Course syllabus

 

English 121/G: Reading / Writing / Text

Summer School, 2018
15 points

 
Course Convenor: 
Dr Andrew Forsberg - a.forsberg@auckland.ac.nz
Room 609, Humanities Building (previously known as Arts 1)

See the Classes and Contact Details page for further information, including office hours. I will continue updating that page as specifics are confirmed.

 

Course delivery format:
Three one-hour lectures and one one-hour tutorial per week.
(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.

 

Course 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; and, 
• to evaluate and edit the work of others using constructive, informed feedback.

Note: This course is offered as a Stage One ENGLISH course and as ENGLISH 121G in the Open Schedule for General Education.

 

Assessment Summary

Writing Assignment One (10%) - Note-Taking and a Significant Paragraph
Writing Assignment Two (20%) - Mid-term Essay
Writing Assignment Three (30%) - Final Essay

Attendance (5%)
Piazza Responses (5%)

Final Exam (30%)

 

Weekly Topics

Course Introduction and Note-taking

Reading Processes and Vocabulary
Sentences and Paragraphs
Making an Argument
Text-types and 'How to Recognize a...'

Essays and Citations/Referencing
Essays and Originality
Writing Processes

Digital Humanities and Digital Reading/Writing

Englishes

21C Myths and Narratives

Exams - This Course's and Exams in General

 

Prescribed Texts

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

 

Recommended Texts

Sword, Helen: Writers Diet.com. The text itself is available in e-book format via the library: The Writer's Diet. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2015.

For an introduction to academic writing, please see They Say / I Say:
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. 

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

 

Workload            

For summer school, you should double the University of Auckland's expectations for a standard semester's workload (i.e., 20 hours per weeek, rather than the usual 10 hours for a 15-point course, including time in class and personal study). Students should manage their academic workload and other commitments accordingly. Deadlines for coursework are set by course convenors and will be advertised in course material. You should submit your work on time. In extreme circumstances, such as illness, you may seek an extension but you may be required to provide supporting information before the assignment is due.

 

Deadlines and Submission of Coursework

All work must be submitted both on TurnItIn (via Canvas) and in hardcopy form (via the Arts Assignment Centre).

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.