Composition II

RHET 1312.14/18 (CRN 60778/60782) Department of Rhetoric and Writing TR 8:00AM 9:15 AM, 10:50AM 12:05PM EDU 210, ROSS 305

Instructor: Contact: Office: Office Hours:

Jasmine Williams jcclark@ualr.edu SUA 100 TR 9:30AM 10:30AM

Course Materials
Required Textbooks: Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings 9th Edition by Ramage, Bean, and Johnson ISBN-10: 0-205-17163-X ISBN-13: 978-0-205-17163-7 The Everyday Writer 5th Edition by Andrea A. Lunsford ISBN: 978-1-4576-1266-4 Materials: Binder or Folder (for any handouts) Pencils/Pens & Paper Computer/Internet Access (Library & University Writing Center) IMPORTANT: Cloud-based storage (Google drive with your UALR email) and/or USB thumb drive

Course Description and Learning Outcomes

RHET 1312 Composition II Prerequisite: RHET 1311 with a C or greater or equivalent. Practice in writing, with an emphasis on academic forms. Students will focus on analysis, argumentation, research, and documentation writing. Final course grades are A, B, C, or NC. Three credit hours. Outcomes for First-Year Composition: The Department of Rhetoric and Writing has adapted the following outcomes for first-year composition courses from the outcome statements of the Council for Writing Program Administrators.

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Rhetorical Knowledge: Students will learn how audience, purpose, genre, and content shape the meaning and effectiveness of writing. Critical Reading, Thinking, and Writing: Students will use writing and reading for inquiry, learning, thinking, and communicating. Students will learn that writing is a series of tasks, including finding, evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing appropriate primary and secondary sources. They will discover how to integrate their original ideas with the ideas of others. Writing Process Strategies: Students will develop strategies for generating ideas, revising, and editing their writing through successive drafts. Those strategies will include collaborating with others, including giving and receiving feedback in peer groups. Knowledge of Conventions: Students will have extensive practice in writing and will develop knowledge of conventions, including organization, formats/genre, style, control of surface features, and incorporation and documentation of materials from sources. Composing in Electronic Environments: Students will learn how to use electronic environments for drafting, reviewing, revising, editing, and sharing texts. They will also be able to locate, evaluate, organize, and use research material collected from electronic sources. Additionally, they will understand and exploit the differences in the rhetorical strategies and in the capabilities of both print and electronic composing processes and texts.

Attendance & Participation Policy

The outcomes stated above can only be achieved through active attendance and participation. To ensure this, I will collect signatures daily and will randomly collect your in-class writing assignments to count toward your attendance and participation grade. In-class assignments cannot be made-up. You may miss no more than four class periods during the semester. On the fifth day of missed class, you will receive a grade of NC or No Credit for the course. Tardiness As your teacher, I value your time and will make the most of it. I hope that you will respect my time as well and attend class on time. Excessive tardiness over 10 minutes for three class meetings will be documented and result in one absence. After the first thirty (30) minutes of missed class time, you will be considered absent for the class period.

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Electronic Devices As a classroom community, we all value the time and presence of one another; this is why it is very important not to interrupt someones learning experience. Note taking is allowed but if you are checking e-mail, on social networking sites, etc. this is considered excessive and you will be asked to leave and marked absent. Respect Our classroom is a place where all ideas are valuable. We must agree to disagree. If you do not agree with the ideas of a classmate, please respect their right to have those beliefs.

Course Requirements
During this semester you will complete a total of three major projects and one electronic portfolio. For each assignment, you will receive accompanying project descriptions, handouts, and rubrics, as well as participate in a range of activities that will prepare you for the final draft of each project. Each project will consist of three drafts, a peer-revision session, an in-class reflection, and an error blog. All drafts will be posted in BB no later than 11:59PM on the due date. For each draft that is submitted late, ten (10) points will be deducted from your final grade on the project. Peer revision is worth ten (10) points. Project 1 Rhetorical Analysis (100pts): For this project, you will write a rhetorical analysis of a piece of visual rhetoric. Due: September 17th Project 2 Visual Argument and Analysis (100pts): For this project, you will create an asset map arguing a community issue with an accompanying analysis. Due: October 10th Project 3 Public Service Announcement (PSA) (150pts): For this project, you will draft a proposal and then create a group PSA in support of a community issue. Due: November 7th Final Electronic Portfolio (300 pts) For your final project, you will construct an electronic portfolio of the assignments created for this course. The electronic portfolio will include a reflection, components of each project, and accompanying journal entries. Due: December 12th

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Daily Work The only way to improve writing is to write; therefore, you will have daily writing assignments usually over the reading assignments. These assignments and in-class activities will count toward your participation grade. If you are not present, you will not receive participation points. Class Contribution As a part of your class participation, you are required to post at least one video (no longer than 3 minutes), article, image etc.. related to the reading in the BB discussion area for at least one class period each week. Be prepared to discuss your posting during the next class meeting. Blogs Writing is a learning experiencea journey. It is important that you record your experiences as you travel this road. For this reason, you will be responsible for keeping a blog. You will be required to write one blog per week as a response to one of the homework readings or an extension of an in-class discussion. You are encouraged but not required to comment on each others blogs. Blog entries must be at least 250 words, are credit or no credit, and must be posted by 11:59PM each Friday via BB. You will also include error blog entries for each major project. Error blogs will be posted within one week of the final project due date by 11:59PM via BB. Conferences University Writing Center: I firmly believe that collaboration is essential to effective writing. For this reason, you are required to have at least two UWC conferences for the semester. You must verify this by receiving the initials of the intern on the draft you conferenced over. Each conference is worth 25 points. We will tour the UWC during the semester to familiarize you with the center. Teacher-Student: In addition to feedback on your drafts, you will have a conference with me for each project. Extra Credit Extra credit will be offered on BB for a limited period of time or during class. If you miss an opportunity, it cannot be made-up. Assignment Formats Besides in-class assignments, there will be no handwritten assignments. All typed assignments should be 12pt, double-spaced with one (1) inch margins unless otherwise stated.

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All drafts of your work should be saved to either a cloud storage (such as the UALR email drive) or a USB flash drive. I strongly advise using the cloud storage (Google Drive) included with your email. In order to easily access your drafts and not save over them, please save your files with the following filenames: 1st draft = LastnameFirstiniital_AssignmentName_Draft1 2nd draft = LastnameFirstinital_AssignentName_Draft2 Final draft = LastnameFirstinitial_AssignmentName_Final Example: WilliamsJ_PSA_Draft1

Emailing drafts to yourself is also a way to save your work and will ensure you have copies of your work as long as you have your UALR email (without deleting).

Grading Scale
A = 100-90 B = 89-80 C = 79-70 NC = 69-0 Grading Breakdown Assignment Participation Blogs/Classroom Contribution Major Writing Projects UWC Conferences Portfolio TOTAL Points 150 150 350 (2 x 100) + (1 x 150) 50 (25 x 2) 300 1,000 Percentage 15 15 35 5 30 100

Late Work
Late work will not be accepted for any assignments except final drafts. On final drafts of each due date, your project will decrease one (1) letter grade every day that it is late (including weekends). After the third day late, you will not receive credit for the assignment.

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Technology Malfunctions Technology malfunctions (i.e. email, Blackboard, printer ink problems) are not valid excuses for missed or late work. Points will be deducted accordingly.

Privacy and Writing

Public Nature of the Classroom: Please consider all writing for this class to be "public. Part of becoming an effective writer is learning to appreciate the ideas and feedback of others; in this course, our purpose is to come together as a writing community. Remember that all students will be expected to share writing with others. Avoid writing about topics that you wish to keep private or that you feel so strongly about that you are unwilling to listen to the perspectives of others. Additionally, the feedback that is provided is intended to help improve your writing; be open to the suggestions about your writing.

Academic Honesty
Academic Integrity Statement: College and University regulations regarding academic dishonesty, as set forth in the UALR student handbook and other University documents and publications, will be strictly enforced in this class. Any student who submits work that he/she did not produce for the given assignment will be assigned a grade of zero points (F) for the assignment in question, and may possibly fail the class. In accordance with Section VI: Statement of Student Behavior, under the code of student rights, responsibilities, and behavior, the university defines academic dishonesty under the classifications of cheating, plagiarism, collusion, and duplicity. Cheating and blatant plagiarism in this class can result in disciplinary sanction. Please do not plagiarize and risk your academic career. If you are struggling with an assignment, please talk to me. I am here to help.

Disability and Support Services

Students with Disabilities Statement: Your success in this class is important, and it is the policy and practice of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to provide inclusive learning environments consistent with federal and state law. If you have a documented disability (or need to have a disability documented), and need an accommodation, please contact me privately as soon as possible, so that we can discuss with the Disability Resource Center (DRC) how to meet your specific needs and the requirements of the course. The DRC offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process among you, your instructor(s)

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and the DRC. Thus, if you have a disability, please contact DRC, at 501-569-3143 (V/TTY) or 501683-7629 (VP). For more information, please visit the DRC website at www.ualr.edu/disability.

UALR Web Accessibility

Web Accessibility Statement: It is the policy and practice of UALR to make all web information accessible to students with disabilities. If you, as a student with a disability, have difficulty accessing any part of the online course materials for this class, please notify the instructor immediately.

UALR Inclement Weather Policy

Weather Policy: The UALR website, UALR email, the Universitys main telephone number (501.569.3000), and the campus emergency alert system are the official means of communicating all information concerning weather-related closing. Local television and radio stations will also be notified. Weather and road conditions vary from place to place. Employees and students are expected to exercise good judgment regarding the safety of travel when road conditions are affected by the weather.

Important Dates for the Semester

August 19: First day of class August 23: Last day to drop/add classes (with refund) September 2: Labor Day (no class) October 14-15: Fall break (no classes) October 17: Last day to drop an individual class (without a refund) November 27-29: Thanksgiving holiday (no classes) December 9: Last day of class December 10: Consultation Day-Faculty available to meet with students December 10 at 4PM: Final exams begin. See final exam schedule at: http://ualr.edu/records/examschedule/201360.php December 12: 8:00AM 10:00AM (1312.14 ), 10:30AM 12:30PM (1312.18) ***For a breakdown of the project schedule, please see the course schedule.

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Please thoroughly read the syllabus and return this page signed and dated no later than next class meeting.

I have read and understand the content of the FALL 2013 syllabus for Jasmine Williams RHET 1312.14/18 (circle one) course. I understand the policies, procedures, and structure of this classroom. I understand that the dates of the projects may change according to the needs of the class. If I have any questions about the syllabus and classroom experience, I will consult the aforementioned teacher.

Sign Date