Course Description
English 302 will help prepare you understand how knowledge is created and transmitted in your field or discipline; understand key methods and conventions of scholarly research in your field or discipline; articulate and refine your own question for scholarly inquiry; situate your investigation in an ongoing context or conversation in your field; and design a final project that adds new perspectives to the conversation. Advanced Composition will help you engage in scholarly inquiry as you work on narrowing a research question and engaging with your discipline or field of study.
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
Prerequisites
Students must have completed or transferred in the equivalent of English 100/101. Students should also have completed 45 credit hours and the Mason Core literature requirement. Students should take a version of English 302 related to their major field. This section (N) is designed for students in the Natural Sciences, including engineering and Computer Science, but it is appropriate for most other disciplines as well.
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.
General Education
This course is part of the Mason Core (General Education) Program, which is designed to help develop "a Mason Graduate [who is] an engaged citizen, a well-rounded scholar, and someone who is prepared to act for the world" (Mason Catalog). 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/>
Perdue OWL
<https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/>
Students as Scholars
<http://oscar.gmu.edu>
Methods of Instruction
Section N26 is an online (Distance Learning) section with no face-to-face meetings. I will be available for office hours (Tuesdays and Wednesdays from noon to 1:15) in Robinson B, room 472 . I can also be reached via email.
All course assignments will be submitted via Blackboard.
Assignments for Section N26 will be due on Sundays
In addition, the BlackBoard discussions should be posted each week by Thursday. I expect everyone to post and comment on other students' posts each week (you can, of course, add comments after the week's face-to-face session).
Weekly videos (lectures and demos) will be posted each week to BlackBoard
Archived lectures and PowerPoint slides will be available in the Class Notes and Lectures folder on the Course Content Page.
Assignments
The Major Assignments are described on BlackBoard
The Minor Assignments are the weekly Discussion posts on BlackBoard. These should be posted before the week's class meeting. The weekly responses will make up 5% of the final grade.
Important dates
| First day of classes; last day to submit Domicile Reclassification Application; Payment Due Date | Jan 22 |
| Last day to add classes– all individualized section forms due | Jan 29 |
| Last day to drop with no tuition penalty | Feb 5 |
| Student Self-Withdrawal (full tuition liability) | Feb 29 – March 25 |
| Midterm progress reporting | Feb 18 – March 22 |
| Spring Break | March 11 – March 17 |
| Incomplete Work from Fall 2018 due | March 29 |
| Last Day of classes | May 6 |
| Reading Days Reading days provide students with additional study time for final examinations. Faculty may schedule optional study sessions, but regular classes or exams may not be held. |
May 7 |
| Exam Period | May 8 – May 15 |
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