Course Texts
Short story:
“The Murders in the Rue Morgue” by Edgar Allen Poe (on Canvas)
Novels:
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, Penguin Classics, ISBN-10: 0140434089
A Study in Scarlet by Conan Doyle, Penguin Classics, ISBN-10: 9780140439083
*Although I encourage you to use the same version for ease of class discussion, you may use different versions if you like. You can also listen to the audiobook versions of these books, and free readings of these works can be found on Librivox:
https://librivox.org/the-murders-in-the-rue-morgue-by-edgar-allen-poe/
https://librivox.org/the-moonstone-by-wilkie-collins/
They also provide different versions of the same text, so you can listen around and pick the version you prefer to listen to.
Grading
- Portfolio (70%)
After working through the two main assignment sequences, you will have the chance to revise your assignments significantly using feedback generated from my comments, peer review sessions, and writing conferences. A complete portfolio is required for passing the course. The portfolio will include:
- well-considered final revisions of all projects
- a written reflection covering all the work you have done
- all of the original drafts of sequence-related writing you were assigned in the course (both major papers and all the shorter assignments from both sequences)
Because you will not be turning in your portfolio until the end of the quarter, you will not be graded on any of your assignments until that time. Do not feel anxious if you are not confident about your writing at the moment; you will have time to revise and your grade will be based on how well you address the course outcomes by the end of the quarter. If you are anxious and unsure of your current grades, come and talk to me.
- Participation (30%)
Here is a breakdown of your participation grade:
- Attendance and in-class participation (20%)
Due to the current circumstances, I decided to allow everyone to miss four classes without penalty throughout the quarter. If you are feeling sick, have been in contact with someone who is sick (including COVID, the flu, or other illnesses), or if you are experiencing mental health issues, please prioritize your well-being and skip that class. However, if you miss a class, it is your responsibility to make up for the missed material, either by borrowing notes from your classmates, or by attending my office hours, offered both on zoom and in-person.
When you are attending class, however, as part of your grade, you are expected to actively participate, because discussion leaders depend on constant input in order to successfully lead discussions. Therefore, during discussions, please keep engaged and be respectful towards your classmates.
- Leading discussions (6%)
At the beginning of the quarter, you will sign up for a day to lead a class discussion of the reading. You and your groupmates do not need to conduct a presentation — rather, you are hosts, picking out interesting points that you think might spark an interesting conversation in the classroom.
- Conferences (4%)
You are required to sign up to meet with me one-on-one two times in office hours to discuss your work, first by the end of week 5, and the second time by the end of week 10 (if you have already attended your conference, and are just coming to office hours for extra help, you can just drop in and do not need to sign up). You must sign up a day in advance. You can decide which week to come according to your own schedule. I also block out two classes throughout the quarter, dedicated to writing conferences, to ensure that everyone has a chance to sign up.
These conferences give you the opportunity to get one-on-one feedback on your papers/projects and to express any concerns, questions, or suggestions you might have about the course or the assignments. Conferences are mandatory and, if missed, will affect your participation grade.
Extra Credit
There will be opportunities to make up for work that you missed occasionally. Each extra credit opportunity is worth 1% of your total grade.
One of the ways you can earn extra credit is by taking your work to the Odegaard Writing & Research Center or CLUE. In order to receive extra credit for meeting with a writing tutor, you should turn in a reflection that answers the following questions in a short paragraph: 1. What did you ask the tutor to look for in your paper? 2. What feedback did you receive? 3. How will you incorporate this feedback into this (and future) work?
Another way is by uploading your notes for a class within 24 hours onto our class google drive.
More extra credit opportunities may arise as the course progresses.
Late Work Policy
If you need an extension for any assignment (with the exception of the final portfolio, which has half a point docked for each late day), feel free to reach out — I usually will grant extensions without any questions asked. However, although I will not deduct points off late work, in order for me to grade the papers in time, late papers will receive little to no feedback, which will in turn, affect the quality of your final revised work. Papers submitted more than 3 days late will receive only marginal comments (no summative feedback), and those submitted more than 7 days late will receive no feedback.
If your work does not receive feedback due to lateness, you must take initiative in your revision processes, either through peer feedback, attending conferences, or seeing me in office hours.
Citation and Academic Integrity
Unless otherwise specified, all assignments should be formatted with MLA style. This includes: 12 pt. Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins, double-spaced, page numbers with last name in header, works cited page for any external sources. You can find a full guide to formatting your papers at Purdue OWL. As always, feel free to ask me if you have any questions.
Plagiarism, or academic dishonesty, is presenting someone else's ideas or writing as your own. In your writing for this class, you are encouraged to refer to other people's thoughts and writing -- as long as you cite them. We will practice in class how to cite sources. As a matter of policy, any student found to have plagiarized any piece of writing in this class will receive a grade of 0 in this course and be immediately reported to the College of Arts and Sciences for review.
Official University Covid Policy
While optional, we continue to welcome and encourage mask wearing. Masks remain an important tool against respiratory illnesses of all kinds and offer greater protection that can help all in our community feel safe. When you mask up, choose a well-fitted, high-quality mask — such as a KF94, KN95, N95 or surgical mask — which when worn correctly protects you as well as those around you. You can pick up free masks at a variety of locations on each UW campus.
All UW students are expected to complete their vaccine attestation before arriving on campus and to follow the campus-wide face-covering policy at all times. You are expected to follow state, local, and UW COVID-19 policies and recommendations. If you feel ill, have been exposed to COVID-19, or exhibit possible COVID symptoms, you should not come to class. If you need to temporarily quarantine or isolate per CDC guidance and/or campus policy, you are responsible for notifying your instructors as soon as possible by email. If you have a known exposure to COVID-19 or receive a positive COVID-19 test result, you must report to campus Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S).
All UW community members are required to notify EH&S immediately after: Receiving a positive test for COVID-19; being told by your doctor that they suspect you have COVID-19; learning that you have been in close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. You can notify the COVID-19 Response and Prevention Team by emailing covidehc@uw.edu or calling 206-616-3344.
Accommodations
Disability Accommodations
- If you need accommodation of any sort, please let me know so that I can work with the UW Disability Resources for Students Office (DRS) to provide what you require. This syllabus is available in large print, as are other class materials. More information about accommodation may be found at http://www.washington.edu/students/drs/.
Religious Accommodations
- Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form.
Complaints
If you have any concerns about the course or your instructor, please see the instructor about these concerns as soon as possible. If you are not comfortable talking with the instructor or not satisfied with the response that you receive, you may contact the following Expository Writing Program staff in Padelford A-11: Director Stephanie Kerschbaum, kersch@uw.edu; or Assistant Directors Francesca Colonnese, fcolonne@uw.edu; Missy González-Garduño, mimgonz@uw.edu; Molly Porter, mep430@uw.edu. If after speaking with the Director or Assistant Directors of the EWP, you are still not satisfied with the response you receive, you may contact English Department Chair Anis Bawarshi at bawarshi@uw.edu, (206) 543-2690.
Course Outcomes
Outcome 1
To compose strategically for a variety of audiences and contexts, both within and outside the university, by
- recognizing how different elements of a rhetorical situation matter for the task at hand and affect the options for composing and distributing texts;
- coordinating, negotiating, and experimenting with various aspects of composing—such as genre, content, conventions, style, language, organization, appeals, media, timing, and design—for diverse rhetorical effects tailored to the given audience, purpose, and situation; and
- assessing and articulating the rationale for and effects of composing choices.
Outcome 2
To work strategically with complex information in order to generate and support inquiry by
- reading, analyzing, and synthesizing a diverse range of texts and understanding the situations in which those texts are participating;
- using reading and writing strategies to craft research questions that explore and respond to complex ideas and situations;
- gathering, evaluating, and making purposeful use of primary and secondary materials appropriate for the writing goals, audience, genre, and context;
- creating a ‘conversation’—identifying and engaging with meaningful patterns across ideas, texts, experiences, and situations; and
- using citation styles appropriate for the genre and context.
Outcome 3
To craft persuasive, complex, inquiry-driven arguments that matter by
- considering, incorporating, and responding to different points of view while developing one’s own position;
- engaging in analysis—the close scrutiny and examination of evidence, claims, and assumptions—to explore and support a line of inquiry;
- understanding and accounting for the stakes and consequences of various arguments for diverse audiences and within ongoing conversations and contexts; and
- designing/organizing with respect to the demands of the genre, situation, audience, and purpose.
Outcome 4
To practice composing as a recursive, collaborative process and to develop flexible strategies for revising throughout the composition process by
- engaging in a variety of (re)visioning techniques, including (re)brainstorming, (re)drafting, (re)reading, (re)writing, (re)thinking, and editing;
- giving, receiving, interpreting, and incorporating constructive feedback; and
- refining and nuancing composition choices for delivery to intended audiences in a manner consonant with the genre, situation, and desired rhetorical effects and meanings.
Course Calendar (reading schedule)
*Readings should be completed before class
Week 1
Jan. 4 Introduction
Week 2
Jan. 9 “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”
Jan. 11 The Moonstone P. 11-70 (Prologue- First Period, Chapter 8)
*Short Assignment 1 Close Reading Due Jan. 13, 11:59 PM
Week 3
Jan. 16 NO CLASS – MLK Day
Jan. 18 The Moonstone P.71-129 (First Period, Chapter 9- First Period, Chapter 14)
Week 4
Jan. 23 The Moonstone P.130- P.197 (Finish First Period)
Jan. 25 The Moonstone P.201- P.257 (Second Period, First Narrative, Chapter 1- Second Period, First Narrative, Chapter 7)
Week 5
Jan. 30 The Moonstone P. 257- P. 314 (Second Period, First Narrative, Chapter 8- Second Period, Third Narrative, Chapter 3)
Feb. 1 NO CLASS- Classtime dedicated to one-on-one conferences (last chance to complete first conference)
*Major Project 1 Critical Book Review Due Feb. 3, 11:59 PM
Week 6
Feb. 6 The Moonstone P.315- P. 368 (Second Period, Third Narrative, Chapter 4- Second Period, Third Narrative, Chapter 8)
Feb. 8 The Moonstone P. 368- P.430 (Read to the end of Second Period, Fourth Narrative)
*Short Assignment 2 Due Feb 10, 11:59 PM
Week 7
Feb. 13 The Moonstone P. 431- P472 (Finish the book) + mini class conference
Feb. 15 A Study in Scarlet P.7- 49 (Part 1, Chapter 1- Part 1, Chapter 5)
Week 8
Feb. 20 NO CLASS – Veteran’s Day
Feb. 22 A Study in Scarlet P.50- 92 (Part 1, Chapter 6- Part 2, Chapter 3)
*Major Project 2 Genre Translation Due Feb 24, 11:59 PM
Week 9
Feb. 27 A Study in Scarlet P.93- 127 (Finish the book)
Mar. 1 No reading — screening of A Study in Pink
Week 10
Mar. 6 NO CLASS- Classtime dedicated to one-on-one conferences (last chance to complete second conference)
Mar. 8 No reading-peer review
*Portfolios Due Mar. 13, 11:59 PM