The Georgia Tech Writing & Communication Program’s Core Concepts for ENGL 1101:
- Rhetoric. Students learn rhetorical strategies to create purposeful, audience-directed artifacts that present well-organized, well-supported, well-designed arguments using appropriate conventions of written, oral, visual, and/or nonverbal communication.
- Students develop confidence in using recursive strategies, including planning, drafting, critiquing, revising, publishing/presenting/disseminating, and reflecting.
- Multimodality. Students develop competence in major communication modalities (Written, Oral, Visual, Electronic, and Nonverbal) and understand the ways that the modalities work synergistically.
Objectives:
English 1101 teaches students communication and critical thinking skills that will prepare them to succeed academically at Georgia Tech and professionally in the workplace. This course provides opportunities for students to become more effective communicators as they refine their thinking, writing, speaking, designing, collaborating, and reflecting. Students will work both independently and collaboratively (such as on team projects or in peer review).
Building English 1101 courses around literature, film, science, technology, and pop culture, instructors provide students with exciting, intellectually engaging opportunities for learning. Students who complete courses with these themes explore topics while developing competence in multimodal communication.
While writing is a primary focus of English 1101, the course imagines written communication as part of a larger WOVEN framework that also includes oral, visual, electronic, and nonverbal communication. Working with teachers trained in digital pedagogy, students complete assignments in a wide variety of media, developing, for example, web sites, blogs, videos, PowerPoints, and podcasts, as well as more traditional written forms such as essays and reports. English 1101 introduces students to the complexities and challenges of writing to audiences in contexts where the written word interacts closely with visual and oral elements.
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“Writing is a process in which we discover what lives in us.” — Paul T. Corrigan
“Writing is . . . that oddest of anomalies: an intimate letter to a stranger.”— Pico Iyer
“The purpose of education is to develop the power to use the head, the hands, and the heart effectively, responsibly, and joyfully.” — Arthur Howe, Jr.
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Specifics of Section: “Travel and the Personal Essay”
The goal of this course is to deepen students’ appreciation of their study abroad experience by providing opportunities for site-based personal writing and communication.
Students will be exposed to a variety of personal essays from published authors and former students. Models will serve as inspiration for student work.
In this condensed course, the students will create videos, written compositions, photo essays, blog entries, reflections, oral presentations, and more. Individual and group work will be required. Students will be given multiple tasks throughout the study abroad semester to develop their skills in communicating across a variety of communication modes.
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.
Required Texts
Texts will be:
- uploaded to Canvas, the online course management system,
- shared via publicly accessible hyperlinks, or
- available from the GT Library.
WOVENtext is the Georgia Tech Writing and Communication Program’s open educational resource for multimodal communication: https://woventext.lmc.gatech.edu/Links to an external site.
Students should prepare to spend ~$50 for notebooks and writing/art supplies, photocopying, and entry fees for field trips.
Students will need several supplies for offline work:
- Small notebook, lined or unlined (portable, for class excursions).
- Large notebook, 8 ½" x 11" or A4 (or similar), lined or unlined.
- Writing utensils, including a pencil and sharpener (for writing in museums in which ink pens are not permitted).
- Students are welcome to include artwork in their course projects. Use colored pencils, markers, a mini watercolor kit, etc., if you are so inclined.
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Maintaining Your Blog
Students will submit work on a password-protected blog of their choice. The blog will serve as a portfolio of all your work throughout the course: homework responses, drafts of artifacts, final artifacts, reflections, etc. Free websites are available through https://sites.gatech.eduLinks to an external site.. In past semesters, students have found it easiest to sign up directly with WordpressLinks to an external site. for a free blog account.
Evaluation of Submitted Work
Work will be submitted in class, on a blog, and on Canvas. Students will receive grades and feedback from the instructor in Canvas and/or in person.
Work will be evaluated using the following criteria:
- Work demonstrates the student’s engagement in study abroad programmatic activities.
- Work demonstrates commitment to expanding cultural, social, and environmental awareness.
- Work exhibits evidence of careful observation and insightful reflection.
- Work is structured around an understanding of the personal essay.
- Work demonstrates a responsible use of sources.
- Work demonstrates creativity of expression.
- Work provides evidence of mastery of spelling, punctuation, and conventions.
- Work demonstrates an understanding of the rhetorical situation and audience.
Grading
20% Participation and Attendance
10% Project 1 – First Week Video (includes all assignments within this unit)
30% Project 2 – Zuihitsu (includes all assignments within this unit)
25% Project 3 - Photo Essay (includes all assignments within this unit)
15% WOVEN Portfolio Submission (in lieu of final exam)
[A: 90-100] Superior performance—rhetorically, aesthetically, and technically—demonstrating advanced understanding and use of the media in particular contexts. An inventive spark and exceptional execution.
[B: 80-89] Above-average, high-quality performance—rhetorically, aesthetically, and technically.
[C: 70-79] Average (not inferior) performance. Competent and acceptable—rhetorically, aesthetically, and technically.
[D: 60-69] Below-average performance. Needs substantive work — rhetorically, aesthetically, and/or technically.
[F: 0-59] Unacceptable performance. Failure to meet minimum criteria rhetorically, aesthetically, and/or technically.
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What Constitutes Participation?
My goal is to involve you in the learning process. Your work, peer review, comments, and analysis will provide much of the substance of our class. To this end, your participation will be assessed on three main criteria:
- Quality and Quantity of Contributions to Class Sessions. Do you participate in every class? Did you volunteer at least one time to share your work in a full-class workshop? Do you make sure you remain respectful during class discussion? Do you listen carefully to the instructor and other students and respond to their contributions? Do you ask good follow-up questions? Do you take notes?
- Preparedness. Do you come to class ready to work, with all required preparations completed? Do you show up on time? Do you bring your textbooks and writing supplies to class?
- Do you contribute to group projects effectively, both in and out of class time? Do you put full effort into peer review? Do you make use of office hours?
Below is a guideline for participation grades:
“A” participation: superlative preparation (multiple readings of all assigned texts, excellent assignments, and further reading) for all class sessions, full awareness and focus while in class (not sleeping or checking social media or talking when you shouldn’t), frequent substantive contributions to discussion (driven by inquisitiveness, respect, and honesty), questions or comments that further the discussion and invite classmates to respond, awareness about staying quiet so others may talk, full participation and leadership in group work and peer review, excellent homework and class assignments.
“B” participation: full preparation for all class sessions (full reading of all assigned texts good assignments), good awareness and focus while in class (not sleeping or checking social media or talking when you shouldn’t), frequent substantive contributions to discussion (driven by inquisitiveness, respect, and honesty), questions or comments that further the discussion and invite classmates to respond, full participation in group work and peer review, excellent homework and class assignments.
“C” participation: satisfactory preparation (at least one reading of all assigned texts, basic fulfillment of assignments), awareness, and focus while in class (not sleeping or checking social media or talking when you shouldn’t), substantive contributions to discussion (driven by inquisitiveness, respect, and honesty), questions or comments that further the discussion and invite classmates to respond, full participation in group work and peer review, excellent homework and class assignments.
“D” participation: lack of awareness and focus (sleeping in class, checking your phone or laptop when asked not to do so, and preparation (not doing the readings or completing assignments), disruptive and/or disrespectful behavior, frequent tardiness or leaving class early, lack of contributions to class discussion, failure to participate in group work.
Attendance
I expect you to attend class regularly. You are allowed four absences, which should be reserved for illness or other emergencies. If you have five absences, your final grade will be lowered 10 points (a full letter grade). If you have six unexcused absences, you will receive a grade of “F” for the course. I will make exceptions only in the case of extended hospitalization, for which I will require documentation.
Attendance will be recorded via a sign-up sheet that will be passed around at the beginning of class. If you do not arrive in time to sign the sheet, you will be marked absent. Individuals who leave class early will be marked absent.
You are responsible for information and materials you miss. You should obtain notes from classmates and make sure you come to the next class prepared.
Please be courteous and send me a message in Canvas if you will be unable to attend class.
Academic Honesty / Integrity
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.
One serious kind of academic misconduct is plagiarism, which occurs when a writer, speaker, or designer deliberately uses someone else’s language, ideas, images, or other original material or code without fully acknowledging its source by quotation marks as appropriate, in footnotes or endnotes, in works cited, and in other ways as appropriate (modified from WPA Statement on “Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism”). If you engage in plagiarism or any other form of academic misconduct, you will fail the assignment in which you have engaged in academic misconduct and be referred to the Office of Student Integrity, as required by Georgia Tech policy. We strongly urge you to be familiar with these Georgia Tech sites:
The Office of Student Integrity — http://www.osi.gatech.edu/index.php/Links to an external site.
The Honor Code — https://osi.gatech.edu/students/honor-codeLinks to an external site.
ENGL 1101 ENGL COMPOSITION I
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