UW 1020 Writing Template for Faculty

The joint purposes for UW 1020 courses are to strengthen every GW student’s ability to write clearly and effectively at the university and beyond and to emphasize the importance of strong writing for success in all academic, public and professional enterprises that require critical thought and communication.

Faculty are invited to use this template as a guide when formatting course syllabi and communicating course goals and objectives.

Course Description

The course emphasizes practice in the processes and techniques of academic writing, drawing upon stimulating topics of current intellectual interest that will invigorate students’ writing. The course focuses on framing important questions, constructing an argument through identifying and discussing both supportive and contradictory evidence, accommodating a variety of purposes and audiences and using the ideas of other writers appropriately. The value of revision for clear expression is a constant emphasis; review of conventions for syntax, grammar and punctuation is incorporated as necessary.

Objectives

In order to prepare students for rigorous academic writing across the range of disciplines offered at GW, the course strives to develop or extend a set of skills:

Capacity for critical reading and for analytic thinking that examines assumptions and evidence, in both scholarly texts and informed public commentary.
Ability to explore information resources — through both the traditional library and emerging technological sources — to use them effectively and to acknowledge them correctly.
A functional grasp of rhetorical principles: the purpose or genre of each piece of writing, the expectations of various audiences and the use of formats, evidence, tones, lengths and levels of formality appropriate to a range of contexts.
Practice in the writing tasks of framing sound questions or hypotheses, analyzing and synthesizing information that can be brought to bear on the chosen question, preparing and repeatedly revising drafts to achieve clarity and coherence of argument and citing others’ work with integrity.
The habit and discipline of careful editing and proofreading to ensure that final drafts are essentially free of errors in grammar, syntax, usage, paragraphing, punctuation and spelling.

Requirements

UW 1020 courses should result in finished writing, developed through pre-draft preparation, drafts and revisions based on instructor’s advice and classmates’ comments.
Students should produce at least three writing assignments of increasing complexity. Papers should be based on assigned texts and potentially on additional reading; although instructors will develop assignments that reflect a variety of academic writing projects, one paper should require significant library research.
Class attendance must be required, with limited excused absences. Class participation is essential to performance and should affect the final grade.
Primary readings should be chosen from authentic, effective prose that addresses the course topic and invites students’ responses. A rhetoric handbook, chosen from a small group approved by the Writing Program Committee, should also be employed.

Research Component

Each section of UW 1020 is assigned a librarian from the Gelman Library System and assessments have shown that students profit from librarians' involvement by gaining the skills and confidence as researchers that will serve them well throughout their college career. As they participate in class sessions throughout the semester, librarians help students develop core information literacy skills, improving their ability to locate, evaluate and use information as independent, life-long learners. Collaborating with the course instructor, the librarian conducts in-class sessions on various aspects of research, such as topic formulation, search strategy and the evaluation of sources. In addition, the librarian may meet regularly with students in one-on-one and small group settings, to provide guidance as students work through their research projects.

Credit Hours

4 credits

Guidelines for Approximate Weighting of Products and Performance

At least 70 percent of the final course grade based upon written work, including a developed capacity for successful revision
No more than 10 percent of the course grade based on quizzes and/or skills tests
Up to 20 percent of the course grade based on participation in class activities such as discussion, workshops, small group work and listserv postings

Grading Scale

A grade of C- or above in UW 1020 indicates that the student is prepared to write solid academic essays in later upper-division, writing-intensive courses. Students must pass UW 1020 with a grade of C- or above in order to receive credit for the course.

If a UW 1020 student is not prepared for the next level of university writing, the instructor will award the student a grade of R (for Repeat). The R grade is reserved for students who work hard in the course, complete the main course assignments, but will still benefit from additional UW 1020 writing instruction. The student will not receive credit for the course; however, the R will not factor into the student's GPA.

Students who do not complete the course materials, who are consistently absent from class or who violate other expectations of academic behavior will be awarded an F.