Welcome to the English Department at South Suburban College

This department has many types of English language writing courses, from developmental through required college level General Education courses through technical and creative writing courses. There are also a variety of literature courses, most of which satisfy a General Education Humanities requirement, and courses that study the usage of English. Many courses are available as Honors courses.

Mission

South Suburban College is proud to offer courses designed to give students the transfer courses and skills they need to go on to advanced degree institutions. Most of these courses are specifically designed for transfer, enabling students to complete their first two years of coursework leading towards a Bachelor’s degree in virtually any field of study at a four year college or university.
Please Note: To ensure correct placement in the proper introductory English course, new students are required to write an essay.
English 101 and 102 courses are held in computer labs, and it is highly recommended that students be proficient in keyboarding. Students lacking basic computer skills may want to take OAT 100.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

ENGLISH 101 and 102 (General Education)

At the conclusion of each course, the student will be able to:

• Use various invention, drafting, and revising/editing strategies.
• Apply the principles of specific rhetorical forms to the writing of effective compositions.
• Establish a voice appropriate to the topic selected and the rhetorical situation.
• Clarify major aims, arrange material to support aims, and provide sufficient materials to satisfy expectations of readers.
• Explore writing as a means of self-discovery and produce a text that is designed to persuade the readers of the writer’s commitments.
• Analyze critically one’s own writings, using proven composition principles.
• Revise one’s own work based on proven composition principles.
• Demonstrate satisfactory control over the conventions of edited American English.
• Analyze complex materials, including but not limited to literary texts, scientific texts, business texts, literary non-fiction, autobiography, film, or other college-level materials appropriate to analytical writing (ENG102).
• Select, evaluate, and interact effectively with sources by:
  • Acquiring information from print sources and from electronic sources including but not limited to such sources as the internet, on-line dictionaries, encyclopedias, magazines, and journals.
  • Selecting and narrowing a research topic and preparing a workable thesis statement.
  • Preparing an outline for research projects.
  • Effectively using quotation, summary, and paraphrase with a research project.
  • Accurately citing and documenting primary and secondary sources using MLA and APA documentation.
  • Demonstrating these skills in a research project or projects which meet a minimum of 10 pages of documented writing (ENG102).

ENGLISH 097, 098, and 099 (Developmental English)

At the end of the course, the student will be able to:

• Employ elements of the “writing process” within their composing process.
• Compose adequately supported paragraphs with topic sentences.
• Create (consistently) basic, clear Standard English sentences that exhibit a concrete understanding of sentence boundaries.
• Demonstrate an improved ability to edit writing according to the conventions of Standard English regarding sentence structure, basic punctuation, subject/verb agreement, commonly used verb tenses, and spelling (ENG097).
• Employ elements of the writing process within their composing process.
• Write unified, coherent, thoughtfully developed paragraphs employing transition words and phrases.
• Create multi-paragraph writings that adequately support a thesis or main idea.
• Demonstrate control (not necessarily mastery) of basic punctuation, commonly used verb tenses, homophones, and subject/verb agreement.
  Write clear sentences within paragraphs that effectively utilize subordination, coordination, and demonstrate a growing fluency with other sentence types (ENG098).
• Write focused and developed essays that include a thesis statement with support and an effective conclusion.
• Demonstrate adequate control of the conventions of Standard Written English and produce writing free of errors which interrupt meaning.
• Use basic criteria for evaluating writing, such as Audience Awareness, Word Choice, Organization, coherence, Development, Support, and Mechanics.
• Demonstrate the ability to write complex sentences in varying sentence patterns within paragraphs and essays (ENG099).

CREATIVE WRITING COURSE OUTCOMES

At the conclusion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Identify the basic elements of fiction: plot, characterization, symbolism, setting, point of view, theme, imagery, and tone.
• Identify external and internal conflicts in the literature discussed, to recognize stylistic techniques writers use to create fiction, to become familiar with the most common methods of symbolism in fiction, to distinguish between actual dialogue and paraphrase techniques, to create realistic dialogue to develop characters in fiction, to understand different points of view writers use to create their fiction, to know how theme is developed, and to understand the four effects of setting in fiction (ENG105).
• Identify fundamental elements of poetry, especially structure, sound, and theme.
• Apply fundamental technique to produce and revise poems.
• Demonstrate familiarity with the major categories of poetry in their historical context.
• Use criteria for evaluating poems, including application of appropriate structure, sound devices, and thematic elements.

TECH WRITING COURSE OUTCOMES

At the conclusion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Identify fundamental elements of technical writing.
• Apply technical writing technique to produce and revise business and technical writing required in the workplace.
• Demonstrate familiarity with the major categories of technical and business writing, including causal analysis, project cost analyses, and proposals.
• Use criteria for evaluating written reports, including application of appropriate criteria for clarity, organization, and specificity.

LITERATURE COURSE OUTCOMES

At the conclusion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Effectively analyze and evaluate texts which may include poetry, letters, epistles, short stories, journals, and plays.
• Recognize changes in style, language, genre, and literary period.
• Contextualize the works of literature within particular cultural, historical, ideological, economic, Gender-based, psychological, etc., frameworks.
• Apply basic concepts from literary criticism (plot, character, setting, theme, style, imagery, symbolism, mood, tone, and point of view) and analyze their use within a particular work.
• Approach literature as an accumulation of human experience whose aim is to provide both pleasure and intellectual development.
• Apply literature to current problems of thought, to understand the continuum of human nature, to develop the ability to apply learning to life, and to develop an awareness of cultural diversity.
• Discuss each literary work on an individual basis for its merits and weaknesses.

South Suburban College Writing Center

The Writing Center was established to give students a place to go for additional instruction beyond the classroom in areas pertaining to writing and rhetoric. Many colleges and universities have Writing Centers and Student Assistant Centers for students to receive feedback and tutoring in collegiate areas in which they need help. South Suburban’s Writing Center, however, is different mainly because it is a faculty run Writing Center—completely staffed and run by faculty from the English Department.

Although hours of operation vary from semester to semester depending on each individual faculty’s teaching load and schedule, daytime and evening hours are available for students to take advantage of its resources. We average 40 hours per week of Faculty staffed tutoring sessions, serving several hundred students each semester—many of whom are repeat customers. At least half of the full-time English Department faculty devote at least an hour of tutoring in the Writing Center, with some faculty staffing as many as six hours per week to tutoring.

The Writing Center is available to all students college wide, and students from areas other than English use the tutoring available to aid in research, organization, grammar instruction, as well as documentation and manuscript format. The Writing Center also boasts its own computer lab for student use. Students have the ability to draft and revise their papers and projects under the tutelage of full-time faculty, making the drafting process a great deal easier and more successful.

The Scriblerian

The annually-published student magazine, started in 1982, accepts stories, poems, essays, plays, and visual art and design for dual print and online publication. The Scriblerian has a celebrated history, winning numerous first- and second-place awards from the Associated Collegiate Press and First Place with Special Merit awards from the American Scholastic Press Association, as well as first place for the Most Outstanding Community College Literary/Art Magazine and Best Art Award. The student group begins meeting in the Fall Semester to critique student submissions. Editors, often English majors with excellent editing, writing, and computer skills, are chosen by the advisor. Submissions are accepted through the Spring semester. After publication, the advisor hosts a reception to celebrate the work of the authors and editors. Submissions and inquiries can be sent to scriblerian@ssc.edu.

Recommended AA Transfer Curriculum for English

This is only a suggested transfer program and might not be appropriate for every student. Some four-year institutions accept more than 62 credits in transfer to complete requirements in English. Consult the College & Career Success Center for help in selecting courses appropriate for the program at the college or university where you plan to transfer.

Transfer institutions require English majors take the equivalent of 4 semesters of foreign language at the college level. (1 year of foreign language at the high school level equals one semester at the college level.)

Faculty are available during scheduled office hours to advise students about their courses and programs. Peruse the offerings in the English Department.

All full-time transfer students are required to take OCS 121.

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