English W233—Section 19
Intermediate Expository Writing--Fall 2009
TR, 1:30-2:45pm SB G-11
10:30—11:45 a.m.
Instructor: GB Waldschmidt
Office: CM143
Office hours: TR 2-2:30 p.m.; WF 2:15-3 p.m.; and by appt.
E-mail: waldschg@ipfw.edu
Course Texts
--The Subject is Research: Processes and Practices, eds. Bishop and Zemliansky
--They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, eds. Graff and
Birkenstein
I will also post documents/readings on our Blackboard page (or elsewhere); you will likely want to print off these documents. In addition, I may assign a few readings through Helmke Library’s Reserves Express (REX) at http://www.lib.ipfw.edu or directly at http://res.ipfw.edu. You must have your student account activated to access REX, using your own username and password.
Course Materials
--three-ringed binder for final portfolio
--thumb drive on which to save your work and present selected writing
--a recent collegiate dictionary and thesaurus is highly recommended.
Course Goals
Upon completion of W233, you should be able to demonstrate competence in the following areas:
--Rhetorical Knowledge, including the ability to focus on a purpose and audience; to
respond appropriately to different kinds of rhetorical situations; to adopt appropriate voice, tone, and level of formality; to write in several genres; and to understand how genres shape reading and writing.
--Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing, including the ability to use writing and reading for inquiry, learning, thinking, and communicating; to manage a writing assignment as a series of tasks, including finding, evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing appropriate primary and secondary sources; to integrate one’s own ideas with those of others; and to understand the relationships among language, knowledge, and power.
--Writing Processes, including the use of multiple drafts to create and complete a successful text; the development of flexible strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proof-reading; learning to balance the advantages of relying on others with the responsibility of doing one’s own part; and participation in collaborative and social processes that require the ability to critique one’s own and others’ works.
--Knowledge of Conventions, including the ability to follow common formats for different kinds of genres; to increase knowledge of genre conventions ranging from structure and paragraphing to tone and mechanics; to practice appropriate means of documenting one’s work; and to control such surface features as syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
acquire and articulate ideas, clearly and precisely, using a process of your own design to mate idea articulation with your own specific task or goal. We will use a modified process-based writing method in a collaborative learning environment.
Major Writing Assignments and Portfolio
Think of your work for the semester as your book—a series of chapters, approaching a topic in which you are deeply invested and on which you are (or will become) an expert. The portfolio which you submit at the end of the semester, then, is your “book,” and each major writing assignment is a chapter in that book.
You will choose a topic—of particular significance/interest to you as well as of interest to a public audience—to explore/research for the semester. You will produce
five writing assignments, and you will need to include at least four of these in your portfolio. (You may choose to omit one from your final portfolio; the final researched essay, however, is required to be included in your portfolio). Obviously, the key to your
success and enjoyment in the course is your careful, thoughtful choice of a topic—a topic that will keep you engaged in writing and researching on it for several months. (This may seem overwhelming right now, but most W233 students have found writing on one carefully selected topic to be their favorite component of the course.)
You will write five major assignments, exploring your selected topic using different
genres. These five major writing assignments include the following:
1) Personal-connection essay (2-3 pages)
A reflective narrative that expresses your personal connection to the research topic you’ve chosen for the semester. This will serve as the first “chapter” of your portfolio.
2) Comparative Analysis (3 pages)
A rhetorical analysis and review of three different sources and perspectives on your topic.
Your sources for this essay should be miscellaneous, non-scholarly sources (i.e. not scholarly journals). Students in the past have used articles from a substantial periodical (such as a reputable magazine, newspaper); books; television series/shows; podcasts; Natl. Public Radio transcripts; movies; youtube sources, etc. Be creative in choosing sources that help you to consider your topic via several original, substantial, interesting, and pertinent lenses. You’ll need to include a Works Cited page for this assignment.
3) Annotated Bibliography (3 pages)
Your sources for this assignment will be three articles on your topic from scholarly journals. You’ll write 2- or 3-paragraph summaries of the 3 scholarly journal articles you have chosen relating to your your topic. The format of an annotated bibliography includes a correctly formatted bibliographic entry that precedes each summary
4) Primary Research (3 pages)
A report/review of two primary sources. You’ll conduct this primary research, summarize it , and analyze it your as part of your field research for the semester. Primary sources may include a personal interview; e-mail interview; survey; observation of an activity; etc.
5) Final Researched Essay (5 pages plus Works Cited page)
This final chapter is your opportunity to present your original thesis and support, after all of the investigation and thinking you’ve done on your topic. Think of this essay not as the “major” essay (i.e. not as any more important than the first four essays) but simply as the concluding chapter of your “book”/portfolio This essay needs to include in-text documentation of your sources and a Works Cited page.