A composition course that develops writing skills beyond the levels of proficiency required by ENGL 1101, that emphasizes interpretation and evaluation, and that incorporates a variety of more advanced research methods. Develops communication skills in networked electronic environments, emphasizes interpretation and evaluation of cultural texts, and incorporates research methods in print and on the Internet.
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking involves understanding social and cultural texts and contexts in ways that support productive communication and interaction.
- Analyze arguments.
- Accommodate opposing points of view.
- Interpret inferences and develop subtleties of symbolic and indirect discourse.
- Use writing and reading for inquiry, learning, thinking, and communicating.
- Integrate ideas with those of others.
- Understand relationships among language, knowledge, and power.
- Recognize the constructedness of language and social forms.
Rhetoric
Rhetoric focuses on available means of persuasion, considering the synergy of factors such as context, audience, purpose, role, argument, organization, design, visuals, and conventions of language.
- Adapt communication to circumstances and audience.
- Produce communication that is stylistically appropriate and mature.
- Communicate in standard English for academic and professional contexts.
- Sustain a consistent purpose and point of view.
- Use a variety of technologies to address a range of audiences.
- Learn common formats for different kinds of texts.
- Develop knowledge of genre conventions ranging from structure and paragraphing to tone and mechanics.
- Control such surface features as syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
- Create artifacts that demonstrate the synergy of rhetorical elements.
- Demonstrate adaptation of register, language, and conventions for specific contexts and audiences.
- Apply strategies for communication in and across both academic disciplines and cultural contexts in the community and the workplace.
Process
Processes for communication—for example, creating, planning, drafting, designing, rehearsing, revising, presenting, publishing—are recursive, not linear. Learning productive processes is as important as creating products.
- Find, evaluate, analyze, and synthesize appropriate primary and secondary sources.
- Develop flexible strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proofreading.
- Understand collaborative and social aspects of writing processes.
- Critique their own and others’ works.
- Balance the advantages of relying on others with [personal] responsibility.
- Construct and select information based on interpretation and critique of the accuracy, bias, credibility, authority, and appropriateness of sources.
- Compose reflections that demonstrate understanding of the elements of iterative processes, both specific to and transferable across rhetorical situations.
Modes and Media
Activities and assignments should use a variety of modes and media—written, oral, visual, electronic, and nonverbal (WOVEN)—singly and in combination. The context and culture of multimodality and multimedia are critical.
- Interpret content of written materials on related topics from various disciplines.
- Compose effective written materials for various academic and professional contexts.
- Assimilate, analyze, and present a body of information in oral and written forms.
- Communicate in various modes and media, using appropriate technology.
- Use digital environments for drafting, reviewing, revising, editing, and sharing texts.
- Locate, evaluate, organize, and use research material collected from electronic sources, including scholarly library databases; other official (e.g., federal) databases; and informal electronic networks and internet sources.
- Exploit differences in rhetorical strategies and affordances available for both print and electronic composing processes and texts.
- Create WOVEN (written, oral, visual, electronic, and nonverbal) artifacts that demonstrate interpretation, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and judgment.
- Demonstrate strategies for effective translation, transformation, and transference of communication across modes and media.
- Ball, Sheppard, and Arola, Writer/Designer. Available through the Bedford Bookshelf.
- GT Writing and Communication Program, WOVENText Open Educational Resource.
Grades & Assessment
This is a process-based class, which means that we’ll be prioritizing your growth as a communicator as much as (if not more than) the quality of any one piece of work. In order to do so, we will use a specifications-based grading system. In contrast to traditional grades (think of the 0%-100% scale you’re probably used to), which focus on quantifying your performance into percentages, this system prioritizes your growth, the amount of work you put into the course, and your ability to meet our shared learning outcomes. Short “milestone” assignments and class engagement assignments will be graded for completion. If your submission meets the “Criteria for Success” listed in the assignment instructions, it will be marked “Complete.” Your three major artifacts and reflective portfolio will be graded according to a four-point scale, from 0 (“Not Assessable”) to 3 (“Excellent”). I will also provide you with substantive feedback on each project so that you know where you might focus your attention moving forward. If you are not satisfied with your performance on any assignment or project, you will have the opportunity to revise the final artifact for any two project sequences.
Here is a more detailed explanation of the grading scale for the Artifacts and Portfolio:
- 3 (Excellent): Exceeds the expectations of the assignment. Demonstrates sophisticated understanding of course concepts, even with some room for further growth.
- 2 (Meets Expectations): Understanding of course concepts is evident, but there is room for substantial improvement.
- 1 (Revision Encouraged): Meets some, but not all, expectations for the assignment.
- 0 (Not Assessable): Fails to meet basic expectations for the assignment. Revision required.
Grading Specification & Overall Course Grades
To earn an A in the course, you must:
Do everything required for a B
Earn a 3 on one additional Artifact or on a total of two Artifacts and the Reflective Portfolio
Earn an Engagement score of at least 90%
To earn a B in the course, you must:
Do everything required for a C
Earn a 3 on two of three Artifacts or on one Artifact and the Reflective Portfolio
Earn an Engagement score of at least 80%
To earn a C in the course, you must:
Do everything required for a D
Earn a 2 or above on three of three Artifacts
Earn a 2 or above on the Reflective Portfolio
Earn an Engagement score of at least 70%
To earn a D in the course, you must:
Complete the Common First Week Video
Earn a 1 or above on three of three Artifacts
Earn a 1 or above on the Reflective Portfolio
Earn an Engagement score of at least 60%
A grade of F is earned if a student fails to meet the specifications for a D.
What counts toward the Engagement Score?
- Class attendance: Being present, on time, and on task during class (25%, completion based)
- Homework: Short assignments, preparatory drafts, peer feedback exercises, and other low-stakes assignments (25%, completion based)
- Participation: Coming to class prepared, participating verbally in large and small group discussions, and abiding by our classroom community guidelines. Participation may also be demonstrated through additional activities such as visiting the Naugle Writing & Communication Center, demonstrating connections between our class and other classes or real-world events you observe, helping your peers, etc. (25%, self-assessed)
- Group Project Contributions: Fulfilling your duties as outlined in your Artifact 3 Group Contract, contributing tangibly to your group’s project, and being an active and responsible member of your team (25%, self- and group-assessed)
Revision:
I value your growth in this course; writing is a process. For that reason, if you wish, you may choose to revise either of the major project artifacts for either Sequence 1 or Sequence 2 and re-submit for consideration for a grade improvement.
If you choose to revise, you may do so at any time before the end of the semester. To be eligible to submit an assignment for revision, you must have completed all components of the assignment by its original due date (or your original extended due date – the point is that you can’t just submit everything in the last week of class). To submit a revision, please send materials through Canvas (adding an additional new submission to the original submission page) and be certain to include a substantial description of not only what you have revised but also a statement of justification about how these revisions help you to better attain your goals for the assignment. You may submit a revision once for any given assignment, and any revision submitted without a revision justification statement will be disregarded without notice. Revisions are due no later than 11:59PM one week before the last day of class. Your grade for the revised assignment might go up; it will not go down. I will not be able to provide written feedback on re-submitted assignments.
Attendance Policy
Class will occur during live in-person sessions every Tuesday and Thursday unless otherwise noted or announced. Your attendance at these sessions is important, and your contributions to discussion are strongly encouraged; inquiry-driven learning works best when we learn from (and with) each other.
However, while I will be taking attendance for my own records, and engaging with each other during class meetings is crucial to your learning, our attendance policy is somewhat flexible. For each class, I will post any relevant slides and handouts on Canvas. You may miss up to four class periods (i.e. miss the class meeting and not do any make-up work) without penalty (exceptions are allowed for Institute-approved absences and situations such as hospitalization or family emergencies). You do not need to explain why you are missing class, but an email to let me know that you will be absent is appreciated. If you are substantially late to class or leave early (15 minutes or more) three times, that will count as one full absence from class.
If you miss entire classes more than four times, however, your grade will begin to be impacted; you will lose 5% off of your class attendance grade (part of your engagement score) for each additional absence. Missing more than 7 classes (for whatever reason) may result in failure of the class, as determined by the instructor in consultation with the Director of the Writing and Communication Program.
Regardless of why you are absent or how many absences you have accrued, you will need to review the notes and complete any exercises, reflections, or activities that we do in class as best you can on your own, as soon as possible after class and ideally before the next class.
While I am always happy to provide clarification about course concepts or assignments, if you need to be absent, you should always begin by reviewing the notes and checking in with a classmate who can provide you with a summary of the day’s activities. I will also not remind you to complete the make-up work, as your course grade is your own responsibility.
Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. All work submitted must be original and properly cited. Plagiarism, cheating, or any form of academic dishonesty will result in immediate consequences as outlined in the university's academic integrity policy.
AI Policy:
This course is about growing in your ability to write, communicate, and think critically. Generative AI agents such as ChatGPT, DALL-E 2, and others present great opportunities for learning and for communicating. However, AI cannot learn or communicate for you, and so cannot meet the course requirements for you.
In this course, using generative AI tools in the work of the course (including assignments, discussions, ungraded work, etc.) is allowed only in instances specified by your instructor.
In this course, you are allowed to use generative AI tools to:
- Create audio summaries of course documents and other written texts to use as a review tool, NOT as a substitute for fully completing assigned readings.
- Generate citations for Works Cited entries. But be sure to check/correct those citations using a current style guide, like ones shared via the Purdue Online Writing Lab.
- Check your writing for spelling and grammar errors. But you may NOT allow the AI tools to edit or rewrite sentences for you.
You are not allowed to use generative AI tools to:
- Generate or edit content (your writing, presentation slides, or multimodal elements) for any of your course assignments. That includes reading notes, outlines, feedback for your peers, first drafts, or final drafts of projects.
- Write or rewrite your sentences or phrases. I want to hear YOUR voice, not a robot’s.
Please also do not upload or copy any course materials (assignments, syllabi, your peers’ work) into any GenAI app or site without express permission.
As with any technology, generative AI tools need to be used critically and according to academic and professional expectations. Thus, in instances in which you are allowed generative AI tool use, you are expected to adhere to these principles:
- Responsibility: You are responsible for the work you submit. In instances in which you are allowed generative AI tool use, this means that any work you submit should be your own, with any AI assistance appropriately disclosed (see “Transparency” below) and any AI-generated content appropriately cited (see “Documentation” below). While not relevant to this class, it is important to note that in any other instance where you use generative AI, you must ensure that any factual statements produced by a generative AI tool are true and that any references or citations produced by the AI tool are correct.
- Transparency: Any generative AI tools you use in the work of the course should be clearly acknowledged. This work includes not only when you use content directly produced by a generative AI tool (although you shouldn’t be doing that for this class anyway) but also when you use a generative AI tool in the process of composition (for example, for brainstorming, outlining, or translation purposes).
- Documentation: You should cite any content generated by an AI tool as you would when quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing ideas, text, images, or other content made by other people.
Using generative AI tools at times not allowed by the instructor will be considered an infraction of the Georgia Tech Honor Code subject to investigation by the Office of Student Integrity. Likewise, using generative AI tools in the course without adhering to these principles will be considered an infraction of the Georgia Tech Honor Code subject to investigation by the Office of Student Integrity.
ENGL 1102 ENGL COMPOSITION II
This is a Core IMPACTS course that is part of the Writing area.
Core IMPACTS refers to the core curriculum, which provides students with essential knowledge in foundational academic areas. This course will help master course content, and support students’ broad academic and career goals.
This course should direct students toward a broad Orienting Question:
- How do I write effectively in different contexts?
Completion of this course should enable students to meet the following Learning Outcomes:
- Students will communicate effectively in writing, demonstrating clear organization and structure, using appropriate grammar and writing conventions.
- Students will appropriately acknowledge the use of materials from original sources.
- Students will adapt their written communications to purpose and audience.
- Students will analyze and draw informed inferences from written texts.
Course content, activities and exercises in this course should help students develop the following Career-Ready Competencies:
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Persuasion