WRA 110 Writing: Science and Technology Tuesday and Thursday: 5:00-6:50 216 Berkey Hall Michigan State

e University Fall 2011

Instructor: Office: Phone: Email: Office Hours: Course Description:
As part of the general education requirement, First-Year Writing contributes to the Michigan State University mission by focusing on inquiry-based teaching and learning that encourages students to begin to understand themselves as: contributing members of MSUs community of scholars committed to asking important questions and to seeking rich responses to those questions developing skills, knowledge, and attitudes that improve the quality of life for self and others through scholarly, social, and professional activities.

Dr. Christie L. Daniels 251 Bessey Hall 355-2400 (messages only) cdaniels@msu.edu Wednesday 1:00 5:00 P.M. and additionally by appointment.

In pursuit of these goals, Tier I Writing and Preparation for College Writing courses engage students in writing and reflection activities that make overt the ways that invention, arrangement, revision, style and delivery literacy activities: can be engaged across inquiry situations (scholarly, social, and professional) require the development of knowledge about the importance of contextual factors that affect the application of these methods of inquiry

Our shared learning outcomes support inquiry-based learning that transfers across writing situations in relation to three major issues: writing, reading, and researching.

Our Course Section:

Our section of WRA 110 will focus on the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that successfully enhance writing, reading, and researching in higher education in America. Some course materials have been pre-selected to support this goal and focus us on the shared learning outcomes for the Firs-Year Writing Program at MSU. Specifically, we will be looking at issues and concepts dealing with digital technology, social media, and visual rhetoric to think about what we know about literacy, how we know what we know, and how we can engage and enhance our literacies through deep explorations of what things mean. I look forward to working with you this semester. We all have some shared and some different literacy experiences, strengths and weaknesses; please remember to be respectful of the other members of this class as we support one another this semester. Specific learning objectives for each assignment appear on individual assignments sheet.

Required Texts:

Aaron, Jane. The Little, Brown Compact Handbook. (MSU customized version) Boston: Pearson. 2010. Ballenger, Bruce. The Curious Researcher: A Guide to Writing Research Papers. 7 ed. Boston: Pearson. 2011.
th

Craig, Collin, Nancy DeJoy, Steven Lessner and Bonnie Williams. Reading and Writing Literacies. Boston: Pearson. 2011.

Hocks, Mary and Michelle Kendrick (eds.) Eloquent Images: Word and Image in the Age of New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003.
Please note: The Ballenger text is a new edition that includes the 2009 MLA updates. This is the version I have ordered for class. If you choose to get an older version, you will need to be responsible for using the latest versions of MLA style when you use sources. Also, be aware that if you get the older versions of these books the bookstores will not buy them back at the end of the semester.

Policies and Procedures: Attendance:

All courses in the Tier I Writing Program are interactive and require high levels of student participation. Attendance at all class sessions is expected. You may miss one week of class (i.e. two classes) without affecting your grade. You should reserve these absences to address the observance of religious holidays not acknowledged by the University calendar, family events, serious illness, etc. If you miss more than one week of class, your final grade for the course will be lowered .3 for each additional individual absence. Coming to class late (more than 5 minutes after we begin) 3 times will equal one absence. Sleeping in class or engaging in activities not related to class will also be counted as absences.

Late Assignments:
Late assignments will be lowered one full letter grade for each day past the due date (the first reduction occurs at the start of the class in which the assignment is due).

Completion of Assignments:
The First-Year Writing Program requires that students produce a significant amount of writing to fulfill their requirement. You must complete all major assignments to fulfill this requirement and receive a passing grade in First-Year Writing courses.

Academic Honesty
Michigan State University has adopted the following statement about academic policy: GENERAL STUDENT REGULATIONS 1.00 PROTECTION OF SCHOLARSHIP AND GRADES The principles of truth and honesty are fundamental to the educational process and the academic integrity of the University; therefore, no student shall: 1.01 claim or submit the academic work of another as ones own. 1.02 procure, provide, accept or use any materials containing questions or answers to any examination or assignment without proper authorization. 1.03 complete or attempt to complete any assignment or examination for another individual without proper authorization. 1.04 allow any examination or assignment to be completed for oneself, in part or in total, by another without proper authorization. 1.05 alter, tamper with, appropriate, destroy or otherwise interfere with the research, resources, or other academic work of another person. 1.06 fabricate or falsify data or results.

Procedures for responding to cases of academic honesty and possible repercussions are outlined in Spartan Life: Student Handbook and Resource Guide. They can also be found on the web at: http://www.msu.edu/unit/ombud/honestylinks.html. Note: the new procedures require that instances of academic dishonesty be reported through the registrars office and forwarded to the Dean of the College in which the students major resides.

Major Assignments:
There are five major projects in this course: three essays and two multimedia projects. The schedule at the end of this syllabus outlines the due dates for these major projects. Grade distribution occurs as follows: Lived Literacies Paper: Cultural Literacy Paper: Disciplinary Literacy Paper: Multimedia Remix Project: Revising Literacies Assignment: Reading Responses Peer critique responses, participation and informal writing assignments: 10% 15% 20% 20% 25% 5% 5%

Grading Scale:
90% - 100% 85% - 89.9% 80% - 84.9% 75% - 79.9% 70% - 74.9% 65% - 69.9% 60% - 64.9% 59.9% and below = 4.0 = 3.5 = 3.0 = 2.5 = 2.0 = 1.5 = 1.0 = 0.0

University Resources for Writers:

The Writing Center, the Library, The Learning Resource Center, and the English Language Center all offer support services for First-Year Writing students. You should consult these centers web sites for information about their specific resources.

Course Schedule
RWL=Reading and Writing Literacies, EI=Eloquent Images, CR=Curious Researcher

Week
1 2

Date

Assignments/Activities

Thurs Introduction to course, RAIDS, and Lived Literacies assignment 9/1 Tues Continue work with Lived Literacies assignment 9/6 Reading assignment due: Mother Tongue (RWL 26-32), Introduction (EI 118)

Thurs Continue work with Lived Literacies assignment 9/8 Reading assignment due: From Silence to Words: Writing as Struggle
(RWL 41-55) Rough Draft of Lived Literacies assignment due at midnight.

Tues Continue work with Lived Literacies assignment 9/13 Reading assignment due: I Dont Wanna Be Average (RWL ONLINE),
Critical Theory and the Challenge of New Media (EI 19-36)

Thurs Finish Lived Literacies assignment, Introduce Cultural Literacies assignment 9/15 Reading assignment due: Seriously Visible (EI 37-60).
Lived Literacies assignment due Monday, September 19 at midnight
th

Tues Continue work with Cultural Literacies assignment 9/20 Reading assignment due: A Generations Vanity, Heard through Lyrics (RWL
ONLINE), Feminist Cyborgs Live on the World Wide Web: International and Not So International Contexts (EI 219-236).

Thurs Continue work with Cultural Literacies assignment 9/22 Reading assignment due: Children, Wired: For Better and For Worse (RWL
113-138), Unheimlich Maneuver: Self-Image and Identificatory Practice In Virtual Reality Environments (237-256).

Tues Continue work with Cultural Literacies assignment 9/27 Reading assignment due: Fighting for Our Lives (RWL 139-160), Eloquent
Interfaces: Humanities-Based Analysis in the Age of Hypermedia (EI 257282).

Thurs Continue work with Cultural Literacies assignment, Introduce Disciplinary 9/29 Literacies assignment
Reading assignment due: Introduction (CR), Writing a Story in Virtual Reality (EI 283-304). Rough draft of Cultural Literacies assignment due at midnight

Tues Continue work with Cultural Literacies assignment 10/4 Reading Assignment: CR (Ch. 1-2)
INDIVIDUAL CONFERENCES WITH INSTRUCTOR

Thurs Finish Cultural Literacies assignment, 10/6 INDIVIDUAL CONFERENCES WITH INSTRUCTOR

Cultural Literacies assignment due Monday, October 10 at midnight

th

Tues Continue work with Disciplinary Literacies assignment 10/11 Reading assignment due: Three Meanings of Epistemic Rhetoric. (ONLINE) Thurs Continue work with Disciplinary Literacies assignment 10/13 Reading assignment due: Inquiry Paradigms and Writing, (ONLINE)

Tues Continue work with Disciplinary Literacies assignment 10/18 Reading assignment due: Learning to Read Biology: One Students Rhetorical
Development in College (RWL ONLINE), The Dialogics of New Media: Video, Visualization, and Narrative in Red Planet: Scientific and Cultural Encounter with Mars (EI 61-88).

Thurs Continue work with Disciplinary Literacies assignment 10/20 Reading assignment due: The Truth Wears Off: Is Something Wrong with
the Scientific Method? (RWL 216-227), Rough Draft of Disciplinary Literacies assignment due at midnight

Tues Continue work with Disciplinary Literacies assignment 10/25 Reading assignment due: CR (Ch. 3), Recovering the Multimedia History of
Writing in the Public Texts of Ancient Egypt (EI 89-116).

Thurs Continue work with Disciplinary Literacies assignment 10/27 Reading assignment due: CR (Ch. 4), Digital Images and Classical
Persuasion (EI 117-136).

10

Tues Continue work with Disciplinary Literacies assignment 11/1 Reading assignment due: CR (Ch. 5), The Nature of Reading and Writing at
Work (RWL ONLINE)

Thurs Finish Disciplinary Literacies assignment; Introduce Multimedia Remix 11/3 Assignment
th

Reading assignment due: Winning Hearts and Minds in War on Plagiarism (RWL194-201) Disciplinary Literacies assignment due Monday, November 7 at midnight

11

Tues Continue work with Multimedia Remix assignment 11/8 Reading assignment due: I Think, Therefore IM (RWL 237-241), The Word
as Image in an Age of Digital Reproduction (EI 137-158).

Thurs Continue work with Multimedia Remix assignment 11/10 Reading assignment due: Same Difference: Evolving Conclusions about
Textuality and New Media (EI 158-178). Formal Proposal for Remix Project due at midnight

12

Tues Continue work with Multimedia Remix assignment 11/15 Reading assignment due: For Some, the Blogging Never Stops (RWL 232236), Illustrations, Images, and Anti-Illustrations (EI 179-200)

Thurs Continue work with Multimedia Remix assignment 11/17 Reading assignment due: Finding Ones Own Space in Cyberspace (RWL
242-252), Cognitive and Educational Implications of Visually Rich Media: Images and Imagination (EI 201-218).

13

Tues Continue work with Multimedia Remix assignment 11/22 Reading assignment due: Teaching Visual Literacy in a Multimodal Age
(RWL ONLINE).

Thurs THANKSGIVING!!!! YAY! 11/24 Multimedia Remix project due on Monday, November 28 at midnight
th

14

Tues Introduce Revising Literacies Project 11/29 Reading assignment due: Reflection on My EFL Experiences (RWL 278280), Literacy in Three Metaphors (RWL ONLINE).

Thurs Continue work with Revising Literacies assignment 12/1 Reading assignment due: Stories, Not Information: Transforming Information
Literacy (RWL ONLINE)

15

Tues Continue work with Revising Literacies assignment 12/6 Reading assignment due: Writing Is my Passion (RWL 258-261) Thurs Finish Revising Literacies assignment 12/8 Reading assignment due: Being an Ally (RWL ONLINE).

16

FINALS Revising Literacies project is due at the day and time of the final exam
th

period for this course as determined by the University Registrars Official Final Exam Schedule. This classs final exam is: Wednesday, December 14 from 5:45-7:45 P.M.