Research Writing—WR 123 sec 70

6:30-9:20 MW AC 1658

Summer 2006

3 credit hours

Brandy McKenzie, instructor

Office hours: 5:45-6:30 MW, Languages and Literature department lobby

mckenzib@mhcc.edu

website: http://mysite.verizon.net/res1ryso

Required texts and materials:

--Ballenger, Bruce.  The Curious Researcher, 5th ed.  New York: Pearson Longman, 2007.

1 notebook (at least two-subject) for research journal w/ assigned topics

1 large manila envelope, to be used when turning in your final portfolio of work (if you want

your portfolio mailed back to you, please self-address this envelope and affix the proper

postage)

1 computer information storage device—3.5” floppy, portable memory device, or (possibly; ask

me at the beginning of the term) CD R/W

     Welcome to WR 123, in which you will be learning how to conceive, design, and execute a research paper on a topic of your choosing.  In order to be enrolled in this class, you must have passed WR 121 with a grade of “C” or better, although WR 122 is highly recommended.  You should therefore by now be comfortable with a number of different techniques used in writing a college essay.  In this class, we will be developing those techniques.  We will also add to them further skills in research, the design of a longer essay, and the evaluation and use of multiple sources to support and deepen your argument.  By doing so, you will be developing “real-world” skills which will better enable you to design and execute detailed projects in whatever field you choose to enter.

     For the sake of developing these skills, you will have the following assignments this term:

            Your Final Essay, which is the principle project of this class.  It will be an essay on a topic of your choice which has been approved by me early in the term.  The essay will have a minimum of ten pages and include reference to at least eight different authoritative sources in regards to your subject matter.  For your own welfare, you may not drastically alter the chosen topic of your paper after 8/14.  While the structure of this class is designed to allow you multiple stages of revision for both ideas and writing throughout the term, please note that there is no revision of this final paper.  Furthermore, please also note that you must achieve a passing grade on this paper in order to pass the class. 

     A Shorter Essay, due near the beginning of the term.  This essay has a threefold purpose: to allow you to do research into more than one subject this term, to allow you to revisit the principles of argument, and to familiarize you with the use and analysis of source materials. It is to be written on a subject you know little or nothing about before researching it, a situation which should force you to think critically about the authority and reliability of the source material you choose.  We will create a list of topics to choose from in class.  The essay should be four pages long and utilize at least three separate sources.

     A typed, 1 page Proposal, in which you will announce the topic and general design of your long research project.  The proposal should indicate some possible lines of questioning for you to follow, as well as identify a working thesis.  You will not necessarily be beholden to these questions and thesis in more than a general sense; often the most exciting research happens when we allow the new knowledge we acquire to take us off into directions we never even knew existed.  Still, the proposal should lay a sturdy foundation for the work to come.  Also included in the proposal should be a brief introduction to and analysis of three possible sources for your research.

     An Annotated Bibliography identifying eight sources you plan to use for your long research project.  The bibliography must be presented in either MLA or APA format.  You may only change up to three sources after this assignment has been turned in.

     At the end of the term, I will be asking for your Research Notebook with the final portfolio of work.  The first half of this journal will be used by you throughout the term to gather, generate, and organize your ideas, and can be a valuable source of prewriting material.  The second half will be used to catalog and gather material from sources.

     You will submit one Rough Draft of your final paper a week and a half before the final draft is due.  This rough draft will be used in workshops with other students as well as in conference with me in order to help you on the last stretch of the essay by offering outsiders’ points of view and suggestions.  The rough draft should offer at least five full pages of work.

     Your Participation grade is an opportunity for me to make note of several things: your involvement in class (including but not limited to projects we undertake together on the computers), your willingness to keep me informed about your progress over time, your application of consistent effort to your work, etc.  Please note that attendance and timeliness are separate concerns from your participation grade, as discussed below.

     Your final grade will be tallied in the following manner:

Final Essay --40%

Shorter Essay–10%

Proposal—10%

Bibliography—10%

Research Notebook —10%

Rough Draft of Final Paper—10%

Participation--10%

I use a standard grading scale with an overall score of 90% required for an A, 80% required for a B, and so forth.  Please note that you must pass the final essay in order to pass the class.  There will be an opportunity for extra credit at the end of the term in the form of a brief presentation to the class on the topic of your paper.

     We are fortunate enough to be able to hold our class partially in a computer classroom.  This does not mean all of our work will be electronic, but much of it will.  You should therefore have at least a passing familiarity with internet usage and word processing.  However, there will be a wide range of computer expertise in the classroom, and we’ll often be learning from each other.  This will demand both your attention and your patience.  The computers you have available to you are not meant as toys or as distractions, and the same amount of attention and respect as is found in a regular classroom is required in this one.  Repeated failure to abide by this will result in a minimal action of the lowering of your participation grade.

     Some early advice: you cannot save any work to your assigned desktop.  The computers are shut down and purged every evening; nothing you attempt to keep on school machines can be retrieved later.  Be prepared from the start with personal storage space in the form of a 3.5” disk, a rewritable CDROM, or a portable memory unit with a USB port. This also allows you easy access to your work at home or in other computer labs on campus. You alone are responsible for the retention and protection of your work.

     When you need hard copies of your work for the class, as you will on workshop and conference days, you must print out your work beforehand in order to avoid confusion and wastes of time. For workshops, please bring in copies for your classmates one class meeting before the workshop noted on the syllabus, so they may read your work and think about it ahead of time.

     Please note that both attendance and timeliness are crucial to your success and may also affect your final grade.  Therefore, you will only be allowed two absences; for every subsequent absence, your final grade will be lowered 5%.  Furthermore, your grade on assignments will be lowered ten percent for every calendar day they are late unless you have been granted an extension by me beforehand.  Of course, should an emergency arise, I will be more than happy to work with you.

     Plagiarism will also affect your grade for the course.  The MHCC English department has the following policy on plagiarism: “Plagiarism is the act of stealing ideas, passages, or writing of others and using them as one’s own, without acknowledgement or documentation (This definition is adapted from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language).  Intentional plagiarism on the part of a student is a serious offense and may result in a failing grade for the course or other disciplinary measures.  Common instances of plagiarism include such practices as copying sentences from another student’s paper, turning in a paper written by someone else, failing to credit the source of ideas, and incorrectly treating specialized information gained from sources such as knowledge so widely held that it requires no documentation.  Do not plagiarize inadvertently.  Remember that you must give credit to the source of borrowed words and ideas.”  In my class, knowingly plagiarizing all or part of an essay will cause your failure in the course.  Accidental plagiarism, as in the case of incorrectly citing a source, can cause serious negative effects on your grade for the assignment in question.  I will be reviewing the basics of MLA citations and some APA formatting, but if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

     If you have a disability which may affect your performance in this class or require special accommodations, should contact Disability Services at (503)491-7650.  If you have a documented disability and require class or instructor accommodations, please have Disability Services notify me during the first week of the term.

Tentative schedule, subject to instructor’s discretion.  Readings should be completed by the first day of the week, and journals by the last unless otherwise noted.