COURSE SCHEDULE                        (HOME)

ENGL 302-N13: Advanced Composition in the Natural Sciences and Technology
Spring Semester, 2009  George Mason University
Mondays and Wednesdays, 3:00-4:15  Innovation Hall 330

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 Wednesday, January 21

Introduction to course, classroom
Discussion of paper topic

WEEK 2  Monday, January 26 and Wednesday, January 28

Discussion of paper topic
Introduction to research resources available through the GMU Library home page: http://library.gmu.edu
Open web/closed web, library catalogs/research databases, WRLC, liaison librarians, etc.
Scholarly/popular, etc.

WEEK 3, Monday, February 2 and Wednesday, February 4

DUE Monday 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 Monday, February 9 and Wednesday, February 11

DUE Wednesday via e-mail before class: 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 Monday, February 16 and Wednesday, February 18

DUE Monday: List of 10 popular sources pertaining to your specific topic
In class Monday: Introduction to Zotero and practice, including keying in first entries
DUE Wednesday via e-mail before class: 10-item Zotero bibliography in rtf or MSWord format
In class Wednesday: Terms quizzes returned; discussion of paper #1

WEEK 6, Monday, February 23 and Wednesday, February 25

DUE Monday: draft of first section of Paper #1 (600 or so words): explanation/description of development (bring four paper copies to class and send one via e-mail before or immediately after class to sberg1@gmu.edu)
Discussion: Paper #1
Wednesday: Peer review session for paper #1
 
WEEK 7 Monday, March 2 and Wednesday, March 4

DUE Monday: Full draft of paper #1 (1,500 words) (bring four paper copies to class and send one via e-mail to sberg1@gmu.edu)
In class Monday: preparation for Wednesday peer review session
Wednesday:  Discussion of full drafts of Paper #1

WEEK 8 Monday, March 9 and Wednesday, March 11 NO CLASS -- SPRING BREAK

WEEK 9 Monday, March 16 and Wednesday, March 18

DUE Monday via e-mail (before or immediately after class):  Paper #1, with references page
Monday: Paper #2 assigned
Wednesday: Discussion of and work on paper #2
Wednesday: Re-take of quiz (if necessary)

WEEK 10 Monday, March 23 and Wednesday, March 25

DUE Monday: Preiminary bibliography for paper #2
Monday: In-class work: Notes on sources for paper #2
DUE Wednesday: Notes on sources for paper #2
Wednesday: Discussion of model papers

WEEK 11 Monday, March 30 and Wednesday, April 1

CONFERENCES (No class meetings)

WEEK 12 Monday, April 6

DUE Monday via e-mail: Draft of first section of paper #2 (summary of the overall conversation)

WEEK 13 Monday, April 13 and Wednesday, April 15

Monday: Zotero annotations assigned
Wednesday: In-class work on Zotero bibliographies

WEEK 14  Monday, April 20 and Wednesday, April 22

DUE Monday: Annotated Zotero bibliography
Monday: Paper #3 assigned
Wednesday: Paraphrasing and summarizing workshop

WEEK 15  Monday, April 27 and Wednesday, April 29

DUE Monday via e-mail: Draft of entire Paper #2 for comment and possible provisional grade
Wednesday: Final comments on drafts of papers #2, including final draft checklist

WEEK 16  Monday, May 4

Course evaluations, last words, etc.
DUE Monday via e-mail:  Paper #3

Monday, May 11

DUE via e-mail by 3:00 p.m.:  Optional revisions of Papers #1 and #2