FIQWS 10103 HA2 / HA3
Section C, Code: 55173 & 55175

Monday — Zoom / asynchronous 
& Wednesday 
Zoom: https://ccny.zoom.us/my/mollymosher
9:30–10:45am in NAC 7/231 
12:30–1:45pm in NAC 7/219

instructor details

Molly Mosher  —  [email protected]  

office hours

I will hold office hours via Zoom on Mondays from 11am to noon and also by appointment. I will be available on Slack almost all the time (within reason) for any questions you may have. I will accommodate reasonable meeting requests — message via Slack or email me to set it up.

course description

Welcome to the writing portion of Freshman Inquiry Writing Seminar, FIQWS! Over the course of the semester, we’ll explore the connections between writing, reading, rhetoric, and critical thinking. You will write for different purposes and audiences, and you’ll both give and receive feedback on your and others’ writing. Learning from each other will be a large part of what we do, and you are expected and encouraged to be an active participant in our classroom community. 

hybrid learning format and requirements

This is a hybrid course: we’ll meet on campus on Wednesdays (see above), and the rest of the course will be held online via Zoom or asynchronously. You may occasionally meet with classmates about your writing outside of class via Zoom or Slack to conference with your instructor.

course topic of inquiry

Along with your FIQWS subject course, will engage with a main course topic of inquiry: “The Politics of Language.” To do this, we will explore questions such as: What roles do language and literacy play in U.S. society? How do our language backgrounds affect our lived experiences, as well as how we are perceived and treated by others? Who has access to literacy and who/what are the gatekeepers of that access? What are the historical and political implications behind how literacy education is valued and traditionally approached? What is the relationship between literacy and social differences, such as race and culture? How are we—the readers and writers participating in this class—affected by the ways that language and literacy function in the U.S.? We will engage the topic of language and literacy as a means to critically analyze and develop our own languages and literacies.

course texts and materials

This is a “ZERO Textbook Cost” course. As such, all materials will be accessible on Blackboard and WordPress. 

We will also read a collection of student writing (yours and your peers’). Please either print or have digital access to all course documents and materials for class. 

Recommended Open Education Resources.

Use these additional resources as needed for help with the writing process, editing, and formatting.  

https://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/write/fieldguide/index.asp

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/englishcomp1v2xmaster/

https://writingcommons.org/

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/

online technology and software requirements

You will need to regularly access 

1. Google Drive (a free online file storage site where we’ll share and collaborate on our writing)
2. CUNY Academic Commons (Our course site where you’ll have mobile access to our schedule, syllabus, course materials, and discussion boards and where you’ll create a digital portfolio)
3. ZOOM (mostly to conference & meet for office hours) 
4. Dropbox (for submitting work & receiving comments)
5. Slack (how we will communicate with each other outside of class)
6. Word-processing software of your choice: Microsoft Office, Office365 (available for free to CCNY students), Google Docs, etc. No matter what you use, please save all documents as .doc or docx files and please do not submit links, PDFs, or Pages files.

I strongly recommend you make an effort to organize our course documents and your work. Create a designated “FIQWS Comp Fall 2021” folder on your computer and/or Google Drive and be strategic in how you use subfolders and title documents. You will need to return to assignments, so the more organized the better. Computers, as you know, are susceptible to crashing and freezing. Save your work frequently and back up your files (in multiple places!). 

course learning outcomes

In this course, you will work to 

1. Recognize the role of language attitudes and standards in empowering, oppressing, and hierarchizing languages and their users, and be open to communicating across different languages and cultures.
2. Explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations.
3. Develop strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing.
4. Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations.
5. Engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes.
6. Understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences.
7. Locate research sources (including academic journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles) in the library’s databases or archives and on the Internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, timeliness, and bias.
8. Compose texts that integrate your stance with appropriate sources using strategies such as summary, critical analysis, interpretation, synthesis, and argumentation.
9. Practice systematic application of citation conventions.

grading

We will use a grading contract for this course. Please see our contract for details. In short, your grade will be based on attendance, submitting all minor and major assignments, and completing of the goals of each assignment successfully.

major assignments 

You will complete five Major Writing Assignments, which are listed below and which will be described in more detail within an assignment prompt you’ll receive later. All parts of all major assignments must be successfully completed in order to pass this course. You will write multiple drafts and revise each major essay based on the peer feedback. You will also receive instructor feedback on your “Final” version, which you will then substantially revise before including the “Portfolio” version in your Digital Portfolio. 

smaller (homework) assignments 

Reading and writing assignments will be due before each class. You should plan to spend about 4-8 hours a week on homework and/or essay writing for this course and 1.5 hours of class meeting time. You will be asked to read, annotate, take reading notes, keep a record of ideas, revisit in-class assignments, collaborate online with your classmates, and engage in a variety of research, writing, and revision assignments. Much of your grade depends on you submitting smaller homework assignments, so do take these assignments seriously. See the Grading Contract for details about late and make-up assignments. 

Please communicate to me any extenuating circumstances (e.g., medical or other emergencies) so that we can arrange a good time to talk and figure out a plan. I am here to help you learn and grow, not punish you for life’s uncertainties, so do let me know. 

course policies, procedures, and pertinent information

Contacting Your Instructor: I want to get to know you, and I take seriously my role in supporting your learning. I strongly encourage you to contact me and visit during office hours (or make an appointment). And I expect you to keep me informed about your work, your progress, your questions, and your problems, BEFORE your grade is the central concern. Do not hesitate to email me to ask questions or send me important reminders.  

Professional Courtesy: It’s essential that we are all courteous and considerate of each other at all times. As a group, we will represent diverse cultural, racial, linguistic, and gendered identities and abilities. We must all commit to honoring, respecting, and accounting for our differences. As your instructor, I am committed to this. 

Participation: I care deeply about students being present and engaged in class, and I’ll do my best to make class meetings meaningful and useful. I ask that you come to class on time and prepared with all relevant readings or texts. I understand that everyone has different approaches to participation, so I welcome you to engage in class in a way that best fits you (by quietly but actively listening, taking notes, asking questions, and/or offering comments). Everyone is required, however, to collaborate with peers during group work. 

Language. Students are expected to take an active role in developing their writing and language. I recognize that students come from different educational, linguistic, and racial backgrounds and that it takes several years, not a semester, to develop English academic language uses, especially if English is a student’s additional (and not first) language. As your instructor, I am committed to adopting approaches deemed most effective by the fields of Second Language Writing and Composition and Rhetoric: I will provide ongoing feedback on your writing to highlight potential areas to revise/develop, but I will refrain from penalizing you for your language.

The Writing Center: The CCNY Writing Center provides a supportive learning environment where students can have one-on-one tutoring sessions with experienced writing consultants. The Writing Center is available for virtual meetings. Students can schedule an appointment through the online booking system. This is a free resource available to all students and recommended for all writing assigned in this and other classes. Visit their website for more info http://www.ccny.cuny.edu/writing/ and to book an appointment.

Academic Integrity: All writing submitted for this course is understood to be your original work. In cases where we detect academic dishonesty (the fraudulent submission of another’s work, in whole or part, as your own), you may be subject to a failing grade for the project or the course, and in the worst case, to academic probation or expulsion. For a more detailed description of the guidelines for adhering to academic integrity, see CCNY’s Policy on Academic Integrity on the college website: http://www1.ccny.cuny.edu/current/upload/Academic-Integrity-Policy.pdf As part of this course, we will discuss responsible source use practices. 

Special Needs and Accommodations: There are several Student Support Services available for CCNY students. Check this website for more information: https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/sssp. If you believe that you need accommodations for a disability, please contact CCNY’s AccessAbility Center (Student Disability Services), https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/accessability or call (212) 650-5913 for an appointment to discuss your needs and the process for requesting accommodations. I am committed to accessibility; please do not hesitate to reach out to me so that we can determine ways to make this course accessible to you. 

CCNY Quick Links and Other Resources

• IT Service Desk (where you can get your CCNY username, set up your email and password, and get access to CUNY Portal, CUNYFirst, and Blackboard): go to https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/it/help, email,  [email protected], or call 212-650-7878.
• The City College of New York website: http://www.ccny.cuny.edu/ 
• CUNYFirst: https://home.cunyfirst.cuny.edu/oam/Portal_Login1.html 
• Blackboard: https://www.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/cis/core-functions/cuny-blackboard/ 
• CCNY Writing Center: http://www.ccny.cuny.edu/writing/ 
• CCNY Library: http://ccny.cuny.edu/library 
• CCNY online databases: http://library.ccny.cuny.edu/az.php 
• List of computer labs (including those with printers) at CCNY: https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/it/hours 
• Free access to New York Times for CCNY students: https://myaccount.nytimes.com/verification/edupass 
• Free software for CCNY students (including Word): https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/it/software_stu