GOALS FOR WRITING
101
1. To use
writing, the critical reading of mature prose texts, and research as means of
general cognitive development, as activities which foster intellectual growth in
an academic environment.
2. To
encourage students to see writing as a learning tool that is important in all
contexts and is not confined to the writing classroom.
3. To
teach students to plan, organize, and develop persuasive essays by using
introspection, general observation, deliberation, course reading, and research
beyond classroom texts.
4. To
make students aware of their individual voices and how those voices can be
adapted to fit different audiences and rhetorical situations.
5. To
encourage students to view writing as a process by using several prewriting,
organizing, drafting, revising, and editing strategies.
6. To
stress the importance of clear communication by teaching students to revise
effectively through the complete rethinking, restructuring, and rewriting of
essays.
7. To
encourage independent thinking.
8. To
teach students to evaluate, document, and incorporate source material accurately
and appropriately, according to “The Correct Use of Borrowed Information.”
WRITING 101 GUIDELINES
Writing 101 introduces students to college-level
writing. Our primary goal is to further the development of our students'
writing skills and to show students that writing is essential to a liberal arts
education and to life-long learning. Students should learn about the
developmental nature of writing, the importance of academic standards, and the
significance of "writing to learn." Be
sure to include the 8 listed goals above on your syllabus.
Minimum Grade
Requirement
Students must earn at least a C- in Writing 101.
Students
must repeat Writing 101 if they earn less than a C-. Remind students that at
least a C- in
Writing 101 is a prerequisite for enrolling in HMXP102. Be sure to
include on course syllabi a notice about this grade requirement.
Number and Types of
Assignments
WRIT 101 is an introduction to academic discourse.
The focus of the course should be on the writing process, a process that results
in well-supported, thesis-driven prose. While formal argument will not be the
only emphasis, the writing in this course should use many of the strategies of
formal arguments: a clear stance; reasoned, logical support; concession;
refutation; authorial voice; awareness of audience; and the correct
documentation of borrowed materials. Reading assignments and class discussion
should lead directly or indirectly to writing assignments, and reading
assignments should be mature non-fiction prose. The first paper in the course
may be an experiential, transitional—“from high school to college”—paper, based
solely on personal experience), but writing should progress quickly to objective
analytical writing that correctly incorporates summarized, paraphrased, and
quoted materials.
Instructors should assign at least 4,000 words of
graded writing, an amount that includes the final exam (a timed writing
assignment). Each student should write five graded essays (including the final
exam). Three essays should be written outside of class, and two (including the
final exam) should be written in class. At least four essays should incorporate
borrowed material, and at least two of these should include library or other
outside research. One of our crucial goals for this course is that students
learn how to incorporate borrowed material correctly, and every effort should be
made to ensure that this goal is achieved. The University community assumes
that students leave WRIT 101 with the tools needed to document borrowed material
without unintentionally plagiarizing and to understand what constitutes
plagiarism and what its consequences might be.
Complete revisions (i.e. re-written papers) may
count as new essays if both versions are graded. Ungraded drafts and
corrections do not count toward minimum writing requirements. NOTE: Final
exams must be given during the assigned exam time. NOTE: In WRIT 101, we DO
NOT teach modes (narration, description, classification, etc.) as the sole
organizing strategy for any single assignment.
Texts
All WRIT 101 faculty are required to use the same
handbook and documentation guide: Prentice Hall Reference Guide: Custom
Edition for Winthrop University, taken from the
Prentice Hall Reference Guide,
7th edition by
Muriel Harris. You may choose the non-fiction reader you wish to use from the texts selected for WRIT 101: Behrens and Rosen’s
Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum
;
Axelrod, Cooper, and Warriner's
Reading Critically, Writing Well; Coleman,
Brittenham, Campbell, and Girard’s
Making Sense: Essays on Art, Science, and Culture;
or Muller’s
Many Americas: Reading and Writing across the Cultural Divides.
Also options are The Arlington Reader and
From Inquiry to Academic Writing.
Common Book
All Winthrop freshmen will read the same common
book as part of their orientation and ACAD experience. This year, the book
selected is Sarah Erdman's Nine Hills To Nambonkaha: Two
Years in The Heart of an African Village. The University College website has
information on the Winthrop Common Book Project.
Grading
Please require your students to download and print
a copy of the
grading rubric from the department web page. We ask
that you go over this material with the students prior to the first essay
assignment. Some faculty have had great success in asking students to evaluate
a student-written essay using the grading rubric. This task seems to make them
more aware of what is required in their own writing.
Be sure to include on your syllabus your grading scale, breakdown, and
whether or not you are using
the +/- system.
Diagnostic Essay
Faculty should have students produce a writing
sample on the first day of class. A prompt will be available in the workroom,
or you may use one of your own. Many faculty use this writing as a pre-writing
exercise which leads to a revised essay. These essays may help you to spot
students with serious writing problems so that you can direct them immediately
to the Writing Center for assistance.
Documentation
Students should learn how to summarize, to
paraphrase, and to handle direct quotations in Writing 101; and they should be
able to use material from two or more sources in one essay. The departmental
guideline entitled "The
Correct Use of Borrowed Information" which is now included in the
custom handbook should be used along with the appropriate chapters in the
Prentice Hall Reference Guide –Custom Edition. The Winthrop library also
has prepared information about “Citing
Electronic Sources: MLA Documentation” that you may use. Students
and instructors should be familiar with the University’s policy on plagiarism
(as stated in the
Winthrop University Undergraduate Catalog and the
Student Handbook) and should be aware that the
penalty for plagiarism, depending on the severity of the offense, may vary from
a grade reduction on the assignment to a failing grade in the course. We
encourage all faculty to set up an account and use
TURNITIN. We believe this program will help you and
your students and certainly reduce the incidents of plagiarism.
Required Library
Lecture
There is now an
on-line tour of the library, which each student may
take from the privacy of his/her computer terminal. This assignment will focus
on using DOC and finding books. This assignment will be
completed in students' ACAD courses.
Writing 101 classes will include
a library lecture. The library faculty will teach the library lecture;
but if you wish to teach your own, you will still need to call and schedule your
class time. Please contact the library faculty to reserve the computerized
library classroom by calling the Reference Desk at 4501. David Weeks (x2319) is
the faculty person in charge of the library lectures, but he may not be the
person teaching your class. The library faculty will be able to tailor the
lecture more specifically to your needs if you provide them with a “wish list”
or a list of topics for a research essay a week prior to your scheduled
lecture. If you do not get your topics to the faculty a week before your
library session, your class will receive a generic lecture. Because the
library session will focus only on the use of technology, please be sure to
teach your students all the steps in a research strategy.
Final Exam
All Writing 101 students will take their Writing
101 exam during the regularly scheduled exam time for that class period in their
regular Writing 101 classroom. (The
exam
schedule is available through the Records and Registration website.)
Each instructor will
construct his or her own final essay examination based on course material or
special readings provided by the instructor. (Objective exams are not
acceptable.) The final exam should count from 10% to 15% of a student's
final grade for the course. Your syllabus should
include your exam time.
Please give a copy of your final exam topic
(assignment) to the Director of Freshman Writing and to Carol Schlabach.
Storage of Students'
Papers
At the end of the semester, students' papers should
be filed in the department's storage room. Please bind the folders together by
section, and label a blank folder with your name, course name, section number,
and the semester in which the course was taught. The bound student folders
should be placed in the storage room in the appropriate cabinet (labeled by
year). Please remind students that you must keep all their papers from the
course. If they want copies of those papers, they must make them before the end
of the semester.
Syllabi
When you have drawn up your syllabi, give one
copy to Carol Schlabach. All syllabi must also be archived electronically for
accreditation purposes.
Writing 465 Guidelines
WRIT 465 focuses on the
preparation of oral and written reports appropriate in business or government.
It is one of three Winthrop courses that have both the writing intensive and
oral communication designations. Most of us who teach this course find it
rewarding because students are usually excited about and committed to the
projects they pursue. We have also found that classroom workshops,
frequent conferences, group work, and peer editing are very effective techniques
to use with these students. A notebook of useful WRIT 465 materials is
available in the Writing Center.
Students must
have junior status and must have passed WRIT 102 with a C or better in order to
take WRIT 465. Any sophomores on your rolls should be told to drop the
course, unless they can prove that they actually have junior status.
Types
of Writing Assignments
The major
assignment is a semester-long project (usually a feasibility study). Written
components of the project MUST include:
-- proposal
-- letter of inquiry
-- survey or questionnaire
-- audience analysis
-- progress report
-- the formal report or
feasibility study
Other documents covered in the course SHOULD include:
-- instructions (may be a
group-produced manual)
-- technical description
-- correspondence
-- technical abstract
-- résumé
-- application letter
In addition, students should
learn to access technological data. They should learn to use email and to
access and use internet sources. Students should use PowerPoint to present
their final projects. Please contact Maria Massey in the Dean’s office at
3553 to coordinate the borrowing of this equipment if your class is not
scheduled in a Smart Classroom. Students should also learn to interpret and
design various types of graphics and to integrate them into written text.
Types of Oral Communication
Assignments
At least three
graded oral presentations are required in WRIT 465, and you must provide
students with detailed instruction on oral communication skills. Oral
presentations may include such assignments as "how-to" demonstrations, progress
reports, and group reports. A formal oral report on the major project is
required. Students should gain experience preparing and using visual
aids for these oral reports.
You should provide written
feedback to students about their oral presentations, and peer evaluation should
also be included.
Research and Documentation
Skills
Students should gain
experience gathering information from library and non-library sources, including
interviews and surveys. If your students need more advanced instruction
about library materials, you will have to provide such instruction.
Students should
learn an appropriate form of documentation. Please spend some time discussing
the correct use of borrowed information, for students may not remember the MLA
format used in WRIT 101 and 102, or you may want them to use another form of
documentation. Review with them the college-wide policy on academic dishonesty.
Computer Use
Computers are
available in the Bancroft Computer Lab and in the Academic Computer Center.
Students must provide their own disks for the computers, and they must apply for
a computer account in Tillman 015.
All WRIT 465 documents
should be typed or processed on a computer.
Revision Policies
Strict standards
of correctness should be applied in WRIT 465. For example, in order to receive
a C, a document should be relatively error-free and acceptable for use in
business or government. Documents may be revised for a new grade, but you
should establish a revision policy to be included in your syllabus. You must
review a draft of the major project before it is revised for a grade.
Texts
Any textbook used in this
course must be approved by Bill Naufftus.
Syllabi
When you have drawn up your
syllabi, please give one copy to Carol Schlabach.
All syllabi must also be archived electronically for accreditation purposes.
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