Syllabus
English 307: Writing Process
Spring 2008, Combs 322
Instructor: Dr. Sarah Allen
Email: sallen@umw.edu
Office hours: M,W, F 11-12; T,H 4:45-5:45 in Combs 341
Texts: Elbow, Writing Without Teachers
Zinsser, Inventing the Truth
Readings on Blackboard
*In addition to printing out your reading assignments from Blackboard, you will be making lots of copies throughout the course - of your drafts and your presentation, specifically. Be prepared for this expense and for the extra time you will have to allot for making copies before due dates.
Course Description:
One of the core concerns in the field of rhetoric and composition is to discover the most effective ways of producing writing and of teaching writing. One of the larger movements in the field that centered on this concern might be loosely called the “Process Movement,” which we will begin the semester exploring by reading works written by arguably the most important figure in the Process Movement - Peter Elbow. Once we’ve gotten a good sense of what “writing process” is, according to Elbow, we’ll focus on the next movement in the field, which in fundamental ways unravels many of the assumptions at work in conversations about writing process.
While examining these movements, you will also be examining your own assumptions about writing, about your process(es) in writing, and you will be exposed to and given the opportunity to try out other processes in and concepts about writing. By the end of the semester, I hope you will have a sense of these key movements in the field and of how complicated the issue of “writing process” is, as well as having a stronger sense of what processes and ways of thinking about writing work for you.
Course Requirements (by Final Grade Breakdown):
ICWs and Class Discussion. 10%. In every class, you will be asked to participate in class discussion and/or to respond to a writing prompt (an In Class Writing). I understand that we have our good days and our bad, but by the end of the first month of the semester, you should feel comfortable enough with me and with your classmates that you can participate in class discussion. You cannot make up ICW and/or class discussion points, if you are absent or late to class.
Reflections and Reading Responses. 10%. For many of your reading assignments, I will give you a question to respond to for homework to help get you thinking about the issues at work in each reading. For these responses, I will expect a thoughtful response to the question and proof that you closely read the assigned text (usually in the form of references to specifics in the text). Responses should be timed (I will give let you know for how long for each response) and composed and posted on your blogs by the start of the next class meeting. I will explain these at greater length to you in the beginning of the semester. You must post these to your blog on time; you’ll get no credit if they are posted late (or not at all).
Workshops and Drafts. 15%. As a writer, drafts of your papers will be critiqued by me and by classmates in a variety of workshopping forums. As a reader, you will be required to respond to drafts from your classmates in these workshops. How well you meet the following requirements for each role (as writer and reader) will constitute this part of your final grade:
You will bring enough copies of the completed draft of the paper (see below for paper length and format info) for me and all your fellow workshoppers on the draft due date. I will grade drafts on a 5 point scale, based on how well you meet the criteria of the assignment (including page length, format, copies, proof-reading, etc).
Following the guidelines given for workshop responses, all of us will give a written response to each classmate’s draft and will participate in the subsequent workshop (discussion) of each.
Note: If you miss a workshop, you’ll need to show me your written responses for each of the papers we workshopped on the day you missed. There is a penalty for late responses and missed workshop discussion.
Papers. 10%, 10%, 15%. I don’t take papers late. If you do not turn a paper in (or if you try to give it to me late), you will get a zero. After we’ve completed the workshops for a paper, you will turn your final draft of that paper in to me to be graded. I will provide more information about your papers in Paper Assignments posted on Blackboard.
Presentation. 10%. You will be asked to sign up to present/co-present on an assigned reading to the class once during the course of this term.
Your presentation should include a handout, consisting of three parts:
1) a 400-word response to the reading, which engages the reading by pushing us to think about it according to the themes/issues we are discussing in class and beyond what we’ve already discovered/talked about in the class. Also, this response should in some way set up the other parts of your presentation.
2) 4 discussion questions for the class, which push us to think further about the themes/issues of the reading, of your response, of the course more generally. Be careful to avoid asking personal questions of your peers.
3) a writing exercise that is somehow “inspired” by the reading. You should take a few minutes to explain (either before the exercise or after we’ve completed it) how the exercise contributes to or complicates - how it furthers our thinking about - the reading. Feel free to use the writing exercise as a prompt for the discussion questions, if you’d prefer to reverse the order of 2 and 3 here.
You will read your presentation aloud to the class and lead the class in the questions and exercise on your handout. There’s no minimum time requirement, but I will cut you off, if we are running out of time.
If you are worried about any part of the presentation, bring a draft/outline/idea(s) to me a couple of days before you are to present, and we’ll chat about it. Remember to bring enough copies of your handout for yourself, me, and all of your classmates.
A note about co-presenting: If you sign up for a presentation where there will be two presenters, you should coordinate with your co-presenter so that your presentations do not overlap. Feel free to combine them; however, each person is still responsible for 400 words of the response, 4 discussion questions, and a writing exercise. If you co-present, you’ll also need to be very careful about your timing (i.e. don’t go over 20 minutes for each, or if you combine, don’t go over 40 minutes).
Freshman Writing Assignment. 10%. For your final major project, you will be asked to critique a group of papers written (anonymously) by my Freshman Seminar students. You will work with your classmates to come up with grading criteria, and then you will individually decide on a grade for each paper, following that grading criteria. You will make margin comments on each paper, as you’ve done in workshops for your classmates, but unlike previous workshops, you’ll create 2 versions of your end comments: 1 for me, which will include a grade for the paper and a thorough explanation for that grade; 1 for the writer, which will NOT include a grade and which will be addressed to (and will be ultimately shared with) the writer and offer suggestions for how to revise the draft.
Eportfolio and blog. 10%. I will expect you to maintain a blog throughout the course of this semester. I will give you reflections and reading responses to enter on your blogs, but you should feel free to include other entries, so long as they pertain to issues/questions pertinent to the course. Too, we will use the blogs as spaces to create eportfolios - online displays of your drafts and final papers for the course. Ultimately, you should think of your blog (and eportfolio) as a space to create a professional, writerly presence online. I hope that you will consider using this space beyond the requirements for this course - say for job interviews, etc. I will explain the logistics of this online space throughout the course. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
A note about how I grade the eportfolio/blog: I will be grading your posts and papers throughout the course of the semester, and those grades will count toward the percentages listed above (e.g. paper grades are figured into the Papers component of your final grade average); however, at the end of the semester - during the exam period - I will assess your eportfolio/blog more holistically, i.e. according to how effectively you’ve made use of it, as a space for establishing a presence for yourself as a writer.
FYI:
All formal assignments should meet the page length requirement (which will be stated in the individual writing assignment), should be in New Times Roman, 12-point font, double-spaced (unless otherwise noted), and proofread. At the top of the paper you should list your name, the paper assignment, and the word count (if applicable), single-spaced. Then, skip a line; write the title; skip a line, and start your text, like this:
Sarah Allen
Essay 1
WC: 823
(Un)(Re)(Dis)covering Voice
Voice is a term used…
Class Conduct: You must be respectful to me and to your peers. If you make any threat or show any aggression to me or to your peers, I will require that you meet with me before returning to class, and your misconduct will be reported to the proper authorities.
Turn off your cell phones before class starts. Don’t come to class late. Or, if you must, let me know ahead of time, and don’t cross in front of me or another classmate, if we are talking, when you enter the classroom. If you are disrespectful or disrupt class, you will get one warning from me. After that, your grade will be penalized.
Midterm grades: You need not worry about midterm grades, unless you get a “U” for your midterm grade. For this class, you will get a “U” if your draft, workshop, and paper grade averages, combined, are less than 70. I do not look at grades on other assignments or at attendance, when giving midterm grades.
Grade Breakdown
A/95, A-/92, B+/88, B/85, B-/82, C+/78, C/75, C-/72, D/65, F/50
