WRT 105: Practices of Academic Writing
Fall 2016 Course Credits: 3
Course Description and Rationale
WRT 105 is an introduction to academic writing. In this class, you will write, revise, edit and reflect on your writing with the support of the teacher and peers. You will engage critically with the opinions and voices of others as you develop a greater understanding of how your writing can have an effect on yourself and your environment. You will have regular opportunities not just to write, but also to reflect on writing situations and your own development as a writer.
Analysis, as Rosenwasser and Stephen claim in Writing Analytically 7th edition, “is a form of detective work that typically pursues something puzzling, something you are seeking to understand rather than something you believe you already have the answers to. Analysis finds questions where there seemed not to be any, and it makes connections that might not have been evident at first. Analysis is, then, more than just a set of skills: it is a frame of mind, an attitude toward experience” (2-3). You analyze when you talk to a friend to get another perspective on why Spain performed so poorly in World Cup 2014, when you read up on the recent conflict in Iraq in order to discuss it more confidently in your global politics class, when you watch and re-watch a film in order to discern how it works on a visual level, or when you review a sampling of your own writing in order to see and make sense of the patterns in your work.
Argument involves inquiry and analysis and engages others in ongoing conversations about topics of common concern. Evidence for your arguments comes from analysis, from discussion with others, from your personal experience, and from research. Arguments are also situationally specific: that is, they look, sound, and persuade differently depending on audience, purpose, genre and context.[1] In addition to being persuasive, arguments can be a means of sharing information, posing important questions, or even raising consciousness about issues.
Course Design
During the semester you will participate in a number of informal writing assignments that will lead to more fully developed papers. It is through this process of revision and rethinking that your ideas will take shape. You will address the way language does its work in a text and how meaning is communicated. At times it will be an arduous and time consuming process but it will not be one without rewards and intellectual breakthroughs.
WRT 105 Learning Outcomes/Course Goals
1. Writing as Situated Process
Students will practice a range of invention and revision strategies appropriate to various writing situations.
- Writing with Sources
Students will be introduced to primary and secondary research, utilize various library resources, evaluate sources, and synthesize and apply research in accordance with citation, genre conventions and ethical standards.
- Writing as Rhetorical Action
Students will gain knowledge of rhetorical principles and practice addressing different audiences and situations.
- Writing as Academic Practice
Students will build their familiarity with values, strategies, and conventions related to a range of academic contexts and disciplinary conversations.
- Writing as Social Practice
Students will analyze, reflect on, and practice the dynamic use of language in diverse contexts and recognize issues of power, difference and materiality.
Work of the Course
You will devote time, thought, and energy to a variety of informal and formal reading and writing practices. During the course you might be asked to annotate readings, keep a record of ideas and responses, jot down observations, take notes on class discussions, experiment with different styles and organizational choices, and engage in a variety of drafting and revision activities. All these activities are important and will have an impact on your development and success as academic writers (and your final grade).
As this course progresses, you will keep a portfolio of your work that will serve as a “window” to your development as a writer. Included in your portfolio will be exercises and informal writing that have helped shape drafts of your formal texts and final copies of your formal papers. Also included in your portfolio will be written reflections on the processes you’ve used as you’ve completed writing assignments and on your growth as a writer. These reflections are important texts that will help you understand and articulate your own learning progress.
Writing well depends upon reading well. The course texts will provide you with ideas and arguments, facts and statistics. They will prompt thought as you agree or disagree or qualify those ideas. They enlarge the context for our class discussion. And they illustrate choices other writers have made as they composed. Writing and reading are interdependent practices, and you will move between the two regularly throughout the course.
Course Requirements
Attendance and Participation
Writing studios are courses in language learning, and language is learned in communities; therefore, it is essential that you attend class and participate. Absences and lack of preparation for class will affect your classmates’ work as well as your own. The work you do in class, the work you do to prepare for each class, is as important as any polished assignment you turn in for a grade. In addition, our syllabus is only a projection and may be subject to occasional changes and revisions as it seems appropriate or necessary. That is another reason why your attendance is vital.
If you must miss a class, you are responsible for work assigned. Please realize, however, that class time cannot be reconstructed or made up, and that your performance, your work, and your final course grade will be affected by absences.
The expectation is that all students will arrive in class having thoughtfully read and annotated all assigned readings. Often, you will have a written assignment related to the reading. This will serve as your “ticket” to class. You will write a number of short (i.e. 2-4 pages) critical response papers for texts during the semester. Some of these may be thought of as “think papers,” others as exercises in close reading or critical responses to course readings. You might consider them trial runs for the longer formal papers.
All assignments must be submitted on or before the specified due date. Late work will lose one grade (one full letter for formal papers and one point on five-point think-papers) per day. If you are unable to give the late work to the instructor directly, you must arrange for another student to turn it in or leave it in his mailbox in the main office. Absence does not exclude students from this policy except in the direst circumstances.
Course Policies
Special Needs and Situations
Students who need special consideration because of any sort of disability or situation should make an appointment to see me right away.
Use of Student Writing
It is understood that registration for and continued enrollment in this course constitutes permission by the student for the instructor to use any student work constructed as a result of said enrollment in the course.
Academic Integrity
Syracuse University’s academic integrity policy reflects the high value that we, as a university community, place on honesty in academic work. The policy defines our expectations for academic honesty and holds students accountable for the integrity of all work they submit. Students should understand that it is their responsibility to learn about course-specific expectations, as well as about university-wide academic integrity expectations. The university policy governs appropriate citation and use of sources, the integrity of work submitted in exams and assignments, and the veracity of signatures on attendance sheets and other verification of participation in class activities.
The presumptive penalty for a first instance of academic dishonesty by an undergraduate student is course failure. When you provide your signature to register for a Syracuse University course, you are also indicating that you have read the online summary of the University’s academic integrity expectations and agree to abide by those policies.
For the full statement of Syracuse University’s Academic Integrity Expectations, excerpted from the SU Academic Integrity Policies and Procedures handbook, see http://academicintegrity.syr.edu/full-statement-of-sus-ai-expectations/.
Related links:
Summary of SU’s AI Expectations—Know the Code: http://academicintegrity.syr.edu/know-the-code-sus-ai-expectations/
Ten Questions—and Answers—Every SU Undergraduate Needs to Know about Academic Integrity: http://academicintegrity.syr.edu/10-qas-for-undergraduate-students/
Tools for Understanding the Use of Sources: http://academicintegrity.syr.edu/resources-for-understanding-use-of-sources/
Miscellaneous Concerns
Students who have not demonstrated proficient reading and writing skills or the necessary work habits to complete the required college course work will be advised to drop the class after the first unit ( in 4 weeks).
Feedback and Grading
You will receive many different kinds of feedback during this course. Some will come from fellow students and some will come from me. Both are important; they tell you in various ways how your readers are responding to your writing. This feedback will also help you learn how to assess your own work.
There are three units in the course; each will lead toward a piece of revised, polished writing as well as a collection of informal work and a critical reflection.
| Major Course Units and Assignments | Unit Final Essays (polished work) |
End-of-Unit Reflective essays |
||
| Unit 1: Jumpstart Essay | 10% | 10% | ||
| Unit 2: Analysis | 20% | 10% | ||
| Unit 3: Argument | 20% | 10% | ||
| Invention work and other informal writing assigned throughout the course | 20% | —— |
Essay Due Dates
“Jumpstart” essay – October 3; Analysis essay – November 26; Documented Argument Unit essay – Jan. 17; Culminating Portfolio – January 18
Required Texts
- David Rosenwasser and Jill Stephen Writing Analytically – 6th Edition
- Himley, Margaret & Anne Fitzsimmons Critical Encounters with Texts: Finding a Place to Stand, 6th9 (CE)
- Howard, Rebecca Moore. Writing Matters: A Handbook for Writing and Research; or the Purdue OWL – Online Writing Lab: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
- Additional essays and articles will be provided throughout the semester.
*You should also be prepared to provide copies of your work for peer review at various times throughout the semester.
Course Calendar
This calendar is subject to change. Unless you are informed otherwise, this is the outline for the course:
[1] These are concepts we will explore together throughout the course.