Course Description

College Writing provides instruction and practice in critical thinking, argumentation, revision, information literacy, and documentation to prepare you for writing tasks that you will encounter throughout college, work, and the rest of your life. Course assignments present challenges for the purpose of honing competence and confidence in making writing decisions for any audience, purpose, or genre.

Course Outcomes

Attend class. I expect students to show up on time and prepared to discuss the readings assigned for that day. Students have a responsibility to plan their schedules to avoid excessive conflicts with course requirements. Excessive absences will have a negative impact on the grade that you receive in this course. However, if there are legitimate and verifiable circumstances for your absence (such as subpoenas, jury duty, military duty, religious observances, illness, bereavement for immediate family, and NCAA varsity intercollegiate athletics), you may request an opportunity for make-up work. To do this, you must provide written documentation to legitimize an excused absence immediately following the absence. For complete information, please see "http://d.umn.edu/academic-affairs/academic-policies/classroom-policies/excused-absences".

Respect fellow students and refrain from behavior that might impair their learning opportunities. Any behavior that substantially and repeatedly interrupts the instructor's ability to teach or the students' ability to learn will result in appropriate penalties. Disruptive behavior includes inappropriate use of communications technology in the classroom, such as ringing cell phones, text-messaging, watching videos, playing computer games, checking email, or surfing the Internet on one's computer instead of note-taking or other instructor-sanctioned activities. For further clarification of UMD policies in this regard, consult the Board of Regents Policy at "https://regents.umn.edu/sites/regents.umn.edu/files/policies/Student_Conduct_Code.pdf".

Treat instructors and fellow students with civility. UMD instructors and students have a responsibility to maintain a learning environment that is, as stated in the Teaching and Learning Policy, "respectful of the rights and freedoms of all members, and promotes a civil and open exchange of ideas." The full policy is available at "http://www.d.umn.edu/academic-affairs/academic-policies/classroom-policies/instructor-and-student-responsibilities".

Become familiar with technological course resources. When you registered for this class you paid a technology fee that gives you full access to all campus computer labs. For computer lab locations and hours, go to "http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/labs/" Meanwhile, laptops are now required by every collegiate unit at UMD. Please bring a fully charged laptop to each class session that meets the following specifications: "http://www.d.umn.edu/external-affairs/technology.html". Your laptop should also be loaded with Microsoft Office, which you can download for no charge from "https://it.umn.edu/office-microsoft".

Graded Work

Late submission of an assignment will result in a 10% deduction for each day past the due date (for example, a 10 point paper will lose three points if it is submitted three days late). The grade will not be affected when an assignment is late for reasons that would result in an excused absence.

Required Texts

Bullock, Richard, Michal Brody, and Francine Weinberg. The Little Seagull Handbook. 2nd Edition with MLA 8th Edition updates. W. W. Norton, 2017.

Graff, Gerald, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. They Say I Say with Readings. 3rd Edition. W. W. Norton, 2017.