*COURSE_SYLLABUS


 * WRT 105 Practices of Academic Writing: **  ** Re-imagining (Dis)Ability **

The disability studies' and disability movement's position is critical of the domination of the medical definition and views it as a major stumbling block to **// the reinterpretation of disability as a political category //** and to the social changes that could follow such a shift. --Simi Linton from "Reassigning Meaning"


 * Instructor: ** Zosha Susan Stuckey
 * Sections ** : 23951 (M148), 20998 (M157)
 * Day/Time ** : M/W, 3:45 & 5:15
 * Room ** : Sims 237, Physics 106
 * Email: ** zstuckey@syr.edu
 * Office: ** HBC 004
 * Office Hrs: ** M 1:30-3:30 or by appointment

** Course Description **

This course seeks to **help you make the transition from high school to college writing**. The writing assigned in this class will be different from what you’re used to: you’ll write more frequently and your major papers will be lengthier and more demanding. College writing requires you to step away from some of the old techniques you learned in high school and adopt new strategies of critical thinking and written expression. Most students find this transition both challenging and liberating. In order to succeed in this class, you will need to remain open to new ways of thinking and committed to spending time on daily assignments as well as major papers. WRT 105 also serves as an introduction to the **“studio” model** of writing instruction. Collaborative work, both in group work and class discussion, fosters a tight-knit community in which we all contribute to, and are responsible for, creating a rich learning environment. As a result, participation is essential in a studio and you should be prepared to have your writing discussed collaboratively. And, in this course, we will see our inquiry as a **critical encounter with real things in the world around us**. That is, **we will locate our work within particular** **rhetorical situations** that have real world consequences.

We’ll focus on two kinds of writing in this class: **analysis** and **argumentation**. Analysis, according to David Rosenwasser and Jill Stephen, authors of //Writing Analytically//, analysis “is a form of detective work that typically pursues something puzzling, something you are seeking to understand rather than something you are already sure you have the answers to. Analysis finds questions where there seem not to be any, and it makes connections that might not have been evident at first” (4). We use analysis all the time, but especially in our first approach to things unfamiliar, as a way of observing and assessing the world around us. Through analysis, we become aware of our own reactions and positions on various issues.

From this point of having analyzed closely, we can then take a stance and begin to develop a written argument expressing our views with even more force. When writing academic arguments, we will look for areas of tension or “hot-spots” in culture that involve complex ethical and political considerations. Academic arguments push beyond pro/con debates on abortion or gun control and extend into situated social, historical, and cultural practices such as--**as we will study in this course--the controversies over (dis)ability**.

** Questions That Drive Our Inquiry around (Dis)ability: ** · Who is "normal?" What is "normalcy"? How does normalcy as a construct influence how we (and others) see and experience the world? · How do we typically think of disability? What does it mean to redefine or re-imagine disability? How does disability intersect with race, class, sexuality & gender? · How is disability used as a vehicle to challenge conventional notions of beauty, the body, and normality? · What do representations of disability in the media //do//? · What are some interfaces between (dis)ability and technology? How does technology help us re-imagine the ability/disability binary? · How does the idea of "voice" interface with the notion of "disability?" In other words, who speaks for whom? How do disabled people tell their own stories? · How might the redefining of disability manifest in your disciplinary field?

** Skills: ** o ** Close/Critical Reading: ** You will become a stronger and more analytical reader by learning skills such as glossing, annotating, summarizing, etc. o ** Critical Thinking: ** You will learn how to think about ideas and the world through an analytical lens that involves evaluating, questioning, re-questioning, and challenging. o ** Inquiry: ** As you encounter texts, you will learn to unpack the significance of what you read. You will develop the skills that lead you to  ask important questions that drive your reading, writing, and research. o ** Analysis: ** In this unit, you will hone the rhetorical skills necessary to identify such elements by working with artifacts to determine their rhetorical/material impacts. o ** Claim-Making/Argument: ** You will learn how to articulate your own stance/argument in relation to the texts we examine.

** Summaries ** (200-400 words) Throughout the term, you will be asked to write summaries. In the summary you must: identify and introduce the author and the text in a scholarly manner, give an overview of the essay, review the essay’s main points and lay out the essay’s purpose. In the summary, you are focusing on what the author says, rather than trying to express your own opinions. ***You must include the citation of the text using** MLA**,** APA **the style of your discipline.**

Goals The following are curriculum-wide goals for all students in Writing 105: • Students will develop knowledge of strategies & genres of critical analysis & argument.  • Students will learn critical techniques of reading through engagement with texts and artifacts that raise issues of diversity and community. • Students will include critical research in their composing processes.
 * • Students will compose a variety of texts as a process (inventing, drafting, revising, editing) that takes place over time, that requires thinking and **
 * rethinking ideas, and that address diverse audiences and rhetorical contexts. **

Course Texts and Materials · Print-outs in PDF format (available on Blackboard: see below)
 * · // Writing: A Manual for the Digital Age //, David Blakesley & Jeffrey Hoogeveen **
 * · // The Disability Studies Reader, // **//__Third Edition__// __ (2010) __, Lennard Davis

** On Blackboard (PDF's) ** · Excerpts from //Writing Analytically,// 5th ed., by David Rosenwasser & Jill Stephen ** · **** more to come... **

Daily attendance is required for successful completion of this course. It’s important that you come prepared and participate in class discussions to your fullest potential. If you must miss a class due to severe illness or injury, you are responsible for work assigned or missed. You will need to exchange phone numbers and e-mail addresses with others in the class (at least two classmates) so that you can contact them and copy their notes if you are absent.
 * Assignments, Attendance, & Grading **

Grades will be calculated as follows:

|| 20% ||
 * ** Unit 1 ** : Analysis essay (3-5 pages, minimum 2 sources) || 30% ||
 * ** Unit 2 ** : Argument essay (4-6 pages, minimum 4 sources) || 30% ||
 * Argument re-mix (new media project)
 * HW, summaries, class prep, participation, professionalism || 20% ||

** Formatting Guidelines ** · All of the writing you do outside of class must be typed rather than hand-written · Put a title on all written assignments (be creative!) · When quoting or paraphrasing other texts in your writing, you __must__ cite your source according to MLA guidelines (which we will review in class) and provide a Works Cited page at the end of your paper.

A word of advice… When you write, __save your work frequently__ on the computer, __and back up your work periodically__ on a flash drive or CD. You will thus avoid the agony and devastation that most writers have experienced at some point in their lives.

** Extra Help for Everyone at The Writing Center: ** According to a recent survey, most S.U. students who use the Writing Center have GPAs higher than 3.0; moreover, one in four have GPAs higher than 3.6. Experienced consultants at the Writing Center (101 HB Crouse Hall, on the Quad) are available to work one-on-one with you at //any// stage of your writing process and with //any// kind of writing you’re creating. Whether you need help understanding an assignment, brainstorming ideas, revising subsequent drafts, or developing editing strategies, face-to-face and online chat appointments are available for 25- or 50-minute sessions throughout the semester. Drop-in appointments are welcome Mon. through Thurs. 10:00-2:00 p.m., and brief concerns can be emailed via the eWC service. For more information, please visit  [|http://wc.syr.edu]. .

Students who are in need of disability-related academic accommodations must register with the Office of Disability Services (ODS), 804 University Avenue, Room 309; 315-443-4498. Students with authorized disability-related accommodations should provide a current Accommodation Authorization Letter from ODS to me and review those accommodations with me. For further information, see the ODS website, []. Students who need special consideration should also make an appointment to see me.
 * Accommodations **

** Academic Honesty ** ==All writing submitted for this course is understood to be your original work. In cases where academic dishonesty is detected (the fraudulent submission of another's work, in whole or part, as your own), you may be subject to a failing grade for the project or the course, and in the worst case, to academic probation or expulsion. For a more detailed description of the guidelines, go to: [|http://academicintegrity.syr.edu] ==

It is understood that registration for and continued enrollment in this course constitutes permission by the student for the instructor to use any student work constructed as a result of said enrollment in the course.
 * Use of Student Writing **