RWS 280: Academic Reading and Writing
San Diego State University, Spring 2014
Section 40, Tues 7:00, AH 2103
Instructor:
Office:
E-mail:
Office Hours:
Professor Sean Cissel
Storm Hall 106D
cissel@hotmail.com
MW 10:00-11:30, and by appointment
Description of the Course
Academic prose, emphasizing purposes, structures, and styles of academic writing, with particular emphasis on
elements of argument. Designed to improve students' ability to plan, draft, revise, and edit essays, as well as to
improve their ability to read and analyze complex academic texts.
Our focus in this course will be the concept of the American dream. We will critically examine how Americans have
defined themselves and their aspirations as well as the possible problems with those definitions.
Required Texts
The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea That Shaped a Nation. Jim Cullen.
The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Hunter S. Thompson.
Keys for Writers, Seventh Edition (2013). Ann Raimes and Susan Miller-Cochran.
Several days' worth of readings will be available on the course Blackboard page, so every student is required to have
access to the internet and a printer.
Assignments
10%
Essay 1
20%
Essay 2
20%
Essay 3
25%
Essay 4
5%
Quizzes
10%
Participation/Shorter Assignments
5%
Short Response 1
5%
Short Response 2
Grading Scale
A
93-100%
A90-92
B+
87-89%
B
83-86%
B80-82%
C+
77-79%
C
73-76%
C70-72%
D+
67-69%
D
60-66%
F
Below 60%
Late Policy
Written assignments are due at the beginning of class on the dates listed on the syllabus. I do not accept assignments
via email. I will not accept late copies of Assignment 4; otherwise, I will subtract twenty points for every class date
that an assignment is late. I will only accept assignments on class dates.
Make sure you save your work frequently while composing it and after you finish. Make sure the computer and
printer you use are in proper operating condition to avoid any last-minute disasters like crashed systems, infected
flash drives, broken or out-of-ink printers, et cetera. Computer problems and the like do not excuse late or
incomplete assignments.
Grading Rubric
I will give you a handout concerning the rules for writing in this class. Keep it; use it; bond with it.
An A essay contains a completely developed thesis or point of view and supports it throughout; is well organized
and coherently developed; clearly explains or illustrates key ideas; demonstrates variety in sentence structure;
clearly displays facility in the use of language; uses outside sources critically and insightfully; and is nearly free
from errors in mechanics and grammar. In short, an A essay makes the reader say, “Dang! That’s really good stuff!
Far superior to the writer’s peers.”
A B essay contains a well-developed thesis or point of view and generally supports it throughout; is generally well
organized and coherently developed; explains or illustrates key ideas; demonstrates some variety in sentence
structure; displays facility in the use of language; uses outside sources critically and insightfully for the most part;
and is generally free from errors in mechanics or grammar. A B essay makes the reader say, “Hey, that’s pretty darn
good. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it; it’s clearly better than the average essay.”
A C essay contains an adequate thesis or point of view and generally supports it; shows some organization and
development; explains or illustrates some of the key ideas; demonstrates some facility in the use of language;
incorporates sources, but allows sources to dominate and/or restrict flow; and may display errors in mechanics or
grammar, but not a consistent pattern of such errors. A C essay makes the reader say, “Not bad at all. It’s written by
an intelligent student who put some work into it, but it doesn’t rise above the average level of his or her peers.”
A D essay contains an underdeveloped thesis or point of view that is poorly supported; is inadequately organized or
developed; inadequately explains or illustrates key ideas; uses sources but poorly deploys them; contains a pattern or
accumulation of errors in mechanics or grammar; and has limited or inappropriate word choices. A D essay makes
the reader say, “Well, this is not particularly appealing. This is not up to the level set forth by this student’s peers.
Needs greater effort.”
An F essay has no thesis or clear point of view, a circular thesis or point of view, or a completely unsupported thesis
or point of view; is poorly organized or unorganized with very little development; has little or no relevant detail; has
no sources or uses sources uncritically; and has serious errors in mechanics and/or grammar. An F essay makes the
reader say, “I have serious doubts about this student’s level of interest and about the effort he or she put forth. This
is just not adequate.”
Essay Format: Please adhere to MLA style throughout your essays, including cosmetic concerns (i.e., what your
essay looks like). Refer to Keys for Writers for guidance with MLA.
Grammar and Punctuation Errors: Competent grammar and punctuation are necessary elements of written
language. In your four assignments, I will put a check mark at the end of any line of text in which a grammatical or
stylistic error occurs and deduct one point for each error:
√p
= a misused, unnecessary, or missing punctuation mark.
√g
= a grammatical error.
√pv
= a passive voice verb construction.
√e
= an empty expression, such as those that use “there” or “it” without a clear antecedent.
Two check marks at the end of a line means two errors, three check marks means three errors, and so on. For
Assignments 1, 2, and 3, you may correct each error within a week of my returning the assignment to you and bring
it back to me on the check-marked copy to regain those points. You must correct your errors on the check-marked
copy, or they will not count.
Spelling, Proofreading, and Essay Format Errors: Any time you misspell a word, commit a proofreading or
typographical error (for example, omitting a word or writing a word twice in a row), or use incorrect essay format
(for example, incorrect spacing, font, or page numbers), I will deduct one point that you cannot get back. If you
spend sufficient time on your essay and revise it, you should not make any of these errors.
Attendance: The expectation is that all students will be present and engaged in every class meeting. Quizzes cannot
be made up except in cases of pre-excused, university-related absences. Absences for peer workshops will result in
significant loss of participation points.
Electronics/Classroom Etiquette: Please do not use electronic devices in class.
Communication with Me: Email and office hours are the best means through which to get in touch with me. From
time to time, I will need to email you regarding the class. Check your email at least twice a day. You are
responsible for keeping your email account active and making sure your inbox is not full. I will only deal with the
email address on file with SDSU Blackboard. If you need to contact me, please try to email me before five o’clock
if you want a response that day.
Academic Dishonesty: Everything you will do this semester must adhere to the SDSU Honor Code. Err on the side
of asking questions, especially concerning proper citation and quotation, before submitting work of which you are
unsure.
Turning in an essay you’ve written in the past or for another class this semester, even if you revise it, is a form of
plagiarism.
Other forms of academic dishonesty include the following:
Collusion – lending your work to another person to submit it as his or her own;
Fabrication – deliberately creating false information on a works cited or reference page;
Plagiarism – the presentation of another person’s work as your own.
I am well aware that several thousand websites offer (for sale or otherwise) downloadable essays for students to use
to cheat. Please resist the urge to cheat for a number of reasons: 1) You are paying good money to learn here; 2)
You have a conscience; 3) I will find out about it, take your offense seriously, and pursue it with the Honor Council
doggedly; 4) The late penalty is not that bad, really; and 5) I have internet access and have not, as far as I know, had
large portions of my brain removed with a soldering iron.
Access: If you have a disability (physical or learning) that you think may affect your performance in this class,
please see me during the first week of the term so we can discuss whatever accommodations may be necessary to
assure your access to all classroom activities. Student-athletes should also see me during the first week of class
regarding any time that they will have to miss for school-sponsored activities.
Student Learning Objectives for RWS 280
RWS 280 (for native speakers of English) and 281 (for non-native speakers of English) is designed to help students
at the upper-division level achieve competency in academic writing. Students will be placed into these courses
depending on the score they receive on the Writing Proficiency Assessment (WPA), a test that all SDSU students,
transfer or continuing SDSU students, must take when they have completed 60 units. The following learning
objectives describe in greater detail the goals and content of this course.
Rhetorical Knowledge
RWS 280 (281) helps students achieve competency with the goals and conventions of academic writing by
introducing (or reviewing) rhetorical concepts and terminology and by focusing on the purposes of given texts and
the rhetorical strategies necessary to achieve those purposes. At the completion of RWS 280 (281), successful
students will be able to
 Recognize that writing is a process of inquiry used both to discover and communicate ideas;
 Demonstrate facility with basic genres of writing, particularly those related to argument;
 Apply the concept of rhetorical situations: the relationships among writer-audience-subjectcontext;

Use “language about language” that enables writers to think about the use of rhetorical
strategies in their own writing and the writing of others and to discuss their own strengths and
difficulties as working writers.
Critical Thinking and Reading (Viewing, Hearing)
RWS 280 (281) provides students with strategies to understand and evaluate written, visual, and oral texts. At the
completion of the course, successful students will be able to
 Apply critical reading strategies to a variety of texts: public documents, editorials, essays,
newspaper reports, writing of their peers, advertisements, etc.;Analyze an author’s specific
rhetorical strategies in a given text;
 Evaluate the arguments/claims and supporting material presented in written texts with respect
to the relationships among language, knowledge and power, and context.
Writing Processes
RWS 280 (281) provides students with instruction and practice for improving their writing processes. At the
completion of the course, successful students will be able to
 Develop and use strategies for generating, revising and editing texts of various types
(e.g., essays, letters, reports, timed writing, etc.);
 Summarize and paraphrase written texts;
 Interpret, evaluate, and effectively incorporate a variety of others’ texts into their own
writing to support and extend their own ideas;
 Critique their own and others’ texts to develop their abilities in academic writing;
 Use the collaborative and social aspects of the writing process.
Knowledge of Conventions
RWS 280 (281) provides students with instruction and practice in the conventions of various written texts. At the
completion of the course, successful students will be able to
 Format simple manuscripts (page margins, appropriate font style and size, paragraph
indentation, block style, etc.);
 Cite sources accurately (MLA or APA as appropriate to the student’s major);
 Define plagiarism and state its consequences within the university and the greater community;
 Edit their own writing for grammar, mechanics, and usage appropriate to various writing
situations.
Attitudes, Values, and Preparation for Life beyond the University
RWS 280 (281) equips students with skills vital to civic life in a democratic society. Successful students will be able
to
 Demonstrate courtesy and respect when discussing opinions and beliefs that conflict with
their own;
 Work cooperatively with others to achieve common goals;
 Use critical thinking strategies to evaluate public and private written, oral, and visual texts.
Tentative Schedule. This schedule is subject to change. Readings should be done by the beginning of each class
date with which they are associated.
Week 1
1/28: N/A
Week 2
2/4: Readings from Blackboard.
Week 3
2/11: Readings from Blackboard.
Week 4
2/18: Cullen Intro, Chapters 1, 2.
Week 5
2/25: Cullen Chapters 3, 4. First groups' Essay 1 due.
Week 6
3/4: Cullen Chapters 5, 6, Conclusion. Second groups' Essay 1 due.
Week 7
3/11: Conferences.
Week 8
3/18: Essay 2 due. Fitzgerald Chapters 1-5.
Week 9
3/25: Fitzgerald Chapters 6-9.
Spring Break
Week 10
4/8: Thompson Part 1.
Week 11
4/15: Thompson Part 2.
Week 12
4/22: Readings from Blackboard. Essay 3 due. Thesis for Essay 4 due.
Week 13
4/29: Conferences. Annotated bibliography, counterargument, and detailed outline due.
Week 14
5/6: Readings from Blackboard.
Finals Week
5/13, 7 pm: Essay 4 due.