Instructor: Olivia Wood (she/her/hers)
Email: [email protected]
Office Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays, 1-1:50 and Mondays 3:30-4:50
Contents
Please prioritize your physical/emotional health, your ability to care for your loved ones, and your financial/safety needs. If life circumstances make it difficult for you to complete activities for this course, please email me so we can figure out a plan.
Do not come to class if you are experiencing Covid-like symptoms. Even if it’s just a cold, better safe than sorry. You will not be penalized.
Course Description (Official)
First-year composition courses at CCNY teach writing as a recursive and frequently collaborative process of invention, drafting, and revising. Writing is both personal and social, and students should learn how to write for different purposes and audiences. Since writing is a process of making meaning and communicating, FYC teachers respond mainly to the content of students’ writing as well as to recurring surface errors. Students should expect frequent written and oral responses on the content of their writing from their teachers and peers. Classes rely heavily on a workshop format. Instruction emphasizes the connection between writing, reading, and critical thinking; students should give thoughtful, reasoned responses to the readings. Both reading and writing are the subjects of class discussions and workshops, and students are expected to be active participants in the classroom community. Learning from each other will be a large part of the classroom experience.
Course Objectives
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations.
- Develop strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing.
- Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations.
- Engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes.
- Understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences.
- Locate research sources (including academic journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles) in the library’s databases or archives and on the Internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, timeliness, and bias.
- Compose texts that integrate your stance with appropriate sources using strategies such as summary, critical analysis, interpretation, synthesis, and argumentation.
- Practice systematic application of citation conventions.
Required Texts
Rhetorical Devices: A Handbook and Activities for Student Writers, by Brendan McGuigan
Recommended: The Craft of Research by Booth, Colomb, and Williams
Assorted PDFs and links to online readings
Grading
You have two options for how you would like to be graded in this class. No matter which option you pick, you are expected to participate in and complete all assignments and activities. However, you get to choose which ones you are graded on. This is because receiving grades and learning are not the same thing, but some people find grades motivational, while others find them simply stressful and anxiety-inducing.
| Option 1 | Option 2 |
|---|---|
| Rhetorical Devices: 10% | Rhetorical Devices: 15% |
| Process Work & Participation: 25% | Paper 1: 20% |
| Paper 1: 15% | Paper 2: 15% |
| Paper 2: 10% | Paper 3: 30% |
| Paper 3: 25% | Portfolio: 20% |
| Portfolio: 15% |
The advantage of the first option is that each assignment is weighted less, but you’re graded on more things. If you get nervous about tests and “big” assignments, this one is for you.
The advantage of the second option is that you won’t be graded on participation, but each other category is weighted more. If you get nervous about speaking up in class or participating in group work, this one is for you.
If both things stress you out, pick one to work on that will be your goal this semester.
Technology Platforms For Our Course
This class is in-person. We will use Blackboard for grading and private assignment submissions, and we will use the CUNY Academic Commons for shared work, discussions, and portfolios.
Attendance and Participation
Everyone has a unique perspective and set of experiences that brings value to the classroom. Many activities are designed so that we can learn from each other as well as from our participation in the activity itself. Everyone benefits from your presence!
However, please do not come to class if you are experiencing Covid-like symptoms. Get tested, then stay home and get well!
Late Work Policy
For most assignments, I will NOT deduct points for lateness. The exception is peer review drafts and feedback, because turning those in late has a negative impact on others.
You are permitted UNLIMITED revisions of your assignments up until the end of the semester.
You do NOT need to ask me for permission to have an extension (the answer is yes).
Classroom Conduct
As rhetoric students, it is your responsibility to choose the best, most respectful way to express your ideas. When considering your words, ask yourself, “Am I contributing to the learning environment, or am I hurting the learning environment?”
Phones, Laptops, and Tablets
You are welcome to use your technology during class. If you choose to use your device for something unrelated to class, please be mindful of how you may be distracting others from their own learning. (Keep your volume off/low!)
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person’s ideas, research, or writings as your own. This is unethical, detrimental to your learning, and a violation of the City College Academic Integrity Policy. Plagiarism can include:
- Copying another person’s actual words without attributing the words to their source
- Presenting another person’s ideas in your own words without acknowledging the source
- Changing just a couple words of someone else’s writing so that it is technically different
- Using information that is not common knowledge without acknowledging the sources
- Failing to acknowledge collaborators on assignments
- Downloading someone else’s essay and turning it in as your own
For an overview of CCNY’s academic integrity policy and a link to the full policy, please visit http://www.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/legal-affairs/policies-resources/academic-integrity-policy/
