ENGLISH 221: Theories of Composing, Tutoring, and Teaching

Fall 2011, Thursdays, 4:30-7:00, VM B12
Instructor: Arnie Sanders, Department of English

Click here for my most recent curriculum vita.  The hyperlink above will take you to my courses taught and Web pages.
Goucher College [Last Revised: 08 December, 2011 04:17:45 PM]

N.B., recent changes, 12/8/11--Final project preliminary report presentations for the last class of my last English 221 section!  Before deciding how you will write it, please see this page for "Tips for Research Project Report Writing."

Deb Roy's TED research talk about studying language acquisition and public discourse: this is not the methodology you have been trained in, but it's one that may be used by future researchers.  For now, just be glad that you have a chance to do the research that might guide more focused applications of such work (imagine the cost!).  And what if we used this technology to study other languages, such as those scientists have hypothesized for killer whales and pilot whales?  (Try the samples soon after you have heard Roy's child's attempt to approximate "WHA-ter."  They're way more proficient than we are at something, even if linguists and cognitive scientists refuse to call it "language.")

"Shit My Students Write": of course we talk about you!  My current favorite suggestion for 221 reports:

"All necessary data and calculation is listed with the data in the previous section. The values to not match, however, and I have no idea why. Magic, perhaps, or Obama."  (Posted October 27, 2011)

 Esmé E. Deprez  "Poor Students at Risk for Supercommittee Cuts," Bloomberg.com Sep 29, 2011 12:01 AM ET

H. P. Grice's Maxims for the "Cooperative Principle" of Communication: see McCarthy!

Two items to tweak your mind re: writing--

Gender Genie: when you have finished a paper, try plugging a sample paragraph into this web site that runs an algorithm which purports to be able to detect the author's gender from certain key words' use.

ETS "Criterion" Writing Instruction Software Demo--brought to you by the same folks who run the SAT and GRE, this software is designed to standardize writing instruction and to make it more efficient.  What do you think?

        Check it out--an online journal about this stuff at U. Texas: http://projects.uwc.utexas.edu/praxis/

        If you are a Goucher student and are interested in taking the course, see the web page for Admission to English 221 and Becoming a Writing Center Tutor and browse the links in the menu below.

The Course

        English 221 explores the composing process from a variety of approaches, including training as a peer tutor (some practice tutoring required, but students are not required to seek Writing Center employment).  Students will study the composing process carefully and discover how their processes differ from the processes of others. We will study the physical, mental, and social systems which affect writing. We also will learn how research on composition is conducted and will undertake some research of our own.  Though we may study the writing behaviors of famous authors or young children, the composing processes typical of academic writers will be our foremost concern.  Understanding the struggles of college-level writers will allow us to assist them as peer tutors and to improve our own writing, as well.

 "Academic Honor Code: Reference to the academic honor code is required of all course syllabi as a reminder to students.  Suggested wording includes: Reminder: All students are bound by the standards of the Academic Honor Code, found at www.goucher.edu/documents/General/AcademicHonorCode.pdf."  I distinguish between accidental forms of plagiarism, in which the author obviously intended to cite sources but cited them at the wrong place, from pure carelessness (no citations, even if sources are listed at the back) and outright theft of intellectual property intentionally passed off as one's own.  The first type of cases usually are opportunities to teach and learn.  The second type are more troubling and may go to the Honor Board if they happen late in the semester, after we have discussed source use and its importance to your readers.  The last will be sent to the Honor Board without hesitation.  Students also are increasingly content to cite sources long after their prose has begun to borrow ideas from those sources.  That is technically plagiarism, too, but it has become so common that I must spend gallons of ink and hundreds of keystrokes un-teaching it.  Never make me guess whose ideas I'm reading.  Cite sources when you first depend on them.  I want to know how well you can think, not how well your sources can think, which is a matter of historical record for anyone who reads them.  Let there be a bright line of fire between ideas that are originally yours and those of other writers to which you refer. 

Reset 8/30/04