Department of English, Fine Arts, and Music                                          Winter 2012

ENGL 1502: Language and Writing II: Academic Writing (3,0)         3 Credits

Prerequisites:    Prerequisite:  ENGL 1501 E or permission of the instructor. 

Instructor: 

• Robert G. Cooper,  BA, B Ed,  M Ed
• WW 106
• 705-945-8165
• cooper@algomau.ca

 Class Meeting Times:  

• Monday and Wednesday, 8:30 am, Room  SH407

Office Hours:   By appointment or immediately after class 

Required Texts:      Ballenger, R.  The Curious Researcher.  6/E  Boston: Pearson, 2000.

Recommended Texts:  Buckley, J.  (2003).  Checkmate (with Workbook).  Scarborough: Thomson Nelson.

                                    Or any good handbook of English

A good Dictionary

Course Description:

"A study of written English with particular emphasis on longer essays, methods of research, reports, and research papers. It introduces the student to the process of writing academic essays and methods of writing to improve their abilities as readers, thinkers, researchers, and writers.  Students should complete this course early in their program whenever possible.  An elective credit is not applicable to a concentration in English.  Prerequisite:  ENGL 1501 E or permission of the instructor.  (LANG 3) (3 cr)”

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

This course emphasizes research writing and English usage.  Students will become familiar with library, internet, and other research sources.  Weekly assignments may include in-class and out-of-class assignments, two major essays, a web site, Power Points, and conference posters.

Course Objectives: 

Upon completion of EN111 students should be able to produce research essays and reports that are free of grammatical, mechanical, and syntactical errors, that are well researched organized, interesting, and appropriate in style and format for academic and professional writing.

ENGL1502 Outcomes

Rhetorical Knowledge
By the end of ENGL1502, students should be able to do the following:

• Understand their role as participants in written and verbal discourse, utilizing a variety of rhetorical strategies appropriate to work within specific disciplines, fields, and occupations.
• Establish a clear purpose for writing and develop strategies that sustain that purpose throughout a comprehensive, research-driven project.
• Combine and apply multiple modes of discourse to develop research and communicate expertise.

Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing
By the end of ENGL1502, students should be able to do the following:

• Incorporate into the writing process the finding, evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing of appropriate primary and secondary sources.
• Engage with other writers, from peers to published authors, to understand writing and reading as dialogues between people who possess differing ideas, beliefs, and values.
• Develop abilities of analysis and evaluation to assess the rhetorical strategies and logic of their own thinking and that of others.

Processes
By the end of ENGL1502, students should be able to do the following:

• Work through multiple drafts to create and complete a successful text.
• Develop flexible strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proof-reading.
• Practice writing as an ongoing process that allows writers to use later invention and re-thinking to revise their work.
• Critique their own and others' works.
• Employ the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes, i.e., learn to balance the advantages of relying on others with the responsibility of doing their part

Knowledge of Conventions
By the end of ENGL1502, students should be able to do the following:

·         Incorporate patterns of organization (e.g. process, compare/contrast, cause/effect) within a research project, understanding how structure and form shape data and information.

·         Practice the methods of inquiry and citation expected of university-level writing; understand how to use those methods within specific disciplines, fields, or occupations.

·         Develop their understanding of the functions of syntax, grammar, punctuation and spelling; build upon a rule-based understanding of grammar to develop a meaning-based understanding of how mechanics contribute to expression and style

Grading Scale and Policies:

• Assignments                                        30%

• Attendance & Participation                10%

• Major Essay(s)                                     40%

• Mid-term Exam                                    10%

• Final Presentation                               10%                                    

Ground Rules:

1.    Completing assignments on time and keeping up with the class material is important for success in this course and in college.  Late assignments will not be accepted except for legitimate pre-approved reasons as determined by the instructor.  Examples of legitimate reasons are:  severe illness, death in family, etc.

2.    Students are expected to perform all assigned work themselves.  Any form of cheating or plagiarism will be handled in accordance with the University Regulations.  Violations may result in an F for the course grade.

3.    Use of head phones, cell phones and hats during exams is prohibited.

4.    Cell phones must be turned off for all class and lab sessions.  If the cell phone is on and rings, the student will be asked to leave the class for the day and this will count as an absence.

5.    Attend all classroom sessions.

6.    Complete all reading and assignments before class.

7.    Ask questions if you do not understand anything.

Writing Lab Services

Take charge and learn to express yourself by visiting the Writing Lab in the Learning Centre.  The Writing Lab instructor will work with you on a one-to-one basis, helping you work through all writing-related issues in a variety of disciplines. The goal is to help students generate, organize, revise and improve their writing. The Writing Lab instructor will look at work at any stage of the writing process. You can go to the Lab to talk out ideas for a paper, or to clarify a thesis statement, or to restructure an essay, or to help identify awkward sentence structure and word choice.

It is expected that students with special writing problems will work with the Writing Lab to solve those problems.

Tentative Course Outline - ENGL1502: order and length of course content will vary depending on the perceived need of the students.