UCWR 110 Syllabus - Spring 2011 Loyola University Chicago...

Spring 2011
Loyola University Chicago
UCWR 110: College Writing Seminar
Writing Responsibly: Communities in Conversation
Section 16: MWF 10:25AM - 11:15AM IC 111
Section 25: MWF 11:30AM - 12:20 Dumbach 5
Section 36: MWF 2:45 PM - 3:35 PM IC 111
Instructor: Heather Cramond
Office Location: Crown Center 471
Office Phone: [phone]
Office Hours: Mondays 3:35-4:45, Tuesdays 9-11 and 2-3
E-mail: [email protected]
Please allow 24 hours for response.
TEXTS & MATERIALS:
Texts are available for purchase or rental at the University Bookstore or Becks.
Anderson, Victoria, ed. Writing Responsibly: Communities in Conversation. Boston: Pearson Custom
Publishing, 2010. This is listed at the bookstore as “Mercury Reader”
Moore, Rebecca Howard. Writing Matters: A Handbook for Writing and Research. New York: McGraw
Hill, 2010.
Access Code for online version of Writing Matters (may be listed as “Writing Matters Connect Comp”)
A laptop with internet access for use in some class activities (see syllabus). You do not need to purchase
this. Classes in the IC can check one out at the second floor desk. Please see me if you have trouble
with this.
Printers and staplers are both available in the IC. However, most assignments will be turned in online.
Reliable internet access.
COURSE OVERVIEW:
In the Writing Seminar, we teach writing as a tool for discovery and communication. We want you to use writing
to learn while you are learning to write more effectively. We teach writing as a recursive process and believe that
good writers are constantly engaged in rethinking and rewriting. We also believe you will benefit from reader
feedback; therefore, the writing seminar stresses peer-editing and review during the writing process. We want
this class to introduce you to the conventions of academic writing and to prepare you to write effectively in your
university courses as well as in your professional lives. Towards those goals, this semester’s focus will be on
learning the building blocks of academic argument. Those include summarizing, synthesizing, analyzing
multiple points of view, and creating and supporting statements of position.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
By the end of the Writing Seminar, students should
Use writing and reading for inquiry, learning, thinking, and communicating
Understand a writing assignment as a series of tasks, including finding, evaluating, analyzing, and
synthesizing appropriate primary and secondary sources to clearly formulate and support a claim
Respond to the needs of different audiences and respond appropriately to different kinds of rhetorical
situations
Develop flexible strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proofreading
Understand writing as an open process that permits writers to use later invention and re-thinking to
revise their work
Use standard written English clearly and effectively

GRADING STANDARDS (taken from the Writing Program Loyola web page)
The following criteria reflect standards of good writing shared by teachers at all levels in universities across the
country, and, in fact, define good writing both in and out of the academy. We also have plus and minus grades,