English 2 is designed as a writing workshop where you will learn strategies for writing academic papers, conducting and writing up research, and improving your overall writing skills. The course will focus on academic writing, beginning with what academic writers must do before they write a research paper: you will learn how to use the Internet to build a base of background knowledge on a new subject; how to develop in-depth research questions based on a general knowledge of a subject; how to read and annotate discipline-specific texts; how to evaluate, summarize, synthesize, and analyze a range of different print and electronic texts; how to analyze a topic/assignment and use all that you know to respond to it; how to focus your knowledge and organize your ideas; and how to focus a topic for research. You will select a research topic, find sources, and practice the skills you learn in the course by compiling an annotated bibliography and a comparison of sources. Next you will learn how to refine your relationship with your audience and structure a piece of writing accordingly. As you read the texts you have selected for your research, you will practice summary, analysis, classification, synthesis, and comparison by writing about that material. This will lead you to the major component of the course: a 10-15-page thesis-driven research paper. Finally, you will take the research you did for the paper and refocus it for a different audience, purpose, and genre (i.e.: you will take a formal research paper and present the information in a different format for a non-academic audience).

At each stage of the process you will learn how to evaluate your own writing and that of others, making you a more effective editor and writer. As you become more of an expert writer, you will learn how to understand the writings of others more fully: how to perceive their thesis, analyze the assumptions they make about their audience, and follow their overall patterns of organization.

If you do the work in this class, ENGL 2 will:

1) Build on your ability to imagine topics and questions for further research as you read and consider material in different classes and as you go about your daily life;

2) Increase the precision of your thoughts by helping you to use primary and secondary resources to develop and support theories and explore responses to them;

3) Expand your library research skills and expertise using the print books, journals, and documents, and online databases and resources appropriate for college-level research papers;

4) Increase the flexibility of your writing by providing strategies to help you generate, expand, organize, and draft ideas and information into effective papers;

5) Facilitate your entry into the academic discourse community and invite you to join the ongoing print conversation about your topic using an effective prose style and articulation of ideas, and also to join an active research community through class discussion and collaboration;

6) Strengthen your ability to correctly and ethically use ideas and information gathered through research and indicate that use so others may build on your research;

7) Develop your ability to refocus information and texts for different audiences and purposes and use scholarly research for non-academic purposes;

8) Enhance your technological skills both in basic word processing and in the creation of web pages, brochures, slides, or other mixed media documents

We will measure these outcomes in your formal and informal writing, class participation and presentations, and the final portfolio, and your grade for the course will be based upon them.

Should you require academic accommodations, you must file a request with the Office of Educational Affairs (BC 114, extension 3327). It is your responsibility to self-identify with the Office of Educational Affairs and to provide me with the appropriate documentation from that office at least one week prior to any request for specific course accommodations. There are no retroactive accommodations.

Anson, Chris, Robert Schwegler, and Marcia Muth. The Longman Writer’s Companion, Drew edition. Longman, 2007

Please also buy:

° a good dictionary—the heavier the better,

° pens of several colors (at least one green, purple or red),

° two plain loose paper manila folders to hold portfolio work, and for handing in work

° a working laptop computer (does not have to be the standard Drew computer, but it must be a laptop—you’ll be writing in class, in the library, and in your meetings with me). IF YOUR LAPTOP IS BROKEN OR YOU CANNOT GET ONLINE TELL ME IMMEDIATELY AND APPLY FOR A LOANER!

Our main text will be your writing, so you must bring all of the handouts and homework assignments for Engl. 2 and all of the work you have done on them to every class and conference. You must also save all of your computer work in the k:drive, in your F:drive, and on your hard drive or a flash drive/memory stick. (computer failure is not an acceptable excuse for lost or incomplete work in this class. Don't take any risks).

You will write something for every class, and there is one major paper, but there are several parts to the final project. The first asks you to annotate possible sources for your paper; the second asks you to compare four sources on your topic; the third invites you to present brief definitions of your topic for a variety of audiences; the fourth is the research paper; and the fifth is the information from the research paper refocused to meet a different audience and purpose. Each assignment will be handed in on the due dates indicated on the schedule, and any revisions will be handed in along with the drafts and other work in a portfolio at the end of the class.

Grade breakdown:

- Research, annotated bibliography, drafts, notes, comparison of sources: 20% of the final grade

- Academic research paper: 45% of the final grade

- Refocused research for another purpose and brief definitions: 25% of the final grade

- Participation in and preparation for class discussion and workshops: 10% of the final grade

Like any community, the classroom community requires work to create and maintain, and there are consequences for those who in any way undermine this community or fail to do their share of the work necessary to maintain it. These consequences will be felt by all because the classroom community will not work if students do not make it work. They will also be felt by the individual responsible. Students must attend class, be prepared for class, be willing to share their ideas, and be respectful of the ideas of others. Lack of respect for classmates will not be tolerated in this class.

The larger academic community depends on the generation of and willingness to share and discuss ideas in dialog and in written texts. For this reason, plagiarism will not be tolerated in those seeking to remain in the academic community. (Please see Drew’s “Academic Integrity Policy” if you are unsure what it means to use sources correctly, and The Longman’s Writer’s Companion to correctly create works cited lists and bibliographies.)

This is college, so I should not have to post classroom management rules you should have learned in elementary school. If you are unsure how we expect college students to behave, it is your responsibility to ask. If I find I have accidentally strayed into an elementary class, I will be happy to post the most draconian of rules. Don’t make me do that!