Course Syllabus

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UWP 102J: Writing in the Fine Arts

Winter 2016 • CRN 42469 • Mondays and Wednesdays 9-10:20 • 247 Olson

102J Main Page | Syllabus | Assignment #1 | #2 | #3 | #4

 

Instructor:  Dr. Andy Jones
Office:  353 Voorhies
Office Hours: Wednesdays 11-12, Thursdays 9-10, most Sunday nights from about 8-10 (Crepeville at 3rd and C Streets)
On some days after class I will be able to meet briefly outside our classroom.
Phone: 752-3408 (I typically answer the office phone only during office hours)
Email: aojones@ucdavis.edu (I respond to emails primarily on T, W, Th, and Sundays)
Please include the phrase “UWP102J” in emails so I can prioritize them.
Course Website: Our class Canvas page, and Andysclasses.com
Dr. Andy on Twitter: @andyojones (best way to get a quick question answered)
FINAL EXAM: Tuesday, March 15th from 3:30-5:30 in our classroom, 247 Olson

Course Description

UWP 102J provides advanced instruction in writing about the arts, creativity, and performance, and practice in effective styles of communication, including multimodal, reflective, and journalistic. For our course, you will be reading essays, writing responses and papers, and studying thinking and writing processes. UWP 102J will also help you develop a greater awareness of and control over your own writing process. 

Prerequisites

UWP 102J is open to majors and minors or to students concurrently enrolled in an upper division course in Art History, Art Studio, Design, Music, or Theater and Dance. Students should have completed the lower-division writing requirement and 84 units (College of Letters & Science). If you have questions about whether you have met the appropriate prerequisites to take UWP 102J, consult your academic advisor or ask Dr. Andy.

Required Texts

Online resources (distributed via Canvas)

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield (available online as a paperback or ebook)

Zig Zag: The Surprising Path to Greater Creativity by Keith Sawyer (available online in hardback and ebook formats).

Assigned Texts

“Anderson and Krathwohl – Understanding the New Version of Bloom’s Taxonomy”by Leslie Owen Wilson

Grading

All papers are graded equally according to the UWP’s “General Grading Standards” Document, available on the course Canvas page. There is no curve. Below, you will find a general description of different grade categories.

A: Outstanding work that excels at responding to the assignment. In addition to meeting all of the requirements of the assignment, it demonstrates originality and sophistication. A papers are stylistically accomplished, carefully edited and free of grammatical and mechanical errors.

B: Solid work that meets all of the requirements of the assignment at a high level.  While the paper still needs revision, it presents complete, appropriate content, is well-organized and demonstrates a clear attention to stylistic issues.

C: Adequate work that meets the basic requirements of the assignment. The paper may have some organizational lapses, but is logical overall. The style is straightforward with a few lapses, but may be repetitive or unremarkable.

D: Unsatisfactory work that requires significant revision. Often, D papers lack clear organization, require further development of content, and/or have mechanical and stylistic errors that impede the reader’s understanding.

F: Inadequate work that does not respond to the needs of the assignment. May be off-topic or incomplete.

Assignments

To be eligible to pass the course (to get any grade higher than an C-), you must hand in all graded essays and the final exam.  Due dates are 11:55 PM on the date listed.

Paper #1  (Multimodal Autobiography)          (Due 1/13)                  10%

Paper #2  (Performance Review)                     (Due 2/1)                    15%

Paper #3  (Bloom, Pressfield, Sawyer)          (Due 2/22)                   20%

Paper #4  (Grant Application Packet)             (Due 3/14)                  30%

In-class work/ Participation                             (Every class)               15%

Final Exam      (Tuesday, March 15th from 3:30-5:30)                     10%

For each assignment, include a word count and the total number of “to be” verbsused in the essay.

COURSE POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

Please read this section carefully, and refer to it throughout the quarter. Before sending me an email about a procedural question, reread this section, as it likely contains the answer.

Workload

Academic Senate Regulation 526 stipulates that during the ten-week quarter, students should work two to three hours per week outside of class for each unit of instruction. Ours is a four-unit course that meets for three hours a week, so you should plan to spend at least nine hours a week (on average) doing work for this course outside of class.

Our advanced writing class presupposes that students enter the class with a solid command of grammar, syntax, and the basics or argumentative writing. If you have difficulties or other areas of written communication, in order to pass the class you will likely need to do additional work, including making regular use of the tutors, workshops and writing specialists available at the Student Academic Success Center in 2205 Dutton Hall (752-3000). Please also take advantage of online resources, such as online writing labs at Purdue, UNC Chapel Hill, and Dartmouth (which we will consult throughout the quarter).

Classroom Conduct

I expect you to be attentive and focused on the work of the class during class meetings.

Technology in the Classroom

Technology is meant to enhance, not to detract from, the classroom experience. During class is not an appropriate time to check email, to use the internet (unless I have instructed you to do), or to send instant messages. Please turn off cell phones and leave them out of sight (yours and mine) for the duration of the class.Students who use their phones to send or receive text messages during class, or who use the class computers for unauthorized purposes, will find their participation grade in the class to be radically demerited.

Participation

Ours will be a student-centered and activity-driven class, so I look forward to your active and thoughtful participation. Verbal presentations of your critical thinking skills constitute a crucial aspect of your success as a class participant. Arrive to class prepared to ask and answer questions about the material. In order to guarantee that everyone has something to say, for each day that we have assigned reading from the Steven Pressfield book The War of Art or the Keith Sawyer book Zig Zag, I will expect you to arrive with threespecific observations written down about that reading. These observations might be a claim about the effect of a certain passage in the reading, an idea about why Dr. Sawyer made certain choices in the reading, a question about why Dr. Sawyer uses a particular organizational strategy, or other ideas about a specific part of the reading. I will often call on people at random to share these observations. As an aside, you should make such preparations for all student-centered text-heavy classes.

Email Policy

Email can be a useful tool, but has its limitations. Brief questions about assignments, readings, grammar, scheduling appointments, etc. are appropriate for email, but will be answered more quickly when posed via Twitter at @andyojones. For more involved questions, like requests for responses to paper drafts, come speak to me during office hours. I hold bonus office hours every week (typically Sunday evenings) for this purpose. Please include “UWP102J” and a brief explanation of your message in the subject line of your email.

I check my email at least twice a day, and respond to email during normal working hours, and often on evenings, on Sundays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Usually if you send a message the night before an assignment is due, you will not receive a response in time to benefit from its contents. I hold more office hours than typical so that you can benefit from our in-person discussions about your writing. Plan ahead.

Attendance and Late Work

The attendance and late work policies outlined below are designed to enforce professional standards of conduct. The vast majority of students arrive to class on time, and submit all work correctly and on time. An occasional lapse in attendance or attention will have a negligible effect on your final grade. However, if you are regularly absent or late, or if you frequently submit work late, your grade will be more severely affected.

Attendance: Regular attendance is essential; the emphasis of the class on the process of writing demands it. The work we do in class—which accounts for a large part of the final grade—cannot be made up. Furthermore, because the lessons of each class build on the work of previous classes, it is very easy to fall behind in this class and very difficult to catch up once one falls behind.

  • If you must miss class for any reason, contact me by email before If you must miss multiple classes, contact me before each class meeting that you will miss. If you miss class, you will, of course, be responsible for collecting from your classmates any out-of-class assignments and handouts presented in your absence. Class syllabi are also subject to change.
  • Plan to arrive on time. Latecomers are distracting at best and disruptive at worst. If you have a conflict that will prevent you from being here at the beginning of class or that requires you to leave before it ends, then you should drop the course.
  • If you are marked absent more than once, your participation grade will be reduced by one third of a grade for each additional absence.
  • Please schedule appointments (medical appointments, legal appointments, etc.) at times that don’t conflict with the class.

Late Work: All work is due via Canvas before midnight on the evening of the date listed on the syllabus. Invalid excuses for late work include writer’s block, busy computer labs, last-minute technology failures, responsibilities to extra-curricular organizations and activities, a bothersome work schedule, etc.

  • For major assignments (defined here as any individual assignment worth at least 5% of the total grade) late work, including work turned in after the beginning of class,will be penalized one half of a grade per calendar day (not class period) late.
  • Minor assignments (in-class work, workshop memos, etc.) will not be accepted late.
  • Arrive to class on time on draft workshop days. In order to receive any credit for the workshop, you must be present when we distribute drafts, attend the workshop, and submit responses to your peers’ work on time.
  • Finally, late work ends up at the bottom of the grading pile, so if you submit something late, you will likely receive a graded version well after your peers do. All essays will be submitted virtually via Canvas, not via email.

Submitting Assignments

  • For each paper, include your name, the course number and date, and a word count on the top of page one, and your last name at the top of each subsequent page.
  • For every major assignment, include a list of all sources you consulted while preparing the paper, whether or not material from these sources appears in the paper.
  • I will usually return graded essays via Canvas within three class periods of their submission.

Conferences and Office Hours

I will hold regular office hours in 353 Voorhies on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and most Sunday evenings at Crepeville (3rd and C Streets). Please contact me if you wish to discuss any aspect of the course. Office hours are often an under-utilized resource, and work best when you tailor them to your own needs. Plan to come in with specific questions and concerns that you’d like to discuss. Save extended discussion on your future as a creative professional for Sunday evening office hours, if there is no extended queue of students waiting to speak about UWP 102J assignments.

Peer Review

Several times during the quarter, you will bring digital copies of rough drafts to critique in small groups. I use Microsoft Word and the Canvas SpeedGrader for this function, but you may use any approach that works for you.

Revision

Students may revise either of the first two major assignments and submit it to be re-graded.  Revisions are due by the final day of class (not the date of the final exam) at the latest. Please note the following requirements:

  • In order to receive credit for the revision, submit the revised paper and a formal memo of at least one page that explains in specific detail what aspects of the paper your revision addresses and how it addresses them. I will not grade revisions that do not include these materials. I will be comparing your revised submission to your original.
  • In order to revise a paper, you must also have attended all in-class workshop and editing sessions for the paper.
  • I will calculate the revised grade by averaging the old and the new grades. Any penalties assessed against the original paper for lateness or incomplete or missing materials will also apply to the revised paper.
  • Please note that real revision requires substantially reworking a piece of writing, often on the level(s) of its ideas and organization. Attending only to cosmetic changes does not qualify as real revision, so I will not grade resubmitted essays that have not been substantively revised.

Passing UWP 102J

Attend to all of the following if you wish to pass UWP 102J:

  • Attend all classes.
  • Submit responses to major essay assignments on the days that they are due.
  • Submit essays that are clearly responsive to their relevant prompts.
  • Revise final drafts thoroughly, paying attention to the quality of your ideas and arguments, the organization of your essays, the specific and relevant evidence needed to support claims, the 5 C’s of Style (cutting, checking for action, connecting, committing, and choosing your words), and mechanics.

Any student who chooses not to attend to these four necessary expectations runs the risk of failing (and having to retake) UWP 102J.

Plagiarism and Academic Honesty

Plagiarism is the use of another person’s work, words or ideas without acknowledging that use. You may not borrow someone else’s ideas, conclusions, sentences, or phrases without citing that person as a source. This holds true for—but is not limited to—published writing (including the assignments and samples we look at in class), information drawn from internet sources, and ideas transmitted in conversation. In any form, you may not turn in any work that is not your own. It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with the UC Davis policy on plagiarism and the Code of Academic Conduct: consult your student handbook and/or the Student Judicial Affairs website [http://sja.ucdavis.edu].  Please read carefully the handout provided in class. Plagiarized material will be forwarded to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs.

With each of your assignments this quarter, you must include in-text citations and a list of works cited. You must also submit a list of all outside sources you consult in preparing your work, whether or not information or language from those sources appears in your final draft.

Furthermore, as outlined by Student Judicial Affairs, you may not submit to this class work prepared for another class, nor may you collaborate with others on your work unless specifically authorized to do so:

Unless otherwise specified by the instructor, all work submitted to fulfill course requirements must be work done by the student specifically for that course. This means that work submitted for one course cannot be used to satisfy requirements of another course unless the student obtains permission from the instructor. Unless permitted by the instructor, do not work with others on graded coursework, including in class and take-home tests, papers, or homework assignments. When an instructor specifically informs students that they may collaborate on work required for a course, the extent of the collaboration must not exceed the limits set by the instructor.

Student Judicial Affairs, UC Davis Code of Academic Conduct http://sja.ucdavis.edu/cac.html#student%20responsibility

Speaking of giving credit, I would like to thank my friend and colleague Sean McDonnell for the guidance and inspiration he provided for an early iteration of UWP102J: Writing in Fine Arts.Top of Form

 

Bottom of Form

Office Hours

353 Voorhies 
Wednesdays 10:30 - 11:30 am 
Thursdays 9:00 - 10:00 am 
and also by appointment 
Often Sundays from 9-10 pm (or so) at Crepeville
These office hours are for Spring 2016

Links

Note that any literary and cultural events listed here are for information purposes only. None is required

 

Course Summary:

Date Details Due