Foundations of College Writing:
Course Description
Foundations of College Writing is an introduction to expository, analytical, and research-based academic writing. Instruction in critical reading; developing, supporting, and organizing ideas; drafting and revising; understanding grammatical conventions; proofreading and editing; and other important aspects of the writing process.
Successful writing is purposeful and audience-specific. It requires writers to reflect carefully on their decisions and those of other writers. Writers must also be aware of the conventions that guide those decisions. Writers must also employ strategies for generating ideas, organizing materials, drafting, and editing their own work.
You will write extensively, both formally and informally, often for every class meeting, and you must be prepared to share your writing with your peers on a regular basis. You will be asked to write in a variety of genres, most of which will involve multiple pages of revised prose.
Course Objectives:
- Discover significant questions to explore and address via writing
- Explore the many different purposes of writing, including writing to reflect, analyze, explain, and persuade
- Practice drafting and revising
- Increase your awareness of organizational strategies and your ability to apply them
- Become attentive to how audience and purpose affect content, tone, and style
- Incorporate sufficient and appropriate details and examples both from your experiences and from secondary research
- Express your ideas with clarity and with effective syntax and punctuation
- Gain competence in using computer technology in the writing process
- Schedule and meet deadlines.
Required Texts:
Bullock, Richard and Francine Weinberg. The Norton Field Guide to Writing with Handbook. 3rd ed. NY: Norton, 2013. Print. ISBN: 978-0-393-93977-4
Pirate Papers for ENGL 1100. 6th ed. 2014. ISBN: ISBN 978-1-4534-0086-9.
Nazario, Sonia. Enrique’s Journey. NY: Random House, 2014. Print. ISBN: 978-0-8129-7178-1.
Course Requirements:
Class Citizenship (10%)
Class citizenship refers to your efforts to make this a successful course for yourself and fellow students. Students will be expected to actively participate in productive engagement with course material. All students should come to class having completed the prior class assignment and ready to discuss assigned readings. I will gift 4 absences before your final course grade is affected (save these for emergencies). Each missed class after the initial 4 will result in a deduction of 1/3 of a letter grade off your cumulative course total. Two instances of arriving late for class or leaving early will count as 1 absence. The only exception to this rule is a documented University excused absence. Official University absences (https://www.ecu.edu/cs-studentaffairs/dos/excused_absences.cfm) will be recognized, although I will expect you to hand in work prior to your absence unless we have discussed a different option. If you need to be absent for any reason, it is very important that you make me aware of your absence as soon as possible.
Project 1: Writing to Reflect (20%)
Students will write a critical analysis reflecting on a personal experience. I will provide more details as the semester continues. The audience for this project will be your English 1100 classmates. Your writing should convey and explain the significance of the event and explain what your reader might learn from the experience. As stated in the NFG, “reflective essays are our attempt to think something through by writing about it and to share our thinking with others” (214). We will look at several sample reflections in class to give you a better idea of the kinds of events you might narrate and the strategies you might use. You must carefully describe event(s) for your audience, keeping in mind that most of your classmates are not familiar with your individual background, but you also need to be sure that your reflection does more than just relate or summarize events: it should help your reader to think critically about the events. Your reflection should be +/-1200 words (or 5 pages in MLA format). You should turn in all drafts, peer review feedback, and a brief cover letter with the final draft (details about the cover letter will be provided in class). **I will not grade your project if you do not turn in drafts and a cover letter. Failure to submit peer review feedback will negatively affect your grade.
Project 2: Writing to Analyze (20%)
Project 2 asks students to rhetorically analyze a specific toy targeted at the opposite gender. In this project, students will search for concepts of ethos, pathos, logos, and audience to understand the designer’s purpose in marketing the toy in the way they have. After substantial time has been spent percolating the concepts related to the toy, students are to construct a 1400 word analysis detailing the aforementioned concepts. Due to the limited page constraint, students may find it difficult to explore every rhetorical move being used by the designers; thus, it is imperative to only utilize the concepts that most benefit your stance on what the designers are trying to create. Drafts must be presented in APA or MLA format, and must be peer-reviewed before I will grade the draft.
Presentation (10%)
To help you with project 3 and analytical work, you will divide into groups and be responsible for presenting on designated sections of the text. Your groups will provide a summary and glossary; contextual information (e.g., cultural, historical, political); and discussion questions. More information will be provided on how this will work.
Project 3: Writing to Persuade (20%)
Project 3 focuses on the Pirate Read by Sonia Nazario, Enrique’s Journey. This project asks you to create an argument, following the guidelines in the NFG (135-49), in which you analyze elements of Enrique’s Journey in relation to a particular context. In order to do this effectively, you should use the close-reading skills you developed working on the rhetorical analysis essay. Your essay should include a healthy balance of quotes and concepts from Enrique’s Journey and from the context that you have placed your analysis of it in. Both of these should serve your own ideas and argument.
The Writing to Persuade project is your own interpretation, not a re-crafted research paper. You are not presenting facts or giving your reader a summary of your research; rather, you are making a claim about specific aspects of the text and using the context as part of your argument. You should have four to six secondary sources. You must also determine an appropriate audience and format for your argument. In other words, you need to determine who should or would want to hear your argument and what form of writing (letter? website? article? essay?) would be most effective in reaching that audience.
Your argument should be +/-1800 words (about 7½ pages), and you must turn in copies of your sources with your work. You will also submit a brief cover letter with the final draft (details about this letter will be provided in class).
Final copies must be written in MLA format, and must be peer-reviewed by a fellow classmate before I will grade them. Additional details and assignment sheet will be provided.
Course Portfolio & Cover Letter (20%)
For the course portfolio, using feedback from your peers and from me, significantly revise two projects. In other words, your revisions should involve more than simply editing or moving a few things around. In the event that you cannot identify ways your assignments could be made more effective for their original audience(s) and/or purpose(s) through significant revision, you should come speak with me about revising one or both of your assignments for a new audience and/or purpose. Compile a portfolio that includes these two revised assignments, along with all drafts of and feedback on those assignments. This material should be gathered neatly in a file or pocket folder (not a 3-ring binder), and all components of the portfolio should be clearly labeled. All final drafts included in the portfolio, as well as the cover letter, will be uploaded to iWebfolio. Compose a cover letter to turn in with the portfolio. The cover letter should explain and justify the changes you have made to the two pieces of writing you have revised. In addition, the letter should identify and explain what you believe is effective in these two writing projects and what you believe could yet be improved. I will be paying particular attention to how well your letter reflects an awareness of the rhetorical strategies that are present in your writing. More information about the cover letter will be distributed during the semester.
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Late Work:
Late work is unacceptable. Students are encouraged to start early to avoid last-minute submissions that could be considered late. Saving multiple drafts across clouds, USB drives, and your computer are encouraged to avoid losing your work. Leniency will not be offered as we live in the golden age of technology. Save your work!
Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is the direct, or indirect, attempt of passing someone else’s ideas, words, or research off as your own. I have a zero tolerance policy for plagiarism, and any instance of plagiarism will result an immediate failure of the assignment. Instances of plagiarism will be reported to the student judicial system.
Class Policies:
Laptops and tablets are welcomed in the classroom for note taking purposes only. Sites and apps that aren’t class related can become a distraction to yourself and those around you. Tablets and e-readers are a welcomed change to traditionally bound books; these are welcomed accommodations for those opposed or unable to acquire the traditional texts. If you are becoming a distraction to a lecture, or students around you, you may be asked to leave class and receive an absence for that meeting. Please silence cell phones and other electronics to avoid becoming said distraction.
Email:
I use email as my main form of communication outside of class. If you need to reach me regarding an assignment or class topic please allow up to 24 hours to hear a reply from me.
Course Content Note:
As the semester progresses, keep all of your projects, including all drafts, all peer review comments, and all feedback from me. You will need this material to complete the final major assignment in the course. I will not grade your project if you do not turn in drafts and a cover letter. Failure to submit peer review feedback will negatively affect your grade.
