Fall 2008
WR 115 INTRO TO EXPOSITORY WRITING Michael Dembrow,
Instructor
40372 TTh
Four Transfer Credits Telephone:
503-978- 5213
Office Hours: TTh 10—
Website:
http://spot.pcc.edu/~mdembrow/wr115.htm
PURPOSE: If you're the type of
person to go into a panic when you see a blank sheet of paper, if you break
into an icy sweat every time someone asks you to write something more than your
name and social security number, if you like to write but would never dream of
showing what you've written to anyone else, if you have a great mind which
tends to fall asleep whenever it's expected to write grammatically and to spell
correctly, if . . . (I could go on and on), THEN THIS IS THE COURSE 4 U!!!
Specifically, my goals in this course are to
· show you how to quickly set up a short essay
· help you turn a rough draft into a good final draft
· help you to
make good use of revision advice from your WR115 peers and from tutors in the
· demonstrate that good writing involves making a point and then
supporting that point and then help you to do just that
· eliminate basic problems, such as faulty subject-verb agreement,
faulty pronoun reference, misused apostrophes, sentence fragments, and run-on
sentences (and others that I'm sure you'll come up with)
· improve your vocabulary
· get you used to summarizing college-level texts and to discussing
(both in writing and orally) the ideas in them, quoting and documenting as
needed
· help you to adjust your writing style to different audiences and
circumstances
· more specifically, make you aware of differences between spoken
English and written English, understanding the contexts in which each is
appropriate
· introduce you to good library and internet sources
TEXTBOOK: The Mercury Reader for Dembrow’s WR115
Also: The
LB Brief Handbook (good for the entire Writing sequence)
a dictionary and a thesaurus (book or online/electronic)
I
would also suggest that you acquire a “flash-drive” or “thumb-drive” so
that you can use the computers on campus and save your
documents.
This
class’s Mercury Reader is a nice
little collection of essays by professional writers that I’ve assembled for
you. Be sure that you have the edition
for our class. You'll be using the
readings in it not only to develop your thoughts and understanding in general,
but also to develop your skills in critical reading (in order to write well
academically, you need to be able to read well), and also as inspiration and as
points of departure for your own essays.
I’ll occasionally be giving you other essays as handouts to be read as
well.
You'll
generally be reading one or two essays or stories from the text for each class
period. You’ll also be summarizing and
answering questions from them (see below).
The LB Handbook
is a useful writing handbook, and one that should help you with your writing
for other courses along with this one.
It will be the assigned handbook for any subsequent Writing classes that
you take at PCC-Cascade. It includes
information about various aspects of the writing/research process, as well as a
good review of the basics of grammar, punctuation, and the mechanics of
writing. This will mainly be a reference
book for you to consult as needed, but I may also be assigning readings and
exercises in it occasionally.
IN‑CLASS: Part of time in class will be spent
discussing the readings and analyzing them (i.e., taking them apart, seeing how
they work). We'll also be doing small‑group
work on your papers and group examination of different grammatical points and
of various aspects of the writing process.
Finally, I'll also be giving you various in‑class writing
exercises that are cunningly designed to open up the floodgates of your
inherent creativity and overcome the “White Page Syndrome.”
Every
2-3 weeks I'll be giving you a day-by-day schedule of topics and assignments
for the next segment of the course. USE
IT! I’ll also try to keep a current
schedule on my website for the course.
CLASS WEBSITE: I’ve put together a
website for this course, at the address http://spot.pcc.edu/~mdembrow/wr115.htm. On that site, I’ll have links to useful
resources, as well as copies of all the handouts, including the biweekly class
schedules and paper topics. So, if you
misplace a handout, or have to miss class, you’ll be able to keep up without
difficulty. Use it.
WRITING: In this class I want to
get you to feel relaxed about writing, and of course the best way to do that is
to keep you busy writing. So I promise
to do that. You'll be doing three types
of writing for me:
(1) As part of
the course, you'll be responding to every essay that you read in the
textbook. I’ll want you to briefly
summarize the reading, and then respond to it.
Most of your responses will come in the form of answers to questions on
each essay. You will find these
questions on the back of your class schedule.
Your answers will generally be brief, usually
no more than 10 lines each. These can be
in written on a computer or done by hand.
(2) Every other
week or so, you'll get to do an in-class essay. I'll generally give you an essay or article
to read in advance, but not the topic.
This will give you practice in writing under time pressure, a very
useful skill to develop, and necessary for you to pass the course (see below).
(3) You'll be
writing four papers (about 500 words each) this term, due approximately every
other week. You’ll be doing a rough
draft one week, then revise it into a final draft the
next. Some of these essays will be based
on readings from the textbook and will be an opportunity for you to develop ideas
from your textbook responses.
After you do the first typed draft of an essay, you'll then share
that draft with other students for some immediate feedback. I’ll take it home and return it to you the
following class period with observations and suggestions. You'll then revise
the essay into a final draft and hand it in the following class.
I'll get it back to you as soon as possible with comments,
suggestions, corrections, and a grade.
You will then correct any technical errors (i.e., grammar, punctuation, spelling) and get it back to me. You must make your corrections in pen or
pencil right on the original--do not rewrite the paper unless I specifically
ask you to.
YOU MUST DO THESE CORRECTIONS TO RECEIVE FINAL CREDIT FOR THE
PAPER.
You must type both the first drafts and final drafts of your paper. For some of you, that may be painful; in the
long run, you'll be glad you did, for you'll turn out better papers (at this
point, take my word for it). If you do
not have a computer to use at home or at work, we have various resources here
that you can use.
Please double-space (skip lines) rough drafts and final
drafts. You should always hand in
rough draft(s) as well as final drafts.
The class schedule will clearly indicate when the various stages
of each assignment are due.
OTHER HOMEWORK: Work
outside of class will also include exercises from handouts or from the grammar
handbook. In particular, they will help
you to work on grammar/mechanics.
THIS I BELIEVE: Throughout
the term, we’ll be discussing ways in which writing can be a powerful vehicle
for us to explore and better understand ourselves. Through the process of putting our
experiences and beliefs into words, and then sharing them, we ultimately
elevate and empower ourselves. I believe
that firmly.
Along those lines, National Public Radio has begun running a
series of “audio essays” entitled “This I Believe,” in which individuals—some
famous, most not—define and exemplify their core beliefs. In this growing collection of audio essays,
you can find some great examples of powerful writing. We’ll be listening to one audio essay
together each week and discussing it and its effectiveness. For your final essay, you will yourself be
writing (and perhaps submitting for broadcast?) a “This I Believe.”
EXAMS: We’ll have a midterm
on Tuesday, October 27. It will test you
on the principles and components of good writing and will gauge your progress
in identifying and correcting typical problems with grammar and mechanics. The final, on Thursday, Dec. 11, 11-1, will
also include an in-class essay which will be reviewed by other
instructors. In order to pass this
course, this final in-class essay must be “C”-level work.
ATTENDANCE: Since
we'll be doing much of this course in a workshop format, regular attendance
really is essential, and I do count attendance as a factor in calculating your
final grade. DO NOT MISS CLASS SIMPLY
BECAUSE YOU
CONFERENCES: I'll be scheduling 2-3 20-minute
conferences over the course of the term so that you can come in and talk things
over with me. Make sure you bring
questions, suggestions, smiles, and gifts for the instructor. Also, bring all the pieces of writing you've
done up to that point, so that we can refer to them. Also, KEEP YOUR APPOINTMENT--missing a
conference will count as a missed class, and you'll still need to reschedule
it.
But PLEASE feel free to come and see me in my office in SC209 when
you have any questions/problems/complaints/hot news items. I will usually be there before class and an
hour or so after class (though I may also be holding some of my office hours in
the
Actually, an even better way to reach me is by email: mdembrow@pcc.edu.
I check my email regularly throughout
the day and evening.
The writing tutors in the
EVALUATION: 40% essays
20%
reading responses
10%
in-class essays
10%
class participation/quizzes/homework
10%
midterm
10%
final
____
100%
improvement in just 11 short weeks!
The
above reflects my plans for the course at this point. Depending on how things go, we may decide to
change some of these percentages. If I
do decide to make any changes, I'll be sure to get your thoughts ahead of time.
By
the way, since I am primarily concerned with your development as a
writer, I tend to place more emphasis on the grades that come later in the
term. I am looking for improvement.
You'll need a grade of "C" or better to move on to WR
121, but to do well in WR121 you'll really want to leave WR115 with
"B"-level skills. This will
take a lot of work for some of you, and in fact it may take some of you a
couple of terms to make a "C."
Be assured that I'll do all I legally can to help you succeed.
In
addition, if you have any special needs that I should know about, please let me
know. If you have a disability and need
an accommodation, please make an appointment to meet with me outside of class,
so that we can make arrangements for your success.
If you find that you must drop the class, you will receive a
refund only if you do so during the first two weeks of the term.
If
you are interested in taking this course on a Pass/No Pass basis, please let me
know by the fourth week of class. I should
warn you, though, that most colleges and universities will not allow
transferred Pass/No Pass Grades to meet Writing requirements, nor will PCC.
Finally,
let me say that we will spend a lot of time in the class discussing issues that
may be sensitive, complicated, and difficult for you. That's a very good thing. It's what helps us to grow as thinking,
feeling human beings. But that can only
happen in an environment of active listening and respect for the viewpoints of
others. Although I'll be guiding most of
these discussions, it's everyone's responsibility to make sure that we
work to maintain an atmosphere of mutual respect and a commitment to solving
problems when they arise. If at any
point you feel that we’re not achieving that kind of atmosphere, please be sure
to see me outside of class so that we can discuss your concerns in confidence.
OK,
let’s have a great term together!