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ENGLISH 105iWriting in the Humanities

A World War I Theme Course
Spring 2015

Michael Gutierrez


Office: 220 Greenlaw Hall

email: mgutie@email.unc.edu
Office Phone: (919) 962-5204
Office Hours: Tuesday 12-1:50
& by appointment via email

ENGL 105i.018
Meeting Time: T/TH 2-3:15
Location: 107 Greenlaw
ENGL 105i.019
Meeting Time: T/TH 3:30-4:45
Location: 107 Greenlaw

Course Description
In this section of English 105i, you will analyze the rhetorical and stylistic conventions that govern
professional and academic writing in the humanities. In particular, the course will be focused on
WWI as a theme to unite the projects in the course.

In honor of the wars centenary, UNC is holding a year-long conversation about its legacy and
impact. This 105i course is part of that conversation. The humanities disciplines are concerned
with how people make meaning (for instance, through art, literature, music) or with understanding
the human condition (for instance, through philosophy or history). Rather than considering
political, social, military, or scientific effects of WWI, we will study and write about the artistic,
rhetorical, philosophical, and historical aspects of the wars legacy. As a class, we will attend some
of the many performances, lectures, and other events occurring on campus this spring related to the
WWI Centenary Project.
We will be preparing our projects as if we were attending a conference on WWI that will take place
in May 2015 in London! Here is a snapshot of the three unit projects in the course:
Unit 1 Rhetoric of Art. You will study, analyze, and write about the many American propaganda
posters that were created during WWI in order to recruit soldiers and to build national pride. In
analyzing these posters, you will be looking at how the artist used images, color, words, and designs
to convey distinctive messages. You will present your work during a mini-conference in class.
Unit 2 Personal HistoryLife Writing. You will be researching and writing about the life of
someone connected to the University or North Carolina, who also has a story about World War I.
We can cast a wide net here: a UNC student turned soldier, a nurse on the frontlines, a parent
sending their child off to war. Using archives at UNC, you will learn about your subjects life and
cultural milieu, then produce and publish a Wikiversity encyclopedia page (kind of like Wikipedia).
Unit 3 Digital Performance-Video Montage. Drawing on WWI music, poetry, painting, photographs,
literature, war memorials, and other artifacts that capture the wars legacy, you will create a digital
project that represents or bears witness to the human tragedy of war. You will be using materials
other artists have created related to WWI, choosing bits, and mixing them to create your video
montage. (Think mash-up.)
NOTE: The following sections of ENGL 105iHumanities will have a WWI theme: Danielewicz,
ENGL 105i-001; Gutierrez, ENGL 105i-018; Gutierrez, ENGL 105i-019

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The course emphasizes writing, not content information; you will be learning the tools and skills,
plus doing research during the course itself that will equip you to be successful as writers for each
of these projects.
You will study how genres function in some of the humanities disciplines and learn how to adopt
genres to fulfill your own purposes and meet the needs of an audience. To those ends, we will move
through a sequence of units designed to give you practice in many of the skills and techniques that
professional researchers use to collect, organize, analyze, and present their research findings. You
will have the opportunity conduct your own research in these fields and to compose your own
examples of the genres that professionals use to communicate their research findings.

The goals of this class are to teach you to:
Understand genres, conventions, and rhetoric as they relate to the humanities
Generate discipline-specific compositions in appropriate genres
Learn how to craft your writing to reach specific audiences
Conduct primary and secondary research using academic databases and library sources
Learn to compose using written, oral, and multimedia modes
Review and revise your own work and assist others in revising their work
Publish your through oral presentations or in digital format to different audiences

Required Texts:
Student Guide to First-Year Composition; ISBN 9780860030935
The Student Guide is available in the course pack section.

Special Events: Below are listed the special events you will be attending, related to the World War I
Centenary Project. One event is required and you will attend one other of your choice. Please see
Sakai>Resources>WWI Special events for dates and more information. Please have an idea of the
second event you wish to attend by the end of the second week of class. Ill need to reserve tickets and
will need to get a head count.
Technology: Please bring your (charged) laptops to class every day. Your homework and writing
projects do NOT have to be printed out (unless you are specifically directed to do so). Instead, you
will be posting and sharing materials on our Sakai course management system.
Required Projects: You will complete three unit projects, each one containing several short feeder
assignments that lead up to a substantial unit project. The feeder assignments are generally designed
to give you practice with a particular skill (such as doing fieldwork or analyzing secondary sources),
while the unit projects will ask you, in most cases, to synthesize primary and secondary research.
In addition, there will be ongoing in-class writing and daily homework exercises (posted on Sakai) as
well as feeder and draft due dates (listed on the syllabus; bring to class the day they're listed). By the
end of the semester, you will choose one of your three projects to revise and include in your
portfolio.

Finally, a note about correspondence: please write your emails as if this was a professional endeavor.
Include phrases like Dear Professor Gutierrez or Hi Michael. Do not tell me to respond ASAP.
Its rude and Ill ignore you. Sign your emails. Avoid emoticons. Dont put XOXO or love at the
end of your emails. Its uncomfortable for all involved.

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Before you email me, please asking yourself if you could find the answer in the syllabus. For instance,
my office hours are listed at the top, along with my office location. Due dates are listed in the
schedule below. I dont mean to be petty but nearly half of my emails from students could be
answered by looking at the syllabus.

Conferences and Office Hours: There will be three required conferences during the semester;
however, I encourage you to set up an office visit anytime during the semester to discuss your work,
practice skills, etc. You will sign-up on Sakai for conference visits.

Forms of Representation and Intellectual Inquiry: Your written work will be published on our
Sakai site and you will also give presentations at the conference (in our classroom). In addition, I
encourage you to submit and present one of your projects at the Annual Celebration of
Undergraduate Research symposium in April 2015. See the Office for Undergraduate Research
website for more information.

Evaluation & Grading: Evaluation and grading will be accomplished by combining a grading
contract, three final unit project grades, and a portfolio with one revised unit project and portfolio
letter.

Course Contract:

60% of final grade
Three Unit Projects:
30% (or 10% each) of final grade
Portfolio:


10%

Final Grade:

100%


(1) Course Contract for a B (or 60% of your final grade): To get that B, you must follow the
contract for the entire semester by fulfilling the behaviors, activities, and practices listed in the
contract outlined below. If you do not follow the contract, your grade for 60% of the final course
will be lower, depending on your behavior and breach of contract. Contract grading is intended to
shift your focus productively, toward taking risks in your thinking and writing, toward taking
responsibility for and being interested in your own education (rather than working for the grade).
My standards are high: four pages means four pages, significant revision means significant revision.
Daily attentiveness and participation are required. The contract is designed to insure your full
participation in practices that are guaranteed to improve your writing and thinking, and it means
that all students must work equally hard, no matter what your talents are. In other words, students
who are fluent writers or fluent mathematicians can be equally successful by working hard and
fulfilling the contract.

Remember that you will receive a lower grade (for 60% of the final grade) if you do not fulfill the
contract. You are responsible for being aware of and following the contract stipulations whether
I comment on them or not at the time. However, I will help you remain aware by notifying you
periodically of minor or major breaches of contract.
The Grading Contract to earn a B (for 60% of the final grade) is as follows:
1. attend class regularly (missing no more than THREE classes); tardies count too; I dont
distinguish between excused or unexcused absences in counting these two; note: if you know
now that you will be missing classes for any reason during the semester, please inform me
ASAP. Provide documentation as well.

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2. meet due dates for all feeders and unit assignments; any extensions must be pre-arranged
with the professor;
3. complete all reading and homework assignments by due dates (usually on a daily basis);
4. attend (and report on) the WWI lectures and performances listed on Sakai;
5. participate whole-heartedly in all in-class exercises, writing workshops, and activities;
6. give thoughtful peer feedback during class workshops and work faithfully with your group on
other collaborative tasks (e.g., sharing papers, commenting on drafts, peer editing, on-line
forums, answering peer questions);
7. sustain effort and investment on each draft of all unit projects (2-3 drafts per project);
8. make substantive revisions when the assignment is to reviseextending or changing the
thinking or the organizationnot just editing or touching up;
9. copy-edit successfully all final revisions of main assignments till they conform to the
conventions of edited revised English; your final unit projects should be error-free;
10. participate intensively and diligently with your writing group;
11. attend scheduled conferences with the teacher to discuss drafts at the end of each unit. (Note:
missed conferences will not be rescheduled.)
12. complete a final portfolio with one revised unit project and with an introductory cover letter.

(2) Three unit projects (10% each or 30% of the final grade). You will receive letter grades on these
projects as you complete them during the course.
(3) Final Portfolio (10% of the final grade). This portfolio includes one revised final unit project as
well as an accompanying portfolio letter. More details will be provided later.
Important Note: If you need an extension, please ask me 48-hours before an assignment is due.
You have the right to discuss your grades with me. If you have a question or concern about an
assignment or participation grade, please come see me during my office hours or talk with me
before or after class to arrange a meeting. Due to federal regulations, UNC faculty are not permitted
to discuss grades via email or phone, so we will need to meet in person.
Additional Policies
The Honor Code: The honor code applies to everything that youand Ido at this university,
including our use of outside sources in our research and writing. Our work in this class will conform
to the principles and procedures defined in the Instrument of Student Judicial Governance
(http://instrument.unc.edu/). The research that we do this semester, whether primary or
secondary, print or online, formal or informal, will require careful documentation on your part. We
will review citation guidelines early and often throughout the semester. The need to cite your
sources applies to all your work, including drafts as well as final versions of your projects. You
must write all of your own work, drafts included. Cutting and pasting even small bits of writing
from online sources (without citing them) is not acceptable behavior. If you are in doubt, please
consult with me first before turning in any assignment, drafts or otherwise. If I suspect you of
plagiarizing all or part of a paper, even unintentionally, I am required to report the offense to the
Honor Court.
Students with Disabilities: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ensures that no
qualified person shall by reason of a disability be denied access to, participation in, or the benefits
of, any program or activity operated by the University. In compliance with UNC policy and federal
law, qualified students with disabilities are eligible to receive reasonable accommodations to
ensure equal access to education opportunities, programs, and activities

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(http://www.unc.edu/depts/lds/faculty-policies.html). If you anticipate such accommodations,
please notify me as soon as possible so that appropriate arrangements can be made. Additionally,
you may seek out student support services at the Department of Disability Services (DDS)
(http://disabilityservices.unc.edu/) and through the Learning Center
(http://learningcenter.unc.edu/)

Non-Discrimination Policy: This university does not discriminate against its students or
employees based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, or disability. The Universitys
policy states that sexual orientation be treated in this same manner. In this class we will strive to
maintain an open atmosphere with shared respect for all differences.

Additional Course Resources

The Writing Center. The Writing Center assists members of the University community who
have writing needs that are not met in the classroom or by other services on campus. The
Writing Center is located in the Student and Academic Services Building. Appointments are
made by visiting the Writing Centers website at <http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb>.

The Learning Center. The Learning Center is designed for a range of students: those who
need help with basic reading problems, those who are good readers but who wish to become
even better, and those who wish to improve their study skills. The Learning Center is located in
the Student and Academic Services Building (SASB North) and is open all year (except for
regular University recesses) from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily. Students may register at any
time during the year. If you have any questions, call the Learning Center office at 919---962---3782
or visit their web site at http://learningcenter.unc.edu/.

The Academic Advising Program. Academic Advising offices are located in Steele Building. In
addition to providing guidance related to course enrollments and majors and minors, Academic
Advising can help with any problems you may be having with progress in your courses or other
concerns you may have. Contact Academic Advising at 919-966-5116 or visit their web site at
http://advising.unc.edu/.

Student Success and Academic Counseling. The Center for Student Success and Academic
Counseling in SASB North, Room 2203 can be useful in solving problems non-mainstream
students sometimes encounter. Contact CSSAC at 919-962-1046 or visit their web site at
http://cssac.unc.edu/.

Counseling and Wellness Services. The staff at CWS (located in the Student Health Building)
provides positive, professional counseling for students who need academic, vocational, and
personal guidance. Contact CWS at 919-966-3658 or visit their web site at
http://campushealth.unc.edu/.

Dean of Students Office. Located in suite 1106 of the Student Academic Services North
Building (SASB), the Dean of Students provides support services for all students and assists
with transitions or other challenges students may be having in and out of the classroom.
Contact their offices at 919-966-4042 or via e-mail at dos@unc.edu or visit their office at
https://deanofstudents.unc.edu.

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Course Schedule:
The instructor reserves to right to make changes to the syllabus, including project due dates and
test dates. These changes will be announced as early as possible.

TUESDAY

THURSDAY

Week 1

Introductions

1/8
Week 2

Plagiarism/Digital files
propaganda

Library session at Wilson

Library. Location: TBD

Read Student Guide: 49-72

Feeder workshop (online):

check Sakai forums for
times/dates

Week 3:

Feeder 1.1 due

1/20-1/22

Ackland presentation

No ClassOffice
Conferences

1/13-1/15

Read Purdue OWL link on

Sakai.

Feeder 1.2 workshop

(online): check Sakai forums
for times/dates

Week 4:

Feeder 1.2 due

Feeder 1.3 draft due

1/27-1/29

Intro to Feeder 1.3

Week 5:

Feeder 1.3 due

2/3-2/5

Presentation Prep

Unit 1 project due: Part I

(essay) and Part II
presentation.
Conference Session: Panel
Presentations. Location: TBD

Week 6:
2/10-2/12

Overrun Panel Presentations Library session at Wilson

Library
Location: TBD
Location: TBD
Intro to Unit 2

Week 7:

Feeder 2.1 workshop

2/17-2/19
Week 8:
2/24-2/26

Feeder 2.1 due

Working with Feeder 2.2

Feeder 2.2 due

Unit 2 biography and outline

due
Media lab for wikis

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Week 9:
3/3-3/5
Week 10:

No Class: Office
Conferences

Unit 2 Project, draft #2 due

Spring Break

Spring Break

Unit 2 Project, draft #3 due

Unit 2 Project final due

3/10-3/12
Week 11:
3/17-3/19

Ackland visit: TBD

Week 12:

Introduction to Unit 3

Library session

3/24-3/26

Location: TBD Library

session
Location: TBD

Week 13:

Feeder 3.1 draft due

3/31-4/2
Week 14:

Feeder 3.1 due

No Class: Office
Conferences

Feeder 3.2 draft due

Feeder 3.2 due

MRC lab

MRC lab

MRC lab

Unit 3 due

Portfolio preparation

Portfolio due

4/7-4/9
Week 15:
4/14-4/16
Week 16:
4/21-4/23
Week 17:
4/28-4/30