Writing/Inquiry in Academic Contexts UWRT 1104 Fall 2017

Instructor Professor Mary Ellen Muesing memuesin@uncc.edu 4 credit hours

Office/Phone/Hours Cameron 138, 704-687-1915 W, F 11:00-12:00, by appointment
Required Text re:Composing A journal by writers for writers ISBN 9781680364033
Readings will be posted on Canvas
Materials: Writers Notebook: a notebook to write in and keep course materials.
(Please bring to class everyday since a thorough notebook is vital to course success).
Loose leaf Notebook paper: occasional assignments to turn in that day
Card for printing / copies: Please be familiar with your own printer or campus printers.
(Not having hard copies when they are required for class will impact your grade.
Canvas and Email Accounts, Laptop for class use, Internet Access

Course Goals and Description

Students develop an extended inquiry project that integrates materials from varied sources and includes
writing in multiple genres. Students write, revise, edit, and reflect on their writing with the support of the
teacher and peers. Students also immerse themselves in a conversation about a topic through reading,
questioning, and process writing. Polished writing might assume the forms of presentations, reviews of
research, essayistic arguments, or multi-media and web-based projects. Students learn to distinguish
rhetorical contexts, practice different conventions, and develop positions in relation to research. They
also adopt digital technologies to network, compose, and/or critique and disseminate their work. This is a
studio course where we meet for 3 hours in class and are studio activities for the other 1 credit hour.
Grading Method: Grades derived primarily from portfolios that include work generated throughout term.

At the successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

Use effective planning, drafting, and revising strategies

Give effective feedback to one another and to learn to work collaboratively
Learn to integrate visuals and text
Think, read, and write critically about various topics from various perspectives
Understand literacy in all its forms for self and others
Evaluate and effectively use credible and effective primary and secondary sources, print and online
Understand various genres and appropriately use them with various audiences, contexts and purposes
Reflect on high school writing and college/academic writing
Become a more reflective thinker and writer about ones learning and growth
Inquire about various topics, literacy, inquiry, and the writing process and ask suitable questions
Gain a greater understanding of the field of rhetoric and writing and its practical applications
Use digital composing tools effectively and appropriately

Class Philosophy and Expectations

Please come to me early if you have any questions or issues- do not wait
I expect you to learn from each other just as I will be learning from you.
I intend to challenge you so you can be successful in this class, your academic/professional
careers.
I highly value your thinking-not just regurgitating others and your willingness to take risks.
Syllabus/schedule subject to modifications during semester based on class time and student needs.
Check class Canvas site and your UNCC email regularly for discussions, assignments, readings,
handouts and announcements.
If you email me, I will respond as soon as I read it. Please be aware that I do not constantly check
email but I will respond in a timely manner to your email questions/concerns.
 "10 Things Every College Professor Hates," including me.
Key Concepts and Practices & Habits of Mind

critical thinking
independent inquiry & curiosity

responsibility for your own learning

getting out of your comfort zone

the writing process & revision

providing & receiving feedback

making connections

intellectual growth & maturity

multi-modality of print & digital texts

rhetorical awareness

Threshold Concepts of Composition as a Discipline

Writing is a subject of study as well as an activity.

Writing (and language) is situated/shaped by specific contexts, purposes and audiences
Writing (and language) is never neutral; always linked to values and ideologies. Cannot be
separated from the culture/context in which it circulates
Writing (and language) is always situated in genre
Qualities of good writing are site-specific
Participation in writing (and language) is a form of social activity/action

(Linda Adler-Kassner, Threshold Concepts in/and Writing Courses)

Please note: This four-credit course requires three hours of classroom or direct faculty
instruction, one hour of studio work and six hours of out-of-class student work each week for
approximately 15 weeks. Out-of-class work may include but is not limited to: required
reading, written assignments, and library research.

Grading:
Final grades will be based on commitment to class participation, required reading, writers notebook,
in- class activities, various writing assignments, and the compilation of a writers portfolio.
Final grades weighted as follows:

Writers EPortfolio 75%

Writing to Explores (WTE)
Reading Responses
Writers Notebook
Projects
Presentation
Studios

Participation (class/small group/online discussions) 25%

Peer Responses/Workshops

Grades will be determined using a 10 point/percentage scale (90-100=A, 80-89=B, 70-79=C, etc.)
All formal papers/projects/portfolio/participation must be completed to receive a passing grade in
the course. Plagiarism will result in failure of the course.
A-Exemplary, B-Above Average, C Average, D Below Average, F Does Not Meet Expectations
Course Goals:

The First-Year Writing Program has identified five broad skills that students need to practice to become
proficient writers in this class and beyond. As writing faculty, we recognize that all the following
practices are interwoven, and often happen simultaneously, but it can be helpful to understand them as
distinct practices as well. They are: rhetorical knowledge, critical reading, composing processes,
knowledge of conventions, and critical reflection.

The Student Learning Outcomes or Concepts for FYW are as follows:

Rhetorical Knowledge
Rhetorical knowledge is the ability to identify and apply strategies across a range of texts and writing
situations. Using their own writing processes and approaches, writers compose with intention,
understanding how genre, audience, purpose, and context impact writing choices.
By the end of FYW, students should be able to:
Use rhetorical concepts to analyze and compose a variety of texts using a range of technologies
adapted per audience, context, and purpose
Assess how genres shape and are shaped by readers' and writers' experimentation with conventions,
including mechanics, structure, and style
Develop the flexibility that enables writers to shift voice, tone, formality, design, medium, and layout
intentionally to accommodate varying situations and contexts

Critical Reading
Reading critically is the ability to analyze, synthesize, interpret, and evaluate ideas, information and texts.
When writers think critically about the materials they use, they separate assertion from evidence, evaluate
sources and evidence, recognize and assess underlying assumptions, read across texts for connections and
patterns, and identify and evaluate chains of reasoning. These practices are foundational for advanced
academic writing.
By the end of FYW, students should be able to:
Use reading for inquiry, learning, and discovery
Analyze their own work and the work of others critically, including examining diverse texts and
articulating the value of various rhetorical choices of writers
Locate and evaluate (for credibility, sufficiency, accuracy, timeliness, bias) primary and secondary
research materials, including journal articles and essays, books, scholarly and professionally
established and maintained databases or archives, informal electronic networks internet sources
Use a diverse range of texts, attending especially to relationships between assertion and evidence, to
patterns of organization, to the interplay between verbal and nonverbal elements, and to how
these features function for different audiences and situations

Composing Processes
Writers use multiple strategies, or composing processes, to conceptualize, develop, and finalize projects.
Composing processes are seldom linear: a writer may research a topic before drafting then conduct
additional research while revising or after consulting a colleague. Composing processes are also flexible:
successful writers can adapt their composing processes to different contexts and occasions.
By the end of FYW, students should be able to:
Demonstrate flexible strategies for drafting, reviewing, collaborating, revising, rewriting, rereading,
and editing
Recognize and employ the social interactions entailed in writing processes: brainstorming, response to
others writing; interpretation and evaluation of received responses
Use their writing process to deepen engagement with source material, their own ideas, and the ideas of
others and as a means of strengthening claims and solidifying logical arguments.

Knowledge of Conventions
Conventions are the formal rules and informal guidelines that define genres, and in so doing, shape
readers and writers expectations of correctness or appropriateness. Most obviously, conventions govern
such things as mechanics, usage, spelling, and citation practices. But they also influence content, style,
organization, graphics, and document design.
By the end of FYW, students should be able to:
Demonstrate how to negotiate variations in conventions by genre, from print-based compositions to
multi-modal compositions
Investigate why genre conventions for structure, paragraphing, design, format, tone, mechanics vary
Use the concepts of intellectual property (such as fair use and copyright) that motivate documentation
conventions to practice applying citation conventions systematically in their own work.
Develop knowledge of linguistic structures, including grammar, punctuation, and spelling, through
practice in composing and revising

Critical Reflection
Critical reflection is a writers ability to articulate what s/he is thinking and why. For example, to explain
the choices made in a composition, to contextualize a composition, to address revisions made in response
to reader feedback etc.
By the end of FYW, students should be able to:
Demonstrate reflecting on their writing in various rhetorical situations
Use writing as a means for reflection
Demonstrate their rhetorical awareness, their writing process, and their knowledge of
conventions about their own writing
Illustrate that reflection is a necessary part of learning, thinking and communicating

Assignments
Throughout the semester we will be working on several formal and informal writing assignments,
including work with digital composing and remediating some of your writing. Everything you write for
the class may be a part of your final portfolio, so its important that you save all your work for the
semester, including all drafts of written work. Save all your writers notebook entries, rough drafts,
reflections, commented papers from me and your peers, your talk backs to me etc. in a file so your work
is easy to find at the end of the semester.

Writers Portfolio: Your digital portfolio is worth 50% of your grade for the course. At the end of the
semester, you will select from the formal and informal writings you have completed, and you will
analyze, synthesize, evaluate and reflect on your writing. It is important that you start collecting materials
for the portfolio from the first week of class since you will need everything you work on throughout the
semester to compile your portfolio. By the midterm of the semester you will begin to build a website to
house your work. Additional details about this assignment will be given throughout the semester.

Due to the nature of portfolios, drafts throughout the semester will not receive grades but will receive
comments and suggestions from myself and your peers. Along with the comments, I will give an
indication of the level of paper with such symbols as NI=needs improvement, OK=okay, G=good,
VG=vey good. You will receive a midterm grade that will serve as indication of course progress.
Portfolios will be evaluated per the engagement they demonstrate in all aspects of the class-daily
writing, process work, reflection, etc.-not just the polished drafts.

Peer Workshops: For you to get helpful feedback on your writing, you need to attend peer workshop
and have a completed draft on peer workshop days. Failing to do either will impact your participation and
project grades.

Course Policies:
UNC Charlotte First-Year Writing Program Attendance Policy:

Up to three absences = no deduction in final course grade. (excused or unexcused)

Each absence after the fourth = one letter grade deduction from your final COURSE grade.
Three tardies = 1 absence (you are tardy if I take roll and you are not present)

This means that I will not need to see doctor's notes, and your doctor does not need to e-mail me. Save
your absences for when you are truly sick and/or cannot get to class. I will handle extenuating
circumstances (e.g. a death in the family, or a long-term illness) on a case-by-case basis. In such a
situation, I will ask you to meet with me outside of class. I will also ask you to work with the Dean of
Students Office before I will excuse any absences.

If you are absent, you are responsible for getting missed assignments, handouts and notes. It would be
wise to obtain the phone numbers and email addresses of several classmates. I will be better able to work
with you if you contact me before your absence.

Instructor Tardiness or Absence

Class Cancellation Notification
If I must cancel class for some reason, I will email you via your UNC Charlotte email account. I will also
update Canvas as soon as I am able. There will always be an online class assignment to replace any
canceled class, including those due to inclement weather. I will send you instructions for make-up work
via email and Canvas.

Instructor Tardiness
If I am late in arriving to class, check your email to see if Ive canceled class. If you dont see an email
and there is no announcement posted on the course Canvas page, you must wait a full 20 minutes after the
start of class before you may leave without being counted absent.

University Writing Program Equity Statement: As students and teachers writing in a diverse,
global, academic community, the University Writing Program is committed to providing the tools and
resources we all need to discuss, think about and become agents for diversity and equity.

Our lives, perspectives and practices are enriched when we actively engage in discourse around complex
ideas, whether they pertain to race and ethnicity; gender identity; political stance; sexual orientation;
special health needs; age; religion; country of origin; or socio-economic status.

Through the study of writing cultures, literacy and language practices, we prepare ourselves and our
students to better recognize the value of difference and civilly address difficult discussions about diversity
and equity. http://www.uncc.edu/policystate
Title IX Reporting: UNC Charlotte is committed to providing an environment free of all forms of
discrimination and sexual harassment, including sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and
stalking. If you (or someone you know) has experienced or experiences any of these incidents, know that
you are not alone. UNC Charlotte has staff members trained to support you in navigating campus life,
accessing health and counseling services, providing academic and housing accommodations, helping with
legal protective orders, and more.
Please be aware that many UNC Charlotte employees, including all faculty members, are considered
Responsible Employees who are required to relay any information or reports of sexual misconduct they
receive to the Title IX Coordinator. This means that if you tell me about a situation involving sexual
harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, or stalking, I must report the
information to the Title IX Coordinator. Although I have to report the situation, you will still have
options about how your case will be handled, including whether or not you wish to pursue a formal
complaint. Our goal is to make sure you are aware of the range of options available to you and have
access to the resources you need.
If you wish to speak to someone confidentially, you can contact any of the following on-campus
resources, who are not required to report the incident to the Title IX Coordinator: (1) University
Counseling Center (counselingcenter.uncc.edu, 7-0311); (2) Student Health Center
(studenthealth.uncc.edu, 7-7400); or (3) Center for Wellness Promotion (wellness.uncc.edu, 7-7407).
Additional information about your options is also available at titleix.uncc.edu under the Students tab.

Religious Observance Policy: The UNC system allows students with a minimum of two excused
absences each academic year for religious observances required by the faith of a student. If you have days
you will miss this semester due to religious observances, please let me know those dates early in the
semester, in writing, so that those absences will not count as part of regularly missed days. The form to
submit can be found here.

Academic Honesty: We will talk about plagiarismwhat it is what it is not throughout the
semester. You will learn how to document your sources using MLA format and hopefully become
comfortable doing so. If you intentionally use someone elses work without giving credit for that work,
you will receive an F for the course. You are required to read and abide by UNC-Charlottes Code of
Student Academic Integrity.

Disabilities Statement: Students who have a disability or condition that may impair their ability to
complete assignments or otherwise satisfy course criteria should meet with me to identify, discuss and
document any feasible instructional modifications or accommodations. Please inform me as soon as
possible after a disability or condition is diagnosed, whichever occurs earliest. For information and
auxiliary assistance, contact The Office of Disability Services.

Technology: You will need to check our class Canvas site and your UNCC email account regularly.
Our class Canvas site is the hub of our class. Through Canvas you will find out information about class,
see any updates to the syllabus, access assignments and various readings, engage in discussions, submit
your work and receive my responses to it. In addition, some assignments will require working with digital
composing tools. If you have a concern about using these technologies, please speak with me.

Texting/Cell Phones
Part of adequate participation is being completely engaged with the class throughout the entire time.
I reserve the right to ask you to leave the class and be counted absent for the day or if you are working on
materials for other classes or distracted by cell phones or technology. Laptops, tablets, and cellphones are
permitted only during appropriate times. If you have extenuating circumstances that require access to
your cell phone, please see me.
Due Dates: Work is due at the beginning of class. Due dates for each assignment are listed on the
assignment sheet as well as on Canvas. I dont accept late work without prior approval, and I will set
Canvas to stop accepting submissions after the posted due date and time. No email submissions are
accepted. Sometimes it takes a few minutes for a file you are submitting to upload, or Canvas is being
cranky, so please dont wait until the last minute to submit your work. Also, be sure to backup all your
work regularly.

Withdraw Policy: After the Add/Drop period ends the only way to drop one course, multiple
courses, or all courses is to withdraw. After that deadline, exceptions may be requested, but only in cases
where extenuating circumstances such as serious illness can be demonstrated. Unsatisfactory academic
performance itself is not an extenuating circumstance. Withdrawals must be made by the deadline
indicated in the Academic Calendar. If you withdraw from a course, it will show on your transcript with
the grade of W but will not count towards your GPA. Undergraduate students are limited to 16 credits of
W . Students should be cautious about the impact of withdrawing from one or more courses on time-to-
degree, financial aid eligibility, and cost to the student.

Class Participation: Respecting others opinions is essential in class

Participation means taking an active part in all class discussions, interacting with other class members
during group work, writing effective comments on students drafts, blogs, discussion forums, and turning
in the assigned work on time. Please be respectful of myself and your classmates during class
discussions, lectures, and presentations. Participation also means having work due on time and ready for
class workshops and discussions.

Class Participation means more than just showing up physically for class. Class participation means
that you are an active participant in the class dynamics-contributing to the class discussion and with peer
suggestions to create an environment of a community of writers and learners. Participation also includes
preparation by reading assignments and online feedback and discussions.

more work you do on time = the more you participate =

the more physical and mental material you'll have to work with for your final portfolio/reflection

Work/Papers
ALWAYS keep all work. Printing problems are NOT an excuse! Always type assignments- unless
otherwise directed. Please give assignments to me in class, NOT at the end of class, my mailbox, or
email. You must complete the process work as we work through each assignment. Process work that
appears for the first time in your final portfolio will not be considered in grading. Late work will affect
your grade.

Writing Resource Center

Excellent free source for brainstorming, planning, revising, and writing help for any of your courses.
I may ask you to participate in the Student Referral program. (Cameron 149). http://wrc.uncc.edu/