ENG 2089 Intermediate Composition: (Human) Nature Writing

and Media
Sarah Haak | haaksh@mail.uc.edu| Virtual Office Hours Monday/Thursday 9-10:30 a.m.|Spring 2022

Course Description
“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.” ― John Muir

English Composition 2089 is a three-credit hour intermediate composition course that builds upon
and enhances the writing and reading skills developed in the first-year writing course (English
1001). This course emphasizes critical reading and writing, more advanced research and
analytical skills, and a rhetorical sensitivity to differences in academic, professional, and/or public
writing. In this course, we will be investigating how composers, audiences, and texts are shaped
by their rhetorical situations. Why study rhetoric, you ask? Understanding how rhetoric works – that
texts are MADE for specific purposes, audiences, and reflect certain values and assumptions -
gives an individual a broader understanding of the multiple voices participating in public
conversations. This rhetorical awareness will also improve your ability to make effective
communication choices for your academic, professional, and personal needs.

The theme of our course is: “(Human) Nature Writing and Media.” While it is not necessary for
instructors to “theme” their composition courses, a theme can act as a contextual framework. We
won’t stick to this theme unfailingly but, especially as we learn about genre and discourse
communities (the guiding principles of ENG 2089), this course will feature readings, film screenings,
and discussions (online), along with local research, writing, and media focused on relations
between people and the environment. Nature-writing includes literary natural history; “science
translation writing”; essays on current environmental issues; personal essays based on
engagement with land, water, wildlife, wilderness; travel or excursion writing with a focus on
nature; “the ramble”; and other approaches. The approach is "ecological" in the sense of
attempting to understand our complex interrelationships with the natural and artificial systems we
rely on and of which we are a part. The course takes a similar approach to environmental rhetoric
and uses rhetorical analysis as the main means of mapping connections among informative,
persuasive, and creative discourse on these topics.

Since this is an online course, our classroom will be entirely on Canvas. This course builds on itself,
meaning that each assignment is scaffolded with material from the last. Set aside six hours each
week to work on your assignments. Assignments are due on Mondays and Thursdays by 9:00AM.

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 Course Objectives

By the end of the semester, students of ENG 2089 will:

1) analyze, compare, and evaluate rhetorical strategies specific to a discourse community; 2)

interpret, assess, and write within a variety of genres to understand how meaning is
communicated, made, and debated; 3) identify and distinguish among kinds of evidence used
in a given discourse community; 4) locate, evaluate, and integrate source material appropriate
to research inquiry; 5) produce clear, organized texts appropriate to situation, purpose, and
audience; 6) reflect on connections among ideas within the course and their own academic,
personal, social, and professional lives; 7) write and revise drafts and integrate feedback using
drafting, revising, and editing strategies; 8) use appropriate technologies to research and
communicate findings; 9) use conventions of format, organization, syntax, grammar, punctuation,
and language appropriate to specific writing situations; 10) recognize and use specified
documentation and citation guidelines and styles.

Distinctions between First Year and Intermediate Composition

First Year Intermediate

Help students to develop as writers and Help students contribute to intellectual
understand the nature of writing, which conversations through writing and research.
includes, as Kathleen Yancey explains, “the This means that students should develop
role that audience and purpose play; awareness of how meaning is made,
strategies for developing a persuasive questioned, expanded upon, circulated
argument; ways of voicing different kinds of and delivered within discourse communities
texts and understanding when rhetorical and through genres. Also entails learning
situations call for different voices” how to propose, design, and generate a
(Reflection in the Writing Classroom 45). research project that grows out of an
Also, learn how to become critical readers informed perspective drawn from primary
and writers, to produce purposeful analyses and secondary research. Understand that
that attend to the details as well as the discourse communities, genres, and
major claims in a text. research are situated literacy practices and
that knowledge is not static.

Classroom Expectations

Required materials include:

• A computer with Microsoft Office

• Internet access
• A flash player for viewing and listening to videos, Kaltura, PowerPoint and simulation
presentations, and lectures
• Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing by Losh, Alexander, Cannon & Cannon
• All other reading materials available on Canvas

You will also need to make a habit of accessing your UC email and Canvas daily.

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We are all adults, so let’s treat each other with mutual respect. You can call me Sarah—or
Professor Haak if that feels better. I check my email daily and respond within 48 hours, and you
should, too. I hold virtual office hours each week using WebEx (or over the phone, if preferred)
and set aside time for conferences throughout the semester, so please schedule a meeting with
me. All assignments should be turned in on time—see my late work policy below—and assignments
are subject to change as needed, so pay attention to the syllabus and my emails. After you turn
work in, I will return grades and/or feedback within fourteen days. Above all, if you need anything,
ask for it. Don’t be shy. Even though this is an online course, I’m just as present and willing to help
as if we were meeting face to face twice each week.

Format your essays for this class as follows: 12 pt. Times New Roman font, double-spaced with one-
inch margins, page numbers, and a proper first-page header on the first page—no cover page.
Use MLA for citations. You may not reuse your past writings for this class; everything you turn in to
me must be written specifically for our section of ENG 2089. A student found committing plagiarism
of any kind will fail this course.

Academic Integrity: Using the thoughts, writing, scholarship, or the inventions of another without
acknowledgement is plagiarism. The University of Cincinnati considers plagiarism a serious moral
issue and a form of academic dishonesty. The penalty is an automatic grade of F for the course
and a letter detailing your plagiarism in your college file. You can find the plagiarism policy on p
17 of the Student Guide (link in Canvas).

Late work: I expect all work to be turned in on time. If you don’t think you can meet a deadline,
get in touch with me at least two days before the due date and we can discuss an extension. If
you turn in late work without talking to me first, I will take 10% off for every day that it is late. I will
not track you down if you haven’t turned something in. (See attendance policy on page 5.)

Helpful University Services: If you think you might have trouble with some of the course
requirements, need accommodations of any kind, or have any accessibility concerns about this
course, please email me and/or visit the Accessibility Resources office here:
http://www.uc.edu/aess/disability.html. I’ll be happy to work with you to make
accommodations so you can be successful in this class.

College can be challenging. If you feel overwhelmed, stressed, or anxious, Counseling and
Psychological Services (CAPS) is a counseling office on campus, and they can help. They have
a 24-hour phone consultation service that you can call anytime at 513-556-0648. Many of their
services are by appointment, but they also offer an urgent care walk-in from 1:00-4:00pm. They
are located at 225 Calhoun Street, Suite 200.

Title IX: Title IX is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of your actual
or perceived sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation. Title IX also
covers sexual violence, dating or domestic violence, and stalking. If you disclose a Title IX issue to
me, I am required forward that information to the Title IX Office. They will follow up with you
about how the University can take steps to address the impact on you and the community and
make you aware of your rights and resources. Their priority is to make sure you are safe and
successful here. You are not required to talk with the Title IX Office. If you would like to make a
report of sex or gender-based discrimination, harassment or violence, or if you would like to
know more about your rights and resources on campus, you can consult the website
http://www.uc.edu/titleix.html or contact the office at 513-556-3349.

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 Assignments and Grading

1. Video introduction 5% (50 points)

On the discussion board, post a video in which you introduce yourself and identify what you
consider to be your strengths and weaknesses as a writer and communicator. Possibly the
easiest 5% you’ll ever earn. Objective 6.

2. Reading journal blog 15% (150 points)

Keep a reading journal that you have open whenever you complete reading (or viewing) for
this class. Take notes on what surprises, bores, shocks, disturbs, or interests you. Think about why
you have those reactions and write about it. Aim for at least five-to-ten bulletpoints, questions,
or sentences per entry. This journal will take the form of a blog page on a website you will
create (using Weebly) during the first week of class and use throughout the semester.
Objectives 1, 2

3. Genre Responses 15% (150 points)

On the discussion board, your group will post three 250-500-word responses that analyze one
of the assigned readings. Each will be in a different genre, and you can choose between the
following: email, press release, slideshow presentation, SWOT analysis. Your post will be
accompanied by a writer’s statement that explains why this genre is appropriate for this
response. Objectives 3, 5, 9

4. Peer Review Workshops 5% (50 points)

In workshop, you will critique your groupmates’ essays using the workshop worksheet and post
your completed worksheets on our discussion board. Objective 7

5. Discourse Community Ethnography 20% (200 points)

You will analyze a discourse community and write a corresponding essay based in both
primary and secondary research, complete with a Works Cited page. Objectives 1, 3, 4, 8, 10

6. Research Presentation 15% (150 points)

You will create a presentation of your research you will then upload to Canvas during the
appropriate time. Your presentation will have an oral component—i.e. you’ll make a video, a
Prezi with a voiceover, or a podcast/audio recording. In order to receive full credit for this
assignment you will watch and comment on your classmates’ presentations during
presentation week(s). Objectives 2, 9

7. Final ePortfolio 10% (100 points)

Your final ePortfolio will showcase your work and provide opportunity for reflection. The
ePortfolio will be entirely online and will serve as a way for you to practice with multimodality,
interfacing with new technologies, and transferring your writing to electronic environments.
You will use the Weebly platform to design your ePortfolio, though if you have experience with
other website-building platforms you are welcome to utilize them as long as they meet the
standards for the ePortfolio requirements. Objective 6

8. Attendance and Participation 15% (150 points)

Attendance is required in this course, whether it meets face-to-face or online. In an online
course, that means you need to check in by accessing resources (which I can monitor in
Canvas) like asynchronous video lectures, discussion boards, optional synchronous WebEx
sessions, quizzes, conferences, and otherwise. Twice-weekly communication will be the norm.
Discussion board posts and other informal writing assignments are designed to help you
develop your ideas as you work toward the longer assignments. Objective 1, 2, 5, 7, 10

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Note: If you stop activity for two to three weeks during which work is expected, that is equivalent
to failing to show up for an attendance-required face-to-face class for that period of time. You
will, therefore, be asked to withdraw.

Attendance/participation: If you know something will interfere with your ability to turn in upcoming
work, your best strategies include the following:
• Let me know in advance if possible. Out of town for an interview or UC sports related activity?
Get work in beforehand or talk to me about managing assignments. You may need to send
me corroborating information.
• Suddenly ill? Emergency? Drop me a quick email or let me know as soon afterwards as
possible. See “Assignments” above.
• Unexplained absences of multiple days will generally be unable to be made up. I will probably
ask that you retake the course when you have the time to give it the attention you and the
course require.
• Your advisor or other UC resources can be helpful if absences affect more than this class.

Possible course grades for Intermediate English Composition are: A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D,
D-, W (Withdrawal), UW (Unofficial Withdrawal), X (enrollment but no participation) and WX
(enrollment, no participation, withdrawal). An F is awarded immediately for plagiarism or at the
end of the course when a student earns below 60%. Please note that NP (Not Proficient) is not
used in Intermediate Composition as it was in English 1001.

Final course grade scale:

A range: 90-100 (90-92 = A-; 93 and up = A)
B range: 80-89 (80-82 = B-; 83-86 = B; 87-89 = B+)
C range: 70-79 (70-72 = C-; 73-76 = C; 77-79 = C+)
D range: 60-69 (60-62 = D-; 63-66 = D; 67-69 = D+)
F: below 60% or in cases of plagiarism

Basic setup of assignments under Learning Modules and Weekly Units includes:
! What to do:
o Read, listen, or view;
o Work to complete (often resource review, lecture, or quiz); and
o Work to submit (often short responses through writing or other means).
! Context:
o Rationale, background, connections, or looking forward
Some basic points to keep in mind:
• To promote full credit:
o Read the assignments plus context;
o Submit on time;
o Upload texts that you are typing and attaching only as a .doc or .docx—I can’t
always readily convert pages and can’t respond on .pdfs; there are free and low-
cost Microsoft Office products available: http://www.uc.edu/ucit/services/hardware-
software/stu-software.html
o Unless we make other arrangements, don’t send your work through email—feel free
to contact me in that way, but don’t attach work.

Assistance with Academics: It is expected that you have already learned the basics of grammar,
MLA format, argumentation, the importance and general process of paragraph and essay
formation, and research processes. This class will help you hone these skills and learn more
complex responses. If you are struggling with some basic skills, you will need to factor in more time
for help and self-study in addition to the hours of this class.

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 General Schedule

Unit One (approx. 5 weeks)

! Video introduction, genre responses, reading journal blog, exercises; use of resources,
texts, videos, and other foundational work, including work with peers
Unit Two (approx. 6 weeks including Spring Break)
! Discourse Community Ethnography and peer review (including homework toward project)
Unit Three (approx. 3 weeks)
! Research Presentation project (including homework toward project)
Unit Four (approx. 2 weeks)
! ePortfolio (including homework toward project)

Schedule is subject to change.

*Please note due dates—assignments due on Mon/Thurs are due at 9AM. This means you will need
to work on these assignments before the day they are due. All other daily activities can be
completed the day they are assigned (or before the next day of our course)

Unit One: Foundations of Genre Analysis and Discourse: Weeks 1 - 5 (January 10 – February 10)
Introduction to course and genre by building skills of close reading, rhetorical awareness, and
written responses.
UNIT ONE FOCUS (overview with details provided in Canvas DUE DATES
Weeks of Learning Modules)
Study
Week One Introduction to Course, to each other, and to Monday, Jan 10
1/10 genre

Introduction to Weebly/Reading Journal; Textbook Thursday, Jan 13

reading: “Why Rhetoric?” pages 37-71; Rhetoric PP
Lecture
Video Introduction Due

Week Two MLK DAY HOLIDAY Monday, Jan 17

1/17
Textbook Reading, “Composing Together” pages Tuesday, Jan 18
193-219; Genre Analysis assignment; Groups;
Watch rhetorical analysis PP lecture
Weebly Website with “About Me” and “Reading
Journal Blog” pages Due

Read David Wallace’s “The Nature of Nature Thursday, Jan 20

Writing” and watch Emma Marris’s TED talk “Nature
is Everywhere” and write a journal post for both;
Textbook Reading, “Strategic Reading” pages 98-
117
Week Three Read Annie Dillard’s “Living Like Weasels” and Monday, Jan 24
1/24 watch The New Yorker’s “How Millennials Use
Houseplants to Connect with Nature” and write
journal responses for all three; Textbook Reading,
“Going Public” pages 289-324; Watch genre PP
lecture

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 Read Katrina Vandenberg’s “Essence of Lavender” Thursday, Jan 27
and Terry Tempest Williams’ “The Clan of One-
Breasted Women” and write journal responses;
Watch Discourse Community PP lecture

Week Four Read Henry David Thoreau’s “Walking” and Evelyn Monday, Jan 31
1/31 White’s “Black Women and the Wilderness”
and write journal responses
Group Genre Response 1 Due

Read Jedediah Britton-Purdy’s “The Violent Thursday, Feb 3

Remaking of Appalachia and view Earl Dotter’s
photo essay, “Coalfield Generations: Health,
Mining, and the Environment”
First round of Reading Journal Blog Posts Due

Week Five Evaluate Maya Lin’s “What is Missing?” website Monday, Feb 7
2/7 Group Genre Response 2 Due

Read Susan Orlean’s “Life’s Swell” and watch “The Thursday, Feb 10
Waterstones Interview with Robert Macfarlane”
and write journal responses

Unit Two: Researching the Discourse: Weeks 6 – 11 (February 14 – March 24)

A research project based on awareness of discourse, primary and secondary sources, and
evaluation of various discourse community perspectives.

UNIT TWO FOCUS (overview with details provided in Canvas DUE DATES
Weeks of Learning Modules
Study
Week Six Introduction to Unit Two: Introduce Research Monday, Feb 14
2/14 Assignment; Readings on Discourse Communities
Final Reading Journal Blog Due
Group Genre Response 3 Due

Preliminary Ideas for Research; Brainstorm discourse Thursday, Feb 17

community options; introduction to field work
(interview, data collection, observation); Discussion
board brainstorm on discourse community

Week Seven Introduction to field work (interview, data Monday, Feb 21

2/21 collection, observation); introduction to field work
(interview, data collection, observation; Introduce
proposal; DB post on DC research questions

Textbook reading about research; Work on field Thursday, Feb 24

research (observe members of discourse
community); Begin data collection
Research Proposal Due

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Week Eight Field Research (Collecting genres and data); Monday, Feb 28
2/28 Source Analysis: Evaluating and Prioritizing;
Secondary and Primary Source Lessons

Field Research (Complete interview); Necessary Thursday, March 3

Preparation; Considering Organization: Textual
Research Continues

Week Nine Analyze your field notes, collected materials, and Monday, March 7
3/7 interview using John Swales’ six characteristics of a
discourse community; Begin Drafting the Discourse
Community Ethnography; Individual Conferences

Analyze your field notes; Keep Drafting the Thursday, March 10

Discourse Community Ethnography; Individual
Conferences

Week Ten Monday, March 14

3/14 Spring Break! No Class

Spring Break! No Class! Thursday, March 17

Week Eleven Work on Peer Review Monday, March 21

3/21 Polished Research Ethnography Draft Due

Work on Revision; revision reading in textbook Thursday, March 24

Peer Review Due

Unit Three: Presenting Your Research: Weeks 12 – 14 (March 28 – April 14)

You will recast your research into a presentation (or other approved genre) that engages civil
discourse for a public audience.

UNIT THREE FOCUS (overview with details provided in Canvas DUE DATES
Weeks of Learning Modules
Study

Week Twelve Work on Revision; revision reading in textbook; Monday, March 28

3/28 Optional Individual conferences

Introduction to Unit Three—Research Presentation; Thursday, March 31

Discuss presentation software and options for
presentation (creative or technical); Textbook
reading
Discourse Community Ethnography Essay Due

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Week Thirteen Work on Presentation; Optional Individual Monday, April 4
4/4 conferences

Work on Presentation; Optional Individual Thursday, April 7

conferences

Week Watch presentations and leave 2 substantive Monday, April 11

Fourteen comments
4/11 Research Presentation Due

Watch presentations and leave 2 substantive Thursday, April 14

comments
Introduction to Final ePortfolio

Unit Four: Publishing Your Own Discourse: Weeks 15 – Finals Week (April 18 – April 28)
Based on rhetorical awareness learned in this class, you will curate your semester’s work into a
website ePortfolio.

UNIT FOUR FOCUS (overview with details provided in Canvas DUE DATES
Weeks of Learning Modules
Study

Week Fifteen Work on ePortfolio; Conferences Available Monday, April 18

4/18
Work on ePortfolio; Conferences Available Thursday, April 21

Finals Week Work on ePortfolio; Conferences Available; Throughout Week

4/23 – 4/28 Complete Course Evaluations
Thursday, April 28 at
Course Evaluations Due; Final ePortfolio Due midnight

Grading Week Final Grades Provided No later than

4/28 – 5/5 Wednesday 5/5