The Writing Program at CNU-223 FAQ


HOME \| THE PROGRAM \| FACULTY \| COURSES AND SYLLABI \| CALENDAR OF EVENTS \| FACULTY RESOURCES

FAQ About 223 Second-Year Writing Seminar

This information is reprinted from the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee web site.

Contents
Broad Overview of the Course
Course Advertisement and Departmental Considerations
Writing in the Course
Reading in the Course
Speaking in the Course
Support and Further Information

BROAD OVERVIEW OF THE COURSE

How can I teach a Second-Year Writing Seminar?
Any full-time faculty member (instructor, tenure-stream or tenured) with Writing-Intensive certification may teach a Second-Year Writing Seminar. In order to publicize the course and ensure the proper assignment of FTEs certain materials need to be submitted for review and approval.

First, your department must submit a 223 SECOND-YEAR WRITING SEMINAR COURSE PROPOSAL FORM, so that a 223 may be listed as part of your department s course offerings. Read the FAQ about 223 guidelines before submitting this form. Both forms are available on the UCC page located through the Provost s website (http://www.cnu.edu/ucc/forms.html).

The proposal process will then follow this order: Complete 223 SECOND-YEAR WRITING SEMINAR COURSE PROPOSAL FORM and acquire your chair s signature, at which point the form will be passed up the administrative chain. The entire signature process will be:
1) Department Chair
2) CLAS Chairs/School of Business Curriculum Committee
3) Dean s Signature
4) UCC 223 Second-Year Writing Seminar Subcommittee review
5) UCC recommendation to Provost
6) Provost Approval

After the course has been reviewed, your department chair must submit a course description of the particular special topics focus of your 223 to be advertised along with all other 223 topics at the time of registration. This description should be sent to the Registrar and Advising.

What is the Second-Year Writing Seminar?
Catalogue Description:
The Second-Year Writing Seminar invites students to create and participate in a collaborative research community formed around a stimulating course topic, such as Popular Culture, Media and Gender, or Language and Society, as determined by the professor. The seminar encourages students to continue practicing and reflecting upon the conventions of reading and writing appropriate for liberal arts learning, in particular the ability to evaluate, synthesize, and present primary and secondary sources in a research project. As it introduces students to the conventions of academic research and its presentation in both oral and written forms, the course s focal point is the creation of a required 10-15 page formal research paper.

Full Course Description:
The Second-Year Writing Seminar encourages students to continue practicing and reflecting upon the conventions of reading and writing appropriate for liberal arts learning, in particular the ability to evaluate, synthesize, and present primary and secondary sources in a research project. This course introduces students to the conventions of academic research and its presentation, in both oral and written forms.

Designed around a unifying topic or theory selected by the instructor, the course will include a selection of common readings that establish the course s core ideas that is, these readings will provide critical, historical, and/or theoretical perspectives to encourage students to develop their individual interests related to the course topic.

The Second-Year Writing Seminar features various opportunities for students to research independently and in groups as they explore and pursue issues related to the course topic. As they probe multiple issues surrounding the common topic, students will create and participate in a collaborative research community.

As part of the research process, students will learn to discern credible and non-credible sources in both print and electronic formats; they may make oral presentations to class members of their research-in-progress; they may also present written versions of their research in a variety of formats, from traditional print to WebCT or other electronic means.

The course centerpiece is a polished 10-15 page research paper incorporating multiple sources and providing the opportunity for an oral presentation component. Students will research, write, and revise the large paper in stages throughout the semester as they work toward the final, polished product (possibilities for staged assignments are presented below). Throughout the assignment stages, professors and peers will review student work so that revisions are informed by suggestions to extend, clarify, and sharpen the writing. A final, formal, oral presentation of conclusions derived from the research process will comprise the final examination.

How many students are in the course?
The course is capped at 19 students. The Provost has mandated that this course will not be overloaded so that no more than 19 students will be permitted in one section of the course.

What are the prerequisities for this course?
A grade of C- in Engl 123 First-Year Writing Seminar and sophomore standing. No dual-enrollment credit or AP exam test score counts toward 223.

In its Feb. 17, 2004 memo to the Provost, the UCC ruled that students should be allowed to present AP/IB/Transfer credit to fulfill the ENGL 123 requirement, but that substitute credit should not be accepted for the required second writing course. Per the State Policy on Transfer, Section II-C, students who have earned an associate degree based upon a baccalaureate-oriented sequence of courses should be considered to have met lower-division (freshman and sophomore) general education requirements of senior institutions. Therefore, students who transfer to CNU with a completed A.A. degree may be considered to have fulfilled the 123-223 requirement; students who transfer short of the A. A. degree will be subject to the equivalencies below.

Therefore, equivalent credit determinations will change as follows, effective for freshmen entering in Fall 2004.

Dual Enrollment Credit:
Students with dual enrollment credit will receive credit for ENGL 123 (3 credits) and English elective credit (3 credits). 223 will be the next course.

Transfer Credit:
Students with equivalent 100-level coursework will receive credit for ENGL 123 (3 credits) and, if two 100-level courses are presented, English elective credit (3 credits). 223 will be the next course.

Students with an A.A. degree meeting the requirements of the State Policy on Transfer (see paragraph 2, above), will be considered as having fulfilled the 123-223 requirement.

IB:
Students with equivalent 100-level coursework will receive credit for ENGL 103H (3 credits) and, if two 100-level courses are presented, English elective credit (3 credits). 223 will be the next course.

AP Credit:
Note: Students taking the Lang/Comp exam may place out of ENGL 123 or ENGL 103H as below. Students taking the Lit/Comp exam will not place out of the freshman and sophomore writing seminars.

AP Exam	Score	Credits	CNU Equivalent	Next Course
ENG Lang/Comp	5	6	103H or 123 and English elective credit	223
ENG Lang/Comp	4	3	103H or 123	223
ENG Lit/Comp	5	6	208 and English elective credit	103H or 123, 223
ENG Lang/Comp	4	3	English elective credit	103H or 123,223

COURSE ADVERTISEMENT AND DEPARTMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS

How will the course be listed?
The course will appear with a department specific prefix, e.g. HIST 223, ENGL 223, PHIL 223. The Special Topics focus of the course will follow the title, e.g. ENGL 223 Second-Year Writing Seminar: Cinematic Violence. Multiple sections of the course will be listed using section numbers not letters, such as PHIL 223-01, PHIL 223-02, and not PHIL 223A, PHIL 223B.

How will the course be advertised?
Second-Year Writing Seminar topics will be advertised through the registrar s course listings; through email announcements to the entire university; through the advising office; and through individual department publications.

How narrow or broad should the course topic be?
Topics should neither be narrow enough to demand prior specialization nor so broad that any take on a subject seems relevant. Students should recognize how research occurs within powerful discourses with definite stakes and consequences. Consequently, students can be positioned (and often they prefer to be) within clear boundaries that oblige them to learn new ways of writing and speaking about a subject, and not rely solely on their own languages and viewpoints. Conversely, the topic should be something that a range of students could investigate given the interests they bring to the course.

For instance, a Second-Year Writing Seminar entitled, Issues in Film might be too broad a topic if the issues are not limited to perhaps four or five, with a set of common theoretical/contextual texts to provide students with a shared language or terminology for discussing those issues collectively. A Second-Year Writing Seminar entitled, Film in 1925 might be too narrow, requiring that students have a ready understanding of 1920s American culture. If there are texts and examples that permit students various avenues into such a particular historical moment, however, then that topic might permit more individual exploration that the title alone suggests.

Overall, the Second-Year Writing Seminar should permit students to explore what it means to acquire specialization in and to some degree mastery of defining issues and questions in academic fields pertinent to a liberal arts education. At the end of a course titled, Film in the 1980s students should have some facility with film production in the 1980s, but more importantly, what it means to conduct research in past times, what it means to incorporate diverse historical materials into an argument, what it means to analyze closely various texts, and what it means to draft and revise long papers.

How discipline specific should the course be?
The Second-Year Writing Seminar is best understood as a general education introductory course to major issues in the liberal arts and/or academic discipline that students can research through their writing. Conversely, writing-intensive courses are conceived as more discipline specific, with attention to issues of format, style, and depth of understanding of a discipline s practices.

Do the course and its topics have to be certified by the University every time it is offered?
No. Once a 223 has been approved for the department, the individual topics of the course are determined by the department chair and the instructors interested in teaching the course. The UCC does require that departments submit course materials (syllabi, writing assignments) for new topics to the UCC every three years for the purposes of creating an archive of support material and of charting the growth of the course, as is the case with writing-intensive courses.

Does the course require any specific training?
All faculty who teach the course should have writing-intensive certification, which may be obtained through the attendance at the August Writing-Intensive Workshop held every year.

Isn't this really an English course?
Primarily, this course is a research writing course. Forty years ago, most writing courses and writing across the curriculum courses were centered and based within English departments. However, the trend of the last twenty years has involved diversifying the types of writing courses offered, recognizing the multiple writing communities that form a university.

Can a department teach multiple sections of the same topic?
Yes.
Can a department teach sections with different topics?
Yes.

WRITING IN THE COURSE

What kind of writing is there in the course?
Types of Writing:
The purpose of informal and semi-formal writing is to provide students with chances to practice parts of the formal assignment, to engage important concepts in smaller chunks, or to engage these concepts in a lower stakes environment in preparation for the formal writing task.
" Informal Writing: a variety of writing opportunities, including freewriting, journal writing, notes, early drafts, peer-editing responses to other students essays, exercises on structure and style, paraphrases, reading responses, posts to online forums, and in-class writing. Informal writing is evaluated (if it is evaluated) on content, rather than on organization or style, although a basic level of clarity is assumed.

" Semi-Formal Writing: 5-10 writing tasks, including mid-level drafts, reading responses, posts to online forums, quizzes, exams, and in-class essays. Semi-formal writing is evaluated (if it is evaluated) more on content and organization and less on style, although a basic level of clarity and correctness is assumed.

" Formal Writing: a target of 2-6 writing tasks, including final drafts that carefully integrate multiple sources and papers with polished, effective prose styles, and one 10-15 page research piece. Formal writing is evaluated on content, correctness, organization, and style.

How many writing assignments do I need to have?
Scholars who research student writing have concluded that students learn to become better readers and writers through weekly practice in writing and discussion of their writing. Faculty teaching the Second-Year Writing Seminar are encouraged to develop their own writing sequences, or the series of writing assignments that accrue skills and ideas over the course of the entire semester, leading to (and even become a part of ) the final research paper.

Below are some examples of writing sequences:
Sample Assignment Structures: Common to all of these assignments is the sequencing, or breaking into component (often informal and semi-formal) parts, of a larger, formal assignment.

Model A
" Small group investigations, exploratory discussions, informal writings on the research topic, and presentations of preliminary shapings/findings.
" Several summaries and/or brief analyses (informal or semi-formal writing) of primary or secondary sources that may be used as sources for final paper.
" A short paper that treats the research topic, and may include a working thesis, a methodology, and sources (about 3 pages informal/semi-formal writing). This writing assignment may focus on the creation of a prospectus, an annotated bibliography, or a recognizable chunk of the extended paper such as the theoretical, critical, or historical section.
" A short paper (about 6 pages semi-formal writing), that takes the previous paper one step further e.g., revising or developing the working thesis, considering opposing research findings, articulating the student s voice, or developing other building block elements that take the short paper further into the writing process and goal of final paper.
" A longer paper (about 10 pages semi-formal writing), a revision and expansion of the six-page paper with a clear thesis and an appropriate number of sources
" A final research paper (which is an expansion of the six and ten page papers with subsequent drafts 10-15 pages formal writing)

Model B
" Class/group guided investigations, discussions, and presentations of research topics
" 2-5 assignment building pieces or informal writing jobs that begin with a central task like explicating a term, sub-genre, or short reading in order to build a knowledge base for expansion into a formal paper.
" 1-3 semi-formal papers that demonstrate further articulation and attention of smaller pieces and are shaped by working theses, methodologies, and sources.
" 1 paper (about 6 pages formal writing) that follows the previous assignments requiring students to articulate a focus on a central issue, theme, or topic while employing a thesis, and demonstrates ability to articulate the writer s voice with research.
" 1 paper (about 10 pages formal writing), a revision and expansion of the six-page paper with a clear thesis and an appropriate number of sources
" 1 final research paper which is an expansion of the six and ten page papers and subsequent drafts (10-15 pages formal writing)

Model C
" Class discussion of essays providing background and terms for the analysis of research topics. Focus group workshops analyzing research material; oral presentations of analyses; draft of essay; writing workshop (1-2 pages informal and semi-formal), guided peer reviews; revision and final essay (3 pages formal writing).
" Draft of essay building from one example to analysis of larger research area (essay guided by questions and focus guiding exercises to culminate in semi-formal writing); workshop; revision; final draft (3-5 pages formal writing).
" Series of summaries, paraphrases, and paragraphs integrating quotes as informal and semi-formal writing.
" Library orientation and series of hands-on workshops on evaluating print sources, internet research search engines and online databases, and internet sources.
" Research proposal: semi-formal writing to include working thesis, outline of methodology, annotated bibliography (minimum five sources)
" Draft of final research paper (10 pages semi-formal writing); writing workshop
" Final paper, revised and potentially developed from previous longer paper and subsequent drafts (10-15 pages formal writing).

Do I need to comment on every draft of every paper?
No; writing is a collaborative effort as well as an individual one; consequently, students are encouraged to learn the value of reading/writing groups or peer groups where people share materials, ideas, and questions. However, learning how to comment on writing is a challenging task that most students cannot perform without guidance and training. Consequently, papers that are more formal papers (ones that will be graded, for instance) or papers that represent crucial milestones in a writing sequence, might require more instructor attention than papers that are more informal (inclass writing, journal writing, etc.)

READING IN THE COURSE

What kinds of reading are suitable for the course?
The course features several types of reading. First and foremost are the assigned texts for the course. These may be books, articles, essays, or chapters. They may serve, collectively or individually, as:

Models of research revealing how scholars compile their research, present it to specific audiences, work among sources, introduce new research into traditional issues or debates.
Historical, theoretical, or contextual overviews providing frameworks within which students will conduct their research. Consequently, such materials should provide a certain terminology students may borrow, apply, and add to with their research; offer a sense of the larger consequences or stakes of these research; establish certain traditions or ongoing debates which students through their research will take up and argue within.

Case studies appearing as texts upon which students may practice their analyses collectively, before they conduct this research on their own texts and research.

Another way to consider these assigned texts is as a combination of secondary and primary materials, or documents that represent the scholarly review and assessment of a topic, and documents that represent first-hand and/or contemporary views about a topic.

Student papers are a text in the course as well. Students in the Second-Year Writing Seminar are encouraged to analyze, discuss, and peer edit one another s papers throughout the course, both in groups and as a class together. Classrooms that examine student papers, as it has been shown in studies of student writing, offers student writers examples of how other students negotiate similar or related challenges in writing research papers.

How many texts should be read in the course?
As this is a course that invites students to take part in a researchable subject, the readings for the course should offer them guidance on how to conduct their research and parameters for what they need and need not examine as part of their research. The readings need not be exhaustive of an entire field of work (as perhaps would occur in a senior seminar). But they should provide a terrain with distinct milestones within which students may explore and develop their own interests.

Instructors who have taught this course have assigned as few as four substantive essays and as many as twelve. Instructors have relied on a single book devoted to the topic, while other instructors use anthologies of readings related to the theme of the course. Too many common texts can overwhelm the class, especially when students are asked to write in response to the texts. This course is designed to help students to learn how to write in conjunction with other texts, and too many texts can overwhelm them rather than teach them how to navigate through them. Conversely too few texts may offer students few models from which to draw from as the conduct their research, making it difficult for students to claim the significance of the research they perform.

Ultimately, the Second-Year Writing Seminar is a writing course that depends upon interesting, challenging readings that model for students the kinds of academic research writing the university privileges and that invites them to join the conversation and debates about a particular special topic by engaging and applying with those readings arguments, methods, and terminologies.

How much of the course should be devoted to reading and to the paper?
Most classes devote about one half to two thirds of the course to the readings (a section of the course that also consists of several writing assignments in response to those readings) and the remainder to the drafts of the final paper. The first half to two thirds of the course should not be separate from the drafting of the final paper. Many classes used some of the assignments in that early part of the course to have students draft outlines, created annotated bibliographies, compose certain sections of what would eventually become a part of the final paper and so on.

SPEAKING IN THE COURSE

What does the oral presentation part consist of?
The oral presentation component of the course may be satisfied by any activity such as the following, at any point in the course. Length of presentations is to be determined by individual instructors.

" Brief, informal presentations of source summaries/analyses to the class, or to a small group
" A brief, informal presentation of the prospectus to the class or a small group
" A formal presentation of the research project its process and/or its conclusions.
At the instructor s discretion, these presentations may focus upon the research process rather than the product. Formal presentation formats might consist of mini-conferences where students become part of panels according to similar subject matter interests and present parts of their findings; formal presentations may also include evaluations and feedback from the classroom audience, and they may incorporate any of the classroom technological and media devices available. Informal presentations may occur in small group sessions where students practice presenting summaries or part of a prospectus as a way of building speaking skills.

Concerns about time constraints might be addressed by having students present their work informally to smaller groups within the class. Formal presentations could be reserved for the final exam period (In a 150-minute exam period, 19 students can make 6-minute presentations, with a 2-minute response period each.).

SUPPORT AND FURTHER INFORMATION

What workshop/support is there for this course?
The Writing Center provides the most information on issues of teaching writing, from information on writing assignments, workshops students and faculty can attend, and websites with further information on teaching writing.

The English Department also runs a Brown Bag series on issues in teaching writing. Instructors for writing courses meet usually once a month to discuss materials and questions emerging from their classes.

Whom may I contact for further information?
Dr. John Nichols, Associate Professor of English and Chair of UCC Subcommittee on 223 Second-Year Writing Seminar, Ratcliffe 226
Dr. Mary Wright, Assistant Professor of English and Writing Program Administrator, Ratcliffe 232, mwright@cnu.edu