| English 200w: Writing about Writing Spring 2023 Mondays 6:40-9:30 pm Keily Hall 325 |
Course Description
Is writing ever easy? Rather than assume that some people are born writers and others are not, we will try to answer this question by reading, writing, and thinking about the practice of writing. Using several different approaches (academic, creative, and professional), we will explore how we write. We’ll read about writing, think about writing, and think about its impact and social contexts through topics such as mass writing through technology (e.g. Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook), literacy, and controversies over English-only language policies. We will also study theories about composing to illuminate writerly issues like revision and writer’s block. This class will help you practice argumentative, persuasive, and narrative essays, but we will also consider other genres and modes of delivery. The class is designed to support your essay writing habits such that you will be comfortable engaging in forms of public writing. Prerequisite: English 110
Course Goals/Objectives
- Increase writing fluency and comfort with regular writing
- Develop mindfulness about writing habits and processes
- Consider distinctions among writing goals and rhetorical situations (academic, creative, professional)
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this course, you will:
- Practice writing strategies in a number of rhetorical situations (academic creative, professional)
- Practice multiple genres and modalities in a number of rhetorical situations (academic, creative, professional)
- Use rhetorical terminology to describe writing
- Understand the varieties of the forms of the essay
This class is a W course, which means it fulfills one of the two writing-intensive classes you must take in order to graduate: http://gened.qc.cuny.edu/pathways/
Class architecture:
- All texts will be made available through the course CUNY Commons site.
- Course material will be hosted by the CUNY Commons site.
- Assignments are handed in via Blackboard. Writing will be shared via the course Dropbox folder. You will give an email address that can be used to share the folder and other class materials, when necessary, on the sign-up sheet in the first week of class.
- Students will engage in weekly informal writing assignments and readings and write three “occasional” papers. There is one introductory formal assignment and two formal assignments that will be the culmination of two main units.
- Students will sign up for small group meetings that will meet on Monday or Wednesday during the scheduled class time (5:00-6:15 pm). We will meet occasionally as a whole class if the group or I think it’s necessary.
- Note: we will work collaboratively to make sure that this format is working for people. I will do regular check-ins to see how you’re doing with these regular class tasks.
How to access the course
https://eng200w.commons.gc.cuny.edu this link will be important if we have to work remotely at some point
Students are automatically signed up for the Blackboard site.
A note on learning (in unprecedented times)
We are in the midst of a global pandemic. People are still suffering from this public health crisis, often with minimal support and resources. Along with the uprising around police brutality and economic impact of the shutdowns from COVID-19, it has been a long and stressful summer. Many of us start this semester worried and frustrated, as opposed to refreshed and rested.
We are fortunate to be able to meet as a class to resume learning. As your teacher, I’m committed to being as flexible as possible to support all students in our class as we navigate life and learning amid a pandemic. I want to establish some guiding principles as we move forward together with the semester:
- We are all people and I hope we can practice empathy and be cognizant that our own day-to-day realities might be different from one another. We are going to prioritize our humanity, physical and mental health, and well-being while also trying to create a worthy learning environment.
- Even when we are physically and socially distancing from one another to help stop the spread of the virus, we can remain connected through various communication platforms in this class. This class will be a community to support intellectual nourishment and social connection. Always reach out if you need anything necessary to support your learning and well-being.
- We are going to celebrate accomplishments. Any achievements, major or minor, during this time is testament to your dedication. We will enable a culture of celebration in this class, and we can acknowledge our successes (and commiserate about failures) in whichever way you prefer.
- Take care of yourself. Get enough rest, food, exercise, and anything you need to keep yourself in a positive mood and good health. There are campus resources listed in our google classroom if you’re having trouble with any of these things; I’m also happy to serve as a connector if you’re looking for something particular. If you are unable to complete classwork, please let me know so we can work out possible alternatives together.
What you will need:
Materials:
Verlyn Klinkenborg, Several Short Sentences About Writing in paper or audible copy (I highly recommend the audiobook)
A journal to write in (can be on a digital device or on paper)
Students will need to have access to the internet. Ideally, a computer or tablet would work well in order to complete the class requirements but most of the classwork can also be done on a smartphone if necessary.
Required tools and accounts: Students will need an active Queens College email account and to create an account on the CUNY Academic Commons: https://commons.gc.cuny.edu
Students will be posting some weekly writing and all major assignments on a Commons site in the form of a blog/digital portfolio. I recommend setting your site to visible only for Commons users to make space for the multiple versions (drafts) you will be posting.
How you will submit work: I will be using Blackboard to grade student writing and to provide summative feedback to major assignment drafts, but you will post most of these on your Commons site. To submit writing, paste the link to the page or post on your site. If you elect to make your site visible to members only, you must add me as a member for your site using my Grad Center email address: alarsson@gradcenter.cuny.edu. You will also need to invite peers as members when completing peer review activities.
Technical Support
Email Helpdesk@qc.cuny.edu, or call the Student Support Hotline (718-997-3000).
CUNY Commons Help Page: This holds so many great tutorials! https://help.commons.gc.cuny.edu/https:/help.commons.gc.cuny.edu/
What You’ll do in this Class
(i.e., assessment and how you’ll be graded)
The final course grade will be calculated based on the following assignments/activities:
- Introductory Literacy Selfies: A short lyrical essay or story. You’ll give the class some background about yourself and share ““Why I write and how I write”
- Occasional papers: 3 papers written in response to an occasion. Occasional papers don’t require research and won’t necessarily relate to teaching or writing. What you write about is up to you. You’ll write and share with the class three occasional papers—personal essays you write in response to any “occasion” that inspires you this semester. You will be able to share with the class via a video recording or a shared document. Completion of the assignment earns full credit.
- Unit 1 project: You’ll identify a community that you belong to. These communities can be disciplinary, professional, linguistic, cultural, political, etc. Then, you’ll write a 3-page reflective paper that describes your process and your choices for writing the paper—how you came to understand the community and audience, the purpose of the literacy artifact(s) that you either studied or created, their circulation and distribution and how they achieved their goals.
- Unit 2 project: “Research about the Power in Writing” will involve doing additional research from a number of topics that will be introduced in the class over the course of the semester—language standards, literacy, writing and technology, raciolinguistics, and mass writing. For this project, you’ll do research into an aspect of a topic that interests you and contribute to a collaborative annotated bibliography. Then students will construct an argumentative project that communicates your stance and the research you think other people should know. This can take the form of a traditional academic essay, but these projects can also take the form of a video, podcast, website, personal essay, graphic essay, infographic, meme series, or twitter thread (or some combination). In addition to your project, you’ll write a short 1-page reflection on the genre and your argument.
- Weekly writing and participation: The activities in this section are designed to approximate the kinds of things we might do in an in-person class meeting in a classroom. Over the course of the semester, you will need to write in a journal, find and present a piece of community writing, and contribute to our class discussion. Most days, I will give a question or prompt or an exercise to complete. Some days, this will mean writing about an example of writing in the world and sharing it with the class. Other days, these informal writing assignments will include peer response. Additionally, you will use your journal to do pre-writing. You’ll receive full credit if you complete the informal writing. You’ll be asked to share some of this writing.
- Digital Portfolio Commons Site: Part of being a writer means being public, sharing your thoughts and sense of meaning with a larger audience than yourself and your teacher, and for this reason we will be experimenting with establishing a profile, keeping a blog, and building a portfolio of writing online. The Commons space is a very user-friendly space for writing, and because you can keep your writing to only fellow Commons users (or members of the site, though you will need to make me a member) you will be able to experiment in a fairly low-stakes environment. You will be posting informal reflective blog posts for the readings and other weekly writing, your major assignments, reflective writing, and your occasion papers. There is a lot of writing in this class, yes, but it is very doable step-by-step. The Digital Portfolio grade is the easiest to achieve because it is essentially a personalized container for your other writing and a reflective blog post at the end of the semester, posted in the form of an introduction to the site and to all you will have accomplished.
If you complete all assignments listed above, you will earn at least a B- for this class. Students earn lower grades than B- when they do not complete the assignments. Writing takes a lot of practice and each of these assignments are designed to guide you with this practice. I want you to concentrate on doing it, rather than worry about being “good enough.”
FAQ (or Frequently Asked Questions) about Class Policies
What about attendance?
There isn’t a traditional attendance policy in this class, although there are deadlines for the weekly work and there is weekly writing in class and there is a grade for participation. In order to achieve a good grade for participation, you will attend most classes, missing 4-5 total for the semester when necessary, and you will “bring it” to class: having written for your blog and prepared to discuss the reading.
What do I do if I can’t complete my assignments on time?
If you are unable to complete your weekly work or are not able to attend a class meeting, please let me know as soon as possible so we can make arrangements. All weekly work can be done as alternate assignments.
Unit projects are due at the end of the day on the due date. If you anticipate not being able to make that date, please get in contact with me to arrange an alternative due date. Papers not handed in by the due date and time will be considered late. Late drafts will drop 1/3 of a letter grade per calendar day late. This late policy applies to all drafts. Please back up your work and make hard copies for yourself in case anything happens. You must complete all drafts of all assignments in order to pass the class.
Missing a deadline is stressful. Sometimes it’s just a one-off scheduling issue, but sometimes it’s the result of something more persistent—struggling with the material, life circumstances, or mental state. Students in this situation often blame themselves and feel like they could just complete the assignment the next day if they just do what they should, but the next day might not be any easier. If the issue is persistent, the stress snowballs as late penalties accumulate and you start to miss completing assignments. If you are going to miss a deadline:
1. Email me whatever you have before the deadline. If you submit something, no matter how incomplete, two days of penalty will be halved.
2. Stay in contact with me until you finish. We will make a plan to get you back on track.
What’s the purpose of class discussion?
In order to write something, you must develop a point of view. I see the classroom as a space where we can start doing that by exchanging ideas. The respect that we have for each other is extremely important. You can be respectful even when you have a difference of opinion. Treat others as you’d want to be treated yourself. Don’t type in all caps, as that is the online equivalent of shouting. If you need to emphasize a word or phrase, use italics.
This course operates under a spirit of nondiscrimination and equality. Disruptive behavior or offensive language will not be tolerated. Since this is a class about writing and language, we’ll likely be talking about what makes language offensive. This is a collaborative classroom so keep in mind that every person must feel comfortable expressing his or her ideas in class. We need to respond to each other with respect, even if we do not agree. Even though that space is now virtual, the same principles stand.
Teachers always warn us about plagiarism but what is it?
Writing is supposed to be an expression of your views and therefore, you cannot use someone else’s words in your own writing. Plagiarism and academic dishonesty includes but are not limited to:
- Submitting essays or portions of essays written by other people, including well-intentioned friends and family.
- Failing to document paraphrases, ideas, or verbatim phrases taken from outside sources.
- Collaborating on an assignment without the explicit permission of the professor.
- Submitting an essay written for one course to another course without the explicit permission of both professors.
- Submitting work as one’s own that has been purchased or copied from a paper preparation service or web site.
This is the college-wide policy: Any work submitted to me that has been plagiarized will receive a failing grade and will be reported to the dean. This is a writing class and author integrity is crucial to the mission of the course, so any event of plagiarism will most likely result in a failing course grade. Academic Dishonesty is prohibited in The City University of New York and is punishable by penalties, including failing grades, suspension, and expulsion as provided at https://www.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/legal-affairs/policies-procedures/academic-integrity-policy/.
We will talk extensively in class about how to properly cite so you don’t mistakenly plagiarize. The class assignments are unique to this class, which will make it difficult to plagiarize unless you are directly copying from a classmate or paying someone to do your assignments. Please don’t do this.
How can this class accommodate my physical and/or learning disability?
Candidates with disabilities needing academic accommodation (including special formats/assignments, auxiliary aids, non-traditional instructional formats, etc.) should: 1) register with and provide documentation to the Special Services Office, Frese Hall, Room 111; 2) bring a letter indicating the need for accommodation and what type. This should be done during the first week of class. For more information about services available to Queens College candidates, visit http://www.qc.cuny.edu/studentlife/services/specialserv/Pages/default.aspx, or contact: Special Service Office; Director, Miriam Detres-Hickey, Frese Hall, Room 111; 718-997-5870 (Monday – Thursday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. & Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4 pm.).
Can I ask you a question outside of class?
Yes, please! My office hours are student meeting hours so please don’t feel like you’ll be interrupting me if you stop in or call/message me at that time. I’m glad to continue discussions from class, talk about paper drafts, clarify readings and assignments, or offer any other course-related advice you might need. If you’d like to meet outside of office hours, please let me know. I can also answer questions via email. During the week, I generally answer within 24 hours. My responses are more sporadic on the weekends, but I will be more on top of it when you have something due.
Where else can I go for help with my writing?
You are welcome to bring up any class-specific questions or issues you might have with me, but I would also encourage you to take drafts of your essays to The Writing Center, located in Kiely Hall 229. Tutors are trained to help writers at all stages of the writing process, and from all disciplines, so you can use them for other classes. They are meeting now online! To make an appointment, go to:http://writingatqueens.org/the-writing-center/
What if I need support for non-academic concerns?
As a student, you may experience a range of challenges that can interfere with learning, such as strained relationships, increased anxiety, substance use, feeling down, difficulty concentrating and/or lack of motivation. These mental health concerns or stressful events may diminish your academic performance and/or reduce your ability to participate in daily activities. QC services are available free of charge. You can learn more about confidential mental health services available on campus at: https://www.qc.cuny.edu/StudentLife/services/counseling/counseling/
Two additional notes:
Course Evaluations
During the final four weeks of the semester, you will be asked to complete an evaluation for this course by filling out an online questionnaire. Please remember to participate in these course evaluations. Your comments are highly valued, and these evaluations are an important service to fellow students and to the institution, since your responses will be pooled with those of other students and made available online, at the Teaching Evaluations Data: Spring 2010 – Present (http://ctl.qc.cuny.edu/evaluations/data/). All responses are completely anonymous; no identifying information is retained once the evaluation has been submitted.
