Dr. Lowderbaugh
Office: Tawes 1220A
E-mail: tlowderb@umd.edu
Office Hours: Tawes 1220A. Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. as well as by appointment.
Teaching Assistant: TBA
Class meets every Tuesday from 3:30 —6:00 p.m. in Tawes 0224.
REQUIRED MATERIALS
English 381 course packet, available through BelJean’s (at the Maryland Book Exchange). For the first class session I will supply you with hand-outs, but you will need the packet before the second class session.
Readings and supplementary materials will be posted as needed on the course website or distributed via the e-mail reflector list.
You must provide yourself with a quick reference to answer questions about grammar, punctuation and usage. One simple solution is to purchase a handbook. If you purchase one, you should study it, so you know where exactly to find the answer to your question. (If you plan to buy one, I recommend purchasing Andrea A. Lunsford. The Everyday Writer, third edition . ISBN 0 –
312 –41323–8.)
My course website-http://www.engl-pw.umd.edu/AboutPWP/Instructors/LowderbaughSite/TL--
Index.htm
—recommends two free authoritative websites that you can use when you need a quick answer to a question:
 Purdue University ’s Online Writing Lab: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

University of Wisconsin, Madison: The Writing Center: http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/index.html
The two universities’ sites can answer almost any question that you may encounter. But you don’t want to have to learn the site when you are desperate for an immediate answer. So, spend some time exploring the websites before your internship begins. ( Note: These two sites can serve as references throughout your career. One advantage to mastering them this semester is that you will always be prepared to access their resources when you most need them.)
One of the great truths of the working world: people confuse correctness with education , intelligence , politeness , and an employe e’s worth or dedication. One of our job’s this semester is to help you avoid common errors, so people can focus on your arguments, not on your argument’s surface. We will occasionally discuss grammar and surface matters like punctuation. I urge you to raise with me any questions or concerns about correctness.
The Maryland Legislator’s Handbook , the text that all new legislators receive, can be downloaded at http://mlis.state.md.us/other/Legislative_Handbooks_2003/Volume_I.pdf and there is a link on the course website. You can print it or read it on line as you see fit.

COURSE OBJECTIVES
English 381 is a professional writing course which focuses on the rhetorical situation you will enter when you begin your Maryland General Assembly internship in the spring. This course has the benefit of being very clearly linked to a professional situation, and we will discuss and practice the kind of work you will do in your internships, as well as consider how the various kinds of writing you do may relate to other professional fields.
In English 381, we will focus on three areas: writing documents common in a legislative office, understanding how offices work, and learning in particular about how the MGA works. In a sense, all of these are just specifics of understanding rhetorical situations and acts, so all semester we will talk about rhetoric, rhetorical theory and rhetorical analysis. Learning to keep these three issues in mind will be a good introduction to learning how to juggle many assignments in an office.
The internship for which you are preparing entails considerable responsibility. The most successful interns are those who assume responsibility for their learning and their success. One key to success in nearly all professional situations is working well with others and working for a common good; therefore, your active participation, the collaborative work and your in-class presentations will be fundamentally important to your success in both class. And so will learning from each other.
REQUIREMENTS
Participation.
The quality of this course very much depends on the active participation of all students. To participate, you must attend and be on time for class. More specifically, you will be expected to participate in a variety of ways, including being attentive and vocal in class and small group discussions and by offering feedback in writing workshops. There’s no text to prepare you to be an MGA intern, just the experience of participating in class and in mastering the written assignments. If you aren’t here, you miss that experience.
Writing Assignments.
This is a writing class. You will submit a total of eleven written assignments, along with one or more drafts for many of these assignments. These will account for the majority of your grade in the class. Assignments, including drafts, must be submitted on time. Several assignments will be collaborative.
Here is an overview of the assignments:
1.
2.
3.
Application Package – you’re required to submit an application to the MGA. It includes a personal statement, cover letter and resume (ungraded)
Several Reading Journals
Report on one section of the MLIS website (ungraded)
4.
5.
6.
7.
Packet of constituent letters
Press and public relations materials: News releases, newsletter article, op-ed piece
Bill summary (individual)
Progress report (ungraded; counts in participation)
Portfolio documenting the semester’s work 8.
Interviews (ungraded; counts in final portfolio)
9.
10.
Bill analysis, Step 1 – memo (individual)
Bill analysis, Step 2 – three parts due (collaborative; draft, ungraded; counts in final bill
11. analysis)
Bill analysis, Step 3 – final version due (collaborative)
12.
13.
Testimony (oral and written)
Final portfolio: all written products that you create in this course.

Presentations.
This semester you should expect to deliver several presentations in class. All such presentations are practice for the two major kinds of public speaking that you should expect to perform during your internship:
1. Testimony: Many a legislator has assigned his/her intern major responsibility for researching a bill and for drafting the formal testimony to support the legislator’s position on the proposed legislation. In addition, many an intern has been assigned to deliver the legislator’s oral testimony on that bill. The course will give you practice in writing formal testimony, to deriving talking points from that formal statement, and to delivering oral testimony based on those talking points.
2. Bill Analysis: Most interns are assigned to research bills and to present the results of that research both orally and in writing. Your bill analysis —a collaborative project this semester —will give you practice in conducting such research and in presenting your results both in an extended document and in oral presentations in class. This exercise serves as the culminating assignment for the semester, giving you the opportunity to pull together in one major project all the skills that you have developed since we began working together.
Calendar
8/31 Introduction to the course. Rhetoric and Argumentation. Internships. Advice from former
MGA interns. Professionalism. Review of Maryland government websites.
9/7 Resume, Cover Letter, Personal Statement (application materials for spring 2007 MGA internship). Assignment: Exploring MLIS website
9/14 Section of MLIS website. Rhetorical situation and audience.
More on personal statements. Introduction to reading journals. Memos.
1 Introduction to constituent letters.
9/21 Constituent letters: assignment one. Review application materials. Reading journal 1.
9/28 Constituent letters: assignment two. Public relations. Press packet. Reading bills.
Application materials.
10/5 Introduction to Bill Analysis. Bill Research. Application materials.
10/7 Application materials due in publishable form. [Note: This is a Thursday. Due by noon in hard copy. I will package and ship all the applications to the MGA’s intern coordinator.]
10/12 Constituent letters: assignment three. Op-Ed Essays.
10/19 Bill Analysis: The Technical Report. Op-Ed Essays. News Releases.
10/26 No Class: Conferences by appointment
11/2 Lobbying. Working in a communications office. News Releases. Op-Ed Essays.
11/9 Progress report.
Preparing testimony.
1 I understand that MGA offices do not use the memo format. Throughout your career, however, you will be assigned to write memos. Therefore I will explain this kind of document and will assign you to write several memos addressed to me.

11/16 Testimony.
11/23 Testimony.
11/25 Thanksgiving Holiday
1/30 Testimony.
12/7 Wrap-up. Submission of Course Portfolio. Looking ahead: Assignment sheet with ext semester’s assignments with due dates. Note in advance the first two assignments:
1. Fact sheet on your delegate or senator
2. Internship orientation in Annapolis
Note: We will discuss these next steps in the last weeks of the semester, so you will not be surprised by next semester’s assignments.
Important Notes:
1.
This syllabus will change as we have opportunities for outside speakers.
2. Because we have the use of a computer classroom, we will spend some class time working in the classroom on various assignments.
3. The grade for this course and that for the spring internship are both based entirely on your portfolio. Some students find that this lack of grades is disquieting. For that reason
I will require you to submit papers throughout the fall semester. In the past, a few students have urged that during the fall semester I assign grades to various papers.
Most students, however, have objecte during the course of the semester. d to this procedure. Unless this semester’s students argue that they need such ongoing feedback I plan to avoid giving grades
4. In addition, to provide more personal guidance I have decided to cancel one class. That week instead of meeting with the class as a whole, I will meet with you individually in conference to review the progress of your writing and to answer any questions that you have about your course work.
5. This course requires you to write several papers. We have
Quick Summary; no tests .
1. As noted above, attendance is required. Of course, absences are excused for illness, religious observances, participation in university activities at the request of university authorities, and compelling circumstances beyond your control. You should alert me in advance if you anticipate missing a class. Documentation is required for all absences.
2. Class participation is necessary for learning. And for doing well in the course.
3. All work assigned is due at the beginning of class. Required work includes not just submitting final copy but delivering any assigned drafts or revisions. In-class editing sessions constitute

a large percentage of our work. Come prepared for these exercises, which attempt to mirror in-office strategies.
4. Except for extraordinary circumstances I do not award incomplete grades. Do not plan on receiving one. University policies on awarding incomplete grades are quite strict. (In my twenty-nine years of teaching here, I have awarded two incompletes. Both students had suffered major disasters that justified my awarding these grades.)
5. Academic integrity is essential in all our work this semester. The course packet contains a discussion of academic integrity, plagiarism and suggestions on how to avoid problems. Ask me for help if you find yourself confused about to how give credit for words or ideas. In addition, the Student Honor Council has requested that all UMCP instructors include the following statement on course syllabi:
The University of Maryland, College Park has a nationally recognized Code of Academic
Integrity, administered by the Student Honor Council. This Code sets standards for academic integrity at Maryland for all undergraduate and graduate students. As a student you are responsible for upholding these standards for this course. It is very important for you to be aware of the consequences of cheating, fabrication, facilitation, and plagiarism.
For more information on the Code of Academic Integrity or the Student Honor Council, please visit http://www.studenthonorcouncil.umd.edu/whatis.html.
6. Students with a documented disability requiring special accommodations should inform me of their disability at the end of the first class that they attend. Together we will discuss possible accommodations with the appropriate campus officials.
7. As in any job, how you produce as well as what you produce will determine what you earn.
Part of the “how” is conforming to Class Etiquette:
A. Class begins promptly on time. Plan to arrive in time to secure a parking place and to settle in the classroom before class begins. If you depend on public transportation, allow enough time for delays, so that you still arrive on time. Two late arrivals will equal a complete absence in my grade book.
B. Courtesy requires turning off cell phones, pagers, blackberries and other wireless devices before class and leaving them off until the end of class. Do not expect to receive or send digital messages during class.
C. Because attendance is required, I take attendance at every class session. If you cannot attend class because of illness or because of some university-sponsored activity, you should tell me before class time. More than two unexcused absences will damage your final course grade.
As part of your plan to attend religious observances that conflict with scheduled classes, you should give me a memo at the beginning of the second class that you attend. This memo should list the dates that you will participate in religious observances instead of attending class. In addition, you should ask team mates to share notes with you, so you can keep your work on schedule. Dedicated students supply their teammates with advance copies of papers, so that the team can study them, raise questions and propose possible editorial solutions.
D. Most of the course work requires active participation —not performing work for other courses, trading instant messages, completing particularly vexing crossword puzzles.
Inattention to class work is tantamount to not attending class and therefore robs classmates of your insights and editorial suggestions. (I record such unprofessional behavior in my grade book, a notation that may lead me to lower your final course grade.)

Such inattention is no excuse for missing assignments or changes to the syllabus. (If the assignments fail to challenge you sufficiently, let me know. I will be happy to increase those challenges.)
E. Class runs for the full two-and-a-half hours each week. (Yes, we take a midway break.)
Do not schedule other events for class time —like study groups, mock interviews, organization meetings, interviews with experts needed for terms projects, and the like.
Such activities fail to provide excused absences from class.
12. If you encounter problems with the course, raise them with me immediately. I can help you deal with problems as they arise but cannot solve problems after the fact. Problems grow complex as they age. A problem that we could have solved late in September can become impossible to solve by mid-November.