Division of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Department of English, Foreign Languages, and Journalism

Section 05:11:00-11:50 MWF, JGM 220

Writer’s Workshop: 1:00-1:50 MW, SSC 222U and V

Teacher: Tom Pankiewicz

Office: SSC 222R

Phone: 271-4156

Office Hours: 10:00-11:00 and 12:00-1:00 MWF and by appointment

This class has a very strict attendance policy in Writer’s Workshops as well as in class. If you miss seven class periods or three Writer’s Workshops, you will receive an F in the class. Ordinarily, there are no exceptions and no "makeups" for this attendance requirement. If you know of any circumstances likely to make this policy difficult for you this semester, you should consult with your advisor and your teacher to review your options.

If you miss a class session, you are responsible for all material covered and assignments given during your absence. All out-of-class assignments are due at the beginning of the class period. No late assignments will be accepted unless you have received my prior permission.

Dietsch, Betty. Reasoning and Writing Well. 2^nd edition. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield, 2000.

English 100 Writer’s Workshops. Fall 2001 ed.

3-1/2" floppy disks and a disk storage box

Photocopies for group work as requested

Reading Goals:

At the completion of ENG 100 students should be able to

• Read actively for greater understanding;

• Use reading to improve their writing by drawing ideas and information from written material;

• Use texts to understand their own and others’ experiences;
• Read writing assignments effectively as a guide to creating better papers;

• Recognize good writing by actively reading good prose.

Writing Goals:

At the completion of ENG 100 students should be able to

• Move easily from writing for self-expression to writing for readers;

• Write at greater length more easily, more quickly, and more usefully;

• Structure their writing to fit the assignment, purpose, and audience;

• Develop their ideas and concepts with specific details, examples, and explanations;
• Craft more effective and polished sentences and paragraphs;

• Use effective planning, invention, revision, and editing to complete successful writing tasks.

In ENG 100 students should improve their ability to

• Think critically and reason analytically;
• Write and speak clearly and effectively;
• Gain a greater awareness of the present through an understanding of other cultures and times;
• Understand and appreciate moral values and ethical choices;
• Understand and enjoy aesthetic experiences and share in related creative activities.

Missouri Western requires all students to help us maintain good conditions for teaching and learning. All students will treat their classmates, teachers, and student assistants with civility and respect, both inside and outside the classroom. Students who violate this policy may, among other penalties, be counted absent and asked to leave. You should review your Missouri Western student handbook for further information.

Your grade will be determined on the basis of your progress as a writer, the writings you submit, and your class participation over the course of the semester. The components of your grade in the course are:

Writing. You will complete four major writing tasks. A student who does not turn in complete responses to all four tasks will not pass the course even if the grades achieved in the other writing tasks are satisfactory.

Progress as a writer. Your progress as a writer will be assessed through an end-of-semester portfolio in which you must put revised responses to writing tasks.

Writer’s Workshop. Throughout the course of the semester, you will attend the once-a-week, small group Writer’s Workshops (listed as "labs" in the class schedule). Some of your Writer’s Workshop materials may be used in class, and some of your class papers will be critiqued and proofread in Writer’s Workshops. You must ensure that you have the right materials in the right place. I consider your Writer's Workshop participation as part of your final grade.

Task Papers. Each task paper will be evaluated according to the criteria discussed in its assignment description. Each task will be submitted in a folder, containing the draft for evaluation, a reflective letter critiquing your process and raising questions about your work, all previous drafts, preliminary writing, and all peer responses. Each task will account for approximately 15% of the final grade. Combined, the tasks account for 60% of your grade.

Tentative Due Dates for Formal Writing Assignments:

Task One: Monday, February 4

Task Two: Wednesday, February 27

Task Three: Friday, March 29

Task Four: Friday, April 19

Portfolio: Monday, April 29

Late Task Papers: I expect you to complete all essays on time. Late essays (this is any work that is not submitted on time and includes essays left at home or "temporarily lost" by a computer malfunction) will result in a deduction of that assignment’s grade. If you are facing difficulties in completing a major assignment, please discuss the problems with me before the essay is due.

Unacceptable Task Papers: Since writing is a process, every paper may not meet all of the requirements by the deadline. It is still in the process of being developed. Rather than assigning a low grade to such essays, I will mark it as unacceptable and ask you to continue working on it. I hope that you recognize the benefits of this policy. It encourages you to learn about the particular assignment. It encourages you to submit only your best work. Finally, since you need a final grade of C or better to move on to English 104, papers receiving a grade below a C will not help you succeed.

If an essay is returned as unacceptable, no grade will be recorded. It becomes your responsibility to schedule a conference to discuss the essay, plan a revision strategy, and set a new completion deadline within one week of the essay's return. If an essay remains unacceptable, it will receive an F. Please note that a revision of an unacceptable essay does not guarantee an acceptable grade.

Manuscript Form: Essays must be word-processed and spell-checked. Page length will be measured as if you had used a double-spaced Times New Roman 12-point font, without excessive boldface or extra spacing, with 1" margins top and bottom and 1.25" margins on the sides. These are very common default settings for most word-processing programs. You may use other fonts, spacing, and margins, but doing so may vary what I regard as a full page.

The essay should follow standard manuscript form with your name, your professor's name, the course name, and the date of the current draft placed in the upper left-hand corner of page one. Double spaced below this information is the centered title of the essay. Double spaced below the title begins the text of the essay. Each page of the essay is numbered. The draft of the essay is paper clipped.

Process Folder: Each essay will be submitted in a process folder. The folder will include: The final draft of the essay, a reflection letter/essay written in class on the due date, prior drafts of the essay, dated and with personal, peer, and teacher responses attached, preliminary writing, and in-class writing, quizzes and written activities. No essay can be accepted without the process folder materials. Task with incomplete or missing process folder contents will receive no grade higher than a C.

Grading Scale: All work will be evaluated on a point basis. Letter grades will be awarded according to the following averages:

• 100% - 90% = A
• 89% - 80% = B
• 79% - 70% = C
• 69% - 60% = D
• Below 60% = F

What I owe you in evaluating your work:

• My time. I will return your work with my comments in a timely fashion.
• My attention. I will listen for your voice and study your ideas.
• My voice. I will raise questions, share reactions, and offer suggestions.
• My honesty. I will try to be clear and open about my evaluation. You need to know when your work is strong and progressing and when it is not. When you do not understand my comments (and that will occur), you must ask me to explain.
• Hope. Unfortunately, evaluation sometimes discourages more than motivates. With an open office door, conferences, an unacceptable work policy, and a course portfolio, I try to provide opportunities for improvement.

Participation. You will receive a grade for participation. This will include quizzes, homework, and active participation in such class activities as discussions and response groups. I will also review your Writer's Workshop materials at the end of the semester to figure your final participation grade. The participation grade will account for approximately 15% of the final grade.

Course Portfolio. The final portfolio will be include at least two task papers revised to their best form, the complete set of process materials for these papers, other materials that will show your writing ability, and a reflective essay. The portfolio will account for 15% of the final grade.

Final Exam. The final exam will be several in-class writings including an essay. You will prepare for the exam by reading several selections on the same theme. The final exam will be worth 10% of your final grade.

Conferences. I believe that the most effective teaching occurs through conferences over specific essays. My office hours are listed above. I bring a calendar to every class to schedule appointments. I encourage you to make use of this opportunity.

Center for Academic Support. In addition to conferences with me, you may find help with your writing at the Center for Academic Support. The CAS, which is located at the northeast corner of the library building, provides trained tutors for students requiring additional reading and writing instruction. There is no cost to students for using these services. I encourage you to make use of these services throughout this course.

Any student in this course who has a disability that prevents the fullest expressions of abilities should contact Missouri Western's special needs coordinator, Lois Fox, for possible certification of special needs and expert recommendations for assistance. You should also contact your teacher personally as soon as possible so that the two of you can discuss class requirements.

Plagiarism is an act of theft. It is taking another’s words or ideas and calling them your own. That does not mean you cannot use another’s words or ideas to illustrate and to support your thoughts, but it does mean that you must give credit to the one whose words and ideas you are using.

If I find evidence of cheating or plagiarism, you have the burden of showing that the paper has in fact been written by you. You should keep thorough evidence of your writing processes for all papers so that you can meet this burden of proof. You will receive a grade of F for any paper that shows sufficient evidence of cheating and/or plagiarism. Stronger evidence proving flagrant cheating and/or plagiarism may lead to even stronger penalties. Please note carefully the statement on plagiarism on the departmental website, found at http://www2.mwsc.edu/eflj/plagiarism.html .

(What I believe about teaching writing and how I will apply these beliefs.)

Students will…

• do some private writing for themselves;
• make journal entries to explore their thoughts and to enrich their personal lives;

• write essays to communicate ideas and impose order on their thoughts and experiences;

• structure their writing to fit the assignment, purpose, and audience.

Students will…

• identify the main concepts and locate supporting details in written works;

• read actively for greater understanding;

• use reading to improve their writing by drawing ideas and information from written material;

• use texts to understand their own and others’ experiences;

• recognize good writing by actively reading good prose;

• develop their ideas and concepts with specific details, examples, and explanations.

Students will…

• practice various invention techniques;
• use prewriting to recreate and reflect on their experiences;

• use prewriting to generate information and discover ideas;
• move easily from writing for self-expression to writing for readers;

• write at greater length more easily, more quickly, and more usefully;
• reread early drafts to rethink what they want to write;
• revise for clearer presentation of their ideas;
• identify and correct their own spelling, grammatical, and mechanical errors, especially in the final stage of the writing process.

Students will…

• use thesis statements, topic sentences, and transitions;
• use common ordering and organizational ideas like narration, classification, and causal analysis;
• identify the main qualities of effective sentences;
• practice active sentence style and rich, efficient modification;

• practice systematic approaches to editing sentences; craft more effective and polished sentences and paragraphs.