Westcott Courses

Online Education - your way!
Advising Center: 805-489-2831

College Reading and Composition


Course Code:  None
Credits:  Noncredit
Certificate Via Westcott

Enroll Now (Noncredit)
View the Credit Option
Credit Information
Course Title:College Reading and Composition
Course Code:None
Credits:Noncredit
Certificate Provider:Westcott Courses
Transfer:No, but can be used at some colleges as a prerequisite.
Grading Mode:Standard letter grade
See the Certificate & Preapproval tab for more details.

Course Requirements
Enrollment Type:RollingSign up and start any day of the year.
Requires Textbook?YesThis course requires a textbook.
Proctored Final:NoA final paper is to be submitted.
See the Course Details tab for more details.

Course Description
Provides a basic course in college reading and writing. Emphasis is on sentence structure, paragraph and essay structure, grammar, and critical thinking skills.

Prerequisite:   None

Course Pricing
The full cost of the course is $352.00; however, you may use the payment plan to split the cost into two payments.

Payment Plan:
1st payment: $197.10   (Start your class immediately!)
2nd payment: $161.90   (Automatically charged 30 days later.)

Enroll Now - Noncredit - $352   View Credit Option - $552


Helpful Links:
Math Placement Test
Westcott Courses is the teacher of the course, and a certificate of completion is issued by Westcott for students who receive a C or better in the course. This course under the noncredit option does not go through our partner universities; thus, a transcript is not included with the course. If you need academic credit and/or a transcript, click on the button above or below to switch to the 'credit option'.
See the Certificate & Preapproval tab for more details on this topic.

The noncredit course is the exact same class as the credit course; it is just less expensive since it is not sent through our partner university for credit. The noncredit courses can be used for remediation, personal enrichment, or students can learn the material and then receive credit at a home college using their college's Credit by Examination option.

Enrollment Information
Enroll any day of the year, and start that same day. Students have five months of access, plus a 30 day extension at the end if needed. Students can finish the self-paced courses as soon as they are able, with a minimum coursework time of at least four weeks. Most students finish the lower level courses in four weeks to three months. The upper level math courses, such as calculus and above, usually take students 2 - 4 months.

Textbook Requirement:
IMPORTANT! Make sure you order your books using overnight delivery! You are required to use your books by the end of week 1. Not having your books on time means you will quickly fall behind in the course.

1. Course Packet emailed from Instructor. This will be given to you no later than the 2nd week of instruction. Only A NEW copy is acceptable.

2. Tobar: The Tattooed Soldier (through amazon)
(www.abebooks.com also has a lot of copies from $1.98) Make sure you use overnight shipping!

3. Barnet: Literature for Composition (through amazon) (10th edition only). Make sure you use overnight shipping!
Used from Abebooks.com Make sure you use overnight shipping!

Proctored Final Requirement:
No, a final paper is to be submitted.

Student's Requirements:
You must have internet access.
You must have access to email.
Omega MathTM Courses - you must be at or above a 7th grade reading level. Other courses require at least a 10th grade reading level.

Payment Plan:
The cost of each class can be divided into two payments by checking the payment plan box when you enroll. The first payment is 55% of the total amount, and the second payment is 45% of the total amount. Your first payment will be charged when you enroll, and the second payment will be charged in 30 days. Your course is activated once your first payment is made. There is a $3.50 additional fee for the credit card split for each of the two payments.

If paying by check, you can either send in a check for the two payments 30 days apart. Or you may send in both checks at the same time, with one post dated by 30 days for the 2nd payment. Just click on "Money Order by Mail" under Payment Information when you enroll. The form at the end of your enrollment will give you the address for mailing the checks.

Certificate Information:
A certificate of completion is issued from Westcott Courses, which includes a letter grade and an overall percentage earned in the class. This course under the noncredit option does not go through UMass Global; thus, it does not carry any units and an official transcript is not included with the course. Some colleges such as Cal State Maritime, San Francisco State University, College of the Desert, etc., accept the certificate of completion for this class as a prerequisite towards another course on their campus. Please see our Associated Schools page to see if your college will accept this class under noncredit. If your college is not on this list, then they most likely want you to take the class under the credit option, which will go through UMass Global.

If you would like preapproval from your school, please see the section below on "Preapproval from your School".

Transfer Information:   No, but can be used at some colleges as a prerequisite.

Most colleges will accept this course and use it as a prerequisite; however, it is too low of a level to go towards graduation. Your college will require any class you wish to transfer to them to be from a regionally accredited college that awards academic semester or quarter credits. They will also want the course description of the course to match their own. UMass Global is regionally accredited and issues academic semester credits. Our course description will match or exceed your college's description; thus, your college will most likely accept the course. If you would like preapproval from your school, please send your counselor or registrar's office the link at the bottom of this page. Your college may be one of the many schools that we are associated with, so check the Associated School link before asking for preapproval.
(K-12 use)

Preapproval from your School:
Westcott Courses/Omega Math is the teacher of the course, and a certificate of completion is issued. A course under the noncredit option cannot be used towards college graduation; however, it may be able to be used as a prerequisite at some colleges, such as College of the Desert, and/or graduate programs. View the Associated Colleges page to see if your school is listed. If your school is not on our list, they will most likely want the official transcript and semester credits from our credit option. Click on the link above "View the Credit Option", and then view the Preapproval tab.

Course Information


Course Title:College Reading and Composition
Course Code:None
Credits:0 credits
Certificate Provider:Westcott Courses
Grading Mode:Standard letter grade
Proctored Final: No

Textbook Requirement:
IMPORTANT! Make sure you order your books using overnight delivery! You are required to use your books by the end of week 1. Not having your books on time means you will quickly fall behind in the course.

1. Course Packet emailed from Instructor. This will be given to you no later than the 2nd week of instruction. Only A NEW copy is acceptable.

2. Tobar: The Tattooed Soldier (through amazon)
(www.abebooks.com also has a lot of copies from $1.98) Make sure you use overnight shipping!

3. Barnet: Literature for Composition (through amazon) (10th edition only). Make sure you use overnight shipping!
Used from Abebooks.com Make sure you use overnight shipping!

Course Description


Provides a basic course in college reading and writing. Emphasis is on sentence structure, paragraph and essay structure, grammar, and critical thinking skills.

Prerequisite:   None

Learning Outcomes


The goal of this course is to prepare students for English Composition.
After this course, students should have:

  1. Developed reading, writing, critical thinking and study skills.
  2. An understanding of the writing process: prewriting, drafting, editing, revising.
  3. Developed the ability to write a well-organized, well-developed, and well-edited essay.
  4. Developed the skills needed for the final essay exam.


Methods Of Evaluation


Essays 48%
Discussion Boards 25%
Quizzes 27%

Assignments


Students will:
  1. Read and analyze a variety of essays, short stories, and articles.
  2. Write critical responses to a variety of readings, including at least one novel, for a total of 1500-2500 words.
  3. Participate in online discussions and collaborate with their peers on various assignments, including, but not limited to, peer review of essays and group responses related to the reading.
  4. Write 3-4 analytical/expository essays for a total of 2500-4000 words.
  5. Identify their own patterns of error after learning the rules of the most common grammar and punctuation errors.
  6. Understand the elements of writing as a process of prewriting, drafting, and revising.


Assessment


A 90-100 A Clearly stands out as excellent performance and, exhibits mastery of learning outcomes.
B 80-89 B Grasps subject matter at a level considered to be good to very good, and exhibits partial mastery of learning outcomes.
C 70-79 C Demonstrates a satisfactory comprehension of the subject matter, and exhibits sufficient understanding and skills to progress in continued sequential learning.
D 60-69 D Quality and quantity of work is below average and exhibits only partial understanding and skills to progress in continued sequential learning.
F 0-59 F Quality and quantity of work is below average and not sufficient to progress.

Time on Task


This course is online and your participation at home is imperative. A minimum of 8 - 10 hours per week of study time is required for covering all of the online material to achieve a passing grade. You must set up a regular study schedule. You have five months of access to your online account with a thirty-day extension at the end if needed. If you do not complete the course within this time line, you will need to enroll in a second term.

Schedule


Below is the suggested time table to follow to stay on a 17 week schedule for the course. The following schedule is the minimum number of sections that need to be completed each week if you would like to finish in a regular semester time frame. You do not have to adhere to this schedule. You have five months of access plus a 30 day extension at the end if needed. You can finish the course as soon as you are able, with a minimum coursework time of at least six weeks.

  1. Discussion/Review of reading strategies: 2 weeks
  2. Review of writing as a process: 2 weeks
  3. Analysis of various readings: Ongoing
  4. Review strategies for integrating and synthesizing sources into students' own writing: Ongoing
  5. Review strategies for writing effective sentences: Ongoing
  6. Review strategies for writing effective compositions: 3 weeks
  7. Develop/revise essays: 6 to 8 weeks (approximately 2 weeks per essay)


Code of Conduct:


It is the student's responsibility and duty to read the information below and become acquainted with all provisions of what constitutes academic misconduct involving cheating and plagiarism. Students are required to read each statement below, and the given repercussion. There are no exceptions to these policies, and the pretext of not reading each part will not be deemed as a reasonable excuse to contest the policies.

Code of Ethics:

Regulations and rules are necessary to implement for classroom as well as online course behavior. Students are expected to practice honesty, integrity and respect at all times. It is the student's responsibility and duty to become acquainted with all provisions of the code below and what constitutes misconduct.

Respectful communications:

When contacting Westcott Courses, you agree to be considerate and respectful. Communications from a student which are considered by our staff to be rude, insulting, disrespectful, harassing, or bullying via telephone, email, or otherwise will be considered a disrespectful communication and will result in a formal warning.

We reserve the right to refuse service. If we receive multiple disrespectful communications from person(s) representing the student, or the student themselves, the student will be excluded from taking future courses at Westcott Courses.

Grading information and proctored final policies:

The grading rules are put in place to protect the integrity of online education by stopping grade inflation, which is done by demanding a display of competency in exchange for a grade. By agreeing to the terms of service agreement, you agree to read the 'Grading' Policy from within your account, and the 'Proctored Final Information' page, if applicable. You have 24 hours after your first log-in to notify us if you do not agree to the grading policy and proctored final policy ( if applicable ) outlined in the pages inside of your account, otherwise it is assumed that you agree with the policies. There are no exceptions to these policies, and the pretext of not reading the pages will not be deemed as a reasonable excuse to contest the policies.

The definition of academic cheating is an act of dishonesty in order to obtain a higher grade in the course, and to gain an advantage over other students in the course.

To maintain academic standards, students are expected to practice honesty, integrity and respect at all times. Students who violate the policies of cheating, plagiarizing, or other academic misconduct will result in following actions.

1)   Cheating in any way on the final exam results in an F on the final and an F in the class. This includes, but is not limited to any form of collaboration, use of unauthorized materials, receiving or providing unpermitted assistance on the exam, using outside digital assistance such as a cell phone, tablet, ETC. to communicate with others or access outside websites, having someone else take the exam for you, taking an exam for another student, failing to stop working on the exam when the time is up.

Final exams are secure tests and the intellectual property of Westcott Courses. Taking screen shots of a digital final or copying a paper test is stealing our intellectual property and cheating. It is equivalent to stealing a copy of the final exam off an instructor's desk. When one student obtains the questions on a final, it means that other students who don't have the questions on the final are at a disadvantage. Once a final exam has been compromised it is no longer secure, and the exam is unfair for those who have not performed an act of dishonesty to gain the advantage.

Each of the infractions above represents a result of performing an act of dishonesty in order to obtain a higher grade in the course, and to gain an advantage over other students in the course. The result of any of the above offenses is an F in the course. Students who violate the above policy may retake the course after a first offense; however, a second offense will result in expulsion and students will no longer be able to take other courses at Westcott Courses.

Students are responsible for clicking on the “Proctored Final Information” link (which is on student’s Main Menu), and reviewing the list of Authorized Materials for each course's final exam. Since each course is different, the “Authorized Materials” for each final is different. For example, some courses permit notes, while others do not.

2)   Plagiarism: All of the following are considered plagiarism, and will result in a zero on the plagiarized assignment, and there are no opportunities to redo the assignment.

Merriam-Webster defines plagiarism as “the act of using another person's words or ideas without giving credit to that person” Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to:
  • having somebody else write your assignment for you
  • turning in an assignment that contains work that is not your own
  • changing words in phrases, sentences and/or blocks of text without giving credit to the source (paraphrase)
  • copying ideas, phrases, sentences or entire blocks of text without giving credit to the source
  • not crediting the correct source by providing incorrect information

Plagiarism is an act of fraud, and can usually be avoided by using quotation marks and citing the source of the material. Instructors apply plagiarism software to find assignments that contain plagiarized material. Again, assignments that contain one of the above infractions will receive a zero on the assignment and the student will not have the opportunity to redo the assignment.

It is important to note that saving all your assignments to the end of the course, and then turning in multiple assignments that have been plagiarized will result in zeros on all of those assignments. This may mean that you no long have enough points in the course to pass the class. Thus, turning in assignments one at a time and waiting for instructor feedback in-between is important for learning and making sure that you maximize your possible points.

If you have questions, please read more information about plagiarism at plagiarism.org, or ask your instructor.

Other Examples of Academic Misconduct:

1)   Other forms of cheating include altering an exam and submitting it for regarding, providing false excuses to postpone due dates, fabricating data or references, claiming that Westcott Courses lost your test and/or quiz scores, sending emails to Westcott claiming you did not know what you were doing was cheating.
2)   Unauthorized collaboration - working with others on graded course work without specific permission of the instructor, including homework assignments, programs, quizzes and tests.
3)   Copying Westcott Courses content and posting it on the internet. This includes assignments, quizzes, and tests.

By signing up for a course, you are legally signing a contract that states that the person who is named taking this course is the actual individual doing the course work and all examinations. You also agree that for courses that require proctored testing, that your final will be taken at a college testing center, a Sylvan Learning center, or at home using the online proctor. Also, the individual signed up for this course will be the one taking the test. Failure to do so will be considered a breach of Westcott Courses policies.

Important Notes:

This syllabus is subject to change and / or revision during the academic year. Students with documented learning disabilities should notify our office upon enrollment, as well as make sure we let the testing center know extended time is permitted. Valid documentation involves educational testing and a diagnosis from a college, licensed clinical psychologist or psychiatrist.

How it Works


These courses are available to anyone in the public who'd like to enroll. Unlike traditional colleges where one must enroll in a degree program, Westcott Courses offers individual courses that are available instantly.
Westcott Courses is the teacher of the course, and the official transcript with academic semester credits comes from our partner university, UMass Global UMass Global, who is is regionally accredited by the WSCUC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC). Westcott Courses doesn't appear on the transcript; the transcript shows our courses the same way it would show a traditional class taken at the university's campus.

Read more about transferring the credits.

Teachers for the course:

The classes are self-paced; however, a teacher is attached to each course who holds at least a master's degree in their field of study (or related). Most of our teachers are teachers who teach the exact same course on either a California State University or Community college campus.

Omega MathTM Courses:

Courses that have the trademark of "Omega MathTM" are courses that have been written by our Omega Math team, and have a format that students love! These courses contain all the lessons, homework, solution manuals, quizzes, tests and the final. Students can take each test and quiz twice, and only the higher of the two scores counts towards their grade. This feature enables students to figure out what they did wrong before pushing forward, providing them with a deeper understanding of the course material.