Engl. 101: Introduction to Expository Writing

Instructor: Moira P. Baker

406 Young Hall

mpbaker@runet.edu

831-5352

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101 Requirements| 101 Syllabus


Course Description, Objectives and Policies

The fundamental premise of this course is that you are all competent language users already. You have been listening to, speaking, reading, or writing language throughout your lives. Some of you have command of more than one language. This course builds upon the language skills you already have. The objectives I invite you to pursue in this course are several: to develop greater confidence as writers, to explore the writing process through various recursive phases, and to examine what brings you success in your own writing process. The phases of the writing process you will practice as you produce pieces of writing for different audiences and purposes are: discovery or invention, drafting, revision, and editing. With persistent effort, everyone who is interested in working with language can become a more confident, self-reflective and powerful writer. 

But powerful writing is seldom the product of hasty thinking, sudden inspiration or foolproof formulas. It results, rather, from thoughtful work through a gradual process and requires practice—lots of it. This course is, therefore, based on the following assumptions about learning to write more effectively.  To write better, you need to write more; you need to examine the success of choices you've made as you write so that you can revise, re-envision, and develop your written pieces from draft to draft; you need to speak with others who have read your drafts to determine whether they are communicating effectively to readers; you need to develop as thoughtful readers of other writers' work. Each piece that you work on in this course will reflect these assumptions about the writing process and the importance of constructive responses to your work from other writers. 

To meet the course objectives, I will ask you to do considerable writing both in and out of class. Much of this writing will be exploratory and experimental as you generate ideas and language that you will later reshape into polished essays. I will ask you to draft and revise so that written pieces may reach their potential. Finally, you will edit pieces to eliminate all surface errors. We will devote much of our class time to workshops in which you will put into practice what you are learning about the writing process as you work toward polished essays.  

Collaboration with other members of the class in writing groups is essential if the course is to meet its objectives. Throughout the course you will speak to each other about your ideas as you begin to discover or invent them and read each other's work as you draft and revise. You will work on becoming more perceptive and skilled readers. You will talk about how to respond constructively to pieces of writing and how to share those responses with others. These activities will help you become better readers of your own work as well. The constructive responses you receive from other readers should help you both determine the success of choices you've made as writers and devise ways in which to revise your writing for greater success.

Required Text and Materials:

Axelrod, Rise and Charles Cooper. The St. Martin's Guide to Writing.  6th ed.  New York: St. Martin's, 2000.

Lanham, Richard.  Revising Prose.  New York:  Allyn and Bacon, 1995.

Several manila folders to submit your essays and drafts.

Xerox copies of your drafts for workshop sessions.

 


Course Policies

Due Dates and Late Work:

Since writing is a process involving lots of preliminary writing, drafting, and rewriting, I need you to submit your work on time to feel assured that your writing will reach its potential in this course. If your work is not ready for workshops and writing groups, you will not benefit from the constructive responses of others. This means you will lose the opportunity to learn the writing process by engaging in it methodically, with guidance and support from your fellow students. Because one of the purposes of this course is to help you become more self-reflective writers, you must have your work prepared on due dates so you can work methodically on the various stages of the process. I record as a zero any invention writing, written responses to the readings, drafts, and revisions not submitted by class time on the due date.  Revised final versions of the two graded essays not submitted by class time on the due date will receive a failing grade.

Requests for Extension of Deadlines:

If, because of extraordinary circumstances beyond your control, you cannot complete an assignment by the due date, you must contact me prior to class time to discuss the possibility of an extension, which may, upon discussion, be granted if your particular situation warrants such consideration. It may be possible to receive an extension of a deadline, but only under the most extreme circumstances, and only if you contact me before the deadline. This is a responsibility that I must ask to fulfill, since it helps me make the most accurate assessment of your performance in the course in a way that is fair to both you and your fellow students. Absolutely no extensions will be granted unless you contact me prior to class time on the due date.

Writing Group Participation:

In sharing your writing with other students, in reading their work, and in responding constructively to it, I ask you to work with energy, commitment, interest and respect. I expect you to take your own work and the work of others seriously; I expect you to give other students the kind of careful, attentive, and respectful responses that you would like to receive from them. Because I am asking you to share in partnership with me as a teacher in this class, I need you to make specific, substantive comments on the work of others, expressing the strengths that you admire in their work and sharing honestly the questions you have about the choices that they have made as writers.

Attendance:

In order to teach in the way that I believe is most effective, calling all of us to collaborate as teacher/learners, I must ask you to attend regularly and participate actively. If you aren't here, obviously you cannot accept your responsibility as both teacher and learner in this class. Without your attendance and your constructive work, this class cannot succeed. Your presence and contributions are so essential to this course, that I ask you to accept the following policy:

More than three absences mean that a student has not met sufficiently his or her responsibility to the other members of this class. The consequence is that the grade will be affected adversely, the extent depending upon the number of absences beyond three. More than six absences means a failure in the course since it indicates that, as a member of this class, a student has not met all the requirements of the course, one of which is regular and significant contribution both as a member of a writing group and as a member of the whole class.

Academic Honesty and Plagiarism:

 The University Affairs Council has asked all faculty to include the following statement in our course policies: 

By accepting admission to Radford University, each student makes a commitment to understand, support, and abide by the University Honor Code without compromise or exception. Violations of academic integrity will not be tolerated. This class will be conducted in strict observance of the Honor Code. Please refer to your Student Handbook for details. 

Plagiarism--including the use of work submitted to another course without the consent of both instructors; the use of work by another person; or the use of someone else's words, ideas or arrangement of ideas without giving proper reference to the author--is a serious violation of the Honor Code. This applies to any materials on the Worldwide Web or electronic sources in the library. Please see the section on plagiarism in your Student Handbook.

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