Course Goals

Students will

• learn to understand the relationship between the context of writing and conventions governing writing in different, broad disciplinary groups
• learn that some groups of disciplines have relatively close affinities and are contrastive with others
• learn strategies for analyzing discourse conventions and using  that knowledge in their own writing
• learn to write well according to conventions governing language  use within groups of academic disciplines
• understand the relationship between writing within academic discourse communities and writing within other social contexts, including public and professional ones
• build on their ability, developed in Language and Composition I and elsewhere, to write flexibly for different audiences, forums, and purposes
• develop analytic, critical, and writing skills that will  facilitate students' continuing mastery of discursive conventions of more specialized fields, such as academic majors or professions.

Any student needing to arrange a reasonable accommodation for a documented disability should contact Disability Concerns at 350 Fell Hall, 438-5853 (voice), 438-8620 (TDD).

Approved Texts

• Feldman, Ann Merle.  Writing and Learning in the Disciplines.  Harper 1996.
• Course Guide for English 101: Language and Composition I

Minimum Writing Requirements

Students will complete a carefully constructed sequence of assignments designed to achieve the course goals.  They will write an average of at least 1000 revised words per week, resulting in several exercises and six finished papers.  Major papers, averaging at least 2000 words, will be written in drafts or stages.  All papers will require the use of reference or source materials and appropriate citation and documentation.  The final paper will be a reflective essay on the work done in the course to include in the portfolio.

Course Policies

Course Policies page here. Policies in effect for English 101, which are published in the Course Guide for Language and Composition, will be in effect for English 145.

Grading & Computers

Information on grading here. Grades will be based on three main components:  Quality of essays, quality of responses and revisions, quality of work with peer papers.

Students will turn in a portfolio at the end of the course. All your writing for this course must be word processed and available  in the hardware and software format used in the course.