WTNG100 - Introduction to Academic Writing – Fall 2021 [SECTION 100-09]

Instructor: Joyce Cote, Ph.D.

Class Times and Location: MWF 11 – 11:50 am ELS 112
Office Hours: MWF 2-3 pm in ELS (or outside of the building, side facing the baseball field)
Zoom office meetings by appointment only.
Email: jcote@rwu.edu

Course Description
Welcome to WTNG 100 – Introduction to Academic Writing.

This course focuses on the connection between

reading and writing and emphasizes the
development of close reading, rhetorical
understanding, and writing as conversation. In a
series of increasingly complex assignments, you’ll
cultivate rhetorical and writing process
knowledge as well as an understanding of the
general expectations of an academic discourse
community. Assignments focus on academic
summaries and analyses of public texts. You will
write several shorter, informal writing assignments and three longer, more formal writing
assignments that you’ll take through the drafting process from first draft, peer review, and final
draft. Students must earn a C- or higher in the course to enroll in WTNG 102. (Lecture, 3 credits)

Required Texts and Supplies

 Bean, John C., Virginia A. Chappell, and Alice M. Gillam. Reading Rhetorically. 4 th ed.
Boston, MA: Pearson, 2014. ISBN-13 978-0-321-84662-4
 A notebook for taking notes, drawing concept maps etc.

Course Outcomes
By the end of the course, the successful student will have developed competencies in the
following areas.

Subject Matter Knowledge

 Define rhetorical situation, genre, summary, paraphrase, analysis, audience, purpose,
thesis statement, topic sentence, unity, and coherence

Writing Process Knowledge

 Use practices many writers employ to write summary and analysis
 Use the generative power of writing to increase comprehension and develop ideas
 Use instructor and peer-review feedback to improve written work

Rhetorical Knowledge
  Apply rhetorical concepts of audience and purpose to writing and reading situations

Genre Knowledge
 Work with genre conventions to write summaries and textual/ rhetorical analyses
 Connect thesis statements and topic sentences to unified, coherent, and well-developed
paragraphs and papers
 Identify and use appropriate types of support

Discourse Community Knowledge

 Understand and work within general expectations of the academic discourse
community. These include valuing disciplined, open-minded inquiry, employing reasons
and evidence, and producing clear, reader-centered prose.

Meta-cognition
 Practice ongoing self-assessment of writing processes and products.

Grading
Grades will be determined based on the total number of points you earn over the course of the
semester. All assignments will have point value listed in Bridges.
The grade scale is as follows:
 94-100% = A, 90-93% = A-, 87-89% = B+, 84-86% = B, 80-83% = B-, 77-79% = C+,
74-76% = C, 70-73% = C-, 67-69% = D+, 64-66% = D, 60-63% = D-

Note: For WTNG 100 and WTNG 102, C- is the minimum passing grade for the course. A grade
of NP (Not Passing) will be assigned to those projects that do not meet course competencies. A
grade of F will be assigned when projects are not completed. No D range grade will be assigned
as a midterm-warning or final grade. In order to turn in a portfolio, all NP papers must be
revised until they earn credit.

Health and Safety Policies

Please be mindful of the latest health protocols of the university. In order to conduct classes in
a safe and healthy way at this time, the university requires that all students do a self-screening
for symptoms each day using the assigned app before leaving their residence and remain home
if they exhibit any of these.  Face coverings are required by everyone in the classroom at all
times. When we meet outdoors face masks are not required. Students who refuse to wear a
face covering indoors will be asked to leave the classroom due to the risk to others in the room.
Students who cannot comply due to personal health reasons are asked to email csas@rwu.edu.

Additional Resources

Student Accessibility Services

Students who wish to receive academic accommodations for this course must first register with
Student Accessibility Services (SAS). The most commonly requested accommodations are
extended time for testing and use of the SAS Testing Center. SAS will provide registered
students with an Academic Accommodations Authorization form to share with each instructor.
SAS is located on the 1st floor of the Main University Library in the Jeremy Warnick Center for
Accessibility and is open from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday.

For more information about the services and accommodations available through Student
Accessibility Services please review the following link: https://www.rwu.edu/go/sas

The Tutoring Center, part of the Center for Student Academic Success, will provide a variety of
tutoring options, both in-person and on-line. All of the services of the Tutoring Center are free
for RWU students.

Students can access the email tutoring system for the Writing Center at this website:
https://rwu.edu/go/email-writinghelp. The Writing Center help email system is not in-person
tutoring; it provides an email address to send your paper to a tutor for help. For additional
information about the Center please see the website https://rwu.edu/go/tutoring or enter
“Tutoring Center” in the Search bar at rwu.edu.

Title IX at Roger Williams University

Roger Williams University fosters a campus free of power-based personal violence including
sexual harassment, domestic violence, relationship violence, stalking, and/or any form of sex or
gender-based discrimination. If you disclose a personal experience as described above, either
verbally or in writing, faculty members are required to notify the Title IX Coordinator. To
disclose any such violence confidentially, contact one of the resources listed below:

 The RWU Counseling Center – 401-254-3124

https://www.rwu.edu/undergraduate/student-life/health-and-counseling/counseling-
center

 Health Services – 401-254-3156

https://www.rwu.edu/undergraduate/student-life/health-and-counseling/health-
services

Preferred Name Policy

Roger Williams University has an optional Preferred Name Policy that allows you to update your
name in our University records without requiring a legal name change. Students who might
consider using such a change include members of our trans communities. You can update your
name through your Student portal, then click on Student, then User Account. Preferred
Personal Information should appear and you can update your name there. Should students
have any questions or concerns, please reach out to the Registrar’s Office or Gabby Porcaro in
the Intercultural Center.

Academic Integrity
According to the Roger Williams University Catalog,
 Plagiarism is best defined as the incorporation of words and ideas of another
person in an attempt to claim that person’s work as one’s own. Thus, plagiarism
fails to engage in civil, scholarly discourse. It is sometimes a form of intellectual
theft and is always a form of intellectual fraud.
In its worst form, plagiarism may consist of directly copying large or small
portions of either printed or online works, or, as frequently happens in schools,
written papers of another student, without properly crediting the source(s) from
which they came. There are, however, more subtle forms of plagiarism as well.
Paraphrasing, which is the process of using alternative expressions to
communicate the meaning of another author’s words, is also a form of
plagiarism, unless the sources of those ideas are acknowledged.

An in-depth explanation of academic integrity and plagiarism, including the procedures for
addressing possible violations and the penalties for actual violations, can be found at
http://rwu.edu/academics/academic-affairs/academic-standards.

Writing Assessment
Committed to reflective practice, the Department of Writing Studies, Rhetoric, and Composition
conducts ongoing program assessment. Your portfolio or papers may be used (anonymously)
for this purpose unless you notify your instructor in writing.