Dr. Dean Taciuch
George Mason University

Summer 2021

English 302: B12
Course Syllabus

Course Description

English 302 is an Advanced Composition course; this section is MultiDisciplinary (302M–the B refers to the Summer Session). Although we will make use of technical formats (such as professional journal articles and literature reviews), the focus will be on conducting secondary research, organizing the results of the research, and presenting your interpretations of your findings to appropriate audiences.

Students should take a version of English 302 that connects to their major field. Please note that the Volgenau School of Engineering requires students enrolled in the following majors to take ENGH 302N: applied computer science and computer science, electrical engineering, computer engineering, systems engineering, and statistics. The school also requires students in the following majors to be enrolled in either 302N or 302M: bioengineering, cyber security engineering, mechanical engineering and civil engineering. Information technology majors may enroll in 302N, 302M, or 302B.

Course Goals

This course participates in the Students as Scholars program. The goal of this course is to prepare you to conduct primary research in your discipline. As such, we will follow the Students as Scholars Course Goals:

• use writing as a tool for exploration and reflection in addressing advanced problems, as well as for exposition and persuasion
  
  
• employ strategies for writing as a recursive process of inventing, investigating, shaping, drafting, revising, and editing to meet a range of advanced academic and professional expectations
  
  
• identify, evaluate, and use research sources
  
  
• employ a range of appropriate technologies to support researching, reading, writing, and thinking
  
  
• apply critical reading strategies that are appropriate to advanced reading in your academic discipline and in possible future workplaces
  
  
• recognize how knowledge is constructed in your academic discipline and possible future workplaces
  
  
• analyze rhetorical situations – audience, purpose, and context – of texts produced in your academic disciplines and possible future workplaces
  
  
• produce writing – including argument proposals – that is appropriate for a range of rhetorical situations within your academic disciplines and possible future workplaces

Prerequisites

Students must have completed or transferred in the equivalent of English 100/101, 45 credit hours, and any required general-education literature course designated by their college or major.

General Education

This course is part of the GMU General Education Program, which is designed to help students prepare for advanced work in their major field and for a lifetime of learning. For more information on the mission of the Mason Core, visit http://masoncore.gmu.edu/.

Textbook and materials

There is no required textbook for this class. We will use several online texts, however.

Writing Commons Open Textbook
<http://writingcommons.org/>

GMU Writing Center Resources
<http://writingcenter.gmu.edu/writing-resources>

GMU Library Tutorials
<http://library.gmu.edu/tutorials>

UNC Writing Center Handouts
< http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/>

Purdue OWL
<https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/>

Students as Scholars
<http://oscar.gmu.edu>

Methods of Instruction

Section B12 is an online course: the course will have no face-to-face meetings. I will have virtual office (via Zoom) on Wednesdays from 11:00 to noon. I can also be reached via email.

All course assignments will be submitted via Blackboard.

In addition, we will have weekly BlackBoard discussions. The discussion are due on Thursdays, but I also expect everyone to post and comment on other students' posts throughout the week.

An online course requires special attention to submission deadlines, discussion posts, and course announcements. You should check the BlackBoard site at least once per weekday (and once over the weekend as well). The course assignments will be explained on BlackBoard, as will any clarifications and changes to the assignments and course schedule.

Assignments

Weekly Responses (10%)
Discipline Awareness I assignment (10%)
Library Research Assignment (5%)
Annotated Bibliography (15%)
Research Proposal (10%)
Conferences (10%)
Lit Review Thesis and Subtopics Outline (10%)
Literature Review (25%)
Discipline Awareness II assignment (5%)

Important dates

Course Schedule

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