Syllabus

WAYS OF SEEING
Professor Mary Wendt wendt@alma.edu Ph: 463-7270 Office Hours: M, W 12:30 – 1:30 in SAC 334 Th 7:00 – 10:00 in the WC


 * __ Course Description __** : This course is designed to help you learn to write in ways quite unlike the usual academic essay. Your research will be different, your writing will be different, and your whole way of looking at texts will be different. Because this is an advanced writing course, you will be doing a lot of writing, but will not be graded on anything until the end of the semester in a portfolio. It will require of you a lot of personal responsibility, time management, and self-discipline. If these things are hard for you, drop the course before wasting anyone’s time. The name of our focus this semester, “Ways of Seeing,” is a broad look at the ways we see things, how perceptions change, and how critical thinking and extensive writing can change the ways we see the world.

· To help you become more confident in your writing for various audiences and purposes · To improve your ability to engage thoughtfully with materials, have a clear and interesting purpose, develop adequate support and analysis, and have an effective, efficient structure · To prepare you to understand both the verbal and visual elements of rhetoric · To understand how critical thinking changes the ways we see the world · To learn to write collaboratively · To improve your ability to constructively evaluate your own rhetoric and the rhetoric of others · To demonstrate how purpose, audience, and visual elements affect your rhetorical choices · To improve your overall writing abilities through extensive writing
 * __ Course Goals __** :

Paper 1 – 20 % Paper 2 – 20 % Paper 3 – 20 % Reflection – 20 % __ Presentation – 20 % __ Total – 100 % I use the course wiki for everything else (http://wendtenglish200w08.wikispaces.com). Here you will be able to see what work you have missed, know what is due the following class period, access any handouts you may have lost, and a host of other things. We will spend some time familiarizing ourselves with this wiki so you are comfortable using it. On the homepage of the wiki is a link to a short tutorial clip describing how to make your own wiki page: be sure to check this out and make your page.
 * __ Portfolio __** : You will be graded by portfolio this semester, which means that you will not know your grade until the end of the semester. However, you will be getting extensive feedback from me and from your peers several times for everything you write, so if you work hard and discipline yourself to not put things off, you should do quite well. Your portfolio will be graded in the following way (big picture—more details later):
 * __ Portfolio Points __** :
 * __ Moodle and the Course Wiki: __** I use Moodle as a place for you to turn in your work electronically, which I require. When drafts are due, you will submit them on Moodle by clicking on the “Drop Draft of Paper (number) Here” link and following instructions. Please save your documents in the required format.
 * __ Plagiarism __**** : ** It is a crime, literally, to say you wrote something when you didn’t. Plagiarism means using someone else’s words and calling them yours. And you would be surprised how easy it is to plagiarize without realizing it. If you get something off the Internet or from a book, or write what someone else said, //you must cite the source//. In this course, it will be particularly tempting to “steal” from other websites. We’ll talk about this issue, but remember that any time you use something—even a little icon—from some other website, you must keep the URL and cite this. It is also plagiarism if you take someone’s words and shuffle them around or change them a little and call them yours. //Paraphrasing without citing the source is still plagiarism.// We will work on this to avoid it. And you’ll want to avoid it, because //plagiarism can result in an F on a project, failing the course, or expulsion from school//. (For details on AC’s academic integrity policy, see page 30 of the Academic Catalog). Plagiarism is a serious issue. Don’t do it.
 * __ Late Work __** : For many reasons, it is important for you to turn your work in on time. If you won’t be able to come to class the day a Writing Assignment is due, let me know and we’ll make arrangements for you to turn it in on time in another way. If there are extenuating circumstances, these should be communicated to me //well in advance//; it isn’t an extenuating circumstance, for example, if you put off the paper until the night before and then don’t get it done. //For every day a paper is late, it will lose 5% of its total//. And that means //every// day, not just every day we have class, Saturdays and Sundays included. For instance, if your paper got an 83 (B) but was due on a Friday and you didn’t turn it in until the following Monday, you would lose 5% per day (15%) of that B, or 13 points, making your paper then only worth 70—a C/D. It will make a huge difference.
 * __ Conferences __** : Conferencing can take one or more forms: you coming in to talk to me, group conferencing, or you going to the Writing Center. The Writing Center is located in the library. You may call or email me at any time to schedule an appointment. Some form of conferencing will be required at various times during the semester, and your grade will automatically be reduced 5% if you do not go when required. Some of you will be assigned personal tutors from the Writing Center to help ensure your success in ENG 100; I will let you know early on in the semester if you have a tutor, and a schedule will be worked out for you. In any case, it is important that you talk with others who can walk through a paper with you and really help you strengthen it. The more readers you have, the more successful your writing will be.
 * __ Attendance __** : It is very difficult to succeed in this course without regular attendance. So I’ll give you 3 freebees—you don’t need to tell me anything at all. Let me make this clear: illness is NOT an excused absence. I expect you all to have a day or two that you don’t feel well. The three freebees are for these sick days, so be sure not to use them right away or take them lightly. Because for every absence beyond three, I will lower your grade by one-half letter grade: e.g//.// If your course grade is a “B” and you have four total absences (3 freebees plus 1 more), your final grade will be reduced by one-half letter grade to a “B/C”; five absences would make it a “C”, etc. Please contact me promptly if you are having problems and cannot attend class. If you know you will be absent on a particular day, please see me at least one week in advance to make arrangements. Only pre-arranged absences or issues discussed with me prior to the absence will be excused.
 * __ The Writing Center __** : Although I will be available for conferencing at any time, additional help is available—and advisable—at the Writing Center. The Writing Center is located on the first floor of the library back by the computer lab. Please visit the Writing Center wiki to make an appointment at http://acwritingcenter.wikispaces.com. You will greatly benefit from this resource, so be sure to take advantage of it.