Spring 2019 ENGL 208 syllabus

1. ENGL 208 | SYLLABUS
The great essayist Michel de Montaigne said “Every [person] has within [themselves] the entire human
condition.” By this, of course, Montaigne didn’t mean that everyone has the same experiences. Rather,
we might take Montaigne to be saying that being human means that we all react to and are shaped by
our experiences.
Thanks to our capacity for language, we can try to communicate our various shades of reality to others.
Why might we want to do this? First, perhaps, to show people that there ARE many sorts of experiences
apart from (and not inferior to) their own; and second, to provide insight into how these different sorts
of experiences might shape how individual people react to the world. In a time where many have
acknowledged a seeming lack of common ground and shared values, perhaps this kind of personal
and exploratory writing is more important than ever.
In this course, then, we will be delving into our own experience and learning the most effective ways to
share those experiences with others.
By the end of the course, you should...
1. Be familiar with many different types of personal writing.
2. Be able to read, comprehend, and analyze personal writing for its effects on an audience.
3. Be able to tell a compelling story using personal experience.
4. Have a better awareness and control of formal features in writing, including literary techniques,
arrangement, style, and mechanics.
5. Have developed and refined your own writing process through the use of pre-writing, drafting,
revising, and other strategies.
REQUIRED MATERIALS

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• A Penzu account (https://penzu.com/support) – you will use this free app/web platform to
keep your ENGL 208 notebook for the semester.
• A subscription to Eli Review (see the instructions on BbLearn under ORIENTATION – DAY 1):
https://app.elireview.com (subscriptions for the semester cost $25).
• Required readings on the English 208 BbLearn site.
COURSE STRUCTURE AND REQUIREMENTS
You will be producing a combination of polished and unpolished writing for the course, culminating in a
final portfolio.
Complete all major assignments. As per English department policy, you must complete every major
assignment (here, what I’m calling “polished” writing – you can in order to pass the course. Not
completing a major assignment leads automatically to a grade of F in the course. I will not assign a
formal grade on your initial polished assignments; rather, you’ll receive points for completing them,
along with my written feedback and suggestions for revision. Your final portfolio will be the only written
work in the course that’s graded.
Complete homework assignments. For each project, there will be one or more assignments designed to
help “scaffold” the project. There is no “busy work” in this course – every assignment I give you is
meaningful, and is designed to help you develop some important skill that will help you complete the
project.
Write in your Penzu journal five times a week over the course of the semester. You will share your
journal with me at the end of the semester. While I won’t read your entire notebook, I will check to see
that you have 70 entries. Instructions for the notebook can be found under “Keeping a Notebook” on
the BbLearn Course Menu.
Participate in online discussions and draft workshops. Some of the work for the course involves
participating with your fellow students. Again, I only assign discussions and workshops if they are
meaningful and help you arrive at an understanding of some concept. I expect you to participate in a
more-than-cursory way; if you choose not to participate, you will lose the associated points.
Complete a final portfolio. At the end of the semester, you will submit a final portfolio that reflects on
your work during the semester, makes substantive arguments about how you met the course
objectives, and provides a significantly revised version of two major assignments.
A NOTE ON PERSONAL VS. PRIVATE CONTENT
I want to distinguish between personal content and private content. In this course, I hope you will all
feel comfortable sharing personal writing with me and with your peers. Sometimes sharing personal
content makes us uncomfortable, but ultimately it is meaningful and helps us grow. But no one is
required to share any private content or information—in fact, I discourage you from writing about
anything that you consider private. Sharing private content can be far more traumatic, and might be
more harmful than helpful. To get a sense of the difference, it might help to think about everything you
write for the course as something that is meant to be shared publicly (as if, for instance, you were to
get your writing published). If you would feel uncomfortable with the public seeing something you’ve
written for this course, then you should probably choose to write about something else.
Also, please know that as a university employee I am a mandatory reporter—that means that I am
required to report to the dean’s office certain information. If in your writing or in a talk with me you
disclose information regarding behavior or incidents that may be sexual harassment or sexual
misconduct, or if you say anything that makes me feel that you or another member of the campus
community is in distress or displaying concerning behavior (including suicidal ideation), I will have to
report it. Reporting it just means that someone from the university will likely reach out to you to see if
you are okay—there is no sort of disciplinary action.

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ACADEMIC DISHONESTY
I will not tolerate academic dishonesty (cheating) of any sort. Consequences for academic dishonesty
will certainly include failing the assignment; students who plagiarize may also receive an F in the
course. If you’re not sure what plagiarism is, you can read the University of Idaho’s Academic Honesty
Policy online at http://www.if.uidaho.edu/docs/academic_honesty.pdf.
ACCOMMODATIONS
Reasonable accommodations are available for you if you have a documented disability. Please notify
me during the first week of class regarding accommodation(s) needed for the course. All
accommodations must be approved through Disability Support Services located in the Idaho Commons
Building, Room 312 (885-7200; email at dss@uidaho.edu; see
also www.access.uidaho.edu orwww.webs.uidaho.edu/aap).
GRADING POLICY
Each project includes a Drop Box for assignments. Assignments are typically due either Wednesday or
Sunday at midnight – the final due dates are clearly listed on each of the project schedules, and the
assignments themselves.
Unless you have gotten permission from me at least 24 hours ahead of time, homework assignments
will lose one letter grade per day they are late. I will make exceptions if you have serious extenuating
circumstances (severe illness, death in the family, etc.), but you must tell me about these
circumstances before the homework is due, and you must provide the appropriate documentation
upon your return.
Regarding late policies for polished writing assignments and the Final Portfolio, see the “Grading, Self-
Evaluation, and Missed Work Policies” link on the BbLearn course menu.
I will grade your work based on the following general criteria, though I’ll provide you with more specific
criteria for each assignment:
• A: superior; the work is of near-professional quality. The assignment meets or exceeds all
objectives. The content is mature, thorough, and well suited for the audience; the style is clear,
accurate, and forceful; the information is well organized and formatted so that it is accessible
and attractive; the mechanics and grammar are correct.
• B: good; the paper meets the objectives of the assignment, but it needs improvement in style,
or it contains easily correctable errors in grammar, format, or content, or its content is
superficial.
• C: competent; the paper needs significant improvement in concept, details, development,
organization, grammar, or format. It may be formally correct but superficial in content.
• D: marginally acceptable; the paper meets some of the objectives but ignores others; the
content is inadequately developed; or it contains numerous or major errors.
• F: unacceptable; the paper does not have enough information, does something other than the
assignment required, or it contains major errors or excessive errors.
Your final grade will be determined by the grades you receive on written and in-class assignments,
based on the following weighting:
Notebook (75 entries) 100
Homework Assignments (these will be graded
on thoroughness and completeness).
250
Assignment 1: Imitative List Essay 100

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Assignment 2: Epistolary Essay 100
Assignment 3: A Personal Object Essay 100
Assignment 4: Writing About a Song 100
Assignment 5: Audio Essay
(pitch, script, audio)
150
Final Portfolio 150
TOTAL POINTS 1050