WRITING
Spring 2003
W.L. Ashline
Liberal Arts Building (In-Moon Gwan) Room 308
Office Phone: 2123-2303
Home Phone: 2123-4351 (Before 10 pm)
Office Hours: Monday 12 noon-1 pm, Tuesday 4-5 pm, Thursday 3-4 pm, and by appointment
Email:
Text:
Course Packet (available in In-Moon-Gwan basement)
H. Ramsey Fowler and Jane E. Aaron. The Little Brown Handbook. 8th Ed. New York: Addison-Wesley, 2001.
Recommended Texts:
Stuart Redman, English Vocabulary in Use: Pre-Intermediate and Intermediate, Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Michael Swan, Practical English Usage, Cambridge University Press, 1995. Raymond Murphy, English Grammar in Use, 2nd Edition, Cambridge University Press, 1994,
Martin Hewings, Advanced Grammar in Use, Cambridge University Press, 1999. John Eastwood, Oxford Guide to English Grammar, Oxford University Press, 1997.
Websites: We may also use a number of the following websites during the course. These are recommended to you for developing your writing abilities:
Guide to Grammar and Writing:
Purdue University Online Writing Lab:
Prentice Hall’s Guide to Writing Supplementary Pages:
Longman’s Writing Pages:
ESL Study Hall—Writing:
University of Illinois Writer’s Workshop:
Modern English Grammar Hypertext Book:
Merriam Webster Online Dictionary and Thesaurus: -w.com/netdict.htm
This is a course in academic writing designed to aid you in the development of your writing skills. Emphasis will be placed on paragraph organization, development, coherence, unity of focus, and consideration of audience and purpose. Opportunities will be provided to explore a variety of composition styles and modes. Sentence construction, grammar, and phrasing will also be included and the course will conclude with an extended essay that integrates English sources. Since the course assumes the inseparability of reading from writing, a substantial amount of reading will also be required. This course requires extensive writing and is quite difficult, though not impossible for diligent, committed students.
Attendance: Students are strongly encouraged to attend class regularly but strictly speaking attendance is not mandated. For grading purposes, attendance will be taken and used to determine a participation mark, which will be double weighted, and an attendance mark, which will be single-weighted. Tardiness will also be noted and will affect the respective attendance and participation marks in the course. Two instances of lateness will count as one absence. Students are considered late if they arrive at class after attendance is taken. If students arrive more than 15 minutes late, they will be counted as absent from all class hours on that day. Students are held responsible for all class time missed including all workshops and assignments. If you need to miss class call a classmate to inquire about the homework required and material missed. Occasionally, individual conferences will be scheduled and your attendance will be requested.
Submissions: All writing assignments must be submitted on time. No late submissions will be allowed unless the student can provide compelling evidence for why the submission should be late. All submissions must conform to the submission guidelines required for the class. Submissions that do not conform to the submission guidelines will be noted with an “SG” and returned unmarked. Students have 24 hours after receiving the paper to make corrections and reprint the paper to submit again. In addition, always come to class on submission days, even if you are not finished with an assignment. You may always turn it in later the same day. Paper submissions must include all aspects of the writing process including: 1) In-class postscript, 2) Peer-review workshop sheet [your partner’s comments on your paper], 3) Workshop draft of paper, 4) Typed revision of paper, 5) Outlines and notes. Any submissions that do not contain ALL of these items will be returned to the student unmarked. You will have 24 hours to complete all parts of the submission requirements in that event.
Workshops: During the semester, we will have at least, five in-class, peer-review sessions in which each student will engage in a critical reading and commentary on another student’s work. Students are required to be present for all workshops and must bring a completed draft of a paper. Failure to attend class on workshop days will count as two (2) absences and the grade for the paper will be lowered by one letter grade. Moreover, the failure to participate in a workshop by critiquing another student’s paper will lead to a reduction of the participation grade for the class. All first submissions of a paper must be workshopped by some member of class. Therefore, peer-review workshops have two basic requirements: one is bringing a complete, carefully written draft and the other is actively critiquing and analyzing another student’s paper. Workshops are considered essential to the writing process since they aid in facilitating self-criticism in writing.
Grading: Your course grade will be determined from a calculus of writing submissions, other homework, quizzes, the midterm and final examinations, and in-class participation. Writing assignments in the second half of the term will be double weighted over those in the first half in order to reflect improvement and the greater sophistication of the requirements. The argumentative essay will be triple weighted, and an additional weight will be added for the “Works Cited” page. See the grading criteria sheet for more details about grading.
Note about Class Participation: The language of use in this class is English only. Students who insist on using Korean in this class will not be considered for anything better than a “C” on final grade determinations.
BEGGING FOR HIGHER GRADES--It has been a fairly common practice among students at Yonsei to beg for a higher grade after grades have been determined. It should be noted that grades are calculated according to performance and are given according to the criteria outlined in the grading criteria sheet. As much as possible, performance will dictate grading, and rank will have a bearing. However, it is completely unethical for any student to ask to have a grade changed above what the student has earned. It is also unethical for any instructor to increase the mark on the basis of a student’s request. It is perfectly reasonable to ask for an explanation for why a grade was received, but it is not acceptable to ask that a grade be changed over and above actual performance. Many of the students who beg to have their grade raised claim that doing so will help them to get a job, a scholarship, or a chance to go abroad, but since these opportunities involve competitive comparisons, changing a mark for a student to aid in the process constitutes an unfair advantage.
WEEKLY SCHEDULE
March 3 Overview of the Course
Diagnostic Paragraph
Discussion of submission guidelines/grading criteria
The Process of Writing a Paragraph, The General
to Specific Paragraph, How to Begin Writing
Paragraphs, Paragraph Unity and Structure
March 10Sentence Formats, The Four Sentence Patterns
Chapter 1: Assessing Your Writing Situation
Chapter 2: Developing and Shaping Your Ideas
Chapter 12: Sentence Grammar
First Reading: Jonathan Schell
March 17Coordination, Subordination, Sentence Variety,
Sentence Fragments, Modifiers
Chapter 4: Paragraphs
Chapter 17: Sentence Fragments
Chapter 18: Comma Splices, Fused Sentences
Chapter 24: Coordination and Subordination
Chapter 26: Variety
First Paragraph due
March 24Chapter 3: Drafting and Revising
Chapter 49: Reading and Writing About Literature
Second Reading: Franz Kafka
March 31Second Revision of First Paragraph due
Chapter 19: Pronoun Reference
Chapter 23: Emphasis
Chapter 25: Parallelism
April 7Second Paragraph due—Literary Analysis
Chapter 38: Choosing Words
Chapter 39: Dictionaries
Chapter 40: Vocabulary
April 14Second Revision of Second Paragraph due
Chapter 54: Essay Examinations
Midterm Examination
April 21-25Midterm Examination Period
April 28Course Packet: Reading
Third Reading: Wendell Berry
May 5Paraphrasing, Summarizing and Plagiarism
May 12Summary due
Chapter 5: Critical Perspective
Chapter 6: Critical Reading of Argument
May 19Chapter 7: Writing an Argument
Chapter 42: Planning a Research Paper
Fourth Reading: Barbara Kingsolver
May 26Chapter 43: Finding Sources
Chapter 44: Working With Sources
Second Revision of Summary due
June 2Chapter 45: Writing the Paper
Chapter 46: Documenting Sources: MLA Style
Chapter 47: Two Sample Research Papers (MLA)
June 9Argumentative Essay due with Works Cited Page
Writing Under Pressure
Final Exam—In-class
June 16-20Final Exam Period