1. Professor Dr. Julie Pal-Agrawal General Education, Composition Kaplan University 1 CM 220 College Composition II

2. UNIT 1 SEMINAR Changing the World, One Idea at a Time 2 Course outcomes Syllabus information Tips for success Academic writing Writing experiences

3. Course Description 3 CM220 is designed to develop the writer’s skills in: Research Analysis of research Application of critical thinking skills Development of effective arguments Supporting arguments with credible sources APA citation Collaboration Prewriting, editing, and revision process

4. BIG IDEAS 4 CM220 takes the theme of invention and the exploration of BIG IDEAS that impact the world, our communities, and our lives, while situating these themes within a persuasive writing framework. Students explore and practice several persuasive forms of writing throughout the course and examine writing as invention in various settings and situations. They will create an “appeal for change” as a final project that presents an idea and a plan for implementation. One component of the final will be a multi-modal component such as a blog, podcast, or web site that can disseminate their idea to a wide audience.

5. COURSE OUTCOMES 7 CM220-1: Construct logical arguments CM220-2: Develop strategies for effective problem solving CM220-3: Conduct research to support assertions made in personal, academic, and professional situations CM220-4: Articulate what constitutes effective communication in personal, professional and diverse contexts CM220-5: Demonstrate effective listening strategies

6. Late Policies 6 All unit assignments (projects, quizzes, discussion, seminar, etc.) are due Tuesday by 11:59 pm ET of the unit assigned. Late assignments can be marked down one letter grade for each unit the assignment is late. For example, if you turn in your Unit 5 project, a “B” paper with a grade of an 85%, during Unit 6, one letter grade will be deducted from it, giving you a grade of C (75%). If you turn this project in during Unit 7, two letter grades will be deducted from it, giving you a grade of D (65%). As you can see, it is to your benefit to submit assignments on time. Late discussion posts to classmates may not receive credit as their purpose is to further the discussion and the discussion cannot be furthered after it has ended. Assignments submitted more than three units late may not be accepted. Unit 9 projects will not be accepted without prior approval from the instructor or an approved incomplete grade request.

7. Project Guidelines 7 Projects due Tuesdays by 11:59 p.m est. Use the correct unit’s dropbox to post assignments Write documents in MS Word with “doc” or “docx” extension Read grading rubric and project guidelines carefully! Be sure to review Kaplan’s plagiarism policy (see the syllabus and the Writing Center for details)

8. Substantive Invention Lab Posts Will… 8 Avoid short expressions of agreement or disagreement or summaries of a classmate’s post. Pose follow-up questions to issues raised by myself or other students in order to encourage further discussion. Use personal experiences to illustrate your points. Recommend alternative solutions to problems and offer constructive disagreement with issues raised by your peers. Refer to our course readings and offer relevant parallels between those readings and our discussions. Demonstrate your knowledge of the course material. Stay on topic. Be about 200-250 words for the main response and 100 words for responses to classmates. Requirements vary for each unit, so read instructions and review any examples carefully.

9. Effective Seminar Discussions 9 Be respectful Avoid side conversations Be prepared—briefly review material before class Stay on topic Ask questions! Use ??? before a ?

10. Seminar 2 Option 10 Only required if you miss the live seminar Select the “seminar” tab for that unit. Review the questions carefully. Post a response of about 200-300 words in that seminar’s discussion thread by the end of the unit. No seminar credit will be given after a unit ends. Review the archive before responding to the question(s).

11. Virtual Tour of Course 11

12. Unit 1 Assignments 12 Introduce yourself to the class Reading: Unit 1 overview; The Kaplan Guide to Successful Writing, chapters 1, 2, 3, 8, 15 Invention Lab: Identify a “big idea” to explore or review an existing idea from the Innovation Gallery Seminar: Introduction to course, methods of discovery, and field trip to register with the New York Times or Washington Post

13. Introduce Yourself 13 Karl Marx (1818-1833) famously said, “The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point, however, is to change it." Marx’s quote about change implies that it is not enough merely to think about the world. The implication is that we also have the responsibility to change the world. Why is it our responsibility to create change in the world? What positive influence would you most like to have, and how might you go about doing that? Also, tell the class anything that will help us to understand you, your thoughts on writing, and your goals for the future.

14. Invention Lab 14 What is a problem in the nation or in your community that needs changing and why? Do you have any “big ideas” for addressing this problem? This problem could be tied to your field of study or it could be something with more personal implications. If you do not yet have a “big idea,” find one from the Inspiration Gallery to discuss for this week’s lab. Hopefully, this unit will help inspire you to find a problem that needs solving or help you brainstorm potential ideas. Your initial post should be about 200-250 words, and your responses to two classmates should be a minimum of 100 words each. Offer suggestions regarding your classmate’s “big idea,” noting whether you think it is a solvable problem and why.

15. Other Course Assignments/Projects 15 Unit 2 project: 30 points (“pitch” your idea) Unit 4 quiz: 30 points (citing sources and avoiding plagiarism) Unit 4 project: 100 points (primary and secondary research project) Unit 6 project: 150 points (draft of persuasive essay) Unit 9 project: 240 points (5-7 page revision of blueprint for progress (unit 6), letter to the editor (unit 5), and presentation of Big idea (unit 7), as well as a reflection on the student’s development of the Big Idea)

16. FINAL PROJECT 16 Is a portfolio consisting of revisions of the blueprint for progress that you will submit in unit 6, the letter to the editor that you will write for the unit 5 discussion, and the presentation that you will create for the unit 7 discussion. The presentation can be a blog, podcast, brochure, slide show, or one of the other multi- media forms covered in the tech labs (units 2-7) or approved by your instructor. You will also write a reflection piece that answers the following questions in paragraph form: What did you learn about yourself as a writer? As a thinker? What did you learn about the process of writing? What skills did you develop that might help you in the future? What did you take from the larger conversation with others? How did your feedback from peers and your instructor affect the revision of your blueprint, letter to the editor, and presentation?

17. TIPS FOR SUCCESS 17 Review the “course home” materials about the library, plagiarism, and navigating the E-college platform. Review the documents posted in Doc Sharing. Check e-mail and announcements frequently. Communicate with me and ask questions! Participate actively in the weekly discussions and seminars. Read grading rubrics and assignment guidelines carefully.

18. The Price of Poor Writing Poor writing costs you and me a lot of tax dollars. According to a 2004 report, states spend $221 million annually on remedial writing training, sometimes sending workers to $400-per-employee classes. The indirect costs of sloppy writing probably hurt taxpayers even more. Poor writing not only confuses citizens, but also slows down the government as workers struggle with unclear instructions or have to redo poorly written work.

19. Do you want to get a good job? According to the survey Two-thirds of companies said writing was an important responsibility for workers. 100 % of the states agreed that writing was important. More than 75 % of those responding said they take writing skills into account when hiring. According to an article in Personnel Today, 42% of employers complain about the basic writing skills of applicants.

20. Poor Writing Costs Companies $$$$$$ Example: Did you ever hear of the Adam Computer? In 1983, its manufacturer Coleco lost $35 million in one quarter and almost went out of business because customers who purchased its new line of computers found the instruction manuals unreadable, so they return their computers. Example: An oil company spent hundreds of thousands of dollars developing a new pesticide, only to discover that the formula had already been worked out five years earlier by one of the same company's technicians. He wrote his report so poorly that no one had finished reading it.

21. Clear, concise writing can save companies time and money. Example: Ground-operation manuals revised in plain language saved Federal Express an estimated $400,000 in the very first year. Example: Computer manufacturer Allen-Bradley found that the second most important reason that customers bought their product was because of the clarity of product instructions. Moreover, plain-language revision of their manuals reduced support calls from 50 a day to two per month.

22. Writing in the Digital World Writing is extremely important today for businesses because it is possible to have business associates that you never see or even talk to, but know only through e-mail. Since 70% of today’s business writing involves e-mail, the words you write give powerful impressions of not just yourself, but also of your company. What impression does this e-mail give? What did you mean by what the highlights of sites that we chose.? I thought that i did that. what part of the apa format did i not folow?

23. Are you willing to learn? Today's writing challenges include not only e-mail, but also the challenges of the Internet. Online documents must be clearly written. Web sites must be clearly written, user friendly, and motivate Internet surfers to become customers. Careless, mistake riddled writing drives people away. Potential customers look at the writing and ask themselves: “If the company can not hire people who can write well, can they deliver quality products and services?” Effective writing does not come naturally. It requires instruction, practice, and a willingness to learn.

24. In writing, why is knowing your purpose and the audience important?

25. AUDIENCE AND CONTEXT Writing does not occur in a vacuum. Everything is written to someone for some purpose. The email you send to your sister should be written differently than a proposal you send to a business client. Knowing the audience, purpose, and the context is vitally important to good writing. Ask yourself: “Why am I writing this? Who is my reader? What am I trying to say?”

26. What are the benefits to learning Standard American English? What is Standard American English?

27. Standard American English Standard American English is the common language, spelling, grammar, and punctuation used in the United States. It is the type of speech and writing that is expected in higher education and the workplace. When you use Standard American English, people can understand you no matter what part of the county they come from. Also, using Standard American English presents you as being an educated person. Using Standard American English shows respect for the reader and a desire to be someone the reader can relate to.

28. When should you use Standard American English?

29. When You Should Use Standard American English You should use Standard American English most of the time if not all the time. You want to get into the habit of using it. When speaking or writing to your friends or family, you are free to use dialect, slang, or any type of English (or other language) that you desire. However, in the "real world," the world of work, school, and careers, there are different expectations.

30. Some people have fallen into bad habits because of email! Here's an example of the type of email that I often receive: "im not sure how to double space can u help me with this thanks." This type of email is inappropriate in a school or business setting. Get in the habit of using Standard American English in your communications. This includes capital letters, spelling out words, and punctuation. Practicing this will help you to succeed in life.

31. Academic, formal, and informal writing Academic/formalInformal Uses standard American English (no slang, contractions) Carefully edited and revised Academic writing references and cites credible sources using conventions of a field (APA, MLA, etc.) May use slang, abbreviations, contractions Often not edited for grammar, mechanics, spelling Examples: text messages, e-mails, Facebook entries, Tweets, diary entries

32. Your toolbox USE! BE CAREFUL! MS Word Dictionary Thesaurus Bartleby.com School Library (live chats, Q & A, paper review, library) Returns from internet searches Blogs Wikipedia

33. Why do we bother to write? What is the purpose of writing?

34. Writing Writing is a form of communication. As with any form of communication, writing has a purpose: the message. The writer is trying to get a message to the reader. We write to inform, to persuade, to entertain, and/or to express an opinion.

35. Why do we study writing?

36. Why We Study Writing We study writing to learn to write clearly. When I speak to you, my message comes across through my words, my tone of voice, my gestures, and my body language. If you don't understand, you can ask me questions. When I write to you, you have only the words that I have written. You do not have my tone of voice, my gestures, or my body language, and you may not be able to ask my questions regarding what I have written. Therefore, I want to make sure that what I write has ONE meaning and ONLY ONE! When you read what I have written, I want you to understand my meaning. Most of us do not write that clearly naturally.

37. Writing Is the Key If you wanted to learn to play the piano, what would you do? You would take lessons and practice. That is what you will be doing in this class. Anyone can learn to write. Learning to write simply requires lessons and practice. Sometimes students start a writing class believing that what they will learn in it will only help them to do better in the writing class. On the contrary, writing is a skill you will need not only in every class you take, but in every career, and good writing is the key to getting a great job, keeping it, and being promoted.

38. Why write? Inform Persuade Entertain Deal with specific audiences

39. Advantages to writing Writing gives you time to reflect and research – shape and reshape material. Writing makes communication more precise. Writing provides a permanent record of thoughts, actions, and decisions. Writing saves time-- we absorb information more swiftly when we read than when we hear.

40. What to know before you write Purpose: Why are you writing? Audience: to whom are you writing? Context: Terminology Nature of text (essay, email, etc.)

41. Creating a Timeline If you wish to write a credible paper, you will need to give yourself adequate time. If your normal writing habit is to simply sit down and do everything on the night the paper is due, you are not likely to be successful in this class. Therefore, it would be a good idea to map out when you plan to complete the varying parts of the paper.

42. What is the writing process?

43. Writing Is a Six Step Process. Prewriting Organizing Drafting Cooling Revising Editing

44. The Process PREWRITING helps you to get ideas flowing. There are a number of techniques for prewriting, including free writing, clustering, journaling, brainstorming, and others. ORGANIZING means that you take the ideas generated from the prewriting and begin to put them into some sort of order, starting with grouping similar ideas. After the ideas are grouped, you put them into a rough outline that includes the main idea and the supporting details.

45. The Process (continued) DRAFTING is getting what you have to say down on paper. When you write your first draft, just write. Do not worry about details such as spelling, grammar, punctuation, or even if you are saying exactly what you want to say in the manner you want to say it. COOLING is when you put your writing aside. Overnight is best, but you should put it aside for at least 5-10 minutes. After you have completed your draft, walk away, and then come back and reread your essay. It will look different to you when you reread it.

46. The Process (Slide 3) REVISING means rereading and rewriting what you have written. You will need to revise everything you write, at least for this class. You will need to learn to always revise what you write.. EDITING begins when you are pleased with what you have written. Check spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. Use spell and grammar check or a dictionary. Check that you have followed proper APA format. Do not begin to edit until you are done with all of your revisions. Why waste time?

47. Prewriting Techniques Freewriting Brainstorming Bubbling Clustering Listing Informal outlining Annotating Questioning

48. Freewriting 48 Simply write and write about a topic. You record your thoughts, ideas, impressions, and feelings without interruption and without any concern for spelling, grammar, punctuation or even logic. The only problem with this style is that it really has no organization and you have to rewrite several times for organization.

49. Methods You Can Use to Find Your Point: Freewriting When free writing, write whatever comes to you. Don't evaluate your ideas; just write FAST! After you are done, read through your writing. Something you wrote may be the direction (point) in which you want to go.

50. Bubbling

51. Listing (sample topic: Banning cigarettes) Main pointsSupport from sources? Audience concerns to address Examples I could use Cigarettes are bad for everyone’s health, smokers and non-smokers alike Surgeon General (warnings), medical reports on second-hand and third-hand smoke effects Should the government outlaw everything that is bad for us (fast food, etc.?) Childhood asthma and allergies, even ear infections, often tied into parents’ smoking Those horrible pictures they showed in elem. School of black lungs of smokers!

52. Outlining We use an outline because it provides the structure we need to create an organized essay. Although our writing can use creativity, the essay that the outline will help you write is not creative writing. It is persuasive writing based on your own ideas. However, you must use facts, examples, and quotes from experts to support any claims that you make! The outline can help you decide what to include and where it would be most effective to place particular points. Another purpose of the outline is to determine how outside sources will fit into your paragraphs. You can use the formal (Roman Numeral) outline structure or a less formal version of the outline.

53. Informal 0utline example I. Introduction: The United States should ban smoking. A. Danger to health of smoker B. Danger to health of non-smoker C. Contributions to rising health costs in U.S. II. Smoking is dangerous to the health of smokers. A. Lung cancer risks B. Asthma and other breathing disorders C. Heart problems

54. Some questions to consider 54 What are differences between informative and persuasive writing? What kinds of persuasion do we see and use in our daily lives? How might you use persuasive writing in your professional life? What are some positive (or negative) experiences you have had with writing? What apprehensions do you feel about this class/final project?

55. Your Toolbox 55 MS Word Dictionary Thesaurus Bartleby.com Kaplan library Kaplan Writing Center (live chats, Q & A, paper review, library) Google Scholar Google Books Free academic databases and electronic journals available on-line http://www.wholeagain.com/free_acade mic_databases.html USE BE CAREFUL Returns from internet searches Blogs Wikipedia

56. Advantages to Writing 56 Writing gives you time to reflect and research – shape and reshape material. Writing makes communication more precise. Writing provides a permanent record of thoughts, actions, and decisions. Writing saves time-- we absorb information more swiftly when we read than when we hear.

57. What to know before you write 57 Purpose: Why are you writing? Audience: to whom are you writing? Context: Terminology Nature of text (essay, email, etc.)

58. Writing Styles 58 Levels of formality Informal Formal What are the differences in these styles and when would you use each one?

59. Academic Discourse 59 “Presentation of ideas (usually in written form) in academic or scholarly contexts that exhibits conventional characteristics in form and expression -- traditionally, such communication has been objective, analytical, and expository, and has generally advanced an argument for a particular thesis -- can also refer to conventions of discourse followed within individual scholarly disciplines -- is often addressed in writing instruction for college students” (Academic Discourse, 2010). What does this mean to you? What qualities would this type of writing have? What are the challenges of writing “this way”?

60. DISCOVERING IDEAS 60 Where do ideas for writing come from? Newspapers, magazines and journals Online discussion communities Current events http://innovationslab.wordpress.com/ Inspiration Gallery What are YOUR ideas for generating ideas?

61. INSPIRATION GALLERY 61 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_35KKa3b1c What is Zach’s BIG IDEA? What situation is the origin for his BIG IDEA?

62. What are your BIG IDEAS? 62 Share some of the possible Big Ideas you have. What are some local, national and global problems that you are interested in and that might be valuable to write about? How about a new product or software, improving an existing product or concept, or possibly starting a movement or business? Are there topics that might be problematic in any way, that might pose a challenge to the writer/audience ?

63. Field Trip 63 Register with The Washington Post or The New York Times http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp- dyn?node=admin/registration/register&destination=register&ne xtstep=gather&application=reg30- globalnav&applicationURL=http://www.washingtonpost.com/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp- dyn?node=admin/registration/register&destination=register&ne xtstep=gather&application=reg30- globalnav&applicationURL=http://www.washingtonpost.com/ http://www.nytimes.com/gst/regi.html