WRIT101 Writing

General Information on Written Assignments

The following guidelines and requirements apply to all written assignments for this course. Please consult this sheet regularly to ensure that you follow all instructions. Remember: You are in control of the grade you receive for insuring all components are present in each portfolio.

Description of the essay assignments:

Five major essay assignments constitute the bulk of the grade for this course. The five essays are based on work that you do with selected readings from your Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum textbook. Specific requirements for each out-of-class essay are explained in handouts that can be found on my faculty webpage. Please refer carefully to the instructions when working on the assignments and ask questions as needed.

Drafts of essay assignments

You should write all the assignments for this course in multiple drafts, as revising is an essential part of an effective writing process. Hence, you will be required to turn in all drafts and planning materials for each essay to demonstrate your development of an effective personal writing process.

A draft constitutes a complete essay, though it may need considerable revising. It is complete in the sense that it has a beginning, a middle, and an end. A draft essay includes a thesis, an organizational strategy, and developed ideas, along with an introduction and a conclusion. However, it is not necessarily finished in that you will return to the draft to revise it, likely more than one time. On workshop days, you will bring one copy of your draft to class and one copy of the peer review form from my faculty website. (The draft and peer review forms can be printed front and back to save paper).

Grading drafts

You will not receive a quantitative grade on your drafts. However, you will receive credit for completing your draft on time. Hence, completing your draft on time is important. When you complete your work on time you demonstrate that you are prepared for class. And when you are prepared for class, you insure that you will not let down your classmates who need practice reviewing others’ writing and who need your feedback to improve their writing. Please remember that in responding to the work of others, you gain insight into your own writing strengths and weaknesses.

Instructor feedback on drafts

You will receive some preliminary feedback on the first homework assignment that you write. While I try to be as helpful as I can with my feedback to you, unfortunately, I must balance thoroughness with efficiency; I have over 40 assignments to read and to which I must respond in a timely fashion. If my comments seem too brief, or if you would like more specific feedback, please come to see me. However, you must come prepared with specific questions about your essay or a particular aspect of your writing. For example, “Tell me what you think about my essay so far,” or “Am I doing this right?” is vague. Instead a more specific inquiry would be, “How does this section work to illustrate concept X?” or “Please read these two pages and tell me what you think my third page will be about.” These questions will elicit specific information to assist you in revising your essay to communicate what you intend. Giving you my general opinion of what I think of the essay will only provide you with general information that will add little to your development as a writer.

After the first assignment, the feedback you receive will come from participation in peer review workshops. Through the peer review workshops you will receive substantial written feedback on which to base your subsequent revisions. If you want feedback from me on other drafts, you can meet with me during my office hours or at another time by appointment. I am happy to talk with you about your writing. Coming prepared to our meeting will allow us to accomplish much more in a briefer conversation. I encourage this one-on-one interaction. I think that you will find it very helpful.  I will respond in writing on the final draft of all essays. Again, please keep in mind that with more than 40 essays to review and grade, I must make selective responses geared toward your areas of greatest need for improvement.

Final length

All final essays must consist of stated minimum number of words. I do not give lengths in number of pages as the size of the font used will determine the final number of pages for a given essay.

Formatting

All out-of-class assignments (essays and homework) must be typed and double-spaced in 10 or 12 pt. font following published MLA guidelines found in the Prentice Hall Reference Guide to Grammar and Usage/Custom Edition for Winthrop University, pp. 497-504. This includes the draft essays used in peer review workshops.

Final essay due dates

A complete schedule of assignments and due dates can be found on the course calendar. You should know your syllabus inside and out and consult the course calendar daily. Keeping on top of the schedule is your responsibility. I will hold you to this schedule and expect that you use it throughout the course. I will not necessarily remind you of due dates.