ENGL 1102 -- 006 Writing and Inquiry in Academic Contexts II Spring 2013 Instructor: Carrie Sippy Office: Cameron

145A Office Phone: 704-687-1930 Office Hours: Monday-Wednesday 12pm or by appointment Course Description In English 1102, students develop an extended inquiry project that integrates materials from varied sources and includes writing in multiple genres. Students write, revise, edit and reflect on their writing with the support of teachers and peers. Students also immerse themselves in a conversation about a topic through reading, questioning, and process writing. Polished writing might assume the forms of presentations, reviews of research, essayistic arguments, or multimedia and web-based projects. Students learn to distinguish rhetorical contexts, practice different conventions, and develop positions in relation to research. They also adopt digital technologies to network, compose, and/or critique and disseminate their work. Grades are derived primarily from portfolios that include work generated through the term. (UNC Charlotte 2011-2012 Undergraduate Catalog). So what does all that mean for us? This semester we will be focusing on your work as writer, reader, and researcher. The theme of our class will be education or school. Beginning with class readings on the topic, we will begin to question ideas of schooling and representations of it in pop culture. Over the course of the semester, you will develop research questions that relates to the topic of education or school in some way. Your work on this project will include primary and secondary research. Through a progression of assignments, you will ultimately develop a paper for an academic audience that contextualizes, explains, and explores the topic of your choosing. E-mail: csippy@uncc.edu Class: MW 9:30am-10:45am Cameron Applied Research Center 157

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Required Texts and Materials: We will not be relying on a primary text for this course. However, we will be using a number of articles from various writers (linked as PDFs on the class site) as well as media derived from the web, from fellow student writers, and from class discussion. You will be expected to bring these texts to class on the days they are due; you may either print them or bring them pre-loaded on an electronic device. All of the readings will be accessible from our class site; you are expected to have daily access to our class site for both reading and class assignments. We will be using a Daybook or writing notebook as part of our daily classwork. This notebook must be a bound composition book, NOT a spiral bound notebook. You will be expected to bring the Daybook and a writing utensil with you to every classa laptop or tablet will not work as a substitute unless you have permission from the Disabilities Resource Center. All of our information will be uploaded to our class website. You can find the link to this page by looking at the class site on Moodle. Grading Scheme e-Portfolio Class Blog Annotated Bib Academic Conversation Project Inquiry Project 50% 10% 10% 10% 10% Grading Scale 90 - 99 = A 80 - 89 = B 70 79 = C 60 69 = D 59 or below = F

Informal Writing & Everything Else 10% E- Portfolio: Your portfolio will be maintained on Yola over the course of the semester. We will begin working on this portfolio at the beginning of the semester. At the end of this semester, you will submit the portfolio containing your inquiry, writing, thinking, and development for this semester. The portfolio is not merely a collection of your work; it is a demonstration of your learning in this class and your understanding of yourselves as writers and learners. It will contain samples of your in-class writing, drafts and polished versions of the three major assignments, and reflection on your work over the course of the semester. More details will be given at a later point in the semester. This portfolio will organize and store all of your drafts and work throughout the semester, but it will also provide you an opportunity to reflect on your work and your process as a researcher. Each time you write a draft for class, whether you bring it to class for your writing group to critique or post it to Moodle for my critique, you should post that draft to your eportfolio to document your process. Further information will be given about the portfolio throughout the semester. Blogs: Each week you will be required to post a blog of at least 300 words on your portfolio site. You will also be required to respond each others blogs as assigned on a weekly basis. Further instructions will be available on our class website. I will randomly read and respond to these blogs frequently throughout the semester.

Since you dont know when your blog will be up for review, you must always be consistent in posting and responding. You will be graded on these informal writings and homework assignments on a three-tiered quality scale (Awesome = 100; Meh= 60; Not so Much = 0). If you complete the assignment as requested and demonstrate both careful thinking and careful writing, then you will receive the highest credit (Awesome). If you complete the assignment half-heartedly or without merit, then you will receive partial credit on the second tier (Meh). If you fail to turn in the assignment or completely miss the mark, then you will receive no credit for the assignment (Not So Much). A portion of your final portfolio will consist of reflecting on your informal and weekly writings; therefore, consistent and engaged posts are necessary for success in this course. Daybook: You will be required to keep a writers notebook, or Daybook, in this class. Your Daybook is a place for you to capture your thoughts in writing. I will provide handbooks throughout the semester that you will include in your Daybook. I expect you to think, inquire, reflect, create, respond, and participate in your Daybook. If it will help you in class, it belongs in your Daybook. If its a handout that I give you in class, it belongs in your Daybook. If you think theres a chance that you might use something, put it in your Daybook. You should write in your Daybook daily. Entries from your Daybook will be included in your final portfolio to highlight your learning over the course of the semester. Workshops: Throughout the semester, you will bring in drafts of your work for feedback from your peers. Workshops are a vital part of our learning experience. Each student will be expected to show up, bring copies of his paper to the workshop, participate, and engage in a helpful conversation with his or her peers about writing. We will discuss this extensively in class, but feedback should be specific, engaged, and constructive. Your grades for workshops will be reflected in the Informal Writing & Everything Else grade. Informal Writings/Everything Else: In addition to the major assignments and the drafts for them, you will be given smaller assignments over the course of the semester as well. These writings will be assessed using the same scale as your blog posts (Awesome = 100; Meh= 60; Not so Much = 0). Sequence of Assignments All of the assignments are built to develop from your extended inquiry project. We will do some exploratory writing at the beginning of the semester to help you begin to question ideas related to our theme of education or school. Within the theme, there is certainly room for you to find a topic that interests you. After we have done class readings, you will write a research proposal on your blog, which we will discuss in conferences. After developing research questions, you will produce an annotated bibliography with secondary research you have done. The next paper will be the Academic Conversation Project, which will allow you to explore the way different sources work with and against each other around your topic and where your research fits in. Finally, you will create an inquiry project that will present your questions and discoveries to your classmates in an

academic setting. All of this process work will be a part of your portfolio, which will allow you to reflect on your inquiry process and writings from the semester. Class Policies and Procedure: 1. Per the First-Year Writing departmental policy, you are allowed three unexcused absences with no penalty. For each absence after these three, your final course grade will drop by one letter grade. If you miss any more than six classes, you will fail the course. Please note that I do not excuse absences; this is handled by the Deans office, and their policies are quite rigorous. If you miss class for any reason, you are responsible for any missed announcements and assignments. 2. If you miss more than fifteen minutes of class (by either coming in late or leaving early), you are counted as absent. 3. If you miss less than fifteen minutes of class, you are counted as tardy. Three tardies will equal one absence. 4. You will be expected to back up all of your own writing with a different file for each stage of drafting. Each draft of your paper MUST be saved as a new document that is clearly labeled (Draft 1, Draft 2, etc). These drafts will be included in your final portfolio. Do NOT simply save your changes over an old draft. This will be important to help you walk through your process in your final portfolio. If you need help knowing how to do this, please contact me, and I will be happy to show you how. 5. You will be creating a portfolio for this class using the website www.yola.com, so keeping materials organized is necessary. Although we will be creating e-portfolios, you should keep your drafts as well as class work organized in a way that will make later access understandable. Your portfolio will not be merely an archive of your classwork, but rather an analysis of what you have learned about yourself as a writer and writing in general. 6. Discussion of grades may only take place in person. I cannot discuss grades via email. 7. Work is due in class or online via Moodle. Assignments should not be emailed to me and will not be accepted for credit, unless you have spoken with me and I have agreed to the email in advance of the submission. 8. Unless you talk to me before the due date, I will only accept late work under extremely extenuating circumstances. I also reserve the right to deduct points for late work. 9. Professional behavior in class is required. This includes language use, treatment of fellow human beings, and class preparation. Behaviors like talking while others are talking and sleeping in class are not acceptable. Patterns of inappropriate behavior may affect your participation grade, and continued behaviors that impact the class as a whole will be referred to the Deans office.

10. Be thoughtful and judicious in your use of technology during class. You may use laptops, tablets, and even phones as needed for classwork, but volume should be set to silent and use of these technologies should not interfere with your participation in discussions and activities. A pattern of inappropriate technology use may affect your participation grade. 11. By staying in this class, you are agreeing to abide by the policies set forth in this syllabus. Disabilities Statement: Students who have a disability or condition which may impair their ability to complete assignments or otherwise satisfy course criteria should meet with me to identify, discuss and document any feasible instructional modifications or accommodations. If you do need special considerations, inform me as soon as possible after a disability or condition is diagnosed, whichever occurs earliest. For information and auxiliary assistance, contact the Disabilities Resource Center. Plagiarism: All of the university policies concerning plagiarism apply. If you do plagiarize work, you will be reported to student affairs. Please see me whenever you have any questions. Academic Integrity Statement The Code of Student Academic Integrity governs the responsibility of students to maintain integrity in academic work, defines violations of the standards, describes procedures for handling alleged violations of the standards, and lists applicable penalties. The following conduct is prohibited in that Code as violating those standards: A. Cheating. Intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, notes, study aids or other devices in any academic exercise. This definition includes unauthorized communication of information during an academic exercise. B. Fabrication and Falsification. Intentional and unauthorized alteration or invention of any information or citation in an academic exercise. Falsification is a matter of altering information, while fabrication is a matter of inventing or counterfeiting information for use in any academic exercise. C. Multiple Submission. The submission of substantial portions of the same academic work (including oral reports) for credit more than once without authorization. D. Plagiarism. Intentionally or knowingly presenting the work of another as one's own (i.e., without proper acknowledgment of the source). The sole exception to the requirement of acknowledging sources is when the ideas, information, etc., are common knowledge. (NOTE: For more information regarding plagiarism, see PLAGIARISM Appendix at http://legal.uncc.edu/policies/ps-105.html#APP.) E. Abuse of Academic Materials. Intentionally or knowingly destroying, stealing, or making inaccessible library or other academic resource material.

F. Complicity in Academic Dishonesty. Intentionally or knowingly helping or attempting to help another to commit an act of academic dishonesty. Religious Observance Policy (for details please see University Policy Statement # 134): UNC Charlotte provides reasonable accommodations, including a minimum of two excused absences each academic year, for religious observances required by a students religious practice or belief. Such reasonable accommodations must be requested in advance in accordance with the procedures in this Policy, and include the opportunity for the student to make up any tests or other work missed due to an excused absence for a religious observance. If you will be absent for a religious observance, you are required to file a Request for Religious Observance form, and notify me at least a week before the absence. Writing Resources Center The UNCC Writing Resources Center is a great place to continue developing your writing. Writing consultants can help you with all stages of the writing processfrom developing ideas to revision strategies. You will be provided with more information about the WRC in class, but you can check out this website for more information: http://wrc.uncc.edu/ .