Course Description | Grading Criteria | Sample Student Papers & Responses

Academic Writing I:

Academic Writing I serves non-native English speaking graduate students. Academic Writing I is a three "E" credit English as a Second Language (ESL) reading/writing course that meets three hours a week. Although students receive a grade in this course, the grade is not averaged into their overall GPA. In order to pass Academic Writing I, students must receive a grade of “C” or better.

Placement:

Students are placed in this courses on the basis of their TOEFL scores and the ESL program’s writing placement exam. Students are also reassessed on the first day of class through their writing sample.

Required Writing Courses:

• Academic Writing I 356:531 (3 “E” credits): students take Academic Writing II the following semester
• Academic Writing II 356:532 (3 “E” credits): after successfully completing this course, students have completed their required writing courses.

Course Objectives:

The goal of Academic Writing I is to enable students to read and respond to academic texts written in English. Students are asked to read, evaluate, and respond to fairly difficult texts ranging from narratives to essays. Throughout the semester, students should become familiar with the wide range of rhetorical options available--narration, classification, and argument. The course is structured so that students have the opportunity to interact with texts on multiple levels while working with a range grammatical structures and new vocabulary. The Graduate ESL Writing Program views the academic essays as recursive writing act that often leads in unexpected conceptual discoveries. Therefore, we see experimentation as vital part of writing because it frequently enables us to discover other things to say and other ways to say them.

Students are expected to learn how to argue a point of view in their papers, while taking into consideration the views of others. In doing this, students will need to know how to use the conventions of quotation, citation, and paraphrasing. Quotations can take an argument in another direct, concretize a point, or supply proof of an argument. Keep in mind that all quotations and paraphrases must be cited; violations of citation conventions may be considered plagiarism, which can lead to failing a paper, a class, and even separation from the university.

Many students expect teachers to correct all errors, and they may even feel that the teachers are not helping them when drafts are returned with suggestions for rewriting rather than corrections. Instructors who correct every error may in effect undermine the students' ability to see how words and sentences and meaning work together. As active participants in this workshop, students will take part in finding and correcting their own errors during peer revision groups and class discussion.

Since this is a holistic class, students will also be encouraged to read aloud, have debates, and present their own understanding of a reading.

Format of the Course:

• Grading:
  Students are given a final letter grade for this course: an "A, B+, B, C+, or C. Failing papers will receive a letter grade of “F.” Since this course is a workshop, the final grade is not cumulative; instead, the weight is placed on the final two papers.

• Using the Texts:
  Assignments for Academic Writing I will be based on what we call a sequence, which means that each reading you are assigned for a paper will be inter-related. This gives students the opportunity to delve deeper into issues and to gain control of vocabulary that they will reuse throughout the writing of their drafts.  Students can respond to some of their readings in their journals.

• Writing Requirements:
  Students must complete at least 4 typed essays, totaling a minimum of 18 typed pages—paper one, 3 pages; paper two, 5 pages; paper three, 5 pages, paper four, 6 pages Although the first paper may be three pages, the following papers should average 4 to 6 typed pages. Students should write at least two drafts for each paper. Students need to submit their drafts with their final paper so that instructors can note revisions.

• Instructors' Responses to Papers:
  For the most part, your instructor will make both marginal and end comments on your final drafts. Most of the marginal comments will ask questions that students need to consider in their revisions. The end response will work toward directing students in how to revise their papers. There should also be a grammar section that points out a pattern of error that students are making.

• Peer Workshops:
  Throughout the semester, students will work together on their readings and papers in groups of three or four. Students can work together on understanding and explaining difficult concepts, on revising one or all of the group's papers, and on discussing grammatical structures, word choice, and errors. Peer groups can also act as editors and proofread a classmate's paper by looking for "mechanical" problems that the writer may have missed. Students also benefit later in the semester by working on papers one-on-one.

• In-Class/Out-of-Class Assignments:
  Students will work on a variety of in-class and out-of-class assignments: pre-writing, directed freewritings, journal entries at home and in class, class presentations, and group debates; students should also be asked to read aloud and to discuss aspects of their papers.

• Journal:
  Students will be required to keep a reading journal in which they might summarize assigned essays, paragraphs, or sentences; choose and respond to any words or passages they enjoyed or didn't understand, to any sentences or paragraphs whose organization seemed easy, difficult, or challenging, to any concepts they found difficult, easy, or provocative.

• Listening/Speaking:
  Since listening and speaking are also components of this class, ample time will be spent on reading aloud, having discussions and holding debates, and giving presentations.

PROGRAM POLICIES

• Attendance:
  Since these courses are conducted as writing workshops, students who miss three or more classes or come to class late on a regular basis will jeopardize their successful completion of the course.

• Class Cancellation:
  If an instructor is late for class or absent, students should know what procedures to follow: a) it is Rutgers University policy that students wait 20 minutes for an instructor; b) after 20 minutes, students may leave and check email for the instructor’s assignments.

• Office Hours:
  Instructors hold one office hour a week in order to work with their students. Students should be certain to make appointments with their instructor if they have any problems in the course.

Grading Criteria >>