English 321: Advanced Composition
Ferris State University
Winter 2008
Instructor: Hugh Culik

Catalog Description:

ENGL 321 Advanced Composition
Credit Hours: 3
Pre-requisites: ENGL 250 or ENGL 211

Catalog Description: Builds on rhetorical and stylistic skills/techniques; prepares for successful writing experiences in the professional world and helps develop the thinking and organizing skills needed for effective written expression. Some professional emphasis sections of the course are regularly set aside for students in health-related fields, social work, and product design. These sections are designated by program in the semester roster of courses and carry an "enrollment by permit only" requirement.

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Greetings,
Pharmacists write for a variety of audiences: research journals, patients, physicians, and many others. This wide range of audiences means that you will produce scholarly articles, handouts, clinical reports, and other documents as part of your professional life. It's tempting to believe that each of theses genres has a pre-determined "formula" that enables writers to grind out whatever document is needed. While such templates exist, they generally produce documents that make you look amateurish. This course will not approach the writing task such such formulas.

Rather than using formulas, we can we enter the inner mechanics of critical thinking in ways that will re-shape your writing so that it arises out a more sophisticated cognitive structure that reflects the complexity of your discipline. The process of writing within your discipline requires a set of specific cognitive skills that are already at play within your regular professional activities. This section of ENGL 321 will help your generalize your disciplinary thinking to the writing process.

We – you and I – need a habitual skepticism about the connection between words and things, and we need to be able to identify the choices, selections, and exclusions that we use to bridge that gap. When we read/think/write in this nearly-paranoid fashion, we become more precise, more honest, and far more useful to our various audiences. Ultimately, we become able to participate in the evolution of our discipline's work. In short, we cease being technicians and become kin to the community of scholars, scientists, and researchers who create knowledge.

Hugh Culik

p.s. For a much more detailed sense of what I mean by the term, "critical thinking," visit Teaching Philosophy.

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General Requirements
The organization of this class is heavily structured, and it's important that you set aside some time to go through this web site in detail.

All the assignments are here, and all make use of the magnificent FLITE Library. All of your "texts" will be online articles, web pages, databases, etc. See link below for obtaining access.

• Library:
  • Sign up for library access. Visit Off-Campus Log-in for Database Access. As usual, the FLITE Library has an efficient, simple, and reliable system for enabling patrons to access information.
    
    
  • Not only does the FLITE Library provide easy access to its collection, but it also has useful tutorials. You are required to do the tutorials and send me your scores.
    • Required Exercise: explore the FLITE library by going through the three tutorials at: General Tutorials
    • Required Readings: Database Information: see links under library’s “Tools for Everyone”
  
  
• Submitting Papers: papers should be submitted as follows; no exceptions.
  
  
  1. Send papers to hugh@culik.com as attachments.
     
     
  2. The attachments must be readable as Word documents. If you are usingMicrosoft Works, please save your paper as a "rich text" file before sending it. Such documents end in ".rtf"
     
     
  3. File name should be formatted as follows: "lastname-firstname-assgt#-321-section#"; for example, Nora Smith's third paper for English 321-vl1 would be       smith-nora-assgt3-321-vl1
     
     
  4. Subject line should be formatted as follows: "lastname-firstname-assgt#-311eia"; for example,
     Nora Smith's third paper for English 321-vl1 would be       smith-nora-assgt3-321-vl1
  
  
• Online courtesy: your papers can require careful discussion of complex issues. Rudeness, attempts to silence others, and denigrating language not only damage the class and other students, but also they undercut the ethical and intellectual basis of genuine education. Lively disagreement, difficult differences, and philosophical disagreement are enriching experiences if we listen attentively to others.
  
  
• Portfolio: you must keep copies of any work submitted to me or to other students.
  
  
• Plagiarism: plagiarism is relatively easy to detect, and it can end your school career. Don’t do it. For a clear definition of plagiarism, see PLAGIARISM for a thorough explanation of the routes – innocent and not-so-innocent – that can lead to failure and even to expulsion.
  
  
• Late papers: the structure of this course makes any late paper unacceptable. If a catastrophe befalls you or your family, let me know so that we can solve the deadline problem. Without notification, I can only assume you've chosen to skip the assignment. If you let me know about a problem, we can manage it . . . but you have to let me know.
  
  
• Completing all assignments: you must complete all assignments in order to pass the class.
  
  
• My home phone is 517.333.7177. When you need help, please please please please call. I talk to many students during the term, and it’s always easier to steer a paper back on track early in the process rather than when it’s nearly complete. If you call, and I say, “hey, I need you to call me back later,” it means “hey, I need you to call me back later.” It does not mean, “Oh, you vile, evil, presumptuous creature; how dare you phone me?”
  
  BUT I don't return calls because it becomes a pointless game of phone tag with 75 students. If there's no answer, you'll have to call back. AND please, no calls after 9:00 p.m.
  
  
• Note that this is a tentative syllabus that may be changed. Students must regularly check the site for updates. Remember to refresh the browser every time so that you view the most recent changes to the information posted.
  
  
• Please review
  SYLLABUS ATTACHMENT
  COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
  FERRIS STATE UNIVERSITY
  
  for institutional information regarding services, schedules, etc.

1. Peer Review: discourse
2. FDA Approval Processes
3. The Limits of Discourse
4. Patient Education

1. Writing Resources
   
   
2. Content Tools
   

1. Instructor Email hugh@culik.com
   
   
2. Peer Assistance [list serve]