Butler Community College	English Department
Humanities/Fine Arts Department	Spring 1997

Communications I
Course outline

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
EG111. Communications I. 3 hours credit. This course is designed to improve students' skills in reading, writing, and understanding. Emphasis is placed on the importance and basic methods of communicating with others and on the practical application of material improvement of basic grammar, spelling, punctuation, and work usage; organization and application of material for Engineering laboratory reports; and understanding and use of library facilities.

TEXTBOOK:
Fawcett, Susan and Alvin Sandberg. Evergreen: A Guide to Writing. Third Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1988.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

1. To aid students in producing writing that is relatively free from technical and mechanical errors.
2. To aid students in writing unified, well-organized, and well-developed sentences and paragraphs, which show orderly thinking and offer concrete illustration and evidence for ideas.
3. To encourage students to use the dictionary.
4. To acquaint students with the basic sentence and developmental paragraph writing which can be expanded in form, content, and organization.

TOPICAL OUTLINE OF UNITS:

I. Review The Basics

1.    The Simple Sentence
2.    Agreement
3.    Parts of Speech
4.    Mechanics
5.    Spelling

II. Discovering The Paragraph

1. Prewriting
2. The Topic Sentence
3. Coherence

III. Developing The Paragraph

1. Illustration
2. Description
3. Process
4. Definition
5. Comparison and Contrast
6. Classification

IV. Improving The Paragraph

1. Consistency and Parallelism
2. Sentence Variety
3. Language Awareness

METHODS OF INSTRUCTION:
Methods of class instruction may include: lecture; class discussion; daily exercises; tests, including quizzes and chapter or unit test; handouts; reports; and writing assignments, both in and out of class. There will be special list of spelling and vocabulary words that are used in engineering and math classes.

Telecourses: Independent study of audio/video materials augmented by text and study guide; collaboration and participation with class members and faculty via available means. Faculty role is facilitator of learning experiences.

METHODS OF EVALUATION:
Method of evaluation may include the following: tests, both essay and objective; daily work; written compositions; class participation; and other methods of evaluation at the discretion of the individual instructor.

Miscellaneous:
Students with impaired sensory, manual or speaking skills are encouraged and have the responsibility to contact their instructor in a timely fashion regarding reasonable accommodation needs.