ENG 301: Writing for the Professions

Dr. Keith Miller
Office Phone: 965-7893
Office: C-239
Office Hours: 3:00-5:00 TTh
3:00-5:00 Fri

REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS:

Boiarsky, Carolyn and Margot Soven. Writings from the Workplace:
Documents, Models, Cases. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1995.
This book comes wrapped with a volume of bibliography.

Markel, Mike. Technical Communication: Situations and Strategies. New York: St. Martin's, 1996.

GOALS OF COURSE:

While examining rhetorical issues related to professional documents and the process of writing such documents, students will learn how differing rhetorical situations alter purpose, audience, writer, and text. Students will investigate professional and technical texts and model their own writing on those texts; also, students will learn to question and complicate the documents, formats, arrangements, and stylistic choices found in the textbooks and in the students' own writing.

Students should learn:
*** to understand how a writer adapts to a discourse community
*** to use strategies appropriate to a specific professional
discourse
*** to question strategies appropriate to professional discourses
*** to develop methods of inquiry needed for continued research,
writing, and reflection on discursive practices

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

ATTENDANCE: You MUST attend regularly to receive course credit. I will lower your grade if you miss MORE THAN FOUR class meetings. Being noticeably late or leaving noticeably early counts as an absence. The English Department authorizes teachers to fail any student who misses MORE THAN SEVEN class periods, no matter what grade the student is making. Missing class also severely damages the Participation portion of your grade.

PLAGIARISM: To plagiarize is to present as your own any work that is not your own. Some plagiarists have someone else (such as a grandmother) write the paper for them. Others plagiarize from published sources or from the Internet. I regularly cruise the library and the Internet. In cases of plagiarism, I am authorized to FAIL a particular assignment OR to FAIL a student for the ENTIRE COURSE.

SUBMITTING PAPERS: You MUST submit papers on the due date. Do NOT attempt to turn in a paper late. When you turn in your final draft of a paper, you MUST include ALL previous drafts of the paper. Put the final draft on top, followed by the next-to-last draft, etc. If you turn in all drafts, I can learn about your process of writing and how that process is working or not working.

RETAINING PAPERS: You are required to retain ALL your papers, which you will collect in your portfolio to hand in late in the term.

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION: You are required to produce high-quality documents that follow either MLA, APA, or other appropriate professional documentation systems.

FORM OF PAPERS: All papers should be typed or printed on a good printer in letter-quality print.

PORTFOLIO: You must retain all papers--including in-class writings--to include in your portfolio, which you will turn in at the end of the term. At that time, you will review the portfolio in order to evaluate your progress in the course.

STUDENTS INVOLVED IN UNIVERSITY-SANTIONED ACTIVITIES: If this course may conflict with your university-sanctioned activity (e.g. the debate team, the swim team), please see me after class. We have asked advisors to steer such students into appropriate sections of ENG 301.

GRADING: I will grade your papers according to the following criteria:

Argument--Makes a sound, interesting, AND convincing argument
Presentation--Shows evidence of good planning, research,
drafting, editing, and proofreading
--Presents argument in coherent, well-organized
fashion
--Uses Edited American English
--Follows appropriate documentation guidelines

You MUST complete EACH assignment in order to PASS the course. That means you need to complete all the invention work, planning materials, drafts, and revisions developed for ALL assignments. Again, I will not accept the final, polished version of your papers unless heuristics and drafts are attached. Failure to complete each assignment will mean failure in the course.

For those who attend class consistently, participate actively and thoughtfully, and complete all assignments thoroughly, work will graded as follows:

Individual Proposal: Slave Burial Grounds-------20%
Collaborative Proposal: Invent a Business
or Other Organization----------------------20%
Employment Packet-------------------------------15%
Bibliography and Report-------------------------15%
Portfolio and Portfolio Analysis----------------10%
Class Participation
(includes attendance, in-class and out-of-class
writing assignments, and participation in all class
activities)-------------------------------------20%

KNOWLEDGE OF CRIMES: In the past some teachers have read papers or held conversations in which students revealed crimes. Whether a student has knowledge of a crime as a witness, victim, or perpetrator, the teacher may be legally required to report such knowledge to the authorities.