Course Syllabus

 

English 0802: Analytical Reading and Writing

GenEd (GW)

Section 021, CRN 3365

Fall 2025

Instructor: Sean Skulski
A downloadable copy of the syllabus: (Syllabus PDF here)

The course syllabus will provide you with the course schedule, course objectives, explanations of assignments and assessments, grading policies, and instructor contact information. Please read it carefully. You should have a deep familiarity with the schedule and process of the course.

  

Basic Course Information

General Education

This course fulfills the Analytical Reading & Writing (GW) requirement for GenEd.

Welcome Message

Welcome to English 802! This course will introduce you to the challenges and pleasures of college-level reading and writing. Once you have completed English 802 with a C- or better, you will have completed one of the required foundational courses in the General Education program.

Meeting Time and Location

1:00 pm-2:40 pm in Ritter Hall 300

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Instructor Information

My Name:

Sean Skulski

It's totally fine to call me Sean. My pronouns are he/him/his. 

My Contact Information

Email: tuj61633@temple.edu. Email is the best way to reach me. I will aim to respond within 24 hours of your email Monday through Friday. If you write over the weekend, I will get back to you on Monday.

 

My Office

TBD!

Student Drop-In Hours

Seeking out individual assistance from the instructor is a normal part of the learning process. I set aside 11:00 am-12:30 pm on Monday and Wednesday for you to come to my office with no appointment necessary. We can discuss the course content, your progress on the assessments, your future in the field, or anything else you need to talk about. If my regular Drop-In Hours don’t fit your schedule, please email me to make an appointment. I want to help you succeed!

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Purpose of the Course

Overall Purpose

Welcome to English 802! This course will introduce you to the challenges and pleasures of college-level reading and writing. Once you have completed English 802 with a C- or better, you will have completed one of the required foundational courses in the General Education program. 

Official course description from the 2024-2025 Course Bulletin:

English 0802 takes a broader perspective than 0701 (formerly 0040), requiring students to explore a single theme from the point of multiple disciplines. Early in the semester, English 0802 students work on research and the evaluation of sources, moving through a sequence of papers that develop argumentation and the synthesis of materials. Library research is required, and sessions with librarians are part of the course. Individual and small group conferences will be held during the semester. Evaluation is predicated on a passing final portfolio of at least four assignments that are developed through multiple revisions. NOTE: English 0802 is a prerequisite for IH 0851/0852 (formerly Intellectual Heritage 1196 and 1297), any writing intensive courses, and any course in the College of Liberal Arts numbered 2000-4999.

For more information, visit: Undergraduate bulletin 

Overview of the Course

The theme of this class is public space and the public sphere, and many of our readings apply this theme within the context of higher education. We do not presume that you are experts on these topics, and we have chosen them because they are somewhat familiar and yet they are also academically complex. They are also interdisciplinary topics, and students from all majors should be able to find connections between their interests and the work of this course. In fact, we strongly encourage you to use your own perspectives and interests to develop research topics.

In this class, there are no right or wrong answers or opinions in most cases. As we will discuss, academic discourse involves weighing evidence and presenting a strong, well-argued position, and you will get lots of practice doing so in English 802. When you complete this course, you will have strengthened your critical thinking, reading and writing skills and will have established a set of good practices and habits that should be useful throughout your college career and beyond.

4 Credit Hours

Prerequisites/Corequisites

There are no explicit prerequisites for this course. However, you should check the results of your First Year Writing placement results/recommendations to find out if you should register for this class this semester. If you are recommended to take English 0701, you should drop English 0802 and find an open section for that course. It is in your best interest to find the course that is most appropriate for your level of preparation.

Learning Goals

Upon successful completion of this General Education course, you will be able to…

  • Identify and analyze arguments in published texts and writing by your peers.
  • Create and defend arguments of your own through effective rhetorical strategies and synthesis of others’ ideas.
  • Understand when and how to employ the conventions of academic discourse, including
    • coherent and logical organization,
    • standard English grammar and syntax,
    • and correct citation and evaluation of research sources.
  • Revise your writing through multiple drafts and reflect on the writing process.

General Education Competencies and Area Learning Goals

This course fulfills the Analytical Reading & Writing (GW) requirement for GenEd.

GenEd Program Competencies

As part of the General Education program at Temple University, this course is committed to working towards GenEd program goals. As such, it is designed to foster the following skills:

  1. Critical Thinking
  2. Contextualized Learning
  3. Interdisciplinary Thinking
  4. Communication Skills
  5. Information Literacy
  6. Civic Engagement
  7. Lifelong Learning

  For more information: Undergraduate Bulletin's section on GenEd courses

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The Learning Environment:

Requirements and Resources

How Class Will Be Conducted

This course meets twice a week in person for in-class activities, discussion of readings, and to review and plan to write the major papers of the course. We will occasionally have Canvas assignments in addition to the work we do in class. Students in all sections of English 802 regardless of course mode should expect to spend a minimum of 8-10 hours a week on this course including class time.

Required Course Materials and Technology Specifications

You will not need to purchase books for this course, and there are no fees or other expenses. All readings will be posted on Canvas through the Charles Library course reserves.

Using Canvas and your Temple email are required for this course. Please familiarize yourself with our Canvas course site so that you understand where and when readings are posted. Please check the technology specifications for using Canvas for off-campus computers and networks. You will submit work online through Canvas for this course, and you must have regular access to Microsoft Word, which you can download for free through TU Portal (Microsoft Office 365). You can also use Word in any Temple computer lab. If you are in the habit of using Google Docs, you will need to learn how to convert your document into Word to submit your papers (it’s easy!). Feel free to consult Temple’s Information Technology Services for support. Limited resources may be available for students who do not have the technology they need for class. Check the Dean of Students Support and Resources webpage for details.

Course Requirements

  1. Attend every class meeting.

Being present and engaged in this course is vital to your development as a college-level writer and thinker. To allow for illness or other emergencies, you may miss one or two classes without penalty, but I recommend that you save these absences for as long as possible because you cannot predict when and how often you might become ill as the semester goes on. In fact, I would strongly prefer that you not use any absences at all, as our class is intended to function as a cohesive writing community. But I do not want you to come to class if you are unable to participate and/or potentially infectious with COVID, the flu, or other transmissible illnesses.

Also, if you miss class, you might miss an important discussion or activity that counts toward your final grade, and these cannot be replaced. You may ask me what we did on a day when you are absent, but I cannot re-teach a missed class, and I will not accept any assignments done in class that you missed. There will be no Zoom option if you’re absent because watching class on Zoom is not the same as participating in class. If you miss more than 4 class meetings, you will have missed too much of the semester and will be given an automatic F for the course.

There are two weeks of the semester when I canceled class for one-on-one conferences, and your attendance at conference is required. If you miss your conference, I will offer you a chance to make it up at my convenience, and if you cannot attend the rescheduled conference, you will be marked as absent for that week. In other words, a missed conference will count as a full class absence unless you make it up at my convenience.

Arriving to class late or leaving class early will be counted as a half-absence, and two of these will equal one full absence. Also, if you are not prepared for class or not paying attention and it is distracting or detrimental to our community, I may ask you to leave and take an absence. This is especially true on peer review days where you must have a completed draft to participate.

I do not distinguish between “excused” or “unexcused” absences, and I do not wish to see doctor’s notes or other documentation of your illness. Why you miss class is your business, and I don’t need to know about it. If you have a DRS accommodation that allows extra absences, I will be happy to provide this accommodation, and I will suggest that you be given one extra absence (bringing you to a maximum of three absences, not two). I will reach out to your DRS counselor to explain this policy, as it is consistent in most First Year Writing classes, if needed.

  1. Read and annotate our assigned readings before class.

Every paper you write in this class derives from our assigned readings and the discussions we have about them. When you read, take notes in the margins and/or keep a list on paper or in Word of thoughts and questions to bring up in class. Sometimes, you may need to read a paragraph or a section more than once before it makes sense, and this is completely normal when reading dense academic articles and books. I recommend that you talk to friends and family about our readings, too. Talking about our course topics is a great way to prepare for class and get ideas or work through issues for your papers. I dislike reading quizzes, but I will give them if too many of us are reading quickly or aren’t thinking carefully about the readings before coming to class. As noted above, if you come to class unprepared, I may ask you to leave and take an absence, particularly if your inability to participate in class activities is disruptive to our activities. Also, interacting with others respectfully is important, and a full policy on how to interact in class and on Canvas is included below. 

  1. Complete all weekly coursework as announced in class or assigned on Canvas.

Weekly coursework consists of all the small assignments and activities you do on Canvas or in class meetings. These may include in-class writing, small group work, Canvas discussion posts, worksheets, or Perusall annotations. Weekly coursework is essential for learning, especially in a hybrid class like ours, and these items will be graded as Complete (full credit) or Incomplete (no credit). Together, these activities will be worth 20% of your final grade. In general, I will give you a grade of Complete if you’ve met the basic requirements of the assignment at a satisfactory level. If you do not follow directions, if it is unsatisfactory, or if you submit it late, you will get a grade of Incomplete. A full policy about late weekly coursework is included below.

  1. Write and revise four substantial papers through multiple drafts.

You will write four papers and submit them to me for feedback and guidance. Then, you will revise these drafts into final versions due in a final portfolio at the end of the semester. I will give you feedback for Papers 1, 2 and 3, and this feedback will be formative and intended to help you revise. You will not receive a binding grade on these drafts because I want you to revise them as many times as possible before the final portfolio.

My feedback will also give you an idea of where your grade might stand on a draft if it were submitted in the final portfolio as is and without any revision, and it will give you a baseline of your progress. It is relatively normal for students to receive feedback that indicates a draft is not yet passing in its current condition, and I do not want you to be discouraged by this. It simply means you have work to do, and because draft grades are not binding, there is no penalty for having a draft that is not yet passing. If you ever feel discouraged, talk to me, and I can help you plan for revision and feel hopeful about making improvement in your writing.

I give feedback on each draft only once if it is submitted on time, but we can talk about your drafts and revisions as many times as you wish if you bring them to me to discuss during conferences and office hours. Keep in mind that you may also bring your papers to the Writing Center at any stage in the writing process, and I encourage everyone to visit the Writing Center on a regular basis for this and other classes. More information about this is included below.

  1. Participate in peer review workshops.

Peer review workshops allow you to read each other’s papers and practice giving suggestions for improvement that may result in deeper insights for your own writing process. We will do at least three peer review workshops (for Papers 1, 2, and 3), and these are clearly marked in the course schedule. The 10% of your final grade reflects whether or not you participated in these workshops, and like weekly coursework, peer review is assessed with either a Complete or Incomplete as follows: if you meet all deadlines and expectations for peer review, you will get a grade of Complete for a workshop, but if you miss a deadline in the workshop process or if you do not complete the required steps in giving feedback to your peers, you will get a grade of Incomplete for a workshop. For the 10% that represents peer review in the final grade, three Completes will be an A, two Completes will be a B, and one Complete will be a C. Three Incompletes will be an F (or 0 credit) for the 10% that represents peer review in the final grade. If we do additional peer review workshops, they will be included in weekly coursework and not in the peer review portion of the final grade.

  1. Meet with me twice for individual conferences outside of class.

We will meet for one-on-one conferences in my office or on Zoom to discuss your progress, and I will offer you an optional conference at the end of the semester in case you need it. Dates, times, and locations for our conferences will be mutually arranged. I will let you know in class what you need to prepare for each conference, and if you arrive unprepared, I reserve the right to cancel our conference and give you an absence. If you fail to show up at a scheduled conference and cannot attend a rescheduled conference at my convenience, you will be counted for an absence, as described above.

  1. Reflect on your writing process and your progress towards our course goals.

There are decades of evidence showing that being reflective about your own progress enhances learning and improves outcomes. I will assign many opportunities for you to reflect in this course, and Paper #4 is a reflective assessment of your own work in the final portfolio.

  1. Submit a well-revised final portfolio at the end of the semester.

Your final portfolio will consist of four revised papers. The grade on your final portfolio (60%) and the grade on the quality of your revisions (10%) make up most of your final grade in the course. A rubric for final portfolios is included below, as is a detailed explanation of my grading process.

When you revise, you should do so as thoroughly as possible, which means addressing the issues noted in my feedback on your drafts and going above and beyond to address all the ideas and suggestions that we discuss throughout the semester. For instance, our class readings serve as models of good writing to emulate and use as inspiration. Your weekly coursework, our in-class activities and my mini-lectures and explanations will give you ideas and plenty of practice for successful college writing. Individual conferences and peer review workshops will allow you to reflect on your progress and grow as a reader, writer and thinker. Final portfolios in which revisions only “fix” simple errors or address only things mentioned in my feedback are unlikely to result in grades of A or B for revision in your final grade, and a lack of serious revision will prevent final portfolio grades from being in the A range altogether.

How To Succeed in This Course

Be respectful when interacting with others in class and on Canvas.

College is meant to build your critical thinking skills in a variety of contexts, and I want you to feel appropriately challenged and inspired by our course materials. Use our classroom and Canvas site as a space to collaborate with each other for mutual learning. We all have a responsibility to try to make others feel comfortable learning, participating, and asking questions. Here are some ground rules for respectful interaction:

  • Everyone may have an opinion, and opinions are not facts.
  • Everyone may write or say something that “comes out wrong.” If you realize you have done so, simply admit that what you said or wrote wasn’t quite what you meant and try again.
  • Everyone may change their mind (including me!).
  • Everyone has the responsibility to challenge others or disagree in a respectful, polite way:
    • “I respectfully disagree....”
    • “I hear you, but you might not have considered that….”
    • “In my experience, that hasn’t been true because….”
    • “Can you share evidence to support your point?”
  • Everyone must accept that their opinion may be challenged without getting defensive or upset (this can be hard!). When someone challenges your opinion, take a deep breath and consider what the other person is saying carefully before you respond.

Our differences, some of which are outlined in the University’s nondiscrimination statement, will add richness to this learning experience. We are all here to learn and work with others, and anything that runs contrary to the spirit of learning and collaboration is unacceptable. Also, explicitly hostile or hateful language, discrimination, or abuse will not be tolerated. I am here to help foster a respectful and accountable space.

Netiquette

Whenever we are engaged in online work through Canvas, we must be as appropriate and collaborative as we are in person. My expectations for online work are adapted from these core rules:

  • Remember the Human: When you aren’t face-to-face it can be easy to forget that you are communicating with a person who has feelings and emotions just like anyone else. Please show respect by being courteous in all written communication. Avoid sarcasm, which can be difficult to interpret in cyberspace.
  • NO YELLING, PLEASE: Using all capital letters can be interpreted as yelling, and it’s rude.
  • Read First, then Submit: Make sure you take time to carefully read instructions before beginning an assignment. Similarly, please read what you typed before submitting an assignment to check for grammar, typos, and other errors. Reading aloud before submitting is highly recommended.
  • Find Answers: Before asking me a question, read the syllabus, check Canvas, and conduct an Internet search to see if the answer is easy to find. If these searches do not provide you with an answer, me. Be professional in email correspondence.

Lastly, will sometimes use devices (phones, laptops) in class, and I expect you to use devices respectfully, which means staying on task and avoiding disruption to your classmates.

Consult with me during office hours and practice good time management.

I welcome you to visit me during office hours as listed on the first page of the syllabus. You can come see me for many reasons, including to say hello, to talk about one or more of your papers, and to discuss readings or ideas that have come up in class. Or, if you are struggling in the course and need help setting voluntary deadlines or figuring out how to approach an assignment, I encourage you to talk to me and see if I can help. If you are unavailable during my office hours, email me and we’ll try to find another time.

You may find that one of the biggest challenges in college is keeping track of your assignments and budgeting your time. I strongly recommend using a non-Canvas calendar, whether paper or digital, to keep track of due dates and course requirements. The calendar built into Canvas may seem helpful at first, but do not rely on it! Many students have made the error of assuming that the Canvas calendar is comprehensive only to find that they’ve missed an assignment or fallen behind in a course. Don’t make this mistake—trust me and use a secondary calendar.

Take advantage of campus resources:

Did you know Temple’s Student Success Center (SSC) offers tutoring for writers at the Writing Center? Writing Center tutors can help you understand and get started on your assignments, and they can also provide you with engaged, kind, and critical feedback on drafts of your work. The tutors are graduate and undergraduate students who are successful writers and experienced readers; all tutors have completed training in effective methods of coaching writers. Tutoring is free of charge and available by same-day session or pre-scheduled appointment. More information about the Writing Center, as well as other resources offered by the SSC by clicking the links above, by calling 215-204-0702, or visiting our “Front Desk” Zoom room via the Meeting ID at 929-916-654. You can also get help (even through live chat) with your research from the Charles Library.

Also, it is common for your first year at a new school to be stressful, and I want you to know you’re not alone and there are resources here at the university, such as Tuttleman Counseling Services and the Dean of Students. The Dean of Students offers a wide range of support for students who do not have enough food, who struggle with access to secure housing, who need emergency student aid, who are dealing with sexual assault, and who have similar problems and are unsure where to turn. Further, the Dean of Students provides specific forms of outreach and support for LGBTQIA students, international students, and veterans, among others. I strongly encourage you to seek out help from the Dean of Students when needed, and if you’re having trouble connecting to the proper resources, let me know and I’ll do my best to help by filing a CARE TEAM report or asking the team in First Year Writing for assistance.

Information regarding accessibility for additional technologies is provided below: 

Resources and Support

Sometimes the biggest factors impacting student success are things happening beyond the scope of the individual classroom. Temple provides a wide array of resources both to help you overcome academic challenges and those not directly related to the educational challenges of the course. Please reach out to me if you need help deciding which resources might be right for you.

Student Success Center

University Libraries

Undergraduate Research Support

Career Center

Tuttleman Counseling Services

Disability Resources and Services

Wellness Resource Center

Student Health Services

If you are experiencing food insecurity or financial struggles, Temple provides resources and support. Notably, the Temple University Cherry Pantry is in operation, as well as a variety of resources from the Division of Student Affairs.

Library Resources

Temple University Libraries provide resources to assist Temple students with their class projects and research needs. Visit the Libraries’ website to find millions of articles, books, video, and other resources, both in print and online.

This library guide developed for our course will be used for the following assignments: https://guides.temple.edu/english802 

The site also provides tutorials to help you start your research, as well as subject and course research guides to help you identify resources that may be particularly useful for this class.

Contact the library at any stage of the research process. You can chat with a librarian 24/7 or make an appointment with your subject librarian, who can help you explore a topic, craft a research question, and identify and cite sources.

 

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Course Schedule

This schedule is subject to minor changes; all changes will be announced on Canvas. Assigned readings can be found in Canvas in a separate course called “Fall 2025j: Charles Reserve Readings for English 802.”

Unit One: Inclusivity

This unit focuses on three articles about inclusivity in public space. By public space, we mean the spaces we all go when we are not in our own private homes, such as streets, stores, public bathrooms, workplaces, or university campuses. By reading these articles closely and discussing them in class, we will find intersections between these authors’ ideas and generate questions about who belongs in public spaces and how we might make public spaces equitably available to all people. For Paper 1, you will write an analysis of one of these readings.

This unit focuses on articles about inclusivity in public space. By public space, we mean the spaces we all go when we are not in our own private homes, such as streets, stores, public bathrooms, workplaces, or university campuses. By reading these articles closely and discussing them in class, we will find intersections between these authors’ ideas and generate questions about who belongs in public spaces and how we might make public spaces equitably available to all people. For Paper 1, you will write an analysis of one of these readings.

Week 1 (August 25-29)

Before class:

  • Check out the course Canvas site and read the course syllabus
  • Read Vargas, “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant”
  • Read Lee, “Altered State”

Class meeting 1:

Class meeting 2:

  • Discuss Vargas
  • Discuss Lee

Still deciding about staying in this course? Check the Registration Deadlines for drop/add here.

 

Week 2 (September 2-5, no classes on Labor Day)

Before class:

Class meeting 1:

  • No class Monday!

Class meeting 2:

  • Discuss Bacha
  • Discuss Ballayan
  • Review and discuss the assignment for Paper 1

 

Week 3 (September 8-12)

Before class:

  • Read Cunningham, Buzuvis & Mosier, “Inclusive Spaces and Locker Rooms for Transgender Athletes”
  • Read Lawson, et. Al, “Pedestrians with Disabilities and Town and City Streets: From Shared to Inclusive Space?”

Class meeting 1:

  • Discuss Cunningham, Buzuvis & Mosier and make connections among the articles and Ted Talk

Class meeting 2:

  • Discuss Lawson, et. Al, “Pedestrians with Disabilities and Town and City Streets: From Shared to Inclusive Space?” and make connections among the articles and Ted Talk

 

Week 4 (September 15-19)

Before class:

  • Begin drafting an outline for Paper 1

Class meeting 1:

  • Participate in activities related to writing Paper 1
  • Work in small groups on your outline of Paper 1

Class meeting 2:

  • Peer review workshop of Paper 1

By Sunday at midnight:

  • Revise Paper 1 and submit it on Canvas for instructor feedback

 

Unit Two: Surveillance

This unit focuses on surveillance in public space and in the public sphere. We will read a foundational article in surveillance studies (Foucault’s “Panopticism,” which you are likely to encounter again at TU no matter what your major), and then we will read several articles about forms of surveillance that we may encounter in our daily lives. Think about questions such as: How much surveillance is acceptable to you? Does surveillance improve or detract from our personal safety? How can an average person resist or avoid surveillance if they wish to do so? How are institutions creating cultures of surveillance, such as those in schools and workplaces? How does a culture of freedom coexist with a culture of surveillance? Paper 2 will require you to use library resources to explore a topic of your choice related to surveillance.

Week 5 (September 22-26)

Before class:

  • Read Foucault, “Panopticism” (in Course Reserves)
  • Read Gray, “Urban Surveillance and Panopticism: Will We Recognize the Facial Recognition Society”
  • Read Gans & Mann, “When the Camera Lies: Our Surveillance Society Needs a Dose of Integrity to be Reliable”
  • Sign up for a Conference next week

Class meeting 1:

Class meeting 2:

  • Review the assignment for Paper 2
  • Discuss Gray
  • Discuss Gans & Mann

By Sunday at midnight:

  • Complete an activity on Canvas (a self-reflective journal response about Paper 1)

 

Week 6 (September 29-October 3)

Before class:

  • Read Pfau, “Artificial Intelligence: The New Eyes Of Surveillance”

Class meeting 1:

  • No class for individual conferences

Class meeting 2:

  • Discuss readings and brainstorm topics for Paper 2

By Sunday at midnight:

  • Complete the first library module

 

Week 7 (October 6-10)

Before class:

  • Read Klein, “Surveillance Tech Is Supposed to Make Students Feel Safer. For Many, It Doesn’t.”
  • Read Hornsby, “#FreeGrace and the Racialized Surveillance State of COVID-19 Learning”
  • Choose one:
    • Park and Vance, “Data Privacy in Higher Education: Yes, Students Care”
    • Alrawi, “Immigrants are not Felons: A Legal Analysis of Immigrants’ Civil Rights Chilling Effect: Issues Caused by Ice’s SmartLINK App Surveillance”
    • Bhuiyan, “Health Data Privacy post-roe: Can our information be used against
    • us?”
    • Holpuch, “Two Women Sue Apple Over AirTag Stalking”

Class meeting 1:

  • Discuss readings

Class meeting 2:

  • Complete the second library module (together, in class)

 

Week 8 (October 13-17)

Before class:

  • Write a first draft of Paper 2

Class meeting 1:

  • No class

Class meeting 2:

  • Peer Review Workshop of Paper 2
  • Discuss Unit Three and review the assignment for Paper 3
  • Sign up for a Conference next week

By Sunday at midnight:

  • Revise Paper 2 and submit it on Canvas for instructor feedback
  • Complete an activity on Canvas (a self-reflective journal response about Paper 2)

 

Unit Three: Literacy

Literacy, defined as the variety of ways in which we communicate through reading and writing, has been a key concept in recent debates on education, technology, science, health, and the media. In this unit, we will explore two debates about literacy to inspire you to write a persuasive argument on a topic of your own choice related to literacy for Paper 3. First, we will discuss book banning and other forms of censorship in education, and we will explore questions such as: How does censorship impact teachers, students, and communities? How often do we censor ourselves and why? What motivates those who want to limit access to certain ideas and texts? What do debates about censorship and freedom of speech tell us about our social and cultural values? Second, we will explore debates about generative AI tools like Chat GPT, Bard and Copilot. What does it mean to be human and/or literate if generative AI can read and write (and think?) for us? What benefits and risks are there with generative AI, and what are the social and cultural values that are reflected and created by AI? How might generative AI shape the future?

Week 9 (October 20-24)

Before class:

  • Read Camp, “I Came to College Eager to Debate. I Found Self-Censorship Instead.”
  • Read Aleem, “What the New York Times' college cancel culture essay gets wrong about censorship”
  • Read Cooke “How Book Banning Campaigns Have Changed the Lives and Education of Librarians”
  • Read Teacher’s college “What You Need to Know About the Book Bans Sweeping the U.S.”
  • Choose one:
    •  Flaherty, “Shaping the Narrative”
    • Savat, “Free Speech? Nearly Half of Americans Self-Censor, Study Finds”

Class meeting 1:

  • Discuss the readings and brainstorm topics for Paper 3

Class meeting 2:

  • Discuss readings; brainstorm topics and talk about plans for library research for Paper 3

 

Week 10 (October 27-31)

Before class:

  • Read Buolamwini, “Artificial Intelligence Has a Problem with Gender and Racial Bias. Here’s How to Solve It.”
  • Read Calvet-Bademunt and Mchangama, “AI chatbots refuse to produce ‘controversial’ output: Why that’s a free speech problem”
  • Read Slimi, “The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Higher Education: An Empirical Study”
  • Choose one:
    • Oniani et al “Adopting and expanding ethical principles for generative artificial intelligence from military to healthcare
    • Weinstein, “Why Smart Leaders Use ChatGPT Ethically And How They Do It”
    • Verma and Oremus, “Use of ChatGPT to save time can cost lawyers”
    • Mollick, “AI’s ability to write for us—and our inability to resist ‘The Button’—will spark a crisis of meaning in creative work”

Class meeting 1:

  • No class for individual conferences; Continue discussing the readings on a Canvas Discussion

Class meeting 2:

  • Continue discussing readings, brainstorming topics, and talking about library research for Paper 3

 

Week 11 (November 3-7)

Before class:

  • Work on Paper 3: create an outline, do some free-writing to organize your thoughts, produce some chunks of text that might be used in your paper, continue searching for sources and reading/thinking to figure out what you want to say in Paper 3
  • Write up your ideas as a Research Proposal before Class meeting 2 (see assignment for details)

Class meeting 1:

  • Review assignment again and spend time in class writing your Research Proposal and conducting library research (bring a laptop if possible)

Class meeting 2:

  • Bring a copy of your Research Proposal to class and submit it to Canvas for instructor feedback
  • In small groups, discuss your Research Proposal and help each other decide what to work on next and how to address ideas that might still be unclear

 

Week 12 (November 10-14)

Before class:

  • Write a first draft of Paper 3 and submit it for peer review AND instructor feedback before our class meeting (That is, there will be two assignments on Canvas for your draft of paper 3, one for peer review and one for me, and you should submit the same draft for both)

Class meeting 1:

  • Participate in a peer review of Paper 3

Class meeting 2:

  • Review the course syllabus sections on the final portfolio and grading
  • Discuss best practices for revising your papers

By Sunday at midnight:

  • Complete an activity on Canvas (a self-reflective journal response about Paper 3)

 

Week 13 (November 17-21)

Before class:

  • Continue revising your papers
  • Write a list of questions or concerns to bring to class for Q&A
  • Submit your draft of Paper 4 before Class meeting 2

Class meeting 1:

  • Q&A about the final portfolio and grading system
  • Review the assignment for Paper 4 and spend time in class working on a first draft

Class meeting 2:

  • Peer Review for Paper 4

After class:

  • Continue revising your papers
  • Schedule an optional conference with me in my office or on Zoom if you wish to discuss your revisions or have questions we did not cover in class (optional conferences will happen next week, and limited times will be available; contact me by Monday, December 1 to arrange an optional conference)

 

Week 14 Fall and Thanksgiving Break (November 24-28—No classes held.)

 

Week 15 (December 1-5)

Before class:

  • Continue revising! This is also a good week to focus on surface-level editing if your papers are already in good shape.

Class meeting 1:

  • Extra peer review session for one paper of your choice (note: this peer review session is not included in the formal grade for Peer Review)

Class meeting 2:

  • Extra peer review session for another paper of your choice (note: this peer review session is not included in the formal grade for Peer Review)
  • Complete other final reflective activities

After class:

  • Revise, revise, revise!

Monday, December 8: Final Portfolios are due on Canvas by midnight. If you need a few extra days, you may submit your final portfolio any time until Wednesday, December 10 at midnight, no questions asked and no late penalty applied. After Wednesday, December 10 at midnight, it is too late to submit your final portfolio.

There is no final exam for this course. Once you submit the final portfolio, you have completed your work for English 0802. I will grade your final portfolio and calculate your final grade, and then I will enter final grades on Banner before the end of the grading period.

Please note that I do not upload comments on final portfolios because you’ll have already gotten plenty of feedback from me throughout the semester. But if you want some brief feedback on your final portfolio or if you have any questions about your final grade, you may contact me via email. I will do my best to respond to you in a timely manner.

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Grading & Assessment Guidelines

 

Most of your final grade is determined by your final portfolio, worth 60%. The quality of your revisions and participation in peer review are each worth 10%, and weekly coursework is worth 20%.               grading chart

Your final portfolio will include fully revised versions of each paper along with one or more of your previous drafts to show your progress and document how you got from the first to the final draft. What I expect to see in your final portfolio is that your writing has improved over time and that you have met our course goals and objectives. To complete this course and get ARW credit in GenEd, you must receive a final grade of C- or above; a grade of D+ or below will require you to repeat the course.

Final portfolios are graded by me and a committee of faculty from First Year Writing (called Teaching Circles or Portfolio Review Committees). We use this system to ensure that portfolios are read by more than one person and that grades across multiple sections are fair and consistent. A C in one section of English 802 will be equivalent to a C in another section of English 802, and all students can be assured that their work has been reviewed fairly and free from intentional bias. All faculty in First Year Writing participate in this grading process, even if their syllabus or course theme is different from ours. This system of grading has been used successfully for decades in our program, and it is used by many other writing programs around the world.  

You may occasionally feel frustrated with our grading system because unlike other courses where you can check Canvas and receive an immediate projected final grade, you will not be able to do that in English 802. Canvas may even show that your grade is an A when in fact, the grade it shows is based only on weekly coursework and other small elements of your final grade. Do not rely on the grade you see on Canvas to know much about your final grade in this course. Please understand that our grading system works to your advantage. You have a lot of control over the small elements of the final grade because you decide if you are completing (or not completing) weekly coursework and participating (or not participating) in peer review. You also have a lot of control over your final portfolio grade because you can put a lot of effort and time (or a little) when revising your papers. Also, the final portfolio grade is assessed on the cumulative result of your work since the first day of class. If you think about it, giving early binding grades would be unfair in a course designed to see progress over time. There is some other good news, too: you may encounter a similar style of grading later in your coursework, such as in advanced major-specific Writing Intensive courses or senior capstone courses, and if so, we hope you’ll think back to all you learned in English 802.

As I hope you see by this point in the syllabus, if you ever feel unsure of what I think of your progress in this course or if you need encouragement, talk to me about it at conferences, at office hours or by appointment.

Course grading scale:

A 93-100%

A- 90-92%

B+ 87-89%

B 83-86%

B- 80-82%

C+ 77-79%

C 73-76%

C- 70-72%

D+ 67-69%

D 63-66%

D- 60-62%

F 0-59%

Course Minimum Grade

A grade of “C-” or better is required in all GenEd courses for you to satisfy a General Education requirement.

 

Assessment Summary

The assessments in this course have been created for two reasons: (1) For you to demonstrate your progress towards the learning goals for the course and receive useful feedback. (2) For you to practice skills and develop ways of thinking that will be of use to you in the future. Our major assessments are designed around 4 required essays and the Final Portfolio. Here are the detailed explanations of our essay assignments:

Assignment for Paper 1: Rhetorical Analysis

Description

Write a rhetorical analysis of one of our articles from Unit 1 for an audience of thoughtful, educated readers who have not encountered the article you’re analyzing. For our purposes, a rhetorical analysis explains purpose, audience, genre, and context. These questions will guide your analysis:

  • Who is the audience for this article, and how successful was the writer in anticipating their audience’s expectations and understanding of the topic, and in what ways did the writer appeal to their audience and were they persuasive in doing so? Do you think you are a member of the writer’s intended audience?
  • What was the writer’s purpose in writing this article, and how successfully do they articulate this purpose, whether stated or implied? How successful is the writer at fulfilling their purpose?
  • How would you describe the style and tone of the article, and are these choices consistent with the genre of the journal or publication in which the article appears? What are the effects of these choices on the writer’s intended audience and on you, as a reader (whether you’re in the intended audience or not)?
  • Has the writer sufficiently situated their article within an ongoing conversation about their topic, and did they cite sources and acknowledge others’ ideas and research in a meaningful way? Does the writer explain key terms and ideas fully enough for their audience and on you as a reader (whether you’re in the intended audience or not)?

Details

Your paper should focus on explaining the key points in your analysis, and together, they will combine into a coherent main point. The following list contains examples of how to state a coherent main point for this assignment:

  • WRITER’S FULL NAME, in their article “XYZ,” does an excellent job of appealing to their audience through multiple examples and anecdotes, and as a result it is enjoyable to read. However, the article is not fully successful in achieving its stated purpose because WRITER’S LAST NAME’s conclusion does not include any discussion of how their audience could change their behaviors and address the underlying problem of TOPIC.
  • In ACADEMIC JOURNAL, articles usually follow a clear structure in which a writer explores a social issue, reviews other scholar’s attempts to understand the social issue, and then proposes her own analysis of the issue to propose a new solution. WRITER’S FULL NAME, in her article “XYZ,” does exactly that, and in this paper, I will discuss the most effective aspects of WRITER’S LAST NAME’s work and explain why they are so effective for their particular audience and purpose.
  • In “XYZ,” WRITER’S FULL NAME is successful at establishing a clear topic and problem that needs a solution, as is consistent with the academic genre in which the article is published. But the article is weighed down by too much information and too many statistics, facts and charts that are presented without enough context and explanation. It is possible that some readers in WRITER’S LAST NAME’s intended audience do not need a lot of context, but context is always vital to be sure that readers understand where the ideas exist in conversation with other writers and disciplines. Thus, WRITER’S LAST NAME is only partly successful in achieving their purpose in this article.

Notice that in each example, the main point is not just saying that the article is “good” or “bad.” Instead, these examples serve to begin a complex analysis, and this is what I want to see in your papers. Aside from figuring out your own main point, it is common for students to struggle in deciding how much to summarize the article and where to include the summary. There are essentially two good options: in most cases, you may summarize the article while you in the process of explaining your main point, but you may also begin your paper with two or three paragraphs of summary before launching into an explanation of your main point. Either is fine, and you should choose whichever structure fits best with your analysis and main point.

Format

Your completed paper must be at least five (5) pages long, double-spaced, with one-inch margins and a 12-point font. Quotes and paraphrases from your research sources must be cited in-text and listed at the end using MLA or APA. No additional research or source material is necessary for this assignment, and if you use any additional sources they must be cited. You may write in the first-person (using “I”) and the style of your paper should be formal and academic. That is, you may cite personal experience if it is fully necessary to your rhetorical analysis and main point, but personal digressions and unrelated opinions should not be included.

Writing Process

You will write this paper in several stages, as follows:

  • Write a first draft of at least four (4) pages for Peer Review.
  • Revise your draft after Peer Review before submitting it to me for feedback.
  • Before your individual conference, write a reflective journal response on Canvas. At conferences, we will discuss your paper and your reflections. The prompt for the reflective journal response is as follows: Explain what you revised between the first and second drafts, talk about what you think is the best part of the second draft, and list two or three (2-3) things you know need to be improved in future revisions.
  • Revise your draft as many times as possible using my feedback and that of your peers. If you wish to have me read your revised draft, bring it to my office hours or your next conference.
  • Your finished version of this paper will be due in your final portfolio at the end of the semester.

Resources

If you would like to discuss ideas and get help on this assignment:

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Assignment for Paper 2: Topic Exploration

Description

Explore a topic from unit 2 in a paper intended for an educated but non-specialist audience. You might think of this assignment as the first step in writing a full research paper, but instead of writing the actual paper, you’ll be going through the initial phases (conducting library research and analyzing/organizing your sources).

The first step is to define your topic, write several research questions, and conduct library research to understand what others have said about these questions. In this research, you will also identify evidence you could use to take a position on your topic or identify gaps in the published literature that you or someone else should fill. As you read through your sources, analyze them much like we did in Paper 1 (audience, purpose, genre, and context) and keep track of where your sources are similar and where they are different. When you find sources that speak to one another through citation, wonderful, and these articles may be especially useful to you in understanding the topic and the wider context in which it exists.

Keep in mind that you will need to search for sources multiple times, not just once, because good research is a process in which sources often lead you to new research questions or a series of new sources. There is no limit to the number of research questions you can pursue, though you should be careful not to expand your topic too much. You will likely find that there are at least two categories of sources: sources that make new or innovative arguments about your topic, and sources that fill in the context or review the background that might be relevant to a full study of your topic. Both of these are important kinds of sources, and both should be used in your paper. You may find many more sources than you’ll include in the paper itself, however, and some of the process of library research involves deciding which sources are most important to discuss and which ones are not.

Details

Your paper should be organized as follows (but do not use section headings). Your first section will function as an introduction (1-3 paragraphs): describe your topic, explain your research questions, and discuss the relevance of your topic (why is it important, who might care about it, and how actively are researchers and others writing about it).

Your second section will be a presentation of your research, and you’ll lead us through your sources by summarizing them and explaining how they are part of the scholarly conversation: who is involved, what are they saying, and how do these voices relate to one another? Your analysis of the sources will be particularly helpful in this section.

Your third section will function as an extended conclusion (1-3 paragraphs) in which you imagine the contours of a larger research paper that could be produced from your topic exploration. What are the positions that someone could take in this imaginary research paper, and do any of those positions seem particularly compelling to you? How would this imaginary research paper add to the existing scholarly conversation in your research sources? What additional research would be valuable for this imaginary research paper if time allowed? For example, would more research on adjacent topics be useful, or would you recommend primary research to collect new data, such as surveys, interviews, or observational studies?

Format

Your completed paper must be six to eight (6-8) pages long must incorporate at least six (6) relevant and valid research sources, including one of our course readings in Units 1 or 2. It should be double-spaced, with one-inch margins and a 12-point font. Quotes and paraphrases from your research sources must be cited in-text and listed at the end using MLA or APA. You may write in the first-person (using “I”) and the style of your paper should be formal and academic. While you may describe aspects of your research process from a personal perspective, particularly in the introduction and conclusion, your main purpose in this paper is to present research and explore a topic, not to share stories or offer self-reflections about what did or did not go well.

Writing Process

You will write this paper in several stages, as follows:

  • Write a first draft of at least five (5) pages for Peer Review.
  • Revise your draft after Peer Review before submitting it to me for feedback.
  • Before your individual conference, write a reflective journal response on Canvas. At conferences, we will discuss your paper and your reflections. The prompt for the reflective journal response is as follows: Explain what you revised between the first and second drafts, talk about what you think is the best part of the second draft, and list two or three (2-3) things you know need to be improved in future revisions.
  • Revise your draft as many times as possible using my feedback and that of your peers. If you wish to have me read your revised draft, bring it to my office hours or your next conference.
  • Your finished version of this paper will be due in your final portfolio at the end of the semester.

Resources

If you would like to discuss ideas and get help on this assignment:

_

Assignment for Paper 3: Persuasive Argument

Description

Write a paper in which you make a persuasive argument on a topic related to Literacy, our theme for Unit 3. In this paper, you will weave together everything you are learning in English 802: rhetorical analysis, scholarly research in library databases, persuasive writing that incorporates rhetorical strategies, and the use of a writing process involving multiple drafts.

Your first step is to select a topic and engage in a research-based topic exploration (like that of Paper 2). While we will explore possible topics in class, here are a few prompts that might help you get started: 

  • Think about the various kinds of literacy (e.g., media, digital, scientific, emotional, financial, cultural, visual), each of which has sparked interesting debates and generated many articles and books. You might stumble on a debate about which you have an arguable position and that might interest you enough to write about in Paper 3.
  • Think about your own life so far and the debates in which you’ve participated or witnessed. Do any of those debates continue to interest you, and what aspect of these debates is related to literacy? For instance, if you loved or hated being required to take STEM classes (science, technology, engineering and math) in high school, you could dig into existing debates about the significant investments in STEM education in the US in the last 20-30 years. How effective have these efforts been at improving scientific and numeric literacy? How expensive are these efforts, and should these investments continue, and if so, how? This is just one example of how you can take an experience you’ve had and find an angle that connects it to literacy. Ideally, whatever debate you explore will lead you to a specific and arguable position, and don’t be afraid to narrow your topic quite a bit (i.e., if you explore STEM education, you might need to narrow it much further to STEM classes in New Jersey public high schools with a particular focus on how engineering principles are or are not being taught).
  • What debates exist within your major or future career? Read the course catalogs for your major and browse the journals and sites related to your future career to see how people communicate, where there exist problems and concerns, and try to identify areas in which literacy is particularly important. For example, if you are planning to go into the health professions, you could look into the use of electronic health records (such as MyChart) that allow patients easy access to their own medical information but also create significant downsides, such as instances where patients receive traumatic or life-changing health information without proper medical and emotional support, and doctors being overwhelmed by patient emails through electronic portals instead of scheduling office visits. Essentially, these are literacy debates: how much information should be shared, what improvements should be made in the electronic health record industry, and what is the future of electronic health records? This example is specific to one field, but you can use it as a model for a topic or issue in your own areas of interest. Complex and arguable debates about literacy exist in every discipline and career.

By exploring your topic widely and reading others’ research and opinions about it, you will eventually come to a clear position of your own, and this position will be the central purpose of your persuasive argument. Keep in mind throughout this process that a good academic position is arguable, meaning that some readers might agree, and others might disagree with you. Paper 3 must not be a recitation of facts and should not be simply a report or summary of existing ideas. Use your research process to figure out what you think and not only to confirm your own ideas or find sources to “prove” that you are right. If your paper uses sources only to cite facts or to “prove” that you are right, it is unlikely to earn a grade higher than C. Stay open-minded and even consider sources that are slightly adjacent to your own topic because a wide-ranging research process is most likely to lead you to an interesting and complex position. The more complex your position, the better, in fact. If you get stuck at any point with a list of research sources and no idea what to do next, look for complexities and places where your sources most agree or are opposed.

Research Proposal

Early in the process, you will write a very short research proposal and submit it as weekly coursework to ensure that your topic is sufficiently narrow and that you’re on the right track. Your proposal must include:

  • a description of your topic in one of two ways: written in a few sentences or represented as a meme (using a free online meme generators);
  • a few sentences about your argument (what is your position and why is this the direction you’re heading?);
  • a list of 2 or 3 of your key research sources with a brief explanation of why you think these might be useful for your paper.

The structure of your paper is likely to be as follows. First will be an introduction of 1-3 paragraphs to establish your topic and key terms, preview the debates or positions you found in your research, and state your own argument. Next will be the body of your paper that will lead readers through your argument. This is where you’ll spend most of your time and where your research sources will be discussed at length. Toward the end of the body section, make sure you are persuading readers that your position is valuable and worthy of serious consideration. Finally, you’ll have a conclusion of 1-2 paragraphs in which you explain why your argument matters, if you have not already done so, and discusses the effects or consequences your argument has on the existing conversation. Good conclusions leave readers thinking and make them motivated to do their own research, see a topic in a new light, and/or to act in response. A conclusion is ineffective if readers can put down your paper and say, “So what?” or “Who cares?”

Format

Your paper must be six to eight (6-8) pages long and must incorporate at least six (6) relevant and valid research sources, including one of our course readings in Units 2 or 3. Peer-reviewed sources are highly recommended, but if you are writing about recent technological developments, sources written by experts or featuring expert knowledge are fine. Quotes and paraphrases from your research sources must be cited in-text and listed at the end using MLA or APA. You may write in the first-person (using “I”) to make clear how your voice relates to those of your research sources and to strongly assert your argument, but this is not a personal paper, and your style should be formal and academic.

Writing Process

You will write this paper in several stages, as follows:

  • Engage in a thorough topic exploration and submit a Research Proposal.
  • Write a first draft of at least five (5) pages. This paper will be submitted for Peer Review and my feedback at the same time.
  • After submitting your paper, write a reflective journal response on Canvas. The prompt for the reflective journal response is as follows: What went well with this paper so far and what do you think is the best part? What are two or three (2-3) things you know need to be improved through revision? What questions do you have for me about this paper, if any?
  • If you wish to have an optional conference with me about this paper, please request one before Friday, December 5.
  • Revise your paper as many times as possible and remember that for this paper more than for the others, you may need to include research as part of your revision process. Your finished version of this paper will be due in your final portfolio at the end of the semester.

Resources

If you would like to discuss ideas and get help on this assignment:

_

Assignment for Paper 4: Reflection

Description

Write a paper of two to three (2-3) pages in which you present a clear, comprehensive, and candid account of your progress towards our course goals this semester. Your audience is very specific: university faculty who teach in First Year Writing. 

If Paper 4 is missing or incomplete in your final portfolio, your portfolio will be incomplete and not eligible for a passing grade even if the other papers are passing (C- or above). This paper may be shorter than the others, but it is no less significant.

Format

This paper should not cite any sources other than your own writing, and you must write in the first-person (using “I”). Before you start writing, re-read your own reflective journal responses for each paper, read over my feedback on each of your drafts, and look through the work you’ve submitted on Canvas. If you wish, you may introduce yourself briefly (your major, your educational and career goals, and any challenges you faced in achieving these goals now or in the past). You are also strongly encouraged to use examples in this paper to show readers how you have improved, how you have met course goals, and to share the elements of your work about which you feel most proud. Examples can take many forms, including quoting from your own papers or reflective responses, describing your writing process in detail, and referring to places in your final portfolio where we might see improvement most clearly.

While I always enjoy hearing positive feedback on my work as an instructor, this paper should not be used for that purpose. Your feedback and compliments will be much more effective if you put them on your Student Feedback Forms because SFFs are anonymous and completely disconnected from the grading process.

Process

This assignment may or may not go through peer review depending on time, and I will collect it once to ensure that you are making progress. However, I will only provide feedback on your draft of Paper 4 if it is seriously off-track; if you do not receive feedback on it within a few days, you may feel assured that your paper is heading in the right direction and is at least in the C range. Revise this paper as many times as possible before putting it into your final portfolio.

Resources

To discuss ideas and get help on this assignment:

_

Late Submission Policies

Weekly Coursework and Peer Review Workshops

Weekly coursework deadlines are firm and cannot be extended. We use these activities as a basis for in-class discussions, and if I started extending deadlines, we would quickly fall off-track. Also, weekly coursework is intended to build skills and habits over time. I will do my best to make deadlines clear on Canvas and to post announcements and other reminders on a regular basis. But ultimately, you are responsible for checking Canvas often and keeping track of weekly coursework. Similarly, I cannot extend deadlines for individual students during peer review.

Drafts Submitted During the Semester for My Feedback

Drafts of your papers must be submitted on time, and all papers in your final portfolio must be seen in draft form in a timely manner during the semester. If you have an extreme situation or crisis that prevents you from submitting a draft on time, you may ask for a one-week extension and I will say yes, no questions asked. However, I will not accept a paper that is submitted later than one week after the initial date that it was due. If you ask for a one-week extension and do not submit a draft, you should withdraw from the course because you will be getting an F on the final portfolio, and thus, an F for the course, even if your other work was of passing quality or was marked complete.

I know this sounds harsh, but the reason for this strict policy is that I need to see your papers evolve over time. The purpose of this course is not to produce “perfect” final papers but to show your work. The only exception to this late policy for drafts would be if you have a situation so significant that the Dean of Students or the CARE Team have reached out to me to ask for extra time or if you have already alerted me to a DRS accommodation that requires me to give you longer than one week extension; in these cases, we will work out arrangements and you will still be subject to the above policy using the newly agreed-upon revised due dates.

Also, if you decide to substantially rewrite a paper after I have given you feedback, you may do so, but  you must submit a new first draft before it we reach the last day of class. I will not necessarily give you written feedback on your new version, nor will we need to meet or talk about it unless I see a problem with what you’ve done. But this is an important policy. I cannot evaluate a final portfolio with a paper I never saw during the semester because you scrapped your original draft and revised it so much that it is a brand-new paper. If your final portfolio contains one or more papers that I have never seen in draft form, you will receive an F on the final portfolio and an F for the course. If you are ever uncertain about whether your revisions would constitute an entirely new draft, check with me or send it to me, just to be safe. I am always willing to answer questions about these policies because the stakes are so high. And it really is fine to scrap a draft of a paper that isn’t working and start fresh but keep me in the loop.

The purpose of these policies is to prevent plagiarism and to ensure, as stated above, that I can see your progress over time.

The Final Portfolio

The final portfolio due date is listed on the schedule, and I have already incorporated an automatic, no questions asked, extension. But I cannot accept final portfolios after the extension due date, and if you do not submit a portfolio by then, you will be given an F for the course. I need time to read final portfolios, to discuss final portfolios with other faculty in First Year Writing, and to calculate and enter final grades in TU Portal.

Occasionally, a student who had been making good progress has a true medical emergency in the last weeks of the semester, and because our final portfolio comes at the end, such an emergency would make it impossible to complete a final portfolio on time. In cases like these, contact me to discuss an Incomplete, which is an arrangement that requires formal documentation of the emergency and approval of the Dean and other university officials. To qualify for an Incomplete, you must be in good standing in the course and have submitted drafts of Papers 1, 2, and 3 (that is, you must have completed the equivalent of more than 50% of the coursework and must be able to complete the remaining revisions on your own without guidance). If you believe you qualify, you must speak to me about it before the last day of classes so that I can start the process of getting formal approval. Again, an Incomplete is not a casual arrangement, and it does not apply in situations that are not true emergencies. It is also not possible to arrange an Incomplete after the semester is over. For more information, see the full policy in the Undergraduate Bulletin.

Withdrawal

If you are considering withdrawing from the course after the add/drop date, please don’t make that decision alone! Withdrawing from the course without talking to me first eliminates the possibility of finding a path to success for you. Furthermore, it is extremely important that you consult your academic advisor before withdrawing. They will be able to walk you through how the withdrawal would impact your progress towards your degree and your graduation date.

Please check the academic calendar for the last day to withdraw from a course.

Incomplete

A student will be eligible for a grade of “Incomplete” only if the student: 1) has completed at least 51% of the work at a passing level, 2) is unable to complete the work for a serious reason beyond their control, and 3) files a signed agreement with the instructor outlining the work to be completed and the time frame in which that work will be completed. The student is responsible for initiating this process, and all incomplete forms must be sent to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs prior to the start of study days in that semester.  
Please refer to the following for further details: Temple University’s Incomplete Policy. (Policy #02.10.13). 

 

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Technology Guidelines

Technology Requirements

To participate in this course, you will need the equipment, software, and internet access necessary to reliably use Zoom and Canvas, as well as “productivity tools” like word processors and slide show creators.

Limited resources are available for students who do not have the technology they need for class. Students with educational technology needs, including no computer or camera or insufficient Wifi access, should submit a Student Technology Assistance Application located in TUPortal and linked from the Dean of Students Support and Resources. The University will endeavor to meet needs, such as with a long-term loan of a laptop or Mifi device, a refurbished computer, or subsidized internet access.

Note that there are technology resources available for students, including on-campus computers available for student use, the Tech Center computer labs and free laptop and battery borrowing at Charles Library, software that is available for free download and other specialty software that may be available for remote access through ITS.

 

Technical Support

For a listing of technical support services available to Temple University students, see the Tech Support page.

Live Chat or Request Help: help.temple.edu

Phone: 215-204-8000

Email:  help@temple.edu

Website: its.temple.edu

Location: The TECH Center, Room 106

 

Technology Usage

Policy on Recording Class Meetings or Conferences

This course will not meet on Zoom unless mandated by the university, which is highly unlikely. But we may meet on Zoom for conferences, and this is the official policy from the university that is applicable to conferences: “recordings of class meetings [and office hours or conferences] will be allowed at [faculty] discretion [and particularly if a student in the class has an accommodation requiring such recordings]. Any recordings permitted in this class can only be used for the student’s personal educational use. Students are not permitted to copy, publish, or redistribute audio or video recordings of any portion of the class session to individuals who are not students in the course or academic program without the express permission of the faculty member and of any students who are recorded. Distribution without permission may be a violation of educational privacy law, known as FERPA. as well as certain copyright laws. Any recordings made by the instructor or university of this course are the property of Temple University.”

Attending Zoom meetings using an AI proxy is not allowed.

Privacy and Data Protection

Please see the links below to become familiar with the privacy policies for each of the following: 

 

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Academic Guidelines

Policy on Recording Class Meetings or Conferences

This course will not meet on Zoom unless mandated by the university, which is highly unlikely. But we may meet on Zoom for conferences, and this is the official policy from the university that is applicable to conferences: “recordings of class meetings [and office hours or conferences] will be allowed at [faculty] discretion [and particularly if a student in the class has an accommodation requiring such recordings]. Any recordings permitted in this class can only be used for the student’s personal educational use. Students are not permitted to copy, publish, or redistribute audio or video recordings of any portion of the class session to individuals who are not students in the course or academic program without the express permission of the faculty member and of any students who are recorded. Distribution without permission may be a violation of educational privacy law, known as FERPA. as well as certain copyright laws. Any recordings made by the instructor or university of this course are the property of Temple University.”

Academic Freedom

Freedom to teach and freedom to learn are inseparable facets of academic freedom. I have the freedom and responsibility to design and facilitate our learning environment to best achieve the promise of the course as outlined in its official description. You have the responsibility to engage with the course in good faith and freedom from mistreatment when your opinion differs from mine. Note that it is not an abuse of this freedom for me to require that you support relevant opinions with clear argumentation and solid evidence. For more on academic freedom, consult the official Temple policy on the matter.

 

Academic Integrity

Temple University believes strongly in academic honesty and integrity. Plagiarism and academic cheating are, therefore, prohibited. All work you submit for assessment should be your own efforts. For more on this topic, consult the relevant portions of Temple Bulletin and the Student Conduct Code.

Policy on Academic Honesty

To protect yourself from engaging in academic misconduct, please read Temple University Statement on Academic Honesty for Students in Undergraduate Courses, from which this policy is adapted.

In general, all sources of information that you use in your papers must be identified as clearly, accurately, and thoroughly as possible. Plagiarism occurs when sources are used but not acknowledged and when ideas, information, or opinions appear to be presented as though they are your own. I do not want to discourage you from using other people’s ideas or information. My aim is exactly the opposite because academic writing is a form of conversation with other writers and researchers. But you must always make clear your sources and you must always be sure that the work you submit is your own.

Academic cheating is the breaking of the general rules of academic work and/or the specific rules of individual courses. It includes falsifying data or sources; submitting work in one course that was done for another course without the instructor's approval; having someone else complete your papers or any of your course work for you; or doing another person’s work.

If you plagiarize or cheat on a draft of a paper submitted before the final portfolio, I will give you one very serious warning and you will have a chance to revise or rewrite the paper in a short period of time. But if you plagiarize or cheat again or if plagiarism or cheating is found in your final portfolio, you will fail the course and will be reported to the University for academic misconduct. This policy is not negotiable. If you are uncertain about what constitutes plagiarism, ask BEFORE you hand in the work. It will be too late afterwards.

Acceptable and Unacceptable Use of Generative AI Tools in This Course

Generative AI such as ChatGPT are exciting new tools. But AI cannot replace real human thinking and writing, and you should never use AI generated writing in place of your own work on any of the assignments in this course. Even in its most updated forms, AI has been known to reproduce biases, generate fake research sources, provide ideas within incorrect contexts, and spread disinformation and other harmful ideas. Human writing is the purpose of English 802, and we expect you to produce your own genuine, human writing throughout the semester and in your final portfolios.

We may experiment with generative AI in class, and I may offer you suggestions for using it on a very limited basis for brainstorming or refining your ideas, coming up with prompts for library research, or suggesting counter-arguments. But otherwise, you should not use AI in this course, including the use of integrated tools such as Grammarly. The only AI-powered integrated tool I will allow for writing purposes is Microsoft Word’s Editor, and we will discuss how to ignore its suggestions when they are overly invasive or change the meaning of what you wrote.

Do not ever put someone else’s writing into Chat GPT or other AI generator because it can be a violation of intellectual property or copyright laws. This means that you generally should not put any of our course readings into AI on your own. Some of our course readings may be accompanied by AI summaries or chatbots through the library databases, and those will be allowed because I cannot prevent you from seeing them, but remember that they are only helpful in a limited fashion. I cannot overstate that you must never put a classmate’s writing into an AI generator. It is highly unethical to do so, and it is also likely a violation of FERPA.

If I discover that you have used AI when you were expressly told not to in a course assignment, the penalty will range from receiving an Incomplete on the assignment to an F for the course depending on the severity of the situation. If you are found to have used AI to write a draft submitted for peer review or for my feedback, you will have one week to revise and resubmit an entirely new paper or you will receive an F for the course. If you are found to have used AI in violation of course policy in your final portfolio, the penalty will be an F for the course and a referral to the university office for academic misconduct.

 

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