Dear Colleagues,

Thank you for your comments on the New Common Syllabus (NCS) for ENG 1010 and ENG 1020.

My favorite comment was a suggestion for a graduate seminar on genre theory and pedagogy (coming right up . . . . ). 

Multiple comments clustered around two themes -- readings and research -- and several comments raised other important issues -- the word count requirement, the Writing Center, and grading.

The majority of comments asked for clarification of the relationship between required textbooks and assigned readings in composition courses.  The NCS was deliberately designed to require a composition textbook with the expectation that instructors would choose their own readings to reflect their goals, experience, interests, style, and efforts toward student engagement.  Except for one of the textbooks in ENG 1010, the composition textbooks themselves have no or minimal readings so that instructors can use the readings of their choice, whether those readings consist of a coursepack or electronic collection of articles, an anthology or reader, a popular press non-fiction book, or any combination of the instructor’s choice.

Some examples of the textbook and reading combinations people use might be helpful.  The GTA ENG 1020 syllabus this year consists of the following required text and readings (in abbreviated references):

• Faigley and Selzer, Good Reasons
• Graff and Birkenstein, They Say/I Say
• a selection of electronic readings, ranging from Artistotle’s “On Rhetoric” to contemporary articles about advertising techniques, narcotics legislation, and bioethics
• Halpern, Fame Junkies:  The Hidden Truths Behind America’s Favorite Addiction  (non-fiction)
• Romero, Diary of the Dead (film)
• Lappe and Goldman, Shooting War (a graphic novel; more on this below)

A number of ENG 1020 instructors indicated that they would choose one of the required texts in combination with Silverman and Rader’s The World is a Text.  (Because The World is a Text remains popular, I ordered desk copies of the new 3^rd edition to be available in the Department.)

An ENG 1010 instructor suggested that he might use the SF Writer in combination with The Best American Nonrequired Reading, a collection of essays (Eggers and Stevens).

I should add here a definition and rationale for the constraint in the NCS upon using literature.  The linguist in me was amused to receive several requests that I define what I meant by “works of literature.”  My flip genre-based answer is “anything that could appear in the Norton Anthology of XXX Literature (including the no-doubt forthcoming Anthology of Graphic Literature).  My more serious answer is that I describe literature as creative fiction of all types -- poems, plays, short stories, novels, etc.  The rationale for limiting the use of literature in ENG 1010 and ENG 1020 is that these two courses, in particular, are General Education Basic Composition classes that are intended to prepare students for writing in college courses from anthropology to zoology, so literature is too narrow a focus for composition courses with this goal.  Arguably, working with a variety of non-fiction texts and assigning key meta-genres like summary, response, analysis, and, especially, argument develop skills that transfer across courses in the university, which makes non-literary readings and assignments an appropriate focus for ENG 1010 and 1020, especially since many WSU students will not have had instruction or experience in writing academic discourse.  The English Department offers a series of Literature and Writing courses that bear General Education Intermediate Composition credit, and it is here that students are trained in disciplinary writing for literary studies. 

This is not to say that ENG 1010 and 1020 cannot include literature at all.  It is to say that the role of literature should be limited so that it is neither the major type of reading in the course nor the major focus of major or multiple assignments.  To that end, if I were to operationalize the constraint in the NCS, I would suggest that literature not be the focus of more than one (smaller) unit or one assignment in individual courses.  The GTA ENG 1020 above exemplifies this approach:  it includes a short graphic novel, but a graphic novel was used in the course last year as the focus of less than 10% of class time, and that was while students were working on a rhetorical analysis of a larger non-fiction work.  In sum, in ENG 1020, literature should not be the focus of the three required analysis and argument papers; similarly, in ENG 1010, literature should not be the focus of the required summary, response, and argument papers (recall that response papers, in particular, have to serve double duty as instruction in writing essay exams, one of the most frequent genres students produce in college). 

All of the above was quite a bit of response to the readings comments, but I hope it clarifies the relationship between textbooks and readings in ENG 1010 and 1020.  I will revise the NCS to reflect the importance of readings in the course, primarily by dropping the term “supplementary” and moving the section on readings to immediately follow the section on required textbooks.

The second set of multiple comments addressed the role of research in Basic Composition courses, particularly ENG 1020.  In the description of the required assignments, I used the term “research-based” to indicate the nature of academic discourse as based on investigation, information, ideas, evidence, analysis, synthesis, and argumentation for all kinds of writing, not just the traditional “research paper.”  Under this view, all papers in ENG 1020 should be research-based in that they synthesize and integrate ideas from sources with the ideas of the writer, as stated in the learning objectives.  The sources used in the development of a paper could include a limited number of texts (e.g., a single or set of print or electronic advertisements for the classic ad analysis assignment; e.g., a rhetorical analysis of a single book like Fame Junkies or Everything Bad is Good for You).  Other assignments could require a fully-researched topic, as, for example, in a major argument paper. 

Because many students arrive in college without experience in research-based writing, ENG 1010 is often taught as a progression from a single-source paper (e.g., a summary assignment) to a multiple-source paper with a smaller number of sources (e.g., an analysis of two or three positions on an issue).  ENG 1020 is a more ambitious course, with research-based writing the norm for all papers in the course, again ranging from a smaller set of texts for papers at the beginning of the course to a larger set of sources for major analysis and argument papers in the middle and end of the course.

Some comments asked for a balanced emphasis on types of research sources in the NCS.  To that end, I will change the terminology in the learning objectives in ENG 1020 from “sources in texts and media” to “print and electronic sources.”  I also will include some information on library resources at WSU in the NCS:  librarians at the Adamany Undergraduate Library offer instructional services specifically for classes with first-year students, and the library also offers an online tutorial introducing students to library research (http://www.lib.wayne.edu/services/instruction_tutorials/searchpath). 

Regarding word counts in ENG 1010 and 1020, the NCS is specific:  ENG 1010 requires 5,000 -- 7,000 words/20 -- 28 pages, and ENG 1020 requires 8,000 or more words/32 or more pages.  These word counts are a required part of our continuing General Education designation for these courses.  Instructors are free to decide how to allocate these word/page requirements within their own individual courses.  Papers in ENG 1010 and 1020 can be shorter or longer, and the word count can include (or not) drafts, revisions, and rewrites.  As many instructors have taught the course, ENG 1010 builds to 4-6 page papers.  ENG 1020 typically begins from 4-6 page papers and builds to papers of varied lengths; after taking freshman composition, students should be prepared to write college papers of varying lengths up to 8-10 pages.  ENG 3010 should cover writing even longer research-based papers that students might be expected to write in upper division courses.

Regarding the Writing Center, one comment asked for clarification about requiring students to attend the Writing Center.  Instructors may require students to attend the Writing Center to receive help on a specific assignment or paper.  Instructors may not require entire classes to attend the Writing Center because some unengaged students then attend a tutoring appointment “just to get the stamp,” which upsets tutors and disrupts the learning atmosphere of other students attending their appointments.

Finally, regarding grading, as one comment pointed out, the distributions mentioned in the NCS are reasonable guidelines, but composition classes do vary, from a Winter term ENG 1010 in which the majority of students do not pass, to an outstanding ENG 1020 in which the majority of student truly earn a B or better.  The grading guidelines are intended to capture the sense of experienced members of the Department, including the Chair, the previous Directors of Composition, the members of the Composition Committee, and instructors I’ve consulted along the way.  Their purpose, to be frank, is not only to achieve some degree of consistency but also to rein in grade inflation, especially in ENG 1020, where almost half of enrolled students currently receive an A. 

As noted in the NCS, appropriate and consistent grading is especially important in light of the C or better General Education requirement.  One way to look at this is to note that the University has accepted our definition of an adequate standard for college writing, but it is now our responsibility to operationalize that standard, in part through consistent grading.  As a Department, we need to grow more consistent in our grading, which is the purpose of the newly instituted Winter term grading workshops.  This January, in fact, we will have a workshop on developing assignments and grading with rubrics:  in one of my favorite phrases as Director of Composition, “save the date” of Monday, January 12, 1:00 -- 4:00. 

I will use some of the commentary here in the revised New Common Syllabus for ENG 1010 and ENG 1020.  The revision will be presented to the Composition Committee, and a final version will be distributed on Everyone-So-Far as soon as possible.  The New Common Syllabus will be in effect for Fall, 2008. 

Please feel free to contact me with any other comments, questions, or suggestions (email:  ellen.barton@wayne.edu; telephone:  7-7696).

Thank you very much for your help in this process.

EB