An opinion is not an argument.

"Our reading is too sycophantic. Don't just quote someone; tell me what you think."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Dr. Derrick G. Pitard
Class Meetings for Spring, 2008: T/Th Pd. B, and T/Th Pd. D, both in SWC 306
Office: SWC 313L
Office Hours for Spring, 2008: M 10am-1pm, T and Th 11-12 pm, and of course by appointment.
Contact: (738-)2369, or

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1. Fieldworking, 3rd ed., by Sunstein and Chiseri-Strater
2. The Little, Brown Compact Handbook, 6th ed., by Jane Aaron (or the equivalent, if you own a handbook from another course, but let me see it first to make sure it'll be ok)
3. Sharing and Responding, 3rd. ed., by Elbow and Belanoff
4. Bring in a letter-sized, manila-type folder, with your name and section number on it, to class ASAP.

College Writing 1, as taught by me or another professor, is intended to teach you to compose a coherent three-page thought. College Writing 2 builds on this to incorporate outside sources: now, you will have to incorporate the work of others into your thought. All of our work will develop towards a major (10+ page) presentation of your research. This might seem to be a lot at first, but we will develop towards this with shorter writing projects according to a plan you formulate at the beginning of term.

These are the specific goals for the course which you should be able to do by the end of the semester. You will be assessed on these goals during and at the end of term. During term, you will:

1.  develop and follow through with a plan for a substantial research project that takes a persuasive or argumentative stance;
2.  learn how to reach out to your audience in a research project by using evidence from outside your own head to support your point;
3.  learn how to constructively critique a peer's paper;
4.  learn how to obtain outside sources, and to distinguish between the usefulness and applicability of various resources (spoken, written, peer-reviewed, web-based, etc.);
5.  learn how to format a research paper according to the conventions of MLA style, and to understand that there are different styles for different disciplines;
6.  participate actively in generating meaning with me and your peers, in both speaking and writing.

So, how will we reach these goals? There are several kinds of inter-related work in the course. They are progressive: your writing and ideas will start in class or with shorter assignments, will develop as you work more closely with others about your project, and will first be fully expressed in shorter papers during term. All of this builds towards a final term paper.

1. Work in Class. See goals 3 and 6 above. Discussion is of course required--I will call on you! No idea grows without being shared. Throw it out there; see what happens. We will also be working on short writing projects which build out of our readings.
2. Work on Writing. See goals 2, 4, and 5 above. There are shorter writing projects--I'll often call them the "Boxes" because that's how Fieldworking presents them--and the full length papers. Papers are formal expressions of ideas you have developed in class discussion and in shorter writing projects. They are a crucial step towards you final project. You will be writing 3 of them; you are required to use at least 2 of these papers in a significant way in your final Term Project.
3. Work in Groups. See goals 2, 3 and 6 above. Here we will especially use Elbow and Belanoff's Sharing and Responding. While class discussions are generally about readings and work for class which focuses the readings, you will work in groups on your essays at various draft stages. Students often think that writing is "finished" when it is printed out. If you think this, you will need alter the habit: when you print out your full draft, the writing process has only just begun, not finished. Getting feedback from others is a crucial part of this re-writing process.
4. The Final Term Project. This includes all of the goals above! For this you will compile at least two of the papers you have written during term into a larger project which you will have defined near the start of term. This is a substantial research project of 10 or more pages. See the Project Page for topics to choose from, and the Papers page for specifics about grading and procedures.

1. All work must be completed to pass the course.
2. All procedures pass through a memo. This memo form must be used to request an excused absence or a late paper, or for any other formal request you may want to make. This will be put in your folder to make a paper trail for all business in the course. Staple to it any documentation you'll need.
3. Absence policy:
   • There is just one unexcused absence permitted during the term. After this, I will penalize your FINAL course grade by 10 points for each unexcused absence. If you want an excused absence, you must get in touch beforehand and fill out the memo form. Attach to it documentation of a very good excuse. Treat attendance like going to work: you can't just miss a day without giving adequate notice (though adequate notice does not necessarily qualify the reason as excusable).
   • If you miss a class for any reason, you need to fill out a memo form for that day. This is not a form to ask for an excuse, and this is not a punishment; it is to make sure that you keep up with what is going on in the course.
   • If you miss more than 3 weeks of the course--even if you have outstanding reasons for doing so--I will ask you to withdraw from the course. If you miss more than 20% of the course, I just can't give you credit for the course because so much of the work actually happens in the classroom.
4. If you turn in late work, points will be deducted unless you have a valid excuse. For each day that an assigment is late, 5% will be deducted from its grade. I realize that there are other commitments, but you have committed now to this class, too. If you need to turn in something late, clear it with me beforehand and, again, fill out this memo form: don't wind up disappointed with an excuse that you thought was good enough (it has happened).
5. Work must be finished on the day assigned. If it is not, or if you are not otherwise prepared for class, you may be asked to leave and to take an unexcused absence for the day.

1. Grades are assigned on a points system, which will make it easy for you to calculate your final grade at the end of the course. There are a total of 325 points for the course. You will get an A with 290 or more points, a B with 255-289 points, and a C with 220-254 points. Below that is an "NC," "No Credit," which means you will have to take the course again (if this is the second time you have taken the course, it will be a Fail). I will use this form to calculate your grade at the end of term; it has a full list of all work to be finished during the term.
   Because the presentation has been cancelled, this is how your grade will be calculated: There are a total of 315 points for the course. You will get an A with 280 or more points, a B with 245-279 points, and a C with 210-244 points. Below that is an "NC," "No Credit."
   • The portfolio is worth 110 points. This includes 16 assignments (field notes, Boxes, in-class assignments, etc.) you will hand in during term. These assignments appear in green on the Course Calendar, and are also listed on the final grading form. Most of these occur during the first half of term.
   • The three papers are worth 105 points: there are three before the final, worth 35 points each. See the Papers page for more information.
   • The final paper is worth 100 points. Parts of this (10 points in all) are given when drafts are handed in. (There are also 5 points of extra credit you can earn here.) See the assignment on the Papers page for more information.
   • This has been cancelled. The presentation is worth 10 points. This will happen at the end of term, and it's a great way to boost your grade. See the Presentations page for more information.
2. Note that I have to give a grade based on work that you have done--I can't give a good grade for being a hard worker ("effort") if you at the same time (for whatever reason) haven't been able to complete work for the course. If your paper grades improve over the course of the term, this is concrete evidence. If you feel you are working hard and they still aren't, ask about it!
3. Plagiarism: Don't. Plagiarism is "the false assumption of authorship: the wrongful act of taking the product of another person's mind, and presenting it as your own" (Qtd. in Joseph Gibaldi, MLA Style Manual [New York: Modern Language Association, 1998] 151). It's not accidental, but deliberate. It includes cutting and pasting even just a brief phrase from a website without a proper citation. If I catch you, I will fail you instantly and/or submit your name to the Dean for disciplinary action. There are no second chances.