109 W20 Domonchuk

The Faculty of Arts acknowledges that we are living and working on the traditional territory of the Attawandaron (Neutral), Anishinaabe, and Haudenosaunee peoples. The University of Waterloo is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land promised to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River.

University of Waterloo

Department of English Language and Literature

ENGL 109

Introduction to Academic Writing

Winter Term 2020

Course Meetings: Tuesdays and Thursdays 2:30pm – 3:50pm EV3 3408

Course Instructor: Michael Domonchuk

Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 1-2 pm PAS 1232

Email: mdomonch@uwaterloo.ca

Note: I will do my best to respond to emails within 24 hours (by Monday if it’s on the weekend) and to accommodate appointment requests outside of office hours if necessary.

Course Description

This course is about academic writing. Any academic discipline requires, at some point, or in some form, the ability to write and express oneself well. From Humanities with essays to Sciences with reports and presentations to Engineering and Maths with findings and processes, this course will help you build the fundamentals to thinking about, designing, writing and delivering those communications. This course will help you build those fundamentals and prepare you to deliver them in a professional setting.

Learning Outcomes

During this course you will develop writing tools to help make your written and oral presentations in both academic and professional environments better. Some of our goals include:

• Developing effective grammar skills, for both speaking and writing

• Understanding and utilising proper research and citation practices for academic writing

• Learning about different types of writing and stylistic approaches to them

• Developing editing skills for effective proofreading and final drafts

• Learning and developing constructive peer review skills and benefits of them

Reading Materials and Resources

1. This is the only book you will be required to purchase (available at UW bookstore): Ruszkiewicz, John J. and Dolmage, Jay T. How to Write Anything, Fourth Edition. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2020. Print. ISBN: 9781319282363.

2. You will be encouraged to log on to UWaterloo’s online LEARN system. We will not be using LEARN throughout the course, but it remains a resource for me to post important information for all of you to access instead of emailing everyone. I encourage you to check for updates at least twice a week.

Resources: These are excellent and valuable sources for your own time or prerogative:

1. Citations: Owl Purdue Website for Citations - https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/.

2. Grammar: https://www.grammarly.com/

3. King, Stephen. On Writing. Pocket Books, 2001. Print.

4. Greggs Manual of Style – Indigo, Abe Books, Amazon, Ebay, etc.

Assignments and Grade Breakdown

Assignments

1. Participation – 20%

- Participation is multi-fold: it is a combination of:

• Your attendance in class
• Your peer review presence. For each essay we will conduct a peer review session in-class, for you to read, discuss with and comment on each other’s drafts.
• Your submission of assignments on time. I consider timely submission to be part of participation; it reflects on you when your work is late.

2. Narrative Essay – 10%

- This is a 3-5 page essay in which you will tell a story about an event, or moment, or person, that has changed your outlook on life, or influenced you in some way, helping to shape the person you are today.

3. Evaluation Essay – 10%

- This is a 3-5 page essay. Choose an item or product that you use, watch, listen to, or are simply interested in. Make it fun. This could be a phone, a music video, your favourite song, a piece of sports equipment, accessibility device, anything that has a commercial presence. The idea with this essay is for you to, using research methods we will discuss in class, evaluate that item or product, with the aim to see if it lives up to claims made by manufacturers or representatives.

4. Argument Essay – 15%

- This is a 5-7 page essay in which you will employ methods of choosing a topic and researching that topic that we will be discussing in class to formulate an argument. The main focus of this essay is to formulate an argument about something you are interested in; this could be about politics, economics, sports, science, animals, health, whatever you come up with. We will workshop in class choosing and narrowing down that topic, as well as research methods and citations.

5. Database Workshop Assignment – 5%

- This is a one-page assignment. We will be conducting an in-class tutorial on UW’s research databases. This assignment is simply putting onto paper what you learned and what journals (2 or 3) might interest you for further research and why.

6. Image Analysis Assignment – 5%

- We will be discussing and analyzing images from popular media. We will analyze body language, facial expression, colour choices, object arrangement and text accompaniment to explore the ways in which rhetoric is conveyed to us via these images. Your assignment will be a one-page analysis of an image of your choice employing the methods we workshopped in class.

7. Annotated Bibliography Assignment – 10%

- We will workshop annotated bibliographies along with discussing readings about them. You will put together a one-page bibliography with annotations explaining what each source you plan to use is (even if you don’t end up using it), and why it is important for your essay. This will be part of the Argument Essay module. This is weighted a bit more because it will help you with citations as well as research methodology.

8. Final Portfolio and Reflection Assignment – 20% and 5%

-  The Final Portfolio will focus on editing and proofreading. The 3 essays submitted throughout the course will be “Final for Now.” This means they will be completed but still have room for improvement via editing. You will simply be choosing TWO essays you have already written and submitted and revise them implementing the writing skills you have acquired during the course and the feedback you have acquired during the peer reviews. You will be graded according to the changes and improvements you make to the essay. This is important: the purpose of this final assignment is NOT an opportunity to simply re-submit “Final for Now” drafts. It is an opportunity to show how you have improved as a writer and how you are able to implement editing and proofreading skills into your own work. To this end, the “Final for Now” drafts will be submitted with the revised finals so I can compare.

-  The Reflection is an end of semester one to two page document that you work on by yourself and submit to me, with your portfolio, telling me how you think you have improved as an academic writer. This is a self-evaluation and will be added to your final grade for the semester.

Attendance and Late Submissions

I expect you all to attend each class unless there are circumstances that require attention. If this is the case please speak to me about it, please don’t just not show up. Late penalties for assignments are 2% per day including weekends. I prefer submitted assignments to be in hard copy, brought with you to class. The Final Portfolio and Reflection will be submitted on LEARN. All other assignments will be submitted in hard copy in class.

***This is not a heavy reading and writing course. Both the readings and the essays you will write are short and have been designed to take a minimal amount of time to do. The goal of this course is not to make you produce a ton of writing, but rather it is designed to help you better understand different types of writing and the skills and stylistic approaches to them. The questions in the textbook that accompany the readings are for yourself to consider. They won’t be part of assignment submissions. Peer reviews will also be conducted during class time.

Class Schedule

Jan 7 - Introductions, getting to know each other, going through the syllabus

Jan 9 – Free Writing, introduction to Narrative Essay, discuss readings Textbook: (4-12), (350-359)

Explore:https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/essay_writing/narrative_es says.html

Jan 14 – Free Writing, mechanics of writing workshop (with some grammar)

Jan 16 – Free Writing, Narrative Essay Draft Peer Review (in-class)

Jan 21 – Free Writing, Discuss readings

Textbook (536-549)

Editing workshop

Jan 23 - Narrative Essay "Final for Now" due in class, Free Writing

Introduction to Evaluation Essay

Jan 28 – Dana Porter Library research database workshop

Introduce and assign database workshop assignment

Jan 30 - Free Writing, Discuss readings

Textbook (120-143)

Feb 4 – Free Writing, Evaluation Essay Draft Peer Review (in-class)

Feb 6 - Database workshop assignment due in class, Free Writing

Image analysis workshop, Introduce and assign Image Analysis assignment

Explore: https://writingcenter.tamu.edu/Students/Writing-Speaking- Guides/Alphabetical-List-of-Guides/Academic-Writing/Analysis/Analyzing-Visual- Images.

Feb 11 – Free Writing, Narrowing a topic workshop

Feb 13 - Evaluation Essay “Final for Now” due in class, Free Writing

Introduction to Argument Essay

Feb 18 – Reading Week

Feb 20 – Reading Week

Feb 25 – Free Writing, Discuss readings

Textbook (89-119)

Feb 27 – Image Analysis assignment due in class, Free Writing, review on topics workshop

Mar 3 – Free Writing, Discuss readings

Textbook (251-256)

Review on citations workshop

Mar 5 – Free Writing, Argument Essay Draft Peer Review

Mar 10 – Annotated Bibliography due, Students’ choice workshop

Mar 12 - Free Writing, Discuss readings

Textbook (472-504)

Mar 17 – No class – meetings to discuss argument essay and portfolio

Mar 19 – No class – meetings to discuss argument essay and portfolio

Mar 24 – Argument Essay due in class, Free Writing, Portfolio workshop

Mar 26 - Free Writing, Discuss readings

Textbook (311-318)

Mar 31 – Free Writing, sharing favourite writings either personal or something you’ve read

Apr 2 - Final class - Review, questions about final portfolio
Apr 6 - Final Portfolios and Reflection are due on LEARN by 11:59pm

There will be a drop box on LEARN for this submission. Late penalties apply for the final portfolio as with all other submissions, which is 2% per day. *** .docx or .pdf are both acceptable formats. Please be sure to use 1” margins and 12 pt Times New Roman font. Make sure your name is on all submissions please.

Electronic Devices Policy

I do understand and support the need for electronic devices in class, so I don’t prohibit them. If you do choose to use a laptop for notetaking, please be sure not to distract your classmates with them. However, I prefer to see you making handwritten notes. Since we will be working primarily with hardcopy documents for submissions and peer review sessions, handwritten notetaking and free writing will benefit concentration and communication levels. I would prefer especially to see handwriting for the free writing sessions. The writing you produce during the free writing sessions will not be submitted, or be seen by me. It is for your own personal benefit.

Institutional-required statements for undergraduate course outlines approved by Senate Undergraduate Council, April 14, 2009

Cross-listed course

Please note that a cross-listed course will count in all respective averages no matter under which rubric it has been taken. For example, a PHIL/PSCI cross-list will count in a Philosophy major average, even if the course was taken under the Political Science rubric.

Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity: In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility.

Discipline: A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity, to avoid committing academic offences, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course professor, academic advisor, or the Undergraduate Associate Dean. When misconduct has been found to have occurred, disciplinary penalties will be imposed under Policy 71 – Student Discipline. For information on categories of offenses and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71 - Student Discipline.

Grievance: A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4.

Appeals: A student may appeal the finding and/or penalty in a decision made under Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances (other than regarding a petition) or Policy 71 - Student Discipline if a ground for an appeal can be established. Read Policy 72 - Student Appeals.

Other sources of information for students

Academic integrity (Arts) Academic Integrity Office (uWaterloo)

Note for students with disabilities:

The AccessAbility Services office, located on the first floor of the Needles Hall Room 1132 (phone extension 1401), collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with the AS office at the beginning of each academic term.

Mental Health Support

All of us need a support system. The faculty and staff in Arts encourage students to seek out mental health supports if they are needed.

On Campus

• Counselling Services: counselling.services@uwaterloo.ca/ 519-888-4567 ext. 32655.

• MATES: one-to-one peer support program offered by Federation of Students (FEDS) and Counselling Services.

• Health Services Emergency service: located across the creek form Student Life Centre.

Off campus 24/7

• Good2Talk: Free confidential help line for post-secondary students. Phone: 1- 866-925-5454

• Grand River Hospital: Emergency care for mental health crisis. Phone: 519-749- 433 ext. 6880

• Here24/7: Mental Health and Crisis Service Team. Phone: 1-844-437-3247

• OK2BME: set of support services for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning teens in Waterloo. Phone: 519-884-0000 extension 213

Full details can be found online at the Faculty of ARTS website
Download UWaterloo and regional mental health resources (PDF)
Download the WatSafe app to your phone to quickly access mental health support information.