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TRINITY WESTERN UNIVERSITY
SUMMER 2012
WRTG 100A:
UNIVERSITY WRITING; 3 CREDITS
Instructor: Jennifer Doede, M.A.
Office Hours: W., Th.: 5:15-6:15 p.m.
Home Phone: (360) 988-6874
Email:jdoede@hotmail.com; jenniferd@twu.ca
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
To succeed in an academic community, students must continually develop
academic literacy. WRTG 100 is designed to stimulate and facilitate the
growth of required skills for first year students. Lessons will focus on creating
an academic voice and improving academic core competencies such as
reading comprehension and critical thinking. The primary goal of this course
is to prepare students for the expectations of written communication
throughout their university studies and across the disciplines.
COURSE GOALS:
 To develop the ability to comprehend, evaluate, and intelligently
interact with text
 To expand the ability to think critically when approaching writing
tasks
 To highlight the similarities and differences for writing in different
disciplines
 To increase confidence in undertaking and completing university
assignments
 To raise awareness of sentence-level writing expectations within the
university context
 To highlight the importance of attending to three aspects of academic
writing–substance, structure, and style–in the production of written
assignments in the university context
 To encourage students to recognize that language is a powerful
instrument in the pursuit of truth and can be employed with honesty,
precision, clarity, and grace.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to
 produce fluent and accurate scholarly writing;
 appropriately apply writing conventions to various genres and
disciplines;
 interpret questions and assignments and prepare answers and essays
carefully;
 engage effective logical patterns of thought as reflected in written
communication; and
 become familiar with various documentation styles and formatting
requirements
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TEXTBOOKS:
Jennifer Doede’s Writing 100 Course Pack
Stewart, Kay L, Marian Allen, and Shelley Galliah. Forms of Writing: A
Rhetoric, Handbook, and Reader. 5th ed. Toronto: Pearson,
2009.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
 Students must come to class prepared to participate in readings and
discussions of the texts for that class and to engage in assigned writing
tasks.
 Students must regularly visit the on-line website for the course and
complete all on-line assignments by the noted due date.
 Students must be prepared to share drafts of their writing with other
students and to offer meaningful feedback on the writing of other
students in the class.
 Students must be willing to revise their writing according to the
feedback of the instructor.
Students must complete a final examination. The instructor will
provide details prior to the examination date.
 Students must demonstrate knowledge of academic writing
conventions in all of their assignments (including those that relate to
the substance, structure, style, and grammar of academic essays).
Students must also produce written works that exhibit comprehension
and critical thinking and engage and persuade the reader of the
importance and validity of their thoughts.
The course assignments are as follows:
1. Definition
2. Participation/Typed Answers for Essays
3. Summary
4. Comparison and Contrast Essay
5. Research Paper
6. Grammar Exam
7. Final Exam
10%
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20%
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30%
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GRADING GUIDELINES:
90% - 100%
85% - 89%
80% - 84%
77% - 79%
73% - 76%
70% - 72%
67% - 69%
63% - 66%
60% - 62%
57% - 59%
53% - 56%
50% - 52%
Below 50%
A+
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD+
D
DF
Weather Conditions:
(http://www.twu.ca/conditions/). The first announcement regarding a closure
will cover the period up to 1:00 p.m. only. If classes are to be cancelled
beyond 1:00 p.m., this decision will be announced by the same means before
11:00 a.m. that day. Students and faculty should assume that all night classes
will continue to operate. If the emergency continues into the evening, students
and faculty may check for a closure notice on the University’s switchboard
and website after 3:00 p.m. that day.
Academic Integrity and Avoiding Plagiarism at TWU
Academic integrity is a core value of the TWU community. Students are invited into this
scholarly culture and required to abide by the principles of sound academic scholarship at
TWU. This includes, but is not limited to, avoiding all forms of plagiarism and cheating in
scholarly work. TWU has a strict policy on plagiarism (see academic calendar, pp. 37-38).
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)
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Academic dishonesty can include (but is not limited to) presenting someone else’s ideas or
words as your own, quoting another source without providing a proper citation, failing to
place quotation marks around quoted material, allowing another student to copy your
work, submitting a paper you have written for one course to another course without first
obtaining permission from both instructors, purchasing or downloading an essay on the
internet, or having another person write an essay for you. On pages 591-598, the Little,
Brown Handbook offers helpful advice on what plagiarism is and how to avoid it. We will
also discuss the proper citation of sources in class, but it is your responsibility to maintain
your academic integrity. Students are reminded that essays written for this course may be
subject to scanning by a plagiary detection service employed by the university. Plagiarized
papers will result in a minimum of a failing grade (zero) on the assignment; serious cases of
plagiarism may result in failure in the course and expulsion from the university.
ATTENDANCE
Students are expected to attend all classes on a regular basis. Absence due
to illness must be supported by a medical certificate indicating the nature
of the illness.
LATE PAPERS
All assignments should be handed in on the assigned date at the very
beginning of class. Late papers will be penalized at the rate of 3% for each
day past the due date. If the paper is submitted after the due date because of
serious illness, a medical note should be attached to the assignment and marks
will not be taken off the paper. No late papers will be accepted after the final
class of each term, barring exceptional circumstances. All written assignments
must be completed in order to fulfill the course requirements. Late papers
will be assigned a grade without comments on the essay.
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Colour Coding for Course Outline:
Reading assignment due dates are in blue.
Take-home assignment due dates are in yellow.
In-class exams are in purple.
Assignment Explanation
WEEK ONE
FOCUS / READINGS / ASSIGNMENTS DUE
Wed. May 2
Diagnostic Grammar Exam
Diagnostic Essay
Types of Essays and Thesis Statements
FW Ch. 7
Bertrand Russell, “What I Have Lived For” Course Pack
Plagiarism and Documentation
FW 139-141
Thurs. May 3
Explain Summary
FW Ch. 10 g,h
Topic Sentences and Developmental Paragraphs
Carol Geddes, “Growing Up Native”
Course Pack
Pat Deiter McArthur, “Saskatchewan Indian People” Course Pack
Typed Answers for Both Essays Due
Group work: Outline Article
WEEK TWO
Wed. May 9
Summary of Carol Geddes’ “Growing Up Native”Due
Patterns of Development
FW Ch.5
Martin Luther King Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Course Pack
Typed Answers for Essay Due
Citing Sources and Incorporating Quotations FW Ch.21 f
Explain Definition and Research Paper Assignments
FW Ch. 13 a,b,c,d,e
Thurs. May 10
Library Workshop—Bring Laptops
Explain Compare and Contrast Essays
Grammar: Comma Splices
Fused Sentences/Fragments
FW Ch. 17d,e,f,g
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WEEK THREE
Wed. May 16
Compare and Contrast Essay Due
Carolyn Ives “Brain, Brawn, and Beauty” Course Pack
Typed Answers Due
Explain Critical Summary
Bring Sources for Definition Assignment to Class
Discuss Cultural Hegemony; Sample Definition
Grammar: Subject/ Verb Agreement and Pronoun Reference
FW Ch.18 e,f,; Ch.19
Thurs.May 17
Research Paper Workshop: Preliminary Thesis Statements Due
Critical Summary Thesis Statement and Topic Sentences Due
MLA Works Cited Page
Grammar: Apostrophes/Commas FW Ch. 21 a,c
WEEK FOUR
Wed. May 23
Definition Assignment with Works Cited Page Due
Amy Tan, “Mother Tongue” Course Pack
Typed Answers to Essay Due
Grammar: Parallelism and Dangling Modifiers
FW Ch. 17h; Ch. 20 d,e,f
Thurs.May 24
Research Paper Workshop: Revised Thesis, Outline, and Works Cited
Page Due; Sample Research Paper
Grammar Exam
Fri.May 25
Final Exam
Research papers are due Monday, June 4th.
This outline is flexible and subject to change. If you miss a class, you are responsible for
finding out if changes have been made and for being prepared for the following class.
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