- Approach writing as a process of improvement
- Discuss your thoughts about current issues
- Develop a helpful writing process for yourself
- Learn the parts of an essay to compose smart, lively papers
- Gain confidence in communicating with an audience
- Use Google Drive to produce, share, revise, and respond to digital documents, including your own
- Evaluate sources on a recent and personally important issue
- Content, by Cory Doctorow
- Purdue University Online Writing Lab
- Magazine articles about various topics
- Google Drive account
- A flash drive for storing software and backup documents
- How your grade is calculated
Final portfolio Assigned reading responses Peer and self-responses Daily activity | up to 475 points 150 points 200 points 150 points |
- Ask for help. If you are struggling or need help, tell me right away—we can meet for tutoring in my office. Please use extra time before class to ask me questions. If you seek help on assignments before they are due, you will see progress more quickly. Be sure to use your UNG email account if you send me an email.
- Participate. Arrive on time, stay until dismissal, take notes, speak your thoughts, and stay engaged to earn "Daily Activity" points.
- Make-Up Work. Work for this class includes assignments done on your own time as well as assignments done during class. When you are absent on a due date, you need proof of excuse to turn in missed work.
- Turning in work. Depending on the assignment, all work for credit will be composed in Google Drive. Be sure to confirm that you have met the word count/length requirement for each writing assignment. You will become proficient in several online technologies for writing, so you will need a working computer with decent internet. The computers in the labs here on campus work great if you don't have one at home. Never use email to turn in work.
- Email. The official form of communication at UNG is email. This policy protects all of us in the exchange of information. If you need to contact me about anything, whether personal or class related, please use your UNG email account to send a message to matthew.horton@ung.edu. This is my official UNG email address. Check your email two or three times a day for updates. Check it every hour if you have emailed me a question.
- Computers. Please log on as soon as you arrive and browse the website for this course. Review the calendar, look over some writing guides, reread assignment instructions, organize your course bookmarks, work on an essay in progress, etc. Please take care of all personal communication (e.g., email, texting, Facebook, etc.) and leisure usage (e.g., ESPN, Facebook, games, etc.) outside the classroom. Turn off your cell phone and put it out of reach. In the classroom, all that matters is your course work. Any sign that you are not taking full advantage of class time for class-related activities might prompt me to deduct "Daily Activity" points.
- Printers. I would prefer, to avoid distractions, that you not print any documents in the classroom while we are doing activities or having a discussion.
- Disruptive behavior. I emphasize the importance of sensitivity and respect in and out of class between you and me and between you and your classmates. Refrain from gestures, attitudes, tones, and words that are meant to be base, insulting, or provocative. Please do not express disagreement with my policies, decisions, or academic help in front of other students; I am happy to field complaints privately during my office hours. You should, of course, disagree openly with any of my ideas about the readings or the films we watch. I won't be angry at all; I will be quite pleased. If I disagree right back, don't get angry or feel embarrassed; just keep talking. Disagreement about ideas is a sure sign of their value. One other rule: if you come to class, don't leave early unless you have checked with me before class begins. You may have bottled water in the classroom, but food is too distracting.
- Academic honesty. All work submitted to fulfill requirements of this class must meet UNG standards of academic honesty. Violations of these standards include receiving or giving assistance on any graded assignment without my permission (aka, cheating), fabricating evidence for use in an assignment (aka, lying), and using another person's words or thoughts in your assignment without giving that person credit (aka, plagiarism). Penalty for committing these acts could range from a zero on the assignment to an "F" in the course.
- Withdrawal. Remember that you cannot withdraw from a class simply by not coming anymore; rather, you must withdraw yourself through Banner Web before the midpoint. Also, I reserve the right to request that you be withdrawn from the class if you miss more the 10% of the class meetings before or after midpoint. Please be familiar with the University Attendance Policies.
- Disclaimer. This syllabus is subject to change to meet the needs of the course.
