1
Department of English Studies
Nipissing University
August 2012
To: ARCC
From: Department of English Studies
This document contains 5 motions for consideration.
MOTION 1: That ENGL 1501, Language and Written Communication I, be deleted.
Rationale: This course has been reshaped and newly coded as ACAD 1501.
MOTION 2: That ENGL 1502, Language and Written Communication II, be deleted.
Rationale: This course has been reshaped and newly coded as ACAD 1601.
MOTION 3: That ENGL 3505, Studies in Medieval Literature, be deleted.
Rationale: The Department of English Studies does not have a Medievalist. This course has not been offered for at least 10 years, and there is no reason to imagine it will be offered in the foreseeable future.
MOTION 4: That the non-substantive corrections listed below be made to the English Studies information in the Academic Calendar.
Rationale: This is a list of errors that have come to our attention.
►English Studies Courses by Groups – page 95 of the current Calendar
a) ENGL 3126, Composition: Theory and Practice I, and ENGL 3127, Composition: Theory and Practice II, should read as follows:
ENGL 3126, Writing for Mass Media: Challenging Popular Forms
ENGL 3127, Writing for Digital Media: From Tweeting to Establishing a Professional Online Presence
►Course Descriptions – pp. 212-220 of the current Calendar:
b) ENGL 2015 – first sentence: “wholistic” should be holistic
c) “ENGL 2506” and “ENGL 2507” – these courses are incorrectly coded: they are ENGL 2056 and ENGL 2057
d) “ENGL 2506” [really 2056] – first sentence should read “Students study a selection of Canadian and/or American drama, concentrating primarily on works….”
e) ENGL 3206 and ENGL 3207 – remove the reference to ENGL 2005 and replace with “Students in a Gender Equality and Social Justice program who have not completed the prerequisite may request….”
f) ENGL 3276 and ENGL 3277 – remove the references to ENGL 2005, 2006, and 2007 and replace with “Native Studies students who have not completed the prerequisite may request….”
MOTION 5: That the English Studies Course Expectations/Outcomes listed below be approved.
Course Expectations – 2012-2013
COURSE CODE: ACAD 1501
COURSE NAME: Preparation for Academic Writing
ACAD 1501 provides an overview of basic sentence, paragraph, and essay development in preparation for academic and public writing at the introductory level. Students learn to recognize
and attend to various modes of writing and writing situations. Reading assignments direct students from basic comprehension to basic critical discernment, and writing assignments will direct students from summary and report to introductory analysis and argument. Introductory workshops in library research and documentation provide a basic preparation in information literacy.
EXPECTATIONS OR OUTPUTS (skills measured through assignments)
BY THE END OF THE COURSE, STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO
1. identify the conventions of standard written English.
2. write structurally sound sentences, using appropriate syntax and adhering to grammar and punctuation conventions.
3. apply a multi-draft writing process.
4. recognize conventions of format and structure appropriate to different rhetorical situations.
5. conduct searches for information in a variety of sources and formats.
6. practise successful and ethical documentation of sources.
OUTCOMES
STUDENTS WHO SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE THIS COURSE WILL DEMONSTRATE
1. an ability to recognize and refine a purpose for writing.
2. a promising ability to recognize and ask scholarly questions.
3. a promising ability to apply the writing process as a method of thinking through problems.
4. an understanding of the steps involved in planning, drafting, revising, and editing essays.
Course Expectations – 2012-2013
COURSE CODE: ACAD 1601
COURSE NAME: Academic Writing
ACAD 1601 allows students to cultivate skill sets for effective academic writing at the intermediate level. With an emphasis on critical thinking and problem solving through the writing process, students learn to discern, respond to, and write logical, compelling academic questions in clear, coherent prose. Readings, skill-specific writing assignments, writing workshops, seminars in information literacy, and instructor feedback provide a structure for the course, as students practise foundational skills in academic inquiry, argumentation, expression, research, and documentation. This course may count towards the Humanities breadth requirement.
EXPECTATIONS OR OUTPUTS (skills measured through assignments)
BY THE END OF THE COURSE, STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO
1. recognize and formulate scholarly questions.
2. use critical reading, thinking, and writing for sustained inquiry and communication.
3. analyze and engage with the arguments of experts in writing assignments and essays.
4. approach a writing assignment as a series of tasks, including finding, evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing appropriate primary and secondary sources.
5. critique effectively their own and others’ writing for premise, purpose, structure, and style.
6. cite research in an established documentation style.
OUTCOMES
STUDENTS WHO SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE THIS COURSE WILL DEMONSTRATE
1. an ability to identify and attend to their audience, purpose, argument, and possible biases.
2. an ability to adhere to the conventions of format and structure appropriate to the rhetorical situation.
3. an ability to write effective, coherent, and unified paragraphs.
4. an understanding of writing as a process of inquiry, revision, rethinking, and rewriting.
Course Expectations – 2012-2013
COURSE CODE: ACAD 2601
COURSE NAME: Academic Writing in the Humanities
ACAD 2601 allows students to cultivate foundational skills in research writing in the Humanities. Research Writing in the Humanities allows students to discern, define, understand and execute the reading and writing conventions specific to research writing in the disciplines. With an aim towards posing and answering a research question suitable for study in the field, students learn and practise the methodologies that allow them to establish a clear, logical, arguable, manageable and compelling thesis/hypothesis and argument/project. To this end, students develop skills in academic inquiry, research methods, information literacy,
documentation style, analysis, and effective writing and argumentation directly related to study in the field.
EXPECTATIONS OR OUTPUTS (skills measured through assignments)
BY THE END OF THE COURSE, STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO
1. respond effectively to the expectations of discipline-specific writing situations.
2. define and demonstrate critical reading, thinking, and writing skills appropriate to Humanities disciplines, adhering to the conventions of standard written English.
3. demonstrate a range of flexible strategies in Humanities research, writing, revising, and problem-solving processes.
4. demonstrate knowledge of genre, documentation style, and conventions of Humanities disciplines.
5. construct and implement effectively designed research strategies.
6. research and compose effectively in electronic environments.
OUTCOMES
STUDENTS WHO SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE THIS COURSE WILL DEMONSTRATE
1. an ability to recognize and apply methods and conventions of genre specific to the Humanities.
2. an ability to identify and attend to their primary audience, purpose, and argument.
3. an ability to use rhetorical patterns to form questions and shape responses.
4. an ability to develop and apply flexible strategies for generating ideas, researching, drafting, revising, and editing.
Course Expectations – 2012-2013
COURSE CODE: ACAD 2701
COURSE NAME: Academic Writing in the Social Sciences
ACAD 2701 allows students to cultivate foundational skills in research writing in the Social Sciences. Research Writing in the Social Sciences allows students to discern, define, understand and execute the reading and writing conventions specific to research writing in the disciplines. With an aim towards posing and answering a research question suitable for study in the field, students learn and practise the methodologies that allow them to establish a clear, logical, arguable, manageable and compelling thesis/hypothesis and argument/project. To this end, students develop skills in academic inquiry, research methods, information literacy,
documentation style, analysis, and effective writing and argumentation directly related to study in the field.
EXPECTATIONS OR OUTPUTS (skills measured through assignments)
BY THE END OF THE COURSE, STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO
1. respond effectively to the expectations of discipline-specific writing situations.
2. define and demonstrate critical reading, thinking, and writing skills appropriate to Social Science disciplines, adhering to the conventions of standard written English.
3. demonstrate a range of flexible strategies in Social Science research, writing, revising, and problem-solving processes.
4. demonstrate knowledge of genre, documentation style, and conventions of Social Science disciplines.
5. construct and implement effectively designed research strategies.
6. research and compose effectively in electronic environments.
OUTCOMES
STUDENTS WHO SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE THIS COURSE WILL DEMONSTRATE
1. an ability to recognize and apply methods and conventions of genre specific to the Social Sciences.
2. an ability to identify and attend to their primary audience, purpose, and argument.
3. an ability to use rhetorical patterns to form questions and shape responses.
4. an ability to develop and apply flexible strategies for generating ideas, researching, drafting, revising, and editing.
Course Expectations – 2012-2013
COURSE CODE: ACAD 2801
COURSE NAME: Academic Writing in the Sciences
ACAD 2801 allows students to cultivate foundational skills in research writing in the Sciences. Research Writing in the Sciences allows students to discern, define, understand and execute the
reading and writing conventions specific to research writing in the disciplines. With an aim towards posing and answering a research question suitable for study in the field, students learn and practise the methodologies that allow them to establish a clear, logical, arguable, manageable and compelling thesis/hypothesis and argument/project. To this end, students develop skills in academic inquiry, research methods, information literacy, documentation
style, analysis, and effective writing and argumentation directly related to study in the field.
EXPECTATIONS OR OUTPUTS (skills measured through assignments)
BY THE END OF THE COURSE, STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO
1. respond effectively to the expectations of discipline-specific writing situations.
2. define and demonstrate critical reading, thinking, and writing skills appropriate to Science disciplines, adhering to the conventions of standard written English.
3. demonstrate a range of flexible strategies in Science research, writing, revising, and problem-solving processes.
4. demonstrate knowledge of genre, documentation style, and conventions of Science disciplines.
5. construct and implement effectively designed research strategies.
6. research and compose effectively in electronic environments.
OUTCOMES
STUDENTS WHO SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE THIS COURSE WILL DEMONSTRATE
1. an ability to recognize and apply methods and conventions of genre specific to the Sciences.
2. an ability to identify and attend to their primary audience, purpose, and argument.
3. an ability to use rhetorical patterns to form questions and shape responses.
4. an ability to develop and apply flexible strategies for generating ideas, researching, drafting, revising, and editing.
Course Expectations – 2012-2013
COURSE CODE: DIGI 2305
COURSE NAME: Introduction to Digital Humanities
Digital technologies are dramatically challenging and changing areas of study and engagement that are largely the province of the humanities, namely the ways in which we learn, build knowledge, share information, and communicate. This survey course will introduce students to interdisciplinary questions about the impact of digital capacity on theory and culture, tools and applications, and the digital world. This course provides a foundation for continued study in the interdisciplinary field of digital humanities.
EXPECTATIONS OR OUTPUTS (skills measured through assignments)
BY THE END OF THE COURSE, STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO
1. identify and analyze the key concepts in the field of digital humanities.
2. assess the rhetorical weight of the presentation of human and/or corporate identity within digital media.
3. engage with and apply basic techniques of digital text analysis.
4. explain the basic theory of and approaches to digital social profiling.
5. assess the rhetorical weight of depictions of the post-human in fictional and/or analytical texts.
6. explain some basic theory related to the advanced study of digital games.
7. develop analytical arguments that examine one or more key concepts of digital humanities in proper essay format.
8. collaborate within a digital environment on an extended research project.
OUTCOMES
STUDENTS WHO SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE THIS COURSE WILL DEMONSTRATE
1. a broad understanding of the key concepts and methodologies of digital humanities.
2. an ability to formulate analytical questions about course themes.
3. an ability to develop lines of argument.
4. an ability to communicate in reliably clear, coherent, and correct prose.
Course Expectations – 2012-2013
COURSE CODE: DIGI 4006
COURSE NAME: Project in Digital Humanities
Project in Digital Humanities is a directed studies course. A student chooses an independent project in Digital Humanities according to his or her interests. S/he designs and completes the
project under the supervision of an instructor from a Digital Humanities discipline. Projects include both theoretical and practical components, and the course serves as a practicum to complete the Digital Humanities certificate.
EXPECTATIONS OR OUTPUTS (skills measured through assignments)
BY THE END OF THE COURSE, STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO
1. identify and analyze potential digital-based solutions to Humanities-based problems.
2. analyze the impact that digital culture has on one or more aspects of society and/or individuality.
3. produce a research report and/or a computer application, a website, or a collection of digital texts.
4. identify and analyze how their own work fits into related work in the field.
5. convey their research results or practicum experience to an academic audience both orally and in writing.
OUTCOMES
STUDENTS WHO SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE THIS COURSE WILL DEMONSTRATE
1. a solid understanding of at least one area of research in Digital Humanities.
2. an ability to gather, review, and assess academic and non-academic work relevant to their own project.
3. an ability to situate their own work within a broader context of related work.
4. an ability to communicate logical, analytical arguments in clear, correct, and persuasive prose.
Course Expectations – 2012-2013
COURSE CODE: ENGL 1105
COURSE NAME: Introduction to English Studies
This course examines four major literary forms – short and long narrative, poetry and drama – through a series of readings selected from various literatures written in English (Canadian, American, British, and other). Students are introduced to a variety of critical approaches and are encouraged to develop a critical vocabulary and the skills of literary analysis.
EXPECTATIONS OR OUTPUTS (skills measured through assignments)
BY THE END OF THE COURSE, STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO
1. identify the defining features of major literary forms: long and short prose narrative, poetry, and drama.