Introduction
It's impossible to guess what you've done in previous writing classes — both high school and college — but as a writing teacher, I also realize that what you've done before matters less than your willingness to work hard and to perform as exceptional student-writers. In fact, in this course, rather than think of you as "students," I'd rather think of you as "writers." Unlike "students," writers are usually self-starters, individuals with something to say and a desire to communicate those ideas with others.

But writers are also more than that. Writers realize that their ideas need to meet audiences, need to interact with other writers and thinkers because their own ideas and thoughts are more carefully refined when they do. These individuals not only receive criticism well, but they go out of their way to return the favor, to give productive criticism to members of their writing group. The writers in the course — both students and teacher — make up that group. As writers together, we have important projects to undertake, and our success depends on each other. The projects below will demonstrate why.

Goals of English 3810
Building on the knowledges you've gained from pervious writing experiences, students in English 3810 will develop two major projects of their own choosing. Students who exit English 3810 with a grade of C or better will be expected to have performed competently in the following areas:

• Undertaking ambitious, mature, insightful projects that move beyond "school writing";
• Locating, evaluating, and synthesizing primary, print, and electronic bibliographic sources that contribute significantly to those projects and that demonstrate the writer's ability to use research in different ways and for different purposes;
• Conveying the results of writing and research to a variety of audiences that will learn from and potentially act on those findings;
• Using their experiences as writers and readers to assist class members with improving their projects by consistently offering high quality responses to those projects and participating in class discussions of those projects.

To meet these goals, you will write and read extensively, both formally and informally, often for every class meeting. You must be prepared to share your writing with your peers and instructor on a regular basis. You will complete a minimum of 20 typed, double-spaced pages of polished prose in an appropriate font face/size (Times 12 pt.).

Texts

• In Depth: A Collection of Essays, 2nd Ed. New York: HBJ, 1993.
• Fact and Artifact: Writing Nonfiction
• Handbook of Your Choice (or use the online handbooks available at "Relevant Links")

Instructor Expectations
I expect the writers I'm working with to work with me, to be in class and on time each class meeting, to devote a minimum of six (6) hours per week outside of class to course-related work and not to wait until the end of the semester to try to do/revise all of their work. I expect writers NOT to complain about writing and research, but to try to have fun and enjoy the projects we will work on this semester. And I expect writers to feel that they can talk to me about their work, their concerns about their writing, and their goals for this course. I do NOT expect students to be expert writers, for if they were, they wouldn't need this course.

I do NOT believe in a "bell-curve" or in making the students' grades for this course fall along an A — F continuum. Every student who works at the A-level consistently (based on the Course Outcomes Rubric) should expect to receive an A in the course, keeping in mind that A-writers complete all work on time and at an exceptional level throughout the semester; they come to class everyday during the semester; they do not ask for extended deadlines more than once; they don't make excuses for poor or late performance; they are exceptional peer-responders to their class colleagues; they take a leadership role in the class, consistently going beyond the "minimum" requirements for assignments; and they seek the one-to-one help they need (from teachers, peers, or the University Writing Center) throughout the semester rather than procrastinating and expecting someone else (teacher, peer, writing consultant) to solve their problems for them. If you can be that sort of student, I look forward to awarding you the A you will have earned.

Projects
Most of English 3810 is writer-directed. Writers in this course choose their topics for major projects. However, all writers are expected to complete three (3) substantial projects and an analytical cover letter for their writing portfolios, as well as maintain a writer's "blog." Portfolios consist of all project drafts (rough drafts, middle drafts, workshop drafts, finished drafts), peer responses (both to and from classmates and teacher), short writing assignments, and other projects we work on during the course of the semester, as well as a link to the writer's blog. ** All projects must be turned in on-time and complete for students to receive credit. Only projects turned in on-time and complete may be included in the portfolio. Incomplete portfolios may receive, at best, a D. Your portfolio grade IS your course grade, so consistent diligence is required to do well in this course. **

Writers in 3810 will keep a blog of their thoughts and experiences this semester and use this resource as a method for both developing ideas and responding to the texts we read, as well as the worlds we live in. These blogs will also be used to keep up with research writers are conducting as part of their major projects. Class time will be spent explaining blogs and giving students instruction on how to create and update these blogs.

Your two major projects, although they are "free choice," must be workshopped in class and must demonstrate advanced writing and thinking skills. Throughout the beginning of the semester, students will read and write responses creative nonfiction pieces from the course textbooks. Students may then choose to try something a little different and write their own creative nonfiction pieces, using the examples in textbooks as models. Or, students may undertake important projects of a different sort, depending, perhaps, on the students' majors or interests, or on key issues the students wish to address this semester. Regardless, students are expected to make photocopies of their projects available to all class members during the class meeting before their projects are to be workshopped in order for respondents to have time to write their critiques.

Your third major project involves the combined page-long responses to each of your peers in class for workshop. Workshop responses should be one-page in length, single-spaced, and reflect significant engagement with the writings they are addressing. Because there are twenty-five students in class, plus one teacher, and there are two major projects, each student will end the semester with fifty-two (52) single-spaced pages of response-writing.

Following the assignment guidelines, writers in 3810 will turn their final analytical lenses on themselves and their own "archives" of work during the semester, paying particular attention to the processes they went through in developing their projects, conducting research, and revising writing into various sorts of texts for distribution to larger audiences. This project will have been through several "rough drafts" throughout the semester as students write Project Memos at each stage during the course.

Attendance
Although students may choose to be absent from class as frequently as they’d like, these absences will adversely affect your grade by affecting your in-class performance. English 3810 is a workshop course; missing class means that students miss out on getting projects to respond to and miss out on giving their writing and oral responses to their peers. One missed class can, in fact, be detrimental to students because catching up on responses and readings can be very difficult once the semester is in full swing. Students who miss NO days of class during the semester will receive a three (3) point bonus on their final portfolio grade.  It is your responsibility to sign-in to class each day.  ** If you were in class and forgot to sign-in, then you were absent. **

Late Work
We all have very busy, trying lives, and as such, there come times when we have to complete some work late. Each student in this class is allowed an occasional late response to workshop drafts or an occasional late blog entry without serious penalty. In such cases when students cannot make it to class to workshop their peers' projects, I expect them to email their responses to their peers on or before workshop day. Workshop projects themselves should NOT be handed in late. We have 26 writers in class and thus 52 projects; we will be on a tight schedule, and missing such major deadlines may result in writers' not getting any feedback, a most lamentable experience with dreadful consequences.

** Since all projects must be workshopped in class for students to receive credit, late projects that do not go through workshop will be ineligible for inclusion in the portfolio, which will result in an incomplete portfolio. Incomplete portfolios may receive, at best, a D. Your portfolio grade IS your course grade, so consistent diligence is required to do well in this course. ** (I hope this is a Draconian as I have to get at any time in my teaching career!)

Conferences
Students should schedule conferences with me when they do not understand comments I've made on their projects or when they become confused about the expectations of this course. Likewise,I may require a certain number of individual and/or group conferences during the semester. Missing a scheduled conference means that your portfolio will be missing the work we discussed during said conference, resulting in an incomplete portfolio and a grade of D, at best. If you cannot make a scheduled conference, I need to know six (6) hours in advance so that we can reschedule and so that other students can make use of my office time.

Academic Integrity
Students are expected to be honest about individual effort and responsible to peer/secondary source materials that are included in their projects. Both plagiarizing and turning in work written partially or completely by someone else are forms of academic dishonesty and carry serious penalties, the least serious of which is a grade of zero on the particular assignment (and thus a D, at best, in the course), but could also result in failure of the class and even expulsion from the university. Students who keep up with their work and consult with their peers and their professor have no reason or need to "cheat."

Computers in the Classroom
Because we meet in a computer-mediated classroom, we will make almost daily use of the machines.  However, certain computer-related behaviors will not be tolerated.  You may check your email or free-surf the web as you please before and after class, but after I announce the beginning of class by starting the roll, any student still using email, chat programs, or web browsers for non-class-related activities will loose points for participation or may even be considered absent from class for the day. **Likewise, students retain sole responsibility for keeping electronic copies of all their work.**  Lost or stolen disks, erased disks, home computer crashes, printer problems, etc. do NOT excuse you from turning in work or having copies of all your work on disk at the end of the semester.  Remember to make frequent back-up copies of files and keep copies on multiple disks.

Accommodations for Students with Special Needs
East Carolina University seeks to comply fully with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Students requesting accommodations based on a covered disability must go to the Department for Disability Services, located in Brewster A-114, to verify the disability before any accommodations can occur. The telephone number is 252-328-6799.