English 131 is an introductory writing course designed to acclimate students to the rigors of academic writing. Below you will find a list of course outcomes, goals for the course, which have been selected by the Expository Writing Program as indicative of successful writing in the academic context. By the end of this course, you will be able to demonstrate each of these outcomes and traits in your own writing. Each assignment you complete will be practice for executing the outcome traits in your major papers, longer works intended to showcase your writing skills. As you can see from looking at the outcomes, this is not a grammar class. Together we will explore, analyze, and contextualize a variety of texts within a larger dialogue as we prepare academically rigorous, rhetorically appropriate, and grammatically sound compositions that work in this context. In the process, we will be come stronger, more versatile critical readers, critical thinkers, and critical writers.

               We live in a culture dominated by images. From newspapers, to television, to the internet, to cell phone screens, we are constantly inundated by images.  Most of the time we don’t even think of it, but every time we look at an image we make an interpretation of that image based on its context and content. Remember your high school teacher telling you to use “context clues” to help come up with meanings for difficult words? Well, context applies to more than just those words we don’t recognize. It refers to all those surrounding circumstances and incidental information that aid us in interpreting our experiences. Think about the difference between seeing a picture of George Bush on the news compared to the same picture on Saturday Night Live. The former is most-likely serious, while the latter will probably make you laugh. The context determines the interpretation.

Because our society is so immersed in images, and because the interpretation of images depends so much on context, the way images is presented becomes very important. Images and their interpretation are as much a part of meaning creation, or possibly even more so (after all, “seeing comes before words”), as written language and, as a result, they influence our understanding of the world, our place in it, and our subsequent behavior. Together we will discuss how placing images in different contexts affects such crucial subjects as identity formation, class hierarchies, cultural difference, social control, and even art appreciation.   Following this line of inquiry, we will question images we see everyday and discuss their meaning and significance in a larger social context.

• Reading Contexts, Gail Stygall, ed.
• Student Guide to the LAN  - can be found at the Communications Copy Center
• IBM-formatted floppy disk - can be purchased for a dollar in the LAN classroom.
• An active UW email account
• A notebook, preferably with perferated paper
• Everyday Writer – recommended
• Elements of Style – Strunk and White (recommended, also at http://www.bartleby.com/141/)

The Writing Portfolio

In this course, you will complete two major assignment sequences, each of which is designed to help you fulfill the course outcomes. Each assignment sequence requires you to complete a variety of shorter assignments leading up to a major paper. These shorter assignment will target one or more of the course outcomes at a time, help you practice these outcomes, and allow you to build toward a major paper at the end of each sequence. You will have a chance to revise significantly each of the major papers using feedback generated by your instructor, peer review sessions, and writing conferences. At the end of the course, having completed the two sequences, you will be asked to compile and submit a portfolio of your work along with a portfolio cover letter. The portfolio will include the following: one of the two major papers, four to six of the shorter assignments, and a cover letter that explains how the selected portfolio demonstrates the four outcomes for the course. In addition, the portfolio will need to include all of the sequence-related work you were assigned in the course. A portfolio that does not include all the above will be considered incomplete and will result in a failing grade. The portfolio will be worth 70% of your final grade.

Class Participation

This consists of participation in class discussion (written and oral), completion of in-class assignments, attendance and preparedness at two individual writing conferences, helpful and beneficial collaboration in peer review projects, thorough completion of homework assignments, general responsiveness to instruction, and attendance. Although I may not take formal attendance every day, you will need to be here, on time, and be attentive for every class in order to earn a good participation grade. Late work, though it can be accepted, will reflect poorly on your participation grade and will receive no comments. Participation is worth 30% of your grade.

1. The computer classrooms are available only to students currently enrolled in computer-integrated courses.
2. Absolutely no food or drink is allowed in the LAN classrooms. Please keep your work area tidy. Recycling containers and trash cans are located at the front of both computer classrooms.
3. Printing is restricted to CIC course essays, peer reviews, homework and handouts. Students may not print work for other courses, online readings, or other lengthy documents.
4. Do not sit on the desktops that connect pod workstations. While sturdy, they are not designed to support human weight.
5. Accessible stations are located in the front center pod. Disabled students have priority for these stations. The desktops on the accessible stations should only be adjusted to accommodate wheelchair or other equipment.
6. Use of both LAN classrooms is limited to currently installed software. You may not install or use any of your own software on the network, nor may you download software or games from the Web.
7. The network cannot be accessed via modem.
8.  Do not manipulate any of the hardware. Unplugging cables can cause the system to crash and people to lose files. If you are having a problem with your station, consult your teacher or the technical support staff.
9. Do not turn off the computers or screens unless told to do so by your instructor or by a technical support person. Do not touch the monitor screen directly with your hands or fingers.
10. Under no condition should any person alter the icons on the desktop. This includes creating additional shortcuts.
11. As a matter of courtesy, always log off after you have finished working.
12. Copyright law prohibits you from duplicating software in the English Department LAN for your own use.
13. The hum of 22 computers, not to mention the tapping and clicking of as many keyboards and mice, creates a great deal of white noise. It is therefore imperative that students speak up when contributing to class discussion and refrain from using their computers when other are speaking to the class.

Since this is a CIC course, your assignments will be submitted in a variety of forms including traditional paper copies, digital draft posted to the network, bulletin board posting, or email submission. Please trust that your instructor will designate how each assignment should be turned in. You are responsible for submitting your work successfully, on time, and in the right form.

With the number of available computer labs and the variety of submission forms, computer/printer technical difficulties are not acceptable. Please allow yourself enough time to do your work and remember to back up and save often to avoid loss.  Feel free to use the CIC labs during public hours. Keep in mind that the English server can only be accessed from the CIC labs.

All assignments are due when class begins. This means that you will occasionally have to come to the CIC lab on days on which you do not have class. Students should not come to class expecting to submit their assignments during class time. Any work turned in after class begins with out specific direction from the instructor will be considered late.

Typically assignments should reflect MLA standards for citation, grammar, and formatting  (if you don’t know what these are, check the course website for a link or look in The Everyday Writer).

The outcomes and traits below articulate the goals of the course and the expectations for your final portfolio.  They also help me generate and evaluate your writing.  I will be able to design various shorter writing assignments that target the learning expectations outlined in the outcomes, each of which will provide students with an opportunity to practice a trait or traits of the outcomes on their way to producing a longer final paper per sequence that combines a significant number of traits.  As the course progresses, I will highlight which of the outcomes are fulfilled by particular assignments and will evaluate for them using the following rubric:

Outstanding: Offers a very highly proficient, even memorable demonstration of the trait(s) associated with the course outcome(s), including some appropriate risk-taking and/or creativity.S

Strong: Offers a proficient demonstration of the trait(s) associated with the course outcome(s), which could be further enhanced with revision.

Good: Effectively demonstrates the trait(s) associate with the course outcome(s), but less proficiently; could use revision to demonstrate more skillful and nuanced command of trait(s).

Acceptable: Minimally meets the basic outcome(s) requirement, but the demonstrated trait(s) are not fully realized or well-controlled and would benefit from significant revision.

Inadequate: Does not meet the outcome(s) requirement; the trait(s) are not adequately demonstrated and require substantial revision on multiple levels.

1. To produce complex, analytic, persuasive arguments that matter in academic contexts.

• The argument is appropriately complex, based in a claim that emerges from and explores a line of inquiry in multiple ways.
• The stakes of the argument, why what is being argued matters, are articulated and persuasive.
• The argument involves analysis, which is the close scrutiny and examination of evidence and assumptions in support of a larger set of ideas.
• The argument is persuasive, taking into consideration counterclaims and multiple points of view as it generates its own perspective and position.
• The argument utilizes a clear organizational strategy and effective transitions that develop its line of inquiry.

2. To read, analyze, and synthesize complex texts purposefully in order to generate and support writing.

• The writing demonstrates an understanding of the readings as necessary for the purpose at hand.
• Readings are used in strategic, focused ways (for example: summarized, cited, applied, challenged, re-contextualized) to support the goals of the writing.
• The writing is intertextual, meaning that a “conversation” between texts and ideas is created in support of the writer’s goals.
• The writing demonstrates responsible use of the MLA system of documenting sources.

3. To demonstrate an awareness of the strategies that writers use in different rhetorical situations.

• The writing employs style, tone, and conventions appropriate to the demands of a particular, genre, rhetorical situation or discipline.
• The writing has a clear understanding of its audience, and various aspects of the writing (mode of inquiry, content, structure, appeals, tone, sentences, and word choice) address and are strategically pitched to that audience.

4. To develop flexible strategies for revising, editing, and proofreading writing.

• The writing demonstrates substantial and successful revision.
• The writing responds to substantive issues raised by the instructor and peers.
• Errors of grammar, punctuation, and mechanics are proofread and edited so as not to interfere with reading and understanding the writing.

o        Office Hours – My official office hours will be from 3:30-5:30 on Tuesdays; however, I am available for meetings by appointment. Please come by to visit and talk about class material, writing, pop culture, poetry, or etc. Note: if you would like to discuss a draft, please come with specific questions.

o        Email – Because of instantaneous, invasive, and informal nature of email, I prefer not to do any business in this medium. Often, emails ask questions too large for adequate reply in an email or too minor or easily found to warrant a reply. On the other hand, in some situations email is all but necessary. That said, please use your best judgment when deciding to email. I would like to state in advance that I will not respond to drafts via email, discuss comments or grades, or address any issues I feel more appropriately dealt with in another venue. In addition, allow me to apologize in advance for the brevity of my replies.

o        Phone – The phone number for my office is 616-1489. Call whenever you like, though I cannot guarantee I will be there outside of office hours.

o        Website – The course website contains a great deal of information about the course. I will do my best to keep the schedule, lesson plans, and hand-outs up to date.  Please go and flip through the pages, for the information there should be quite helpful.  

Please, a note… While I am your instructor and I do want to help you all to become the best writers you can in the next 10 weeks, please be aware that I am student as well. This means that I must reserve time for my own course work and research. In addition, according to the union contract, I am not allowed to work more than 220 hours in a quarter. Thus,  I will not be constantly available for consultation. I cannot edit your drafts whenever and wherever you find me. Office hours are scheduled time for me to be at your disposal. Take advantage. Outside of office hours and scheduled appointments, I will be quite busy with my own school work. Part of the goals for this course include the ability to learn independently. Be resourceful. Many organizations on campus, such as CLUE and the Expository Writing Center will help you with your writing. That said, please use your best judgment when you contact me outside of class or office hours. Thank you. 

If you have any concerns about the course or your instructor, please see the instructor about these concerns as soon as possible. If you are not comfortable talking with the instructor or not satisfied with the response that you receive, you may contact the following Expository Writing staff in Padelford, Room A-11:

Anis Bawarshi, Director - 543-2190 - bawarshi@u.washington.edu
Lisa Thornhill, Asst. Director - 543-9126 - thornhil@u.washington.edu
Spencer Schaffner, Asst. Director - 543-9126 - spiegel@u.washington.edu
Melanie Kill, Asst. Director - 543-9126 - mkkill@u.washington.edu