English 198: Writing Link to Political Science 202

English 198 is a five credit writing course linked to Adam Simon’s “Introduction to American Politics.” As much as possible, this class will work with the readings and lecture materials generated in PS 202, though it is designed and graded separately from the lecture class. That is, you will have plenty of opportunities to write about the American political system during the quarter as we examine the relation between reading, writing, and politics. And while our writing class assignments and discussions will require you to keep up with the assigned readings, lectures, and what is covered in your section meetings, we will focus more closely on how writing helps develop ideas and a critical position rather than just functioning as a means of recording information.
As will become clear during the course of the quarter, some due dates and assignments will differ from those in PS 202. These differences are necessary to accommodate the process model of writing you will follow in this class. Because this process requires you to examine your assumptions, you will have the opportunity to revise your writing to make it both more persuasive and more consistent with the type of writing produced in the field of political science. Being introduced to a variety of  critical resources used in political science will also allow you to incorporate research in your writing.
 

Course Requirements

 There will be three major writing assignments.  For each of these assignments, you will hand in a first draft, write peer critiques of at least two other students’ papers, and participate in workshops to discuss the drafts of these essays. You will also meet with me in individual conferences to discuss your writing before you turn in the final, revised version of your essay. There will also be a variety of shorter assignments that will help you prepare for the longer assignments as well as for the daily joys of critical discussion. In order to take full advantage of how timely the subjects are that will be explored in this class, we will try to remain flexible and work with whatever information appears as part of the daily grind of governing.
 Because this class functions primarily as a workshop, your attendance and participation, whether in small group work or general class discussions, is crucial. For these same reasons, it is important that you complete all work on time.  Failure to do the following will result in the loss of 0.5 from your final grade for that assignment:

· A late or incomplete draft
· A late peer critique
· An unexcused absence from either a peer group or a conference

Late final versions will lose 0.3 per day; they will receive a grade but no comments.

Texts, Materials, and Resources

· Easy Writer
· All texts for Political Science 202
· The Political Science Writing Center , located in Smith 220 B, is a valuable resource
· I would also recommend that you purchase a college-level dictionary.
· There are also a variety of library and Internet resources frequently used in Political Science with which you should become familiar during the quarter.
 

Grading and Course Policies

Final grades will be determined as follows:

 75% for the three major essays
 25% for peer review, short pieces of writing, and class participation.

While your essays will be graded according to the point system, your other work will receive credit based on a check-plus/check/check-minus system.

All paper drafts and short assignments must be typed. When bringing rough drafts to be peer reviewed, you must bring the necessary number of copies—usually three. When handing in revised essays, you must hand in the original draft as well as a revision statement in which you describe what you changed in your essay and why.

Some of these policies may change to accommodate the lecture and changes in the relative difficulty of assignments. Also, because this is a linked class, I will need to distribute the course calendar in installments.