Description of Course Content:
Continues ENGL 1301, but with an emphasis on advanced techniques of academic argument. Includes issue identification, independent library research, analysis and evaluation of sources, and synthesis of sources with students’ own claims, reasons, and evidence. Prerequisite: Grade of C or better in ENGL 1301.
Student Learning Outcomes:
In ENGL 1302, students build on the knowledge and information that they learned in ENGL 1301. By the end of ENGL 1302, students should be able to:
Rhetorical Knowledge
- Identify and analyze the components and complexities of a rhetorical situation.
- Use knowledge of audience, exigence, constraints, genre, tone, diction, syntax, and structure to produce situation-appropriate argumentative texts, including texts that move beyond formulaic structures.
- Know and use special terminology for analyzing and producing arguments.
- Practice and analyze informal logic as used in argumentative texts.
Critical Reading, Thinking, and Writing
- Understand the interactions among critical thinking, critical reading, and writing.
- Integrate personal experiences, values, and beliefs into larger social conversations and contexts.
- Find, evaluate, and analyze primary and secondary sources for appropriateness, timeliness, and validity.
- Produce situation-appropriate argumentative texts that synthesize sources with their own ideas and advance the conversation on an important issue.
- Provide valid, reliable, and appropriate support for claims, and analyze evidentiary support in others’ texts.
Processes
- Practice flexible strategies for generating, revising, and editing complex argumentative texts.
- Engage in all stages of advanced, independent library research.
- Practice writing as a recursive process that can lead to substantive changes in ideas, structure, and supporting evidence through multiple revisions.
- Use the collaborative and social aspects of writing to critique their own and others’ arguments.
Conventions
- Apply and develop knowledge of genre conventions ranging from structure and paragraphing to tone and mechanics, and be aware of the field-specific nature of these conventions.
- Summarize, paraphrase, and quote from sources using appropriate documentation style.
- Revise for style and edit for features such as syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
Employ technologies to format texts according to appropriate stylistic conventions
Required Textbooks and Other Course Materials:
–Graff and Birkenstein, They Say/I Say, 3rd or 4th edition [ISBN: 0393935841]
–Lunsford and Ruszkiewicz, Everything’s An Argument: Custom UTA edition, 2017
Descriptions of major assignments and examinations:
–Issue Proposal (Due Sept 23rd): This semester you’ll be conducting research on an issue that you select. For this paper, you will take stock of what you already know about the issue you select, organize and develop your thoughts, and sketch a plan for your research.
–Annotated Bibliography (Due Oct 14th): For this assignment you will create a list of at least 10 relevant and appropriately chosen sources that represent multiple perspectives on your issue. You will include a summary of each source and a discussion of how you might use the source in your next essays.
–Mapping the Issue (Due Nov 4th): For this paper, you will map the controversy surrounding your issue by describing its history and summarizing at least three different positions on the issue—all from a completely neutral point of view.
–Researched Position Paper (Due Dec 4th): For this paper, you will advocate a position on your issue with a well-supported argument written for an audience that you select.
–Final Presentation (TBA): Every student will be required to complete a visual presentation on the work they have done for the Reasearched Position Paper.
Analytical Writings/Quizzes/Daily Work: More specific analytical writing prompts will also be provided.
In ENGL 1301, I assign my students Reading Responses over the daily readings. This is the sample prompt from my 1301 syllabus:
“Reading Responses: There are 11 total Reading Responses due for this semester. Please note that these are not summaries of what you just read; these are records of your reading through the materials and your responses to them. You are essentially detailing your progress through these readings. For example, if there are things that you struggled with, if there was a change in your previous assumptions on a certain topic, or if there are brainstorming ideas that you picked up for one of your major assignments, write about it. These will be one single page, double-spaced. No more and no less. This will give you enough room to include your thoughts and ideas related to the selected readings. If there are two separate readings from They Say, I Say and Everything is An Argument, then you will synthesize your findings into one single response (same one page response). For the Reading Clusters reading response, you will produce a two-page, double-spaced synthesis of your responses within the scope of the readings. Each Reading Response paper will be printed out and given to me at the due dates listed below. Bring a copy for yourself so that you can talk about questions or difficulties you may have had with the readings in our class discussions.”
For your Analytical Writings, you are diving deeper into this type of engagement with your own writing. Truly think about what assignment is coming up and how that assignment relates to the readings for the week. Your understanding of the assignments will necessarily evolve throughout the course of the semester (and hindsight helps this too). For this reason, I am requiring you to put out a full one-page writing that does real work (if there is summary as part of the AW assignment, you are producing one full page of your own writing after the summary [ex. 1/2 page of summary equals a 1 1/2 page document; 1/2 page for summary and 1 page for your own writing]). This work will be graded as either Complete or Incomplete based on what type of work you are doing–for example, someone who fills out a summary and writes, “I don’t really know what my plans are for this upcoming assignment,” will not receive a grade of Complete. The minimum length requirement has no penalty for going over it, but please keep in mind that you should not be filling up space or ranting; keep your writing concise and clear, focusing on the prompt to guide you towards what you really are trying to say. There’s no secret to a grade of Complete, but there are also no “answers” as to what truly constitutes this–both student and instructor will know it.
*** Quizzes maybe assigned if students do not come to class prepared and/or to assess reading comprehension/critical thinking.***
Daily work encompasses all homework, in-class writing activities, etc.
Class Participation: Your participation in this course is not only working towards your grade of Complete/Incomplete for the AW assignments, but is also folded into the grade for your major assignments. Peer review is conducted between the first and final drafts of every major assignment, sometimes spanning over the course of a couple of class sessions. This is very important to your success in this course. Your participation for peer review is factored into the grade on a Complete/Incomplete basis (for example, if you are participating in Peer Review, you receive a grade of Complete for that day), and those grades are folded in to one holistic grade for the major assignment. See below (Peer Reviews) section for more information on how this is calculated.
Peer Reviews. Each essay will include mandatory and graded peer review workshops and evaluations of your own and your peer group members’ participation. Each essay will include mandatory peer review workshops. These workshops will require your attendance unless otherwise specified (for “workshop” days; I will email more details for these events). This is part of your grade, and goes towards the composition of your final grade for the major assignments we are working on in this class. It is very important that you participate in peer review, as you will not be able to make up these points. Peer Review also counts when I am conducting conferences and presentations for the final two papers, so make sure to come prepared and follow instructions so that you will receive a grade of Complete on all of your assignments.
Participation Policy: You will be graded daily on class participation, which includes coming to class prepared, making thoughtful contributions in response to the readings, asking and answering questions, and presenting a general attitude of interest in the course content. Improvement in writing is a complex process that requires a great deal of practice and feedback from readers. Regular attendance is thus necessary for success in ENGL 1302. Students are expected to attend class regularly and to arrive on time. Excused absences include official university activities, military service, and/or religious holidays. Students must inform the instructor in writing at least one week in advance of an excused absence. I will not supply what you miss by email or phone. It is your responsibility to conference with a peer to get this material or make an appointment to see me in person.
Grading Information
Grading:
Final grades in ENGL 1302 are A, B, C, F, and Z. Students must pass ENGL 1301 and ENGL 1302 with a grade of C or higher in order to move on to the next course. This policy is in place because of the key role that First-Year English courses play in students’ educational experiences at UTA.
The Z grade is reserved for students who attend class regularly, participate actively, and complete all the assigned work on time but simply fail to write well enough to earn a passing grade. This judgment is made by the instructor and not necessarily based upon a number average. The Z grade is intended to reward students for good effort. While students who receive a Z will not get credit for the course, the Z grade will not affect their grade point average. They may repeat the course for credit until they do earn a passing grade.
The F grade, which does negatively affect GPA, goes to failing students who do not participate actively in class, and/or do not complete assigned work.
Your final grade for this course will consist of the following:
Issue Proposal 15%
Annotated Bibliography 10%
Mapping the Issue 20%
Researched Position Paper 30%
Final Presentation 5%
Analytical Writing/Quizzes/Daily Work 15%
Participation [Other than Peer Review] 5%
Final grades will be calculated as follows: A=90-100%, B=80-89.99%, C=70-79.99%, F=69.99%-and below; Z=see the Z grade policy above.
All major essay projects (IP, AB, MI, and RPP) must be completed to pass the course. If you fail to complete an essay project, you will fail the course, regardless of your average. Keep all papers until you receive your final grade from the university. You cannot challenge a grade without evidence. Students are expected to keep track of their performance throughout the semester and seek guidance from available sources (including the instructor) if their performance drops below satisfactory levels.
Choosing a Topic: The assignments in English 1302 are set up to build upon one another throughout the course of the semester. Because of this, you will need to pick a topic for the Issue Proposal and then you will stay with that topic for the entire semester. You may not change your topic without permission from me. If you feel at some point after choosing a topic that you want to change topics, then you will need to make an appointment to see me so that we can discuss what this will require; however, if this happens you will be required to rewrite every assignment you have submitted to reflect the new topic. The new assignments would be graded and that grade would replace the grade you made on your first assignments, regardless of whether that grade is higher or lower.
Paper Reuse Policy: You are not allowed, under any circumstances, to reuse papers from prior classes in this course or any other course that you have taken at any institution. Reusing papers does not demonstrate any advance in knowledge or skill, and so would not be helpful for you either in terms of your learning this semester, or for me in terms of assessing this learning. If you feel your situation constitutes a clear or significant exception to this rule, you must discuss this with me prior to the due date of the first draft.
Turning in Assignments to Blackboard: All major assignments (IP, AB, MI, and RPP) in this course will be submitted to Blackboard. I will not accept any assignments via e-mail. All assignments submitted to Blackboard must be saved as a .doc or .docx file to ensure that I am able to open them on my computer. It is your responsibility to ensure that all of your work is saved in this way and submitted in the correct format. If you submit work in the wrong format, then you will receive a zero for the assignment.
Late Assignments: All assignments are due at the beginning of class on the due date specified. The only assignments accepted late will be the final drafts of the four major assignments in this course (IP, AB, MI, and RPP). Analytical Writings/Homework will not be accepted late. The four major assignments turned in after the class has begun will receive a ten-percent deduction unless the instructor has agreed to late submission in advance of the due date. For each calendar day following, the work will receive an additional ten percent deduction. Work is not accepted after three late days. If you must be absent, your work is still due on the assigned date.
Expectations for Out-of-Class Study:
A general rule of thumb is this: for every credit hour earned, a student should spend 3 hours per week working outside of class. Hence, a 3-credit course might have a minimum expectation of 9 hours of reading, study, etc. Beyond the time required to attend each class meeting, students enrolled in this course should expect to spend at least an additional 6 hours per week of their own time in course-related activities, including reading required materials, completing assignments, preparing for exams, etc.
Grade Grievances:
First Year English has a specific procedure that must be followed in order for a student to appeal a grade or any other matter related to their 1301/02 class. First, the student must communicate with the instructor in an attempt to resolve any matter in question. The next step is for students to communicate with the Director of First Year English. The Director will then advise students on the next official steps in any appeal process. Any appeal of a grade in this course must follow the procedures and deadlines for grade-related grievances as published in the current undergraduate / graduate catalog.
http://catalog.uta.edu/academicregulations/grades/#undergraduatetext
In attempting to resolve any student grievances regarding grades, it is the student’s obligation first to make a serious effort to resolve the matter with the individual with whom the grievance originated. Individual course instructors retain primary responsibility for assigning grades. The instructor’s judgment is final unless compelling evidence shows discrimination, preferential treatment or procedural irregularities. If students wish to appeal, their request must be submitted in writing—on an appeal form available in departmental or program offices—to the department chair or program director. The student has one calendar year from the date the grade is assigned to initiate the grievance. The normal academic channels are department chair or program director and then academic dean. However, before considering a grievance, the department chair or program director will refer the issue to a departmental or program committee of faculty. If the student does not find the committee’s decision acceptable, the student may appeal to the academic dean. The decision of the dean is final. Information specific to the procedures to be followed in each academic unit is available in the office of the academic dean.
The dean of the college or school in which a student is enrolled, or the Executive Director of University College if the student has not declared a pre-major or major, has jurisdiction over the student’s program of study, degree requirements and all other academic matters including grievances. However, students taking a course in a college or school other than the one in which they are primarily registered are subject to the dean of the college or school in which the course is offered concerning the course and academic grievances regarding the course.
For issues involving scholastic dishonesty, see the Academic Dishonesty entry in this section of the catalog.
