Welcome to
English 391: Advanced Composition
Real World Asks Big Questions of Rising Graduates
Instructor: Catherine Bayly, Lecturer in UMD Professional & Academic Writing Programs
Office Hours: Tawes 2109; Monday 9-10am, 2-3:30pm; Wednesday 2-2:00pm; Friday 2-2:30pm
(Note: Please make appointments for office hours, as I am frequently running student meetings in my office or elsewhere.)
Best Contact:
(Note: I use a Canvas course site to post the syllabus, announcements, assignments, etc. Please set your notifications to “immediately” and be sure to provide the email address you use most frequently.)
Required Text
Writing Arguments—Ninth Ed.
Recommended texts
A good print dictionary, thesaurus, and style manual (American Heritage or Oxford , Pocket Style Guide, DK Handbook, Little Seagull, etc.)
Web Resources
https://www.elms.umd.edu
www.engl-pw.umd.edu (the Professional Writing Program’s homepage)
www.lib.umd.edu (the University’s library homepage)
owl.english.purdue.edu/owl (the Online Writing Lab at Purdue University)
Some Great Big Questions:
What does Higher Ed have against motherhood?
What is the big deal with adjunct labor in Higher Ed?
Why are STEM fields still so often a “Man’s World”?
What is causing the current upswing in police brutality and what can students do about it?
Why are college campuses becoming “militarized,” and what are the outcomes?
Why do American students feel disconnected from politics?
What is the best way to adapt technology to the classroom?
Do campus diversity initiatives work as intended?
Are mental health facilities on campus adequate?
What is the relationship between Higher Ed and nutrition?
How well is Higher Ed preparing students for the professional world outside?
Course Objectives
In this Advanced Composition course, you will practice the writing/composition skills most often employed in life beyond academia. Our focus will be on adapting previously learned writing and rhetorical skills for “real world” audiences. Specifically, employers consistently say that strong writing skills are of paramount importance when they evaluate potential candidates. It is no wonder, for you will need to produce professional quality documents which reflect on you and your employer. As such, I will expect all of your communication with me to reflect professional formats and conventions, including email.
Our classroom will be a professional environment, so we will often conduct our course in a seminar style, and sit in the round whenever possible—I hope our meetings will be rich in discussion and practical in focus. While I’ve taught composition for years and have much to give you in experience and praxis, I will also expect quite a bit from you. I will trust your intellect and do the work of helping you shape written discourse on the subjects from which you’ve chosen to fashion your life. And, in our classroom and through the trajectory of linked research assignments, I hope you will bring your expert field knowledge to bear on weighty issues in your chosen discipline.
You will have your choice of topic for class research, and we will spend our first weeks establishing interests. I will expect you to take risks and ask (and answer!) challenging questions about the world around you. I will suggest that you choose something with gravitas: a problem you see on campus (i.e. gender politics on campus), in your community (i.e. a public safety issue that needs addressing), or in your chosen field (i.e. reduced funding for humanities). While these topics may include big, abstract, or theoretical underpinnings, they should also address practical, administrative, logistical concerns wherever possible. So, while they may be aligned with work done in your other classes, they will also provide real world, localized solutions. Be prepared to focus on these topics in depth and for extended periods of time. These topics should be meet three criteria at once: 1) genuine interest and imagination, 2) relation to your planned profession, 3) feasibility of potential solutions.
Additionally, I’ve shaped this course around evolving genres and mediums. Slam poetry is writing. Think pieces are writing. Public Service Announcements are writing. Web pages are writing. Commercials are writing. Our assignments will not simply be “papers,” because real world writing is not comprised of a string of papers. But argument remains at the core of the pieces we’ll write. We will conducts many forms of research, pitch our ideas to the group, write a literature review, create a website, write an Op-Ed, create a visual argument (either video or print), write job/graduate school application materials, and complete a final proposal to send to a real world audience.
Expect to attend class every day, to write and rewrite your papers, and to read and comment on the writing of your classmates. Goal-wise, you can expect to:
· Analyze a variety of professional rhetorical situations and produce appropriate texts, adapting the text to the knowledge base of the audience
· Produce persuasive texts that reflect the degree of available evidence and take into account counter arguments
· Understand and practice the skills needed to produce competent, professional writing including planning, drafting, revising and editing
· Identify and implement appropriate research methods for each writing task
· Practice the ethical use of sources and the conventions of citation appropriate in your field
· Improve competence in Standard Written English (including grammar, sentence and paragraph structure, coherence and document design) and use this knowledge to revise texts
Essential Course Rules
Rule#1: REDUCE DISTRACTIONS
No cell phones visible in the classroom: As a woman of the 21st century, I understand quite well the siren song of a vibrating iPhone. However, in a professional environment, we must resist the temptation to use indiscriminately. Texting in class is distinctly unprofessional.
Food, etc.: I do understand that our classes all fall around lunch time. So, please eat if you must, but keep your chomping to a minimum, and no three-pointers to the trash can. Those would be distinctly unprofessional.
Rule #2: PROOFREAD. By implementing practices of printing your work, reading aloud, and finding a draft reviewer, you will save yourself time and find places to improve your writing. If you simply read from the computer screen, your eyes auto-correct and you tend to miss many places where you could revise and correct.
1. Every graded assignment must be proofread aloud.
2. Each assignment requires an editing/proof- reading draft on which this proofreading exercise was performed. Specifically, you must print a hard copy of your paper, read it aloud (or listen to a friend do so).
3. Complete an in-class draft workshop.
4. Note any errors: typos, inconsistencies, mistakes in grammar, punctuation, mechanics, etc. Include this copy in your final assignment packet and hand in.
5. After doing so, return to your word processor for a final edit.
6. Finally, print a clean copy.
RULE #3: NO LATE PAPERS
In this course (and in life), missing deadlines is frowned upon. Any work turned in late will lose a full letter grade per class meeting. (For example, a paper due Monday that is turned in Wednesday will receive a maximum score of 90%.) This seems very fair. However, I also understand we are all adults in this room and that circumstances arise in which work must be delayed. So I am more than willing to offer extensions to those who ask with good reason and at least 24 hours in advance. Extensions should only be requested when absolutely necessary.
RULE #4: ATTEND
Although we won’t have exams in this class, all course materials and assignments will be addressed in class meeting. Therefore, attendance is mandatory. I expect that students will arrive on time, ready to engage in discussion and take notes during lecture. That said, I know a busy life can mean logistical issues occasionally arise. Therefore, five unexcused absences from course meetings will be allowed. (And I will take attendance daily.) At the sixth absence, your course grade will be reduced by a single letter. (For example, if you have an 87% for the course, but have been absent six times, your final grade will be a 77%.) I do hope this won’t happen.
Similarly, I’ve found that late arrivals truly disrupt the class environment. The late person may miss materials the class has already addressed. So this puts the late arriver at a disadvantage, but the class a whole pays in time wasted. Therefore, every three late arrivals (beyond minute one) count as an absence.
I extend some generosity to you, just as I hope you will extend generosity to me. If for some reason I will miss class, I will communicate as soon as possible and add materials to ELMS/Canvas to add to your learning. And, if you will miss class, I assume you will make arrangements and get missed materials from a classmate. You may want to swiftly find a person you can count on in an emergency absence.
RULE #5: WORKSHOPS MATTER
In this course, each major assignment includes its own draft workshop day. The kind of revision we do on workshop days will highlight (and recall) the major goals of each assignment. So, the revisions won’t just be proofreading—they will include what are called global, or substantive, revisions. We will review papers holistically and discuss their merits as well as places for major improvement.
In my years of teaching composition, I’ve found draft workshopping to be essential to successful writing. Therefore, these workshops are required. At each workshop, I will require full, paper drafts (unless otherwise stated) of the assignment in question. I repeat, full, paper drafts. If you fail to attend a workshop, you will lose a full percentage point for the semester as well as 5% on the assignment. If you attend without a full draft, or with an electronic version, you will still lose 5% on the assignment, but you may still gain points for the workshop. So, even if your draft isn’t up to snuff, please attend workshop.
RULE #6: PARTICIPATE
This semester, you will receive a grade for participation. This grade will reflect your presence in class, your involvement in class discussion, the level of thoroughness and thoughtfulness in your answers, and the degree of respect and maturity you show in communicating with others. Students who are present and on time, involved in discussion, thoughtful and thorough in their answers, and respectful and mature in their interactions will receive high grades in class participation. Students who are frequently absent or late, text or talk during class, do not participate in discussions, are not prepared to answer questions, and/or do not comport themselves respectfully and maturely will receive low marks for participation.
I find participation is hard to quantify, as students feel varying levels of comfort talking aloud. Therefore, I will assess participation on several unannounced days throughout the semester. Some will be class discussion, some will be responses to texts, and some will be small group work. If you are anxious about speaking aloud (as I was as a student), please speak to me about this. And perhaps we can find ways to encourage you sharing your thoughts.
Assignments and Grade Breakdown
· Conjectural Assignment—Oral Pitch Presentation & Report, 15%
· Causal Assignment—Digital Forum, 15%
· Evaluative Assignment—Editorial (& Visual Component) or Public Service Announcement, 15%
· Cover Letter/Personal Statement and Resume, 10%
· Proposal Assignment—Final Paper, 20%
· Draft Workshops, 5%
· Participation, 5%
· Five Course memos, 10%
· Self-reflective writing, 5%
The Professional Writing Program requires each student to compose approximately 25 pages of original writing (6,250 words); the assignments for this course are in compliance with this page requirement.
Portfolios
After I hand back your formal writing assignments with my comments and your grade, it is your responsibility to keep these papers, along with my written comment sheets, in a safe place in case you wish to discuss the paper with me. Additionally, please keep all final drafts of papers in an electronic portfolio (folder) because you will be required to turn these papers into me with the final draft of your fourth paper. You will also need to turn in the paper copies of the rubrics for each paper. This portfolio helps me to see your progress over the course of the semester as I determine your final course grade.
Grading
Your grade for this course will be based on five formal writing assignments, less formal writing assignments assigned for homework or in class, including a paper proposal, participation in class, and participation in draft workshops, which will coincide with the five formal assignments.
Each of these grades will be accompanied by feedback, both in the margins of your work and via a rubric built around assignment objectives. Please save all these documents (as well as workshop comments with class feedback) to inform your future work.
Because this course is designed to help you write for the professional world, I have provided both an academic and a “business-friendly” definition of letter grades. Written assignments and performances will be evaluated and grades assigned using the following scheme:
ACADEMIC DEFINITION OF GRADES/BUSINESS-FRIENDLY DEFINITION OF GRADES
A=Work shows superior/excellent mastery of the subject and outstanding scholarship.
A= Work is ready to be published both internally and externally. Needs only a few very minor edits (a word deleted or a comma inserted, etc.) A supervisor would be excited by this piece, thrilled even, and accept it eagerly. Related to this, the piece fully accommodates the specific audience, and there are no questions concerning readership. The research is thorough and of high quality; quotes are integrated smoothly; attention to detail is evident.
B=Work shows above average, better than most, good mastery of the subject and good scholarship.
B=Work is high quality, and a supervisor would ask you to revise it again and resubmit it. Supervisor feels strongly or hopes that one more edit might put the piece into his “yes” pile. An editor probably would be able to publish the piece and would gladly work with you again.
C=Work is average, not bad, but not quite there yet
C=Work needs several edits. Supervisor feels this piece would work only after several edits. Usually editing is needed in several areas – for example, punctuation, audience accommodation, inadequate research, poor citation, and content issues. Supervisor would not accept the piece for distribution in its current incarnation and may suggest you take a course to brush up on your skills.
D=Work shows borderline understanding and marginal performance.
D=Work has a major flaw, or several major flaws. For example, the audience is all wrong for this particular piece, the research is skimpy, and there are numerous wording and grammar errors. Supervisor would not accept this as a finished product and may put you on notice and demand you take an English refresher course.