109 F21 Hulan

ENGL 109 (003) Introduction to Academic Writing (BLENDED COURSE*) Fall 2021

Mondays and Wednesdays 11:30 AM - 12:50 PM

Monday class: Physically in person in ML 349 Wednesday class: Remote

Course instructor: Prof. Shelley Hulan

Office: HH 259

Contact: shulan@uwaterloo.ca

Tele.: 519-888-4567 x46867

Land acknowledgment: I acknowledge that I live and work on the traditional territory of ‎ the Neutral, Anishinaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples. The University of Waterloo is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land promised to the Six Nations that includes ten kilometres on each side of the Grand River.

Office hours: Wednesdays 11:30 am - 12:50 pm and other times by appointment

COVID-19 space restrictions mean that I am unable to meet with you in my office. Office hours will be conducted remotely via Webex. If you would like to meet in person, we can try to do so outdoors, weather permitting.

*Explanation of class meetings: ENGL 109 is a blended course, which means that the class will meet physically in person once a week (Mondays). Your attendance in the in-person class is mandatory.

Each week after Monday’s class, I will upload a short lecture and other materials to LEARN. These will serve as Wednesday’s remote class. You may listen to these materials at a time that fits your schedule, but you must listen to them before the next physically in-person class.

Course description

This course teaches the principles of academic writing at the first-year university level. Through a variety of hands-on activities, students gain a clear understanding of writing principles before they proceed with complex writing tasks in higher-year courses. The course concentrates on the development of clarity in expository writing, sound reasoning in persuasive writing, thorough research methods in research-based writing, and fluid and transparent structure in all these areas of communication. Students will practice how to critique their own and others’ writing constructively and edit their own work effectively. Students accomplish these objectives through a process of design and revision that focuses on their own agency.

Learning Outcomes

This course has the following aims:

• 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 audiences

Required text and readings

Lunsford, Andrea A., John J. Ruszkiewicz, and Keith Walters. Everything’s an Argument: With Readings. 8^th ed. Bedford St. Martin’s, 2019.

Available at the Campus Bookstore in South Campus Hall.

Supplementary assigned readings will be available through Library Course Reserves for this section (003) of ENGL 109. You will see these in the Schedule section of this course outline.

Grade Breakdown

There is no final examination in this course.                        

Participation: In general, “participation” means preparedness for class as evidenced in your interactions with your professor and other students. Good interactions show one or more of the following:

• that you have read the course material in advance of the class in which it is assigned
• that you have listened respectfully to other class members’ contributions to the class and responded constructively to them
• that you have taken part promptly and seriously in any group discussion activities assigned in LEARN

In this class, learning takes place through a variety of hands-on activities that you will undertake with the 3-4 other members of the class who are a part of your group.

Please note: In the class schedule, “Reading due in class” means that you must complete the listed reading before the class when the reading will be discussed.

How and Where to Submit Written Assignments

Electronic format: Microsoft Word .docx format or PDF, online through LEARN. For every assignment, I will open a Dropbox in LEARN where you will be able to upload and submit your work.

Late policy: Many things can happen to students over the course of the semester. If you are unable to submit your assignment by the due date listed in the course outline, please contact me to figure out next steps.

In order to make sure that all students are treated in the same way, I require that requests for deadline extensions or alternative test dates be accompanied by appropriate documentation. If you have a valid reason for submitting assignments later than the deadline, you must notify me immediately of that reason and provide the relevant documentation of the problem. With a valid reason, you will not receive a late penalty for not handing the assignment in on the original due date. However, you and I must agree on a new due date, which will be firm. Please note that assignments will not be rescheduled for reasons of personal convenience.

In the absence of a valid reason for handing in your assignment after the due date, your assignment will be subject to a penalty of 2% per day until it is submitted, and late assignments will not be accepted at all after one week has passed from the original deadline.

COVID-19: Contingency plans

You may have questions about what will happen if COVID-19 disrupts the semester.

What happens if I have to self-isolate during the term and can’t physically attend one or more Monday class?

If this happens to you, please let me know immediately, and please send me the notification you have received directing you to self-isolate. For the period of self-isolation, I will try to ensure that you can attend the class virtually. I will create a Webex meeting for you that coincides with the class in-person meet on Mondays. During the class period, you will log on and participate in the class activities.

But what if multiple people in the class have to self-isolate at the same time?

If a significant percentage of class members have to self-isolate simultaneously, I will move the class online for the period of self-isolation. In this scenario, I will continue, if possible, to come to the physical classroom on Mondays in case any members of the class who don't have to self-isolate wish to ask me questions in person. I will also use that class time for additional office hours, so that anyone who has to self-isolate at home will be able to reach me during class time via an online meeting platform such as Webex. Also in this scenario, class members will need to make greater use of LEARN, as I will assign group activities ordinarily conducted in the classroom in an alternative, online format, probably using LEARN discussion forums.

What happens if campus shuts down for a week, or for the rest of the term?

If campus shuts down for any length of time, I will need to move all class activities online for the duration of the shutdown. If the campus is shut down for the remainder of the term, then not only will all class activities be online, but the class will meet synchronously for part of the Monday time slot. (I will let you know when the synchronous meetings will start up.) In this scenario, during the Monday class meetings, I will present some of the materials for the course and then assign groupwork for part of the class period. During the groupwork component, I will be available to “visit” your groups and to consult with you via email and/or the online meeting platform you are using. I will give you instructions for uploading your groupwork to LEARN and will check it at the end of each class.

Intellectual Property and Sharing of Course Notes: Students should be aware that this course contains the intellectual property of the instructor and/or the University of Waterloo (see Policy 73). I give permission to students to share course content with each other through photocopies, scans, email, or a dedicated Facebook page created by students enrolled in the course; these are legitimate forms of collaborative study for the course. However, for any other means of sharing course material, please seek my permission. I do not permit the posting of course material on third-party repository sites that charge students for access, such as OneClass.com. For more information on Intellectual Property, please see: https://uwaterloo.ca/associate-vice-president-academic/appendix-remote-teaching-and-intellectual-property

Academic integrity: In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. [Check the Office of Academic Integrity for more information.]

Grievance: A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of their 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.

Discipline: A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity to avoid committing an academic offence, and to take responsibility for their 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 instructor, academic advisor, or the undergraduate associate dean. For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71, Student Discipline. For typical penalties, check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties.

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 they have a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72, Student Appeals.

Note for students with disabilities: AccessAbility Services, located in Needles Hall, Room 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 AccessAbility Services at the beginning of each academic term.

Turnitin.com: Text matching software (Turnitin®) may be used to screen assignments in this course. Turnitin® is used to verify that all materials and sources in assignments are documented. Students' submissions are stored on a U.S. server, therefore students must be given an alternative (e.g., scaffolded assignment or annotated bibliography), if they are concerned about their privacy and/or security. Students will be given due notice, in the first week of the term and/or at the time assignment details are provided, about arrangements and alternatives for the use of Turnitin in this course. It is the responsibility of the student to notify the instructor if they, in the first week of term or at the time assignment details are provided, wish to submit alternate assignment.

Course schedule

The following schedule is provisional. It may change to suit class needs. Most readings come from your textbook, Everything's an Argument. Additional readings noted are available on LEARN, and you’ll be able to access them electronically.

Please also note that the same course schedule as the one below is available as a separate document in LEARN.