Download Writing I Example 1 Course Syllabus - College Level

I. College Level Expectations in English Language Arts
A. Sample Course Syllabi and Course Objectives
I.A1) Writing One, Course Syllabus
UMass- Amherst
Writing I- Course Syllabus
Course Goals
The goal of this course is to help you develop your writing abilities--not only for University writing
assignments but also for using writing effectively in life. We will examine writing as a response to varying
contexts, analyzing the different kinds of choices they make available to writers. Through producing a variety
of essays, we will work together to improve your ability to
 Write for various audiences and purposes--for example to explore a topic for yourself, to communicate with
others (fellow students, teachers, general readers, etc.), and to create particular effects (persuading,
explaining, etc).
 Develop and extend your thinking by questioning your own views and considering the views of others--thus
becoming better able to write essays that move through an extended train of thinking rather than just defend a
static position.
 Draw on various sources of thinking and information: your own experience and observations, conversation
with others, reading, and research.
 Revise your writing in a substantive way by re-thinking and re-seeing each draft, and by experimenting with
various forms and organizations.
 Be a constructive reader of your own and others' writing, and give constructive and helpful feedback.
 Manage your own writing processes by making choices about your texts that are appropriate to your audience
and purpose.
 Take whatever steps are needed to copy-edit your final drafts successfully.
Required Texts
LeCourt, Donna, et al. eds. The Text-Wrestling Book . Dubuque : Kendall/Hunt, 2005.
Faigley, Lester, et. al. The Penguin Handbook, UMass Custom Edition. Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing,
2006.
A college edition of a standard desk dictionary.
Class Magazines. At least once during the semester, everyone's essays will be published in booklet form for the
class to read.
Course Assignments
Essay Assignments: You will write four essays. Each essay will consist of at least 750-1,000 words and will go
through an extensive drafting process. Each of these essays will also introduce new challenges. The series of
essays will move from a familiar audience and topic (in Unit I) to essays responding to published texts (Unit 2) to
essays that seek to use multiple sources and communicate with a public audience (Unit 3). In each essay, we will
focus on the expectations readers might have given the contexts we are writing for and experiment with multiple
ways of communicating with these different groups of readers. Each of the four essays will be connected to a
specific unit: I: Inquiring into Self, II: Interacting with Texts, III: Adding to a Conversation, and IV: To be
announced later in the semester. You will receive more detailed information on each assignment as we approach
that unit.
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Process Writing: College Writing is based on the belief that writing is a process. In order to grow and develop as
writers we need to write, write, write and then write some more. Thus, each major essay will minimally go
through a four-step writing process: generative writing, an initial draft of the paper which will receive feedback
from both me and your peers, a revised version of this draft, and finally a copy-edited version of the draft. These
four steps—generating, drafting, revising, and copy-editing—are designed to highlight how writers focus on
different aspects of their texts at different points in the process and also provide an opportunity for you to receive
the feedback that is key to writers at every point in the process. Be prepared, though; some assignments will draw
this process out even more with multiple drafts at the drafting stage or spend much more time on the generating
process, while others will compress it a bit.
Reflective Writing: In addition to working through an extensive writing process, the course will also focus on
helping you understand the choices available to you as a writer as you revise. Becoming aware of the multiple
options we have for developing, organizing, and addressing our audience is one of the best ways to improve our
writing and begin “thinking like writers.” Throughout the writing process, then, you will write several, short
reflective pieces about the choices you have made and why you've made them. The course will end with a much
more extensive “Final Reflection” that asks you to assess and reflect upon all the writing you've done throughout
the course.
Writer's Notebook: Much of what writers produce is never seen by their intended readers. Most writers,
instead, keep logs or notebooks of growing ideas, starts and stops on various topics, and use writing as a place
to work out their thinking (and change it). In this course, all of this work will be kept in a writer's notebook.
Much of this writing will be the generative activities related to essay units, but at other times you will write
simply to explore what you are thinking (more like a journal). Typically, you will write @ 6 pages a week, or a
total of 80 for the semester.
Portfolios: Don't throw anything away! As you move through the semester, you will be creating a portfolio of all
your written work. The portfolio will include the major essays, all the drafts and preliminary work that
accompany the final draft, and the written feedback from your readers. This portfolio is not a separate assignment
but will serve as the basis for your Final Reflection.
Your Responsibilities to Our Writing Community
Creating a community that enables us to grow and develop as writers depends on each of us fulfilling our
individual responsibilities, offering mutual respect to one another, and being receptive readers of one another's
writing. As with any University class, students are expected to adhere to the guidelines for classroom behavior
as stated in "Guidelines for Classroom Civility and Respect" in Undergraduate Rights and Responsibilities
2006-2007.
Participation: Regular attendance and preparation for class are basic expectations of the course. The class does
not work unless everyone is here, on time and prepared. The best way to learn to write is to talk about the
choices a writer might have available and to receive consistent feedback from readers on one's writing. As a
result, I expect everyone to participate often and to provide respectful responses to others' contributions and to
their writing.
Conferences and Office Hours: At least twice during the semester, we will schedule mandatory individual
conferences. This is a time for us to discuss your writing more fully and your progress in the course. I also
encourage you to come in during my office hours. A third conference will be scheduled during final
examination week and serves as your final exam for the course. This mandatory conference is a chance for us
to meet in order to go over your portfolio and discuss the progress you made during the semester. Be sure to
account for them when making your plans.
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Plagiarism
It is fine to use ideas, words, and short passages from the writings of others in your writing, as long as you
acknowledge the source. Failure to acknowledge the contribution of others is considered plagiarism, a serious
academic offense. You will find a copy of the Writing Program's "About Plagiarism" handout in the back of The
Text-Wrestling Book. The Penguin Handbook also contains a detailed explanation of plagiarism. We will go over
this issue more extensively but know in advance that suspect papers (e.g., those without drafts, works cited of
pages, or papers which make large departures in style) can be submitted to an electronic plagiarism device such as
Turnitin.com or MyDropBox.com as part the grading process.
The Writing Center
Located in the Learning Commons, the Writing Center is a free tutorial service where you can receive feedback
on your writing at any stage in the writing process: from getting started to copy-editing and everything in
between. I strongly encourage you to visit the Writing Center to get another voice of response to your writing
and/or for extra help when you feel it's needed. It's a wonderful service for writers.
The College Writing course asks students to look at writing as a complex series of informed choices made in four
stages: generating ideas, drafting, revising and copy-editing. Through modeling, sharing, discussion, and
reflection, students discover and reinforce strategies that work best for them as writers to an ever-broadening
audience.
Unit 1, Inquiring into Self, introduces the key writing element of context in a personal way. Students gain
awareness of their own backgrounds and experiences as they reflect, compose and share their thoughts and
opinions with their peers. The essay students produce is written for classmates, a personal audience, and offers
students experience with key elements of the rhetorical situation (context, purpose, audience) in a safe
environment.
Unit 2, Interacting with Texts, students delve into texts to write an academic piece with textual sources and in a
specific genre. This second unit has a broader, more “other-based” context aimed at the student’s and an author’s
ideas. In it, students build on their strength of personal reflection from Unit 1 and respond to the position of a
published author. Such an assignment gives students practice in what is probably the most common assignment
they will get in their other university courses: analysis of published text. The assignment engages student thinking
with that of a published author or scholar, and situates the student within a larger conversation where individual
ideas are still central but not the sole focus of the writing.
Unit 3, Adding to the Conversation, moves students further into the world by asking them to define and assess
their own thinking on a topic in which they are invested, reading a variety of sources on the issue, and writing to a
chosen audience. The purpose of the essay, be it argumentative, persuasive, or explanatory, is thus determined by
the students’ definition of the audience and context. Rather than being an end in itself, research here becomes a
means of exploring an issue; in effect, part of the students’ thinking and writing process as well as a way to
support their own ideas. And as such, the university’s goal of teaching students “reading as a writer” is fulfilled.
Unit 4, Students Write One Other Formal Essay, which differs in each section according to an assessment of
class needs. Further, they write a series of informal reflections during the semester, and each class publishes at
least one class magazine, thus validating the students as writers for a broad audience and enabling future students
to benefit from the learning and communication of their peers.
For the final assignment for the course, students develop a reflection piece about themselves as writers and the
writing they have done during the semester. Students explore their own rhetorical choices and the processes they
have practiced to project their writing futures and demonstrate an understanding of themselves as writers with a
variety of purposes and audiences.
For related information, see:
Section 1C. College Placement –Writing - 1.C 2) Sample Question and Rubric
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