Based on the discussion at the Composition Staff meeting, it seems that there is some sentiment suggesting that our current Co

TO: English Department / Composition Instructors

FROM: Vaughn

RE: Proposal to Modify Academic Writing

DATE: 05/08/04

Based on the discussion at the Composition Staff meeting in May, it seems that there is some sentiment suggesting that our current Composition Program may be in need of some revivification, or, at least, an infusion of some fresh ideas.

The following salient questions seemed to have emerged from the meeting:

1. How can we improve, change, or modify the exiting program to make it more effective for both the teaching staff, as well as our students?

2. How can we improve the content to make it more relevant for our students’ needs — both academic and professional?

3. How can we make our program, including individual courses, more attractive to our students, so they don’t continue coming into these courses “kicking and screaming”?

4. How can we mitigate the cheating/plagiarism situation?

5. How can we improve the evaluation of students’ work?

I would like to put forth a proposal that I feel would—at least in part—address some of these concerns, particularly 1-4.

Academic Writing 100:

· Completely restructure this course to allow for assignments to be determined by instructor preference (rather than exiting program guidelines) — provided that the assignments meet certain criteria: quality of insight, good organization, proper development, effective technical control, and appropriate style.

· Increase the number and diversity of “smaller” writing assignments. I would personally like to include more of the following: proposal, grant, and resume writing; collaborative writing assignments, very common in both the public and private sectors; producing documents that effectively integrate text and graphics; writing for presentations; etc.

· I would recommend including a wide range of activities, group projects, presentations, etc. focused intensively on the principles of Research & Documentation, with particular emphasis on Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism — perhaps even doing an assessment of one of the “Paper Mill” sites on line. I would require that they write a summary essay to include their understanding of the institutional policies regarding Academic Dishonesty as set forth in the Cortland College Handbook.

· I would limit the number of formal “prepared essays” to one or two, requiring that only one be based on sources, ideally to demonstrate students’ understanding of what they learned vis-à-vis the previous item. I would keep the “full-blown” Research Paper in Academic Writing 101.

Academic Writing 101:

· In attempt to make this course more relevant to our students’ needs, as well as give them a greater degree of choice, I would recommend offering at least 5 variations of Academic Writing II. Most of the writing would be academic in nature, requiring the students to work with and integrate a variety of written sources:

· CPN 101-A-- General Composition: This variation would be for students who have not yet declared a major or have no particular preference for either of the other variations. The course might be constructed similarly to what we now offer.

· CPN 101-B-- Writing for English, Journalism, or Professional Writing: The content of this course speaks for itself.

· CPN 101-C-- Writing for Business & Economics: The content of this course speaks for itself.

· CPN 101-D-- Writing for Social and Physical Sciences: The content of this course speaks for itself.

· CPN 101-E-- Writing for Recreation & Sports Management: The content of this course speaks for itself.

Although these proposals would likely create more work and preparation on our part (at least initially), I feel we would better serve our students in the long run, while at the same time giving them a greater degree of choice in fulfilling their Composition requirements.

Obviously, this is only a prototype proposal, which would be subject to further input and modification.

Vaughn