Advanced Writing for Arts & Letters

Comp 3110, Section 200—INI

Fall 2007

Instructor: Brandy Hoffmann, M.A.
e-mail: bhoffma2@d.umn.edu
Office: Cina 108; mailbox in H420.
Phone: 726-8421 (Please call anytime about any concerns related to the course, etc.)
Fax: 218-726-6882

Office Hours: To Be Announced (Please email anytime with questions or to set up a meeting)

This Syllabus is your primary guide for the course. The following material supplements the policies outlined in Writing About Arts & Letters. Keep this syllabus handy and always let it be your guide regarding course policy and assignment format. In instances where the book and the syllabus differ in assignment requirements, the assignment—as detailed in the attached SYLLABUS ASSIGNMENT PROFILE—takes priority.

Course Materials and Supplies:

Gibson, W.A. Writing About Arts & Letters: Assignments, Examples, Study Materials CEE Individualized Learning Program. Revised 3rd ed. Duluth: UMD Department of Composition, 1995.

Maurer, Kate. A Guide to Professional Writing in the Arts. Preliminary ed. New York: Longman, 2006.

Access to a current and reliable style handbook (Quick Access, Keys for Writers: A Brief Handbook, The Allyn Bacon Handbook, etc.)

Access to email (*All assignments should be emailed in Microsoft Word format, as attachments)

Course Overview:

COMP 3110 is designed for students who write papers for courses in their fields and who write the kinds of discourse appropriate to the arts. COMP 3110 is a writing-intensive, student-centered course in which you will develop your writing and thinking skills through frequent writing experiences, formal and informal, similar to the writing which you are likely to encounter in your respective fields.

The GOALS of COMP 3110-INI are to:

Improve your ability to plan, to draft, and to revise all manner of written communication;
Provide practice in approaching issues critically;
Enhance your investigation skills;
Introduce you to a variety of writing styles which are common to the Arts and you are likely to meet in a professional setting;
Allow you to hone your time management skills.

Course Policies:

The quality of your writing along with the evidence that you have improved over the course of the term will be critical factors in your grade. The most important writing criteria are style, form, content, audience adaptation, use of standard edited American English, and overall impact on the intended audience.
IMPORTANT: Unless you have my approval, you should complete the written assignments in the order they are presented in the manual. The only significant change is that assignment 6 is only a press release and assignment 7 has been changed to be either an interview or program notes. You will have ten major writing assignments to hand in, including the diagnostic essay and final exam (although assignments #5 and #7 are optional). Make sure you are very familiar with the manual. Everything you need to know about the course is included within it.
You must complete all 8 required written assignments to pass the course, although the worksheets within each chapter are optional (recommended, but not mandatory. However, doing them will generally help you to write a better end product).
You will be required to use a word processor for all written work—preferably one with MS Word 97 or above. You may get your work to me in one of several ways: by email attachment (I can read Word documents for PC; if you don’t have this programs, save as a .rtf file), by dropping it in my mailbox in H 420, or by mailing it to me at the following address:
Brandy Hoffmann
UMD Department of Composition
Humanities 420
10 University Drive
Duluth, MN 55812
FYI (IMPORTANT): Email attachments are the best way to get papers to me. If you choose to turn in hard copies of your work, be sure to place your work in my box during regular departmental office hours. DON’T slide your work under the department’s door or put it anywhere except my departmental mailbox (not on my door, not in the pick-up spot). Things get lost easily that way. My preference for returning your work is via email; I will also return your paper to you via email, with my comments on it, and with the grade included. However, if you prefer to receive it in person, or in hard copy form, just let me know.
Generally grading takes about a week, sometimes a bit longer, depending on what else is going on in the semester. Although you must wait for an assignment to be graded and returned before submitting another that does not mean you cannot be working on more than one assignment at a time.
If you need to see me, please make an appointment. I am also available to answer your questions via email or telephone. During the regular school year you are also welcome to stop by during my office hours.

Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Appropriating someone else's work as your own will be grounds for failing this course; further disciplinary action may be taken by individual colleges. If you are in doubt about how or when to cite sources, please ask me. Please read UMD’s academic integrity policy at the following link: http://www.d.umn.edu/assl/conduct/integrity/Academic_Integrity_Policy.htm

The completion date for all work is sixteen weeks from the beginning of the session. Your 16 week period ends Friday, December 14, 2007. (If you have been assigned a different completion date by CE please let me know.) By this date all work must be completed (see additional note regarding course completion below). Make sure that you are checking in with me throughout the 16 weeks and handing in work to be evaluated and graded. You will receive all work back once it is graded.
After you have submitted an assignment, begin work on the next unit. However, do not turn in the next assignment until after you have had a chance to pick up your prior assignment and consider the comments made. These assignments are designed to build upon one another, allowing you to apply the skills you are learning. In short, this means you cannot submit all your assignments at once, nor can you wait too long to begin submitting assignments. Doing so means you cannot apply what you are learning. Submitting more than one paper at time (without prior approval) will result in one paper being graded, the rest returned ungraded, and a note to schedule a conference with me. If you turn in the whole semester’s worth of work all at once in the last weeks of the semester you will receive a semester grade of “F.”

Grading:

Writing assignments will be graded based on the following components:

Development
Organization
Style and tone
Format
Mechanics

For you to receive an “A” in this course, your work must be consistently excellent throughout the quarter.

IMPORTANT: As you will notice, some of the assignments below are designated (Optional). Simply, this means that you can forego completing these assignments if you wish, but it also means you will forego the points involved. If you are concerned about getting an "A" in this class, you will have to do these assignments. If you are reasonably sure you can complete the class with a passing grade without doing these assignments, then you can omit them from your list of things to do. A total of 15 percent of your work is optional, so if you did all the other work and received the total points for each, the highest grade you could get is a "B".

****For the most part, you should not pattern your papers after the examples at the end of each chapter. Some of these examples are included as examples of what NOT to do. They look like an attractive option to some students because they aren't well done and don't include many of the attributes that should be included. Read the manual carefully instead, and trust your instincts.

For the final exam, you have two choices: (A) Do another review (like assignment #4) or (B) Do a review of the class, your performance and how the class might be improved for future students.

* IMPORTANT * IMPORTANT * IMPORTANT * IMPORTANT * IMPORTANT * IMPORTANT *

Course Completion (beginning summer, 2000):

In the past, students have had a great deal of trouble completing the course on time making it difficult to create an atmosphere of equitable participation. As a result, I have adopted very strict rules regarding the completion of this course. In adhering to the following guidelines I will be able to treat everyone more fairly. The guidelines are strict and will not be bent. Making adjustments for students with excuses implicitly penalizes students who work diligently and do their work on time. Read the following information very carefully so you are not surprised at the end of the term. Documented medical issues (an extended illness, for instance) or other such unforeseen and long-term impediments (extended absence from school for emergency situations, etc.) are the only way to get an exemption from the following guidelines. Things like a heavy class load, part or full-time job, or poor time management on your part are not acceptable excuses.

1. All students are expected to complete the entire INI course within the 16-week period. The assignments in this course are the same ones used when this was a 10-week class. 16 weeks should be plenty of time to complete all assignments.

2. At the end of 16 weeks, if you have no more than two required assignments remaining (the final exam counts as an assignment) you will be given a grade of “I”. You then have four calendar weeks (not school weeks) to complete the remaining assignments. Failure to do so will result in your “I” changing to an “F” (see # 4 below). No optional assignments are accepted once an “I” has been given.

3. At the end of 16 weeks, if you have more than two required assignments remaining (the final exam counts as an assignment) you will receive a grade of “F.” You will not be eligible for an “I” grade (see #4 below).

4. Should you receive a grade of “F” (through either scenario listed above) I will not change your grade at a later date (this has been a problem in the past). If you receive an “F” it will be like any other “F” you might receive, meaning you will need either to re-register for Comp 3110—INI (meaning pay for the course again) or you will need to register for the day class (which also means paying again). With the exception of a documented medical excuse or the like, I will not deviate from this plan. I’m adhering to it tightly so as to help everyone have equal opportunity to finish the course under the same conditions.

If you have any disability, either permanent or temporary, which might affect your performance in this class, please inform me at the start of the quarter. Methods, materials, or testing will be adapted as required for equitable participation.

In this course, self-motivation and discipline are a must, but in case you would like a suggested timeline to follow, please read on. The failure rate for students in INI courses is routinely very high (students have good intentions, but turn in little or no work). To ensure this doesn't happen to you, you may want to put yourself on the following suggested timeline.

Remember, you are in NO WAY obligated to follow these suggested due dates. They are merely meant as guideposts to help you navigate this course successfully. You may, of course, change or modify the dates any way you want, provided you do not compromise the policies set forth earlier in this document. If anything, you should start earlier than the recommended due dates suggest… NOT later.

I have included the assignment profiles to help you know some of the specifics I’m looking for with each assignment. The book will provide you with detailed instruction on each assignment, but the assignment profiles will give you a synopsis which summarizes some of what I tell my students in the day classes. It should help you to understand each assignment more easily. Remember, though, the sheet IS NOT a substitute for the book. You will still need to read each chapter carefully.

Composition 3110—INI

Assignment Profiles

Assignment 1: Diagnostic

For this assignment you are to do two key tasks. First, find an article in a journal or periodical related to your field (2-5 pages is probably best) and of interest to you (perhaps something you’d like to follow up on later). Read the article carefully and then begin the second part of the assignment. Here you will write an argumentative essay (about 2-3 pages, double spaced), making a claim about HOW the article is put together (how it creates its effect). Don’t just summarize/paraphrase the article; a large portion of your paper should include an analysis of the article and its effectiveness (at least 2/3 of the paper should be analysis). Does the writer create a successful article? How does the writer put the article together so as to engage readers? What strategies and techniques does the writer employ? To what end? In order to grade this assignment I’ll need to see the article you’ve analyzed along with your diagnostic essay.

Assignment 2: Research Proposal & Annotated Bibliography

In a nutshell, assignments 2, 5, and 8 all go together. Here you’re outlining what it is you’ll be investigating for your 7-8 page research paper later in the semester. The best proposals will show a great deal of thought and will go beyond announcing the topic (ie: “I’m going to write about the history of Italian theater”) and offer up a potential thesis for the big paper (ie: “I propose to explore the history of Italian Renaissance theater, focusing on staging. My preliminary research indicates that the staging was much more influential than early theater historians such as Mattson and Navarre would have us believe. My larger paper will demonstrate why early historians are inaccurate in their assessments and why Italian Renaissance staging deserves more credit than it is currently given.” See how that’s much more specific and shows more thought and development? It’s still not perfect, but it’s a lot stronger than the first example). You’re out to convince readers that you’re the one to do this paper—no one else. In order to do that successfully you’ll have to do quite a great deal of background work and planning, but more time spent planning and shaping will alleviate problems later on. The most successful proposals will create interest in the topic by proving debate over the issue actually exists (for instance, establishing current debate by presenting various perspectives on the subject [side A claims….. while side B counters, contending….]). Remember, for the larger paper you want to ARGUE rather than INFORM.

In presenting your proposal, use the memo format. Failure to use these headings will result in a lowered grade. You will also attach an annotated bibliography of five appropriate sources (no more than two books).

Assignment 3: Grant Proposal

In order to make this assignment more practical, you’ll be filling out an actual grant. You can find a small grant of your own to work on (be sure I get a copy of the guidelines at grading time; without them I cannot grade your work). However, do not just write a letter to your department chair or a funding source asking for funding for a project you’d like to do.

If you don’t have a particular grant or funder in mind, you can visit http://www.ARACouncil.org for guidelines and forms for a McKnight/ARAC Individual Artist Career Development Grant or Art Project Grant if you wish. All forms and guidelines are provided, but you must conceive a project that fits within the guidelines and write the grant in precisely the form that the grantor requests. If you’re not sure the grant you’ve found will be suitable, please check with me. For purposes of the Individual Artist Career Development Grant, consider yourself having just graduated with your degree (students are ineligible). This grant asks applicants to provide a work sample; you may omit this part.

You may also choose to work on a UROP grant if you’d like. You may download the application materials and read more about the grant itself at http://www.urop.umn.edu. Though the application asks you to work with a faculty mentor and secure a letter of support from that individual to accompany your application, you may omit that part of the process if you are preparing a UROP application for this assignment.

As you work on your grant, remember that in asking people for money, the more specific you can be about what you need, why you need it, and why you should have it, the better your likelihood of funding (think about how you’d want to be sure someone was a good risk before giving them money…). Also, just because you have an idea and someone has money to give doesn’t mean you’ll get it. Each funder has certain types of projects they will and will not support. Be sure to read guidelines carefully. Grants requesting support for projects the funder’s guidelines indicate will not be funded will receive a C- at best. Grants not following the funder’s guidelines (for example, not using their forms, not answering the required questions in the narrative, not following the required formatting, etc.) will receive a C- at best.

Assignment 4: Review

This is quite a fun assignment. Read the chapter in the book, and then find yourself something to review—preferably a live event or an art exhibition. You can go hear a band, see a play, tour a gallery…whatever you want, big or small…as long as it’s not something you saw prior to this assignment. Please refrain from reviewing movies. You do not have to review something related to your larger research project if you do not wish.

Your 2-3 page review should provide the essential “who, what, where, when” (but probably with a lot more finesse than that!) and especially the “how.” Read a few reviews in magazines, e-zines, and newspapers to get an idea of how to put them together. Here’s the spot to let your own personal creative voice shine through!

Assignment 5: Progress Report (Optional)

This is the assignment where you come clean. Written in memo format, this assignment will apprise me of how you’re doing on your research report. It should provide a brief refresher of your topic and argument, then address how you’re doing in respect to the timeline you set forth in assignment 2. What have you done? What’s left? Are you on track or not? Why? Should I worry if you’re behind? What’s the plan from here on in?

Assignment 6: Press Release

The press release is, by its very nature, short. It has a lot of information packed in a short space. Create a press release (no more than 1 page, at most) advertising an upcoming event (real or fictitious). Plan it to be read as a radio spot, although it will still need to have contact information on the sheet, too. Think about what you’ll need to say in order to draw a crowd and make your event a success.

Assignment 7: Interview or Program Notes (Optional)

If you choose to do an interview of an individual who is likely to be a resource for your research report, you have essentially two ways to present it: in a verbatim Q & A format, with a brief intro and conclusion where you posit your analysis (a utilitarian, albeit sometimes dull format), or you can integrate your impressions of the speaker, subject at hand, or interview at large, while presenting a summary of what the speaker said. In this case, after the interview you’ll synthesize what your interviewee had to say on a given topic, selecting perhaps a few of the most important points to present to us. Presented in this way, the interview will read more as a review or article itself, rather than exhibiting the distance sometimes created by the Q & A format.

If you choose to do program notes, you’ll essentially prepare a program for an event. You’ll include the factual (ie: the songs performed, the play’s cast, the works included, etc.), but you’ll go beyond that by writing some supporting materials, such as a brief biography on the composer, artist, playwright, etc. You might also consider writing about the production or performance at hand. What special things should the audience know to help them understand the program better? Think about providing the audience with whatever background will help them enjoy and engage with the production.

Assignment 8: Research Report

This is the big one. Here’s where you show off your great analytical ability and your superb writing skills. Your paper isn’t going to be especially long (7-8 pages), so you’ll need to remember to keep focused on a single, powerful claim, bringing it back to us periodically as you present your sub-topics. Since this is a research paper, research should form the heart of it. Be sure to integrate all sources and document carefully in MLA style. If you need to integrate visual aids (photos, illustrations, reproductions, etc), you can either do so right in the text or in an appendix (or two or three). Just remember to label your illustrations and refer to them in your text (note: graphic aids do not count toward you total page count). Include all front matter requested in the book. Although I’m glad to conference with you on your paper, I won’t grade drafts. Once your paper is submitted it will be graded and that grade will stand.

Assignment 9: Letter of Application & Resume

For this assignment you’ll need to find a job to apply for (but, of course, you won’t actually have to apply for real). Even if you’re happily employed, find something you’d be qualified for and write a letter applying for that position. Since this isn’t an application that you’re necessarily going to send in, geographic location isn’t a huge consideration here. For instance, even though it’s not likely you’d move to California, but there’s a job in Los Angeles that you think you’d be perfect for, go ahead and use that job for this assignment. Your letter of application should be at least a page—in business letter format (single spaced, all left justified, double space between paragraphs, closing and signature left justified)—and should really sell yourself to your prospective employer. Strong letters will be clear on the purpose of the letter, will outline what the writer offers the company that no one else does, and will close with a request for action. See the manual for good ideas on how to put your letter together. Accompany your letter with a resume appropriate to your discipline, with the common denominators being readability and easy access to pertinent information. Please include the job advertisement you’re responding to when submitting your work for grading. Assignment turned in without it will receive a “C” grade at best.

Assignment 10: Final Exam

For the final exam, you have two choices: (A) Do another review (like assignment #4) or (B) Do a review of the class, your performance and how the class might be improved for future students. Please note, this assignment will not be handed back to you.

Individualized Instruction (INI)

COMP 3110 - Advanced Writing: Arts & Letters - Section 200