109 F19 Watts

University of Waterloo


Department of English


ENGL 109 -019 


Intro to Academic Writing


Fall 2019 
 Monday/Wednesday - 11:30-12:50

Room: EV3 3408

Instructor Information:

Instructor: Hannah Watts
Office: 1238
Office Phone: 7058498118
Office Hours: 1-3 pm, Monday / Wednesday (right after our class) OR by appointment Email: hwatts@uwaterloo.ca

*note: I have given you my cellphone number. Please feel free to contact me from 9 am to 7 pm on weekdays. Please don’t send me cat facts. Email turnaround will be 24 hrs for weekdays. I will not be available on weekends, either by phone or email. If you send me a text or email on Friday, I will reply on Monday.

Course Description and Goals:

Dear Students;

English 109 is designed to get you comfortable writing in an academic context. You will learn about differences between forms of academic writing as well as more widely shared ideas about what makes writing good across disciplines. Through this work, you will learn ways to adapt your writing to different situations, so that you can more effectively and powerfully communicate. This course will prepare you to succeed throughout your academic career, regardless of your discipline. You will draw from your own knowledge, backgrounds, cultural and community experiences, and interests.

The best writers talk with one another extensively about their writing at every stage of the composing process from the development of ideas through the final polishing of prose. For these reasons, much of your work in this course will involve different kinds of collaboration with your peers. You will learn to give useful feedback to your classmates, as well as to receive feedback and put it to use in the revision of your writing. This course acknowledges that learning to write is an unending process—it is persistent work, not just a flash of inspiration. Throughout this course, you should expect to practice:

• thinking critically and communicating effectively

• a variety of strategies for inventing, drafting, and editing texts

• writing in a variety of academic genres

• critical reading

• writing persuasively by effectively employing elements of formal argumentation

• giving and receiving useful feedback on writing for the purposes of revision

• communicating to a variety of academic audiences 


What I offer:

I believe a syllabus is a contract between student and instructor. Above, we discussed your practices. Here are mine:

• I will respect your opinions, and the unique relationship you have to writing in English. My feedback will not focus primarily on grammatical forms. While I will do my best to help you develop as a writer, I am most interested in how you communicate your original, creative, ideas.

• I will bring my best to each class, and be thoughtful and expansive in any writing samples I share.

• I will be open and willing to listen, give feedback, and help, in any way I can.

• I will listen carefully and attentively to feedback you have for me and my class, and I will give you the opportunity to offer it respectfully.

Required Text

• Ruszkiewicz,JohnJ.Howtowriteanything.4thEd.,Macmillan,2019. • Your own work! Remember to set some money aside for printing fees.

Course Requirements and Assessment:

*submissions will be due in HARD COPY at the beginning of class. The final portfolio will be handed in by LEARN dropbox.

1. Research Project:

The research project is split into two parts: the preparation packet, and the final product, the article. Your purpose is to research a trend: something that is happening, somewhere in the world, that you can provide evidence for. You will then compile this research into a short, comprehensive article. Examples: gun violence in America is increasing, Marvel superheroes are taking over the box office, blue-green algae is growing in Canadian lakes, etc. Choose something you are interested in that relates to your area of study, and that you will get real meaning out of looking into.

The preparation packet will be a compendium of sources and preliminary questions you have. You will then use your packet’s discoveries to write the final article. More specific requirements will follow in the next few weeks. Alternative practices available.

2. Participation:

A big portion of 109 is going to be class engagement, but as you can see from the assessment criteria, this is going to take a few different forms.

-  Course Engagement: please show up to, and be interested in the class. This means taking part in discussions, actively participating in group work, asking questions, and offering your best to the rest of us in the room. If you have difficulty speaking in class, you can engage by continuing the discussion on our LEARN forum. I want to learn from everybody in this class.

-  Informal Writing: each of you will keep a journal, digital or physical. This journal can be used for personal writing, brainstorming, the freewriting we do in class, and the prompts that you receive at the end of every class period. I would like at least one page per prompt. I will collect the journals halfway through the course, and at the end (see schedule).

-  Self Evaluations: we will have two self evaluations, one halfway through the class, and another on the last day. Some questions you might answer in these evaluations: what is going well in this class? What is difficult? How is your time management? For the first evaluation, there will be a section to review how the class itself is going, including whether you feel you are being set up for success by me, the instructor, or not. Please be honest.

-  Conferences: we’ll be seeing a lot of each other in this course! For writing classes, I find it especially helpful to check in with students early, and give feedback when needed. We will be having three conference weeks. Each of these weeks you’ll choose a 15 minute meeting time that works with your schedule, and come visit me. The first week, we’ll just get to know each other a bit, talk about what discipline you come from, and what you hope to get out of this class. For the second and third conference, you’ll email in advance a copy of an assignment you would like to discuss with me, along with questions you might have.

-  Writing Desk Visit: there’s a pretty cool place in Dana Porter called the Writing and Communication centre. At least once this semester, you’ll drop in and receive help with one of our assignments. Find out more here: https://uwaterloo.ca/library/ services/writing-and-communication-centre-library

3. Final Portfolio:


The final portfolio will be the comprised of the best draft of each of our four genres of writing: the memoir, analysis, argument, and proposal. Prior to this submission, you will be working with drafts that will not be graded, but do try to keep up. This course is easy to manage if you stay on top of the work, but very difficult if you try to write four substantial papers the night before the exam—“due tomorrow, do tomorrow” does not work here. The fifth part of your portfolio is a short reflection. You get to look back over your process; what worked, what didn’t, what would you do differently? What did you change over the course of the semester? More information will follow towards the middle of the semester. Alternative practices available.

Course Outline

Please bring your textbook (How To Write Anything), notes, and journal to every class. 
 This class will rely on group work in the form of peer and personal revision (aka PPR). 
 For PPR days (see schedule), please make sure to submit your draft to your discussion group TWO DAYS before. ie: if we are revising on a Wednesday, you must have your draft submitted to your group on the Monday. Each person must also bring a hard copy of their own draft with them to class.

Late Work 


• Late assignments will be penalized by 2% per day.

• After one full week, I will no longer be marking it.

• You get one freebie, applicable towards:

• research prep packet

• research article

You may hand either of these in ONE class day late and not incur penalty.

Electronic Device Policy: 


I encourage people to bring whatever devices will make your in-class learning easier and a more involved experience. If you’re going to use them to distract yourself (ie. watching Grey’s Anatomy) please sit in the back of the class so others (like me) are not also distracted.

That being said, please also purchase and bring with you a PHYSICAL notebook, and writing utensil to use for your journal, unless you plan to keep a digital journal.

Accessibility:

I am currently on a waiting list with campus health services for a test that will confirm my belief that I have ADHD. In the meantime, I am interested in organizing my classroom in a way that will be helpful to all of us with various abilities and disabilities, whether diagnosed or not. In some cases, that may be as easy as the class being respectfully silent when someone is talking, so I can focus on what they are saying. In other cases, we might need alternate forms of feedback or submissions, to participate in peer reviews online instead of in person, to work on revision with headphones in, etc. Everyone learns differently. If you have a need you feel isn’t being met, come talk to me. If there are accommodations that you can access through AccessAbility Services, see below.

Note for Students with Disabilities

The AccessAbility Services office, located on the first floor of the Needles Hall extension (NH 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.

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

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. See the Office of Academic Integrity webpage for more information.

Discipline

A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity, to avoid committing academic offences, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. Check the Office of Academic Integrity for more information. 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. For typical penalties check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties.

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. When in doubt, please be certain to contact the department’s administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.

Appeals

A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances (other than a petition) or Policy 71 - Student Discipline may be appealed if there is a ground. A student who believes he/she has a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72 - Student Appeals.

***I HAVE QUESTIONS: (write them here)***

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