Expository writing for students located anywhere
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Welcome! This is Writing and Rhetoric II, an internet version of Ohio University's English 308J known as English 308JW (for "Web"). Here you and your fellow students connect in a classroom unbounded by walls, earning credit and proficiency at your own keyboard and at your own pace.
As in the classes taught on campus, this course "develops skills in writing expository prose, with regular practice and evaluation supplemented by attention to professional prose and concepts of rhetoric and style." That's the official course catalog speaking. In plain talk ... to help you write exactly what you mean and affect what your reader knows and believes, this course asks you to write often and to comment on writings by your classmates, to study published writing, and to discuss how weak writing fails and strong writing works.
We use interactive feedback as our main tool for improving writing. This course is a 'workshop' that depends on your participation, your constructive comments, and your willingness to accept comments and to try alternatives. The text readings are used as departure points for discussion and creation of your own work, and are not designed to be step-by-step guides for grammar and style. Whatever strengths your writing already shows are encouraged, and whatever weaknesses are identified and worked upon. In this manner, you receive a program of practice, feedback, and instruction that is tailored to your individual needs.
The content of the compositions is wide-ranging (not limited to computer topics), and covers a number of traditional forms of writing. Research using the internet is strongly encouraged. Please note that, although the computer is our means of communication, this is a writing course, not a course of instruction in computer skills and internet usage. We will help you with the minimum that is needed to get the writing and messages done, sent, and received, but you may have to solve some computer-related problems on your own using the documentation supplied with the programs (both printed and in help menus), local sources of help, and internet forums.
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This course is not intended for English-language acquisition and assumes that you have native-level proficiency in English. You may asked to withdraw if your English language abilities prevent a concentration on advanced writing skills. Students who attend the Athens campus are not eligible to take this course, nor are Athens campus students who are currently on Study Abroad programs. If you are enrolled in a branch campus, or if you are anyone else in the World Wide community who has previously completed a college-level English composition course ... welcome! You have five months to complete your coursework at your own pace. You will be responsible for setting your own interim deadlines and keeping track of assignments and exercises.
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(NOTE: access to the lessons requires a password)
The following lessons are derived from chapters in the textbook, The Practice of Writing. The types of writing listed as lesson titles create a framework for the course, but are not meant to limit the activities, sub-topics, and discussions within each lesson. In the same way, assignments are not necessarily confined to the main type of writing identified for each lesson.
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To conduct this class entirely 'at a distance,' we use the resources of the internet extensively. In addition to this webpage site, we rely on abundant email, email attachments, a shared directory on our website, and a web-based conference.
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There will be seven formal papers (one of which will be a six-page research paper, one an introductory one-page paper, and five three-page papers). Two of those will be substantially reworked, with a six-page rewrite taking the place of a final. There is no final exam, nor any proctored or supervised activities. For most assignments, you may substitute a topic of your own choosing, if you consult with me first. Total number of pages written for these papers is 22 (sorry ... in the interests of my own workload, I can't look at more than the recommended amount for each writing assignment). Page length is based on a double-spaced printout, with normal-sized fonts and margins (10 or 12 characters per inch, 1 to 1.5 inch margins). Because your documents will be electronic, paperless, and not printed, 'pages' is not as useful a measure as a word count. A page equals 300 words. You'll also find that a paper meant to be read on the screen is best presented single-spaced (which increases the number of lines visible without scrolling).
For each lesson, you will critique one student paper. You will insert specific constructive suggestions within each paper as a modified file, write a paragraph addressed to the writer that summarizes your reactions, and send the critique to the student author and to myself.
Some of your own writing will be presented for comments by the other students. This will happen three times during your enrollment. These 'public' papers use previously submitted documents, and involve no extra preparation on your part.
Lessons will also involve readings from The Practice of Writing, an on-line discussion of those readings, and exercises designed to highlight particular methods of rhetorical control, or to encourage flexibility. In some cases, those exercises will involve collaborating with your fellow students. A Writer's Reference will be used to address problems in grammar and usage as they occur.
Talk of workload automatically implicates the workload of the instructor. You will receive critiques of your writing assignments. The exercises, however, will be read and noted, but not critiqued. When the type of exercise warrants it, I will send a suggested solution that you can compare to your own.
Independent & Distance Learning students are allowed a maximum of five months from the date of enrollment to complete this course. An extension of two months can be requested, for a fee (contact Independent & Distance Learning for information). You should expect this course to last the length of one quarter on campus, namely, ten weeks -- or if you're working efficiently and with few competing projects -- a minimum of one month. Due to the large number of messages and the interactive nature of the exchanges, this on-line course requires a level of participation equal to or greater than an on-campus, regular class -- though the times of participation will vary from student to student.
Although electronic replies can be instantaneous, human replies take longer. You may work ahead on subsequent exercises and lesson material -- and submit them -- without waiting.
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A Writer's Reference is available from many locationsIf you prefer, you can place your order directly with Ed Map's distance-learning online bookstore
Click the drop down arrow to find "ENG308JW"
(don't select "ENG308JIS" by mistake!)
and click on "GO"
(if you don't see the GO button, scroll to the right)
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You may use either a Windows-based PC or a Macintosh. Your computer may be either "hardwired" (direct network connection) or connected by modem to the Internet. If the computer you are going to use for the course is hardwired (usually the case in corporate or institutional settings), that network connection must not have any "firewalls" impeding transmission of email or internet packets (check with your network administrator). A firewall is a computer that stands between the network and the outside world like a border patrol, checking the traffic going in and out and preventing unwanted outsiders from reaching the network.
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Since each of your systems will be different, you may have to find local support for answering your specific questions in getting the software and hardware set up. I will help as much as I can (email me at sharpe@ohio.edu).
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Papers and critiques are not graded individually. This is meant to encourage experimentation, and to shift the ‘worth’ of a piece of writing away from an associated grade to its perceived effect on readers, namely (for now), on myself and your fellow students. When given, a grade combines a sense of how your work compares with your peers and how it compares with your own previous work. Substantial improvement as measured against yourself counts for more than any pre-existing, static excellence at writing.
You will be graded four times:
Each grade is based on the quality of writing and evidence of improvement (roughly 70%), the completion of all assignments, readings, and exercises (15%), and active participation in discussion and critiquing (15%).
You are entitled to a B for your final grade if you do all the work, do it with care, and if you are helpful to others in the group. Grades lower than B result from carelessness, lack of participation, casual/superficial thinking, and disregard for the value of rewriting. Note that attitude affects a grade of C or below more than writing ability.
An A or A- can't be earned by effort alone. A few are given to reward superior ability and/or superior improvement, and must always be supported by active participation. Superior writing shows clarity, organization, polish, language skills, confidence, imagination, energy, and insight. An A student isn't afraid to experiment, and occasional disappointing results will not damage the grade. Rewrites may not always be better, but they must be different.
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This course is a mixture of private work and public workshop, and depends on active, vocal members who co-operate to improve the writing skills of everyone. Participation in discussion and class exercises, and generous critiques of other student work, are surefire routes to better writing and a better grade.
Until now, correspondence courses have been conducted by mail and have been, by necessity, private. However, on-line access takes this course closer to the conditions of a classroom -- which is public and social. If you are reluctant to have your writings and your comments aired within a group, if entering the give-and-take of a seminar is not suited to your temperament, you may want to consider a mail-based composition course. See Independent & Distance Learning (English course offerings) for details.
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We are interested in your writing. The ease with which text can be imported electronically brings its own temptations and dangers; use other writers only as support or points of departure for your own ideas and expression. Work which is copied directly from someone else's writing (or which has been altered in minor ways) must be identified, and must not overwhelm your own approach and your own voice. Sources used without acknowledgement ("plagiarism") will affect your grade, and could result in failure. In addition, writing which has been (or is intended to be) used for credit in another course is not permitted.
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For information about policies and procedures, visit the Independent & Distance Learning website, in particular the courses by correspondence. If you have questions and can't find answers, please ask directly by email to independent.study@ohiou.edu.
Ohio University degree students: junior status and completion of a first year composition course. OU students cannot take this course pass/fail if used to satisfy the junior-level composition requirement. Students currently attending the Athens campus, or in Study Abroad while enrolled at the Athens campus, are not eligible to take this course.
Students not in Ohio University degree programs: native-level proficiency in English and previous completion of a college-level English composition course. The junior level prerequisite can sometimes be waived.
PLEASE NOTE: This course is not intended for English-language acquisition. You may asked to withdraw if your English language abilities prevent a concentration on advanced writing skills.
Independent & Distance Learning Forms
Click here for downloadable forms:
- Enrollment Application (both electronic and print version)
- Request for External Student Program Information
- Extension Request Form
- Transcript Request Form
You need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to be able to print these forms, but a download link to the free reader is provided.
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Ever since owning my first computer (in 1981), I have mixed together almost equal parts
of writing and computing-for-the-sake-of-writing. That mix becomes more
relevant and volatile every year. I first became an English instructor at
O.U. in 1988, and in the years since, I have taught Junior Composition, Freshman Composition, and Fiction Writing. Then in 1994, I
began teaching additional classes as a senior lab instructor for Computer Science
(Computer Literacy, CS120). The two teaching interests came together in 1995 when I
developed a composition course called Writing and Computers. Half of the class time relied on traditional classroom
techniques, while the other half used a computer lab as a workshop for real-time composing
and critiquing, both individual and collaborative. The direct result was this
online course, which went into operation in 1996. Currently I teach a Junior-level
version of this course on campus (now called Writing and Rhetoric II), and Writing and Film for freshmen.
I have a Masters in Fiction Writing from Brown University and a Masters in Literature from the University of Alberta, and I am the author of thirty published stories and poems, plus a non-fiction book entitled Rochdale: The Runaway College.
If you want more from the mouth of the horse, see my homepage.
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