ENGL 309-001: Introduction to Non-Fiction Writing Spring 2005  George Mason University
Scott W. Berg, Instructor

Office: Robinson Hall, A114 (the Writing Center)
Office Hours: Mondays noon-1:00.  Better yet, make an appointment.
E-mail: sberg1@gmu.edu

Required Materials/Expenditures:

Four books are required for this course:

The Fun of It: Stories from The Talk of the Town
Masterpieces: Best American Magazine Writing 2001
Best American Magazine Writing 2002
Best American Magazine Writing 2003

You may be required to view and/or print out at least one article on a web site.  Finally, you will be responsible for making copies of your own work, sometimes enough for your workshop group and sometimes, perhaps, enough for the entire class.

Be sure you own a good dictionary and a good English handbook as well.  I recommend The American Heritage Dictionary (hardcover) and Diana Hacker's A Writer's Reference, 5th edition.

PREREQUISITES FOR ENGLISH 309

You must have completed 45 total credit hours and any 200-level English courses required of your major.  You may not take ENGL309 concurrently with ENGL399 or ENGL489, and you may not take this course if you have have already taken ENGL489.  I am not the person who dispenses information and advice about course eligibility; if you have questions, contact Laura Scott, English department advisor, at 703/993-1179 or lscott@gmu.edu, and tell her I sent you.  This course fulfills a requirement for students in the nonfiction concentration in English and is designed as part of that concentration, but students from all majors are welcome.

THE COURSE

ENGL309 is designed to provide you with your first exposure to upper-division non-fiction writing in forms such as the personal essay, feature article, profile, and review, to name a few.  You'll have some flexibility in choosing forms and topics, but there will be a set menu.  This isn't an "independent writing" course, nor is it a business writing course, nor is it a newswriting course, nor is it designed to help you with academic work in any particular major.  It is most certainly not a remedial or 'writing practice' course.  You don't write 'papers' in this class--you write articles, or 'pieces' as we call them for some reason.  The intended audience here is intelligent, curious, educated but not primarily academic--the kind of audience that enjoys the challenge of good books, magazines, and newspapers.

As far as your writing goes, it will be very important that your grammar and syntax be correct, but it will be more important that your writing be creative, clear, committed, cogent, complex, and complete.  I'll give each of you as much help as you'd like, tell you  what works and what doesn't.  If you're willing to take advantage of such help, you'll see the results in your writing.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Each of you, as a student at George Mason, is entitled to a free e-mail account, and should have basic e-mail competency.  Though I will try not to assign anything exclusively via e-mail, I will send reminders, updates, and other course information electronically.

This is a cooperative discussion and workshop class, which relies on the attendance and active contribution of its members to succeed.  I will require that you let me know in advance of any absences.  An excused absence will be any legitimate absence which I know of ahead of time. These excused absences (as long as they are not frequent) will be treated differently than unexcused absences: there will be more opportunity to make up graded assignments, in-class writing, etc.

NOTE ON ATTENDANCE:  Missing class with regularity will damage your ability to do well in the course.  And there are limits to the kind of absenteeism I'll allow:  Anyone missing more than two weeks (four classes) consecutively or three weeks (six classes) overall will not be able to pass the course because of the missed in-class work and participation.  Approaching these limits will affect your final grade as well, though to what degree will depend on your contributions when you are in class.

Punctuality is important.  Please be on time for class.

You'll write three original non-fiction pieces in this class, one shorter 1000-word-max "talk" piece and two longer pieces averaging 2000 words each.  You'll be responsible for demonstrating the ability to work in a variety of forms.

NOTE ON FORMAT and MECHANICS: All out-of-class writing must be typed, double-spaced, normal margins, Times New Roman font or something equally readable.  No colored fonts, no fancy fonts, no cover pages, no plastic binders for your writing.  Pages should be numbered and stapled; the first page should include, in the upper left corner, your name, the name of this class (ENGL309-001), the designated assignment name ("Exercise #1." "Draft of Profile," etc.), and the date.   At the end of each piece, please provide a word count.  All writing should be free, or nearly free, of mechanical errors--the focus in this class is on style, form, and content, not grammar and punctuation. The ability to competently manipulate the fundamental units of English composition--the word, the sentence and the paragraph--is a prerequisite and not a goal for this course.

You'll write three one-page exercises that ask you to demonstrate skill in the art and science of description.  There are only two possible grades on these exercises:  "very good" and "please revise."  If you're in the "please revise" stage, there will be no grade recorded on the exercise other than a notation that you handed your first version on time and therefore are eligible, eventually, for full credit.  Once you've received your "very good," you're done with that exercise and will be given full credit for its completion, no matter how many drafts you wrote.  Know in advance that I'll be demanding of these as with all  your work--you may write something that has many positives and still be asked to do more with it.

You'll write several reading responses analyzing non-fiction writing from the assigned books. These writings will be given a check mark rather than a strict letter grade; rare exceptional examples may receive a plus or minus as well.

We will have at least two editorial workshops during the semester, when you will meet in groups of three or four classmates to discuss your work.  You will also be responsible for a series of one-page writing responses in reaction to the writing of your workshop members.  These days are very important to this class, and as such, workshop participation is a required assignment, which cannot be made up.

Each of you will meet with me for at least two fifteen to twenty minute conferences.  Class may be canceled to afford time for these individual meetings.  A scheduled conference is a required assignment, and must be made up if missed.

REVISIONS

Revision is an important part of this class.  Each of the three major creative assignments will go through several steps, including proposals and drafts.  These drafts are required assignments, and count towards your overall grade.

GRADING

You must do everything assigned--reading, rough and final drafts of assignments, workshops, conferences, and shorter writings--to receive a passing grade in the class.

Your grade will be determined according the following mix:

Shorter piece #1 (Talk of Washington):  15%
Longer pieces #1 and #2:  45% total (weighted proportionately)
Exercises: 15% total (5% each)
Reading and Writing Responses: 15% total
Class Participation: 10%

Your grade is not based solely on an editorial assessment of your writing, nor is based solely on whether you accomplish every item on my checklist.  A student who receives an A or A- in this class must show herself or himself to be a very good writer and a very good student.  The writing of an A student does not aim to duplicate the quality of the examples in class, but does aim for the same types of strengths with a sense of craft and originality. Being a good student means being in class and entering into the spirit as well as the letter of the work.  Participation is important, as is evidence that you're engaged.  Being late with assignments, nodding off in class, failing to absorb discussions or lectures through disinterest or lack of concentration; these aren't the attributes of a good student.

A NOTE ABOUT SAVING YOUR WRITING

There can be no excuse in the year 2005 for losing one's only copy of a piece of writing.  If you aren't yet familiar with the many methods available to you to decrease the likelihood that you will lose your only copy of a piece of writing, educate yourself now.  Never carry around a piece of writing on a floppy or ZIP disk without making sure that you've also saved that piece of writing to 1) a hard drive somewhere 2) a server somewhere (by e-mailing it to yourself) 3) a second storage medium, or 4) a paper copy.  Preferably, you'll use several of these methods at once.  Also keep in mind that MS Word can be set to automatically save your work every X number of minutes; may I suggest you set this feature to 5 minutes or less.

I have given you this advice and warning.  Please don't come to me and say and say "I only had one copy."

PLAGIARISM AND LATE ASSIGNMENTS

Here is the definition of plagiarism, according to the English Department:

Plagiarism means using the exact words, opinions, or factual information from another person without giving that person credit.  Writers give credit through accepted documentation styles, such as parenthetical citation, footnotes, or end notes; a simple listing of books and articles is not sufficient.  Plagiarism is the equivalent of intellectual robbery and cannot be tolerated in the academic setting.

Egregious plagiarism will result in an F for the assignment and a report of an Honor Code violation.

Late papers and assignments will be penalized.  This penalty will depend on the nature of the offense;  for example, an assignment one day late will suffer less than an assignment five days late.  (The minimum penalty, though, is a half-grade reduction: B to B-, for example.)  No paper a week late or more will receive a passing grade.  I will consider, though not automatically grant, extension requests made at least one class period in advance--but only if they are infrequent.

THE UNIVERSITY WRITING CENTER

The University Writing Center is a free one-on-one tutorial service, available to all GMU students who want to work on writing skills.  Stop by Robinson Hall, room A114, or call 993-1200 for information and appointments.