Fall 2002 phone:
(262) 521-5478
Professor Elizabeth Zanichkowsky Hours:
T-R 12:00-1:00,
ezanichk@uwc.edu W
4:00-5:30 and
by
appointment
Welcome
to English 102. This course builds on
what you have already learned about writing in English 101 or other preparatory
classes. According to the UW Colleges
English Department, English 102 focuses
on “writing which presents information and ideas effectively, with attention to
the essay and techniques of documentation.
Emphasis will be on academic writing which is applicable across the
curriculum.” In addition, the faculty
of the English Department strive to help our students develop certain critical
and expressive skills which are necessary to academic writers:
To
read and listen with comprehension and critical perception
To analyze, synthesize,
evaluate and interpret information and ideas
To
construct and support hypotheses and arguments
To
integrate knowledge and experience and arrive at creative solutions
To
write clearly, precisely, and in a well-organized manner
To
gather and document information from printed and electronic sources, and
observation
The assignments given in this course are designed to help you develop
in all of these areas.
A further note:
English 102 is quite demanding. The workload is heavy and challenging. It’s estimated that in college, a student
must spend two hours studying for each classroom hour in order to do well in a
course. I would say that 102 requires at
least twice that amount to do a reasonably good job, because in addition to
reading and analyzing essays, you have to generate your own content and polish
it to meet academic standards. This is
not easy for many people, so be prepared to put in a lot of time if you want to
do well.
Moser,
Joyce, and Ann Watters, Creating America: Reading and Writing Arguments. 3rd edition. Prentice Hall 2002.
Jane Aaron, The
Little, Brown Compact Handbook, 4th ed. Longman, 2001.
A good, unabridged
college-level dictionary
A 3-ring binder with
folders, and plenty of paper. This is your working journal, in which to keep all assignments, notes, and
drafts. This needs to be with you at
every class meeting and at conferences.
A 3.5” floppy disk (All
essays should be backed up and kept on this disk until semester’s end.)
This class is devoted to
developing skills, and much of the work is done in small groups, so attendance
is of paramount importance. Be here
every day prepared to do the day’s work, whether it is writing, working on
others’ drafts, or discussing the day’s readings. Students who miss class are expected to do the
work of the missed class and keep up with the assignment schedule. If you know you must miss a class when an
assignment is due, turn the work in early.
**Note: The UW-Waukesha
English Department has adopted the following attendance policy for all courses
offered in the department: Except in extraordinary circumstances, where the
absence has been excused by the instructor, missing more than the equivalent of
three weeks of classes will result in a grade of “F” for the semester.
The writing you do in
this class will be based on readings in our main text, Creating America,
and other handouts that I may give you.
You will be learning to read, analyze, and construct arguments about a
variety of issues, and you should expect to read most of your assignments
twice. The reading load in this course
will be rather heavy, but you are expected to keep up with it.
Part of learning argument and persuasion is learning to debate, to listen critically, and to appeal to an audience. Class discussion is an opportunity to practice these skills, and your preparation for civil participation in these discussions, in addition to carefully prepared written work, it is an important part of the course. Be prepared to contribute regularly. If you don’t, I will notice, and it will affect your participation grade.
Group work
Workshops in small groups
will be an important part of the class this semester. It is especially frustrating for students
when their group members miss a group session or come unprepared. When this happens, the work of the group
cannot proceed. Please come to group
meetings prepared with your own work and ready to work well on the writing of
your colleagues. The best work comes
from those who take this aspect of a writing class seriously, and they tend to
get higher grades.
Artists keep portfolios. Jobseekers keep portfolios, as do architects, and writers. A portfolio is a contained sample of your best work, one which shows your development and your self-reflection on that work. The purpose of the binder I have required is to keep a working journal, as a way to save and organize all your work this semester, large or small. At midterm, you will submit your journal as a midterm portfolio, which will be used to determine your midterm grade. At the end of the term, you will be asked to select about 25 pages of the best work in your journal for revision, and for final presentation in a portfolio for a grade in the course. Before that time, only your reading logs, postwrites, and class work will be graded. I will provide comments but no grades on your major assignments until you have chosen and polished them for the final portfolio. This allows you to have more control over what gets graded, and which papers and logs you want to revise. You can keep track of how you are doing in the class in several ways:
Midterm conferences in which I will give you an estimated midterm grade
Keeping a log of your own attendance and preparation for class
Comparing the comments I make on your essays with my criteria for grades
Additional conferences with me during office hours
The portfolio will include your four best major assignments, one of which must be your final research paper, your postwrites for these, your self-evaluation, and your best 8 reading logs (see below). Reading logs may be revised for the final portfolio.
1. First general argument
paper 3-4 pages
2. Visual Argument essay 3-4 pages
3. Formal analysis of another’s argument
with alternate views (researched) 4 pages
4. Second general argument essay 4-5 pages
5. Synthetic essay of
research sources 4 pages
6. Argument analysis of a research source 2-3 pages
7. Longer Research paper 6-8 pages
A word about page numbers: the papers may be shorter in rough draft and
second draft form, but you will be expected to expand them as you revise them
for inclusion in a final portfolio. Each
assignment will be described in more detail on a handout for the paper,
including expected length.
Postwrites
Each time you turn in a
draft of a major assignment, whether a first draft or a revision, you should
include a postwrite, a companion piece to the draft that describes in a few
paragraphs specifically how the essay is going.
This affords you the opportunity to develop you ability to think about
your own thinking (what writing scholars call “metacognition”), and to
articulate it clearly. This important
part of the writing and revision process is a key aspect of a portfolio-based
class. I will provide you with a
postwrite form to use for each essay.
These will be graded.
Reading Logs
Reading logs are short,
frequent, formal writing assignments that document your reading process, and
help to achieve the course goal to have you read critically, and analyze and
evaluate information and ideas. You must write a short reading log for each essay
marked in the syllabus with “Reading Log Due.”
The logs should be typed, double-spaced, and kept in your working
journal after they are returned. They will
be graded. See the handout on Reading
Logs attached to this course outline for further details.
Self-Evaluation Letters
Your
portfolio will include a detailed self-evaluation letter for which I will give
you a guideline sheet later in the term.
Your postwrites will be valuable preparation for the kind of
self-reflection I will ask of you in the completed portfolio. I consider these very important, and will not
read any portfolio that does not contain one.
Drafts
All papers will go
through several drafts, perhaps as many as three or four. You will share each draft with several of
your peers and with me, so you must bring multiple copies to class on the day a
draft is due. Drafts must be typed,
and double-spaced. You will have a
chance to work in groups on revision, with guidance from me, in order to get
ideas to help you revise your work.
Extension Policy
·
Assignments are due on the dates given in
the syllabus.
·
Late reading logs will not be accepted.
·
I will not read a late draft. If you want your group members to read it,
you must ask them whether they can. If
they cannot, you must wait till the end of term to get revision help on that
draft from members of the group or me, after you have revised it yourself. Your peer group members are under no
obligation to make extra time to read a late draft. Respect their time.
·
You may apply to me for an extension of one
essay during the term, for no more than one class period later than the
due date. This extension must be
requested no later than 24 hours prior to the due date. They cannot be granted on the day the paper
is due. If I grant the extension on a
major assignment, I will read the late draft.
·
Anyone with extraordinary circumstances
should see me in my office to discuss other arrangements or changes to this
policy.
Final drafts of your
papers must be typed, double-spaced, with one-inch margins, and a standard
10-12 point font size. They must be revised at least twice before being
included in your final portfolio. This
includes a final draft devoted to careful and thorough editing. A final paper in any college class should be
clean, neatly and accurately typed, and free of grammatical, mechanical, and
spelling errors. I will not count as
complete any paper turned in without evidence of revision, in the form of
multiple rough drafts, and notes on drafts from me and/or from your peers.
It is possible that you
will want to revise a paper more than twice, which is good. If I consider a new
draft insufficiently different and new, or insufficiently complex to meet the
expectations of the assignment, I will let you know, and ask you to do it
again.
Conferences
I will hold short conferences with
each student in my office at about the 6th or 7th week of
class to discuss your progress and your midterm working journals. I will be available for voluntary conferences
at any time in the semester. Please
bring your working journal with you to any conference.