PEER REVIEW: Peer review enhances your critical thinking, reading, and editing abilities and provides feedback on your essay before it is graded. For each peer review session, you will pre-circulate your draft to your assigned group, review the work using a peer review sheet (provided), then utilize class time to conference about your feedback. This way, you will have a hard copy of your peers' responses; these responses should be in the context of the writer's intentions (as stated on his/her author sheet) and in terms of the assignment (posed as questions on the peer review sheet).
Ultimately, the decision for what to change and what to keep in your draft is yours. Peer review is an extension of your understanding of the assignment and the readings. Being able to provide constructive criticism and feedback to your peers indicates that you are engaged both with his/her work and the assignment in general. Constructive peer review is not 'This is great' or 'I don't understand,' but, rather, explains why something is great or difficult to understand in relation to the writer's argument.
To receive credit for peer review, you must pre-circulate your paper and attend the peer review session with commented drafts of your peers' works.
CONFERENCES: We plan to require at least 1 conference this semester. Please feel free to schedule other conferences or drop by during office hours. At these conferences we will entertain specific questions you have about your drafts; in other words, don't come to the conference and ask, 'Is my paper OK?' but rather ask, 'Is my thesis arguable?' or 'Does the evidence in ΒΆ2 support my stated reason?' Missing a conference is the equivalent of one class absence.
LATE PAPERS: All writings are due as specified. Anything turned in after this time is considered late. Late unit papers may have their grades lowered by one point for every day late; the penalty sticks to the paper even if it is revised. If you have an emergency or will be missing an extended period of class, please contact us as soon as possible to make arrangements for other due dates.
Additionally, leaving assignments in our mailboxes, submitting them via email, or sliding them under our office doors without making arrangements to do so is unacceptable. Papers will be considered late until properly turned-in.
MISSING PAPERS: All writing assignments must be submitted and presented to pass the course.
In SAGES, writing instruction is integrated into the seminar experience.
The class will be characterized by intense, yet open-ended intellectual inquiry, guided by reading, lectures, and discussion, and will include practice in written and oral communication individually and in small groups. The result of a writing intensive course is, hopefully, mastery of a variety of methods of writing. You will be introduced to the elements of effective written communication and learn to organize and express your ideas in a clear and convincing manner; to argue logically, evaluate ideas, understand issues and support a position with credible evidence. You will be expected to read and think critically and asked to analyze different pieces of writing. In a larger scope, this course is meant to introduce you to the methods of inquiry, contexts, and writing involved in the academic community.
In these contexts, the primary goal of the Writing Instructor is to help you to become a better communicator by teaching you to write more effectively. The secondary aims are to make you more aware of your own writing process as a means of helping you write better and to encourage your awareness of the processes of communication (rhetoric).
Academic Honesty: Plagiarism, whether from printed, unprinted, or digital sources, is a serious violation of ethical conduct, and will be dealt with severely. Plagiarism is not only misrepresentation, it can also be a form of theft. The following is the Case Western Reserve University policy on academic integrity: 'Academic integrity is the pursuit of scholarly activity free from fraud and deception and is an educational objective of this institution. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarizing, fabricating information and/or citations, facilitating acts of academic dishonesty by others, having unauthorized possession of examinations, submitting the work of another person, or work previously used without informing the instructor, or tampering with the academic work of other students.' It also includes buying or 'borrowing' papers from any source, electronic or otherwise, and attempting to pass them off as your own. Any form of plagiarism is unacceptable and will result in an immediate failing grade for the assignment (and, quite possibly, for the course). We recommend you review the University Bulletin: http://bulletin.case.edu/.
Writing Support: The Writing Resource Center (WRC) is staffed by lecturers and graduate students in the English Department. There are several locations around campus for face-to-face tutoring and on weekends online tutoring is available. To make an appointment, please go to www.casewconline.com. More information about the WRC can be found at: http://www.case.edu/artsci/engl/writing/writingcenter.html. Please note that the WRC does offer editing or proofreading services. Tutors will work with you to develop your strengths as writers.
There is also the SAGES Peer Writing Crew offering peer tutoring. Face-to-face appointments can be made at tutortrac@case.edu.
ESL Support: SAGES ESL Program writing@case.edu (Hee-Seung Kang hxk322@case.edu, Gusztav Demeter gusztav.demeter@case.edu)