0.02
0.02
0.02
0.02
0.02
10 + 5

In class
In class
In class
In class
In class
In class
In class
In class
In class
In class
In class
In class
Reading

a
a
a
a

Quiz 1
(RDO1)
Quiz 2
(RDO2)
Quiz 3
(RMI)
Quiz 4
(RSF 1a)
Quiz 5
(RSF 1b)
Quiz 6
(RSF 1c)
Quiz 7
(RSF 1d)
Quiz 8
Quiz 9
Quiz 10
Quiz 11
Quiz 12
Quiz 13
Quiz 14
Quiz 15
Quiz 16
Quiz 17
Quiz 18
Quiz 19
Final Exam
+ EPT

Notes

a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a

a
a

10
10

Due date
or test
date

Common
In class
At home
Reading
In class
At home
In class
At home
In class
At home
At home
At home
At home
At home
At home
At home
At home

Midterm
Writing Task 3 draft
Writing Task 3 final
Writing Task 4 draft
Writing Task 4 final
Oral Presentation
E-Portfolio entry 1
E-Portfolio entry 2
E-Portfolio entry 3
E-Portfolio entry 4
E-Portfolio entry 5
E-Portfolio entry 6
E-Portfolio entry 7

Weight
(%)

10
15
a
15
a

a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a

14

TOTAL

100

(b) Look at the Calendar on Blackboard. Each Assignment and test is

mentioned in the Calendar. There is one calendar for each month in this course.
Each Assignment has a due date and each test has a test date. Write the due
dates and test dates in the table.
For example:

Assignment
Writing Task 2

Due Date Grade %

Oct 15
10

Note:
1. Submission procedures: There are different submission procedures for the assignments.
Students must read these procedures before submitting assignments. Not following the
submission procedure means losing grades.
a. Class writing: students write assignment in class & teacher stamps after the writing.
b. Bb submit: student types assignment & submits it through Blackboard (copy &
paste in Submission box in the Assignment tool).
c. Print submit: student types assignment & submits print to the teacher in class.
2. Late: Assignments lose 5% per day late.
3. Cut-off: Assignments are not accepted one week after the due date.
4. Draft submission: All writing tasks lose 10% if no draft was submitted. If the
student wants feedback on his draft, then tell the teacher.

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