English 103 Critical Thinking

Dear Online Student,

Welcome to English 103 Online! Please print out and then read this letter carefully as it contains important information for you to be successful in this course. It also provides the username and password information you will need to access our Canvas course site.

English 103 is an argument course focusing on some of the important issues that face our society today. This course will develop and sharpen your logical reasoning, analytical, and argumentative writing skills. English 103 is a valuable course in that the writing assignments provide needed experience in research and MLA documentation style for academic papers.

This 15-week online course is conducted according to a regular schedule with specific assignments and due dates from January 28—May 19. Failure to check-in at least once per week will be interpreted as a withdrawal from the course, and you will be dropped from the Canvas course site. Therefore, if you become ill, or have other circumstances that make it impossible for you to complete the assignments/discussion for a week’s lesson, you should email me and explain your situation so that you will not be dropped.

Please note that students must log in to the Canvas course site on or before midnight on the first day of class (1/28) to remain enrolled. Students who do not complete the first week's assignments will also be treated as a “no shows.”

Things to do now:

1. Purchase the textbook required for this course:

Wood, Nancy V. Perspectives on Argument. 9th ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2018. ISBN: 13: 978-0-13-439288-2

You may purchase your textbook through the campus bookstore in person or online: http://www.cypresscollegebookstore.com. You will need your textbook to complete the lesson two assignments.

2. Add my name and email address—Kathleen McAlister, [email protected] to your email address book immediately to ensure receipt of any “bulk” emails I send to the class. (I will send the class emails on a weekly basis; you cannot participate in this class if you do not have an email account. You should check your email at least once a day to make sure that you receive any urgent messages or notices from me.)

3. Download a compatible browser to use when accessing the Canvas course site: You will encounter difficulty with timed assignments quizzes, essays, and the discussion board in Canvas if you do not use a supported browser to access the site. Google Chrome provides the best Canvas interface for both MAC and PC. Internet Explorer and Firefox are fully supported; Safari also works for MAC users. Make sure you have the most updated version of your preferred browser.

4. Read “How to Send Email” below:

All of your emails to me must include the following:

· Subject box—the subject box should include the course in which you’re enrolled and a brief summation of the content of the email. For instance: “English 103 and question about Midterm.”

· Use salutations. Begin your email to me with one of the following: “Professor McAlister,” or “Hello Kathleen.”

· Use standard English grammar, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization. This is a writing course, and text message-style abbreviations, sentence fragments, etc., are inappropriate.

I respond to all emails sent Monday-Thursday within 24 hours. If you send an email Friday-Sunday you may not receive a reply until the following Monday. I urge you, therefore, to carefully review each week’s lesson on Monday, and make sure that you email me early in the week if you have any questions about that week’s assignments.

5. Login to Canvas, host of our course site, on or before 1/28 to confirm that there are no access issues:

· Go to http://cypresscollege.instructure.com (Please note: there is no www in this URL.)

· When prompted, enter your Mygateway ID number and password. Your Mygateway ID is your banner/student ID number excluding the “@” sign, for example: 00001234. Your password is the same password that you use for Mygateway.

· If you forgot your password, click the link “forgot your password” below the login. You may have to “reset” your password if it is less than eight characters; there is a reset link on the login page.

· When the “dashboard” appears, you will see a colored rectangular box for our course and any other Canvas courses you are enrolled in.

· To enter our English 103 course site, click on the box/link to English 103: Critical Reasoning and Writing. You will be taken to the “Home” page of our course site, and you can read my “welcome” message there.

· Print out and review our course syllabus. Once you have entered the course site, you will see navigation links to the left of your screen.  Click on the "Syllabus" navigation link to access the course syllabus.

6. You may begin lesson one any time after 1/28. Follow the instructions on the home page when you're ready to begin "Lesson One," and make sure that you complete all of the assignments for “Lesson One” before midnight on Sunday, 2/3.

If you have any problems, please contact me for help. And if you have any questions regarding the above or concerning the class, please email me immediately.

I’m looking forward to seeing you in class!

Kathleen McAlister