ENGL
302 B15:
Advanced Composition: Business
Fall 2006 Innovation Hall 333 T/TH 12:00 - 1:15 PM Instructor: Dr. Jessica Matthews Office: Robinson A 435 Email: jmatthe2@gmu.edu PH: 703-993-1171 Office Hours: W: 2:00 - 3:00 PM; F: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM or by appointment Prerequisites, Course Objectives, Technology Objectives, & Method of Instruction Course Requirements Essay Submission Guidelines Class Participation Grading Policy Attendance Policy Policy on Plagiarism & Turnitin.com The Writing Center Classroom Etiquette Dates to Remember REQUIRED TEXTS, SOFTWARE, and EMAIL CLIENT Harris, Robert A. Using Sources Effectively. 2nd ed. Glendale, CA: Pyrczak, 2005. ISBN: 1-884585-57-4 Johnson, June. Global Issues, Local Arguments: Readings for Writing. New York: Pearson, 2007. ISBN: 0-321-24423-0 Lunsford, Andrea A. Easy Writer: A Pocket Reference. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006. ISBN: 0-312-43309-3 *If you already own a writer's reference (such as the Diana Hacker text, A Writer's Reference, then you do not need to buy Easy Writer. You must, however, bring in your text or me so that I can verify that you have a comparable text. Additional required readings available on our WebCT course site Audacity: a free audio editing software for PC's and Macs. You can download Audacity at the following site: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/. iTunes: Apple's Music Store software for PC's and Macs that provides free access to over 15,000 podcasts. You can download iTunes for free at http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/. You will be creating a podcast for one of your assignments, but please note that you do not need to own an iPod or any other MP3 player to record and upload your podcast. We will also be working with EndNote bibliographic software. You can download EndNote for free by going to https://chimera.gmu.edu/endnote/prod/. You can also purchase the software on CD at Patriot Computer. The cost is $10.00. Email Client Students must activate their George Mason email account and check it regularly. This is the easiest way to communicate with me, and I frequently use it to communicate with you. In fact, GMU policy dictates that it is also the only way in which I will communicate with you via email. When you send messages to me, please comply with the email protocols that we will go over in class. I will not respond to messages that do not follow these guidelines. ENGL 302 Advanced Composition in Business prepares students who have successfully completed a general-level college writing course to do advanced level analysis and writing in their business major. The course emphasizes invention, revision, collaboration, and research in order to help students develop writing, reading, and critical thinking skills important to their academic success and future careers. One of the key components of this course is to introduce you to how business professionals and academics construct knowledge in their field. To help you understand how knowledge gets constructed in the field of business, you will read and discuss a range of texts and complete regular reading and writing exercises. Assignments include two essays, one annotated bibliography, one test, and the creation of a podcast that will be made available to all GMU students. This course focuses on the rhetorical skills you will need to communicate effectively in a business environment. People who succeed in this environment excel at performing the following tasks: • Finding, evaluating, and synthesizing vast amounts of information • Constructing persuasive arguments in clearly written, error-free prose • Using various types of communication technologies, such as email and online discussion lists, to effectively and efficiently convey their ideas Most of the readings and assignments encourage you to think specifically about the issue of globalization, an economic, social, and environmental trend that is transforming the way people live and how they do business. My hope is that you will learn how scholars and professional writers define the term, characterize its effects, and promote their own ideas about how people, companies, and nations can best survive in a global marketplace. ENGL 302 Section B15 is a WebCT course. Login directions and important course materials can be found at http://webct.gmu.edu. PREREQUISITES ENGL 302B is specifically designed for students in the School of Management. However, all students, regardless of discipline, who register for English 302 must meet the following prerequisites: · a minimum of 45 credit hours · credit for English 100 or English 101 · in degree programs that require 6 hours of literature, at least 3 must be taken prior to 302; 3 credits may be taken concurrently with English 302 COURSE OBJECTIVES The English Department's Composition Program has identified the following learning and writing goals as the objectives of ENGL 302: Student Learning Goals Discipline-based Goals: Students who successfully complete ENGL302 will be able to adapt their reading and writing to meet the expectations of their academic discipline and future workplace. They will be able to demonstrate the ability to
Students who successfully complete ENGL302 will demonstrate that they have continued to develop their research and writing strategies to an advanced level; they will be able to
The influence of technology, especially digital technology, has not only made the global workplace possible, it has also profoundly changed how we express ourselves and communicate with others. Our course will use digital tools to help us communicate with each other and conduct research. This course will include exercises designed to help students learn the following technology skills:
METHOD OF INSTRUCTION Learning to write is a little like learning to play a musical instrument: you won’t learn unless you practice—a lot. Because our class meets in a computer lab, you will get plenty of opportunities to practice your writing in class. You also learn by receiving responses to your writing from people who read your work. Throughout the course, there will be several opportunities for you to respond to the writing of your peers, and I, too, will give you feedback on your papers. Finally, you learn to be a better writer by reading examples of good writing. Each week we will read the work of writers who tackle complex ideas and express them in persuasive, well-defended arguments. These methods of instruction depend upon your participation, so it is important that you come to class and share your opinions about the work of your peers and the works included in the assigned readings. Remember our class is also a community, and I hope that together we can create an environment that will encourage everyone to make comments and to respectfully consider the opinions of other students. COURSE REQUIREMENTS
· ESSAY SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: For peer reviews, submit the draft of your essay to our WebCT site. We will be conducting peer review electronically rather than by paper. I will give you instructions in class on how to do this. All essays, both drafts and final versions, must be composed in Microsoft Word. Submit the final version of your essay electronically as a Word document. Send it to me as an attachment to an email. Use my Mason Mail address: jmatthe2@gmu.edu. Make certain that your subject line includes your name, section number, and title of the assignment. Here is an example of a good subject line: LastName ENGL 302 B15 Essay #1 Use the following format to title your document: LastName302B15Essay1.doc Please note that I cannot open .wps files In order for work to be submitted on time, I must receive your email with the attachment by 5:00 PM on the date the paper is due. Failing to attach the assignment is no excuse, and the late penalty will hold regardless. I grade papers electronically and return them to you via email. The presentation is of your work is important and does affect your grade. Check the format guidelines for the documentation style that you choose. There are examples of properly formatted MLA and APA papers in out text, Easy Writer. · CLASS PARTICIPATION: Class participation comprises 20% of your final grade, and I measure this effort through a combination of quizzes, in-class exercises, and discussion list posts. Since experience has taught me that you will "fall off the reading wagon" without some incentive to stay on it, there will be a short quiz, in-class exercise, or discussion list post for each assigned reading. You will take quizzes on WebCT and respond to topics via the "Discussion" tool on WebCT. The quizzes cannot be made up. I administer quizzes at the beginning of class, and discussion topics have a specified "shelf life." If you arrive late to class, you may not take the quiz. Be on time. If you must leave before the class is over, you will not get credit for the quiz. NOTE: I am aware that you have a life outside of school and may not always be able to attend class! Therefore I will drop the three lowest quiz scores before computing the final grade. Use these three quiz drops when you need to miss class. I do not provide additional quiz drops for illness, medical appointments, car emergencies, etc., except on rare occasions where I feel the situation warrants the exception. DUAL SUBMISSION: The “dual submission” option permits students to submit a paper written for ENGL 302 to meet the requirements in another course during the same semester. Students interested in the “dual submission” research paper option must obtain a copy of the research requirements from the other class and submit a letter to me requesting permission to proceed with the dual submission. You can find the instructions for dual submission and a link to the request form at http://www.gmu.edu/departments/english/composition/faculty/302dual.html. THIS OPTION REQUIRES APPROVAL BEFORE YOU BEGIN THE PAPER. WITHOUT PRIOR APPROVAL, I CONSIDER DUAL SUBMISSION AN ACT OF ACADEMIC DISHONESTY. GRADING POLICY You must complete all the requirements for the course in order to receive a passing grade. · GRADE SCALE: 94-100=A; 90-93=A-; 87-89=B+; 84-86=B; 80-83=B-; 77-79=C+; 76-74=C: 73-70=C-; 69-67=D; 66-64=-D; 63-60=D-; 59 or below=F. PLEASE NOTE: In order to get credit for ENGL 302, you must pass the course with a C. If you receive a grade of C- or lower, you will need to repeat the course. POLICY ON LATE ASSIGNMENTS & SUBMISSION GUIDELINES · LATE ASSIGNMENTS: Late papers will be accepted but will receive a penalty of one-half of a letter grade (5 points) per calendar day late, excluding weekends and holidays. I DO NOT ACCEPT LATE REVISIONS. POLICY ON ATTENDANCE: The George Mason University Catalog states: Students are expected to attend the class periods of the courses for which they register. In-class participation is important to the individual student and to the class as a whole. Because class participation may be a factor in grading, instructors may use absence, tardiness, or early departure as de facto evidence of non-participation. Students who miss an exam with an acceptable excuse may be penalized according to the individual instructor’s grading policy, as state in the course syllabus. To read the university policy, go to http://www.gmu.edu/catalog/apolicies/index.html#Anchor37. Accommodations for Students with Disabilities If you have a documented disability, please contact me as soon as possible. Please bring your faculty contact sheet with you (available from the Disability Resource Center) so that I can provide you with the appropriate accommodations. PLAGIARISM Claiming someone else's words or ideas as your own is a serious academic offense. Plagiarism is also having someone else provide so much "help" or "guidance" that the paper is no longer yours. We will spend time in this course learning about what does or does not constitute plagiarism. Below is the English Department's statement on plagiarism: English Department
Statement on
Plagiarism
Plagiarism means using the exact words, opinions, or factual information from another source without giving that source credit. Writers give credit through the use of accepted documentation styles, such as parenthetical citation, footnotes, or endnotes; a simple listing of books, articles, and websites is not sufficient. Plagiarism is the equivalent of intellectual robbery and cannot be tolerated in an academic setting. Student writers are often confused as to what should be cited. Some think that only direct quotations need to be credited. While direct quotations do need citations, so do paraphrases and summaries of opinions or factual information formerly unknown to the writers or which the writers did not discover themselves. Exceptions to this include factual information, which can be obtained from a variety of sources, the writers' own insights or findings from their own field research, (what has been called common knowledge). What constitutes common knowledge can sometimes be precarious; what is common knowledge for one audience may be so for another. In such situations, it is helpful to keep the reader in mind and to think of citations as being "reader friendly." In other words, writers provide a citation for any piece of information that they think their readers might want to investigate further. Not only is this attitude considerate of readers, it will almost certainly ensure that writers will not be guilty of plagiarism. I so submit confirmed instances of plagiarism directly to the Honor Committee for arbitration. If the Honor Committee finds you committed plagiarism, the penalties can be very harsh and long lasting. Don’t give in to temptation and plagiarize. The George Mason Honor Code offers more detail on plagiarism and its consequences. You can find it online at http://www.gmu.edu/catalog/apolicies/#Anchor13. IMPORTANT: This course subscribes to Turnitin.com, a plagiarism detection software. You will be able to use this software to check your essays for possible plagiarism before submitting your essay for a grade. My goal is to use this software to help you understand how to use secondary sources rather than to use it as punitive tool. We will spend a great deal of time in class before you submit your first essay learning how to incorporate the words and ideas of others into your own writing without committing plagiarism. THE WRITING CENTER Since you will be writing several papers in this course, you may want to visit the University Writing Center http://writingcenter.gmu.edu, located in Robinson A114, for assistance. The Writing Center is one of the best resources you will find on campus. They have an outstanding website that offers a wealth of online resources for student writers. Additionally, the tutors can provide help for all phases of the writing process, and if you tend toward procrastination, a scheduled appointment at the Writing Center is one way to discipline yourself. You can even obtain assistance with papers by visiting the online writing center at http://writingcenter.gmu.edu/owl/index.html, but please plan ahead and allow yourself at least two days to receive a response. You can schedule an appointment at the Writing Center at any time by going to https://therichco.com/wconline/gmu/schedule. CLASSROOM ETIQUETTE
Finally, please treat your fellow classmates with respect. This is a class where cultural differences will often arise as topics of discussion. You are welcome to express your opinion, but stick to the issue. No profanity or insults will be tolerated. DATES TO
REMEMBER
ENGL 302 B15
Fall 2006 Schedule of Classes
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