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College Writing I Christin Van AttaENG-11011-101-201480 Fall, 2015MWF 12:05-12:55 cvanatta@kent.edu212 SFH

Office: 209E Satterfield Grad Lounge (2nd floor near elevators)Office Hours: W 1-2, M 11-12 and by appointment or chance...

Required Materials: - The Norton Field Guide to Writing 3RD EDITION

- Richard Bullock-Kent State Custom St. Martin’s Handbook, 8TH EDITION

-Andrea Lunsford-ISBN# 9781319040857

-Blackboard account-Kent State Gmail account

Recommended Materials:-Blackboard Learn App on your phone (alerts you of changes and updates to the BB site imme-diately)-Dictionary App on your phone (extremely useful for increasing one’s vocabulary)

College Writing IIn this course, we will not only study the discipline of writing, but we will explore the “point” of writing and discover some useful purposes for it in your life by using the Norton Field Guide to Writing and other selected readings. We will cover elements of narrative writing, research writ-ing, argumentative writing, reflective writing, and the importance of rhetorical situations in all genres of writing.

Writing In This CourseI have designed the major writing assignments to move “from internal, to external, back to inter-nal.” This means that the assignments are ordered so that we will begin by reflecting on our-selves to see how our past affects your current writing. Then, we will move toward exploring how writing connects us to others, and tie the class up with a return back to examination of our-selves as writers.

I believe strongly in Socrates’ famous command, which asks a great deal of us: “Know thyself.” Just as you cannot begin to understand others before you understand yourself, we can-not begin to understand and use others’ writing if we do not first understand our own writing. That being said, you will use both introspection and examination of outside sources during this course to improve as a writer, and prepare for College Writing II.

This course will offer you a safe haven for exploration of yourself and others, a place where you will come to discover things about yourself and your writing that perhaps you did not know before, and also a place where I guarantee you will learn a few things you did not know about the study of writing in general.

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Be prepared to complete 4 major writing assignments and many random free-writing as-signments in class. You will produce at least 20 pages of graded writing throughout the semester in accordance with Kent State’s requirements.

You will also find that writing is neither a completely individual process nor an entirely collaborative process; it falls somewhere in the middle. Writing in this section of CWI will con-sist mostly of individual projects, but will also make use of a few guided peer review sessions in order to demonstrate to you how your peers can be of help to you in the writing process.

We will be trying out many different types of writing during the course and I ask that you give everything a chance. You may not enjoy every project, and you may not enjoy any of them, but I ask that you sample the things I assign you and give them your best effort. Who knows, maybe you’ll even decide writing isn’t so dumb after all.

A final note: please feel free to discuss anything at all regarding assignment length, topic, requirements, or whatever you like, with me at any time, especially when we are going over the assignments for the first time together as a class. Syllabi are, by nature, tentative de-pending on what the class needs, and I am more than willing to work with you all as a class to create fair, engaging assignments. This means that I am open to suggestions and discussions about assignments, but does not by any means, require me to accept all pleas and requests. I truly enjoy hearing your ideas! I consider you all to be my students, but also my equals in a way; we are here to work together, not make each other’s lives difficult, so I encourage you to all con-sider the best advice I ever gave myself in college: “ask for what you need.”

REQUIREMENTS FOR ALL ASSIGNMENTS:-Complete all papers in MLA format

-12 point font-Times New Roman/Times font ONLY-1 inch margins all the way around- A works cited page, if outside sources are referenced

*for major writing assignments, if you hand me a paper without the requirements listed above, I will hand it back to you for a redo/resubmit and you will lose 5 points for lateness

Student GuideAccess to the Student Guide to College Writing I & II can be gained by going to our class Black-

board page and locating the label “Student Guide” on the left hand side bar.

Gmail AccountAll class notifications will be announced through Kent State Gmail. I will sometimes cancel class, give clarification about homework, change homework assignments, push back paper due dates etc. through email, so it is your responsibility to monitor your account and check frequently for emails from me.

A Note on Personal ExpressionStudents need to be aware that writing, by its very nature, can often be misunderstood. In addition, students should know that their instructors are responsible for reporting any evi-dence of a student’s possible intent to harm him- or herself, or to harm others. Therefore, never put in writing anything that could be taken out of context, regardless of your intent,

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which would necessitate an instructor’s taking action to clarify the matter or to protect the student(s) or himself or herself from harm. If you are unsure about something you are writing, ask your teacher about the material ahead of time.

Reading in This Course The readings in this course are chosen to teach you about the study of writing. They are

not going to explicitly tell you “this is how to write an article,” or “this technique makes every-one a better writer in 21 days or less!” This is not a book full of infomercials; it is a collection of scholarly material written to teach you about writing itself, as a discipline, as a subject.

All readings will be supplemented with discussions in class. I will never leave you to in-terpret a text by yourself.

The only other thing I ask of you is to read with a dictionary and a pen. Active reading is something we will explore in the class and you might as well start from the get-go. The best pro-fessor I ever had said to me once “only fools read without a dictionary.” I promise you, there will be many words you do not know off the top of your head in our text book, and you will misinter-pret even more words if you do not look up the ones that stump you. Reading with a pen in your hand signals to your brain: “OK, time to pay attention to this thing in front of me. Time to inter-act with it.”

Marking the things you don’t know, the things that make sense to you and anything else that strikes you will help you not only to absorb more information but it will help you pay atten-tion to the text as a malleable thing, not a stone carving that can never be changed or interacted with. Arguably the most important skill you will learn in this class is how to interact with the text as you read. To challenge it, make fun of it in your head, agree with it, hate it, love it, treat it as the embodiment of the person who wrote it. The text you see in front of you is alive with mean-ing and it begs you to communicate with it.

TIER I LEARNING OUTCOMES

1. Rhetorical KnowledgeBy the end of their Tier I writing course, students should be able to recognize the elements that inform rhetori-cal situations. This understanding should enable them to produce texts that:

· Have a clear purpose· Respond to the needs of intended audiences· Assume an appropriate stance· Adopt an appropriate voice, tone, style, and level of formality· Use appropriate conventions of format and structure

2. Critical Thinking, Reading, and WritingBy the end of their Tier I writing course, students should be able to:

· Use reading and writing for inquiry, learning, thinking, and communicating· Analyze relationships among writer, text, and audience in various kinds of texts· Use various critical thinking strategies to analyze texts

3. Knowledge of Composing ProcessesBy the end of their Tier I writing course, students should be able to:

· Understand writing as a series of recursive and interrelated steps that includes generating ideas and text, drafting, revising, and editing

· Recognize that writing is a flexible, recursive process

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· Apply this understanding and recognition to produce successive drafts of increasing quality

4. CollaborationBy the end of their Tier I writing course, students should understand that the writing process is often collabora-tive and social. To demonstrate that understanding, students should be able to:

· Work with others to improve their own and others’ texts· Balance the advantages of relying on others with taking responsibility for their own work

5. Knowledge of ConventionsBy the end of their Tier I writing course, students should be able to:

· Employ appropriate conventions for structure, paragraphing, mechanics, and format· Acknowledge the work of others when appropriate· Use a standard documentation format as needed· Control syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling

6. Composing in Digital EnvironmentsDevelopments in digital technology are expanding our understanding of “writing.” To the extent that technol-ogy is available and appropriate, by the end of their Tier I writing course students should be able to:

· Understand the possibilities of digital media/technologies for composing and publishing texts· Use digital environments to support writing tasks such as drafting, reviewing, revising, editing, and

sharing texts

Sequence Rationale (why my assignments are ordered the way they are)

As mentioned before under “Writing in This Course,” these assignments will move in a very in-tentional way: from internal, to external, back to internal. We will examine ourselves as writers, and then move outward to examine other writers before returning to ourselves as the end of the semester to track our progress and examine how others have affected our writing and vice versa. We will wrap up the semester by completing a reflection paper that helps you see how far you’ve come as a writer.

AttendanceYou will be allowed 3 unquestioned absences. After 3 absences, only excused absences will be tolerated. If you do not discuss with me the reasons for your exceeding 3 absences, your final grade will drop 5% for each absence after 3.

Tardiness of more than 10 minutes counts as an absence; if you have a good reason you need to be late (immoveable doctor’s appointment, car died on the way to class, bus system took a dump on your morning commute) PLEASE EMAIL ME.

University Definition of Excused Absence“Legitimate reasons for an “excused” absence include, but are not limited to, illness and injury, disability-related concerns, military service, death in the immediate family, religious observance, academic field trips, and participation in an approved concert or athletic event, and direct partici-pation in university disciplinary hearings.”

Late Assignments Assignments must be turned in, IN CLASS, the day they are due, unless otherwise stated.

-I CANNOT ACCEPT make-up work for unexcused absences

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-I CAN ACCEPT make-up work for excused absences

Late Papers: any major writing assignment turned in late will be accepted, but 10 points per day that it is late (including weekends) will be deducted from the final grade of the paper.

Cell PhonesIf you choose to use your phone in class, you had better give the correct answer when I call on you (and I will call on you). If you do not, I will inform you that you have just lost the cell phone privilege for the rest of the day. Better luck next time.

**I also reserve the right to revoke this policy entirely if I believe that the class is abusing the privileges I have granted**

ParticipationShort, in-class assignments which will often be collected and checked for completion. These, along with daily verbal participation, will result in your participation grade. Keep in mind par-ticipation equals 10% of your grade.

Mini-ConferencesBefore each major writing assignment, we will have mini-conferences. During the conference days, we will meet in class as usual, and you will have time to work on your papers indepen-dently. As you work, I will chat with each of you individually. This is your time to ask me ques-tions, have me read small sections of your paper, check your sources, approve your thesis, etc.

Plagiarism/Academic HonestyPlagiarism is using another’s words or ideas in your own writing without quoting or acknowledg-ing them as a source. My advice: better safe than sorry. In other words, if you are wondering whether or not to cite something, especially something not considered common knowledge to most people, CITE IT. From time to time, I may also run your papers through an online database which checks for plagiarized work. I will not tell you when I do this.

Official University Statement on Plagiarism:“Plagiarize” means to take and present as one’s own a material portion of the ideas or words of another or to present as one’s own an idea or work derived from an existing source without full and proper credit to the source of the ideas, words, or works. This definition includes using another student’s work as your own as well as inadequately referencing other sources in your work. Plagiarism carries a variety of sanctions, ranging from lowering of a grade to dismissal from the University. Additional information regarding the University’s policy is available at the University’s Plagiarism site: http://www.kent.edu/academics/resources/plagiarism/. You are responsible for knowing and abiding by this policy.”

Students with Disabilities University policy 3342-3-18 requires that students with disabilities be provided reason-able accommodations to ensure their equal access to course content. If a student has a

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documented disability and requires accommodations, he/she must contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester to make arrangements for necessary classroom adjustments. Students must first verify their eligibility for these through Student Accessibility Services (330-672-3391 or by visiting www.kent.edu/sas for more information on registration pro-cedures) 2003.

Grading

Literacy Narrative (5%)Discourse Community Paper (30%)Persuasion/TED Talk Paper (30%)Reflective Essay (15%)

2-Paragraph Revision of Paper of Choice (10%)In-Class Assignments/participation (10%)

Grading Scale:

A 94-100A- 90-93B+ 87-89B 84-86B- 80-83C+ 77-79C 74-76C- 70-73D 60-69

F 59 and below

Enrollment and RegistrationThe official registration deadline for this course can be found at: http://www.registrars.kent.edu/home/CLASSES/sessdatesrch.cfm). University policy requires all students to be officially regis-tered in each class they are attending. Students who are not officially registered for a course by published deadlines should not be attending classes and will not receive credit or a grade for the course. Each student must confirm enrollment by checking his/her class schedule (using Student Tools in FlashLine) prior to the deadline indicated. Registration errors must be corrected prior to the deadline.

Schedule This is a tentative schedule and may change. I will alert you of all changes.

(Assignments and readings are listed on the day they are due. For example: when you walk into class on 9/2 you should have Sherman Alexie’s “Superman and Me” and the syllabus, and com-

pleted the Writing Profile Project)

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NFG = Norton Field Guide to WritingBB = BlackboardPPT = PowerPoint

Week 1M 8/31 Introduction to class/syllabusCollect WPP, check to see who has syllabusBBBook, Active readingEmail Etiquette Name game

W 9/2 SYLLABUS QUIZDUE: Writing Profile ProjectREAD Syllabus (use active reading skills)READ Sherman Alexie “Superman and Me” (BB)

F 9/4 READ: Malcolm X “Learning to Read” (BB)

Week 2 M 9/7 LABOR DAY-NO CLASS

W 9/9 READ: NFG Emily Vallowe “Write or Wrong Identity” p.27-32READ: Villanueva “Bootstraps” p. 65 -74 (BB)

F 9/11 READ: NFG Marjorie Agosin “Always Living in Spanish” p.33-35

Week 3M 9/14 READ: NFG Shannon Nichols & Sofia Gomez p.36-42

READ: NFG p.42-46

W 9/16 READ: NFG p. 47-52READ: PPT period, comma, semi-colons (BB)

F 9/18 DUE IN CLASS: Literacy NarrativeIn class: NFG p.51”Taking Stock of Your Work” reflection

Week 4M 9/21 READ: Swales “The Concept of Discourse Communities” (BB)

W 9/23 READ: Victoria Marro “The Genres of Chi Omega” (BB)

F 9/25 READ: READ: Through The Looking Glass Ch. VI Humpy Dumpty (BB)Hand back assignment #1

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Introduce Discourse Community Paper

Week 5M 9/28 READ: Toni Mirabelli “Learning to Serve” (BB)

W 9/30 DUE: Post discourse community choice for Assignment #2 to BB discussion boardNFG p.251 “Writing as Inquiry”BRING LAPTOPS

F 10/2 NO CLASS-Ms. V OUT OF TOWN

Week 6M 10/5 DUE: bring 3 examples of materials you might use in your DC paper

READ: NFG Matthew O’Brien “The Strange Economics of Engagement Rings”p.105-113

W 10/7 READ: PPT on Thesis/Topic Sentences (BB)READ: PPT transitions/ organization

F 10/9 READ: NFG p.266-267

Week 7M 10/12 DUE: thesis statement & 1 paragraph for assignment #2

Group A-Peer ReviewGroup B- Mini Conferences

W 10/14 hand back thesis and paragraphsGroup A- Mini ConferencesGroup B- Peer Review

F 10/16 DUE IN CLASS: Discourse Community PaperIn class: “Taking Stock of Your Work” NFG p.118

Week 8M 10/19 READ: NFG p.1-2

READ: “What IS Rhetorical Situation? Definitions, Devices and Examples.” (BB)

W 10/21 DUE: Covino&Jolliffe discussion boardREAD: “Means of Persuasion” in the Covino & Jolliffe article (BB)

F 10/23 READ: (again) Covino & Jolliffe (BB)Hand back Discourse Community Papers

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Week 9M 10/26 DUE: Pathos, Ethos, Logos, Notecards

W 10/28 READ: NFG Audience p.3-7, 19-24READ: Average College Freshman (BB)Introduce TED Talk/Persuasion Assignment

F10/30 Group 1 READ: Bill Gate Screwed the Millenials (BB)Group 2 READ: Clusterfuggle: Girls Can Brew Beer Too (BB)Group 3 READ: Sleeper Sharks (BB)

Week 10M 11/2 READ: Lumbersexuals (BB)

READ: NFG p.119-124, 135DUE: TED Talk choice posted to BB discussion board

W 11/4 READ: NFG 127-131, 135-139 F 11/6

Week 11M 11/9

W 11/11 READ: PPT thesis (BB)

F 11/13 DUE: thesis posted to BB discussion boardREAD: NFG 144-146READ: PPT Topic Sentences, PPT Transitions (BB)

Week 12M 11/16 Mini Conferences

W 11/18 READ: PPT Academic tone/ Citations / Conclusions (BB)Peer Review

F 11/20 DUE IN CLASS: Persuasion/TED Talk PaperIn class: Taking Stock of your writing NFG p.270/274Sentence Numbering

Week 13M 11/23 READ: Anne Lamott “Shitty First Drafts” (BB)

Introduce revision assignment & sentence numberingGive sentence numbering assignment over break

W 11/25 THANKSGIVING BREAK

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F 11/27 THANKSGIVING BREAK

Week 14M 11/30 READ: NFG p.269-274

READ: Thomas Osborne “Late Nights, Last Rites…” (BB)Selecting revision paragraphs/ In class work time

W 12/2 Group A Peer Review, Group B Mini Conferences

F 12/4 Group A Mini Conferences, Group B Peer Review

Week 15

M 12/7 DUE IN CLASS: Revision of two paragraphs stapled to original copy of paper with my comments. New, revised paragraphs should be “numbered” as well.

Evaluations

W 12/9 Discuss Final Reflection AssignmentIn class work timeClass selfie

F 12/11

Final Reflective Paper due anytime between December 11th and December 15th at 5pm. Must be emailed AS A WORD DOCUMENT to me using proper email etiquette between those times.

For late papers: for every hour it is late (past 5pm on Dec. 15th), 10 points will be deducted from the final grade of the paper.