Noah Mass's Home Page

Noah Mass

RHE 310: Intermediate Expository Writing

M, W 11-12:30

Office: Parlin 403

 

Course Policies

 

Course Website: http://instructors.cwrl.utexas.edu/mass/node/267

PB Wiki Site: http://rhe310spring2008.pbwiki.com/

(Temporary password for the wiki site is "supercool.")

ERES site:  http://reserves.austin.utexas.edu/eres

(Click "Student Access To Electronic Reserves." Search for my last name, and select this class.  The ERES password for this class is also "supercool.")

 

RHE 310 is an intermediate-level workshop in writing and editing designed to help students tailor their writing for specific audiences, and discover new ways to make their writing powerful, interesting and engaging for readers.  This course will give students the opportunity to examine a variety of written works in different genres: film reviews, music writing, feature articles, editorials, short stories and personal essays (among other forms).  We'll examine the ways that these writers use language to reach their audiences, and the ways that they use style—vocabulary, syntax, and metaphor, as well as "tone" and "voice"—to make their work matter to their readers.   However, the heart of the class will be your own work.  Examining the works of other writers and breaking them down will help you to learn to make your own stylistic choices in your own writing, and help you produce more sophisticated, lively, thoughtful and engaging prose.

 

Course Requirements:

 

You will write 3 major essays for this course,  For each major paper, we will have drafting/revision workshops and peer critique sessions.  

 

Throughout the course I will ask you to produce other short writing assignments, often in-class, sometimes outside of it.  Some are designed to make you more aware of the choices you can make about style; others will help you to generate ideas for class discussion and strategies for your major writing projects.  I will also ask you to produce posts on the wiki site throughout the semester.

 

In addition to completing the three major papers including drafts, all of us will offer active participation in peer reviews and during peers' paper presentations.   Finally, there are two major exercises that will run throughout the course that you will participate in:

 

Glossary Exercise:

 

When an assigned reading is due, you must post to the PB wiki site for our Glossary Exercise the night before class by 8:00PM.  This is an exercise which asks you to look closely at the way that a piece is written and to identify a single word (and, sometimes, a phrase or group of sentences) that you think is important in it—important to produce an effect on a reader, and important to help the writer make his or her point (and we'll talk about what we mean by those things in class).  You will create a page in PBWiki in the name of that word, post a definition of the word from an on-line resource, and write a short paragraph in which you explain why you chose the word, and why you think it is important for us to consider.  The guidelines for this assignment are on the wiki site's toolbar, "Glossary Exercise."  You will not receive a grade for this, but fulfilling the assignment to post will count for 10% of your final grade.

 

Student Showcase:

 

For each unit, we'll devote 2 days to this exercise.  Each student in Student Showcase will have to take first crack at the writing prompt before the rest of the class has to.  These drafts will be strictly for in-class  review purposes--they won't be graded, and I won't comment on them myself.  Instead, students who've signed up for this exercise will produce working drafts of the paper that the rest of the class has not yet begun actually working on, and the non-showcasers will then break up into four groups (per day) to critique, edit, provide feedback, and comment on the showcase participants' work.  After these two days of Student Showcase, the entire class will produce "first" drafts (second, in a sense, for the Showcasers) and we'll go through the process of peer review, close edit of selected first drafts, etc, over the next 3 class meetings.  Everyone will also produce final drafts, but the showcase participants will have had a leg-up on the rest of the class, as they've had that much more time to refine their work.  Plus, the non showcasers will benefit from having reviewed other writers' work before they've begun theirs. 

 

Every student must sign up for Student Showcase once during the semester.  Each student will upload drafts to the wiki site prior to our class meeting and also print out and bring in 5 copies to class for the rest of us to review and critique.  Although these drafts will not be graded, fulfilling this assignment will count for 10% of your grade.

 

Grading Policy

 

Your final grade in this course will be calculated as follows:

Glossary and other Wiki posts: 10%

Student Showcases: 10%

Paper 1: 20%

Paper 2: 30%

Paper 3: 30%

 

Texts:

Writing With Style by John Trimble

Course Readings available on-line at the ERES site

 

Drafts:

 

I don't grade first drafts (nor Student Showcase drafts), but I will comment on them extensively.  Not bringing in a first draft for peer review, and not showing up for peer review, will severely affect your grade in this course.

 

Attendance:

 

I follow the DRW guidelines for attendance.  After 4 unexcused absences, I will file an absence report with UT.  After 5 absences, you will fail the course. 

 

Late Arrivals:

 

I expect you to show up on time for class.  If you are more than 10 minutes late to class, I will count this lateness as ½ an absence.  Be on time!

 

Scholastic Honesty.

 

Turning in work that is not your own, or any other form of scholastic dishonesty, will result in a major course penalty, possibly failure of the course.  A report of the incident will also be made to the Office of the Dean of Students.  Be sure you read and understand the Statement on Scholastic Responsibility in chapter 6 of The Student Guide to First-Year Writing (available on the DRW website).  I strongly encourage you to use the services offered by the Undergraduate Writing Center (FAC 211, 471-6222).  The consultants at these centers are trained to help you resolve your own problems so that all your writing reflects what you have learned.

 

We will be covering the use of sources extensively in class.  In general, I will ask you to cite your sources in a Works Cited page at the end of your paper, as well within the text itself. I will explain the procedure for presenting this material later in the course.  If you have any questions about the use you are making of sources for your assignments, see me before you turn in the project.

 

Students With Disabilities:

 

The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic adjustments for qualified students with disabilities.  For more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-6259, 471-4641.