WRITING & MONEY | ENGL 245 – 003
SPRING 2020 — MONDAY/WEDNESDAY, 2:30-3:45PM VAN HISE 387
instructor information
Professor Eileen Lagman
Office Location: Helen C. White, Room 6183
Office hours: M & W, 12:30-1:30 PM or by appointment
Contact info: lagman@wisc.edu
official course information:
This seminar offers close instruction in the principles and practices of informed, engaged, critical reading and writing. While texts and topics vary, each seminar reinforces fundamental skills taught across the English major, strengthening students’ capacities to write and speak powerfully and to build convincing, original, well-organized arguments that persuade audiences of their significance. Students will meet with the professor in individual writing conferences and will write at least 30 pages, including drafts and informal assignments spread throughout the semester.
3 credits: This class meets for two 75-minute class periods each week over the Spring semester and carries the expectation that students will work on course learning activities for about three hours outside of the classroom for every class period.
course description:
The purpose of this course is to understand the intersections of writing and money—or more specifically how writing systems and economic systems work together in everyday life. We’ll examine both how writing and writers have participated in systems of commercial exchange as well as how money shapes the value, contexts, and exigencies for writing. If we accept the narrative that modern society has moved from an industrial economy to an information economy or even an attention economy, what does that mean for writers? What is writing for? How is it valued? How do economics systems determine what is “good” writing? What writing skills are needed for economic success? And what does it mean to write for money? We’ll read texts from across different disciplines, including economics, sociology, literacy studies, rhetorical theory, and political science, and address issues such as: authorship and ownership, open source writing, writing as labor, and media peer production and information sharing. Student projects will include an analysis essay, a local research project, and a multi-genre project on “writing for money.”
learning goals
- History of Language and Literature
- To demonstrate knowledge of major forms, techniques, social conditions, values and genres that have shaped the history of English literature and language.
- Critical Thinking
- To be able to discern and integrate divergent and contradictory perspectives, identify and question assumptions, and assess evidence and methods.
- Creativity
- To generate original ideas and texts, experimenting and taking risks, solving problems, and answering questions in a range of genres and media.
- Critical Writing
- To write original, coherent, and compelling arguments that push beyond summary to analysis and independent and critical thinking in clear prose that meets expectations for grammatical correctness.
- Citizenship
- To develop empathy by learning about the experiences of others, and to gain an understanding of how we participate in communities (including the classroom) and the public sphere.
Textbooks and Materials
Required: Readings posted to Canvas as pdf files. (You do not need to purchase any books.)
Recommended: Laptop (or phone/tablet) for accessing course website, readings, and completing in-class writing. In the event we have in-class writing and you do not have an electronic device to write with, please have a paper and pen available. You may then submit the assignment to the course website within 24 hours of class. If you don’t have an electronic device to access readings, you are expected to have a paper printout of the reading available.
Course websites:
CANVAS: https://canvas.wisc.edu
You’ll use our Canvas site to access readings, submit assignments, and retrieve grades.
Course Site: https://245sp20writingandmoney.school.blog
You’ll use our course site to keep up with the daily activities of the course, submit reading responses, and short writing assignments, and access your peers’ web sites.
Assignments
You will be reading and writing regularly throughout the course. The readings are listed on the course calendar. The writing assignments will include a mix of three main projects and several smaller writing assignments that include reading responses and writing exercises.
Final grades will be computed according to the following:
A: 93-100 B: 83-86 C: 70-77 F: below 60
AB: 87-92 BC: 77-82 D: 60-69
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS
There will be three main projects where you will be asked to complete at least two drafts. You may complete these projects individually or as a group and they should be turned in via our Canvas site.
Project 1: Rhetorical Analysis (15%) – DUE 2/28
You will analyze a cultural artifact—some kind of text or media—for how it tells us something about the way money and writing work in the world.
Project 2: Writing for a Living (15%) – DUE 4/3
You will interview and/or observe people who write for a living or who use writing in the workplace and write up the results of your research in a format and genre of your choice.
Project 3: Final Project (25%) – DUE 5/1
You will attempt to “write” for “money”—this could be submitting a piece of writing to a publication, starting a blog with ad space, handling the social media for your sorority in exchange for “social capital”, or writing something as a “gift,” among other options. The project can be in any form and media of your choice, though you should think about genre, audience and rhetorical situation as you decide the shape of your project. Perhaps the most important component of this project is a rationale explaining the economic contexts for the project, the genre conventions involved, and the rhetorical strategies used to write effectively in this context.
BLOG WRITING (25%)
You’ll create a blog for the course where you document your thoughts and questions about the readings as well as complete Short Writing Assignments (SWAs).
Reading responses (SIX): You’ll complete a total of SIX reading responses out of TEN opportunities throughout the semester. In other words, you’ll get FOUR days off from reading responses (technically THREE days off, as one of those days should be your discussion leading day–Please don’t do a reading response on the day you are assigned to lead discussion.) You’ll get 10 points per completed reading response. Responses are due BEFORE the start of class on your wordpress blog. Responses should be at least 200 words, but they can be as long as you want. Please see our course website for guidelines on writing a Reading Response.
Short Writing Assignments: There may be times this semester that you will be asked to complete an SWA or Short Writing Assignment. They are not as long as the projects you’ll be asked to complete during the course, but they will be writing you do out of class and count toward your Blog Writing grade. SWAs should be posted on your course website BEFORE class on the day its due. Please see our course website for instructions for each individual SWA.
ENGAGEMENT (20%)
Your engagement grade will be made up of participation in daily in-class assignments and discussions.
- On many days you will be asked to do in-class writing or peer review and post these assignments to your blog.
- I also encourage you to show you have read the readings by participating in class discussion and readily volunteering to share your writing with the class.
- Discussion leader (ONCE): ONCE during the semester you will lead a class discussion about a reading or set of readings. This will count toward your engagement grade. Please see the blog for the discussion leader schedule and guidelines.
Course Policies
Class preparation and participation: Because this class is a discussion-based course and writing workshop, attendance as well as preparation for class are essential. You will be expected to arrive on time and to actively participate in discussion and activities. Specifically, you will be expected to be prepared to discuss assigned readings as well as complete assigned writing.
Attendance: Though you will not be penalized per absence, I will apply credit toward your engagement grade based on in-class writing, discussion, and other activities that will take place during class time. If you are late or absent, you will not be able to make up in-class assignments. You may be able to complete extra credit work to make up for work missed due to an absence. It is your responsibility to arrange the extra credit assignment with me.
Late or Incomplete Work: I expect you to turn in your assignments on or before the assigned due date. Late projects will lose 1/3 of a letter grade for each calendar day late, and other homework assignments will lose 2 points (out of 10) for each calendar day late. If you know in advance you will have difficulty submitting an assignment on time, please notify me at least 48 hours in advance to discuss extension options. I will consider extensions on a case-by-case basis.
Projects: All of the projects should be turned in on Canvas and be turned in before midnight on the day that it is due. When appropriate, written assignments should use double-spacing, a readable font size, and one-inch margins, as well as your name, the course title, the course section number, the date and the title of the assignment. When documenting sources, you may use a citation system of your choice (MLA, APA, CMS, etc.)
Rules, Rights, and Responsibilities
https://guide.wisc.edu/undergraduate/#rulesrightsandresponsibilitiestext
Academic Calendar and Religious Observances
Academic Integrity
By virtue of enrollment, each student agrees to uphold the high academic standards of the University of Wisconsin-Madison; academic misconduct is behavior that negatively impacts the integrity of the institution. Cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration, and helping others commit these previously listed acts are examples of misconduct which may result in disciplinary action. Examples of disciplinary action include, but is not limited to, failure on the assignment/course, written reprimand, disciplinary probation, suspension, or expulsion.
Accommodation for Students with Disabilities
The University of Wisconsin-Madison supports the right of all enrolled students to a full and equal educationalopportunity. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Wisconsin State Statute (36.12), and UW-Madison policy(Faculty Document 1071) require that students with disabilities be reasonably accommodated in instruction andcampus life. Reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities is a shared faculty and student responsibility. Students are expected to inform me of their need for instructional accommodations by the end of the third week of thesemester, or as soon as possible after a disability has been incurred or recognized. I will work either directly with theyou or in coordination with the McBurney Center to identify and provide reasonable instructional accommodations. Disability information, including instructional accommodations as part of a student’s educational record, is confidentialand protected under FERPA.
Diversity and Inclusion
Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background – people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.
ENGL 245: Writing and Money 