109 W22 Lesiuk

ENGL109: Introduction to Academic Writing Section 009

University of Waterloo Department of English

Winter 2022

Section 009

Mondays and Wednesdays:2:30 pm – 3:50 pm in EV3 3406

We acknowledge that we are living and working on the traditional territory of the Attawandaron (also known as 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

Instructor Information

(Assuming we go back to in-person instruction.)

Instructor:                   Michael Lesiuk

Office:                         PAS 1284 (tip: use the map I post on LEARN)

Office Hours:               Mon/Wed 1:30 p.m – 2:30 pm (virtual, so please email!)

Email:                         mlesiuk@uwaterloo.ca

Textbook

None! All readings should be on LEARN or available as links.

Summary

In this workshop-based course you will develop your abilities as a writer. To do this, you will practice writing in a variety of genres, and you will use a variety of strategies designed to help you discover ideas, organize and arrange those ideas, and then communicate them effectively and persuasively.

Although our focus will technically be on academic communication, you will discover that “academic communication” does not have to be dry and boring. It can be simple and riveting. Sometimes it can use stories, anecdotes, or metaphors. As we’ll learn, the rhetorical effectiveness of these things depends on genre and audience. Indeed, you will learn to adapt your writing to a variety of different situations and different audiences, because this is a useful, marketable and powerful skill to have.

The official learning outcomes for this course are as follows:

• To help you to think critically and communicate effectively;
• To learn and practice a variety of strategies for inventing, drafting, and editing texts;
• To learn and practice writing in a variety of academic genres;
• To learn to read critically;
• To learn to write persuasively by effectively employing elements of formal argumentation;
• To help you give and receive useful feedback on writing for the purposes of revision;
• To learn and practice communicating to a variety of academic audiences.

In less official terms, and to give you an idea of what to expect, here are some of the things you can learn in ENGL109:

• You will learn strategies to persuade teachers to give you better marks (!).
• You will learn how to produce shitty first drafts, experiment, and try new things.
• You will learn ancient writing structures that you are free to use, borrow, or discard.
• You will learn some of the weird writing habits of famous writers, living and dead.
• You will learn the persuasive strategies of ancient Greek rhetoricians and sleazy Internet marketers.
• You will learn some research strategies that work across genres and disciplines (and some that don’t).
• You will learn to read like a writer.
• You will learn to give feedback that is helpful and critical, yet makes the writer feel awesome. Likewise, you will learn strategies to prevent untactful critical feedback ruining your day.

Standards of Written Work

This is a university-level writing course, so the university expects you to be comfortable with the basic mechanics of writing. You should be able to understand and use proper grammar, punctuation and syntax. Keep in mind this does not mean you need to be able to cite or talk about obscure grammar or usage rules; this just means that you are comfortable putting together sentences using English. If you need extra help with these mechanics, it is your responsibility to come to office hours, or to make an appointment with me, or to visit the university’s writing centre.

Accommodations

Every student with a permanent or temporary disability has the right to UW’s AccessAbility Services, located on the first floor of the Needles Hall extension (1401). This is true for every class you take at this university. The AccessAbility office collaborates with all departments to arrange accommodations, but you must register for these services to take advantage of them. Please visit https://uwaterloo.ca/accessability-services for more information on how to do this.

If you feel anxiety about participation or speaking in public, please speak with me and we can discuss accommodations that work well. (You’re not alone.) These usually involve alternative forms of participation, and/or weekly goals to increase your participation. It is your responsibility to do this before Thursday, September 13.

Mental Health

Human beings need support systems. I, and the rest of the faculty and staff in Arts, encourage you to seek out mental health support if you need it. The university has a variety of on-campus services and support systems you can use, and there are also off-campus options. The faculty of arts has a page with links, phone numbers, and a bunch more information right here: https://uwaterloo.ca/arts/get-mental-health-support-when-you-need-it.

Discussion Etiquette

Civility: No student should ever be teased, or made to feel small, embarrassed, self-conscious, or unsafe. Since workshopping, discussion and feedback are such important elements of the class, we will discuss how to give critical feedback in a way that’s productive and helpful. We’ll also discuss how to receive critical feedback because sometimes very helpful, very useful feedback is hard to accept, even though doing so will make you a better writer and help you grow.

Technology: No cell phones. Turn them completely off, please, as one of the first things you do when you step into class. This doesn’t mean “turn on vibrate.” It means turn the phone off. Having a phone on or texting in class puts you in danger of losing a lot of participation marks. It’s also embarrassing and awkward when I need to say something. I will allow laptops, but here, too, you can lose participation marks if you’re not using yours for work.

Please Bring With You…

(Assuming we go back to in-person instruction.)

Hard Copies of Rough Drafts: When I ask you to bring rough copies of your work to class, I mean print off hard copies and bring them with you. Several times this term you’ll need to both upload rough drafts to LEARN and print off four hard copies for in-class workshopping.

Cheap Notebook: Bring a cheap notebook with you. Loose-leaf paper is fine, if that’s your thing.

Pens and Pencils: Bring pens and pencils with you.

Note: You must bring pens and paper with you to every in-person class. Although I’m allowing you to bring your laptops, you will also be doing some writing with old-fashioned pens and paper. Depending on the situation, there are cognitive benefits to doing so, and you’ll learn about them.

Major Assignments & Grade Breakdown

Your Writing Portfolio

Let me briefly go over how the term will play out.

In January, for Unit 1, we’ll work on the Literacy Narrative. You’ll produce a rough draft and get feedback on the draft from your peers (just as you’ll give feedback to them), and then a week later you’ll hand in a revised version. It will receive a “final-for-now” grade, with instructor comments and feedback to help you with revision. At the end of the term you’ll have a chance to hand in a revised copy.

For the rest of the semester, you’ll be working on your Academic Argument Essay. As part of this, you’ll do research, find sources, and shortly after Reading Week you’ll hand in a Source Annotation and Analysis. This will also receive a temporary “final-for-now” grade, with comments and feedback. At the end of the term you’ll have a chance to hand in a revised copy.

That assignment, along with some of the weekly tasks in the latter half of the semester, will bridge us into your Academic Argument Essay. You’ll share your sources, drafts of your essay, you’ll give and receive feedback, and then towards the end of term you’ll hand in the essay, plus any revisions you want to hand in.

Revisions

At the end of the term, one of your weekly discussion tasks will be a short retrospective. Along with this retrospective, you’ll be able hand in revisions for your Literacy Narrative and your Source Annotation and Analysis assignment.

For the end-of-term revisions, the new grade replaces the old grade. Also, since I want to encourage you to take risks and experiment in your writing, I will also say this: if you take a risk and somehow you make an assignment worse, your grade cannot go down. You have nothing to lose by submitting a revised version, and you also have nothing to lose by taking risks. I will give tips and suggestions for revision when I look at the final-for-now versions, but the final editing decisions will be up to you. You’re the writer.

Now, the only caveat to handing in revised versions is that you must include a short explanation (minimum 250 words for each) of what you’re hoping to accomplish with the revision. You can just put this explanation in the comments box on LEARN. You won’t be graded on this explanation, but I won’t accept the revision if it’s not included. I’m asking you to include it because, first of all, it forces you to pause, and to take a step back from your writing and actually think about what you’re hoping to accomplish, and second, it helps me give you more useful feedback that’s tailored to the things you care about.

Late Penalties for the Portfolio Assignments

Please note that there is a 4% per weekday late penalty for missing any of the major assignment deadlines. This will be firm, because organizing your writing process is an important part of this course (and writing more generally). Yes, this late penalty will apply to the “final-for-now” due dates for the assignments.

Weekly Discussion & Workshopping

There is a good chance that we won’t have the chance to meet in-person twice per week, so the course requirements and assignments have been designed accordingly.

In particular, I’ve organized this course on a weekly basis. Each week there will be the Weekly Discussion & Workshopping that will effectively replace our face-to-face class time, and which will complement and support your Writing Portfolio assignment. Every week, there will be a few short videos and/or readings to do before submitting any of your weekly discussion responses. I will give you a checklist each week so you know exactly what content there is to read, watch or check out.

Anything you need to submit will be due by 11:59 p.m. on Friday. This gives me the weekend to try to respond, and potentially to make any adjustments to the upcoming week’s content based on what you submit.

Everything for that week is due Friday 11:59 p.m.

The different tasks will be worth a varying number of points (1-5). Obviously, the more points a task is, the more important it is and/or the more work it will take you. That said, for the Weekly Discussion and Workshopping assignments, if you follow the spirit of the guidelines, you get an

A. (If you really knock it out of the park, you get perfect.) I'm doing it this way because I want to encourage you to experiment and take risks. Don't worry about the mark — just engage honestly with the material. Even if you misunderstand something, it’s fine—you still get the A!

Note, however, that the late penalty for the weekly discussion tasks is 30% per day. This is pretty high, but that is because it’s more important for you to finish them than it is to polish them. Even if you’re not happy with what you submit, you still get an A. Just get it done and out of the way!

“What happens if we return to in-person learning?”

The short answer is that we’ll change how the Weekly Discussion and Workshopping works. Since we’ll be doing our workshopping in class, you will have fewer tasks to do each week, though you may still have a few “mini” homework assignments. We will also figure out some form of a participation grade that will be half attendance* and half a self-grade you give yourself in the short retrospective. For the sake of simplicity, no matter what, all these things will still fall under the broader 40% Weekly Discussion and Workshopping category. I’ll figure out the weighting for individual items based on how far into the semester we are when we make the switch.

* Since this is a workshop-based course, your attendance is important—not just for you, but also for your peers.

Course Schedule

Please note: This schedule is subject to slight changes for topics.

Week 1

Drafting Narratives

Jan 5 – Jan 7 - Course Intro

Week 2

Jan 10 – Jan 14 - English

Week 3

Jan 17 – Jan - 1Your weekly task this week will include a rough draft of your literacy narrative.

Week 4

Jan 25 – Jan 28 - Peer Feedback

Week 5

Jan 31 – Feb 4 - Editing and Revising Your Literacy Narrative

Literacy Narrative (final-for-now) Friday, Feb 4th at 11:59 p.m.

Week 6

Feb 7 – Feb 11 - Academic Conversations

Week 7

Feb 14 – Feb 18 - Research

Week 8

Drafting Arguments II

Feb 28 – Mar 4 - Evaluating & Annotating Sources

Week 9

Mar 7 – Mar 11 - Drafting Arguments I

Week 10

Mar 14 – Mar 18 - Your weekly task this week will include a rough draft of your argument essay.

Week 11

Mar 21 – Mar 25 - Peer Review

Week 12

Mar 28 – Apr 1 0- Editing and Revising Your Argument Essay

Academic Argument Essay Friday, April 1st at 11:59 p.m.

Week 12.5

Apr 4 – Apr 5 - Wrap-up

Revisions Tuesday, April 5, at 11:59 p.m.