Course Syllabus
- Develop a thesis that establishes a position in relation to sources, goes beyond common knowledge, can be debated, and provides control, direction, and purpose to the paper.
- Incorporate concrete examples in most body paragraphs to develop the thesis.
- Incorporate an organizational structure that presents paragraphs in a meaningful progression.
- Demonstrate control over grammar errors while maintaining the sentence-level flexibility to clearly articulate ideas
- Demonstrate sustained engagement with evidence (i.e. quotations) using appropriate citation form
- Engage in writing as a social process that includes multiple drafts, collaboration, and reflection.
Attendance / Engagement
I trust that you will come to class when you are feeling well and will not come if you feel sick, if you have tested positive for COVID, if you are awaiting the results of a COVID test, etc.
COMMUNICATION IS KEY. If you have to miss class, it’s important that you email me ASAP so you can stay on top of our course material. Staying in touch will be crucial to doing well in the course. I am much more willing to be flexible for those who keep in touch.
Any student who falls at least 2 weeks behind on assignments (regular OR make-up assignments) or essays and/or someone who hasn’t contacted me to discuss a makeup plan may risk falling too far behind to complete the course successfully. Manage your time accordingly!
Writers’ Room
Please watch this video to learn about how to utilize the ONLINE WRITERS ROOM this semester. It is a FREE resource that is available to help you improve your writing:
The Writers' Room offers free tutoring for any writing assignment, in any discipline, during any stage of the process.
Virtual drop-in is conducted through Zoom and tutors' names are hyperlinked on the schedule to their personal zoom meeting rooms. In-person drop-in tutoring is held on the fourth floor of the Schurz Library. No appointment is necessary for drop-in tutoring, which will begin on Monday, August 29.
The sections in which tutors are embedded are also listed on the attached schedule. Embedded tutors will start attending class next week.
Students can check out all of the ACE tutoring schedules and services from the ACE main web page (https://students.iusb.edu/academic-success-programs/academic-centers-for-excellence/index.html). By scrolling down to the Writers' Room section, students can also sign up for a WriteWell Coach for more personalized, consistent attention to improve their overall skills as writers. Through this program, for an entire semester, students are paired with a coach who will design a supplemental curriculum tailored to their needs. Students meet with coaches for a combination of traditional, one-on-one tutoring and activities meant to address the specific writing challenges they face.
Titan Success Center (Links to an external site.)
The Titan Success Center is committed to your success at all times, and especially during this time of uncertainty and upheaval. You may have never taken a class online before and are concerned that you won't be able to keep up with your coursework. Maybe you're trying to register for your Fall classes, and you don't remember how to complete enrollment. Perhaps you're filling out your FAFSA and get stuck. Your Academic Success Coaches are still happy to assist you with these and other challenges. See our infographic (Links to an external site.) for some of the many ways we coach students through obstacles.
All TSC services will be offered remotely through the end of the semester via Zoom (Links to an external site.), email, or phone. Students can schedule a meeting with the TSC coaches using Student Appointment Scheduler (Links to an external site.), by emailing or by calling.
The TSC will keep their normal working hours of Monday-Friday from 8:00a.m.-5:00p.m., though meetings outside these hours can be an option.
W131 Exit Goals
In W131, you must be able to construct original theories or arguments by synthesizing two or more readings. Doing so will prepare you well for much of the writing you will do in your undergraduate courses. More specifically, a successful W131 paper will accomplish the following:
• THESIS: Announce the writer’s own theory in the paper’s introduction—a theory that goes beyond common knowledge and beyond mirroring the text author’s thesis or argument—to explore/develop that controlling idea in the body of the paper
• READING: Demonstrate accurate comprehension and effective representation of the course readings. This includes reading, rereading, and understanding the assigned source texts; identifying and defining key terms and ideas from those texts; accurate summary and paraphrase of texts; precise and nuanced close reading of texts; and the choice of relevant and appropriate context to convey the spirit as well as the specifics of each source text used in a paper
• QUOTATION: Introduce, interpret, and make effective use of the quotations included in a paper. Quotations are carefully chosen to work with key terms and ideas from the readings and are used to advance the thesis of the paper. The introduction to each quotation orients readers by providing an appropriate sense of the original
context. Quotations are integrated into the grammar of the writer’s own sentences. The writer will analyze and interpret every quotation and engage with the specificity of the text authors’ language. Sources for quotations are correctly cited using MLA
style. (Note: competency in achieving this goal absolutely depends upon close, careful, accurate reading skills.)
• CONNECTIONS/SYNTHESIS: Explain or explore connections between readings in most body paragraphs, by working with quoted evidence from both readings and/or by applying a key term or definition from one reading to a summarized example from another. These connections or relationships developed between texts often involve testing one author’s terms and ideas against the experience/ideas of another.
• ORGANIZATION: Incorporate an organizational structure that presents well-developed paragraphs in a meaningful order, supports the exposition of the thesis or theory, and builds to an effective conclusion. This includes sentences that connect with adjoining sentences to form coherent paragraphs as well as paragraphs that connect to one another using transitions both to create a logical progression of thought and to forward the thesis or theory of the paper.
• GRAMMATICAL FLEXIBILITY & CONTROL: Use a variety of sentence structures to reflect complex thinking, including effective use of coordination and subordination; begin to demonstrate attention to style and diction. Identify patterns of error and demonstrate control over those errors. In addition to eliminating errors that impede meaning, students must pay particular attention to the following:
o Spelling
o MLA Format: Conventions, Citations, Quotations
o Pronoun Usage: Reference, Point of View (I, you, we), Antecedent
o Sentence Structure (this would include severe sentence boundary issues such as sentence fragments, run-ons as well as misplaced modifiers)
o Verb Tense Shifts, including subject-verb agreement
o Comma Usage/punctuation
o Parallelism
The final research essay in W131 must accomplish the following in order to pass:
• Demonstrate competency in the exit goals specified for the earlier papers
• Incorporate one or more of the assigned readings used in earlier papers in order to connect the research paper to the intellectual content of the course
• Incorporate a Works Cited list of 3 to 5 sources, but build from a working bibliography of 10+ sources (beyond the assigned readings for the course). Because of the difficulty inherent in integrating numerous sources into the body of the paper, the Works Cited list is deliberately limited to the writer’s key sources—the primary materials being analyzed and the secondary framing materials. The bibliography incorporates background material that might enrich the writer’s understanding of the topic and functions to help students improve their research skills. The bibliography should include some range of sources, including scholarly journal articles and books but also allowing for background reference sources (i.e. specialized encyclopedias, popular magazines, and websites)
• Run at least 7-8 full pages, not including a Works Cited page.
UNIVERSITY POLICIES
https://academics.iusb.edu/syllabus-statements/index.html
Use of AI
Any work written, developed, created, or inspired by artificial intelligence (AI) is considered plagiarism and will not be tolerated. While the ever-changing developments with AI will find their place in our workforces and personal lives, in the realm of education and learning, this kind of technology does not belong. This is because the use of AI robs us of the opportunity to learn from our experiences and from each other, to play with our creative freedoms, to problem-solve, and to contribute our ideas in authentic ways. In a nutshell, college is a place for learning, and this class is specifically a space for learning how to improve our writing. AI simply cannot do that learning for us.
Use of cellphones in class: Not allowed.