WRIT 2 – Winter 2024

Instructor: Neil Johnson (nrjohnson@ucsb.edu)

Office Hours: Wednesdays, 10am to 12pm
Office: HSSB 3233

WRITING 2: ACADEMIC WRITING

Meeting Times: Monday/Wednesday, 3:00pm to 4:50pm

Meeting location: ILP 4209

Overview:

Welcome to Writing 2. As a student in this class, you will encounter new perspectives
on what writing is and how people do it. You will also put these new perspectives into
practice by composing multiple drafts of two separate pieces of writing. By reading
about writing (and writing about writing) on a regular basis, you can expect to develop
an understanding of how to communicate ideas in different contexts, across multiple
“genres,” and for different audiences. The writing skills that you develop in this course,
in other words, will be applicable to the many different areas of life, inside and outside
the university, in which you write.

We will not be overly concerned with grammatical rules and formalities (a relief I’m
sure). Instead, we will focus on writing style. You will be encouraged to improve your
writing through continuous practice, by writing drafts, receiving feedback, and writing
new drafts. We will also emphasize the importance of conscious reflection and writerly
choice. All writers make choices; by thinking carefully about those choices you will
become more familiar with the range of options available to you each time you compose
a piece of writing.

Required Course Materials:

1. Starting Lines (available at the UCSB bookstore, or on reserve at the Davidson

Library).
2. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs, Writing About Writing, Fifth Edition (New
York: Boston/St. Martins, 2023):
https://store.macmillanlearning.com/us/product/Writing-about-Writing/p/
9781319572174

Any assigned reading that is not drawn from the books listed above will be made
available as PDFs. These will be posted to Canvas one week in advance, so please check
this regularly.

Written Work:
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There are four kinds of writing that make up the work you will do in this course:

Writing Projects (WPs): You will complete two of these longer (4-6 pages) papers. We
will spend 3-4 weeks on each WP, and you will write numerous drafts of each.

Project Builders (PBs): These are shorter (about 2 pages) projects that will help you build
towards each WP. You’ll typically work on these both inside and outside of the
classroom and will receive regular feedback from me.

Peer Review: In this course you will receive feedback from one another, as well as me.
We will be using Eli Review (accessible through Canvas) in order to conduct peer
review sessions, and your feedback will constitute a small part of your overall grade.

Final Portfolio: A cumulative, final product that will be composed of revisions of WP1
and WP2, as well as a reflective essay.

Assessment:

Because the skills that we will be focusing on differ across WPs, each major writing
assignment will have its own assessment criteria. We will discuss these criteria together,
and there will be room for you to offer some input and shape the final rubric. The
feedback that you receive on each draft, in the form of written/verbal comments and a
completed rubric, should give you a sense of how you are doing in the course overall.

In its broadest terms, though, your final grade will be composed of the following things:

Requirement Percentage

Peer Review 10%

Attendance and Participation 20 %

Writing Project 1 20%

Writing Project 2 20%

Final Portfolio 30%

Attendance:
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It is absolutely imperative that you attend every meeting of this course. Attendance is
mandatory, and every unexcused absence will result in a one percent deduction from
your overall grade. More than three unexcused absences may result in a zero for the
“attendance and participation” component of your grade. If extenuating circumstances
prevent you from attending a class, please email ahead of time to let me know (or as
soon as possible). We can then arrange for you to complete a makeup assignment or
alternate course of work.

Late Policy:

If you find yourself struggling to complete an assignment on time, I am happy to grant

you a twenty-four extension, but you must ask me at least one day before the
submission due date. You do not have to provide me with a reason. For longer
extension requests, send me an email and we can talk through some options.

All other late work (anything that we have not agreed upon an extension for in
advance) will be marked down by2 percent for every additional day that it is missing.

Plagiarism:

Plagiarism occurs when a writer deliberately passes off another's words or ideas
without acknowledging their source. For example, turning another's work as your own
is plagiarism. If you plagiarize in this class, you will fail the assignment and your case
will be passed on to the Office of Student Conduct.

Plagiarism is different from misuse of sources, occasions when a writer does not
properly cite a source, misuses quotations, includes too much of an original source in a
paraphrase or summary, or commits similar unintentional violations of academic
protocol. If you misuse sources, we will work together on appropriately incorporating
and/or citing the sources. Note that some audiences/instructors will consider misuse of
sources to be plagiarism; for this reason, it is extremely important for you to identify the
conventions associated with source use and citations in any class (or writing situation).

Chat GPT

Plagiarism includes the use of generative AI programs like Chat GPT. These programs
are fairly competent at scouring the internet for relevant information and may even be
able to assemble that information into something that resembles student writing. But
using it would completely defeat the purpose of this class, which is for you to learn how
to produce effective and original writing. It is also quite straightforward to identify
writing that has been generated by a machine, so please do not be tempted to use it.
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Additional Support

You have a wide range of resources to support you in Writing 2 and in the other aspects
of your life. Below is an incomplete list of places you can turn for help. Links to these
resources’ and others’ websites are on the Canvas page as well.

1. Me! I am available and excited to help you with your writing. Please stop by my
office or e-mail me—I am happy to work with you in whatever way facilitates
your work in this class.

2. Writing support is also available through Campus Learning Assisted Services:

http://www.clas.ucsb.edu. CLAS offers individual sessions for students seeking
to improve their writing. Services are available on a walk-in or by-appointment
basis. The writing lab is located in the Student Resource Building (SRB) 3231.

3. If you have a documented disability that affects your work in this or any other
class, the Disabled Students Program (http://dsp.sa.ucsb.edu/) is here to offer you
support. Please get in touch with them and with me so that we can make
accommodations for you. Call them at (805-893-2668) or visit them on the second
floor of the Student Resources Building.

4. Mental health services (including stress management) are available for all UCSB
students on campus through Counseling and Psychological Services:
http://caps.sa.ucsb.edu/caps-home. Call: 805-893-4411.

5. Under Title IX, university students are protected from harassment and
discrimination based on gender and sex. UCSB's Resource Center for Sexual and
Gender Diversity is available to advocate for and be a support to students. You
can reach them at 805-893-5847, or their office is on the third floor of the Student
Resources Building (SRB).