Instructor: Steven J. Stewart

E-mail: stewarts@byui.edu

Office Hrs: MWF 12:00-2:00 (preferably by appointment)

Office: 116 Rigby Hall

ENG 316C

Section 5 MWF 2:00-3:00 (SMI 263)
Section 6 MWF 3:15-4:15 (SMI 263)

"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." --Chinese Proverb

Materials:

A Concise Guide to Technical Communication (Gurak and Lannon)

Course Description:

The ability to effectively communicate ideas in writing is one of the most important skills for you to develop in college, regardless of your occupational field. English 316C is designed to help you develop that ability. How will we go about this? This course is based on the radical idea that the way to learn how to write is to write. Imagine a college basketball team that, instead of actually getting on the court to practice, spent its time with the players sitting around talking about strategies, maneuvers, and rules. How would this team do on game day? Poorly, of course. It’s the same with writing. To develop your writing skills, you need to spend your time writing. As with basketball, theory is important but should supplement practice (and not the other way around). This course will give you practice for the real world writing situations that you will face as you graduate. You will develop the skills you need to go out in the world and write effectively in your field.

As you go about this semester, please think carefully about and apply the fourth principle of the BYU–I learning model which states that learners and teachers at BYU–I "act for themselves and accept responsibility for learning and teaching."

Grades:

According to Hugh Nibley, grades are “acquisitive, competitive, and phony.” I tend to agree. The more I teach, the less interested I am in giving grades or in having a system that elevates the grade you get above what you learn or gain from an assignment. Besides, in the real world, your writing is not graded: it either fulfills its function or it doesn't; it is either satisfactory or it isn’t. In this course, we will have something of a pass/fail system where, instead of getting grades, you will either get a “credit” (a checkmark) for an assignment or else you will get it back with the chance to revise it for credit. Your final grade for the course will depend on how many course assignments you get credit for.

You may ask, so how can I know if something is going to get credit or not? If you work hard, write something that’s meaningful, and do a good job of it, you’ll likely either get credit or be very close to it. I also strongly encourage you to talk to me about assignments you’re doing to get feedback on them before you turn them in.

There are numerous ways to get credit for assignments; there typically isn’t just one right approach. Be willing to try new and different things. One of my goals for this approach to grading is to allow you to get past trying to read my mind or guess what I want you to do, to give you the opportunity to do work that is meaningful to you, and to try to help you, as President Clark is fond of saying, to act and not merely be acted upon.

If you don't get credit for an assignment, you should breathe deep, smile, and realize that you can revise it for credit. I’m on your side. I want you to get credit for it. I fully expect you to do so, and I’m prepared to help you. I strongly recommend that you meet with me if you have a document that isn’t getting credit and you’re not sure why--if you've sent something through the workshop multiple times without success, you should be talking to me about it.

Evaluation Workshops:

Peer evaluation—having you read, comment on, and determine whether another student’s work is creditable—gives you the responsibility of applying your knowledge about writing even after you’ve finished an assignment. Since in the real world you won’t be writing to an audience of English professors, peer evaluation will form a significant component of this class. The papers that you write will be distributed to your fellow students for their evaluation and comments.

Please take all opportunities for peer evaluation seriously; apply your understanding of the assignments (based on the text and our class discussions) and give a fair and honest assessment of the effectiveness of your peers’ writing. Inferior work will not be acceptable in the workplace; if you don’t give an honest and careful assessment of your classmates’ work now, you will be doing them a disservice.

We will periodically spend our class time in evaluation workshops. For these, you should bring all work you have done that you think is ready to receive credit. I will divide you into small groups, and you will pass your documents to be considered to another group. As groups, you will examine and discuss your classmates’ documents and determine whether you think they are creditable or not. If a document is not, you will return it to the student who wrote it and explain to him or her what needs to be done to make it so it is. If you think it is creditable, you will submit it to me and recommend that it receive credit. If I agree, it will receive credit and will be returned to the student. If I disagree, I’ll return it to your group and explain to you what needs to be done with it, and then you’ll return it to the student and explain to him or her what needs to be done so it can be credited.

During these workshop days, I will be actively involved in your groups, answering questions and giving you my thoughts on what should or shouldn’t constitute a creditable assignment. Please pay attention to what I tell you; over the course of the semester you shouldn’t keep bringing multiple documents to me that have the same problem. (I find that my role in the workshops diminishes as the semester progresses as students learn for themselves to evaluate work efficiently and accurately.)

You should return non-creditable documents to students and also call me over for creditable ones throughout the workshop class period. Do not save a big stack to give back or for me to consider until the end of the class period. Try to keep the evaluating load equitable; if your group finishes with all the documents you have, get some more from another group. Also, it is not appropriate for you to spend class time making revisions to documents that have been returned to you while there are other documents in the class to be evaluated.

If your work does not get credit, you should revise it and bring it in to be evaluated at a later date. If you disagree with the group evaluating your paper as to whether your work is creditable or not, you can submit it unrevised to a different group at a later workshop and hope for a different result. If you have a document that you think is creditable but has failed to make it through the workshop at least twice, then you can bring it directly to me (I’m happy to give suggestions for your papers at any point in the writing process, but I’m not willing to directly evaluate a paper’s creditability unless it has been turned down by two groups and you think it is creditable).

While these workshops certainly function for you to get credit for your documents, there's much more to them than that. It's by carefully examining and responding to the work of others that you can learn how to improve your own work. It's true that you'll sometimes get uneven feedback from your peers. Nevertheless, you shouldn't view these occasions as reasons for getting upset but rather as learning opportunities for everyone involved.

Class Time:

Class time will be spent in a variety of ways, including discussions about writing techniques and assignments, learning activities, and workshopping. I believe in having a very hands-on approach to writing; as the Chinese proverb above states, you don't learn best by hearing but by doing. At times, classes may be shortened or cancelled to make way for individual or group conferences. In all cases, class time will be spent in the way that I think is most beneficial for you in learning the concepts and developing the skills you need for this course.

This course will also incorporate some elements of a hybrid course. Periodically, instead of meeting together as a class, I will give you out-of-class Blackboard assignments. Your attendance will be determined by whether or not you complete and post the assignment. When we have days like this, I will typically meet with students on an as-needed basis either in the classroom or in my office.

Real-world Documents:

Several of the documents you create for this class will revolve around the new children's museum in Rexburg and the organization Have Fun, Inc. These are real-world documents and will have real consequences for these organizations. I expect you to take them seriously and to do an excellent job. I also hope that you'll take advantage of this opportunity to be involved with these worthwhile organizations and to give yourself a meaningful academic and life experience.

Revision:

Revision is a critical component of the writing process. A first draft thrown together at the last moment is seldom going to be creditable. While you should consider the draft you post or bring to a workshop to be a final draft (if you're serious about your writing, you will probably find yourself bringing in at least a second or a third draft), you should pay careful attention to what I and your peers suggest to help you create better work. A good motto to adopt for this class would be, "Don't get frustrated, get it right."

Late Work:

I hate late work. Assignments are to be submitted on the day they are due. All discussion board postings must be made by the determined dates. In extraordinary circumstances, things may be submitted or posted late for less credit than they would otherwise be worth. If you miss class for any reason, it is your responsibility to get work that is due to me any way you can.

Attendance:

I keep strict attendance. Much of your success in this course will depend on your being there and being involved in our discussions, activities, and workshops. You may miss 4 class sessions for any reason. Each absence over 4 will cap your grade at a certain level. With 5 absences, the best you can get is an A-, with 6, a B+, etc.

You should always inform me, ahead of time when possible, about why you miss class. Save your absences for when you get sick or for family emergencies. If you miss class, it is your responsibility to talk to a classmate to get whatever notes you may have missed.

Except in exceptional circumstances, I don't care why you're gone. Even if you have a good excuse, you're still missing the educational content of the class period (this applies to university-excused absences as well; if you are going to be missing classes for approved reasons, you need to make sure not to miss too many other days for unapproved reasons).

Academic Honesty:

Plagiarism shouldn’t really be an issue in this class. Nevertheless, plagiarism is grounds for suspension from the university as well as for failure in this course. It will not be tolerated. Plagiarism is a counterproductive, non-writing behavior that is unacceptable in a course intended to aid the growth of individual writers. It has no place at this university.

Students with Disabilities:

In compliance with the applicable disability law, qualified students with a disability may be entitled to “reasonable accommodation.” It is the student’s responsibility to disclose to the teacher any special need she/he may have before the end of the first week of class.

Computer Classroom:

A note on the computer classroom: The classroom computers are NOT to be used for instant messaging, checking your e-mail, websurfing, playing games, doing homework for other classes, or any other unholy practice (this applies to you even if you bring your own laptop to class, and don't even get me started on cell phones . . .). This policy will be strictly enforced.

Disclaimer:

I reserve the right to add, delete, or modify any part of this syllabus as necessary as the semester progresses. I will discuss any changes to the syllabus with you.