Explanation for the need of a Writing Expectation rather than a single Upper Division
Writing Class in the Major:
1. The Classics Section of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures
considers its participation in the General Education curriculum a vital part of its
“mission.” To this end, it offers a number of courses contributing to various
General Education perspectives. Additionally, it offers classes contributing to the
requirements of other majors (most notably History). These course often attract
enrollments far exceeding the 25 person cap required of writing courses. This
expectation allows the Classics section to continue to offer a wide variety of
courses for General Education and other disciplines while still devoting attention
to the writing and research needs of majors in the discipline. Due to staffing
constraints, the section cannot offer a writing course devoted to its majors without
reducing the number of service courses it contributes.
2. (a corollary to 1.) The Classics section has been reduced from 4 FTE to 3 FTE.
By spreading the requirements for the writing requirement over three classes, the
section can maintain a high standard of writing instruction for the majors without
overburdening one faculty member.
3. Distributing completion of the writing expectation through a variety of courses
allows specialists to focus instruction in the various tools (e.g. journal databases,
texts databanks, art and artifact databases) and conventions used by subdisciplines of Classics (e.g. Philology vs Philosophy).
Upper-Division Writing Expectation for majors in Classical Languages, Classical
Civilizations, and Latin:
Students majoring in Classical Languages, Classical Civilizations, or Latin will complete
the Upper-Division Writing Expectation by completing three courses from the following
list as well as a one-credit Research and Writing tutorial. Ordinarily, students will be
expected to take the Research and Writing Tutorial when beginning the series of classes
contributing to the Upper-Division Writing Expectation. In exceptional cases, a student
may register for the Research and Writing Tutorial after already beginning the series of
classes contributing to the Writing Expectation. There is no sequence for the series of
classes; students may choose the classes based on their own intellectual interests but are
advised to select a broad range of disciplines. Students will inform the instructor of a
class that the class will contribute to his/her Upper-Division Writing Expectation. The
course requirements may differ slightly for majors taking the class as part of the Writing
Expectation from those requirements for other students.
Classes contributing to the Upper-Division Writing Expectation:
CLAS 320 Women in Antiquity
CLAS 360 Ancient Greek Civilization and Culture
CLAS 362 Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy
CLAS 365 The Roots of Western Ethics
HSTR 301 Ancient Greek Social History
HSTR 302 Ancient Greece
HSTR 304 Ancient Rome
In special circumstances, students may arrange with the faculty for an upper-division
language class (LATN 311 or GRK 300) to contribute to the Writing Expectation.
The Upper-Division Writing Expectation will fulfill the learning outcomes in the
following ways:
1. Identify and pursue more sophisticated questions for academic inquiry: Each
course contributing to the Writing Expectation will require students to complete at least
one thesis-driven writing assignment. Examples of writing assignments from various
courses are attached…
2. Find, evaluate, analyze, and synthesize information effectively from diverse
sources: The Research and Writing Tutorial will include a library session demonstrating
various techniques and resources used by classicists for research. The study of Classics
is by its nature interdisciplinary; it is not unusual for students to read history, literature,
and philosophy in a history or philosophy course. Students learn strategies for analysis
dependent on the various disciplines used by classicists in the courses contributing to the
writing expectation. For example, in CLAS 360, students learn to analyze and synthesize
primary sources from literary, philosophical, and historical texts. Students may focus on
one type of source (e.g. history), but through the combination of courses will learn to
synthesize information from diverse sources.
3. Manage multiple perspectives as appropriate:
4. Recognize the purposes and needs of discipline-specific audiences and adopt the
academic voice necessary for the chosen discipline: The courses contributing to the
Writing Expectation will often involve a variety of disciplines and sub-disciplines. A
student will encounter a variety of different types of assignments requiring attention to
different types of audiences and the conventions/voices best suited to addressing those
audiences.
5. Use multiple drafts, revision, and editing in conducting inquiry and preparing
written work: Students enrolled in the classes listed above generally have the option to
submit drafts and revise written assignments. Students indicating that the class
contributes to the Writing Expectation will be required to submit drafts and revise the
paper based on instructor feedback.
6. Follow the conventions of citation, documentation, and formal presentation
appropriate to that discipline: Students will be introduced to the conventions for
citation and documentation in the Research and Writing Tutorial and will be required to
demonstrate consistently accurate use in the assignments submitted in classes
contributing to the Writing Expectation.
7. Develop competence in information technology and digital literacy: Students will
be introduced to the electronic resources and on-line tools typically used by Classicists in
the Research and Writing Tutorial. Students will incorporate the use of information
technology and the digital literacy skills in the assignments submitted in classes
contributing to the Writing Expectation.
New Course to be proposed: CLAS ### Research and Writing Tutorial 1 credit:
Overview of the course: This course will be offered in conjunction with one of the upperdivision “Civilization”courses offered each semester. Majors will be required to register
for the Research and Writing Tutorial together with an Upper-Division Civ. course once
in during their studies. The Research and Writing Tutorial will function as a writing lab
for that course. The syllabus for the Tutorial will change depending on the syllabus of
the course to which it is appended. Nevertheless, the basic framework of the class will
remain the same.
1. Information Technology and Digital literacy skills: In conjunction with a
representative from the Mansfield Library, students will have workshops and
training in the various resources typically used by Classicists. These resources
include various journal databases (e.g. JSTOR), on-line bibliography (e.g. L'annee
Philologique), Text databanks (Thesaurus Linguae Graecae). Workshops will
cover bibliography management, search strategies in general and those necessary
for searching text databanks.
2. More robust assignment staging: Students will follow a series of stages before
submitting the final draft of an assignment. Those stages may vary from semester
to semester or instructor to instructor but will at minimum include a rough draft
and final draft incorporating the instructor's feedback. Other stages may include
(1) paper topic assignment, (2) annotated bibliography, (3) an abstract, (4) precis
assignment, (5) peer revision.
3. More individualized attention to a particular student's interests and instructional
needs through small-group (or one-on-one) tutorial sessions.