Comm 202 Syllabus

8/4/2019 Comm 202 Syllabus

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/comm-202-syllabus 1/11

Updated 4/19/12 COMM 202 / p. 1

COMM 202 Writing for Communications

Fall 2010Section 1: MWF 10:00-10:50 a.m. (Walker Science 107)

Section 2: MWF 12:00-12:50 p.m. (Dana 302)

Prof. Nancy Clare [email protected]

[email protected]

Dana 110A704-688-2731 (office)

704-517-6206 (mobile)

Office hours: MW 1:00-2:30 and by appointment

Required Materials:

Kessler, L., & McDonald, D. (2008). When words collide: A media writer's guide to

grammar and style. Boston, MA: Thomson Wadsworth.

ISBN: 0-495-05025-3

Zinsser, W. (2006). On writing well: The classic guide to writing nonfiction, 30thanniversary edition. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

ISBN: 978-0-06-089154-1

Additional Suggested Resources:

Queens Center for Academic Success: The Writing Center – http://www.queens.edu/studentlife/resources/writing_center.asp

Hale, C. (1999). Sin and syntax: How to craft wickedly effective prose. New York, NY:Broadway Books.

LaRocque, P. (2003). The book on writing: The ultimate guide to writing well. Portland,OR: Marion Street Press.

Marius, R. (1998). A writer’s companion. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Provost, G. (1985). 100 ways to improve your writing. New York, NY: Penguin Group.

Strunk, W., & White, E.B. (2000). The elements of style. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn& Bacon.

Truss, L. (2003). Eats, shoots & leaves: The zero tolerance approach to punctuation.London, England: Profile Books.

Grammar Girl – http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/

Purdue Online Writing Lab – http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/679/01/

mailto:[email protected]




http://www.queens.edu/studentlife/resources/writing_center.asp


http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/



http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/679/01/










Updated 4/19/12 COMM 202 / p. 2

Course Goals:

―Today everybody in the world is writing to everybody else, making instant contactacross every border and across every time zone….

On one level the new torrent is good news. Any invention that reduces the fear of writing

is up there with air-conditioning and the lightbulb. But, as always, there‘s a catch. Nobody toldall the new computer writers that the essence of writing is rewriting. Just because they‘re writing

fluently doesn‘t mean they‘re writing well.‖

— William Zinsser, On Writing Well

This course is designed to help students write well.

Students will build and strengthen the foundations of excellent writing, including an improved

understanding of process, grammar, rhetoric, style and citation. Through study, discussion and

numerous exercises in crafting written messages for the communication field (e.g., corporate

documents, documents for media settings, communication scholarship, and researching and

writing the APA research paper), students who complete this course will be better equipped tosucceed in any written project, academic or professional.

This course fulfills the writing-intensive requirement for Communication majors. Any

undergraduate interested in joining the School of Communication as a Communication major

must pass this class with a C- or above.

This class will be graded on a combination of participation, effort, and demonstrated writing

ability.

Participation (Attendance / In-class exercises / Preliminary writing assignments) – 20%

Project I (Radio essay / podcast) – 30%

Project II (Research-based term paper) – 30%

Project III (Final portfolio) – 20%

***All writing assignments must be submitted by the time class begins on the assigned due date.

Assignments may be submitted on paper, through Moodle, or via email ([email protected]).Please note, however that typical email issues – failed connections, no attachment, etc. – will not

be excused unless there is a university-wide email outage. Late assignments will be penalized

1/3 of a letter grade each late day. Projects I, II, and III will be penalized a full letter grade foreach day past the due date.***







Updated 4/19/12 COMM 202 / p. 3

Project I (Radio essay / podcast)

Digital media is continuing to grow as a medium for academic research (as well as business

marketing). This assignment is designed to provide you with hands-on experience working in

the digital medium of podcasting. You will learn and experience planning, organizing,

writing/composing, creating verbal transitions, and using special/editing effects.

Using audio recording and editing techniques, you will create an audio file (podcast) in the style

of NPR‘s ―This I Believe…‖ essay project.

First you will write and edit a 500-word essay on the topic “This I Believe…” We will

complete exercises to get you started, as well as look at a variety of examples from the NPRarchives.

Then, you will create a 3-minute podcast of your essay. The goal is to present a quality,

edited, and unified recording. Consider using music or other sound effects, as well as photos, for

interest.

Please supply me with a CD of the podcast (labeled with author, title and date) as well as a copy

of your essay. We will present these podcasts during class before fall break.

How to Create a Podcast

I suggest you use either Audacity (freeware from http://audacity.sourceforge.net ) or GarageBand

(Mac) for sound editing in mp3 and other file formats.

Both programs are very user friendly and have helpful tutorials. See

http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#garageband-podcast or

http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=Creating_a_simple_voice_and_music_Podcast_wit

h_Audacity.

You can even use a combination of programs. For instance, you could use Audacity to record on

your home computer (or you can use a digital recorder; see below), and if you save your file asan MP3, M4A, or other compatible sound file, you can do your editing with GarageBand.

You can record your audio using one of several different tools: an MP3 player, a digitalcamcorder, your laptop, or even your PDA. Just be sure that whatever you record with has the

ability to easily transfer your audio to your computer (for example through a USB cable).

Note: The SoC Convergence Lab (Dana 110) has several Mac computers with Garage Bandavailable for your use. There are also 8 sets of headphones with microphones available to ―check out‖ for your use from Queens in Dana 006. You can use these to record directly onto your

computer.

Here is an additional website that might be helpful: http://www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com/

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/



http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#garageband-podcast


http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=Creating_a_simple_voice_and_music_Podcast_with_Audacity



http://www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com/









Updated 4/19/12 COMM 202 / p. 5

Project III (Final portfolio)

Because this class is concerned with improving students‘ writing, and because improvement inany discipline requires practice, students will be required to complete a writing assignment

every week. Some weeks, the professor will collect and review the writing assignments. Some

weeks, students will be asked to share their assignments with the rest of the class for peer review.Some weeks, as noted on the syllabus, the professor will collect final drafts of a project for a

separate grade.

Students are expected to revise and edit every piece over the course of the semester, inaccordance with topics covered in class (e.g., simplicity, word choice, sentence structure,

consideration of audience, structure, and flow). At the end of the semester, students will berequired to collect a hard copy of every assignment (without exception) into a final portfolio for

submission. The checklist for the portfolio will be distributed before Thanksgiving break and

may include the following:

Letter of introduction

Six-word memoir

Book jacket copy

―Peanut butter and jelly‖

―This I Believe…‖ radio essay (final draft)

Press release

News story

Grading Information:

All written assignments will receive letter grades that will be converted to a numerical score for

final grade computation. The addition of a + or – to the letter grade will give you a better

indication of your numerical score. The grading scale is as follows:A 100 – 90

B 89 – 80C 79 – 70

D 69 – 60

F 59 and below

For a better sense of criteria for grading papers, please refer to the remarks below, published by

the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard University (used with permission).

Note that four topics recur: thesis, use of evidence, design (organization), and basic writing skills

(grammar, mechanics, spelling).

From a list by Lewis Hyde, edited by Sue Lonoff, with thanks to Richard Marius's writing handbook.

The Unsatisfactory Paper.

The D or F paper either has no thesis or else it has one that is strikingly vague, broad, or

uninteresting. There is little indication that the writer understands the material being presented.The paragraphs do not hold together; ideas do not develop from sentence to sentence. This paper



Updated 4/19/12 COMM 202 / p. 6

usually repeats the same thoughts again and again, perhaps in slightly different language but

often in the same words. The D or F paper is filled with mechanical faults, errors in grammar,and errors in spelling.

The C Paper.

The C paper has a thesis, but it is vague and broad, or else it is uninteresting or obvious. It does

not advance an argument that anyone might care to debate. "Henry James wrote some interesting

novels." "Modern cities are interesting places."

The thesis in the C paper often hangs on some personal opinion. If the writer is a recognized

authority, such an expression of personal taste may be noteworthy, but writers gain authority notmerely by expressing their tastes but by justifying them. Personal opinion is often the engine that

drives an argument, but opinion by itself is never sufficient. It must be defended.

The C paper rarely uses evidence well; sometimes it does not use evidence at all. Even if it has a

clear and interesting thesis, a paper with insufficient supporting evidence is a C paper.

The C paper often has mechanical faults, errors in grammar and spelling, but please note: a paperwithout such flaws may still be a C paper.

The B Paper.

The reader of a B paper knows exactly what the author wants to say. It is well organized, it

presents a worthwhile and interesting idea, and the idea is supported by sound evidence

presented in a neat and orderly way. Some of the sentences may not be elegant, but they areclear, and in them thought follows naturally on thought. The paragraphs may be unwieldy now

and then, but they are organized around one main idea. The reader does not have to read a

paragraph two or three times to get the thought that the writer is trying to convey.

The B paper is always mechanically correct. The spelling is good, and the punctuation is

accurate. Above all, the paper makes sense throughout. It has a thesis that is limited and worth

arguing. It does not contain unexpected digressions, and it ends by keeping the promise to argueand inform that the writer makes in the beginning.

The A Paper.

The A paper has all the good qualities of the B paper, but in addition it is lively, well paced,

interesting, even exciting. The paper has style. Everything in it seems to fit the thesis exactly. It

may have a proofreading error or two, or even a misspelled word, but the reader feels that theseerrors are the consequence of the normal accidents all good writers encounter. Reading the paper,

we can feel a mind at work. We are convinced that the writer cares for his or her ideas, and about

the language that carries them.

The sure mark of an A paper is that you will find yourself telling someone else about it.

Copyright 2002-2006 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.



Updated 4/19/12 COMM 202 / p. 8

Six word memoirs

Writing assignment (complete by September 10):

Book jacket copy

Week 4: September 13, 15, 17 – Who are you? And for whom are you writing?

Reading assignment (complete by September 13): Zinsser: Chapters 4-5

Kessler: Chapter 11

In-class exercise (September 15):

―Peanut butter and jelly‖


Revise ―Peanut butter and jelly‖ ***REQUIRED TRAINING: GARAGE BAND (9/15, 4:30-5:30, Dana 110)***

Week 5: September 20, 22, 24 – Whittling down the complex assignment

Reading assignment (complete by September 20):

Zinsser: Chapters 14, 20 ―This I believe: A public dialog about belief, one essay at a time.‖ NPR.

http://thisibelieve.org/

***Guest lecture (September 20): Jenn Goddu, Director, The Writing Center***


Brainstorming and Mapping


―This I believe‖ – 1st

draft

Week 6: September 27, 29, October 1 – Making a connection

Reading assignment (complete by September 27):

White, E.B. (1941). Once more to the lake. Harper’s Magazine.http://www.moonstar.com/~acpjr/Blackboard/Common/Essays/OnceLake.html

Baldwin, J. Why I stopped hating Shakespeare. The cross of redemption: Uncollected

writings. New York, NY: Pantheon.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129281259#129082563


Reading aloud / peer review

Writing assignment (complete by October 1):

―This I believe‖ – 2nd

draft

Week 7: October 4, 6, 8 – Low-hanging fruit, and other original sins

Reading assignment (complete by October 4):

Zinsser, Chapters 6-7

Orwell, G. (1946). Politics and the English language. Shooting an Elephant and Other

Essays. London, England: Secker and Warburg.

http://orwell.ru/lit?a=e&doc=/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit

In-class exercise (October 6):

Podcasts



http://www.moonstar.com/~acpjr/Blackboard/Common/Essays/OnceLake.html












Updated 4/19/12 COMM 202 / p. 9


PROJECT I DUE (Radio essay)

Week 8: October 11, 13 – Preparing for the long-term


Zinsser, Chapters 21-23 In-class exercise (October 13):

Cubing


Research paper topic

— FALL BREAK —

Week 9: October 18, 20, 22 – APA Stylistics, or Goodbye ―I‖


Zinsser, Chapter 15

Kessler, Chapters 5, 12In-class exercise (October 20):

Research tutorial (with Melinda Livas, Information Fluence Librarian)***BOTH SECTIONS WILL MEET IN EVERETT LIBRARY ON FRIDAY, OCT. 22***


Outline and preliminary bibliography

Week 10: October 25, 27, 29 – I‘ve done my research. Now what?


TBD


Research paper – 1st draft

Week 11: November 1, 3, 5 – You mean we‘re still working on this?

Reading assignment (complete by November 1):

TBD

In-class exercise (November 3):

Abstracts

Writing assignment (complete by November 5):

Research paper – 2nd

draft

Week 12: November 8, 10, 12 – If you have thoroughly mastered the material…


TBD


PROJECT II (Research paper)

Week 13: November 15, 17, 19 – You want what I‘ve got




Updated 4/19/12 COMM 202 / p. 10

Zinsser, Chapter 12, 16

In-class exercise (October 13):

Interviews


Press release

— THANKSGIVING BREAK —

Week 14: November 29, December 1, 3 – Read all about it (please?)


Zinsser, Chapter 25

Writing assignment (complete by December 3):

News story

Week 15: December 6, 8 – Writing Well

Reading assignment (complete by December 6):

TBDWriting assignment (complete by December 8):

FINAL PORTFOLIO DUE



Updated 4/19/12 COMM 202 / p. 11

Disability AccommodationsIf you are a student with a verified disability and you require accommodations, please provide

me with the necessary memorandum that was given to you by Student Disability Services.

Contact: The Coordinator of Disability Services: Sandy Rogelberg, 704-337-2508.

Honor Code

The Honor Code, which permeates all phases of university life, is based on three fundamental

principles. It assumes that Queens students: a) are truthful at all times, b) respect the property of others (this includes written works, thus, plagiarism is a Honor Code violation), and c) are honest

in tests, examinations, term papers, and all other academic assignments. It is a violation of the

Honor Code for a student to be untruthful concerning the reason for a class absence. If youbelieve that you have witnessed a violation of the Queens Honor Code, I encourage you to speak

with me confidentially. All members of the Queens community adhere to the Honor Code, these

expectations are outlined in the Honor Code Booklet, http://portal.queens.edu .

University Closings / Cancelled ClassesIn the rare occasion when it is necessary to close the university announcements will be made on

TV and radio, and will be posted on the Queens web site, www.queens.edu. The best way for theQueens community to receive fast and accurate information about closings is to sign up for

QALERT.

QALERT : Receive campus emergency notifications via voicemail, text and/or e-mail, sign up atwww.queens.edu/alert . Remember, you must register as a new user each academic year, even if

you‘ve signed up in the past. The system is wiped clean every August, and you will receive a

message before that happens. For more information, e-mail [email protected].

NOTE: If classes are meeting but you feel that you cannot find a safe way to get to class, you

should notify me as soon as possible.

Intellectual Property PolicyQueens University of Charlotte faculty and students adhere to the Queens‘ Intellectual PropertyPolicy and U.S. Copyright Law. See Faculty Handbook, http://moodle.queens.edu, and the

Queens University of Charlotte website at http://www.queens.edu.

Important Dates:

Classes begin August 25Last day to ADD September 1

Labor Day September 6

Last day to DROP September 8

Fall Break October 14-17Last day to WITHDRAW October 18

Thanksgiving Break November 21-28

Final papers due December 8Classes end December 9

Reading Day December 10

Examination period December 11-17

http://portal.queens.edu/



http://www.queens.edu/alert





http://www.queens.edu/







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