ENGL 226 Writing About Writing: Policies
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Need to be in touch with me?
LEE TORDA, PhD 200 Maxwell Library Bridgewater State University ltorda@bridgew.edu lee.torda@gmail.com www.leetorda.com |
Fall 2023 Office Hours for Students
M (in-person) 3:15-4:15 W (Zoom) 4:00-5:30 Click here to attend Zoom office hours |
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course serves as an introduction to the Writing and Writing Studies Concentration in the English major. During the course you will not only be learning about the histories and theories of Writing (as a practice and as an area of study), but you will also spend some time paying attention to your own writing practices—how you develop ideas, compose, draft, revise, challenge, edit and so on. You will also get a chance to explore different aspects of writing and what can potentially be a career in writing. While it will be impossible to cover everything in this one course, I hope to at least help you experience the vibrant field of writing and writing studies as well as provide you with an avenue to pursue through English Studies.
Our course serves as an introduction to the field, one that should culminate in either the Seminar in Writing & Writing Studies or the counterpart to that course Advanced Portfolio Workshop. What you start in this class you will finish there; along the way you will develop as a reader, thinker, and, of course, as a writer.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
By the end of the course, student will:
Due to the varied nature of the kinds of reading we’ll need to do this semester, there is no prescribed text for this course. All reading will be available linked to the class syllabus on this website.
REQUIREMENTS
Attendance. It is important to me that you come to class as often as possible because the day-to-day work that we do as a class will contribute greatly to your success and improvement as a writer. I have an attendance policy to reward those students who take class and the work seriously. You have three absences to do with as you please. Use them wisely. After three absences, any and all absences will adversely affect your grade. After six absences, you will fail the course. Further, excessive tardiness will accumulate to at least one absence. Finally, absence is not an excuse for late work. If you anticipate problems with any part of this attendance policy, you should come talk to me. I'm not unreasonable. If you have to be absent, talk to me, and we will work something out. I simply do not want to teach to half empty classrooms. Additionally, this class is not meant to be an online class. Occasionally using Zoom to attend class is acceptable but not optimal. Be thoughtful with a request to attend via zoom.
In-Class Masking. Masks are not required in our class. But I ask that you be considerate of your classmates (and me). If you are sick, please consider staying home or wearing a mask in class. I will do the same. And please know that if you need to wear a mask at any time for any reason, please feel comfortable and safe doing so. There is still Covid and Flu and all other nastiness out there. Let's keep each other safe.
Reading Journals. The readings (or videos or podcasts) are pivotal to this class. If you don’t do the reading we will not have very much to do in class. For every reading you have for homework, you are responsible for a 500 word typed response. It should answer a number of questions that gets at what the reading is about, first, and what makes this sort of writing different then other kinds of writing (see the complete assignment page on this website for details).
Late Work. I try to be reasonable about late work. However, late work makes it difficult for me to keep up with the paper load and to keep track of your performance in our class. During the first first five weeks of the semester--or a third of the semester--I will accept late work. After that, I will accept late work on a case-by-case basis. It is best if you ask me for an extension prior to the deadline rather than day-of. I will be more amenable about deadlines for major projects than I am for Reading Journals because reading is a central part of the day-to-day functioning of our class. Excessive lateness will impact your final grade in our class.
Informal Writing: We will write almost every class in some capacity. I will almost always collect this writing. It will serve as a way for me to take attendance, and it will typically help you participate in class and/or get work done for the more formal writing. Completing the majority of informal writing will equal one free "acceptable" reading journal at the end of the semester and can be substituted for a missed or unacceptable reading journal. Comments on informal writing is not evaluative; it's a conversation.
Formal Writing: There are four formal pieces of writing this semester. You can find more information about all of them on this website.
Writing Studies Timeline. You will be surprised to know how much of your education--in college and K-12--is influenced by the field of Writing Studies, and, in particular, the study of Composition, or how you write, and the study of Pedagogy, or the study of how we teach--in this instance writing pedagogy. To demonstrate what you've learned about the wide influence of the field, you'll put together a timeline of significant scholars, theories, and historical events that have shaped particular kinds of writing pedagogy. This is a group project.
Rhetorical Analysis. The field of Writing Studies roughly breaks down into two areas, Writing Pedagogy (or Composition) and Rhetorical Analysis. Our second major assignment will be a rhetorical analysis. This assignment will feel familiar to you: rhetorical analysis and literary analysis share many of the same techniques and theory. Most often, it is the subject of analysis that is different. For this project, you will work as an individual to analyze the rhetorical influence of something that matters to you.
Writing in the Professions. Another title for this kind of writing is Technical and Professional Writing. This kind of writing covers all sorts of things like instruction writing and business reports to grayer areas some public relations and social media . This is another group project where you will determine a communication problem on our campus and develop a campaign to help solve that problem.
Writing as Art. We end the semester with the part of “writing studies” that will seem most familiar to you: creative work. There is a lot more to creative work than novels or poetry. One semester won’t be enough to cover all of it, but we’ll do our best. You’ll have a chance to work on a creative project of your own design.
Portfolios. This class will use a portfolio system of evaluation. Portfolios are the way writers and artists collect work, and it is a very effective way of evaluating student writing (there is much research on the subject—some of which we’ll read). You’ll turn in a mini-portfolio at midterm and a final portfolio at the end of the semester that includes informal writing, formal writing, revision, and reflection.
Conferences & Workshopping. We will meet one-on-one at least once during the semester to work on your writing—the way an editor would meet with a writer. We will also have whole class workshops as well as small group workshops. This is the way professional writers—creative or otherwise—give and get feedback and revise their work. Too little of school involves this kind of work, and so it is important, as you enter the writing concentration, that you learn to participate in this kind of challenging conversation about writing.
EVALUATION AND GRADING
Labor Based Assessment: Essentially, the way I evaluate students is based on their considerable labor in the course. There are several components for each assignment that you must complete in order to earn full credit--or a B grade. The B grade is earned by labor and not by quality of effort, though a B+ or B- that could reflect either extra or a lack of effort is possible. The requirements for an A and C grade are also spelled out. They are specific to each assignment. Read the specific assignment page for the requirements for each assignment. This form of evaluation is a combination of something called "spec" and "contract" grading and portfolio assessment. Spec grading allows me to value sheer effort while still leaving room for particularly excellent effort that yields an excellent product. It is particularly helpful for low-stakes writing and for work that requires substantial process (like drafting and revising papers). Spec grading values the labor of education. Portfolio grading allows me to take a step back and consider the entire student over time.
I use this kind of evaluation because I want to be able to consider all the parts of your performance in our class, not just how good your final drafts of your projects are. I want to consider where you started and how much you improved. I want to consider how hard you tried (or didn’t try) in class. I want to consider how you contribute to class on a daily basis--not by being the one who always talks, but by paying attention, contributing when you have something thoughtful to say, helping to make your group work go smoothly, really giving your all to our reading journals and in-class writing. I have found that this kind of grading rewards hard-working students as well as students that are just naturally good at something. And, for that reason, I think it is the most fair way to run a writing classroom. Further, research indicates that this kind of grading--sometimes called standards based grading--in an equity-minded classroom, turns out to support students often disenfranchised by traditional grading policies in the US classroom. I hope you’ll come to agree.
Breakdown of assessment percentages. Different assignments require different amounts of effort. The percentages that accompany each of the requirements in this class should give you an indication of the time and energy that each should take up in your student life.
Reading Journals 20%
Writing Studies Timeline. 15%
Rhetorical Analysis 15%
Writing in the Professions 15%
Writing as Art 10%
Midterm Portfolio 10%
Final Portfolio 15%
Your success in this class ultimately rests on doing the following:
A word about comments on Reader's Notes are meant to help you read more thoughtfully and write better reader's notes. In order to earn a strong grade for your work on Reader's Notes, you will need to meet certain standards on a certain number of reader's notes. The details about your evaluation is available on the Reader's Notes assignment page. Comments on reader's notes, which is a kind of informal writing shouldn’t be treated like evaluation but rather like an ongoing conversation between you and me: think of it as a talk between us, only in written form. If I’m not commenting, it means I’m bored.
OTHER THINGS
Plagiarism. It's very difficult to plagiarize in a class like this; however, you risk failing the assignment or the course if you plagiarize in our course. Students who plagiarize should expect to be held to the student code of conduct and will be reported to the disciplinary board. A note about AI: AI is used a lot in professional writing, and we will, in fact, learn how to use it for that particular part of the course. If you use AI for other assignments--most notably the Reading Journals, please indicate that you have done so. Further, please be thoughtful about how you use AI--it shouldn't replace actually doing the reading. If I suspect that you are replacing the actual reading for AI generated journals, I reserve the right to mark the journal as "unacceptable."
Students with specific needs. Students who need special accommodations due to a documented need should come talk to me about the accommodations they need to be successful in the course. I employ universal design that should support all learners, but you should still come talk to me so that we both know what our expectations of the course is. There is a new system in place that means that I get a letter automatically, but that should not mean that you don't have to talk to me about what you need.
Electronics Policy. I don't like competing with your phone for your attention. If we are using our computers, please use them for what we are supposed to be using them for. You don't need to turn your phone off, but, should you get a call, be thoughtful about whether or not you should really answer it. Also, please, no texting in class.
The Writing Studio. Located in the Academic Achievement Center, on the bottom floor of the Library, the Writing Studio is available to any and all students at whatever level of expertise you might be at.
Other Resources on Campus. There are a wide variety of services available on our campus that you might want to know about but also might just be too inundated with information to remember you have access to, so I'm including links to a variety of places on campus that I think you might want to know about. First and foremost is probably the counseling center and the wellness center. Other places you can go if you want to connect with folks: the LEGAC center for multicultural affairs, the Pride Center, the campus food bank, and Commuter Services. Making a connection to this campus is the number one way you'll get from day one to graduation.
Title IX and Sexual Violence. The Office of Equal Opportunity and the Title IX Coordinator work to ensure that all members of the campus community flourish in a supportive and fair climate. See https://my.bridgew.edu/departments/affirmativeaction/SitePages/Home.aspx to learn more.
Syllabus/Policies Check-in Assignment
Good for you. You got to the end of the policies. To reward you, you have the opportunity to earn one "A" for Acceptable for a reading journal grade simply by completing the following assignment by the third week of classes.
1. Send me an email at ltorda@bridgew.edu, CC me at lee.torda@gmail.com
2. In the subject line, write "Syllabus Check-in Email". Write it exactly as I've written it here.
3. In the body of the email, include a greeting: "Hello LT," "Hi Professor Torda," "Hey Dr. Torda." Whatever. But have a greeting.
4. Cut and paste this sentence into the email: "I've read through the policies and syllabus for the course, and I understand how to use the website to find out information about assignments, course policies, due dates, and classroom expectations." BUT: here is the thing, really seriously make sure you've actually done it. This email is like your signature on a contract. I won't be super patient with folks who tell me that "they didn't know" how some policy will affect them if I have that email.
4. Here is a place to ask me any questions you might have about the course or the course materials so far.
5. Include a meme of your choosing or design that sums up how you are feeling about the semester.
6. Sign off on your email, "best, so & so" "see you in class, your name here" "sincerely, John Doe." Again, whatever. But sign off on your email. Because you are a human and humans do that.
Make sure I get this email by the 3rd week of classes. If you don't send it to me, you lose this free "A". There will be a couple of these during the semester, and they can really help you out when you are in the thick of the semester.
This course serves as an introduction to the Writing and Writing Studies Concentration in the English major. During the course you will not only be learning about the histories and theories of Writing (as a practice and as an area of study), but you will also spend some time paying attention to your own writing practices—how you develop ideas, compose, draft, revise, challenge, edit and so on. You will also get a chance to explore different aspects of writing and what can potentially be a career in writing. While it will be impossible to cover everything in this one course, I hope to at least help you experience the vibrant field of writing and writing studies as well as provide you with an avenue to pursue through English Studies.
Our course serves as an introduction to the field, one that should culminate in either the Seminar in Writing & Writing Studies or the counterpart to that course Advanced Portfolio Workshop. What you start in this class you will finish there; along the way you will develop as a reader, thinker, and, of course, as a writer.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
By the end of the course, student will:
- Understand of what constitutes writing and writing studies;
- Begin the process of becoming a professional rather than student writer through interrogating your process and practice of writing;
- Begin to understand the kinds of research and writing one does in Writing Studies;
- Begin to understand what technical and professional writing looks like;
- Begin to understand how Creative Writing is different from Writing Studies
- Begin to develop a portfolio that can be used as you continue to explore the field of writing and writing studies.
Due to the varied nature of the kinds of reading we’ll need to do this semester, there is no prescribed text for this course. All reading will be available linked to the class syllabus on this website.
REQUIREMENTS
Attendance. It is important to me that you come to class as often as possible because the day-to-day work that we do as a class will contribute greatly to your success and improvement as a writer. I have an attendance policy to reward those students who take class and the work seriously. You have three absences to do with as you please. Use them wisely. After three absences, any and all absences will adversely affect your grade. After six absences, you will fail the course. Further, excessive tardiness will accumulate to at least one absence. Finally, absence is not an excuse for late work. If you anticipate problems with any part of this attendance policy, you should come talk to me. I'm not unreasonable. If you have to be absent, talk to me, and we will work something out. I simply do not want to teach to half empty classrooms. Additionally, this class is not meant to be an online class. Occasionally using Zoom to attend class is acceptable but not optimal. Be thoughtful with a request to attend via zoom.
In-Class Masking. Masks are not required in our class. But I ask that you be considerate of your classmates (and me). If you are sick, please consider staying home or wearing a mask in class. I will do the same. And please know that if you need to wear a mask at any time for any reason, please feel comfortable and safe doing so. There is still Covid and Flu and all other nastiness out there. Let's keep each other safe.
Reading Journals. The readings (or videos or podcasts) are pivotal to this class. If you don’t do the reading we will not have very much to do in class. For every reading you have for homework, you are responsible for a 500 word typed response. It should answer a number of questions that gets at what the reading is about, first, and what makes this sort of writing different then other kinds of writing (see the complete assignment page on this website for details).
Late Work. I try to be reasonable about late work. However, late work makes it difficult for me to keep up with the paper load and to keep track of your performance in our class. During the first first five weeks of the semester--or a third of the semester--I will accept late work. After that, I will accept late work on a case-by-case basis. It is best if you ask me for an extension prior to the deadline rather than day-of. I will be more amenable about deadlines for major projects than I am for Reading Journals because reading is a central part of the day-to-day functioning of our class. Excessive lateness will impact your final grade in our class.
Informal Writing: We will write almost every class in some capacity. I will almost always collect this writing. It will serve as a way for me to take attendance, and it will typically help you participate in class and/or get work done for the more formal writing. Completing the majority of informal writing will equal one free "acceptable" reading journal at the end of the semester and can be substituted for a missed or unacceptable reading journal. Comments on informal writing is not evaluative; it's a conversation.
Formal Writing: There are four formal pieces of writing this semester. You can find more information about all of them on this website.
Writing Studies Timeline. You will be surprised to know how much of your education--in college and K-12--is influenced by the field of Writing Studies, and, in particular, the study of Composition, or how you write, and the study of Pedagogy, or the study of how we teach--in this instance writing pedagogy. To demonstrate what you've learned about the wide influence of the field, you'll put together a timeline of significant scholars, theories, and historical events that have shaped particular kinds of writing pedagogy. This is a group project.
Rhetorical Analysis. The field of Writing Studies roughly breaks down into two areas, Writing Pedagogy (or Composition) and Rhetorical Analysis. Our second major assignment will be a rhetorical analysis. This assignment will feel familiar to you: rhetorical analysis and literary analysis share many of the same techniques and theory. Most often, it is the subject of analysis that is different. For this project, you will work as an individual to analyze the rhetorical influence of something that matters to you.
Writing in the Professions. Another title for this kind of writing is Technical and Professional Writing. This kind of writing covers all sorts of things like instruction writing and business reports to grayer areas some public relations and social media . This is another group project where you will determine a communication problem on our campus and develop a campaign to help solve that problem.
Writing as Art. We end the semester with the part of “writing studies” that will seem most familiar to you: creative work. There is a lot more to creative work than novels or poetry. One semester won’t be enough to cover all of it, but we’ll do our best. You’ll have a chance to work on a creative project of your own design.
Portfolios. This class will use a portfolio system of evaluation. Portfolios are the way writers and artists collect work, and it is a very effective way of evaluating student writing (there is much research on the subject—some of which we’ll read). You’ll turn in a mini-portfolio at midterm and a final portfolio at the end of the semester that includes informal writing, formal writing, revision, and reflection.
Conferences & Workshopping. We will meet one-on-one at least once during the semester to work on your writing—the way an editor would meet with a writer. We will also have whole class workshops as well as small group workshops. This is the way professional writers—creative or otherwise—give and get feedback and revise their work. Too little of school involves this kind of work, and so it is important, as you enter the writing concentration, that you learn to participate in this kind of challenging conversation about writing.
EVALUATION AND GRADING
Labor Based Assessment: Essentially, the way I evaluate students is based on their considerable labor in the course. There are several components for each assignment that you must complete in order to earn full credit--or a B grade. The B grade is earned by labor and not by quality of effort, though a B+ or B- that could reflect either extra or a lack of effort is possible. The requirements for an A and C grade are also spelled out. They are specific to each assignment. Read the specific assignment page for the requirements for each assignment. This form of evaluation is a combination of something called "spec" and "contract" grading and portfolio assessment. Spec grading allows me to value sheer effort while still leaving room for particularly excellent effort that yields an excellent product. It is particularly helpful for low-stakes writing and for work that requires substantial process (like drafting and revising papers). Spec grading values the labor of education. Portfolio grading allows me to take a step back and consider the entire student over time.
I use this kind of evaluation because I want to be able to consider all the parts of your performance in our class, not just how good your final drafts of your projects are. I want to consider where you started and how much you improved. I want to consider how hard you tried (or didn’t try) in class. I want to consider how you contribute to class on a daily basis--not by being the one who always talks, but by paying attention, contributing when you have something thoughtful to say, helping to make your group work go smoothly, really giving your all to our reading journals and in-class writing. I have found that this kind of grading rewards hard-working students as well as students that are just naturally good at something. And, for that reason, I think it is the most fair way to run a writing classroom. Further, research indicates that this kind of grading--sometimes called standards based grading--in an equity-minded classroom, turns out to support students often disenfranchised by traditional grading policies in the US classroom. I hope you’ll come to agree.
Breakdown of assessment percentages. Different assignments require different amounts of effort. The percentages that accompany each of the requirements in this class should give you an indication of the time and energy that each should take up in your student life.
Reading Journals 20%
Writing Studies Timeline. 15%
Rhetorical Analysis 15%
Writing in the Professions 15%
Writing as Art 10%
Midterm Portfolio 10%
Final Portfolio 15%
Your success in this class ultimately rests on doing the following:
- Meeting all of the requirements described above;
- The quality of your written work, including how successful your revision work is;
- The quality of your effort in the class, in workshops, in class discussion, in your groups, in conferences, and in general;
- Your demonstration of a willingness to try new things, think in new ways, and explore different perspectives as both a reader and a writer.
A word about comments on Reader's Notes are meant to help you read more thoughtfully and write better reader's notes. In order to earn a strong grade for your work on Reader's Notes, you will need to meet certain standards on a certain number of reader's notes. The details about your evaluation is available on the Reader's Notes assignment page. Comments on reader's notes, which is a kind of informal writing shouldn’t be treated like evaluation but rather like an ongoing conversation between you and me: think of it as a talk between us, only in written form. If I’m not commenting, it means I’m bored.
OTHER THINGS
Plagiarism. It's very difficult to plagiarize in a class like this; however, you risk failing the assignment or the course if you plagiarize in our course. Students who plagiarize should expect to be held to the student code of conduct and will be reported to the disciplinary board. A note about AI: AI is used a lot in professional writing, and we will, in fact, learn how to use it for that particular part of the course. If you use AI for other assignments--most notably the Reading Journals, please indicate that you have done so. Further, please be thoughtful about how you use AI--it shouldn't replace actually doing the reading. If I suspect that you are replacing the actual reading for AI generated journals, I reserve the right to mark the journal as "unacceptable."
Students with specific needs. Students who need special accommodations due to a documented need should come talk to me about the accommodations they need to be successful in the course. I employ universal design that should support all learners, but you should still come talk to me so that we both know what our expectations of the course is. There is a new system in place that means that I get a letter automatically, but that should not mean that you don't have to talk to me about what you need.
Electronics Policy. I don't like competing with your phone for your attention. If we are using our computers, please use them for what we are supposed to be using them for. You don't need to turn your phone off, but, should you get a call, be thoughtful about whether or not you should really answer it. Also, please, no texting in class.
The Writing Studio. Located in the Academic Achievement Center, on the bottom floor of the Library, the Writing Studio is available to any and all students at whatever level of expertise you might be at.
Other Resources on Campus. There are a wide variety of services available on our campus that you might want to know about but also might just be too inundated with information to remember you have access to, so I'm including links to a variety of places on campus that I think you might want to know about. First and foremost is probably the counseling center and the wellness center. Other places you can go if you want to connect with folks: the LEGAC center for multicultural affairs, the Pride Center, the campus food bank, and Commuter Services. Making a connection to this campus is the number one way you'll get from day one to graduation.
Title IX and Sexual Violence. The Office of Equal Opportunity and the Title IX Coordinator work to ensure that all members of the campus community flourish in a supportive and fair climate. See https://my.bridgew.edu/departments/affirmativeaction/SitePages/Home.aspx to learn more.
Syllabus/Policies Check-in Assignment
Good for you. You got to the end of the policies. To reward you, you have the opportunity to earn one "A" for Acceptable for a reading journal grade simply by completing the following assignment by the third week of classes.
1. Send me an email at ltorda@bridgew.edu, CC me at lee.torda@gmail.com
2. In the subject line, write "Syllabus Check-in Email". Write it exactly as I've written it here.
3. In the body of the email, include a greeting: "Hello LT," "Hi Professor Torda," "Hey Dr. Torda." Whatever. But have a greeting.
4. Cut and paste this sentence into the email: "I've read through the policies and syllabus for the course, and I understand how to use the website to find out information about assignments, course policies, due dates, and classroom expectations." BUT: here is the thing, really seriously make sure you've actually done it. This email is like your signature on a contract. I won't be super patient with folks who tell me that "they didn't know" how some policy will affect them if I have that email.
4. Here is a place to ask me any questions you might have about the course or the course materials so far.
5. Include a meme of your choosing or design that sums up how you are feeling about the semester.
6. Sign off on your email, "best, so & so" "see you in class, your name here" "sincerely, John Doe." Again, whatever. But sign off on your email. Because you are a human and humans do that.
Make sure I get this email by the 3rd week of classes. If you don't send it to me, you lose this free "A". There will be a couple of these during the semester, and they can really help you out when you are in the thick of the semester.