ENG 145: Writing in the Academic Disciplines Sec. 7 TR 12:35-1:50, STV 250H.
Instructor: Dr. Elizabeth Hatmaker Office Hours: 3:30 -5:00 TR or by appointment, Office: STV 413Q, 8-2354, EMail: eahatma@ilstu.edu
Required Text: Emerging Scholars. Available at the Alamo or Student Center Bookstore
Introduction: English 145 offers a writing workshop environment designed both to recognize the specific and
unique skills of writers in a variety of majors (as well as those possessed by those who have yet to settle on their
professional goals) and to encourage the further development of these skills. I’m not here to simply teach you
how to write “correctly” (or to simply affirm that you already write “correctly”). Instead, I’m here to encourage
and challenge you to take risks with your writing and to become more flexible and confident in how you analyze
and utilize multiple genres in your academic and professional writing. This course is also designed to offer the
opportunity to brainstorm, negotiate, discuss, troubleshoot, draft, and revise written/digital texts. In short, you
will be encouraged to develop systems for writing effective texts, especially those that fall outside of the
traditional college “research paper.”
As a course within the purview of the English Department Writing Program, we share many of the goals and
policies as other ISU writing courses. Listed below are the larger “outcomes” shared among the writing community
at Illinois State. This course should help you in:
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Identifying Written, Visual, and Digital Genres
Describing Technology/Media Related to Writing and Communication
Developing Flexible Research Skills
Creating Content
Organizing Information into Multiple Genres
Exploring Trajectories of Literate Activities
Citing Source Materials in Multiple Genres
Recognizing Cultural and Social Contexts
Throughout the semester we’ll discuss these outcomes in more detail and you will receive specific outcomes for
each unit. However, it is important to note how none of these outcomes is achievable in any complete way. No
one “masters” writing just as no one completely lacks communication skills. Writing genres and conventions
change according to new technologies, audiences, historical contexts; likewise, your skills will always be in a state
of flux. You will find that there are modes and genres that make sense to you as a reader and writer and those
with which you struggle. Ideally, you’ll always be willing to negotiate the ways you write to meet new forms of
knowledge, new experiences and expectations, new audiences, and new challenges. It is my aim to see that you
can connect what writing/reading/critical skills you are good at with what is acceptable and reasonable for the
professional, civic and academic contexts that are important to you.
Computer Classrooms: We use computers for all writing in class and you need to come to class with digital access
to drafts in progress, homework, and completed drafts. Certainly you are welcome to bring hard copies, but often
we’ll be brainstorming, revising, and polishing writing in class so you need to have fluid transfer between what you
are writing outside of class and what you are writing in class. You can store documents in the STV250 folder, in
your ISU Datastore file, or on a jump drive. (If you use a jump drive, make sure you have your name on it in case
you leave it in class). If you need assistance using classroom technology (especially the STV250 folders) go to:
http://www.helpdesk.ilstu.edu/search.php?site=helpdesk_knowledge_base&clientID=helpdeskkb&q=STV250
Major Class Project Units: This course is designed around for major “writerly” projects. Instead of focusing on
specific knowledge sets (“humanities paper,” “science paper”) or around common school paper genres
(“compare/contrast” “opinion paper” “research paper” “popular vs. academic audience paper”), I want to focus on
four interrelated roles —advocate, artist/creative critic, technology user, and analyst/researcher—that writers
take as they work across a variety of majors and professions.
Within each unit you will complete a number of assignments designed to help you analyze and consider the
conventions of written/visual/digital genres related to this unit’s theme. Assigned readings and homework, as
well as daily discussions and activities, will help you to effectively analyze texts-- describe how they are conceived,
produced, distributed and interpreted by diverse audiences. These assignments and activities will help you
develop two self-generated drafts that utilize what you have discovered about the texts we read in class and for
homework. Your major paper (6-10 pgs) for each unit will be about a topic you choose (example: during the
advocate unit, you will pick the issue/idea/population for which you wish to advocate, the audience you wish to
reach, and the medium/platform in which your advocacy might best reach your audience) . You’ll also produce a
set of short texts in which you describe the various stages of your paper’s development (invention, peer review,
troubleshooting, and publication choices). All told, you’ll probably produce the equivalent of about 20-30 pages of
text per unit. Some of this writing will be completed in class, some as homework for class discussion/peer review,
and some as independent writing tasks.
Unit Contract Grades: At the beginning of each unit, you’ll get a unit schedule and a “contract.” The schedule will
outline all of the smaller assignments (homework, smaller writing assignments, peer revision documents, etc.) that
you will complete over the course of the unit. You’ll also receive a contract that outlines my expectations
concerning deadlines and class behavior (you will sign this contract). At the end of the unit, in addition to your
final draft, you will hand in supplementary documents you’ve produced over the course of the unit—either in a
hard folder or in an electronic folder. Some of the supplementary documents will have already been graded,
responded to, or discussed in class (so you’ll need to hold onto any hard copies you complete). At the end of every
unit you will get three grades: one for your first draft, one for your final draft, one for your “contract.” If you
complete all of the work specified in the contract (hand in work on time, complete all assignments, participate in
class) you’ll get a “B” for the contract. If your supplemental documents are generally thoughtful and complete
(they indicate you are moving forward in your understanding of the course goals), you’ll get an “A” for the
contract. Contract Grades are not revisable.
Paper Grades: For each unit you will receive two “paper” grades with responses from me. You will receive a
grading criteria for each unit that outline specific goals related to the larger course goals listed above. At any time
during the course of the semester you can revise your drafts (both first and final) for higher grades if you wish. If
you plan to hand in a paper for a higher grade, please talk to me about it first so we can better discuss what kinds
of revisions will help your grade. Note that simply handing in a paper for a higher grade does not necessarily mean
it will receive a higher grade.
A Note on Revision/Drafts: For each unit, you will write about a larger topic in two “drafts.” This does not mean
that you complete one short “rough” or outline draft and one “corrected draft.” Both drafts should be complete
and relatively error-free. Your first draft will receive comments from me and at least one of your peers (probably
more). Even before you get to this point, you will likely get feedback (written and verbal) about smaller fragments
of your first draft. You’ll consider these comments/suggestions as you conceive of your final draft. You will note
that each draft, ideally, has a different aim and audience. You may choose to produce two drafts in two different
genres about the same topic. You may produce two texts in different mediums about the same topic (one paper
and one video or website). Your final drafts should indicate not that you’ve corrected, but that you’ve “revisioned” your paper’s ideas to another genre, audience, or purpose based on the feedback you’ve received and
further thinking you do on your topic. While “good papers” (grammatically-sound 5-paragraph school essays) may
be valued and graded well, a willingness to explore new and challenging genres to take risks with writing (even
risks that lead to less polished papers) will also be valued highly over the course of the semester.
A Note on Class Readings and Research: Even though your individual papers are fairly self-directed, I do assign
readings in this course so that we have texts that the whole class can discuss and analyze. Some of your
homework assignments are meant to see if you are keeping up with class readings and I will make sure you have
them at the beginning of class (see unit contract). These homework assignments are also designed to help you to
utilize idea, styles, and approaches from texts that might not initially seem relevant to your papers. Generally
when you look for sources for your papers, you’ll find that none of them exactly “fit” what you want to argue or
present; there’s no reason to write a paper that contains the exact same information as a text already in existence.
These class texts, even when they don’t seem to directly relate to your interests and paper topics, will hopefully
help you to get used to analyzing and utilizing texts in a number of genres and mediums.
Indeed, you will notice that in addition to academic articles from a number of fields, we analyze texts that are
visual and auditory. We discuss topics that are professional and/or recreational. We read experts from fields
recognized in academia, and thinkers who exist outside of academic discourse. We analyze all of these texts so
that you will feel more empowered to do independent research in creative and open-ended ways. Note that you
are expected to do research (which could mean library research, observation, web research, film and visual culture
analysis, etc.) for every major draft that you write in this class. We’ll use class time to strategize about how to
analyze and use common citation systems to accurately incorporate research into various writing projects.
A Note on Audience: One goal that I hold for writers throughout the semester is the ability to engage diverse
audiences. A tendency that many writers share is to assume there is one of two audiences (“oneself” or the most
direct person evaluating the work). Another tendency is to write to those we assume to be either “normal” (a.k.a.
just like ourselves) or those we imagine to hold power. Although I understand the need to write for grades,
approval, consensus, and self-discovery, I want to encourage you all to be thoughtful to the ways that papers can
be written to (and sometimes about) populations that have been traditionally underserviced, ignored, and/ or
marginalized. I also encourage you to consider the impact of multi-cultural and global communication in what we
read and what you write. Your thoughtfulness and sensitivity to diverse audiences can be expressed both in your
wiliness to direct your papers to different populations (or acknowledge multiple subjectivities in your writing) and
in the ways you willingness to analyze how various genres address or fail to address diversity.
Notes on Feedback: With each unit, I include a set of questions I use to evaluate your texts. You will note that
they address both issues of content and form/mechanics. They are open-ended because I know that you all have
different majors and different levels of experience and coursework. My demands for each paper in this class are
limited—you need to write at least to the page limit and you need to have at least one source per paper. Know
that merely meeting these standards (having barely six pages and one source) probably won’t mean you get an A
or even a B. Ideally, your paper should be structured around your topic, your audience, your genre, and the forum
in which you want to have your writing read. For each paper, I will type up some responses to address these issues
for each major draft. I will also talk with you about your paper in class and I consider these discussions to be
feedback. Generally, I find that students who are open to communicating with me about their papers do better
than those who simply “follow the assignment sheet.”
You will also note that I neither “correct” your grammar errors for you nor to I spend a lot of class time reviewing
mechanics or spelling. I am your teacher, not your copy editor. Some of you undoubtedly struggle with these
issues and, often mistakenly, think that this means you are a bad writer. Know that I consider many factors in
evaluating your writing. On the other hand, I know that sloppy grammar and usage mistakes can limit your
opportunities in very serious ways. What I will do is point out a few problems and/or more generally indicate
problems I see in your individual papers (if you have questions, I am free to discuss these problems with you). In
class, I will go over common mistakes I see many papers. We’ll also discuss reasonable strategies for proofreading
and peer review. I am also happy to work with individual students on grammar and usage issues throughout the
semester.
Attendance Policy: We abide in this class by the Writing Program Attendance Policy for TR courses: “two absences
are un-penalized. Each absence after this results in a ½ letter grade reduction. This means that whatever the
FINAL letter grade in the course, it is reduced by the accrued absences. Eight absences is just slightly over 20% of
the classes for the course, and thus results in an automatic failing grade for the course.” (Writing Program
Instructor’s Guide). If you have an emergency (hospitalization, death in the immediate family), please contact me.
In these situations, there is the possibility we can work something out. If you need to be out of class on a day you
have an assignment due, please e-mail your work to me or to other classmates with whom you are working.
Understand that while I am sympathetic to continued work conflicts and extended personal crises, simply telling
me that you are “having a rough time” doesn’t mean that you get a pass on deadlines and attendance; if you have
a difficult time that threatens your ability to do well in the class, I will work with you but cannot guarantee either a
good or passing grade.
Late Work: The most pressing deadlines you have are to one another, not to me. In each major unit, you will work
with classmates on drafts—usually offering feedback in the form of peer review. It is important that you have
drafts ready for each other on days we are set to do peer work. If you are unable to attend on peer review days,
you need to contact the classmate(s) with whom you will be working and find a way to complete your peer review
exchange. Other assignments like homework are designed to prepare you to participation in class
discussion/activity. You’ll be expected to hand these assignments on the day that they are due. Longer papers,
however, are a little more flexible. If you find that you’d hand in a more effective draft if you had, say, an extra
week, e-mail or talk to me and we can work something out (just make sure that you have something—notes,
fragments, etc-- for peer review if you need more time for a first draft). Note that deadlines are flexible not openended. You need to contact me and we need to set an alternative deadline for late work.
Conferences/Contacting me: Because your papers are often self-generated (and sometimes you won’t be entirely
certain of my expectations), I encourage you to communicate with me. Often in class I will conference with
individual students while the rest of the class works. Often it is in negotiating and “working through” the paper
topic with me and your classmates that you learn how to write and how to revise. As such, I hope to put you at
ease in our conversations.
While I love to hear from you via e-mail and am happy to answer any questions or concerns, don’t feel you need to
send me “what did I miss?” e-mails. You are provided with a syllabus. Generally I try to respond promptly to
student e-mail, but I simply don’t have the time to respond to “what did I miss?” Know also that I have office hours
and often have time before class if you want to discuss something with me in person. .
Academic Honesty and Double-dipping: In all cases of plagiarism, faculty members are required to refer the
student to Community Rights and Responsibilities for the violation of Illinois State University’s Code of Student
Conduct. Clearly handing in a paper you did not write constitutes plagiarism and will result in serious
consequences; smaller problems with citation and attribution within a clearly original text are serious, but may be
handled between the student and instructor. If I discover that you have simply copied any of your major paper
drafts from an online source or another person’s work, you will receive a grade of F for both drafts and your
contract grade. There is no opportunity to revise or change these grades.
“Double-dipping” is when you hand in work completed in or for another course without any revisions or
acknowledgement. This constitutes a form of academic dishonesty to both your instructor and your classmates.
Certainly you should feel empowered to combine ideas from other courses or revisit paper ideas you addressed in
previous courses (or are addressing in current courses). I won’t be offended if you tell me you’d like to continue a
project you started in another class—just come talk to me about what you are doing. However, your papers in this
class should reflect work you have done and revised during the semester in this class. Papers should also address
the goals of this course—a paper that gets an A in a philosophy class may not receive an A in 145.
Persons with Disabilities: To request academic accommodations due to a disability, please contact The Office of
Disability Concerns at 309-438-5853 (voice) or 309-438-8620 (TTY/TDD). If you are going to need special
accommodations to succeed in class, you must arrange that through the ODC and provide me with the
documentation the ODC provides.
Safe Zone: You’ll see a pink triangle on my office door that signifies that I am part of ISU’s Safe Zone program.
This program is designed to provide a highly visible “safe” space (my office) and support system (me) for gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgender students at ISU.
General Course Timeline (individual unit calendar to be announced with every unit)
Jan 11-13
T:
Feb 8-10
R:
T:
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Jan 18-20
T:
Feb 15-17
R:
T:
R: Unit 2 First Draft Due
Jan 25-27
Feb 22-24
T: Unit 1 First Draft Due
T:
R:
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Feb 1-3
Mar 1-3
T:
T: Unit 2 Final Draft (+ sup docs) due
R: Unit 1 Final Draft (+sup. Docs) due
R:
Mar 8-10
T: Spring Break
R: Spring Break
Mar 15-17
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Mar 22-24
T:
R Unit 3 First Draft Due
Mar 29-31
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Apr 5-7
T:Unit 3 Final Draft (+ sup docs) due
R: Unit 4 Contract Due
Apr 12-14
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April 19-21
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Apr 26-28
T:
R: Unit 4 Final Draft (+ sup docs) and Course Reflection Due
Class will not meet during finals week.