Fall 2014, Sections R16 & R19

FALL 2014

Course Syllabus

UN 1015- Composition

Fall 2014, Sections R16 & R19

TR 08:05 - 09:20, Fisher Hall 0125

Instructor Information

Instructor:Vincent Manzie

Office Location: Walker 149

E-mail:

Office Hours: Monday: Noon – 1:00pm, and by appointment

Cell Phone: (906) 281-8321

Course Description & Overview

In this class, you’ll examine and interpret communication practices and apply what you learn to your own written, spoken, and visual compositions. Class projects will ask you to communicate in a variety of modes and to attend to audience, purpose, and context.

This semester, you will produce texts over a series of drafts in order to hone your skills as a thoughtful multimodal communicator. While writing is the core focus of our class, you will also practice composing in other modes, as well.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, you should be able to:

● recognize and use several strategies for producing and interpreting persuasive texts that are appropriate for a particular context, audience, and purpose;

● know how to develop an organized text in written, aural, and/or visualmodes and demonstrate a basic understanding of the conventions of agenre or discipline;

● develop carefully crafted arguments informed by research, criticalreasoning, and persuasive techniques.

This course is designed to meet two of Michigan Technological University’s

Student Learning Goals: Communication (Goal 5) and Information Literacy (Goal6).

To learn more about these two learning goals, please see the rubrics posted at

Required Readings & Other Materials

Alfano L. Christine and Alyssia J. O’brien. Envision: Writing and Researching Arguments. 4th Edition

Assignments & Grading

● Participation / Drafts / Informal Writing / Other Assignments (20%)

● Research Process Evaluation - EXPANDED Annotated Bibliography (15%)

● Researched Argument Essay (25%)

● Multimodal Project (20%)

● Rhetorical Analysis Essay (20%)

Grading Scale

Letter Grade / Percentage
A / 93% above
AB / 87% - 92%
B / 82% - 86%
BC / 76% -81%
C / 70% - 75%
CD / 65% - 69%
D / 60% - 64%
F / 59% and below

NOTE: Final grades shall be a sum total of all points acquired from all assignments/participation/ drafts/ homework etc. in the course.

Attendance Policy

Uninterrupted attendance at class meetings and in conferences with the instructor is mandatory. More than 4 absences isgrounds for failing the course. If you have extenuating circumstances that will interfere withconsistent attendance in class, please communicate your concerns with me and/or theDean of Students at 9064872212or .

Requests for absences few minutes or hours to class time may be considered an absence. In order to earn a good grade for participation, you need to come to class on time, and prepared to actively take part in all activities.

Late or Missing Work

Students must turn in complete, final drafts of ALL major assignments in order to receive apassing grade in this course.

Late submission results to points deduction and in some cases, a fail grade, unless the student can convince the instructor that circumstances beyond control interfered with the work. Permission for late submission may be granted, in very special circumstances.

University Policies

Plagiarism

Plagiarism, which Michigan Tech defines as “knowingly copying another's work or ideas

and calling them one's own or not giving proper credit or citation,” is a violation of theacademic integrity policy: < In this class, we will discuss the practical and ethical aspects of source attribution so you can learn how and why to avoid plagiarism in your academic work. It is crucial that you take care to acknowledge the sources of your written, audio, or visual material in this and other classes. Instances of plagiarized work will be handled according to university procedures, which include a reporting of the incident to the Office of Student Affairs.

Assessment: Student work products (exams, essays, projects, etc.) may be used for the purposes of university, program, or course assessment. All work used for assessment purposes will not include any individual student identification.

Disability Services:

If you have a disability that could affect your performance in any class or thatrequires an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act, pleasecontact your instructor or Disability Services at 4871494as soon as possible sothat appropriate arrangements can be made.

The Office of Institutional Equity:

Equal Opportunity, Discrimination, or Harassment Statement:

Classroom Policies

Cell phones, Blackberries, iPods, PDAs, or any other electronic devices are not to be used in the classroom. However, these devices are to be used only if the course material or lessons necessitate their use such as during specific class activities. In this case, the instructor will announce their applicability in class.

Course Calendar/schedule

Weeks 1 & 2

(9/2, 9/4, 9/9, 9/11)

Analyzing Texts and Writing Thesis Statements

Goals:

-Understanding the rhetorical situation

-Considering relationships between audience, text, and purpose

-Textual Analysis

-Developing Thesis Statements

Major assignment in focus:Rhetorical analysis essay

Week 3

(9/16, 9/18)

Understanding the Strategies of Persuasion

Goals:

-Strategies of arguments

-Understanding rhetorical appeals; logos, pathos, ethos

-Abuses or exaggerated uses of rhetorical appeals

-Importance of Context and Kairos

Major Assignment: Rhetorical analysis Essay(to be submitted 9/23)

Weeks 4 & 5

(9/23, 9/25, 9/30, 10/2)

Composing Arguments

Goals:

-Introductions & conclusions

-Arrangement and structure of arguments

-Considering various modes of arguments

-Developing persona and rhetorical stance

-Addressing opposing opinion in an argument

-Writing with style

Assignment in focus:Position Paper (to be submitted 10/9)

Week 6

(10/7, 10/9)

Planning and Proposing Research Arguments

Goals:

-Generating and narrowing research topics

-Prewriting strategies

-Developing a research plan

-Drafting a formal proposal

Major assignment in focus:Research Proposal

Week 7

(10/14)

Finding and Evaluating Research Sources

Goals:

-Research strategies

-Evaluating sources

*10/16:Library Session (compulsory)

Week 8

10/21- Distinguishing between primary and secondary sources; Best practices for note taking

Major assignment: Expanded Annotated Bibliography (to be submitted 10/27)

10/23 -Organizing and Writing Research Arguments

Goals:

-Organizing and outlining arguments

-Drafts and revision

Week 9(10/28, 10/30) Organizing and writing Research Arguments

Goals:

-Integrating Research Sources (summary, paraphrase, quotation)

-Writing the research argument

-Drafts and revision

Major Assignment: Researched Argument Essay (1st draft to be submitted 11/4)

Week 10

(11/4): Peer review – 1st draft; 2nd draft due 11/7; final draft due 11/13

(11/6): One-on-one conference

Week 11

(11/11) Avoiding Plagiarism

(11/13) Multimodal composition

Week 12

(11/15) Multimodal Composition

(11/18) Multimodal Composition

Week 13 (Thanksgiving Break)

Week 14

(12/2) Multimodal composition

(12/4) Multimodal composition (Final multimodal composition projects due)

Week 15

(12/9) Presentations

(12/11) Presentations

I reserve the right to revise or adjust the course calendar/schedule to meet specific goals of the class 1