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Office Hours: Tues. 2:30-3:30 Guest Instructor: Alex D'Arbelof
Assigned Texts: Perelman, Barrett, Paradis, The Mayfield Handbook Of Technical And Scientific Writing Paperback with CD ROM at Coop or available online at http://tute.mit.edu/21.guide/www/home.htm Weinberg, One Renegade Cell : How Cancer Begins [available at Coop] Hayakawa, Language in Thought and Action [available at Coop] Porush, A Short Guide to Writing About Science [available at Coop] GOALS Students taking this class should learn:
MEANS: Since writing, like bicycling, skiing, or dancing, is a series of skills to be mastered as well as a body of knowledge to be learned, the course will be conducted as a workshop. A dancer learns to dance by dancing. A writer learns to write by writing. Consequently. the focus of this class will be on preparing papers and presentations, individually and groups, discussing them in class and in groups, and learning to revise them for effectiveness and clarity. Most class sessions will consist of:
ASSIGNMENTS:
This work will be done within the context of five major class projects: 1) Preliminary lab report on web based experiment.
2) Evaluating and Using Data in Arguments. The MIT Libraries will set up web links to data sets on several different topics. Teams of 2-3 students will then:
THE ELECTRONIC CLASSROOM & STAROFFICE The class will rely heavily on the Electronic Classroom to encourage revision, commentary, and discussion of papers. In addition, because document design is critical to technical and professional communication, the class will use StarOffice, a common word processing software and suite platform that allows complex document formatting and styles. StarOffice also includes spreadsheet, drawing, and presentation software that will allow students to produce graphs, drawings, and computer-generated presentations. StarOffice is free and runs on Athena, on Linux, and under Windows 95, 98, and NT. Moreover, the various components are compatible with MS Office. StarOffice Writer reads in and writes out MS Word files; StarOffice Calc reads in and write out MS Excel files, and StarOffice Impress reads in and writes out MS PowerPoint files. Consequently students can do assignments using StarOffice on Athena, StarOffice loaded onto their own machine running Linux or Windows, or on their own machine using MS Office The use of StarOffice in a class at MIT is experimental and there will inevitably be a few bugs. Please read the attached handout from MIT Academic Computing, "Word Processing in StarOffice." GRADES Most assignments will be graded and recorded as "check", "check" +, & "check" -. Each project will then receive a summary letter grade at its completion. Your final grade will be based on the weighted average of the following:
ATTENDANCE Because this class is a workshop and will meet only 24 times, class attendance is required. Students may miss three classes for any reason, ranging from oversleeping to being severely ill. The fourth and fifth absence will each lower a student’s final grade being one full grade. Students who miss more than five classes cannot pass this course. Arriving in class more than 15 minutes late will be considered as an absence. Exceptions to these rules will be made only in extreme circumstances. LATE PAPERS AND READINGS Writing classes such as this one do not work well unless most students hand their papers in on time. Any paper that is handed in hard copy, after the class meeting in which it was due will be considered late. You may submit one paper up to one class meeting after it is due without penalty. However, any subsequent assignments will be lowered at least one whole grade. The readings are brief and should not take more than two hours per week. They are, however, an essential part of the class, providing the basis for class discussions and in-class writing assignments. Consequently, students should complete each reading assignment before the start of the class meeting when it is due. USING SOURCES APPROPRIATELY AND AVOIDING PLAGIARISM There are two basic and universal rules regarding the use of information in academic writing: 1. If you use the language of your source, you must quote it exactly, enclose it in quotation marks, and cite the source. If you use the language of your source, quote the wording exactly. This is called a direct quotation. A direct quotation is either enclosed in quotation marks or indented on the page. If you omit part of the wording, use an ellipsis (three periods, four if necessary for punctuation to indicate the omission). In any case, several words in succession taken from another source constitute direct quotation and must be acknowledged. A paraphrase employs source material by restating an idea in an entirely new form that is original in both sentence structure and word choice. Taking the basic structure from a source and substituting a few words is an unacceptable paraphrase and may be construed as plagiarism. Creating a new sentence by merging the wording of two or more sources is also plagiarism. The penalty for plagiarism is automatic failure of the class and a letter of notification to the Committee on Discipline. 2. If you use ideas or information that are not common knowledge, you must cite the source. |
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