Alison Barnes English 101-46
TR 6-7:15 Gram 302
Office: 136A McIver Mailbox: 133 McIver Office Hours: MW 2-3:30
email: albarne2@uncg.edu
Fall 2001
ENG 101: Writing the Frame Reading the Visual World
We live in a world that is saturated with visual images, where many of us spend more time looking at photographs or video clips than we spend reading stories, poems, essays or novels. This beginning composition course will provide you with ways of using visual images to help you define and practice strategies for the writing and reading that you will do in college.
Throughout the semester we will look closely at a variety of photographs and texts to help us develop how we read. We will question the place of reading in our everyday lives and then use these questions as jumping off points for writing. By practicing different types of writing both in and out of class, you will be encouraged to explore writing as something more than just a set of rules or formulas. You will brainstorm for writing ideas, experiment with ways of shaping these ideas with words on the page, and then rethink and revise these
ideas in countless drafts. You will also look closely at how the readers you write for can influence the ways that you write about your experiences, insights, and research. The aim of this course is to give you confidence as a writer as you experience the connection between writing and thinking.
"Writing is thinking. It is more than living, for it is being conscious of living." Anne Morrow Lindberg
Texts
Donald and Christine McQuade, Seeing and Writing
Andrea Barrett, Ship Fever
Writing Matters: A Guide to Freshman Writing
Andrea Barrett will speak at UNCG on October 25
Requirements
Attendance
Regular attendance and participation are critical to this course since there is no way to make up in-class work. After two absences each absence will reduce your grade by a letter. There is no such thing as an excused absence so plan your time carefully. Speak to me in advance if you are worried about meeting a deadline or missing a class. Anyone missing more than six classes will receive an F in the course. Arriving late to class is rude. If you arrive ten minutes late you will be marked absent. Absence is not an acceptable excuse for late papers.
Reading
Intensive reading is an integral part of developing your writing skills. You must complete all of the assigned reading to be successful in this course.
Writer
This is a loose-leaf notebook for your in-class and informal writing. Because everything you write in this course has potential for inclusion in your mid-term and final portfolios, you need to keep all of the writing you do both in and out of class.
Essays
For each essay you will receive a handout that explains the assignment.
Late essays will not be accepted. Failure to turn in an essay will constitute failure of the course.
Drafts
A draft is an in-progress writing. You will write several drafts for each essay. Do not throw your drafts away. You will need them to show process and progress in your portfolios.
Group Work
You will spend a great deal of time in this course working in small groups. Groups will regularly present their work and ideas to the class.
Workshop
For each assigned essay you will share your drafts with a small group. In this group you will engage in thoughtful discussions about your classmates
Portfolio
At midterm and at the end of the semester you will be asked to submit a writing portfolio for evaluation. Each portfolio will be a collection of your informal writings and essays. You will write a reflection essay to preface each portfolio. In these reflection essays you will observe and examine your writing. You will receive a written assignment sheet explaining the requirements for the midterm and final portfolio.
Conferences
You will be required to meet with me three times during the semester. We will meet in the first few weeks of the course, at midterm, and then one more time later in the semester. I also encourage you to conference with me any time during my office hours or by appointment
Plagiarism will not be tolerated
Plagiarism means using someone else
Friday October 12 is the last day to drop this course without academic penalty
Student Learning Goals
At the completion of this course you will be able to:
- Interpret and evaluate argumentative discourse, including writing and speech
- Construct cogent arguments
- Communicate those arguments clearly, coherently and effectively
- Locate, synthesize and evaluate relevant information
- Demonstrate an understanding of the aims and methods of intellectual discourse
- Weigh evidence and evaluate the arguments of differing viewpoints
Evaluation
You will not receive a grade on your essays. You will, however, receive extensive comments on each essay. These comments will reflect on the quality of your writing as well as things to consider when you revise your essay. At mid-term you will receive a grade-so-far. At the end of the semester you will receive a final grade.
You grades will be based on:
- Meeting the requirements written above
- The quality of your written and oral work, including individual and group work
- Your willingness to challenge yourself, try new things, think in new ways, see something from a different perspective as both a reader and a writer
If at any point you are unclear about where you stand in the course, it is your responsibility to conference with me so that we can discuss it.
The Writing Center
The Writing Center is a resource where you can receive feedback on your writing. You are encouraged to use this free service when you are writing or revising a paper. The Writing Center is not limited to students who have "problems" with writing. Drop in at 101 McIver or call: 334
"Writing was the only work I did that was for myself and by myself. In the process, one exercises
sovereignty in a special way. All sensibilities are engaged, sometimes simultaneously, sometimes
sequentially. While I
Toni Morrison