Course Information:WRIT 1506

Section 001, course #61796—meets from 1:00-1:50 in LSBE 165 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The course home page can be found at: <http://www.d.umn.edu/~cstroupe/sp17/1506>

Resources Needed

• Orality and Literacy by Walter Ong, 2nd Edition (Routledge) ISBN 0415281296, 9-780415-281294;
• Narrative by Paul Cobley, 2nd Edition (Routledge New Critical Idiom) ISBN ISBN-10: 0415834449, , 978-0415834445;
• Bridget Jones's Diary (Penguin) by Helen Fielding, ISBN: 014028009X; ISBN-13: 978-0415212632;
• Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, by Marjane Satrapi, ISBN-10: 037571457X, # ISBN-13: 978-0375714573;
• Picture of Dorian Gray (Dover Thrift Edition); ISBN-10: 0486278077, ISBN-13: 978-0486278070;
• Dracula (Broadview Literary Texts) (Paperback) by Bram Stoker, ISBN-10: 1551111365, # ISBN-13: 978-1551111360;
• 1984 (Signet Classics) by George Orwell, # ISBN 978-0-451-52493-5
• A Number of Printouts of chapters or articles available via the course Moodle site.
  

Since this class is a device-free zone, (see the policy below), you will need to purchase physical copies of all of these materials and to print out all additional readings.

Grades

• 30%: your work on the Preparation Sheets, Reading Guides, and Online Discussions
• 30%: Performance on the Final Exam
• 25%: Performance on the Midterm Exam
• 15% In-Class Participation, including oral contributions of quotations and comments to class discussion.
  

Note that unexcused absences in excess of the allowed number will deduct 2% each from your overall grade

Purpose

In this course, you will gain a broad historical perspective on the effects of writing and reading on the material, cultural, and political structures of society.

This perspective will be achieved by reading both theory and literature, by applying that theory and analyzing that literature in formal writing, by preparing for quizzes and exams that provide incentive to complete and absorb the readings, and by participating in discussions in class and online.

In particular, we will learn how fundamentally influential the various forms of literacy are not only on communication, but on our shared sense of reality and identity.

Reading and Writing

Readings

The readings are an essential aspect of this course not just for the information they contain, but for the experience of reading them.

You will be expected to complete all the assigned readings by the beginning of class. You should mark the book or printout to help you locate key words, ideas, names, passages, and examples in the future, such as when you're studying for the exams. See the online handout on the practice of Active Reading.

Preparation Sheets and Online Discussions

As preparation for some reading assignments, I will give you prompts to respond to, either online or in print. Your responses should give evidence that you have read the assigned reading and that you understand it well enough to summarize key points from it in your own words and to reflect on their implications and consequences. I will list all the work that you were to turn in on this site's page "Handouts and Assignments."

Exams

There will be a mid-term and final exam, which will be a combination of opened- and closed-book formats.

Early in the semester, I will go over in detail the kinds of things you'll be expected to remember, understand, and be able to discuss on the exams.

Attendance

Your regular attendance is absolutely necessary for your success in the class. The UMD policy states:

Students are expected to attend all scheduled class meetings. It is the responsibility of students to plan their schedules to avoid excessive conflict with course requirements. However, there are legitimate and verifiable circumstances that lead to excused student absence from the classroom. These are subpoenas, jury duty, military duty, religious observances, illness, bereavement for immediate family, and NCAA varsity intercollegiate athletics. For complete information, please see: http://www.d.umn.edu/vcaa/ExcusedAbsence.html

1. Allowed Absences

You are allowed a small number of absences which you can spent however you wish: 4 (in a three-day-a-week class) or 3 (in a two-day-a week class). Allowed absences do not excuse you from the work due or completed on the days you are absent, and some in-class activities and timely requirements cannot be replicated or made up. Save your optional, "free" absences for a rainy (or snowy) day.

2. Unexcused Absences and Penalties:

Absences in excess of the number of allowed instances deduct 2 percent each from your overall grade.

3. Excused Absences

In the case of serious, legitimate, and verifiable conflicts that result in absences in excess of the allowed number, the UMD attendance policy states that absences can be excused if

1. you contact me prior to, or as soon as possible after, the circumstance resulting in your absence(s)

2. you provide written documentation from an authoritative source (e.g., a doctor, the Athletic Department) which speaks specifically to the reason you were unavoidably unable to attend class that particular day.

Like the other types of absences, documented, excused absences do not excuse you from the work due or completed when you did not attend, and some in-class activities and timely requirements cannot be replicated or made up.

4. Tardiness and Leaving Early

In addition to your budget of allowed absences, you also have 3 or 4 instances (depending on the 3- or 2-day schedule) of arriving late or leaving early to use if necessary. Instances in excess of this allowance will decrease your overall grade by 2 percentage points each. If you need to leave class early, even if it's one of your allowed instances, please arrange it with me in advance

Participation and Class Discussion

Class participation will include reading aloud from or explaining what you wrote in preparation for that class meeting. Be sure you have a hard copy of your text. I will try to call on a good number of students, and I do expect everybody to be prepared to speak. I will often collect your printed writings at the end of class.

To help evaluate your participation, after each class meeting I will ask you to log the quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on via posts to a Moodle forum, "Classroom Contributions." Please log only quotations that you contributed to discussion out loud.  Post one message for each quotation using the format of this example:

M 3/14: Orwell, The Labyrinthine World of Doublethink
His mind slid away...contradictory, to know/not know, memory, unconsciousness, forget. 35.3

This format of each message includes:

• a header (including the date of class, the work's author, and a word or phrase that sums up the topic or point of the quotation),
• a string of key words from the quotation, especially from the beginning and end, to help us find the passage on the page,
• the page number (with tenths to indicate how far down the page). 

This Class is a Device-Free Zone

While class is in session, I will require you to keep all personal digital devices--laptops, cell phones, tablets, e-readers, etc.--completely put away in a bag or purse in silent mode.

Using or checking a device in class will result in an absence for the day, and a zero for participation.

Thus, you will need to bring all readings in hard-copy form, and to take notes by hand.

If you have an emergency you need to respond to in class, I will ask you to use one of your instances of leaving early (see above) to return a call or text. Do not re-enter the classroom, however. It is disruptive to other students to go and come back.

On occasion, I may ask you ahead of time to bring a laptop or tablet to class for specific activities.

Students with Disabilities Policy

It is the policy and practice of the University of Minnesota Duluth to create inclusive learning environments for all students, including students with disabilities. If there are aspects of this course that result in barriers to your inclusion or your ability to meet course requirements – such as time limited exams, inaccessible web content, or the use of non-captioned videos – please notify the instructor as soon as possible. You are also encouraged to contact the Office of Disability Resources to discuss and arrange reasonable accommodations. Please call 218-726-6130 or visit the DR website at www.d.umn.edu/access for more information.

Incompletes

Incompletes for the semester will be given only in the following very limited circumstances:

• you must contact me in advance of the semester's end to make a request for an incomplete;
• no more than one or two weeks of class, or one or two assignments, can have been missed;
• you must be in good standing in the class (not already behind, in other words);
• you must have a documented family or medical emergency, as required by university policy;
• you must arrange a time table with me for completing the missed work that is acceptable for both of us.
  

Academic Integrity and Student Conduct

Please see UMD's pages concerning these two issues:
<http://www.d.umn.edu/assl/conduct/integrity/>
<http://www.d.umn.edu/assl/conduct/code/>