ENGL 302-N07: Advanced Composition in the Natural Sciences and Technology
Fall Semester, 2008  George Mason University
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:00-4:15  Innovation Hall 326

All of the information below is subject to change.  Smaller writing assignments and daily in-class activities are not listed here and will be added as they approach.

WEEK 1 Tuesday, August 26 (NO CLASS MEETING Thursday)

Introduction to course, classroom
Discussion of paper topic

WEEK 2  Tuesday, September 2 and Thursday, September 4

Introduction to library resources
Open web/closed web, library catalogs/research databases, WRLC, liaison librarians, etc.
Scholarly/popular, etc.

WEEK 3, Tuesday, September 9 and Thursday, September 11

DUE Tuesday via e-mail before class: 1-2 paragraph description of possible semester topic(s)
Introduction to library resources
Records/fields, truncation, phrase searching, etc.

WEEK 4 Tuesday, September 16 and Thursday, September 18

DUE Thursday: 1/2 page -- field, brief description of topic and reason for choosing it, description of previous knowledge (if any)
Primary/secondary/tertiary, etc.
Quiz preparation
Terms quiz
Assigned: Paper #1

WEEK 5 Tuesday, September 23 and Thursday, September 25

Introduction to EndNote and practice, including keying in first entry
Discussion of annotated bibliography
(Endnote downloads and support at http://library.gmu.edu/endnote)

WEEK 6, Tuesday, September 30 and Thursday, October 2

DUE Tuesday: draft of part one of Paper #1 (500 or so words): explanation/description of development (bring four additional copies)
Discussion: Paper #1
Thursday: Peer review session for paper #1
 
WEEK 7 Tuesday, October 7 and Thursday, October 9

DUE Tuesday: Full draft of paper #1 (1,500 words -- including the 500 or so from last week -- bring four additional copies)
In class Tuesday: preparation for Thursday peer review session
Thursday: Peer review session for paper #1

WEEK 8 Thursday, October 16

Discussion of full drafts of Paper #1
Paper #2 assigned

WEEK 10 Tuesday, October 28 and Thursday, October 30

CONFERENCES (No class meetings)

WEEK 11 Tuesday, November 4 and Thursday, November 6

DUE Tuesday: Bibliography for paper #2
Tuesday: In-class work: Notes on sources for paper #2
DUE Thursday: Notes on sources for paper #2

WEEK 12 Tuesday, November 11 and Thursday, November 13

DUE Tuesday: Draft of first section of paper #2 (summary of the overall conversation) and four additional copies
Thursday: Workshop on paper #2

WEEK 13 Tuesday, November 18 and Thursday, November 20

Tuesday: Endnote annotations assigned
Tuesday: Bring along Endnote bibliography
Thursday: Endnote/Zotero migration; Paper #3 assigned

WEEK 14  Tuesday, November 25

DUE Tuesday: Annotated Endnote bibliograpy
In class Tuesday: Another model paper #2

WEEK 15  Tuesday, December 2

DUE Tuesday (or earlier, if you like): Paper #2 for comment and possible provisional grade
Tuesday: Course evaluations, last words, etc.
DUE Thursday (hand in to my office or to my English dept. box): Optional revision of Paper #1 for comment and possible provisional grade

Tuesday, December 16