WR 227 Syllabus Online Fall 2008

WR 227 Online: Syllabus and Course Description

Fall 2008: CRN 41243 Online (Blackboard)

Please visit http://web.cocc.edu/elatham/wr227info.html for more information, weekly course outline, course outcomes, and assignment due dates

Instructor: Dr. Eleanor Latham Office Hours: W 2:30-3:30; TR 1:30-3:30 & by appt.

Online Office hour M 2:30-3:30

Email: elatham@cocc.edu Office: MOD 213; (541)383-7547

Required Texts:

Pearsall, Thomas E. The Elements of Technical Writing. 2^nd ed. New York: Longman, 2001.

Rosen, Leonard J. The Academic Writer's Handbook. 2^nd ed. New York: Longman, 2008.

Note: You may substitute a CURRENT and EQUIVALENT handbook if you already have one. Acceptable handbooks MUST have full and current information on both MLA and APA documentation, including information and examples, a complete section on research, and complete information on sentence structure and grammar. I will refer to sections and page numbers in the ordered Rosen text, especially in the comments on final drafts in Turnitin; if you elect to substitute a different text, you are on your own for determining the equivalent material.

Other course requirement:

Regular access (at least twice weekly; daily access preferred) to reliable internet connection and word processing.

Recommended Prerequisite and course preparation:

WR 121, WR 122 and LIB 127 (or equivalent courses) are the prerequisite for WR 227.

	Skills adequate for passing WR 121 are necessary for all final drafts of all assignments:
	whether or not you have passed WR 121, serious problems in sentence structure, mechanics, diction, and punctuation will seriously impact your grade on any final draft.

Preparation for this on-line section of WR 227 includes competent computer skills, including internet use, email, and word processing.

	You must be able to use attachments: technical writing requires formatting that will NOT come through using copy/paste into email messages.
	You MUST be able to save files in a format that Turnitin will accept and that your classmates can open OR you MUST turn in all major assignments in hard copy (fax, mail, or drop off).
	You must be able to use the automated testing system within Blackboard.

Students with AOL or a MacIntosh will need to work around access and attachment problems, requiring very strong computer skills.

Some knowledge of a graphics and/or spreadsheet program is an advantage but is not required.

Course Description:

WR 227 fulfills transfer requirements for a full research report course and prepares students to write technical or professional correspondence and reports. This course includes instruction in formatting techniques, document design, effective graphics, research strategies and documentation, as well as practice in the collaborative skills required for workplace writing. WR 227 is an equivalent course to WR 123 (The Research Essay): WR 227 focuses primarily on the full process of producing a researched technical report. Most assignments in the course are part of the full research process.

This section of WR 227 is fully online: it has no class meetings; however, class work requires some interaction with other students, and reading and writing assignments at least equal the time required for a traditional class. Technical writing is not flexible about due dates, so this course in technical writing is almost as inflexible as for technical writing in the "real world" to prepare students who will or may choose a technical writing career or use technical writing in another career.

For more information on the skills and knowledge students are expected to acquire through this course, see the Department Outcomes for WR 227.

Assignments:

Rough draft and final revision for two major assignments:

	the formal research project proposal report (in which you propose your topic and plans for the formal research report and show sufficient research resources)
	and the formal research report itself.

Final draft only for three major assignments:

	progress memo report,
	annotated bibliography,
	peer evaluation memo report.

Five graded exercises: basic skills review, topic evaluation, source analysis, technical style, formatting, (each of these exercises has an un-graded practice exercise as preparation);

Five graded ethics comment and reply exercises (Discussion Board posts).

Conferences:

v You are encouraged to meet with me (in person, by live chat, or by telephone) to discuss your Academic Research Report Proposal Rough Draft AND your Academic Research Report Rough Draft. I also encourage additional conferences.

v To receive benefit from the conferences, you MUST have turned in the relevant rough draft at least a day before our meeting, and you must have a copy of the rough draft with you (in other words, both of us need to be able to be looking at the draft).

Grading:

Note: Assignment details are in the Assignments folder; sample assignments are in the Supporting Materials folder; supporting lecture information is in the Course Materials folder; remaining information is in the two published texts required for this course.

Graded Exercises (5 exercises @ 1% each; 5 comments & responses @2% each): 15% (Bonus credit category)

Research Proposal Report: Formal Academic Proposal for your individual research project (i.e., formally proposing your individual research project) rough and final drafts combined: 15%

Annotated Bibliography: 10%

Progress Memo (i.e., your progress on your research project): 5%

Formal Research Report Rough Draft: (due week 9): 10%

Peer Evaluation Memo Report (i.e., reviewing a classmate's research project rough draft): 10% (Bonus credit category)

Formal Research Report Final Draft : 35% (Note: no separate final examination: the formal research report is the final examination for the course.)

"Bonus credit category" means that you can do additional assignments within that category to raise your grade--additional ethics assignment responses; additional peer reviews.

Late policy:

	Assignment due dates are on the course outline, weekly overviews, individual assignments, and the course calendar within Blackboard. Mailed or faxed hard copies must reach me by the due date. The time/date stamp in Blackboard and Turnitin shows when you turn assignments in.
	You may turn in major assignments (reports and memos) late with a penalty of one letter grade per late calendar day (e.g., an assignment due Friday worth an A- receives a B+ on Saturday, a B on Sunday, a B- on Monday, a C+ on Tuesday and so on).
	Grades for late major assignments worth at least an earned F (40%) before the late penalty will not drop below an earned F (40%) due to late penalties.
	You may take Graded Exercises only once and you may not submitted them late.
	Assignments are accepted starting from the date the relevant folder or exercise is available--final draft folders for assignments with rough drafts will NOT be available until at least one day after the rough draft is due.
	I will handle cases of severe illness or family emergency individually for students who have been attending as expected (see below) and whose work is otherwise up-to-date.
	Each student has one "oops" credit for individual work for ONE FINAL DRAFT of a major assignment: you may turn in the final draft of any one major assignment up to one week late without a late penalty (late penalties begin to accrue after the one week extension). You must tell me that you are applying your oops credit when you turn in the assignment and you may not later transfer a used oops credit to another assignment. Exercises are not eligible for oops credit.
	If the college server is down for more than two hours on a due date, assignments due on that date are due the next calendar day.

Attendance and Participation:

I expect regular you to read the required reading (text and lecture/content pages) before or during the week it is assigned. I expect you to read email from me in your COCC email box (or set up COCC email to forward mail to another email box) and check the Question and Answer folder in the Discussion Board at least once a week. You must post something to the Q&A folder each week--whether that's a question, a comment, or a reply to someone else's question or comment. Materials posted to the Q&A folder establish your course participation but do not count for a grade.

If a question has been asked and answered in the Question and Answer folder in Blackboard, I expect you to have read the answer (you may always ask further questions if the answer doesn't meet your needs). If you have a question that hasn't already been answered, post it to the Question and Answer folder rather than emailing me. The Q&A folder is equivalent to a face-2-face classroom!

As part of course participation, I expect you to explore the course site and look for answers to practical questions (e.g., where are the assignments located? When is x assignment due?) rather than posting questions to the discussion board (and rather than emailing me). Ask questions when the information is not available or when you don't fully understand a concept, NOT as a substitute for looking for practical answers for yourself!

DO ask questions--using the question and answer discussion board for all course related questions--when you don't understand something. DO ask questions--by sending me email, phoning me, or dropping by my office—when you want to discuss your grades or any personal information.

Academic Dishonesty (Plagiarism):

X Passing off someone else's work as your own, regardless of whether the original source is published or not, and regardless of whether you have indicated that something, somewhere in your essay may be from an external source (i.e., adding a bibliography at the end without any internal documentation) is not acceptable.

X The first incident of plagiarism based on problems in documentation results in an F for the assignment, with the option of revising. Note that a handbook with specific information on documentation and formatting is required for this course, and several pages in the online support pages and links to online sources all address this issue.

X A second incident of plagiarism based on problems in documentation will result in an F for the assignment, without the option of revising.

X Any form of apparently intentional plagiarism (e.g., turning in an assignment purchased from an on-line essay mill) results in an F for the assignment, without the option of revising. Such plagiarism will also count as a "first incident of plagiarism based on problems in documentation;" any other instance of plagiarism will result in an F for the assignment, without the option of revising.

X Your texts, an exercise, supporting pages, and links to external sites all provide instruction in documenting. If in doubt, post specific questions to the Q&A folder well before you turn in an assignment.

General Course Policies

	Due to increasing concerns nationwide about how students get to the point of habitual cheating, abusive behavior to instructors and other students, and even violence to themselves and/or others, COCC has asked instructors to report any kind of violation of student responsibilities as described in the Student Rights and Responsibilities document . Presumably, most of these reports will say "issue resolved; no further action required." Students may use the Student Incident Report form to report serious threats or abuse from other students, but be prepared to document the accusation, and be prepared to be called as a witness if the college decides to take up the matter with the accused student. This policy statement constitutes your notice that I filed a report (such as for plagiarism or for inappropriate discussion board posts or abusive email). Student conduct reports are kept separate from student records.
	Please do NOT use the form for complaints about instructors! That process remains the same: contact the instructor; if you don't feel comfortable doing so or if you did so and the issue was not resolved to your satisfaction, contact the Department Chair (Dr. Cora Agatucci for this course); if you cannot resolve the issue at that stage, file a formal complaint with the Department's Instructional Dean (Dean Diana Glenn), who usually passes it on the the Vice President for Instruction (Dr. Walsh).
	Consequences for reportable violations, in terms of this class and without any intent to limit or imply other actions from the college are as follows. The first instance, unless it involves actual threats of violence, is a warning; the second instance, if the issue(s) in any way impact other students' safety or ability to learn, results in having your course access removed; the third instance results in having your course access removed. Having course access removed does not withdraw a student from the class, but if the student does not withdraw, s/he is still responsible for materials covered and assignments due, and the college is necessarily involved in any process to reinstate you in the class. This policy statement constitutes my responsibility to inform you that repeated violations will result in having your course access removed.
	Frankly, I don't expect any of this to be relevant, but it's in my syllabus, "just in case" and in compliance with recent college requests.

Americans with Disabilities Statement & Non-Discrimination Statement:

COCC is an affirmative action, equal opportunity institution. Students with documented disabilities who may need special instructional accommodations or who may need special arrangements in the event of an evacuation should notify the instructor as soon as possible, no later than the second week of the term. Students may contact COCC Disability Office in Boyle Education Center to discuss special needs, 383-7583.