Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
Fall 2014
Forsyth 128
Required Materials
The AWD Toolkit (available on Blackboard)
Tools for writing (pen/paper OR laptop, tablet, or
smartphone that you bring to class consistently)
and consistent internet access
Printing/copying: Past students have printed
approx. 100 pages for this course. Plan for this in
your print quota.
Guidelines for Peer Reviews and Response Letters are posted to Blackboard. Your Context Memo and final
reflection for each Unit may vary in form and content and will be explained in your Unit assignment sheets.
Required Readings
[BB = posted to Blackboard; Others you will need to locate online or through the library.]
Mayfield Handbook http://www.mhhe.com/mayfieldpub/tsw/home.htm
Selections from the Wikipedia Engineering Portal [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Engineering] and
Wikipedia Manual of Style
Theyre Taking Over by Tim Flannery (from the New York Review of Books. September 26, 2013). [BB]
Communicating the Science of Climate Change by Richard Somerville and Susan Joy Hassol in Physics
Today, October 2011.
When What Animals Do Doesnt Seem to Cover It, by Natalie Angier in The New York Times, July 20,
2009. [BB]
Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination by Chris Hart, Sage, 1998.
NOTE: My copy is on reserve at Snell Library. Chapters 3 & 4 are required reading before Unit 2 and will
be posted to Blackboard as pdfs.
Your favorite piece of engineering/computer science writing (book or article)
Additional readings will be posted as requested/determined by the class.
Work
Generally submit work on time. Due dates will often be negotiated with the class to address student
concerns about time. Students who contact me at least 48 hours ahead of a deadline may, at my
discretion, have an extension. One piece of work may be up to 48 hours late with no notice.
Submit all required work for the course, including 4 unit papers and the final portfolio with the
following allowances: You may miss up to 2 pieces of in-class writing and one (1) peer review and still
earn a passing grade.
Meet the requirements of genre and length (within 10%) set out in each unit assignment.
Engage fully in the revision process by making substantive revisions (rather than minor edits) to drafts.
Submit final drafts which show that you have worked to reduce or eliminate error and that you have
attempted to meet the standards of your discipline.
Submit a final digital reflective portfolio.
Peer review/community involvement
Engage fully in the peer review process by writing thoughtful, helpful, useful peer reviews that follow
the Peer Review Guidelines and discipline-appropriate expectations of peer review practices.
Have your work reviewed in one Whole Class Review session OR moderate a Whole Class Review session.
Contribute to Whole Class Review discussions.
Wait, what gets an A?
To earn a grade in the B or A range, your own writing will need to exceed the minimum requirements in
quality. Your contributions to class discussions and the peer review process will need to be consistently
constructive and very helpful to your peers in their writing process.
The exact definitions of B-quality and A-quality work will be decided by the class; we might consider things
like:
grammar/mechanics,
ease of reading, clarity,
adherence to engineering and computer science standards,
appropriate design decisions,
willingness to take risks or try something new,
how much the student owns the assignment,
or even some measure of improvement.
Why grade this way?
I have several goals in choosing this grading method. I want to:
Shift student focus away from grades and onto writing practice and process.
Allow for situations in which students have varying types of preparation for the Advanced Writing
course, and so may struggle with meeting quality goals, but who still complete the work of the class and
fully participate in good faith.
Foster a community of writers who will work together toward building and reaching quality expectations
that reflect the discipline of the course and the values of the class.
Context Memos:
YourLastName_U1CM.pdf
Response Letters:
YourLastName_U1RL.pdf
In each file name, insert correct Unit (U) and Draft (D) number.
I will not review files that are incorrectly named.
NOTE: As a default, submit your work in PDF form to ensure readability and maintain the integrity of your
document formatting and design decisions.
If you have not been formally instructed in or introduced to academic source use, please let me know at
the beginning of the semester.
Every piece of writing you submit in this class must be appropriately documented. Every draft of every
unit must have appropriate works cited (or equivalent) sections.
Always document your sources as you write. Attempting to add documentation later is dangerous; its
easy to forget the source of a particular idea or phrase if you dont note them as you write.
During this course, youll be exploring new ways of using sources as well as new kinds of sources to use.
Fortunately, there are two basic principles of documentation that will help you document sources even when
you dont have access to a style guide. These two principles are:
1. Non-ambiguity: Whatever you include in the body of a texta note number, parenthetical reference, or
something elseshould take you precisely to the citation at the end of the text or the bottom of the
page and to no other citation. The citation in turn should take you precisely to the source you consulted
and to no other source.
2. Parsimony: Whatever you include in the body of a text should include the minimal amount of
information needed to satisfy the rule of non-ambiguity. The citation in turn should include only what is
necessary to locate the precise source.
If you have any questions about documentation and source use, please ask! The AWD Toolkit (posted to
Blackboard) has a useful reading on documentation that will be required in the first weeks of the course.
Acknowledgements
Writers often get a many types of help as they write. A lot of this help is not formally published, for example, a
private conference with a research librarian or a good idea from a roommate. Today, it is standard practice to
acknowledge all of the non-published help you receive in an Acknowledgements section. All Unit Papers and
the Reflective Essay must include a section in which you acknowledge, by name, the people who helped you.
I will not read a project that is missing an Acknowledgements section, even at the draft stage.
Keep a running list of all help that you get: Who reviewed your paper? Who proofread it? Did you visit the
Writing Center? Did you consult with experts? Did you talk with a family member? Were you inspired to write
the work by someone you know? If you cant think of anyone to acknowledge, lets talk.
Participation
Because this class functions as a workshop, your participation is essential to its effectiveness. Poor participation
generally leads to poor quality work and failure to meet the Learning Goals so it tends to bring its own
penalty. If you come to class unprepared or unwilling to participate, I reserve the right to mark you as absent.
Respect
Because this class draws from many disciplines in the Social Sciences, we are likely to have a great deal of
academic diversity in class. Other forms of diversity are also likely. Our goal is to form a workshop environment
which welcomes the work and human dignity of all members, regardless of race, color, sex, disability, religion,
national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, veterans status, age, physical appearance, or body size.
Expressions of disrespect hurt the community and damage us all, and they will not be tolerated.
When you get this far, post your reactions (even if only as 3 to 5 bullet points) to this syllabus and the 2 posted
articles on syllabi to the Syllabus forum on our Blackboard Discussion Board before class on Friday, Sep. 5 and
this will count in your semester grade. Does anything stand out? Any surprises? What could be cut?
Your instructor may be asked to submit one or more samples of your writing to the Writing Program
Assessment Committee for the purpose of program assessment. Student work is randomly selected and used
solely for the purpose of program-level assessment. Looking at student writing from a programmatic
perspective helps us improve our program. Student writing collected for this purpose is never circulated
outside the Writing Program for any reason. While we cannot guarantee that all identifying information will
be removed from all materials read by Writing Program evaluators, we report only aggregate data to those
outside the program; no teachers or student are identified in these reports. If you have any questions or
concerns about our program assessment, feel free to contact Professor Chris Gallagher, Writing Program
Director, at c.gallagher@neu.edu or 617-373-2193.
Writing Program policy requires regular attendance at class meetings. Students are allowed three unexcused
absences in classes that meet for three days a week; they are allowed two unexcused absences in classes that
meet for two days. During the summer sessions, students are allowed two unexcused absences. Significant
and/or frequent tardiness may be counted as unexcused absences at the instructor's discretion.
Students also have the right to a limited number of excused
absences due to a religious observance, illness, death in the
family, required participation in athletic events, or other serious
and unavoidable life circumstances. Students are responsible for
notifying instructors when they must miss class for any reason.
Instructors are responsible for determining whether a student will
be excused from the class. Instructors are reminded that
University Health and Counseling Services will not issue
documentation of students illnesses or injuries.
Getting Help
Northeastern University offers a wide variety of help for students from academic to personal. On Blackboard
under Getting Help, I have listed links and information for the Writing Center, Peer Tutoring, We Care, the
Disability Resource Center and other sources of help. If you find yourself needing help, you are always
welcome to contact me via email or IM. Please contact me before you find yourself frustrated or squeezed for
time. Im happy to help and have many useful resources at hand.
The NU Library
Note that this is a schematic schedule. Precise due dates will be given on each Unit assignment sheet. I
will change due dates to meet the class need for more (or less?) time.
In general, youll have a reading each week related to the weeks topics or the assignment. I have
already chosen some of these readings; others will be decided with the class.
Week of
Topics
Sept. 3, 5
Sept. 10, 12
Sept. 17, 19
Sept. 24, 26
Oct. 1, 3
Oct. 8, 10
Oct. 15, 17
Oct. 22, 24
Oct. 29, 31
Nov. 5, 7
Nov. 12, 14
Nov. 19, 21
Nov. 26, 28
Dec. 3
Materials Due
9/3 Read the syllabus
9/5 Bring your favorite piece of
engineering/tech writing
9/10 U1 draft due to Blackboard (BB)
9/12 Whole Class Review (WCR)
9/16 U1 Peer Reviews due
9/17 Reading Hart, Ch 3 & 4 (figures),
In-class revision work on U1
9/23 U1 Final due
9/24 Library session (bring laptop)
9/26 U2 Annotated Bibliography due
(bring hardcopy)
10/1 U2 Practice Passage due (bring
hardcopy)
10/3 U2 full draft due to BB
10/7 U2 Bring hardcopy draft to class;
Hart reading should be finished
10/10 U2 WCR; Peer reviews due
10/15 U2 Write Abstract in class (bring
laptop)
10/17 U2 final due
10/22 U3 work in class (bring laptop)
Physics Today reading due; U3 work in
class (bring laptop)
10/28 U3 draft due; U4 Brainstorming
11/31 U3 WCR; U4 proposal
11/4 U3 Final due
11/5 U4 work in class (bring laptop)
11/7 U4 draft due
11/11 Peer Reviews due
11/14 U4 WCR
11/19 U4 Final due
11/21 Portfolio & Reflective Essay
draft to peers for review
Portfolio due 12/3 at 5 pm