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Sunday
Syllabus
English II Writing: Structure and Style
Waseda University
Political Science & Economics
Autumn 2009-2010
Textbook:
Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue, Introduction to Academic Writing. Longman Academic Writing Series: Level 3 (Pearson Longman, 2006).
Other materials:
Students are also expected to have A4 size paper, pencils and pens of several colors for editing purposes, and access to a computer, word processor, or typewriter (to produce and edit typewritten documents).
Objectives:
The production of written work is fundamental to intellectual life at the university level. This first-year writing course is designed to help students develop the skills and strategies required for such work. Classes progress from the elements of paragraph writing to the production of complete essays. A broad range of issues is dealt with, from essential grammatical information and basic paragraph structure to the rhetorical conventions of academic expression, as well as matters such as formatting, citation, and the need to avoid plagiarism. In every case, the aim is to produce effective original writing with style that is clear, argument that is persuasive, and organization that is logical.
Assessment:
Grades will be determined from:
Attendance 30%
Participation 10%
Assignments 40%
Exams 20%
Schedule: The schedule may change slightly. Pay attention in class for announcements of changes to the schedule.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Class 1:
Introduction to the writing course
Thursday, October 1
Class 2:
Review of paragraph writing fundamentals; format of papers
Monday, October 5
Class 3:
Paragraph practice (I); punctuation (I)
Thursday, October 8
Class 4:
Paragraph practice (II); punctuation (II)
Monday, October 12
Class 5:
Paragraph practice (III); cohesion and coherence (I)
Thursday, October 15
Class 6:
Paragraph practice (IV); cohesion and coherence (II); extra topic (I)
Monday, October 19
Class 7:
From paragraph to essay; common errors (I)
Thursday, October 22
University Holiday: No Classes
Monday, October 26
Class 8:
Types of essay; common errors (II)
Thursday, October 29
Class 9:
Generating ideas; article usage in English
Monday, November 2
Class 10:
Outlining; paraphrasing and plagiarism (I)
Thursday, November 5
Class 11:
The introductory paragraph of an essay (I); paraphrasing and plagiarism
Monday, November 9
Class 12:
The introductory paragraph of an essay (II); idioms/set phrases; extra topic (II)
Thursday, November 12
Class 13:
The concluding paragraph of an essay (I); academic vocabulary (I)
Monday, November 16
Class 14:
The concluding paragraph of an essay (II); academic vocabulary (II)
Thursday, November 19
Class 15:
Mid-semester Review; Q & A session
Monday, November 23
Class 16:
The supporting paragraphs of an essay (I); major types of English
Thursday, November 26
Class 17:
The supporting paragraphs of an essay (II); sentence structure in English
Monday, November 30
Class 18:
The expository essay (I); use of abbreviations in English; extra topic (III)
Thursday, December 3
Class 19:
The expository essay (II); use of foreign words in English
Monday, December 7
Class 20:
The expository essay (III); style in academic writing: grammar and vocabulary
Thursday, December 10
Class 21:
The expository essay (IV); quotations/producing citations
Monday, December 14
Class 22:
The argumentative essay (I); proper nouns in English
Thursday, December 17
Class 23:
The argumentative essay (II); prepositional usage in English
Monday, December 21
Class 24:
The argumentative essay (III); common errors (III); extra topic (IV)
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Class 25:
The argumentative essay (IV); common errors (IV)
Monday, January 11
Seijin no Hi
Coming of Age Day: No Classes
Thursday, January 14
Class 26:
The comparison and contrast essay (I); word formation in English
Monday, January 18
Class 27:
The comparison and contrast essay (II); word order in English
Thursday, January 21
Class 28:
The comparison and contrast essay (III); quantities and numbers in English
Monday, January 25
Class 29:
The comparison and contrast essay (IV); overview of an academic paper
Thursday, January 28
Class 30:
FINAL REVIEW; Q & A session; concluding remarks
Hello! How's your handwriting?
Hello! Welcome back to school! I hope you had a refreshing summer and are ready to absorb a lot of learning this fall and winter. This semester, we will meet for English 2 Writing: Structure and Style.
In your future academic and professional work, you will be expected to produce typed, printed documents, and for that reason, it is desirable to use a computer to write, and preferably hold class in a computer room. However, there are not enough computer rooms available for every class that desires to use a computer room. Also, there are in fact some disadvantages as well as advantages to using a computer room for the class meetings.
For homework, you should try to produce typewritten documents whenever possible, but for writing assignments in class, and for "Rough Draft" types of writing, you may use your own handwriting. Please be sure that this handwriting is legible and accurate. I will not accept handwritten documents with improperly written letters such as an "o" written clockwise beginning and ending at the bottom; a "t" which is crossed before it is written, causing it to resemble a "p"; or a "d" which is written from the stem down. Being able to write English letters recognizably is a prerequisite of the course. For the purposes of review, you may want to look at this guide.
As you may know, the stroke order is important, as it is connected to how we write in faster, cursive style. Many people may have learned the wrong stroke order or formed bad habits due to the influence of their own writing system in their first language. I have some wrong habits myself regarding hiragana and katakana. Once formed, these habits are difficult to change. Also, the educational system may be at fault for eliminating the teaching of cursive writing in recent years. Most people under age 50 do not write in cursive style, and prefer to print. I also use a combination of mostly printing with a few cursive letters. Yet, you may find that learning to write cursively suits you, and also improves your printing, as it enforces the proper stroke order. Cursive writing has come back into style again recently for teaching children even in the first grade of elementary school. If you are interested in improving your cursive writing, see the lower-case (small letters) animations and stroke orders on this page!
You may notice some small differences in how to write a G, an I, a J, a K, an M, a Y, and other letters. Sometimes there are two different styles of writing a letter in use. However, this does not mean that you are free to write every letter any way you like! Although some small variations are possible, as in Japanese, certain odd ways of writing letters are not considered acceptable or recognizable.
By the way, if you are not able to use the computers at school adequately enough, or if you do not already have a computer at home, I recommend that you obtain one for your personal use during your university years. If you use Windows or Linux, small ultra-mobile "netbook" computers such as the Asus Eee PC can be as cheap as ¥30,000 or less. Better budget models are available for around ¥50,000. If you prefer Apple Mac OS X, you can get a laptop computer which is less than a year old for around ¥100,000. As a student, a computer is more important --and cheaper-- than a cell phone. If you can manage to use your computer for 4 years, the cost I cited will come down to a negligible ¥20 to ¥70 per day (plus printer, ink cartridges, paper, internet connectivity, and other associated costs) and will save you a lot of time trying to find a public computer to use!
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