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Writing Based Inquiry Seminar
American History and Culture: Music and Cultural Identity
www.english.uwosh.edu
www.english.uwosh.edu/wbis/
Instructor: Dr. Stephen McCabe
Phone: (920) 424-2205
Office Hrs: MWF 9:10-10:10/appointment
Office: Radford 309
email: mccabes@uwosh.edu
Course Purposes and Assumptions
Introduction:
Whether you listen to country music, hip hop, punk, jam, jazz, techno, screamo, death metal or
any combination of the above, you probably have a sense of some of the history of these
genres, the social and cultural systems that led to their development, the influences one type of
music has had upon another. Music is a profoundly generative and interconnected cultural
product and often demonstrates in very interesting ways in which different cultures interact,
borrow, and exchange ideas, values, and traditions. Similarly, for some people, some of these
genres of music are often tied in with perceptions and misperceptions about their own culture
and identity as well as their perceptions about the cultures and identities of others.
The subheading for our course is “Music and Cultural Identity” and we will explore the
relationships between music and cultural identity, the limits of those relationships, and even
their possible fallacies. By reading, analyzing, and discussing a variety of academic and
popular texts, articles, films, and digital resources, we will explore the role of music in culture
and identity in an effort to better understand it. In the second half of the semester, we will then
branch out in our own research area and research your individual interests that emerge from
our group exploration of the subject matter, culminating in a research essay that will develop
from the drafts and response essays you’ve produced during the semester.
WBIS PROGRAM GOALS
The Writing-Based Inquiry Seminars (WBIS) will help students strengthen their writing,
reading, and thinking skills within an academic context that will prepare them for their future
college work. The goals and objectives of the Writing-Based Inquiry Seminar program are the
following:
Writing process strategies. Students will develop a set of strategies to generate ideas and to
revise and edit their writing through successive drafts. In addition, students will engage in
critical reflections of their texts and of their writing processes. Students will also become aware
of how the relationships between audience, purpose, context, and genre shape the meaning and
function of any text, including their own.
Synthesis of sources. Students will gain practice with analytical and argumentative writing,
both of which necessitate an ability to integrate sources logically and grammatically; to use
summary, paraphrase, and quotations appropriately and effectively; to use the appropriate
documentation style; and to meet academic expectations of grammatical and mechanical
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correctness in final papers.
Critical analysis. Students will develop skills in critical evaluation and decision-making. This
will involve evaluating one's own writing and the writing of peers and professionals. Students
will also be faced with evaluating different sources of information, which may include print
media, film, and the Internet, as well as primary sources.
Technology. Students will learn to use available writing technologies effectively. They will
learn to efficiently locate and evaluate information found through online sources.
Collaborative work. Students will learn to work cooperatively within groups to make
decisions and to solve problems.
This course will provide you with the opportunity to practice strategies that college-level
writers use to generate ideas for academic inquiry. One such strategy is close reading, an
engaged kind of reading that requires you to question what you read. Your writing in this
course will be based on your close readings and interpretations of both assigned texts and texts
that you encounter as part of your research. Reading this way may be a new experience for
you, and it may feel odd at first, especially since we will be reading the same text more than
once. This recursive, active engagement with texts is one of the strategies we will practice in
this class.
Throughout the semester, we will also consider the many purposes for writing, including
exploratory writing, or writing that we use to work out our responses to the complex and
competing issues, ideas, and readings we’ll encounter in this class. We will also be asked to
write essays that employ a variety of techniques and serve different purposes so that we might
develop a variety of tools we can use depending upon the different writing situations we’ll
encounter in our future academic and vocational lives. This might suggest that there’s not
necessarily just one correct way to write in a given academic situation, but in fact many. It is
thus part of our job as writers to make appropriate decisions concerning tone, jargon, structure,
and the like, depending on the purpose for our writing in each situation. So we will not just
practice writing but also practice active decision-making and analyze how more experienced
and published writers handle these rhetorical and formal decisions in their own writing. We
will also practice techniques for interrogating, synthesizing, and integrating the ideas of other
writers into our own writing in an effort to enter larger academic and cultural conversations
already in progress, and to contribute our own perspectives and ideas to those conversations.
During the first half of the semester we will be reading common texts (texts that everyone in
class will read). Then in the second half of the semester you will move into your own research
areas (which will build out of the discussions and common readings from the first half of the
semester). You will then be asked to find, research, read, and respond to the ideas and
arguments to you find in scholarly (peer-reviewed) articles and essays, newspaper and
mainstream magazine articles, as well as government documents and electronic media sources.
Your own research interests will culminate in an eight page research essay (not a report, but an
essay that articulates your argument, or perspective, or ideas concerning the issues you’ve
researched). This research essay will, in fact, be your formal entry into the academic
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conversation already in progress, and so this essay should contribute new insights to the
discussion.
Course Practices
Assignments:
Assignments in this course will range from informal responses to assigned readings to essay
drafts and essay revisions. The assignments that you will be completing over the course of the
semester lead you through the process of academic inquiry, resulting in a long piece of
research writing and a shorter inquiry analysis essay. Each assignment in this sequence asks
you to do something different: reading responses give you the chance to try out ideas without
having to commit to them, reflective writing requires you to think critically about your own
work, paper proposals ask you to formulate and revise research questions, and revisions of
your research writing require you to consider the rules of writing we will refer to as academic
writing conventions. Since we will often use the assignment that is due each day as the basis
for class exercises and discussions, you won’t be able to participate in class unless you have
your assignment with you.
Discussion and participation:
As this course description has suggested already, in this class we are not looking for a single or
correct way of reading and understanding texts, so we need each other to help explore the
limits and possibilities of our own ideas and interpretations. Expect to do this in class, with
small group work and large group discussions, and outside class, in revision groups and
conferences. Unlike other classes where only you and the instructor read your papers, in this
class you will be exchanging your writing with your colleagues during class. Collaborative
writing practices like this may be difficult at first if you aren’t used to sharing your writing and
commenting on others’ writing, but they are very useful when considering the demands of
college-level writing. After all, reading and writing is something we do with and for others,
although we sometimes don’t think of it that way. For this reason, it’s important to be willing
to join the conversation (through your writing and discussion) about the published essays and
about one another’s’ writing.
Group conferencing:
Toward the end of the semester, we will be meeting at least once in small groups to discuss
your research essay drafts. You will distribute your essay to your group members the week
before we are scheduled to meet in groups so that everyone has time to read and comment
before we meet. Group conferences are designed for you to have the experience of giving
critical feedback to your classmates in order to gain perspective on your own work in the
course. You will be able to sign up for a time convenient for you including class time since
classes are not scheduled during conference weeks. These conferences are a requirement of the
class; you must participate in this conference meeting in order to submit your final research
paper for a grade.
Journaling:
A one-full-page, double-spaced journal entry is required for every reading and film we
encounter in this class. If there is more than one reading for a given day, you will only need to
write one total page, but may discuss both readings in your journal response. Journals will be
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turned in twice during the semester (the first half at mid-semester and the second half at the
end of the semester). While journal entries are not graded, they are an opportunity for you to
explore your thinking and questions about a subject or text. You may also choose to
incorporate some of the ideas and writing from your journal into your formal essays and even
your final research essay.
Course policies
Attendance policy:
A student’s success in a course like this one is directly related to the student’s attendance in the
course. For this reason, a student who misses more than two weeks of class cannot pass the
course. For a class like this one that meets three days a week, that means that if you miss more
than six classes, you will not be able to submit a final paper. Also, because this is a
collaborative and discussion-based class, being more than five minutes late--or leaving more
than five minutes early—can be very disruptive. For this reason, I will record late arrivals and
early departures and it will affect the calculation of your attendance/participation grade. If you
are very late (15 minutes or more) or leave very early, I will record an absence for that day’s
class. If this attendance/tardiness policy seems like it may create scheduling challenges this
semester, it may be in your best interest to drop the class and retake it at another time (or with
another instructor). Talk to me about this if this is your situation.
Assignments:
Assignments will be issued toward the end of each class. If you’re absent, you should first try
to obtain the assignment from other students or via D2L. If you’re unable to access the
assignment using these methods, feel free then to contact me for the assignment.
It is essential that you keep up with the course work in this class by handing in assignments on
the day they are due. Assignments are sequenced in this course, which means that each one
builds on the next, leading eventually to your final research project. For this reason, it is
important to complete each in order. All major assignments must be submitted on the due date.
In the interest of a manageable grade turnaround time, late assignments will not be graded or
given feedback, even in the case of illness. Please be advised that if, according to my records,
you are missing any assignments by the last day to drop courses, I will suggest that you drop
the course.
As I just mentioned, late assignments will be returned without written comments, even in the
instance of papers submitted late due to absence, so please turn every paper in on time. Please
note: it is in your best interest to submit assignments on time, regardless of your ultimate
confidence in their quality. Assignments turned in on time will be eligible for revision grade
adjustments of up to 10%. Additionally, you’ll get more out of an unfinished draft (submitted
on time and returned with comments) than you will out of a late draft returned without
comments. See below for more info on this policy.
Computers and saving work:
While we all have problems with computers and saving work, these problems do not excuse
late work. Make sure that you have multiple electronic copies of all written work for this class
saved in several secure locations (in your personal account on the server, on a CD or flash
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drive, on a pop email account, and on your hard drive), and that you have access to these
documents via several different computers and printers. Contact the folks at the IT helpdesk if
you have any problems with computers and saving your work.
Formatting assignments:
All written work for this class should be written using word processing software (Word,
WordPerfect, etc), with 12 point Times New Roman script, double spaced, using one-inch
margins on all sides. Print on both sides of the paper if possible, and staple multiple pages. No
cover pages or title pages, please—just a heading that includes your name, section number,
assignment number and date at the top left hand corner of the first page.
Evaluation
Comments:
In addition to assigning grades (see grading rubric available on D2L), I will often be
commenting on the written work that you turn in for this class. These comments are meant to
help you see how a reader responds to your writing so that you have a basis for revision. I
won’t be commenting on every assignment: sometimes I will just check it off and record that it
was completed, particularly in situations when your classmates will be commenting on your
assignment as part of our class that day. For some assignments, I’ll ask to meet with you to
discuss what you wrote. While you will be receiving grades on many of your assignments as a
way for you to gauge how you are performing in the class, grades that assess writing are often
seen as counter-productive, in that they sometimes take the focus off the ideas that you are
developing and force writers to prematurely draw conclusions before they’ve fully explored the
complexity of an idea or issue. For this reason, your drafts and response essays will have less
of an impact on your grade than your final drafts, so that you may have more latitude to
experiment and practice new writing skills and techniques. My comments on your work
should give you a sense of how I am responding to your work, but ask me if you are unsure. I
realize that sometimes teacher’s comments are sometimes hard to interpret. If you still don’t
understand my comments, or are concerned about your progress in the course, stop in during
my office hours or make an appointment to meet with me at another time.
Revision Grade Adjustments:
If you are unsatisfied with the grade you received on an essay, you may revise that essay and
resubmit it within one week (along with the original graded essay) for the opportunity to have
your grade adjusted 10% (either up or down, mind you). I won’t, however, have time to
comment on these revisions, but I’ll return your revision and original essay with a grading
rubric.
Turnaround time:
I will generally return your essays in approximately a week of receiving them. In extenuating
circumstances essays may be returned in no more than two weeks.
Assignments:
Personal Analysis/Summary Essay (3 page minimum) - 10%
Critical Analysis Essay (3 page minimum) – 10%
Synthesis Essay (3 page minimum) – 10%
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Zeitoun Quiz – 5%
Annotated Bibliography – 5%
Research Paper Draft (5 page minimum) – 10%
Research Paper (8 page minimum, six sources) and Inquiry Analysis - 25% combined (20%
and 5%, respectively)
Class Participation – 15%
Journals – 10% total
Administrative
Required materials:
1. A Writer's Reference w/
Integrated Exercises
Diane Hacker
Bedford/St. Martin’s
ISBN: 978-0-312-61207-8
2. Best Music Writing 2009
Daphne Carr, Series Editor
Publisher: Da Capo Press,
2009
ISBN: 978-0-262-63363-5
33. Zeitoun
Dave Eggers
Publisher: McSweeney’s,
2009
ISBN: 978-1934781630
You will also need: a folder to keep all assignments, copies of sample writing and handouts for
the course, a manila folder for your final research paper and inquiry analysis, paper for in-class
writing, a stapler (or access to one), a dictionary, a UWO email account and access to
computers and printers.
Working Schedule (subject to change):
Please note that in addition to this schedule there will be assigned readings in A Writer’s
Reference as well as supplementary readings which I will upload to D2L.
Monday
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
9/12 Continue
Course Description
Discussion, Assign
first reading
(uploaded to D2L)
9/19 Discuss “On
Reading and Thinking
Critically (1-13,
uploaded to D2L),
assign third reading
9/26 Personal
Analysis/Summary
Essay due
10/3 Discuss
chapters 1-10 in
Wednesday
9/7 Course Introduction,
Personal Introductions,
syllabus, assign. 1
Friday
9/9 Diagnostic Essay,
Discuss Course Description,
9/14 Discussion of first
reading. Assign second
reading.
9/16 Discuss Second
Reading. Assign “On
Reading and Thinking
Critically (1-13, uploaded to
D2L)
9/23 Assign Personal
Analysis/Summary Essay.
9/21 Discuss third reading
9/28 Peer review of
Personal Analysis essay.
9/30 Peer review/Group work
10/5 Discuss chapters 1120 in Zeitoun
10/7 Zeitoun Quiz on ending
(5% course grade),
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Zeitoun
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week
10
Week
11
Week
12
Week
13
Week
14
Week
14
10/10 Audience,
terminology, tone.
Discuss fourth
reading, “Sing Us
Back Home” (pt. 1)
10/17 Critical
Analysis Essay due
10/24 Discuss sixth
reading.
10/31 Synthesis
Essay due/Introduce
Research Project
11/7 Discuss
research questions
11/14 In-Class work
with research
11/21 In-class work
with research projects
11/28 Research
Essay Rough Draft
Due (multiple copies
for all research
group members).
Mandatory
Attendance.
12/5 Group
Conferences (no
class)
12/12 Paper Draft
Workshop
10/12 In class work using
response 4. Discuss “Sing
Us Back Home,” pt. 2.
Assign fifth reading.
10/19 Peer review of
Critical Analysis Essay
10/26 group work using
journal. Assign 7th reading
11/2 Peer review of
Synthesis essays
11/9 Revised Research
Proposal due
11/16 Class
discussion/presentation of
Research Projects
11/23 THANKSGIVING
BREAK
11/30 In-Class Work
12/7 Group Conferences
(no class) Paper Draft
Workshop
12/14 Paper Draft
Workshop
Discussion. Assign fourth
reading
10/14 Paragraphing/topic
sentences. Discuss fifth
reading
10/21 Peer review/Group
work. Assign sixth reading.
10/28 Discuss reading 7.
11/4 Working Research
Proposal due/for use with
library instruction
11/11 Library Instruction
11/18 Library
Instruction/Research session
11/25 THANKSGIVING
BREAK
12/2 Group Conferences (no
class)
12/9 Return to Class
(reflection/class work)
12/16 Final Portfolio Due in
my office (309 Radford, by
4pm).
The Writing Center
http://www.english.uwosh.edu/wcenter/index.html
Located in the Student Success Center
920.424.1152
wcenter@uwosh.edu
From the beginning stages of invention, through the construction and revision of drafts, to the
final steps of the writing process, the Writing Center is designed to support writing done in all
university courses, the instructors who incorporate writing into their classes, and the students
who produce such assignments. We invite you to visit the Writing Center and encourage you to
make use of its services.
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Appointments
The Writing Center works with writers both on an appointment and on a walk-in basis.
However, we do strongly encourage students to make an appointment, since at busy times
during the semester the Writing Center may be booked. All sessions are scheduled for 50
minutes, and we ask that students make no more than two appointments per week.
When you schedule your appointment, we will ask for your name and a phone number where
you can be reached. We will need to know when you would like to come in; it also would help
to know the length and nature of your assignment, and the class number, instructor’s name, and
department of the related course.
To schedule an appointment, call 424-1152, send an email to wcenter@uwosh.edu, or complete
and submit the Online Appointment Form.
Academic Honesty (taken from UWC Students Rights/Regulations Handbook:
Examples of academic misconduct include, but are not limited to: cheating
on an examination; collaborating with others in work to be presented, contrary
to the stated rules of the course; submitting a paper or assignment as one's
own work when a part or all of the paper or assignment is the work of another; submitting a
paper or assignment that contains ideas or research of others without appropriately identifying
the sources of those ideas; stealing examinations or course materials; submitting, if contrary to
the rules of a course, work previously presented in another course; tampering with the
laboratory experiment or computer program of another student; knowingly and intentionally
assisting another student in any of the above, including assistance in an arrangement whereby
any work, classroom performance, examination or other activity is submitted or performed by a
person other than the student
under whose name the work is submitted or performed.
Administrative Drops:
Any student who does not attend the first week of class is dropped from the course.
Note on cell phones:
If you bring a cell phone to class, you must turn it off before you enter the classroom. Since
we have a workshop-like class period with structured group activities, the use of cell phones,
CD players, laptop computers or other personal technologies is distracting and will not
permitted unless I receive a written waiver from Academic Support Services. My expectation
is that you will not be checking your phone for messages while you are in class or in a
conference.