Fall 2014

Mitchell

WRITING 150: WRITING AND CRITICAL REASONING

Course Syllabus
Instructor
Abigail Mitchell
Email: abigaild@usc.edu
Office: TBC
Office Hours: Mondays 2:304:30
(or by

Thematic: ECON
MWF 1pm

appointment)

Course Objectives
Writing 150 is designed to develop your ability to think critically, read actively, and
communicate your ideas thoughtfully and effectively by adhering to the forms and
conventions of the academic discourse community. You will do a significant amount of
writing in this course, in which we focus on writing as a process. You will learn
strategies for invention, or generating ideas, for effectively arranging those ideas, and
for developing your own unique style and techniques for revision. Furthermore, this
course will also help you to critique arguments and develop your capacity for analysis
and argumentation.
Required Materials:
Writing 150 Coursebook (available at USC campus bookstore)
Additional readings and handouts assigned in our WRIT 150 class (to be distributed in
class and/or posted on Blackboard)
A two-pocket folder for final assignment drafts and additional materials
A notebook for in-class notes, journal entries and impromptu writing activities
Course Policies
Attendance: Because this class is primarily a workshop, your learning depends in large
part upon your peers generous, alert participation in class, just as their learning depends
upon your active engagement. Therefore, attendance is mandatory. Missing class hurts
your grade simply because doing so deprives you of lessons designed to help you write
better essays. In addition to that indirect penalty, students also face the direct attendance
and participation penalties for unexcused absences. Since circumstances sometimes make
it essential for people to miss class for unexcused reasons, you will not be directly
penalized for your first two unexcused absences. Beyond that, a direct penalty
applies:

1% of final grade for each unexcused absence (taken from Participation)

Students who accumulate seven or more unexcused absences before the Withdraw date
are strongly urged to withdraw from the class. Any such student who does not withdraw,
and any student who reaches seven or more total unexcused absences after the withdraw
date, will very likely fail the course.
Absences for illness, legitimate emergencies, religious holidays, or approved universitysponsored events are excused absences and generally do not count against your grades.
However, if you miss class for any of these reasons, you must still either contact me as
soon as possible to explain and provide written verification (in the case of illness or
emergency) or give me one weeks advance notice along with written verification and
arrange to make up any missed work (in the case of holidays and university-sponsored
events). Excused absences are not free absences, however: if you miss too many classes, I
may deny permission for further excused absences. Missing six or more classes for any
reason is cause for real concern, and students who do so will probably find it advisable to
withdraw from the course.
Coming in late: A student who arrives after I have taken roll (aloud or silently) is
considered tardy. In general, three tardies constitute one absence. A student arriving more
than twenty minutes lateor leaving more than twenty minutes earlymay be marked as
absent (though a student arriving late or leaving early has a better chance at receiving
leniency than the student who misses class entirely).

Late papers: Unless otherwise noted on the syllabus, papers are due at the beginning of
the class period. Late papers will be penalized one grade step (i.e., from a B+ to a B) for
each class session that they are past due. That is, if the paper is due on Monday and you
dont submit it until Friday, the final grade will be lowered two grade steps. This does not
apply to your final portfolio, which must not, under any circumstances, be handed in late.
You may take a grace period of up to three days on either WP2 or WP3; that is, you may
hand in the paper up to three days past a deadline, so long as you clear this with me
more than 24 hours prior to the deadline. If you are struggling to complete a paper,
please do not hesitate to email me, or to come and see me during my office hours.
If a paper is more than one week late, regardless of any grace period taken, it
will receive no credit.
Please also note that I will not accept essays for which you have completed little or no
preparatory work (invention activities, rough plans, rough drafts, etc.), which you must
bring with you, as specified, to conferences and classes. Finally, be aware that failure to
hand in any essay will result in an F for that assignment, and for the Course.
In-class writing: We will occasionally work on generating ideas about various
assignments through in-class writing about an image, interesting passage, current
event, or other material. Please bring a notebook with you to class for this purpose, and
be aware that this material should be turned in with invention materials along with
your essay for each writing project.
We will also have classes specifically dedicated to peer workshopping activities; I will
evaluate the feedback you give to your peers and factor this into your participation
grade. Please note: consistent failure to bring drafts or other specified work to peer
workshop will count against your participation grade. Students showing up to peer
workshop day with less than 2 pages of an essay will be sent away to work on their
own, and will not benefit from peer feedback.
AWA: Throughout the semester, I will set you Ancillary Writing Assignments (AWA),
which cumulatively count for 15% of your final grade. These may take the form of
journal entries, responses to assigned field trips, creative work, or in-class
presentations- it all depends on what I feel will be most useful. Put real effort into these,
as they not only affect your grade, but are planned to be of genuine use.
Essays: You will write four thesis-driven, argumentative essays with specified word
counts. A specific prompt, writing guidelines, and schedule of relevant readings and
assignments for each essay will be distributed in class. On the day that an essay is due,
please submit your final draft and all ancillary materials, including your outlines and/or
rough plans, your invention documents, your rough drafts, and (when applicable) your
peer review draft, in the two-pocket folder that you will purchase for this course.
NOTE: You are required to hand in a hard copy to me, but I reserve the right to request
that future assignments be handed in via Turnitin (on Blackboard) if plagiarism becomes
a concern.
Final Portfolio: Another instructor and I will grade your final portfolio collaboratively in
order to ensure consistent grading procedures within the Writing Program; it is therefore
of paramount importance that final portfolios be turned in on time. Bear in mind
that in order to submit a portfolio, you must not be failing the class before portfolio
week.

Essay Format: All writing project essays should be typed and double-spaced, in Times
New Roman font, with 1 margins. MLA citation should be used. Please staple your essay,
and place page numbers (with your last name) in the top right corner of every page after
the first page. Required word count will be specified with each assignment. Always include
the following information:
Your Name
Writing 150 and section number
My Name
Assignment Number
Date
Conferences: I will hold mandatory individual conferences for each writing project.
Before a paper is due, I will email you all a link to an online sign-up sheet for that
weeks available conference times, and I will sometimes cancel one class per
assignment cycle to accommodate everyone. In general, students who come to
conferences prepared to discuss their essays perform significantly better on the final
draft. Please bear in mind, though, that a conference is too short to address all of the
ways in which your draft could be improved, and conferences are not a time for me to
read through an entire first draft; a rough plan, thesis statement and your invention
materials are ample ground for a fruitful discussion. Before scheduling a conference, be
sure that you do not have any time conflicts and be aware: I will count a missed
conference as an absence.
E-mail assistance: I am happy to answer specific questions about your paper over
email, or about any other questions or concerns you may have. Please note that I
cannot accept entire drafts over email, though I am willing to use email to read and give
feedback on smaller sections of a draft (e.g., a thesis or maximum of two paragraphs
per student per assignment). Once I receive your email, I will respond as soon as I can;
although I will often reply to messages in the early hours of the morning, please do not
count on me being able to respond immediately if you send your message between 9pm
and 9am.
Grading:
I will evaluate your essays and final portfolio according to the Writing Program's rubric.
This rubric is the sole determinant of your final grade: the nature of your beliefs is never
an aspect of the grading criteria, so make arguments you genuinely believe.
Weighting percentages are as follows:
WP 1: 10%
WP 2: 15%
WP 3: 20%
Final Portfolio: 35% (of which WP4 is 25%)
Ancillary tasks: 15%
Participation: 5% (including homework tasks, class discussion, etc.)
Plagiarism
Plagiarismthat is, any form of unacknowledged and/or illegitimate academic
assistanceis not tolerated in the academic community and will result in serious
penalties at both the Program and university levels. It is your responsibility to be aware

of the policies regarding academic integrity in the Writing 150 Coursebook and the
SCampus Student Guidebook. Remember that plagiarism includes the following:

unacknowledged and inappropriate use of ideas or wording of another writer

submitting a paper written or obtained from another
using a paper or essay in more than one class (even if you wrote it) without the
permission of the instructors involved
allowing another student to use your work as though it were his or her own

If you have any questions about what constitutes plagiarism, or are feeling desperate
enough to plagiarize, please feel free to contact me. Plagiarism is never, ever, ever
acceptable.
Classroom Etiquette
One of the norms of the academic discourse community is respect for others' racial, ethnic,
and class backgrounds, religious and political beliefs, sexual orientations, and gender. This
norm should be respected in your written work, as well as in class discussion.
In class:
Put away your cell phones or smart phones during class.
Do not read non-class materials (newspapers, crossword puzzles, texts, facebook)
during class. Being caught doing so will lead to a potentially embarrassing nameand-shame.
Eating food quietly and in a non-obtrusive manner is fine.
Use of laptops and tablets is fine, so long as you do not abuse this privilege.
Students with disabilities: Please let me know if you require specific academic
accommodations for this class. Students requesting such accommodations are required
to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of
verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP, which is located in
STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m. 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number
for DSP is (213) 740-0776.
The Writing Center: The Writing Center, located on the second floor of Taper Hall, is
an incredibly valuable and free resource available to all students at USC. Experienced
consultants will work with you on any stage of the writing process, from interpreting a
prompt, to creating a rough plan, to polishing your final draft. The Writing Center
consultants will not proofread or edit your paper for you, but they will help you to
develop skills to revise your own work.
See http://dornsife.usc.edu/writingcenter/ for additional information, or call them at
(213) 740-3691 for an appointment.
LAST BUT DEFINITELY NOT LEAST
Our schedule of lessons and homework activities may occasionally change as the needs of
our class do. I dont teach to an abstract notion of what my class should be and then force
you to keep pace; rather, I will adjust the course as we progress to better suit our
discussions and the pace of your learning. For that reason, it is essential that you attend
class, or, if you cannot attend, that you check your e-mail daily. Also, if you miss class,
please note that you are responsible for getting the homework, the notes, and any
handouts/materials from Blackboard and/or from other students, not from me.