Communications 110 – Section A
Writing and Researching for Communication
Trinity Western University
Fall 2014
3 semester hours
Prerequisites: Writing 100 (or exemption). (Course req. for all
COMM majors)
Time: Tuesday & Thursday 9:25 – 10:40 am
Room: STR 16
Course Material can be found online on MyCourses
Instructor: Kevin Schut
Office: 119 Strombeck
Phone (off.): 888-7511 x3603
Email: Kevin.Schut@twu.ca
Office Hours: Mon. 1:30-2:30pm, Wed. 9-11am; other times by
appointment
Course Description
This writing-intensive course orients students to the demands of academic research and writing within the Communications major. By course
completion the diligent student should be able to write lucid, academic, and researched prose in the genres of cultural critique, scientific
reporting, and term papers. Central to the course are the twin emphases of critical thinking strategies and research methods in the
information age.
Student Learning Outcomes
Students should leave COMM110 with a clear orientation to writing expectations in the department and confidence in their abilities to meet
them. Students should develop:
1. An understanding of the different types of academic writing they will encounter in the communications program.
2. An understanding of and the ability to appropriately employ the standards and discourses of cultural criticism, scientific
reporting, and term paper writing.
3. An improved mastery of grammar, style, organization, and documentation of academic prose.
4. Advocacy and argumentation skills through critical thinking and writing critically.
5. Knowledge of the full array of evidence and ideas available to them through online and traditional research methods, and to
learn ways to guard against plagiarism in the handling of same.
6. An appreciation for the ethical requirements of research and writing within Christian and marketplace contexts.
More specifically, by semester end, students should be able to:
1. Articulate the types of academic writing expected of them in the TWU communications program
2. Understand academic research methods and documentation
3. Understand the sources and various forms of information available to them
4. Choose appropriate references sources to aid them in developing a working knowledge of their topic
5. Narrow topics and write focused research questions
6. Demonstrate the basic skills of Boolean & controlled vocabulary searching, and be able to describe the differences between them
7. Use a bibliographic manager effectively to create a bibliography that conforms to the required style guide (MLA or APA)
8. Write well within three genres
9. Analyze documents through critical thinking and be able to articulate the difference between poor, average, and good writing
Required Texts
Badke, William. Research Strategies, 5th edition. iUniverse, 2014.
Little, Brown Handbook. You should have a copy of this handbook from English classes. Keep it! Use it!
Murray, Donald M. Writing to Learn. 8th ed. Toronto: Thomson Wadsworth, 2005.
O'Conner, Patricia T. Woe is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to English in Plain English. 3rd ed. Toronto: Penguin, 2009.
Recommended Reading
Peterson, Lois J. 101 Writing Exercises. 2nd ed. Vancouver: Metta, 2007.
Truss, Lynne. Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Grammar. New York: Penguin, 2004.
Zinsser, William. On Writing Well. 6th ed. New York: HarperCollins, 1998. Everyone should read and possess a copy of Zinsser.
Course Requirements
This is very much a hands-on course. The personal assignments are designed to help you understand your strengths and correct your
weaknesses as a writer. The following list breaks them down and gives brief descriptions. You will find assignment sheets on MyCourses with
further details—do not attempt to do these assignments based on the overly-brief summaries given here!
Wiki article(s) - 10% of final grade
Everyone will contribute at least one article (250-500 words) to the class wiki on one of the 20 most troublesome elements of grammar
(perhaps one with which you struggle). You will read each other’s contributions; critique in class; edit; and perhaps add to stubs of articles.
The end result will be a custom textbook on grammar to which everybody has contributed a new-found “expert” knowledge. You will present
your topics in class throughout the semester, preferably with PowerPoint presentation and/or online materials. Due: According to sign-up
Information Literacy Assignments - 20% of final grade
1
The following 5 assignments will be interspersed through the course. They focus on the information literacy skills needed to produce a high
quality academic essay and will lead the student through the process required to complete the exploratory essay (see below). Detailed
assignment information will be distributed and discussed in class.
Assignment 1: Specialized reference sources. Due: Oct. 2
Assignment 2: Research questions and catalog searches. Due: Oct. 9
Assignment 3: Scholarly journal articles. Due: Oct. 16
Assignment 4: Preliminary bibliography. Due: Oct. 23
Assignment 5: Response to instructor's comments. Due: Dec. 3
Personal essay - 10% of final grade
A short (500 word) essay that we’ll use as a way of getting to know you through casual, personal writing. You’ll use a variety of writing
prompts to stimulate the process, like: “Failures to Communicate,” “Good/Bad Bosses,” etc. This may take the form of a rant about a pet
peeve or passion. DRAFT due: Thursday Sept. 18 1 HOUR BEFORE CLASS; FINAL due: Thursday Sept. 25 at midnight
Journalistic Profile or Cultural Critique - 10% of final grade
A slightly longer assignment (500-750 words). Choose from one of these options, depending on your communication stream:
(a) Profile. Interview and write a journalistic profile of someone. You’ll focus on journalistic concerns and writing conventions.
(b) Cultural critique. Engaging with and critiquing culture by critiquing/reviewing a TV show, movie, video game, etc. You’ll use the
vocabulary, format, style, etc. of media studies.
Due: DRAFT due Tuesday Oct. 7 1 HOUR BEFORE CLASS; FINAL due Tuesday Oct 14 at midnight
Writing in the social sciences - 10% of final grade
You will read two or three scholarly articles in scientific journals and write a 500-word article suitable for a “Communication Science Gazette”
summarizing the articles’ findings, or similar descriptive task. Example: a particular media effects model applied to television. Due: DRAFT
due Tues. Oct. 21 1 HOUR BEFORE CLASS; FINAL due Thursday Oct 30 at midnight
Exploratory Essay - 20% of final grade
This final project will combine many of the lessons you have learned to this point in the semester. You will develop a paper of discovery
based on the topic of your personal essay. As you explore, you will supplement your writing with appropriate research, which will be the
subject of the information literacy assignments, and an interview. You’ll be assessed on the quality of the prose, organization and structure,
quality of research and interviews, and the overall impact of the essay. Everyone in the course will critique each other’s work, suggest
research strategies, brainstorm topics, etc. Draft Due: Thurs. Nov. 6 1 HOUR BEFORE CLASS; FINAL due Tues. Dec. 2
Class Participation & Class Forum Posts - 20% of final grade
There are three parts to your class participation grade. First is attendance: you may have two unexcused absences this semester. Any more
unexcused absences will result in a reduction of your class participation grade (see attendance policy at the end of the syllabus for more
details). Second, we will have numerous exercises and bits of work that will not necessarily be graded, but will count toward your class
participation grade. Finally, there will be a class forum on MyCourses that you must post on weekly (minimum 250 words) to comment on
the assigned readings, post drafts of formal assignments, and comment on and offer constructive critique of each other’s work (comment on
2 posts). Postings due: Every week
Grade Breakdown
The maximum # of points available in this class is 1000:
Wiki article
Research assignments (cumulative)
Personal essay assignment
Profile or cultural criticism assignment
Writing for social sciences
Capstone assignment (Parts I & II)
Class participation
100
200
100
100
100
200
200
Grading system (Standard TWU system)
A+ 90-100%
B+ 77-79%
A 85-89%
B 73-76%
A- 80-84%
B- 70-72%
D+ 57-59%
D 53-56%
D- 50-52%
I will use the following standards, developed by Loranne Brown, to
inform what my grades mean:
A A superlative grasp of materials and concepts. Outstanding
application of imagination and style. Publishable as is;
meets professional standards.
A- Publishable with minor editing
B+ Publishable with some editing
B An above-average grasp of materials and
concepts. Fundamentals are employed with
flair. Publishable with moderate editing.
C+ 67-69%
C 63-66%
C- 60-62%
F Below 50%
B- Publishable with significant editing.
C Average grasp of material and concepts, consistent effort in
weekly assignments, and an ability to incorporate the
fundamentals of grammar and style. Publishable with
major editing.
C- Same as above, but contains some minor grammar, spelling
errors, etc. or one serious error.
D Requires extensive rewriting or contains multiple errors.
F Unacceptable work; contains serious factual errors. Or,
failure to submit assignment.
2
(Tentative) Course schedule
Important! The readings and class topics may change if necessary! Please keep current with the discussions in class. If you can’t be present
for some reason, please contact another student in the class to find out what you missed.
WEEK
TUESDAY CLASS
THURSDAY CLASS
1
Sept
4
Welcome to Writing and Researching for
Communications!
2
Sept
9
Informal writing – personal essay
Getting started: writing prompts
Read: Murray, Chapters 1 - 3.
Sept
11
Samples of published personal essays.
Starting the wiki. Assigning articles.
Read: Murray, Ch. 5 - 8
3
Sept
16
Developing the draft.
Structure: sentence, paragraph, essay
Read: Murray, Ch. 9, 13 - 15
Sept
18
Critiquing the draft. Guidelines for peer critique
Read: Murray, Ch. 16 - 18
Draft personal essay due 1 hour before class.
4
Sept
23
How to edit drafts.
Further Critiquing
Read: Murray Ch. 19 - 21
Sept
25
Internet Research – Finding and Evaluating Information
on the Web
Read: Badke Ch. 1 & 6
Final personal essay due today.
5
Sept
30
Journalism and cultural criticism. Structuring
arguments and using/evaluating evidence.
Storytelling & interviewing
Read: Murray Ch. 22, 25, 26 (up to p. 288 only)
Oct 2
Informational Research Model & Writing Research
Questions
Read: Badke Ch. 2
6
Oct
7
Critiquing & editing Profile/Cultural Criticism
Read: Badke, Ch. 8,9; Woe preface, intro, Ch. 1
Drafts of Profile or cultural criticism due 1 hour
before class.
Oct 9
Databases, the Library Catalogue and Boolean Searching
Read: Badke Ch. 4
7
Oct
14
Writing in the Social Sciences
Read: Woe Ch. 2
Final Profile/Cultural Criticism due today.
Oct
16
Introduction to Journals, Journal Databases and Endnote
Basic
Read: Badke Ch. 5
8
Oct
21
Critique Group meetings
Read: Woe Ch. 3, 4
Drafts of Social Science paper due 1 hour before
class.
Oct
23
Keywords, Controlled Vocabulary, Plagiarism
Read: Badke Ch. 3
9
Oct
28
Critique Groups or Catch-up day
Read: Woe 1st half Ch. 5 (p. 79-103)
Oct
30
Working on Exploratory Essays
Read: Woe 2nd half Ch. 5 (p. 104-127)
Final Social Science paper due today.
10
Nov
4
Working on Exploratory Essays
Read: Woe Ch. 6
Nov 6
Working on Exploratory Essays
Read: Woe Ch. 7
Drafts of Exploratory Essay due 1 hour before class.
11
Nov
11
Reading Break (NO CLASS)
Nov
13
Working on Exploratory Essays
Read: Woe Ch. 8
12
Nov
18
Working on Exploratory Essays
Read: Woe Ch. 9, 10
Nov
20
Working on Exploratory Essays
Read: Woe Ch. 11
13
Nov
25
Working on Exploratory Essays
Read Woe Ch. 12
Nov
27
Working on Exploratory Essays
14
Dec
2
Last class.
Exploratory Essay due
3
The really small print: Policies and Procedures
TWU, of course, has far more policies and procedures than I can cram into this syllabus. I will not be held responsible for problems resulting from guidelines not mentioned here.
However, for your convenience, I want to highlight a few important issues.
Campus Closure Policy & Disruption of classes
In the event of extreme weather conditions or other emergency situations, please consider the website the primary source of information, along with the TWU bulletin line
(604.513.2147). The University will communicate information regarding the cancellation of classes to the following radio stations: CKNW (980 AM), CKWX (1130 AM), STAR FM
(107.1 FM), PRAISE (106.5 FM) and KARI (550 AM). Should there be conflicting reports regarding class cancellations, the TWU website and bulletin line are to be considered
correct. The first announcement regarding status of campus is made at 6:00AM and covers the period up to 1:00PM. The second announcement is made at 10:00AM that will
cover afternoon classes. Students and faculty should assume that all night classes will continue to operate. A third announcement covering evening classes is made at 3:00PM.
Although unlikely, it may be necessary to temporarily transition to MyCourses for online delivery. Please check MyCourses announcements periodically, and be prepared to
transition to MyCourses if necessary.
Policy on late assignments
Most assignments will be due at midnight of the due date. Please look at the assignment details for each specific assignment, however, as some might be due at the time of
class. Unless you can provide documented evidence of a valid excuse (as per the policy below), your assignment will lose ten percent of its value per day that it is late. That
means I will grade the assignment normally, and then subtract ten percent per late day. I want to absolutely clear on this: weekends do not count as one day! Because you can
send me your file via email, Saturday and Sunday are just as amenable to handing in the assignment as Thursday or Friday. In other words, each calendar day counts as a late
day. For example, if a paper is due on a Friday, and you hand it in on the following Monday, it is considered three days late, meaning that after I grade the assignment, I will
subtract thirty percent from your grade.
Attendance Policy
In addition to the attendance requirement (see Class Participation description above), the following policy from the Undergraduate Academic Calendar will be followed: “[The]
instructor may bar a student from writing the final examination where a student has been absent without permission or legitimate cause for more than one-quarter of the
classes.” If you miss more than one class in a row or you miss significant number of days, I will start carefully recording your absences. In addition, the instructor will not be
held responsible for information missed on days the student is absent, including announcements that modify the syllabus.
Policy on excused absences & excused late assignments
Obviously, people get sick or get in car accidents or have deaths in the family, etc. and these are valid excuses for missing class or handing in assignments a day or two late.
However, an excused absence requires two things. First, if possible it requires advance notification, which means telling me you about your problem before you skip or hand in
something late. Second, it requires documented proof of the reason for the absence. If you’re sick, this means proof that you visited a doctor (this does not have to be a
doctor’s note, which are highly irritating to many doctors)—the rationale being that if you’re sick enough to skip class, you’re sick enough to get help. If you have a death in the
family, please produce some kind of document associated with the funeral (an order of ceremony, an obituary, etc.); this seems almost heartless, but there are unscrupulous
students who will actually lie about death in their families, and if I require documentation across the board, then I don’t need to make any judgment calls. If there is some
other kind of reason for missing, please talk it through with me.
Complaints and problems
You can find a very thorough set of procedures for lodging formal complaints in your Student Handbook. I hope, however, that you never need to use it. If you have a problem
with me or with the class, please talk with me about it first before going to somebody else—I may not even be aware of the issue, and I would like to have the chance to resolve
whatever you perceive as a problem. If meeting with me does not resolve the issue to your satisfaction, or you feel the issue is too sensitive to discuss with me, then talk with
Dr. David Squires, Dean of the School of the Arts, Media + Culture (SAMC). If this fails to remedy the situation, Dr. Squires or your Student Handbook can provide guidance for
further action.
Policy on Disabilities
There are many different learners at our university. You may face learning challenges—whether physical, emotional or mental—that many students do not experience or
understand. If this is the case, I am able to make some accommodations that won’t make the course any easier, but will hopefully allow you to show me the full potential of
your thinking abilities. Any student who wishes to arrange special learning accommodations needs to have documentation approved by the Equity of Access office. To do so,
talk to the Director of Equity of Access, Dave Stinson, in the Learning Resource Centre (phone: 604.513.2025 ext. 3404). If you have any questions about this process, please
talk to me; you may be certain that I will handle all such discussions with complete confidentiality. You may also find information at:
http://www.twu.ca/life/wellness/learningresources/equity.aspx
Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty
TWU has a strict policy on plagiarism (see http://www.twu.ca/academics/calendar/2011-2012/academic-information/academic-policies/academic-dishonesty-andplagiarism.html). My hope is that you will do your own work in this class. This means that with written work, you will 1) use quotation marks around quoted material from
other sources, 2) include citations to indicate where you got a quotation, 3) use in-text notes to indicate where you found key ideas (even if you did not quote a source wordfor-word), 4) that you will not hire or ask someone else to write your paper, 5) that you will not buy a paper online and 6) that if you hire a tutor to help with your English
(which I encourage) you will keep evidence of this editing and that the tutor will not re-write any of the paper for you. If you do not follow these guidelines or if I have other
evidence of cheating, I will most likely give an “F” for the assignment in question, and if the cheating is serious or repeated, I may pursue more serious consequences, such as
failure of the course and possible expulsion from TWU. I will, at the very least, report all evidence of plagiarism and cheating to the Dean of the School of the Arts, Media +
Culture (SAMC) and the Provost’s office. All written subjects are required to be submitted in electronic format via the online anti-plagiarism software service called “TurnItIn.”
An excellent resource describing plagiarism and how to avoid it has been prepared by TWU Librarian William Badke and is freely available for download (PPT file) or used as
flash (self running) tutorials of varying lengths from: http://www.acts.twu.ca/lbr/plagiarism.ppt; http://www.acts.twu.ca/lbr/Plagiarism.swf (14 minute flash tutorial);
http://www.acts.twu.ca/lbr/Plagiarism_Short.swf (8 minute flash tutorial).
In-class Discussions
This class is meant to be a place where we can consider and engage many different issues and perspectives. We can do this best by making sure it is a safe place to share and
critique. Obviously, we have to be able to judge ideas as positive or negative, but I want to encourage students to avoid attacking other class members for what they share.
We can create an atmosphere hostile to people with atypical beliefs in many subtle ways. I want, therefore, to encourage the development of space full of respect and
toleration in the most positive senses of those words.
Scent-free Campus
TWU is committed to a safe and healthy environment for faculty, staff, students and the larger community who come to campus. We are asking for voluntary cooperation
towards a scent reduced environment in all buildings and off campus locations occupied by faculty, staff, and students. And, we are providing the steps for responding to
scented-related issues. Further, we are encouraging avoidance or reduction of the use of scented products and to replace them with unscented alternatives.
Course Fees
You have been charged a fee of $10 for this course. The money goes toward the extensive printing and photocopying costs of the course.
Policy on Murlocs
Mrglglglglhgl blraghlml mrglglglglglglglglglghlgh!
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