Course Syllabus

English 121/G: Semester Two, 2017

 

Course Information

Contacts

Lecturer:
Dr Andrew Forsberg - a.forsberg@auckland.ac.nz 
Office Hours: Wednesdays and Fridays, 1.30-2.30pm, in room 609, Arts 1

Full contact details, including your tutor's and student reps' email addresses, and Piazza signup link, are available on the Contacts page.

 

Tutorial Times:
Official rooms and times are always available via SSO. But, for your convenience, please find them listed here:

Wednesdays:
4pm (Tut 1) - 114-G18 (Commerce A, Room G18)

Thursdays:
10am (Tut 7) - 114-G18 (Commerce A, Room G18)
11am (Tut 9) - 273-107 (Fale - Office Building, Rm 107)
2pm (Tut 4) - 114-G16 (Commerce A, Room G16)
4pm (Tut 10) - 273-107 (Fale - Office Building, Rm 107)

Fridays:
9am (Tut 12) - 206-215 (Arts 1, Room 215)
3pm (Tut 5) - 114-G18 (Commerce A, Room G18)
4pm (Tut 2) - 206-215 (Arts 1, Room 215)

 

Course Delivery Format

Two one-hour lectures (Weds and Fri at noon, OGGB Rm 073) and a one-hour tutorial. (Timetable and room details can be viewed on Student Services Online.)

Course Description

A course developing university-wide skills of reading, writing, and analysis. Addresses the needs of students in English and other disciplines where both writing and reading have an important role in learning. The course fosters personal writing skills and also introduces writing as a subject of study in itself.

Overview

ENGLISH 121/121G aims to help improve your ability to read, write, and think, no matter what your major or degree. The course targets and strengthens literacy skills that are important for academic success, equipping you with the ability to read and write more effectively and to navigate the university environment with greater confidence. The course also focuses on transferable literacy skills that will assist you in workplace, digital, and professional communications.

Readings include academic publications, online journalism, blogs, multimedia texts, literary texts and visual texts. We also read and discuss the underlying narratives around us socially, and reflect on how to interpret the communications, resources and tasks associated with university courses. Techniques for taking notes and writing essays and paragraphs are a key focus of ENGLISH 121/121G. We also deal specifically with grammar and punctuation, and with how to manage referencing and citations. Questions of authorship, originality, plagiarism and what it means to write "properly" lead us to consider conditions and rules of writing in the contemporary world, and the particular conventions of academic, public, and online communication.

Coursework tasks invite you to respond to different text-types and genres. An essay asks you to read and engage critically with selected texts, and to identify and address cultural and social issues posed by specific modes of writing. Smaller writing activities invite you to experiment with different forms of written expression such as paragraphs and bullet points, and provide you with practical and creative skills in composition, peer reviewing and editing. A final exam asks you to put your reading, writing and thinking skills into action.

Course Outcomes

By the end of the course, you should have improved your ability:

• to recognise different text-types and genres
• to grasp the purpose of a text, its audience and the case it makes
• to read and respond to academic and non-academic texts that deal with a range of topics
• to understand the effects produced by different types of grammatical and stylistic expression within your own writing and the writing of others
• to construct, shape and deliver writing that is appropriate to a set task
• to mobilise a technical vocabulary associated with writing
• to cite and reference in a manner appropriate to the genre of writing
• to evaluate and edit the work of others using constructive, informed feedback
  
  

Weekly Topics

One: Course Introduction and Note-taking (24 - 28 July)

Two: Reading Processes and Vocabulary (31 July - 4 August)

Three: Sentences and Paragraphs (7 - 11 August)

Four: Making an Argument (14 - 18 August) 

Five: Text-types and 'How to Recognize a...' (21 - 25 August)

Six: Essays and Citations/Referencing (28 August - 1 September)

Mid-Semester Break (4 - 16 September)

Seven: Essays and Originality (18 - 22 September)

Eight: Writing Processes (25 - 29 September)

Nine: Digital Humanities and Digital Reading/Writing (2 - 6 October)

Ten: Englishes (9 - 13 October)

Eleven: 21C Myths and Narratives (16 - 20 October)

Twelve: Exams - This Course's and Exams in General (23 - 27 October)

Prescribed Texts

All readings and course materials are available on Canvas for downloading or printing.

Recommended Texts

Helen Sword: Writers Diet.com

Glenn, Cheryl,  John C. Hodges, and Loretta S. Gray (eds). The Hodges Harbrace Handbook. 18th ed. Boston, Mass: Wadsworth, 2013. 

Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. "They Say / I Say": The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing. 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2014. 

Workload

The University of Auckland's expectation on 15-point courses, is that students spend 10 hours per week on the course. Students manage their academic workload and other commitments accordingly. Students attend two hours of lectures each week and participate in a one-hour tutorial from week 2 of semester. This leaves seven hours per week outside the classroom to prepare for tutorials, assignments and the exam.

Deadlines and Submission of Coursework

Please note the English, Drama, and Writing Studies extension policy for all undergraduate courses:

If you are unable to hand in your assignment by the due date, you must seek an extension via a face-to-face meeting with the tutor or lecturer concerned; an Extension Request Form, specifying the new submission date and signed by the staff member, or an email statement from your tutor granting the extension must be attached to the submitted essay. Extensions will only be granted for compelling reasons, such as illness, or other unforeseen emergencies, and a Doctor’s certificate (or equivalent) must be provided to the staff member concerned. An extension must be requested in advance of the due date for the assignment, unless there is a genuine cause preventing this, in which case the extension should be sought as soon as is practicable after the due date. Extensions will not be granted for reasons of time management, which is your responsibility. Any work handed in late without an extension will not be marked and will be awarded a “0”.

While the policy is unambiguous, you are strongly encouraged to discuss your situation with your tutor in the first instance. 

Plagiarism

The University of Auckland does not tolerate cheating or plagiarism or assisting others to cheat or plagiarise, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student’s own written work, reflecting his or her ideas and learning. Where other sources are used, as they should be used in academic writing, those sources must be properly acknowledged and cited. Referencing outside sources applies to all printed and digital materials, including the internet.

The working definition of plagiarism in this course is using the written work of others and presenting it as your own without explicitly acknowledging or referencing where the work originally appeared. Plagiarism is not acknowledging the books, articles, webpages, or other students’ work that are used, paraphrased, or directly copied. Wherever you are using the writing or ideas of other people (whether published or unpublished), those ideas or writings must be properly acknowledged and cited. In academic writing, acknowledgement usually takes the form of endnotes, footnotes, or in-text parenthetical references to the materials used plus a bibliography. For more detailed information, see the university’s guidelines on the conduct of coursework.

In English 121/121G, work shown to be plagiarised will receive a zero grade and may lead to disciplinary action. Please note that you will not receive credit for duplicating coursework that you have completed for this (or for any other) course.