FYSP 116-01
Field-Based Writing: Ecology of the Vermilion River Watershed
Groups of students have been visiting Chance Creek since before 1921,when this picture was taken.
Photo credit:Oberlin College Archives,obtained from “Neighbors help manage some college assets” by Carol
Ganzel,Observer, 11 Mary 1995 (http://www.oberlin.edu/observer/observer16.17/neighbors.html)
COURSE SYLLABUS
Instructors:
Mary Garvin
Assistant Professor of Biology
Office: Science Center A139
Phone: 775-6402
Email: Mary.Garvin@oberlin.edu
Jan Cooper
John C. Reid Associate Professor of
Rhetoric and Composition
Office: King 139-D
Phone: 775-8613
Email: Jan.Cooper@oberlin.edu
Course Description
This is a course about observing the natural world around us by using the tools of ecology, the
study of the interactions between organisms and their environment. Through field studies at the
convergence of the Vermilion River and Chance Creek, we will have the opportunity to watch an
ecosystem near Oberlin progress through autumn. We will also explore a variety of ways to
communicate our observations, from field notes to lab reports to science writing for general
audiences. In the process, you will gain information literacy skills and work toward earning
certification for the Writing Proficiency Requirement through weekly writing assignments.
Students' writing will be discussed in class and with the instructors in individual appointments.
Objectives
This course will
1. Increase your observational skills and your awareness of the importance of these skills as the
basis of both good writing and the scientific process.
2. Increase your awareness of the dynamics of ecology, the interactions between organisms and
their environment.
3. Increase your ability to read general and professional texts critically.
4. Increase your awareness of your personal composing processes and your ability to use your
writing skills with a minimum of frustration or at least increased tolerance for frustrating or
difficult stages of writing. In particular you should gain an increased awareness of the skills
of revision.
5. Increase your information literacy—i.e. the ability to use a variety of sources (print, online,
interpersonal) to identify interesting questions and research them, with the ability to
discriminate between reliable and unreliable sources of information.
6. Increase your awareness of the different forms of knowing—e.g. visual, verbal, kinetic—and
how different forms of knowing can be employed in a college education or any writing
project.
Class meeting times
Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:35-10:50 in A-155 in the Science Center
Lab meeting times
Wednesdays, 1:30-4:30 in A-142 (Field Biology Laboratory) in the Science Center or as
announced
Class and Lab Formats
Course meetings will consist of two 75-minute classes and one 3-hour lab per week. Classes will
be devoted to discussion of readings, writing assignments, visits to libraries, and occasional guest
speakers. The weekly labs will provide time for exploration of the Vermilion River watershed,
laboratory examination of organisms related to the watershed, other field trips, and film viewing.
In both classes and labs there will be frequent workshopping of student writing. You will also
discuss your work in individual appointments with the instructors and the Rhetoric and
Composition tutors in Mudd on a regular basis.
Grading Policies
This course is graded Credit/No Entry. Your work in assignments and class discussion, and all
the lab, reading, research, and writing work that support them, will be the basis of your final
grade. We will give you feedback on the quality of your work in our individual appointments,
which will usually occur about once every two weeks. If at any time you have questions
concerning the progress you're making, please make an appointment to discuss your work with
one of the instructors.
Because the writing assignments in this course emphasize revision, we also do not letter grade
single pieces of writing or other assignments. Instead we will give you written or oral comments
on your work to help you determine how to improve it. At midterm, however, one of the
instructors will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the writing in your portfolio with you in
an individual appointment.
Required Texts
All of the following texts are required for this course:
Hinchman, Hannah. 1997. A trail through leaves: the journal as a path to place. New
York and London: Norton.
Marchand, Peter J. 2000. Autumn: a season of change. Hanover and London: University
Press of New England.
Sherman, Thomas Fairchild. 1997. A place on the glacial till: time, land, and nature
within an American town. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Other texts we will read will be available in the Course Documents section of our Blackboard
course website or in hardcopy form on Reserve at the Science Library.
Other Supplies Needed
• some form of notebook for a field journal (required)
• a folder to keep all work in, for preparation of the midterm and final portfolio (required)
• if you are allergic to insect stings, you are required to bring your medication for that on
every outdoor lab (required)
• shoes and clothes suitable for walking through woods and shallow water and rain
protection (recommended)
Expectations for Student Participation
A seminar is a course designed to become an intellectual community. Everyone enrolled works
on his/her own and together with others to learn and evaluate information, explore ideas and
viewpoints, and develop knowledge. In contrast to a lecture course or course alternating between
lecture and discussion, seminars are discussion-based. Everyone's commitment, engagement, and
ability to take part in the give-and-take of focused discussion are essential to the success of the
seminar. That everyone does the reading or other preparation for class is axiomatic. The
instructors will facilitate discussion and may occasionally introduce or make remarks about a
particular topic, but this is your class, and the consistency and caliber of your participation are
what will make it work for you and your classmates.
Because college instructors rarely publicly chastise students for coming late to class or drifting in
and out to use the bathroom or for other reasons, it may appear that such bad habits are okay.
However, they are disruptive and break the flow of the class activities for your classmates.
Please get to class on time and make sure you've taken care of all needs before class begins.
We will expect you to bring a copy of whatever text we're discussing to class (if you're
concerned about wasting paper, you're welcome to share print outs of the online documents with
a class mate or use a laptop to read the texts). Be sure to check the schedules in the Blackboard
course website to find out what you're expected to prepare for every class. Email one of the
instructors if you have any questions about what or how to prepare.
Attendance Policies
In order for a seminar to work, everyone must be present to contribute. Therefore more than 2
absences from class and/or 1 absence from a lab will be grounds for receiving a failing grade in
this course. If you must be absent more than that for catastrophic reasons, you will need to
supply documentation from a doctor or your class dean (Brenda Grier Miller). Tardiness to class
or lab will count as an absence. It is your responsibility to contact one of the instructors to
explain any absence and to find out what you missed or to turn in anything that was due. You
will be expected to be prepared for class discussion or to turn in any assignment due at the next
class.
If you have specific physical, psychiatric, or learning disabilities and require accommodations,
please let one of the instructors know as soon as possible so that your needs can be appropriately
met. You will need to provide documentation of your disability to Jane Boomer, the Coordinator
of Services for Students with Disabilities in Peters G-27. Jane and her staff can also provide
excellent advice about acquiring accommodations in other courses and adjusting to the demands
of Oberlin College in general.*
Assignments
There will be 5 different kinds of assignments in this course (all are mandatory):
1. Field Journal—You will keep a journal of notes and sketches taken outdoors at least three
times a week, using assigned chapters of Hannah Hinchman’s A Trail Through Leaves as
a guide for new techniques to try. The instructors will review your journal about once
every two weeks. The field journal is meant to provide you with a place to stockpile
ideas, explore understandings, and increase the observational skills so necessary to a
thorough understanding of place, good writing, and the scientific process. We expect that
everything in your field journal will be your own personal work, unless you acknowledge
someone else’s contribution (for example quoting from a reading). Please write out and
sign a “blanket” Honor Code at the beginning of the journal to cover everything you will
put in it.
2. Lab Assignments—You will record the observations that you make during the weekly lab
sessions in various formats. These will include scientific laboratory reports, journal
entries, and digital imagery. The goal of lab assignments is to increase your
understanding of the Vermilion River watershed while improving both your observation
skills and your ability to record and communicate your observations to others. Outdoor
labs will be somewhat dependent on weather conditions and availability of speakers, as
well as the needs of the class in a particular week. The instructors will announce where a
lab will meet in any given week. You will work on some of these assignments in pairs or
small groups, and individually on others. Everyone who has worked on a lab assignment
is required to sign the Honor Code, which should be included on every lab assignment
turned in.
3. Writing Assignments—These more formal papers are intended to provide you with an
opportunity to thoroughly work out your ideas about a chosen subject and to take your
ideas through a revision process that polishes them for other readers. Submissions of
early and intermediate drafts are required; you will submit at least 1 draft per week.
Papers should be submitted as a Word file to the digital drop box on the course
Blackboard website by 8pm of the due date. (More extensive descriptions of each
assignment will be posted on the course Blackboard website and discussed in class
throughout the semester.) Some of these assignments may also be collaborative, while
others you will work on individually. In either case, you may solicit advice for the
assignments from classmates, instructors, Writing Center tutors, or any other Oberlin
College readers you trust, unless we stipulate otherwise on the assignment. Everyone who
*
We would like to acknowledge our colleague Sandy Zagarell's original formulation of the description of seminars
used in this and the previous section and Jane Boomer’s advice in the statement about accommodations for
disabilities.
has worked on a writing assignment is required to sign the Honor Code, which should be
included on every assignment turned in.
4. Library Resource Worksheets—These short assignments will guide you through using
resources for research discussed in our library visits throughout the course. They are
intended to expand your “information literacy,” in other words your ability to find and
judge the quality of various outside sources of information in both print and electronic
form. It’s time to go beyond “Googling.” Some library resource worksheets may also be
done in pairs or small groups, and it is expected that you will use the advice of your
classmates, instructors or library staff to complete all of them. Be sure to explicitly
acknowledge any help you receive in the completed worksheets and to write the Honor
Code on them, signed by yourself and your partner(s) on the assignment, if any.
5. Portfolios—at midterm and the end of the semester you will collect all the work that you
have done thus far for the course, then read through it and write a 2-4 page synthesizing
reflection on what you have learned to be submitted for grade evaluation. Both the
collected material and the written reflection will be handed in via a folder, or "portfolio."
You should work on the synthesizing reflection primarily by yourself, but you may ask
for advice on it from your classmates or the Writing Center tutors or any other reader you
trust at Oberlin College. In most cases, however, the instructors prefer not to read the
synthesizing reflection before the portfolio is submitted for grading. Be sure to also
include the Honor Code on the synthesizing reflection paper and your signature under it.
See the Assignments section of the Blackboard course website for more specific descriptions of
the writing assignments for this course as they come up in the schedule. See the Labs section for
the lab assignments. See the Weekly Schedules folder in the Syllabus section on Blackboard for
the most recent updates on scheduling and advice about field journals.
A Cautionary Word about the College and Conservatory Writing Requirements
For College of Arts & Sciences students: The Rhetoric and Composition Program intends for the
first year seminars that it sponsors to give students the writing instruction that will enable them
to achieve certification in other Writing Intensive (WRi) or Writing Certification (WR) courses.
It is possible that you might demonstrate sufficient skill in academic writing to earn certification
in this course, but passing this course does not automatically entitle you to it.
For Conservatory of Music students: Earning a “CR” grade in this course satisfies the
Conservatory Writing Requirement.
If you have any questions about writing requirements or any particularly strong reasons for
wanting to earn writing requirement credit through this course, please talk to one of the
instructors about them early in the course.
The Honor Code
Oberlin College’s student-created, student-run Honor Code is vital to the integrity of the work
that all of us do in the institution. Acknowledging the influence of others and understanding the
academic customs of showing one’s sources are highly valued skills of liberal arts learning. We
expect you to read the Oberlin College Honor Code carefully, and we will discuss how it applies
to each assignment. You can find the code online at htttp://www.oberlin.edu/students/
studentpages/honorcode.html .
One requirement of the code is that you must write the following statement on every assignment:
"I affirm that I have adhered to the Honor Code in this assignment." You must also sign your
name to that statement. If you don't include the code and your signature, we will not be able to
respond to the assignment until you have included it. Typing your full name after the Honor
Code will serve as a signature if you submit an assignment electronically via your email or
Blackboard accounts.
Animal Use
The procedures using vertebrates in this course have been reviewed and approved by Oberlin’s
Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). Inquiries related to the use of animals
at Oberlin College can be directed to Mary Garvin and/or to the chair of IACUC, Bill Fuchsman,
william.fuchsman@oberlin.edu.
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the suggestions we've received on this syllabus and in our plans for
this course from the following colleagues: Jane Boomer, Erik Inglis, David Kamitsuka, Alison
Ricker, Sandra Zagarell.
FYSP 116 Overview Schedule—Fall 2003
NOTE: the instructors may change these plans as the course proceeds. See the Weekly
Schedules in the
Syllabus section of our Blackboard course website for the most up-to-date information
H= Hinchman, H. 1997. A trail through leaves: the journal as a path to place. New York and
London: Norton.
S= Sherman, T. 1997. A place on the glacial till: time, land, and nature within an American
town. New York and Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
M= Marchand, PJ. 2000. Autumn: a season of change. Hanover and London: University Press of
New England.
Topic
Reading
Lab
Sept. 2
Overview; Intro to ecology:
ecosystems, habitats; Day 1 writing
……….
Sept. 4
…………………………………….
Using Blackboard, Nature Awareness
quiz, Field journaling
Chance Creek:
Field Journaling (include
drawing leaf); Sign up
for individual
appointments
Sept. 9
Watersheds - the dynamics of rivers;
The scientific method and primary
literature; Discussion skills
……………………………………….
Visit Science Library to learn to use
tertiary sources (handout for groups
keyed to Labs 2 & 3)
For lab: H, Ch. 1 “Going to the
source”
H, Ch. 2 “Wet, dry, rough….”
…………………………………
For Thurs.:
Garvin 2001
AMNH Webpage
Optional: Remsen 1977
For Tues.:
Heithaus and Grame 1997
(required)
Cox 2002 (optional-reference)
For lab:H, Ch. 5 “The flow of
attention” (optional)
H, Ch. 6 “Seeing order…chaos”
(required)
For Thurs.:
S, Ch. 2 “Water and Ice”
(required)
Orr “Speed” 2002 (required)
For Lab:
H Ch. 3 “Feeling it in your
bones”
H Ch. 4 “The power of
ordinary”
Tour end of watershed
Sample inverts at Mill
Hollow MetroPark and
visit the river mouth
Laboratory session
Identify, categorize and
draw specimens
………..
Sept. 11
Sept. 16
………..
Sept. 18
Sept. 23
Communities - when species interact:
Succession, visit Science Library to
learn to use secondary and primary
sources (handout for pairs, keyed to
Paper 3)
…………………………
Writing field lab reports
(collaboration), discussion of
collaborative writing skills, especially
as they work in the sciences;
Workshop Paper 2s, discussion of
workshopping technique
Communities: predator/prey,
discussion of S ch. 6; workshop papers
Tour headwaters of
watershed:
Sample inverts at Hostile
Valley as indicators of
water quality
Laboratory session
Identify, categorize and
draw specimens
For Thurs.:
Wilson 1987
Terborgh 1988
For Tues.: S, Ch. 6"Fauna”
(required), papers by Kiel and
Chance Creek:
Observe succession
Writing Assignm
(usually due in d
box on Sunday n
Paper 1 due on W
…………………
Paper 2 due on Su
Paper 2 revision d
Paper 3 due
Elisa (required)
For lab: McClean 1990
(required)
For Thurs. Gopen and Swan
2001 (required)
For Tues.: M “ Improbable
flight of insects” (required),
Garland and Davis 2002
(required)
For Lab: M “Down the long
wind” (required); H Ch. 7
“Unmeasurable phen.” (optional)
For Thurs.: possibly student
writing for workshopping
For Tues.: M “Finding new
ground” (required); M
“Harvesting the future”
(required),
For Lab: Dixon et al. 1997
(required)
For Thurs.: Orr “Verbicide”
2002 (required)
For Tues.: M “Keepers of time”
(required), M “A touch of frost”
(required)
For Lab: student writing for
workshopping (required)
Water strider
mark/observe
Field journaling
Climate and weather: surviving cold
temperatures
……………………………………….
Introduction to Academic Search
Premier & LexisNexis to get
information, format ideas for Paper 6
For Tues.: M “A dangerous
chill” (required), M “Seasons of
the vole” (required)
………..
Nov. 6
Nutrient Cycling - Life of
tree/importance of fungi
……………………………………….
Caroline Watkins' visit
For Tues.: M “Turning”
(required), M “The fall of the
leaf” (required), Carson “Rivers
of Death” 1962 (required)
Mill Hollow Center
Introduction to topics to
be used for Papers 4, 5,
and 6
Meeting 2 with Grant
Thompson
Midterm appointments
Chance Creek
Journaling: event
mapping and the use of
digital imagery
Nov. 11
Geology - bedrock and soil
………..
Nov. 13
Nov. 18
………..
Nov. 20
……………………………………
Workshop Community project ideas
Human impact - early people
……………………………………….
Workshop Community Project, discuss
Presentation skills
Human impact-later European settlers
For Tues.: S Ch. 1 “Rock”
(required), S Ch. 5 “Flora”
(required)
For Lab: H Ch. 8, “World as
events” (required), Shane 1967
(required)
For Tues.: S Ch. 3 “People”
(required), S Ch. 4 “Western
Reserve” (required)
………..
Sept. 25
Sept. 30
………..
Oct 2
Oct 7
by Kiel and Elisa
………………………………………
Further discuss Field Reports, how to
use CBE citation form, workshop
drafts of Paper 3
Populations: migration; more on how
to use Science Citation Index (Library
Resource Worksheet 3 handed out)
………………………………………
Discussion of results of Library
Resource Worksheet 3s, Revision &
seeing how chosen articles are used by
others
Populations: Seed dispersal and
preparing for winter
……….
Oct 9
……………………………………….
Style and editing
Oct 14
Climate and weather: surviving cold
temperatures
………………………………………
Workshop - style and editing
………..
Oct 16
Oct 1926
Oct 28
………..
Oct 30
Nov. 4
Nov. 25
……….
Paper 3 Revision
Chance Creek:
Observing common birds
of the watershed
Paper 3 further re
Field journaling
Discussion of discussion
skills
Chance Creek:
Interpretative walk
observing seed dispersal
Further revisions
or 3 due as neede
individually
Field journaling
Workshopping
Midterm portfolio
(no new journal e
week, but journal
turned in with fol
FALL BREAK
…………………………….
For Tues.: Richards et al. 1996
(required), Carson “ Realms of
the soil” 1962 (required)
For Lab:Kline “Community”
Paper 4 due
Paper 5 due
Mill Hollow and
Leimbach site:
Geological history
Paper 6 due
Cleveland Museum of
Natural History
Film “Not to be Modern”
Revision of Pape
Further revision o
due
Nov. 27
Dec. 2
THANKSGIVING—no class
Student presentations
……….
Dec. 4
Dec. 9
……………………………………….
Student presentations
Student presentations
………..
Dec. 11
………………………………………
use as needed
1997 (required)
For Lab: M “Reflections on the
Pond” (required), Toubman
“Farming in Lorain County”
2000 (required), Bush “The
Beach Ridges of Lorain County”
2000 (required)
H Ch. 9 “Turning the year’s
pages”
Jones Farm
Agricultural use of land
(back-up: Allen
Memorial Art Museum)
Paper 7 due
use as needed
Final portfolio du
December 15
Complete List of Readings:
Bush D. 2000. Farming on the edge: the shape of agriculture in Lorain county. In: Explorations of a Watershed. Ed.
Brad Masi. p 87-11.
Carson R. 1987. Realms of the soil. In: Silent spring. 25th anniv. ed. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin. p
52-61. Originally published in 1962.
Carson R. 1987. Rivers of death. In: Silent spring: 25th anniv. ed. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin. p 129152. Originally published in 1962.
Cox GW. 2002. General Ecology Laboratory Manual. 8th. McGraw Hill, Boston.
Dixon MD et al. 1997. Effects of caching on acorn tannin levels and blue jay dietary performance. Condor. 99:756764.
Dixon MD et al. 1997. Effects of weevil larvae on acorn use by blue jays. Oecologia 111:201-208.
Dove RM. 1989. “The Buckeye.” In: Grace notes: poems. New York and London: Norton. p 9-10.
Garland MS and Davis AK. 2002.An examination of monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) autumn migration in
coastal Virginia. Am. Midl. Nat. 147 (1):170-174.
Garvin MC. 2001. Mosquitoes and the changing landscape of northern Ohio. In: Changing Visions of the North
American Landscape. Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin. 52(2):35-41.
Gopen GD and Swan JA. 2001. The science of scientific writing. In: Sherman PW and Alcock J. Exploring Animal
Behavior: Readings from American Scientist. 3rd. 2001. Sinauer Assoc.Sunderland, MA. p 21-29
Heithaus MR and Grame C. 1997. Fish communities of the Vermilion River watershed: comparison of the main
channel and tributaries. Ohio J. Sci. 97 (5): 98-102.
Hinchman H. 1997. A trail through leaves: the journal as a path to place. New York and London: Norton. 192 p.
Keats J. 1972 (originally published in 1820). “To Autumn.” Keats: poetical works. H.W. Garrod, ed. London,
Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. p 218-219.
Kline D. 1997. Community. Scratching the woodchuck: nature on an Amish farm. Athens and London: University
of Georgia Press:193-205.
Marchand PJ. 2000. Autumn: a season of change. Hanover and London: University Press of New England. 151 p.
McLean EB. 1990. Sexual dimorphism and predaceous feeding habits of the waterstrider Gerris remigis Say
(Heteroptera:Gerridae).Can J Zool 68(12):2688-2691.
Orr D. 2002. Speed. In:The nature of design: ecology, culture, and human intention. Oxford University Press. p 4352.
Orr D 2002. Verbicide. In:The nature of design: ecology, culture, and human intention. Oxford University Press. p.
53-60.
Remsen JV 1977. On taking field notes: reasons you may have never considered, for keeping good field notes, and
how to do it. Amer. Birds. 31(5): 946-953.
Richards RP,et al. 1996. Annual loads of herbicides in Lake Erie tributaries of Michigan and Ohio. J. Great Lakes
Res. 22 (2):414-428.
Shane OC. 1967. The Leimbach site: an early woodland village in Lorain County, Ohio. In Studies in Ohio
archaelogy. Prufer OH, McKenzie DH, eds. p 98-120.
Sherman TF. 1997. A place on the glacial till: time, land, and nature within an American town. New York and
Oxford: Oxford University Press. 213 p.
Terborgh J. 1998. The big things that run the world--a sequel to E. O. Wilson. Conserv Biol 2(4):128-129.
Toubman J . 2000.The Beach Ridges of Lorain county. In: Explorations of a Watershed. Ed. Brad Masi. p 211-222
.
Explorations of a watershed. Brad Masi.
Wilson EO. 1987. The little things that run the world (the importance and conservation of invertebrates). Conserv
Biol 1 (4): 130-132.
Updated September 22, 2003