English 398V: Writing for the Environment

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Course Description

English 398V is designed for students with a career interest in the environmental sciences. It applies principles of technical writing to a range of scenarios and issues particular to the intersection of scientific knowledge and environmental policy. Students practice writing to public audiences as well as decision-makers. Students will:

  • become aware of the writer’s ethos;
  • plan work according to audience, context and purpose;
  • learn document design;
  • share drafts in peer review sessions, allowing students to test their claims, and to engage in the cooperative critique characteristic of most professional settings; and
  • practice and refine Standard American English.

Required Text

Clark, Roy Peter. Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2006. ISBN: 978-0-316-01499-1

Additional readings will be posted on ELMS.

Grading Procedures

Assignments

Resume and Cover Letter 10%

Problem/Solution Memo 15%

Definition for Two Audiences 20%

Visual Analysis 15%

Major Project 30%

Participation (includes workshops, attendance, in-class work, homework) 10%

Paper Evaluation

Written work will be evaluated based on the originality, sophistication, and clarity of thought and expression. Papers should reflect material learned in class regarding topical selection and development, argumentative structure and support, paragraph coherence, sentence structure, diction and mechanics.

Paper Submission: Submit your papers on the due date. Include:

1. Audience description

2. Paper

3. Rough draft and workshop comment sheet

4. Bibliography (except for resume/cover letter)

Make back-up copies of all work.

Papers should be typed, proofread, and properly documented. Documentation should follow the advice given in the Modern Language Association (MLA), Chicago, American Psychological Association (APA) style manuals or some other discipline-appropriate style sheet. Sources should be documented throughout the paper either in parenthetical form or with footnotes.

Work not submitted on time will not be accepted for a grade, except in those circumstances where the student was unable to submit the assignment or deliver the speech because of an excused absence (as defined below under Attendance).

Written assignments and performances will be evaluated and grades assigned using the following scheme:

A = excellent mastery of the subject and outstanding scholarship.

B = good mastery of the subject and good scholarship.

C = acceptable mastery of the subject and the usual achievement expected.

D = borderline understanding and marginal performance.

F = failure to demonstrate understanding of the subject and unsatisfactory performance.

Course Policies

Attendance/Participation

Since English 398V is a studio course, the university expects regular attendance and participation. Students should come to class having completed and considered the assigned readings for the day, prepared to participate thoughtfully in class discussion and activities. Course assignments reflect regular attendance and thoughtful class participation. In other words, what we do in class generally relates directly to graded assignments.

Below are the policies on unexcused and excused absences, as well as tardiness. Please note that missing more than two weeks’ worth of class for any reason may result in a zero for the participation/professionalism portion of your grade and may jeopardize your overall course grade. If you are absent, it is your responsibility to find out what you’ve missed. Missing more than two weeks of class will make catching up difficult, if not impossible.

Unexcused Absences. You may take up to one week’s worth of no-questions-asked absences per semester for both the expected (i.e., being the best man in your brother’s wedding) and the unexpected (i.e., a flat tire).

If you take a no-questions-asked absence, however, youare still responsible for whatever material was covered in class. If a major scheduled grading event (assignment due, in-class workshop/peer review, presentation) is scheduled for that class period, and you don’t show up and don’t have a university-sanctioned excuse (see below) then you will lose the points for that activity.

Excused Absences.The University excuses absences for your own illness or the illness of an immediate family member, for your participation in university activities at the request of University authorities, for religious observance, and for compelling circumstance beyond your control.Documentation is required for all excused absences. If you have an anticipated excused absence, you must let me know in writing by the end of the schedule adjustment period or at least two weeks in advance.

Absence for one class due to your own illness: The university requires that you provide me a self-signed note attesting to the date of your illness, with an acknowledgment that the information provided is true.Providing false information to University officials is prohibited and may result in disciplinary action. The Health Center has an online form (

Absence from more than one class because of the same illness: You must provide written documentation of the illness from the health care provider who made the diagnosis. No diagnostic information shall be given. The provider must verify dates of treatment and indicate the time frame during which you were unable to meet academic responsibilities.

Non-consecutive medically necessitated absences from more than a single class: Such absences may be excused provided you submit written documentation for each absence as described above, verifying the dates of treatment and time frame during which you were unable to meet your academic responsibilities. However, as also noted above, if you miss too many classes—even if excused—though you are technically eligible to make up the work, in practice students are rarely able to do so.

Tardiness.In the professional world tardiness is not tolerated.However, this campus is large, and another instructor may keep you late.So if you do arrive late on occasion, do not disrupt class, and let me know by the end of the schedule adjustment period if you anticipate ongoing conflicts.Remember that it is your responsibility to catch up on your own time, not the class’s. Thus, 2 late arrivals (or unexplained early departures) will convert to 1 absence.

Electronics

Unless I direct you to bring and use a computer during class, use of laptops, cell phones, mp3 players, or other hand-held electronic devices during class is prohibited.

Academic Integrity

A scholarly community functions best when governed by open and honest inquiry. Accordingly, the University of Maryland prohibits the following acts:

· Cheating--intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in any academic exercise.

· Fabrication--intentional and unauthorized falsification or invention of any information or citation in an academic exercise.

·Facilitating academic dishonesty--intentionally or knowingly helping or attempting to help another to violate any provision of this code.

· Plagiarism--intentionally or knowingly representing the words or ideas of another as one's own in any academic exercise.

The University of Maryland has a nationally recognized Honor Code. The following pledge, approved by the University Senate and administered by the Student Honor Council, should appear on the front of all work submitted for this course:

I pledge on my honor that I have not given or received any unauthorized assistance on this assignment/examination.

Course Evaluation

We require two evaluations. One is a paper evaluation for the Professional Writing Program, completed during the class. The other, CourseEvalUM, is a university-wide evaluation system. CourseEvalUM will be open for you to complete near the end of the semester. Go directly to the website ( to complete your evaluations.

Accommodation

If you have a documented disability requiring special accommodations, alert me at the beginning of the semester. It is the student’s responsibility to register with Disability Support Service (DSS) and provide me with a statement from DSS about the accommodation required.

Course Schedule

Week One
Tuesday
Thursday / Introduction to course/Diagnostic
The Art of Rhetoric
Week Two
Tuesday
Thursday / Invention: Intellection, Discovery and Judgment Defining the Debate
Read: Aldo Leopold, “The Land Ethic” (ELMS) J. Baird Callicott, “The Conceptual Foundations of the Land Ethic” (ELMS)
Introduce Resume Assignment: Making Arguments about Actions
Crafting a Resume
Read: Clark, Tools 1-3, 10 (ELMS)
Week Three
Tuesday
Thursday / Revising Prose for Clarity
Read: Richard Lanham, Revising Prose, Ch.1 (ELMS)
Workshop: Drafts of resume and cover letter due
Week Four
Tuesday
Thursday / Resume and Cover Letter Due
Introduce Problem/Solution Memo/ Major project concept
Developing Topics for Different Audiences
Read: Clark, Tools 4-6
Edward O. Wilson, “The Little Things That Run the World” (ELMS)
Argument: Making Focused Claims
Read: Clark, Tools 7-9
Week Five
Tuesday
Thursday / Argument: Supporting Claims with Varied Sources
Read: Clark, Tools 11-12
Lanham, Ch.2 (ELMS)
Workshop: Drafts of Problem/Solution Memo Due
Week Six
Problem/Solution Memo Due
Conferences—No Class Meeting
Week Seven
Tuesday
Thursday / Introduce Definition for Two Audiences Assignment: Defining the Debate, Western Foundations
Read: Robert Gordis, “Judaism and the Environment” (ELMS)
Robin Attfield, “Stewardship Versus Exploitation” (ELMS)
Sallie McFague, “The World as God's Body” (ELMS)
Adapting Ideas to Audiences Read: Clark, Tools 13-15
Shifting Vocabulary Read: Clark, Tools 16-19, 20
Week Eight
Tuesday
Thursday / Workshop: Draft of Definition Paper due
Definition Assignment Due
Introduction Visual Analysis Assignment: Read: Edward Tufte (ELMS)
Assessing Visual Evidence Read: Clark, Tools 21-23
Week Nine
Tuesday
Thursday / Editing Tools Review Clark and Lanham
Workshop: Visual Analysis Paper
Week Ten
Tuesday
Thursday / Assessing Controversy through Debate
Read: Mark Sagoff, “Takings, Just Compensation, and the Environment” (ELMS)
Visual Analysis Paper Due
Discuss Final Project
Understanding Opposing Arguments
Week Eleven
Conferences-no class/discuss major project
Week Twelve
Tuesday
Thursday / Major project genres
Defining Problems and Proposing Solutions
Week Thirteen
Tuesday
Thursday / Writing Abstracts and Executive Summaries
Titles, Introductions and formatting
Workshop—First draft major project due
Week Fourteen
Tuesday
Thursday / Workshop—Second draft major project due
Major project due
Week Fifteen
Tuesday / Evaluations/Wrap-up