Bill Di Nome  |  FUU 1049  |  962-71 38  |  dinomew@uncw.edu  |  http://www.uncwil.edu/people/dinomew/

Class Hours: Tuesday & Thursday 6:30 – 7:45 p.m. | Bear Hall 281

Office Hours: Tuesday & Thursday 2 – 3 p.m. and by appointment

English 103-010           fall 2008

                             College Writing & Reading (Advanced)

Course Description

As the accelerated, one-semester version of the first-year composition sequence, English 103 seeks to give advanced students intensive practice in a variety of written forms, with primary emphasis on writing for academic purposes and upon persuasion and argumentation. Academic writing is characterized by an inquiring, balanced, informed voice and a tolerant, intellectual stance.

We will approach writing not only as a product but also as a process characterized by reading, prewriting, writing, revision and editing. We will strive to become a community of writers—mutually supportive and synergistic. Material for our discourse will vary widely as we address portions of the world that surrounds us as “texts” worthy of examination. We will draw especially upon film and other mass-communicated cultural artifacts and strive to incorporate interactive modes of conversing about them. We will also practice various technical aspects of scholarly documentation.

“Research is formalized curiosity.

It is poking and prying with a purpose.”

—Zora Neale Hurston

Objectives:

• To facilitate the transition from writing and reading based on personal experience to writing and reading for the variety of academic purposes you will encounter at UNCW;

• To fortify our control of sentence structure, voice and standard mechanical conventions of English;

• To achieve basic competence in the analysis of a wide range of texts and in developing cogent arguments;

• To achieve basic competence in becoming “information literate”;

• To help build confidence in your writing ability;

• To improve your skills in reading, note taking,  outlining and document design;

• To acquire the conventions of academic discourse, including a balanced, informed voice and a tolerant intellectual stance.

Required Materials

• Silverman & Rader, The World Is a Text: Writing, Reading, and Thinking About Culture and Its Contexts, 2d ed., (Prentice Hall, 2006)

• The OWL @ Purdue (Online Writing Lab), MLA Formatting and Style Guide

• Readings posted on Seaport

• Access to a college-level dictionary and thesaurus

• riting tools in class in class every day

Course Requirements

• Regular attendance. Because of the interactive nature of this coursework, your physical and mental presence are both required. Some required work will be outside the class. After two missed class meetings, each additional missed class will lower your final grade by a half-letter grade.

• Active participation in writing exercises, peer editing and class discussion.

• Assigned reading and written exercises. You are expected to be conversant in all assigned readings regardless of whether we address them explicitly in class. You are expected to come to class with assigned written exercises completed. Most assignments will be delivered electronically. Absence is no excuse for unfinished work. After an absence, return to class with all assignments due by then. Missing work earns no credit.

• Two mandatory conferences with the instructor.

• Library instruction.

• Media journal. This reading journal will be your primary tool for responding to texts in an interactive environment. Your media journal may take the form of a shared class blog, with full hypertextual capability. Participation in the blog is encouraged but not mandatory and requires informed consent to preserve your privacy.

• Four essays: One drawing upon personal experience to support a generalization; one critical analysis of one or more texts; two research-based essays, at least one of which must be persuasive. Detailed descriptions of the essay assignments and evaluation criteria will be provided.

Class Policies

Academic Honesty. By enrolling in this class, you are agreeing to adhere to the ethical policies of the university, described below and in the UNCW Code of Student Life (1MB PDF).

The importance of preserving academic integrity cannot be overstated, especially today when abuses seem rampant. As our first principle, plagiarism, academic dishonesty, and any fabrication of fact, quotation, chronology, or intention will not be tolerated. You are expected to be familiar with UNCW's academic honor policy. Violations of this code will result in a report to the Office of the Dean of Students and probably a failing grade for the course as well.

The two most serious types of academic dishonesty are plagiarism and fabrication.

            What is plagiarism?

• Presenting someone else's work as your own, without proper acknowledgement.

• Using some else's opinions, word arrangement or sequence of ideas without proper acknowledgement.

• It is a violation not only of universal honor codes but potentially of U.S. copyright law as well.

            What is fabrication?

• Making up quotes or information from a real source.

• Making up quotes or information from an imaginary source.

• Making up information and not citing a source at all.

• Attributing real quotes or information to a source other than the actual source.

Cell Phones. Please turn your cell phones OFF before class starts. Every time your cell phone rings or vibrates in class, you will be responsible, at the next class meeting, for bringing in enough M&M candies for the entire class.

Punctuality. Classes will begin and end promptly at the prescribed hour. Please respect both the start time and end time.

A Note on Library Access: If you have not chosen a password (‘PIN’) that gives you access to Randall Library’s online services, please do so immediately. It takes two minutes. Login here.

 "Scholarship is polite argument.”

—Philip Rieff, American

sociologist and writer

Special Needs

Students with disabilities who need accommodation to complete the course requirements should notify me in writing as soon as possible. If you have an accommodation letter from Disability Services, please provide a copy. For information and assistance, contact the Office of Disability Services (Westside Hall, ext. 27555).

Grading

Coursework will be evaluated on a 10-point scale. Grade weights for course assignments are as follow:

Grading Scale

Course Schedule — Fall 2008

Assignments and due-dates are subject to change. All page numbers refer to our textbook by Silverman and Rader.

Resources

Avoiding Plagiarism, via Randall Library

Bibme.org — The fully automatic, free bibliography maker that auto-fills (but must still be proof read!)

Citation Builder, NC State University Libraries — The Citation Builder illustrates differences among several major styles of citing information sources.

Randall Library — A researcher’s best friend is a librarian. You’ll be amazed by the many ways the staff at Randall Library are capable of helping you succeed in college.

Ask a Librarian — Did you know that a librarian is always available to answer your most minute questions? It’s true, whether you need to know the Gross National Product of Liberia or to verify the spelling of 'Radovan Karadzic.' You may contact a librarian by e-mail or by instant message.

Workshops — All workshops are one hour long and take place in RL 1022. Full schedule online available here.

MLA Citation Workshop:

            Mon, Sep 22, 11 a.m.

            Tue, Oct 28, 1 p.m.

            Thu, Nov 13, 9 a.m.

Plagiarism 101

            Mon, Sep 15, 11 a.m.

            Tue, Oct 14, 1 p.m.

            Thu, Nov 20, 9 a.m.

Library Lowdown: Randall Library Resources in a Nutshell

            Mon, Aug 25, 2 p.m.

            Tue, Aug 26, 3:30 p.m.

            Wed, Aug 27, 4 p.m.

            Mon, Sep 29, 2 p.m.

Research Guides

Writing Services at the University Learning Center

            962.7857 / ulc@uncw.edu / Westside Hall, 1st Fl.

Appointments available during the following hours:

            M-R 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.

            Fri, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

            Sun, 3 – 9 p.m.

Walk-ins welcome if tutor is available. Online consultations available any time (leave 48 to 71 hours for a response).

Assignment Calendar

Aside from providing a useful time frame for working on assignments, the calendar also links you directly to useful “how to” documents designed for every stage of the project.