WRITING PROGRAM GOALS AND ENGLISH DEPARTMENT GOALS
Students may access the Goals for Writing 465 at www.winthrop.edu/WritingProgram as well as the Goals for the Department of English at www.winthrop.edu/english/goals. My goals for Writing 465 focus on the written communication, oral communication, research and documentation skills, computer use, and revision goals in the Goals for Writing 465, and the Composing and Communications Skills section in the Goals for the Department of English.

TEXTS AND REQUIRED MATERIALS
a. Pfeiffer, William S. Pocket Guide to Technical Writing , 4th ed.– REQUIRED
b. Harris, Muriel. Prentice Hall Reference Guide to Grammar and Usage, 4^th ed. or any other current handbook – recommended
c. "The Correct Use of Borrowed Information." Access and print this document at www.winthrop.edu/english/plagiarism.htm or the dept. web page – REQUIRED

ATTENDANCE:
Students are expected to attend class. An absence for any reason is counted as a class missed. Three absences will reduce the final grade by five percent. Four absences will reduce the final grade by ten percent. Any student who misses more than four classes will receive an F for this course. ATTENDANCE AT STUDENT PRESENTATIONS IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT – IT AFFECTS YOUR OWN PRESENTATION GRADES. STUDENTS WHO ARE TARDY ON DAYS THEY ARE SCHEDULED TO GIVE AN ORAL PRESENTATION AND/OR WHO INTERRUPT ANOTHER STUDENT’S PRESENTATION BECAUSE OF TARDINESS WILL HAVE 10% DEDUCTED FROM THEIR OWN PRESENTATION GRADES. Students who are tardy to class must see me after class or the tardy will count as an absence. Two tardies count as one absence. Students should keep a personal record of their absences and tardies. STUDENTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING THAT TOOK PLACE IN CLASS DURING THEIR ABSENCE. See the 2007-2008 Winthrop University Undergraduate Catalog for a statement of the university’s attendance policies.

I check my e-mail, M-F, twice a day, once in the early morning, and once in the early afternoon. Restrict e-mail communications to brief questions that I can easily address through a reply OR for emergencies to which you must alert me immediately. Other queries are best handled over the phone. Please leave a detailed message on my voice mail if I am out of the office or on another call. I return phone messages promptly; they have priority over e-mail. Please don’t hesitate to call me at home before 9 PM.

WORK STANDARDS:
1. All assignments must be done on a computer and saved to a disk as well as to your system’s hard drive or Winthrop’s Z-drive. All work should be available for the duration of the semester.
2. All work should be submitted on time. Any work not turned in to me during class IN HARD COPY on the due date will NOT be accepted. All work must be submitted to turnitin.com by 5:00PM on the day after the due date in order to be accepted on time and to be evaluated. Work not submitted to turnitin.com by this time will be considered late and will not be accepted. Turnitin.com information is as follows:

REQUIRED ASSIGNED ACTIVITIES:
1. Major project (20%)
2. Oral presentation of major project (10%)
3. Instruction project - group (10%)
4. Proposal (10%)
5. Audience Analysis (10%)
6. Progress Report (10%)

7. Letter of Application and Resume (10% total)
8. The following shorter assignments will be worth about 20%:
Inquiry Letter
Oral How To

Oral Progress Report

Graphics
Oral Presentation of Group Instruction Project

9. Survey/Questionnaire – no credit but required

10. Complete rough draft to be brought to rough draft conference, attendance at rough draft conference, inquiry letter and survey activity – no credit, but required

REVISION POLICY

All revision is voluntary and students may submit up to TWO revisions for the letter of application, resume, proposal, audience analysis, and progress report. Revisions for the letter of inquiry are optional. Revisions will not be accepted for the graphics exercise. Revisions are not possible for the final report because those reports are due the last day of class. Revisions are graded like original documents, i.e., a revision with an error of any kind will receive a grade no higher than a C. The revised grade(s) will be averaged with the original grade to achieve a final grade on the assignment. While I grade your revision, should I find uncorrected errors from the original twice, I will stop grading that revision and return it to you for further work.

Students need to take the revision process seriously, reviewing, editing, and revising ALL ELEMENTS of the original document and avoiding a waste of time and effort. "To revise" means "to read over carefully and correct and improve where necessary." Revision is an activity in which all must writers must fully and intellectually engage, an activity that means more than just correcting spelling and punctuation errors and the like. Carefully review your documents for errors in style and voice. Students should remember that I may miss an error in my first evaluation and they are responsible for correcting that error as well as well as any new errors they introduce through rewriting. Do not hesitate to ask friends or classmates to proofread your documents for you.

I urge you to stop by after class or during my office hours for clarification and explanation of markings and corrections on graded documents. These conferences will help you to maximize your efforts in the revision process.

The rough draft conference is one of the most important aspects of WRIT 465. The dates for the posting and removal of the sign-up sheet for rough draft conferences are listed in the course agenda. In order to be eligible to attend a rough draft conference, you must sign up for a conference while the sheet is posted. Students who do not sign up will not be eligible to pass the course. Students must bring a COMPLETE rough draft and the questionnaires they have collected to the conference. Students who do not bring a draft to the conference and/or the questionnaires they have collected will not be eligible to pass the course. Students who do not attend their conference will be assigned 4 absences.

MODELS

I will provide models for some documents including the letter of application, the project proposal, and the letter of inquiry. These models are useful for indicating the format of the relevant document but they are not perfect. Errors exist especially in the areas of punctuation, style and voice. While you may wish to imitate some individual sentences in each model, you should make a concerted effort to enhance every document with your own style and voice. Allow yourself to be heard in any document you produce.

ACADEMIC HONESTY

The entire Winthrop University community takes plagiarism very seriously. Penalties for plagiarism can range between, but are not limited to, a failing grade on the plagiarized paper or exam to a failing grade in the course. ALL YOUR WORK FOR YOUR SUCESSFUL COMPLETION OF WRITING 465 THIS SEMESTER IS TO BE ORIGINAL AND PREPARED ONLY FOR THIS COURSE THIS SEMESTER. Please familiarize yourselves with the university’s policies on academic honesty in the 2007-2008 Winthrop University Undergraduate Catalogue and the English department’s statement concerning plagiarism at www.winthrop.edu/english/plagiarism; the latter has a link to the Student Code of Conduct.

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

If you have a disability and need classroom accommodations, please contact Gena Smith, Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities, at 323-3290, as soon as possible. Once you have your "Professor Notifications Letter," please notify me so that I am aware of your accommodations well before the first paper or assignment.

GRADING SCALE – 94-100=A, 91-93=A-, 87-90=B+, 84-86=B, 81-83=B-, 77-80=C+, 74-76=C, 71-73=C-, 67-70=D+, 64-66=D, 61-63=D-, 0-59=F, 74-100=S, 0-73=U.

CLASSROOM ETIQUETTE

Please make sure all electronic devices are turned off and PUT AWAY before class begins.

BEFORE ANY WORK IS MAILED OR DISTRIBUTED IN CONNECTION WITH ANY ASSIGNMENT, I MUST CHECK AND APPROVE IT. PLEASE ESPECIALLY REMEMBER THIS ASPECT OF THE COURSE IN REGARDS TO THE QUESTIONNAIRE WHICH ALL STUDENTS ARE REQUIRED TO DISTRIBUTE.