English 102: College Writing and Research
Syllabus
Instructor:
Melissa Morrow
Office:
294 Curtin Hall, (414) 229-5025
Office hours:
TBA
Email:
mmorrow@uwm.edu
C O U R S E P U RP O S E S
AN D
A S S UM PT I ONS
English 102 asks you what it means to develop connections between a variety of texts, including
texts that relate to independent research you conduct yourself. You will need to learn how to
translate these texts in your own writing by providing sufficient details to enable those who
haven’t read the texts to understand their relationship to the point of your essay and to other
reading. Through independent research, you will build, not report, on the research you’ve
conducted (saying more than what you think others have said). This course is meant to engage
students in practicing, reflecting on, experimenting with, and revising different ways of
translating texts by examining such matters as how a subject gets translated/changed/(re)defined
by different disciplines/scholars; how you as a student re-translate your “findings” from research,
and what meanings get lost/changed/gained in translating from a scholarly text to a student essay.
Think of research as an attempt to see what others have said about a common subject. For 102,
research involves the task of interpreting or translating a text meant for one purpose and audience
and perhaps using it for a different purpose and audience—for you, but also for your peers,
instructor, and larger audiences beyond the classroom. Therefore, you will be assessing the
usefulness of texts as you conduct research—deciding whether such texts are of interest and if
they might serve a purpose for your project. In this way you’ll be engaging in research—looking
(and looking again) at a variety of materials as you pursue your own inquiry.
You will also be involved in: practicing, reflecting on, experimenting with, and revising the way
you research (internet, disciplinary data bases, library resources) and writing in response to that
research. The former could and should entail issues as technical as how different researchers use
sources, the search engines used, databases examined, and more general questions of what it
means to “research.” Through the work of 102 you should acquire greater flexibility and
sophistication in researching and in recognizing and responding critically to differences of genre
and discipline, in invoking audiences, and in calculating the relationships between what’s said,
how it’s said, and to whom. Certainly, this aim assumes (and demands) greater autonomy from
you. You’ll need to learn to handle a larger number of texts and arguments than in 095, 101 or
118, and to learn about and experiment with specific scholarly practices of how knowledge is
researched and (re)constructed in the academy.
R EQ U IR E D C O UR S E T EX TS
Available online, under “Content,” at our course’s D2L site:



Natasha Sajé, “Poetry and Ethics: Writing About Others,” 1-12.
Jane Gallop, “The Ethics of Reading: Close Encounters,” 7-17.
Min-zhan Lu, “From Silence to Words: Writing as Struggle,” 437-47.
Available at the UWM Campus Bookstore:
• A Student’s Guide to UWM’s First-Year Writing Program, 2010-2011 edition.
• The DK Handbook, Anne Frances Wysocki and Dennis A. Lynch. 2nd edition.
G R A DE S
Your final letter grade will be calculated according to the following scale:
A = 94% - 100%
A- = 90% - 93%
B+ = 88% - 89%
B = 83% - 87%
BC+
C
C-
=
=
=
=
80% - 82%
78% - 79%
73% - 77%
70% - 72%
D+ = 68% - 69%
D = 63% - 67%
D- = 60% - 62%
F = Below 60%
Final grades for the course are weighted as follows:
Final Portfolio
Assignments
In-Class Activities
Participation
50%
30%
15%
5%
FINAL PORTFOLIO (50%)
Your final portfolio will include an essay consisting of ten or more pages of polished academic
research writing. The writing should demonstrate the ability to integrate information/ideas from
multiple sources and to engage in critical inquiry. In addition, the portfolio will contain a revised
reflective essay that demonstrates insight about your thinking and learning throughout the
semester and builds on the collective work of the class.
In order to turn in a final portfolio, you must have completed all assignments, and the instructor
must see at least one working draft of each essay before the final due date. These drafts are due
on the dates indicated on the class schedule. No drafts turned in later than these dates will receive
comment or credit. The final portfolio is due at the beginning of class on December 10th. No
late portfolios will be accepted.
Final portfolios will be reviewed through the program’s portfolio assessment process. The
portfolio readers (102 instructors) will determine if your portfolio passes or fails by determining
if your essays meet the portfolio goals and outcomes or fail to meet the portfolio goals and
outcomes, which appear on page six of the Student Guide. If your portfolio passes, I will give it a
letter grade, which will account for 50% of your final semester grade. If the portfolio readers fail
a portfolio, the student will not pass the course.
ASSIGNMENTS (30%)
To receive these points, all writing assignments must be turned in at the time and date indicated
on the assignment sheet. Points may be deducted if the requirements of the assignment are not
fulfilled as indicated – so read directions carefully! Late assignments will not receive credit,
though I may provide comments on late work if I feel it is necessary to do so. All writing
assignments must be turned in, late or otherwise, in order for you to turn in a final
portfolio.
ENG 102, Section 008, Morrow, Spring 2011
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If you miss a class, you are responsible for getting any documents, notes, and/or announcements
from that day. Assignments due on the day you are absent are considered to be late unless you
turn them in before the class in which they are due or send them along to class with a classmate.
Assignments will not be accepted via email. Do not put your work in my campus mailbox or
drop your work off at my office.
Written response to your writing assignments is intended as suggestion, not law. I will only
comment on the most important issues that I think you should consider. Please remember that I
am only one kind of reader—you should take your classmates’ comments into consideration just
as you would mine, for they are readers whose particular perspectives are just as, if not more so,
valuable. These comments are merely suggestions. Ultimately it is your choice which direction(s)
your essays will take during revision. If during revision you only address that which has been
commented on, please understand that your essays will suffer. Meaningful revising requires that
you consider each reader’s comments along with using your own ideas for improving your work.
IN-CLASS ACTIVITIES (15%)
Over the course of the semester we will be doing several in-class writings, group discussion
activities, and library activities. Almost every class meeting will include an activity. These cannot
be made up in case of absence, so attendance in class is very important.
In this class we will begin by reading and interpreting assigned text. You will reflect on how the
author of this text uses research in his/her writing as a way of getting comfortable with this
practice when you begin researching texts for your essay. Later, you will develop research
proposals, annotated bibliographies, and abstracts for your own research projects that will explain
how you plan to use these sources in your own writing about a particular topic. You will also
write some short, in-class reflective papers. Finally, you will write an essay that uses your
research to serve your specific purposes. Ideally, through the course of the sequence of activities
and assignments you will get a sense of the recursiveness of research—how researchers literally
re-search their materials, often over extended periods of time, even whole careers.
PARTICIPATION (5%)
Participation is based on several factors including: absences, tardiness, timeliness of turning in
work, classroom courtesy, level of engagement in class discussion, and preparedness (having the
necessary materials for class).
According to the Student Guide, “Students enrolled in face-to-face sections of English 095,
101, or 102 during the fall or spring semester who miss more than six 50-minute classes…
will not pass the course” (11). It would be wise to save any absences for illness and emergencies
only. If you are more than twenty minutes late to class, you will be marked absent. If you must
leave early, you should talk to me before class. Otherwise if you leave early at all you will be
marked absent. Keep in mind that if you miss the first full week of class, you will be
administratively dropped from the course.
C O UR S E P R ACT I CE S
CLASS DISCUSSION
Most of class discussions will be centered on close readings of assigned texts and around
students’ own research and inquiry. All students are expected to be actively engaged in
discussions – not just observers. Asking questions (of each other, not just the instructor) is
strongly encouraged. We will be asking questions about issues in the assigned texts in order to
ENG 102, Section 008, Morrow, Spring 2011
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help form our own individual lines of academic inquiry.
Because discussion and in-class work are such an integral part of success in this class, students
who are flagrantly disengaged (doing homework from other classes, having disruptive
conversations unrelated to class, etc…) should not be surprised if they fail.
DESIRE TO LEARN (D2L) SITE
You can log into D2L from the UWM homepage. Choose “D2L” under the “Quicklinks” menu in the topright corner of the homepage. Use your Panthermail ID and password to log in. You will see all of the D2L
sites that have you as an enrolled student. Our course D2L site will include copies of this document
(syllabus) and the course schedule, and all of the assignments and handouts under “Content.” Because the
schedule is always available on our D2L site, it is your responsibility to do the assignments and turn
in work on time, even if you miss a class meeting.
LIBRARY INSTRUCTION VISIT
We will be spending two class periods during the semester in the library, receiving instruction from one of
the helpful librarians at Golda Meir. This will serve to familiarize you with ways of finding texts for
research at our library.
CONFERENCES
Individual and group conferences occur twice during the semester and will replace one week of class
meetings. Conferences are mandatory and will be scheduled at least one week prior. Missing your
conference will result in an absence.
CLASSROOM COURTESY
Most of this should be common knowledge. However, I will state explicitly the rules of conduct for this
particular college classroom:
o
o
o
No cell phones or other electronic devices should be used during class meetings. Keep them in
your bags and keep them turned off. Not on vibrate, not on silent – OFF. If a cell phone or
iPod/MP3player appears or makes itself otherwise known during class you will be marked
absent. This also applies to laptops, even though I know they can be used to take notes. Just write
them down on paper, please.
Address your classmates and your instructor politely and treat each other with respect, even if your
opinions differ, which they will. Be respectful of each other’s cultural and other differences –
don’t be racist, sexist, or homophobic in your remarks. Don’t call names or yell at each other.
Basically, conduct discussion as professional adults would.
Obviously, don’t sleep in class. If you are asleep you are considered absent.
PREREQUISITES
Please make sure you meet the prerequisites for this class. Contact the 102 coordinator Adam Andrews at
andrewsa@uwm.edu if you are not sure. If University records show you do not meet the prerequisites for
this course you may need to prove that you are eligible to take 102.
WRITING CENTER
Students are encouraged to take advantage of services offered by the Writing Center in Curtin
Hall 382. If interested, it’s a good idea to stop by early. Later in the semester, the Center
tends to be booked. (See materials distributed in class on the Writing Center.)
ENG 102, Section 008, Morrow, Spring 2011
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NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH
The English Department offers a course that is equivalent to this one as an ESL (English as a
Second Language) course. These sections have smaller class sizes and teachers who are trained to
work with non-native speakers of English. Non-native speakers of English who are interested in
this option should talk to me about this during the first week of class.
ACADEMIC HONESTY
Plagiarism has serious consequences for writers in the university community. The university and
the English Department take disciplinary action that may result in failing grade, letter of
disciplinary action, and suspension or expulsion when a student is discovered to have used
someone else’s work as their own, or to have submitted a paper written for one class in another.
See the Student Guide for more information on academic honesty.
STUDENT ACCESSIBILITY CENTER (SAC)
If you work with an advisor at the SAC, please bring your VISA statement to me within the first week of
class. If you are concerned that you might have a learning disability, visit the SAC office in 112 Mitchell
Hall.
ADMINISTRATIVE DROP
Any student who does not attend the first week of class will be dropped from the course.
UNIVERSITY SYLLABUS POLICIES
For a complete statement of University policies on disabilities, incompletes, and other relevant issues, visit
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/SyllabusLinks.pdf.
ENG 102, Section 008, Morrow, Spring 2011
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