Foley 1

Real-Life Rhetoric: Leave the Academic Discourse Community to the

Academics

Introduction (exordium)

When have rhetorical composition skills come in handy in your

life? For me, persuasive and clear writing has helped me land jobs,

impress the powers that be in the workplace, stop duplicate billing by

BellSouth, and secure my mother’s unemployment benefits. I have

written persuasive reports for institutional effectiveness, AACSB

reaccreditation, private grant funding, TRIO grant funding, and

Perkins III grant funding. Despite my having worked in higher

education for over fifteen years, I have never been asked to write a

MLA or APA formatted paper post-graduation. Having placed out of

English Composition and lacking an English major’s perspective, I was

surprised to discover that a respected English Composition academic,

David Bartholomae, thought that a primary purpose of a general

education English Composition course was to help students gain entry

into the academic discourse community: “He has to learn to speak our

language, to speak as we do, to try on the peculiar ways of knowing,

selecting, evaluating, reporting, concluding, and arguing that define

the discourse of our community” (Bartholomae 4). Since I am a career

counselor and not an English professor, I asked around to see if this

Foley 2

was a prevailing attitude of the English Composition instructors in my

orbit ~ and it was.

Seriously? Why does “he” have to learn to speak, select,

evaluate, report, conclude, and argue like an academic? Does he want

to become an academic for a living or does he just want to please a

few professors over the course of the next four years? I will argue

that the odds of his wanting to join academia for the long-term are

low and lowering. For those few students who truly do want to enter an

academic discourse community for the long haul, I will argue that the

university should focus on relevant learning by introducing doctoral

students to the academic discourse community, English majors to

literature and multilayered process writing in upper-level courses,

other majors to professional writing in their discipline in upper

level major courses, and general education English Composition

students to rhetorical writing needed in real-life, especially in the

workplace. Does writing for the academic discourse community prepare

Bartholomae’s “him” to write for the non-academic workplaces in which

he is most likely to find himself post-graduation? No. I will

demonstrate that employers are increasingly disappointed with the

rhetorical composition skills of college graduates. Rather than

preparing students for the short-term goal of pleasing a few

professors in the academic discourse community, I will argue that

Foley 3

English Composition courses should prepare students for the relevant

yet long-term goal of composing persuasively written documents needed

in real-life, especially in the workplace, by moving away from an

academic discourse community focus and process pedagogy to a real-life

writing focus and product pedagogy. Leave the academic discourse

community to the academics!

Statement of Facts (narration)

Does he want to become an academic for a living?

Do English Composition courses try to help students gain entry

into the academic discourse community because students actually want

to join an academic discourse community post-graduation? The

percentage of freshman undergraduate students who make it to Ph.D.

tenure-track professorships is probably not much higher than that of

junior varsity basketball players who make it to the NBA. Not even

many English majors make it to the big leagues of academia: “Last

year, when we revised the requirements for the English major at the

University of Cincinnati, we took seriously a significant finding from

a survey of our graduates: that well over 90 percent of our majors do

not go on to academic jobs in English (Rentz 185). I suggest that the

percentage of students desiring Ph.D. tenure-track professorships will

be on the decline in the years ahead. Let us check the current stacks:

Foley 4

Is College Worth It?: A Former United States Secretary of Education and a Liberal Arts Graduate

Expose the Broken Promise of Higher Education by Dr. William J. Bennett and

David Wilezol; College Unbound: The Future of Higher Education and What It Means for

Students by Jeffrey J. Selingo, editor at large for The Chronicle for Higher

Education; Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses by Richard Arum

and Josipa Roksa; Abelard to Apple: The Fate of American Colleges and Universities by

Richard A. DeMillo; Higher Education?: How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money and Failing

Our Kids ~ and What We Can Do About It by sociologist Andrew Hacker and New

York Times writer Claudia Dreifus. The classroom is not the only thing

flipping in higher education: Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are

“part of a larger socioeconomic shift that would diversify the supply

chain of higher education, transferring more academic functions to

independent services that are offered on a freelancing basis”

(Straumsheim). “Competency-based learning (CBL) is already famously

used by private institutions … but Wisconsin will be one of the first

major public universities to take on this new, controversial form of

granting degrees…where student progress is tracked not by course time

but competencies, and where instruction and assessment are decoupled”

(Carlson).

MOOCs and CBLs are disrupting higher education as we know it but

even the higher education that we know has a dirty little secret: “The

dirty little secret is that higher education is staffed with an

Foley 5

insufficiently resourced, egregiously exploited, contingent ‘new

faculty majority.’ In addition to the 49.3% of faculty in part-time

positions (70% in community colleges), another 19% are full-time, non-

tenure track (Rhoades). Given the dearth of tenure-track

professorships, the plentiful “working poor” adjunct positions, and

the rise of disruptive forces, how many current and future college

students will want to enter the academic discourse community for a

living: “Most students will not want to become academics but will

become practitioners and professionals and enter applied and

pedagogical discourse communities” (Gambell 172). Why should English

Composition courses try to help students gain entry into the academic

discourse community if that is not the tribe students want to join

after their degree completion? The vast majority of students enter

academia to improve their chance of securing and succeeding in

professional employment outside of the academic discourse community.

English Composition courses should deliver the written communication

skills that the vast majority of students seek.

What about those few students who do seek long-term employment in

the academic discourse community? General education English

Composition courses taken by the majority are not the venue for

teaching a specialized academic discourse writing skill needed by a

Foley 6

few. Graduate school is the appropriate venue for teaching writing for

the academic discourse community:

It might be argued that while many would have serious qualms

about putting first year undergraduates in a required course

in the position of reworking the concerns of rhetoric,

putting graduate students in such a position is both to be

expected and encouraged. Graduate programs, after all, are

meant to prepare their students to engage in the

professional activities of the discipline, and questioning

canonical knowledge is just part of professional academic

disciplinary business-as-usual (Horner 481).

Students no longer enter college to access sacrosanct knowledge held

exclusively within its walls. Knowledge has been democratized.

Students will be lifelong learners who will seek relevant skills

throughout their lives. Rather than teach English Composition students

the specialized skill of writing for the academic discourse community

just to please some professors in the short term or just in case they

decide to become academics themselves, let us teach English

Composition students the rhetorical composition skills they will need

in real-life, especially in the workplace, and allow graduate programs

to teach writing for the academic discourse community.

Foley 7

Does writing for the academic discourse community prepare him to write for most non-

academic workplaces?

Even writing academics poke fun at academic writing ~ just surf

over to The University of Chicago Writing Program’s Write your own academic

sentence tool for proof of that. The sometimes comical and often pedantic

skill of writing for the academic discourse community does not

necessarily transfer to writing outside the academic discourse

community:

They admit that they are quite comfortable at this senior

stage of their undergraduate education (final year) with

writing academic university discourse, that is, structured

essays in the arts and social sciences where they propose

and argue a thesis statement, present and synthesize

research and information, or compare and contrast theories,

characters and plots in literary works. However, what they

feel they lack is confidence and opportunity for non-

assigned writing, in genres and forms that lie outside that

expected and sanctioned by the academy (Gambell 171).

While some students seem to be aware that their skills for

writing outside the academic discourse community may be lacking, many

other undergraduates are painfully unaware that they lack the

rhetorical composition skills that employers seek. In August 2013,

Foley 8

Harris Interactive interviewed 2,001 18-24 year olds enrolled in a 2-

or 4-year public or private college and 1,000 hiring managers and

found significant discrepancies in their perceptions of student

composition skills: 70% of students but only 51% of hiring managers

believed that college graduates could effectively write to summarize

results and convey information; 71% of students but only 49% of hiring

managers believed that college graduates could effectively write to

communicate ideas or explain information clearly; 64% of students but

only 43% of hiring managers believed that college graduates could

effectively write to encourage action; and 62% of students but only

43% of hiring managers believed that college graduates could

effectively write to make a persuasive argument to convince others to

adopt their idea (“Bridge That Gap” 1-6). In 2004, the National

Commission on Writing’s survey of 120 major American corporations

concluded that writing is a threshold skill for hiring and promotion

among salaried employees yet approximately one-third of the

respondents reported that one-third or fewer of their employees

possess good writing skills. The Commission found the strength of

corporate complaints about the writing skills of college graduates to

be surprisingly powerful (“Writing: A Ticket to Work...Or a Ticket

Out, a Survey of Business Leaders”). A survey by The Chronicle and

American Public Media's Marketplace found that half of the employers

Foley 9

reported trouble finding recent graduates qualified to fill positions,

a third gave colleges fair to poor marks for producing successful

employees, and many faulted bachelor degree holders for lacking

workplace proficiencies in written communication (Fischer).

Donald C. Samson, Jr. chides English Composition purveyors for

their lack of responsiveness to the chasm between undergraduate

composition skills and employer expectations:

Despite increasing concern from employers about college

graduates’ communication skills, as reported in articles and

in surveys by the National Association of Colleges and

Employers and other organizations, colleges and universities

have been reluctant to revise first-year composition

programs to explore ways to prepare first-year students for

writing in their careers as well as in their studies ("What

First-Year Composition Textbooks are Beginning to Say About

Writing in Business" 1).

I take Donald Samson’s challenge a step further: English Composition

programs should explore ways to prepare first-year students for

writing in real-life, especially in the workplace. Graduate programs

should teach academic discourse writing to students who actually

desire to enter the academic discourse community.

Foley 10

Division (partitio)

Here are the facts, Ma’am: Most freshman undergraduates do not

want to become academics for a living and, even if they did, there

would be plenty of courses in their future beyond English Composition

to instill the skill of writing for the academic discourse community.

English Composition is a general education course taught to the

majority yet employers are not satisfied with the writing skills of

the majority of college graduates. Post-graduation, most students will

want and need to please employers, not academic discourse communities.

The general education English Composition courses taught to the

majority of students need to change to meet the needs of the majority

of the students we serve rather than to please a few members of the

academic discourse community.

I propose that the university attend to the composition needs of

students at their level of academic progression. Graduate students

seeking inclusion in the academic discourse community should be taught

to write for the academic discourse community. English majors seeking

a literary life should be taught to write creatively by engaging in as

many processes or post-processes as needed to bring their work to full

flower. Other majors should be taught to write for their disciplines

in upper-level major courses emphasizing process or product as is

appropriate. English Composition students seeking general education in

Foley 11

rhetoric should be taught to compose persuasively written documents

needed in real-life, especially in the workplace. To teach English

Composition students to compose persuasively written products needed

in real-life, I propose that English Composition move away from an

academic discourse community focus and process pedagogy to a real life

writing focus and product pedagogy.

Proof (confirmatio)

English Composition courses should prepare students for the long-term goal of composing

persuasively written products needed in real-life, especially in the workplace

“I need for you to write this document for our client. Please

take an extensive amount of time as you pre-write, write, garner peer

evaluations, revise, and edit before you publish your document.

Process is more important than product,” said no employer ever.

Currently English Composition courses focus not only on teaching

general education students the specialized skills they would need to

succeed in the rarefied academic discourse community, they also

emphasize process or post-process pedagogies as their primary teaching

method leaving the mundane writing of products to lowly professional

writing courses. In "Writing Beyond Borders: Rethinking the

Relationship Between Composition Studies and Professional Writing,”

Foley 12

Jennifer Bay encapsulates the tension between English Composition and

Professional Writing:

Historically, professional writing has oriented itself

toward a production model in which there is a ‘finished’

product (usually demanded or required in business and

industry). It's also a field in which the writing is always

presented as having a ‘real’ audience or ‘real’ function.

Composition Studies, on the other hand, orients itself

toward process, toward revision, and only recently has

responded to the call to produce texts with real-world

effects. Even the seemingly briefly-lived interest in

postprocess theory found its meaning and ground in the

process movement (35).

As a career counselor by trade, the following words from Michael B.

Prince rang the bell of truth in my ears as I tried to digest process

theory: “Teachers do students no service to suggest, even implicitly,

that ‘product’ is not important. In this country, students will be

judged on their product... and that product, based as it is on

specific codes of a particular culture, is more readily produced when

the directives of how to produce it are made explicit” (4-5). Prince

reminds us of this reality: “The trouble is that in school and in

life, people don't write descriptions, narrations, or pure analysis.

Foley 13

They don't even write isolated arguments. They write reviews, briefs,

letters, essays, editorials, memoranda, and other genres of personal

and public discourse” (4). Prince even offers a yardstick for

measuring pedagogical effectiveness: “Pedagogies for composition

should be tested according to the adequacy with which they answer this

question: Do their representations of process bear sufficient

resemblance to the normal practice of successful writers?” (4). The

normal practice of successful writers in most workplace settings is to

quickly produce on demand rhetorically persuasive written documents

with zero tolerance for spelling or grammar errors; therefore, English

Composition courses should use a pedagogy that supports success in

students’ quickly producing on demand rhetorically persuasive written

documents with zero tolerance for spelling or grammar errors.

Perhaps there was time to teach multi-layered writing processes

or the intricacies of academic discourse to most incoming freshmen

back in the day when only an elite few entered the hallowed halls of

academia. Those days are gone. In 2012, 66.2% of high school graduates

went on to college (“College Enrollment and Work Activity of 2012 High

School Graduates”). Sixty-six percent of high school graduates go to

college not because they are eager to join academic discourse

communities or compose self-revelatory prose but because they want to

secure good jobs after graduation. According to the 2012 CIRP Freshman

Foley 14

Survey, the following reason was the most important in students’

deciding to go to college: To be able to get a better job at 87.9%

(Pryor et al. 37). Process theory has its place in composition

pedagogy but that place is in upper level English classes for

logophiles rather than in general education composition for the mass

of students not interested in writing MLA-formatted papers for the

academic discourse community, poetry, or the great American novel.

These humble masses do need composition skills but they need the

clear, logical, and persuasive rhetorical skills required in real

life, especially in the workplace.

There is nothing permanent except change ~ true in Heraclitus of

Ephesus’ day and true today. English Composition courses need to

change to meet the needs and expectations of students and the

employers who hire them. Change is no stranger to English Composition:

“We aim, in other words, to approach rhetoric and composition as

something that necessarily and rightly needs to be continuously

‘worked’ (and reworked) to articulate alternatives and forms of

resistance to hegemonic forces and relations” (Horner and Lu 470).

Change is no stranger to all matters academic:

Students change majors multiple times based on job

possibilities; faculty spend years searching for full-time

employment and often must pursue other careers due to the

Foley 15

lack of positions; workers make career changes or return to

school for job training and ensured future income; and

elderly retirees must work to supplement their subsidized

incomes. These are just a few images of the constantly

shifting landscape on which Composition Studies attempts to

build its constituency (Bay 32).

Higher education is changing and English Composition must change as

well to remain relevant and helpful to today’s students and their

needs. In the words of Thomas Wosley, Diane Lapp, and Douglas Fisher

in “Students’ and Teachers’ Perceptions: An Inquiry Into Academic

Writing”: “’Why do we have to do this?’ Students often ask this

question about written work. Let’s be sure we teach them worthwhile

skills” (714).

What written skills are worthwhile to a college freshman not

desiring to become a college professor? Rather than ENG-W 131

Elementary Composition’s offering instruction and practice in the

reading, writing, and critical thinking skills required [during four

years] in college (“Indiana University East 2013-2014 Catalog” 81),

how about more of ENG-W 231 Professional Writing Skills’ developing

research and writing skills requisite for most professional activities

[lasting well beyond four years] (“Indiana University East 2013-2014

Catalog” 81-82). Upper level major courses are best suited to address

Foley 16

specialized professional writing skills but English Composition is the

perfect first year venue for addressing professional writing skills

common to most disciplines along with other matters relevant to a

freshman student. Rather than ENG-W 131 Elementary Composition’s

reading and writing about the “Universality of the Folktale”

“Cinderella,” “Fairy Tales and a Dose of Reality,” “Cinderella: Not so

Morally Superior,” “What’s Wrong With Cinderella,” “Fat and Happy,”

“Fat and Happy: In Defense of Fat Acceptance,” “Too Much of a Good

Thing,” and “Too ‘Close to the Bone’: The Historical Context for

Women’s Obsession with Slenderness” (Appendix A), how about English

Composition’s co-opting ENG-W 231 Professional Writing Skills’

requiring students to compose a resume, cover letter, and thank you

correspondence along with internal, external sales, and grant

proposals (Appendix B).

Perhaps the simplest remedy to what ails English Composition

courses is just to exchange syllabi with Professional Writing courses.

That solution seems adequate but perhaps even better would be to focus

on those aspects of the Professional Writing course that are most

relevant to a freshman and to add assignments from other classes that

are freshman focused including freshman seminar and career development

courses. Indiana University Bloomington offers several freshman-

oriented courses that could provide useful assignments for our revised

Foley 17

English Composition course. EDUC-U 206 Orientation to College Life

focuses on transitions from high school to college, from a two- or

four-year college to IU, or returning to academic life as an adult

student (“Introduction to 2013-2014 Course Descriptions”). Our revised

English Composition courses could require a reflective “transitions”

paper appropriate to each student’s life circumstance thereby

improving both writing skills and the student’s transition to college.

EDUC-U 210 Survival Skills at IU focuses on strategies for building

self-esteem, increasing assertiveness, managing time, goal setting,

and other nonacademic skills that can assist novice students

(“Introduction to 2013-2014 Course Descriptions”). Our revised English

Composition courses could require students to investigate and write on

whichever topic is most relevant to them thereby improving both

writing and college survival skills. ASCS-Q 294 Basic Career

Development focuses on career planning, vocational options, academic

process, and career projections (“Introduction to 2013-2014 Course

Descriptions”). Our revised English Composition courses could require

students to research and write persuasively on their choice(s) of

major(s) and potential vocational field(s) thereby improving both

writing and career development.

“Why do we have to do this?” ~ would this question be asked by

English Composition students required to write reflectively on their

Foley 18

current life transition to college; investigate and write about any

college success skills that need improvement; research, evaluate, and

write persuasively on their choice of major and career; compose a

resume, cover letter, and thank you correspondence; and write an

internal, external sales, or grant proposal depending on which is most

appropriate to their major? I doubt it. Let’s be sure to teach them

worthwhile skills!

Refutation (refutatio)

All those academic toes are smarting and department chairpersons

are sharpening their rapier wit and calling in political chips in

preparation for their fight for FTE’s. Is this what higher education

is really about or is higher education really about benefitting

students? Yes, I am suggesting that the lines between today’s English

Composition and Professional Writing courses be blurred. Yes, I am

suggesting that English Composition co-opt subject matter from

freshman seminar and career development courses. I suggest these

transgressions because they are in the best interest of our freshman

general education students who need to strengthen those rhetorical

composition skills needed in real-life and in the workplace. Higher

education is changing. We educators can be in front of that change

guiding it or behind that change resisting it. The choice is ours.

Foley 19

Conclusion (peroratio)

Almost 88% of students go to college to get a better job yet

employers are unhappy with the written communication skills of college

graduates and employers consider written communication to be a

threshold skill for hiring and promotion among salaried employees. All

the while, the general education English Composition courses required

of most freshman concentrate on teaching these students to write for

the academic discourse community using process pedagogies that do not

reflect the product-oriented workplace culture they will encounter

post-graduation. Whose needs are we composition specialists serving ~

the academic discourse community’s or our students’? No wonder the

value of higher education is being questioned.

Allie Grasgreen issues this succinct challenge to the university

in general but I believe it should be directed to English Composition

in particular: “Colleges should be embedding career development into

the fabric of undergraduate education. Not only would this better

prepare students for life after college, it would help to justify the

value of a liberal arts degree” (“Qualified in Their Own Minds”).

English Composition courses have the potential to play a very vital

and relevant role in the lives of students. Rather than merely serving

as yet another academic hoop to clear, English Composition should

Foley 20

focus on instilling the ability to produce the grammatically correct,

well-developed, clearly stated, and persuasively argued written

documents that employers seek and that will come in handy time and

time again in real life both in and out of the workplace.

“In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the

future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a

world that no longer exists” (Hoffer). We composition specialists with

our graduate degrees are perhaps the learned but we need to be the

learners. The future does not belong to teaching students who have no

long-term desire to enter the academic discourse community to write

for the academic discourse community. If English Composition remains

focused on academic discourse writing, it will find itself in a world

that no longer exists and that world is higher education as we know it

today. Let us inherit the future, teach students the relevant writing

skills needed in real-life, especially in the workplace, and leave the

academic discourse community to the academics!

Foley 21

Appendix A

English W131 (3 credit hours) ABRIDGEDFall Semester 2012

Course Description:ENG W131: Elementary Composition, is a one-semester course that offersinstruction and practice in the critical reading and writing skills required for college-level work, with an emphasis on written assignments that call for summary, critique, analysis, and arguments based on sources. This is a college course. The purpose of this courseis to prepare students for the rigor of writing throughout college. The focus is on scholarly investigation of sources, critical thinking and reading, learning how to recognize and utilize specific writing strategies, skills, and fluency. Each unit will include preliminary work and assignments leading to a major essay to conclude. Points willbe accumulated from homework, in-class assignments, participation, andfinal written assignments. Since much work and discussion will be carried on in class, impeccable attendance and assignment submission is imperative. Course Learning Outcomes:Students proficient in English composition will demonstrate the ability to1. employ strategies of pre-writing, drafting, and revising, taking into consideration rhetorical purpose, the knowledge and needs of different audiences, and the feedback of instructors and peers;2. engage in substantial revision of drafts, as distinguished from editing and proofreading;3. read critically, summarize, apply, analyze, and synthesize information and concepts in written and visual sources as the basis for developing their own ideas and claims;4. engage in inquiry-driven research, making use of appropriate datarepositories and indexes, and properly attributing and citing the language and ideas of others to avoid plagiarism;5. develop a focused thesis and link it to appropriate reasons and adequate evidence;

Foley 22

6. use genre conventions and structure (e.g., introductions, paragraphing, transitions) in ways that serve the development and communication of information and ideas;7. edit such that choices in style, grammar, spelling, and punctuation contribute to the clear communication of information and ideas.

Required Texts:Leahey, Thomas E. and Christine R. Farris, eds. Writing and Reading for ACP Composition. New York: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2009. [ISBN: 0-558-31627-1] Rosenwasser, David and Jill Stephen.Writing Analytically.6th Edition. Boston: Wadsworth, 2012. [ISBN-13: 9780495910084]In this syllabus, these texts will be referred to as WRAC and WA respectively.

Notebooks: All students are to keep a Reading/Writing Log (RWL), which is a 3-ring binder that is organized according to the types of papers we write. Each section will include handouts, activities, extra readings, double-entry responses, annotations, says/does pages, assignment sheets, drafts, peer review pages, as well as other documents that correspond with each unit. Each final draft should also be included. This will be an integral part of the course and will be checked periodically (without prior notice) as well as at the end of each 9 weeks and semester.

Writing Assignments: Five major papers are required for this course: summary, critique, comparative critique, comparative analysis, and trend analysis.Failure to complete one of the papers will result in automatic failure of the course.

Public Review of Your Work: Students work will be open to public scrutiny. All drafts will be submitted for peer review. Additionally, papers may be shown on overheads for feedback on generalwriting concerns and revision. The I.U. site visitor will also see and possibly use papers as examples and for training purposes.

Course Material: Since this in a college course, the material will beextensive and sometimes difficult. Some may be mature in nature. However, it will be important that you complete all readings and view all films, as they will serve as the basis of class discussions and paper assignments. Also, expect to read each article more than once and sometimes more than twice. For each reading assignment, you will

Foley 23

complete a reading activity that will help you approach and analyze the text.

Submission of Papers: No final paper will be accepted without my having seen a first draft. All drafts—first and final—must be typed in 12 pt. Times New Roman (or comparable) font using standard MLA-style. The final submission of your paper should include the peer-edited first draft, as well as a clean copy of your final draft. You must also submit an electronic copy of your final draft.

Grading: Grading is sequential and cumulative throughout the semester.

Papers: 55%#1 Summary

1st Draft 20 pointsFinal Draft 50 points

#2 Critique1st Draft 20 pointsFinal Draft 100 points

#3 Comparative Critique1st Draft 20 pointsFinal Draft 100 points

#4 Comparative Analysis1st Draft 20 pointsFinal Draft 130 points

#5 Trend AnalysisOral Report 20 pointsWriting Plan 50 pointsFinal Draft 200 points

Notebook, Class Activities, Trend Reports, Quizzes: 30%

Attendance/Participation (2 pts. per day)” 15%

UNIT 1: Introduction and “Cinderella”

Week 1-2Trend Report Schedule

Foley 24

Letter of Recommendation AssignmentPlato’s “The Allegory of the Cave”Meiland, Jack W. “The Difference Between High School and College” (WRAC 8-18)WA Ch. 2 pp. 23-50

Week 3-5WA Ch. 3 pp. 53-79; WA Ch. 4 pp. 85-104Using MLA (“Quotation” and “Avoiding Plagiarism” WRAC 51-62)“Universality of the Folktale” (Thompson WRAC 433-436)“Cinderella” (Perrault WRAC 439-443)“Cinderella” (Grimm, handout) “Fairy Tales and a Dose of Reality” (Catherine Orenstein WRAC 450-452)“Cinderella: Not so Morally Superior” (Panttaja WRAC 452-455)“What’s Wrong With Cinderella?” (Peggy Orenstein, handout) Begin Trend ReportsWriting Summaries (WRAC 24-25) Study the example on pages 26-39

Summary: “What’s Wrong With Cinderella?”

Paper Assignment: Write a 2-3 page summary that develops from a closereading of the article. The summary must indicate the author’s key idea, concepts, and arguments. It must be independent of the exact words of the author and must report accurately what the author wrote, not evaluate or offer an opinion. The goal of a summary is to help the reader learn the essential information and line of argument contained in the source article in a concise, objective, and accurate re-writing. You may use no more than one direct quotation, cited properly in MLA style. Your paper should include both parenthetical citations and an end-of- text citation for the article.

UNIT 2: “The Weight Debate”

Weeks 6-8:WA Ch. 5 pp. 111-128; WA Ch. 6 pp. 133-148; WA Ch. 15 pp. 326-347“Fat and Happy?” (Schwartz WRAC 307-314)“Fat and Happy: In Defense of Fat Acceptance” (Worley WRAC 291-295)“Too Much of a Good Thing” (Critser WRAC 288-290)“Too ‘Close to the Bone’: The Historical Context for Women’s Obsessionwith Slenderness” (Seid WRAC 295-307)WRAC Ch. 2 Critical Reading and Critique

Critique: Seid

Foley 25

Paper Assignment: Write a 3-4 page analysis of the assigned article. The goal of this paper is to help the reader who has read the article to understand it more deeply, to understand what is at stake for the author in raising this issue, to understand the significance and/or implications of the writer’s opinion, and to understand what is implicit or assumed in the author’s argument. You should not try to persuade the reader to any particular belief or action, nor should youpurposefully set out your own agreement or disagreement with the author’s ideas. The analysis in the paper will focus on such things as the logic and shape of the argument, the quality of the evidence, and the underlying assumptions the author holds.

Unit 3: “Obedience to Authority”

Weeks 9-11WA Ch. 7; WA Ch. 8 pp. 165-172; WA Ch. 10“The Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal” (Szegedy-Maszak WRAC 210-212)“The Perils of Obedience” (Milgram WRAC 212-224) “Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem” (Fromme WRAC 258-266)“Group Minds” (Lessing, handout)

Comparative Critique: Lessing and one other article)

Paper Assignment: Write a 4-6 page paper comparatively analyzing two source articles listed. The paper will identify important common positions addressed by both writers as well as significant differences. The comparison should be a synthesis of the two sources that precedes point-by-point rather than source-by-source. The comparison must go beyond merely pointing out similarities and differences. It must analyze the source texts in terms of some of thefollowing: the writer’s arguments, purpose, evidence, logic, reasons, underlying assumptions, and method of establishing position on the issue.

Weeks 12-14WA Ch. 11-13 “The Stanford Prison Experiments” (Zimbardo WRAC 240-252)“Time to Think About Torture” (Alter WRAC 263-265)“The My Lai Massacre” (Kelman and Hamilton WRAC 266-278)Film: TBA 

Foley 26

Comparative Analysis—Use two or three of our readings to write a comparative analysis of a film.

Paper Assignment: Write a 4-6 page paper analyzing the film using theideas and/or approaches provided by 2 to 3 of the authors in the list of reading. Your paper will focus on analyzing the film, not the sources you use. Keep in mind the analogy of the conversation in using your sources: they should help advance your own ideas. Your own ideas emerge from a close analysis of the details. In planning this paper, decide what ideas or approaches in the sources can help you understand what is going on in the film beyond its entertainment value. In using the sources, apply your skills in synthesizing sourceideas that you learn in writing the comparative critique paper: in what ways do your sources relate to each other? Some sources may be more important in your analysis than others. In that case, ask yourself: how far will the first writer’s approach carry me, and at what point do I need to pick up another source to go further in understanding? Choose sources carefully and thoughtfully. Your purpose in this paper is to discover something more about the film than you or another person could understand without the ideas and lenses provided by your chosen sources.

Researched Trend AnalysisWeeks 15-18Topic Reading: 6-8 sources that you locate through research. Any internet sources must be approved by me. The trend analysis paper is broken into two parts: the annotated bibliography and the final paper. Be prepared to present a brief oral and written defense of your choice of topic to me and the class.

The Annotated Bibliography lists the sources you are finding that pertain to analyzing the trend or its causes. This list should be a MLA works-cited list, with a one paragraph explaining how each source relates to your trend or its causes. Study and follow this example.

The Trend Analysis paper is a 6-8 page paper that investigates a current trend, its possible causes, and the broader implications. Thepaper explains the trend, demonstrates through evidence that it existsas a trend, documents and analyzes the trend (social, political ethical, economic, individual, religious, environmental, etc.). The purpose of the paper is not an argument paper designed to persuade. Think of yourself as a social commentator or an objective analyst who

Foley 27

wants to understand what is under the surface of the trend, and what it means that it has become a trend here and in this place.

As you plan, be sure that you do not overweight the paper with any onesection. Papers that focus exclusively on proving the trend exists and shortcut the analysis of its possible causes and broader significance fall short of the requirements of this assignment.

Foley 28

Appendix B

Indiana University NorthwestEnglish W231 Professional Writing Skills Course Syllabus ABRIDGED

Course DescriptionENG-W 231 Professional Writing Skills (3 cr.)  P: ENG-W 131 or equivalentThis course is designed to develop research and writing skills requisite for most academic and professional activities. Emphasis on methods of research, organization, and writing techniques useful in preparing reviews, critical bibliographies, research and technical reports, proposals, and papers. Junior or senior standing recommended. 

Course Goals and ObjectivesThe purpose of this course is to prepare you for the writing assignments you will encounter in the business community. Much of this writing will involve close observation, critical reading and analysis; improving your writing skills will also require working on your critical thinking. You will learn to use writing as means to discover, develop, test, and refine ideas, and techniques for expressing and organizing those ideas effectively and clearly. You will develop skills to effectively complete an adjustment letter, complaint letter, email, external proposal, internal memorandum, internal proposal, and a resume/cover letter/thank you response.

Course Materials Alred, Gerald J. & Charles T. Brusaw & Walter E. Oliu. The Business     Writer’s Handbook. 10th Ed. New York: St. Martin’s Press.  2012.

Assignments    PointsResume/Cover Letter/Thank You Correspondence  100 pointsProposal: Internal   150 pointsProposal: External Sales   200 pointsProposal: Grant  200 points  Online Portfolio    50 pointsOncourse/Syllabus Quiz  25 pointsLibrary Group Activity   50 pointsMinor Writing Assignments 6@ 15 points   90 points

Foley 29

Discussion Questions   6@ 10 points   60 pointsFirst Drafts   3@ 10 points   30 pointsPeer Reviews  3 @15 points   45 points TOTAL  1000 Points

Weekly Schedule: Assignments: Eng. W 231All assignments are due on SUNDAYS, by 10:55P.M. (CST)(BWH) refers to The Business Writer’s HandbookWeek Reading Assignments Due

DateAssignments Due

    1

Review your syllabus andthe Course Announcement Review the guidelines and grading rubric for the Resume Assignment Review (BHW) pages 39-42; 283; 473-489 

   

  Writing Assignment One: 15 pts. Discussion Question One: 10 pts. Oncourse/Syllabus Quiz: 25 pts.  

 2

Review the Guidelines and Grading Rubric for the Resume Assignment 

  

  Final Resume Assignment: 100 pts.

3

Review (BHW) 419-421 o Review Guidelines and Grading Rubric for the Internal Proposal Assignment 

  

  Writing Assignment Two: 15 pts. Discussion Question Two: 10 pts.

4

Review: Peer Review Guidelines Review Sample Paper formatted in MLA located under Resources Review Citing Sources using MLA formatting Style 

   

   Draft: Internal Proposal: 10 pts. Writing Assignment Three: 15 pts.

5 Review Example: InternalProposal Review the Peer Review Guidelines

  

  Discussion Question Three: 10pts. Peer Review: Internal

Foley 30

  Proposal: 15 pts. Library Group Assignment: 50 pts. 

 6

Review Peer Review Guidelines 

  

  Writing Assignment Four: 15 pts. Discussion Question Four: 10 pts. Final Internal Proposal: 150 pts. 

7

Review the Guidelines and Grading Rubric for the External Proposal (Sales) o Review (BHW) 427-437 

   

  Writing Assignment Five: 15 pts. Discussion Question Five: 10 pts. 

8

Review the Guidelines and Grading Rubric for the External Proposal Assignment (Sales) 

  

  Draft: External Proposal (Sales):10 pts. 

9

Review Example: (BHW) 427-437

Review the Guidelines and Grading Rubric for The External Proposal (Sales)

  

 Peer Reviews External Proposal (Sales): 15 pts.  

 10

Review Guidelines and Grading Rubric: External Proposal Sales 

  

  Final External Proposal (Sales) 200 pts.

   11

Review The Samples Paperformatted in APA  located under Resources o Review Citing Sources using APA formatting styleo Review: Guidelines and Grading Rubric: External Proposal: Granto Review (BHW) 426 

   

   Writing Assignment Six: 15 pts. Discussion Question 6: 10 pts. 

Foley 31

12

Review Peer Review Guidelines

  

  Draft: External Proposal (Grant) 10 pts. 

13

Review the Guidelines and Grading Rubric: External Proposal (Grant) 

  

  Peer Reviews: External Proposal (Grant) 15 pts. 

  14

Review the Guidelines and grading rubric: External Proposal (Sales) o Review the Portfolio Guidelines 

   

  Final External Proposal (Grant): 200 pts.  

15 Review Guidelines: Online Portfolio 

  

  Online Portfolio: 50 pts. 

    16

No assignments due   Classes end o Final exams:

 

Foley 32

Works Cited

Arum, Richard and Josipa Roksa. Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College

Campuses. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2010. Print.

Bartholomae, David. “Inventing the University.” Journal of Basic Writing 5.1

(1986): 4-23. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

Bay, Jennifer. "Writing Beyond Borders: Rethinking the Relationship

Between Composition Studies and Professional Writing.” Composition

Studies 38.2 (2010): n. pag. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

Bennett, William J. and David Wilezol. Is College Worth It?: A Former United

States Secretary of Education and a Liberal Arts Graduate Expose the Broken Promise of

Higher Education. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2013. Print.

“Bridge That Gap: Analyzing the Student Skill Index.” Chegg. Fall

2013: 1-7. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

Carlson, Scott. “Competency-Based Education Goes Mainstream in

Wisconsin.” The Chronicle of Higher Education 30 September 2013: n. pag.

Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

“College Enrollment and Work Activity of 2012 High School Graduates.”

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Economic News Release. 17 April

2013: n. pag. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

DeMillo, Richard A. Abelard to Apple: The Fate of American Colleges and Universities.

Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2013. Print.

Foley 33

Grasgreen, Allie. “Qualified in Their Own Minds.” Inside Higher Ed 29

October 2013: n. pag. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

Hacker, Andrew and Claudia Dreifus. Higher Education?: How Colleges Are Wasting

Our Money and Failing Our Kids ~ and What We Can Do About It. New York: St.

Martin's Griffin, 2011. Print.

Hoffer, Eric. Reflections on the Human Condition. Titusville, NJ: Hopewell

Publications, 8 September 2006. Print.

Horner, Bruce and Min-Zhan Lu. “Working Rhetoric and Composition.”

College English 72.5 May 2010: 470-494. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

“Indiana University East 2013-2014 Catalog.” Indiana University East,

81-82. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

“Introduction to 2013-2014 Course Descriptions.” Indiana University

Bloomington, n. pag. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

Prince, Michael B. "A New Beginning in College Writing." The Journal of

Education 188.3 September 2007: n. pag. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

Pryor, John H., Kevin Eagan, Laura Palucki Blake, Sylvia Hurtado,

Jennifer Berdan, and Matthew H. Case. “The American Freshman:

National Norms Fall 2012.” Cooperative Institutional Research

Program at The Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA.

December 2012: 1-92. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

Foley 34

Rentz, Kathryn. “A Flare from the Margins: The Place of Professional

Writing in English Departments.” Pedagogy 1.1 Winter 2001: 185-

190. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

Rhoades, Gary. “Adjunct professors are the new working poor.” CNN

Opinion 25 September 2013: n. pag. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

Samson, Jr., Donald C. "What First-Year Composition Textbooks are

Beginning to Say About Writing in Business." Proceedings of the

Association for Business Communication Convention. 2007: n. pag. Web. 1 Dec.

2013.

Selingo, Jeffrey J. College Unbound: The Future of Higher Education and What It

Means for Students. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. Print.

Straumsheim, Carl. “Degrees of Disruption.” Inside Higher Ed 24 October

2013: n. pag. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

Wolsey, Thomas DeVere, Diane Lapp and Douglas Fisher. "Students’ and

Teachers’ Perceptions: An Inquiry Into Academic Writing." Journal of

Adolescent & Adult Literacy 55.8 May 2012: n. pag. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

“Write your own academic sentence.” The University of Chicago Writing Program.

The University of Chicago, n.d. n. pag. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

“Writing: A Ticket to Work...Or a Ticket Out, A Survey of Business

Leaders.” The National Commission on Writing. September 2004: n.

pag. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.