COMPOSITION 3160: Advanced Writing: Social Sciences
Instructor: Professor Thomas Farrell (e-mail address: tfarrell@d.umn.edu)
Office: H437 (enter through H420)
Office Hours: TBA; and by appointment.
Office Tel.: 726-7292 (please leave a message)
Home Tel.: 525-1940
Required materials
(A) Computer access card (or regular access to a computer)
(B) Two or more disks for a copy and a back-up file of your work
(C) Handouts distributed in class (please retain these)
(D) Simon & Schuster Handbook for Writers by Troyka and Hesse, 7th ed.
(E) Rhetorical Grammar by Kolln, 5th ed.
(F) A pencil and an eraser (for use in proofreading papers in class)
(G) Money for photocopying library materials.
Attendance Policy
The students are expected to attend every class session and be present at the scheduled final exam time. When students happen to miss a class, they are responsible for keeping up with the class. The absent student is expected to find out and keep up with new assignments for the next class, either by contacting the instructor or a classmate.
All students are expected to be present at the scheduled beginning of the class period and to be present during the entire class period until the class is dismissed. A student who arrives late for class or who leaves early will be marked absent unless excused in advance by the instructor. Should you happen to arrive late and to have been marked absent, you should see me about this immediately at the end of the period. If a student is marked absent from three regular class sessions, this will be grounds for failing the student in this course. If the student is absent from one of the class sessions devoted to oral presentations, this will be grounds for failing the student in this course unless the student can present a doctor's statement that he or she was unable to attend class because of illness. If something else should come up that would prevent a student from attending the oral presentations, the student is expected to contact the teacher before the class meeting. For the oral presentation, you are NOT to wear a hat or clothing with words, letters (such as UMD), or pictures; nor should you be chewing gum.
Approximate Weightings for the Final Grade :
10% Descriptions of Incidents #3, 10, and 20 (small-group work).
10% Paper on revision, based on Troyka.
20% Annotated bibliography (using APA format).
30% Position paper (using APA format).
10% Exercises in Kolln and Troyka.
20% Exam over assigned material in Kolln and in Troyka (principles and exercises, with extra credit possible in the form of a grade of A+).
To receive a final grade for the course, the student must satisfactorily complete all of the assignments in the course, including the assigned exercises and the oral presentation of a paper. Failure to complete any assignment will result in an incomplete in the course, which the student can remove by completing the incomplete assignment(s). Students who qualify for special accommodations are to see the instructor at the beginning of the semester. Arrangements for test accommodation must be made through the Access Center.
Tentative Schedule for Comp. 3160-6
Week 1:
Take roll; complete information cards.
Preview of course; go over syllabus.
Read ch. 13 in the Handbook, pp. 279-288.
Word process ex. 13-1, 13-3, 13-4 in the Handbook.
Read ch. 1 in the Handbook, pp. 2-24.
Read ch. 1 in Kolln.
Week 2:
Go over ch. 1 in the Handbook.
Go over ch. 1 in Kolln.
Read ch. 2 in the Handbook, pp. 25-52.
View incidents #3, 10, and 20 in the library, and take detailed notes about each one.
Read ch. 3 in the Handbook, pp. 53-79.
Write and word process your selection of two possible topics for your library research.
Week 3:
Turn in two possible library research topics.
Go over ch. 3 in the Handbook.
Small-group work on incident reports; word process reports for next class.
Read ch. 2 in Kolln.
Small-group work on word-processed drafts of incident reports.
Final drafts of incident reports due.
Instructions for paper on revision, based on Troyka.
Week 4:
First round of conferences on library research topics (in H437).
Read ch. 3 in Kolln.
Read ch. 4 in Kolln.
View Lanham's Revising Prose (in class).
Small-group proofreading of papers on revision.
Revised papers on revision due.
Week 5:
Read articles on your library research topic.
Read ch. 5 in Kolln.
Word process ex. 14 and 15 (even-numbered items).
Read pp. 622-658 in the Handbook on APA documentation.
Instructions for annotated bibliography.
Week 6:
Read ch. 7 in Kolln.
Word process ex. 24, parts A, B, and C, and ex. 26 (skip #8) (even-numbered items).
Annotated bibliographies due.
Small-group proofreading.
Revised annotated bibliographies due.
Instructions for preface.
Week 7:
Read ch. 8 in Kolln.
Word process ex. 28 (even-numbered items).
Word-processed draft due of preface.
Small-group proofreading.
Instructions for intro. par. and paragraphs in the main body of the paper.
Word-processed plan due for intro. par. and other paragraphs in the main body.
Week 8 (the last day in Week 8 is the final deadline for withdrawing from a course without penalty):
Read ch. 9 in Kolln.
Word process ex. 31 (skip #12) and ex. 33 (even-numbered items).
Word-processed draft due of intro. par. and main body paragraphs.
Small-group work on drafts.
Instructions for refutation (objections in one par. and responses in another) and concluding par.
Week 9:
Read ch. 10 in Kolln.
Word process ex. 38 (even-numbered items; skip #8).
Word-processed draft due of objections par. and responses par. and concluding par.
Small-group proofreading.
Return drafts of intro. par. and main body paragraphs.
Instructions for revision.
Week 10:
Read ch. 12 in Kolln.
Word process ex. 42 (even-numbered items).
Return drafts of refutation and conclusion.
Instructions for revision.
Week 11:
Read ch. 13 in Kolln.
Word process ex. 46 (even-numbered items).
Read ch. 14 in Kolln.
Review for exam.
Week 12:
Part 1 of exam over assigned material in Kolln and Troyka.
Part 2 of exam over assigned material in Kolln and in Troyka.
Week 13:
Revised position papers due, including prefaces and reference pages.
Small-group proofreading.
Instructions for oral presentations.
Turn in final drafts (along with earlier drafts).
Oral presentations.
Week 14:
Oral presentations.
Week 15:
Oral presentations.
Final Exam Period: TBA.
We will meet during the final exam period.
Oral presentations (if needed).
Return and then recollect graded papers.
Distribute student evaluations of speakers.
Complete course evaluation.