ENGL 105: Composition and Rhetoric
General Introduction
Required Text
Library Services
Writing Assignments
Grading
Academic Policies
Course Outline
General Introduction
Welcome to English 105. This is a self‐paced, writing‐across‐the‐disciplines course. You will analyze
the rhetorical and stylistic conventions that govern professional and academic writing in the natural
sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Studying and practicing the conventions of writing in
different disciplines will help you become a more versatile writer, which will help you in other
college courses. You also will become more aware of how audience expectations and context
influence your work and give it shape and direction.
As a student enrolled in English 105, you will learn to:
use conventions, genres, and rhetoric practiced in the natural sciences, social sciences, and
humanities
conduct research using a variety of academic databases and sources
understand how to use research as evidence in discipline‐specific compositions
use written and multimedia modes for composition
review and revise your own work.
To accomplish these objectives, we will move through a sequence of units designed to give you
practice in several of the skills and techniques professional researchers use to collect, organize,
analyze, and present their research findings. You will have the opportunity to conduct your own
research in these fields and to compose your own examples of the genres that professionals use to
communicate their research findings.
We will move through three units, each containing short feeder assignments and one substantial unit
project. The feeder assignments are generally designed to give you practice with a particular skill
(such as doing fieldwork or analyzing secondary sources), while the unit projects ask you to use
primary and/or secondary research for particular rhetorical purposes and academic audiences
(discourse communities).
As you can see, the course treats writing as a process. Effective writing results from three
overlapping stages: prewriting, writing, and rewriting (also called revising). At each stage, writers use
different skills. In the prewriting stage, writers analyze, synthesize, relate, and generate ideas; in
the writing stage, they express ideas in written words and organize these words into a composition;
in the rewriting stage, writers become critical readers and editors as they judge and then improve
what they have written. However, writing does not involve consecutively moving from one stage to
the next. Instead, writers frequently return to prewriting activities after they begin to write, just as
they may jump to rewriting activities before completing the first draft of an entire composition.
Engaging in the writing process means you will write multiple drafts, receive ongoing feedback from
me and from readers you select, and reflect on your experience to increase your awareness of your
writing strengths and challenges.
As you might guess, the best way to learn the writing process is by doing it. That’s why this course is
a workshop. In a workshop, the instructor doesn’t lecture. Instead, my role is to facilitate your
learning by answering questions and providing guidance. We’re a team—I’m on your side, and I’ll
coach you as you learn how to read, write, analyze, interpret, and create written and multimedia
texts.
To ensure that you make steady progress, I encourage you to set a schedule for yourself. Aim to do
some work on this course every week. If you let one week go by between lessons, it may become all
too easy to let two weeks go by. Before you realize it, your registration may expire before you have
neared the end of the course. Furthermore, because writing is a recursive, unpredictable, and multi‐
step process, it requires that you give yourself time to do a good job. Each writing assignment will
involve drafting and revision, and the unit projects involve research and getting feedback from
readers. Therefore, it is not a good idea to try to complete a lesson in one day; and it is best to
return to your writing over successive days so that each time you work, you will see things with new
eyes. Carefully plan and pace yourself so that you don’t get off track. If you try to rush through the
course, you risk not giving yourself enough opportunity to understand the lessons and develop as a
writer.
Do not attempt any writing assignment until you have read and mastered the material upon which it
is based. First, do the assigned reading. As you read, be aware of the writing assignment and how you
might incorporate this new material material. Then reread the reading assignment before writing
anything. In the type of close analytical reading you are asked to do in this course, you will need to
read some of the material and the sources you find several times.
Required Text
See course description for an up‐to‐date list of materials.
Library Services
Students enrolled in Self‐paced Courses have access to the UNC Library System. Visit Distance
Education Library Services to access a wide array of online services and resources including online
databases, online journals, online books, and live help with research and library access.
If you have any trouble finding the resource that you need or logging in to a resource, you can
contact the library through the contact information at Distance Education Library Services. You can
chat live about your problem or send an email to request assistance.
Writing Assignments
We will study the rhetoric and genres of three academic discourse communities: the natural
sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities.
Unit 1: Writing in the Natural Sciences
Feeder 1: Identifying Topic: Rationale for Proposed Study
Feeder 2: Literature Review: Finding Relevant Sources
Unit 1 Project: Proposal
Unit 2: Writing in the Social Sciences
Feeder 3: Study Design
Feeder 4: Analysis of Study Findings
Unit 2 Project: Field Research Report
Unit 3: Writing in the Humanities
Feeder 5: Literary Analysis
Feeder 6: Annotated Bibliography
Unit 3 Project: Multimedia Literary Interpretation
Final Exam
For your final exam, you will write a 1,200 word essay (approximately four pages) in which you
respond to several questions, calling upon what you have learned throughout the course regarding
rhetorical knowledge; analytical thinking, reading, and writing; writing processes, and knowledge of
conventions.
In addition, there are several ungraded assignments in this course. They do not count toward your
final grade, but you are required to do them. These will help me understand your writing strengths
and weaknesses and give me an idea of what we need to work on.
Submitting and Receiving Assignments
You will submit each assignment as a Word document attached to an email message that you will
send to both me and to Student Services. Use the “Submit Assignment” button provided in the
Assignments section of each lesson—it will automatically provide these two addresses for you and
enter the correct subject line. You should only submit one email message for each lesson. Also,
please include all parts of the assignment in a single Word document (unless the assignment requires
you to format part of your exercise in a way that requires separate documents).
Important! Add your name to the end of the subject line, such as “SPC ENGL 105 Lesson 1 Your
Name.” Include in the message body of your email:
your name
PID
lesson number
special comments for me.
Although you may work on the next assignment while you are waiting for me to return the previous
one, please wait for my feedback before submitting the next assignment. This allows you to revise
your current assignment and avoid repeating mistakes that lower your grade.
Grading
Feeder assignments are worth five points and will be graded primarily on completion. For each unit I
use a set of criteria to assess your unit projects (see lessons for grading criteria). The grading
breakdown is as follows:
Feeders (~2 pages each) Unit Projects (~5 pages each or equivalent) Final exam (~4 pages) 5 points each x 6 feeders
20 points each x 3 projects
10 points
= 30 points
= 60 points
= 10 points
100 points
Course Grading Scale
A
A‐
B+
B
B‐
C+
C
C‐
D+
D
D‐
F
100‐95
94‐90
89‐87
86‐84
83‐80
79‐77
76‐74
73‐70
69‐67
66‐64
63‐60
59 and below
Academic Policies
By enrolling as a student in this course, you agree to abide by the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill policies related to the acceptable use of online resources. Please consult the Acceptable
Use Policy on topics such as copyright, net‐etiquette, and privacy protection.
When using online resources offered by organizations not affiliated with UNC‐Chapel Hill, such as
Google or YouTube, please note that the terms and conditions of these companies apply, not the
University’s Terms and Conditions. These third parties may offer different degrees of privacy
protection and access rights to online content. You should be well aware of this when posting
content to sites not managed by UNC‐Chapel Hill.
When you are directed to links outside of the unc.edu domain, please be mindful that clicking on
sites not affiliated with UNC‐Chapel Hill may pose a risk for your computer due to the possible
presence of malware on such sites.
Honor Code
Remember that as a student of UNC‐Chapel Hill, you are bound by the University’s Honor Code: “It
shall be the responsibility of every student at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to obey
and support the enforcement of the Honor Code, which prohibits lying, cheating, or stealing when
these actions involve academic processes or University students or academic personnel acting in an
official capacity.” An especially serious Honor Code violation is plagiarism. See the UNC‐Chapel Hill
Writing Center’s page on plagiarism—what it is and how to avoid it.
Course Outline
Begin by clicking the Lesson 1 link in the navigation bar at the left.
Lesson
Lesson 1
Topic
Introduction to the Course
Unit Writing in the
1
Natural Sciences
Lesson
Lesson
Lesson
Lesson
2
3
4
5
Introduction to Writing in the Natural Sciences
Continuing with Writing in the Natural Sciences
Natural Sciences Project Draft and Soliciting Feedback
Natural Sciences Project Final Draft and Reflection
Unit Writing in the Social
2
Sciences
Lesson
Lesson
Lesson
Lesson
6
7
8
9
Introduction to Writing in the Social Sciences
Continuing with Writing in the Social Sciences
Social Sciences Project Draft and Soliciting Feedback
Social Sciences Project Final Draft and Reflection
Unit Writing in the
3
Humanities
Lesson 10
Lesson 11
Lesson 12
Introduction to Writing in the Humanities
Continuing with Writing in the Humanities
Humanities Project Draft and Soliciting Feedback
Lesson 13
Lesson 14
Humanities Unit Project Final Draft and Reflection
Final Exam