Greene and lidinsky habits of mind

Course Overview and Schedule

English 106 is the second in a three-course writing program required of all students. The first course in the writing program, EN105, focuses on critical reading, writing, and thinking practices. This course, EN106, asks you to apply those skills to common academic tasks that involve integrating research into your writing. Finally, EN306 (or your program's equivalent course) engages you in the particular work of writers in your discipline. The writing program reflects the University’s mission to "transform lives through accessible, student-centered, quality education."

The faculty of the Department of English have developed the following philosophy statement to articulate our beliefs about writing, writers, and writing instruction. These beliefs are reflected in the content of all EN courses.

The English Department at believes that:

· writing is a social and collaborative act;

· writing is an act of exploration and discovery;

· writing is thinking;

· writing is a recursive and developmental process;

· writing is a set of complex skills involving language;

· writing is the work of all academic disciplines;

· writing is a life-long learning endeavor.

Writing instruction should include:

· one-to-one consultation;

· peer response;

· feedback and commentary on work in progress;

· attention to purpose and audience;

· emphasis on both process and product;

· opportunity for student reflection.

Student writers need:

· time to write;

· positive encouragement;

· freedom to choose a topic.

Writing teachers must:

· be writers themselves;

· coach and mentor student writers with respect and humor;

· engage in life-long learning of the craft of writing and of the teaching of writing.

Underlying these belief statements is a vision of writing as a process. That process, however, is different for each writer and cannot be codified or mapped out in a linear formula. In EN106, we will discuss pre-writing, drafting, revising, and editing, however, we will do so with the recognition that those “stages” of writing as a process are enacted differently by every writer in every writing situation. In other words, many aspects of writing process are personal. Similarly, the art and science of writing is not something that can be “mastered” in one eight-unit term, a college career, or even a lifetime. Our skill as writers is developed over time as we write for varied audiences and purposes, as we read, and as we learn from the feedback given to us by our readers.

Liberal Education

English 106 is an important part of Park University's Liberal Education (LE) program. As stated in the Undergraduate Catalog:

The Liberal Education Program at Park University—Integrative Literacies for Global Citizenship—is education that develops an awareness of human potentials. It develops proper attitudes for realizing such potentials through critical and informed judgments that foster concern for individual and social well-being. It develops a love for learning by encouraging activities that promote knowledge of the basic concepts, methodologies, and rewards of learning. It builds skills and competencies that help students acquire the distinctive outcomes defined in the University vision, mission, core values, and literacies. These outcomes include:

1. Thinking And Communication

2. Citizenship

3. Ethical Competency

4. Scientific and Quantitative Competency

5. Literary and Artistic Competency

6. Interdisciplinary And Integrative Competency

Each of the five core learning outcomes of English 106 is aligned with one or more of the literacies or sub-literacies. While we focus our efforts on learning how to do academic writing and research, the overall goals of the LE literacies will also guide our work this term.

The Curriculum of EN106

English 106 focuses on those writing and research tasks common to all collegiate courses, regardless of discipline. We will cover such topics as engaging in academic inquiry, developing an argumentative thesis, organizing an academic essay, documenting sources, and editing your prose.

The core learning outcomes (CLOs) for this course are as follows. Students in English 106 will do the following:

1. Process: Apply writing processes, collaborative strategies, and effective academic research practices to participate in academic discourse. (Literacies: 1.2, 1.5, 4.2, 4.4)

2. Focus: Maintain a controlling idea/thesis for a variety of academic genres. (Literacies: 2.4, 5.1, 5.4)

3. Development: Apply strategies for developing academic arguments across the disciplines, including conducting research and incorporating culturally diverse perspectives. (Literacies: 1.3, 3.2, 5.2, 6.2)

4. Rhetorical Strategies: Consider the rhetorical situations faced by academic writers to respond appropriately in both writing and research. (Literacies: 1.4, 2.5, 4.5, 6.1, 6.4)

5. Conventions: Use common formats and conventions (e.g., research, structure, documentation, tone, mechanics) for various genres of academic discourse. (Literacies: 1.1, 3.4, 6.3)

The core learning outcome(s) covered each unit are listed among the unit learning outcomes that appear on each Unit Overview page.

What To Expect From EN106

Not surprisingly, EN106 is a reading and writing-intensive course. Expect complex readings that demand your active participation as you wrestle with new ideas and sophisticated vocabulary. You will be expected to demonstrate:

· openness (not necessarily acceptance) of new ideas;

· critical thinking (not criticism);

· diplomacy when presenting your thoughts and responding to those of other students.

In general, each unit is organized as follows:

· The Unit Overview provides a summary of the unit’s work, including all assignments and due dates, as well as a complete checklist for that unit's coursework.

· The Reading content item specifies all required and recommended reading assignments and explains the rationale behind them. Each unit, you will have a variety of reading assignments from our primary text, Greene and Lidinsky’s From Inquiry to Academic Writing: A Text and Reader; the other writing handbooks (Lunsford's Easy Writer and Reynolds and Davis's Portfolio Keeping); and, occasionally, from supplemental online resources.

· Unit Lectures cover fundamental skills and strategies for academic research and writing. It’s generally a good idea to read all assignments and lectures by Wednesday of each unit.

· Each unit we will engage in asynchronous, threaded Discussions. These discussions will ask you to read closely and respond critically to the course texts, to practice various strategies for writing academic essays, and to constructively review your peers’ work-in-progress. Your first post to all threaded discussions will be due on Thursday noon Central Standard Time (CST), with the requirement that you return to the discussions to comment on other posts between Thursday and Sunday each unit.

· In addition to discussion assignments and peer review, five major writing assignments (Essays) provide the occasion for developing your academic writing skills. Two of these five essays will be expansions of your previous essays to incorporate scholarly research. Final draft Essays are due Sunday midnight Central Standard Time (CST) of the unit they are assigned. Please note that rough drafts (sometimes called “discovery drafts”) are typically due earlier in the unit for peer review.

· Some units will have additional content items: online readings or presentations, or Peer Reviews. In this course, Peer Review will function much like our Discussions: you will interact with classmates in discussion threads, responding to their work-in-progress through prompts that I will provide.

· A summative Writing Portfolio (due in Unit Seven) will allow you to reflect upon and showcase your accomplishments from the term, and an Exploratory Essay (in Unit Eight) will provide you an opportunity to look ahead to the writing skills and research strategies needed for your major and career.

Starting in Unit 7, you will have access to the online Student Opinion of Teaching Survey (SOTS) for your courses. Your feedback on the SOTS helps your instructor improve their teaching, and provides Park University with essential feedback on what works in this online course. Surveys must be completed by the last day of the course, 11:59 p.m. Central.

Please be assured that your responses are presented anonymously to your instructors, and will be compiled for the university via a third party provider, Campus Labs. All student responses will be summarized and reported to your instructor(s) after the term is over and grades have been posted.

Course Schedule

On the next page you will find a thumbnail sketch of the course’s major topics, readings, and assignments. You can find details about reading and writing assignments, including due dates, in the unit content. For information about how your work will be assessed, please refer to the Grading and Assessment content item under Course Information, and each assignment's grading rubric.

Unit

Topics

Readings, Activities, & Assignments

Unit 1

Habits of Minds of Academic Writers

Read & Discuss: Lunsford, “The Top Twenty." Greene & Lidinsky, Ch. 1.

Unit 2

Reading Like An Academic Writer

Read & Discuss: Lunsford, "Analyzing and Reading Critically." Greene & Lidinsky, Ch. 2 & Ch. 3; assigned readings from Ch. 14.

Write: Essay #1: Rhetorical Analysis

Unit 3

Defining Academic Conversations

Read & Discuss: Greene & Lidinsky, Ch. 6 and at least three articles from Ch. 14. Lunsford, "Integrating Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism," "MLA Style," and "APA Style."

Write: Essay #2: Putting Sources in Conversation

Unit 4

Conducting Research

Read & Discuss: Greene & Lidinsky, Ch. 7. Lunsford, "Conducting Research," "Evaluating Sources and Taking Notes," "Building Arguments."

Write: Essay #3: Expanding the Conversation

Unit 5

Entering Academic Conversations

Read & Discuss: In Greene & Lidinsky, articles from Ch. 14-19, as assigned by your instructor and Ch. 5 (recommended); Lunsford, "Writing to Make Something Happen in the World," "Language That Builds Common Ground."

Write: Essay #4: Entering An Academic Conversation

Unit 6

Making Evidence-Based Arguments

Read & Discuss: Greene & Lidinsky, Ch. 8 & 12; other readings as assigned.

Write: Essay #5: Revision Project

Unit 7

Proofreading and Editing

Read & Discuss: Lunsford, "Creating Portfolios" and other readings as assigned.

Write: Writing Portfolio.

Unit 8

Looking Ahead: Writing In Your Major

Read & Discuss: Readings as assigned.

Write: Exploratory Assignment.