FAS 0210 Section 01 MWF 11:00 - 11:50; Building 8, Room 013 Instructor: Email: Office Hours: Office:
Rebecca Moody
[email protected] MWF 9:00 - 10:30; M 1:30 - 3:00 Building 9, Room 105
Course Description This course is divided into two stages. The first stage introduces the basic learning and study skills required by students to succeed at Al Akhwayan University. You will be trained to take responsibility for your own learning through tasks that require you to reflect on as well as evaluate your current study habits and learn how to implement proper strategies to improve your learning. In short, this first stage is a behavior-changing course that aims to help you cultivate self-management, strategic learning and study skills that are necessary for success at AUI. Study Skills Outcomes 1. Understand how to be responsible for your studies at AUI 2. Think critically about your current study and social habits to identify weaknesses and strengths 3. Responsibly manage your time and set well-defined goals 4. Learn skills to take notes effectively and efficiently 5. Learn skills to study for and take tests well In the second stage of the course, students will be educated in the foundations of information literacy. Information Literacy Skills will introduce you to the research and communication skills necessary to succeed in your academic careers. You will learn to locate, retrieve, evaluate, use and present information efficiently and legally. You will learn and practice the principles of effective academic research, and demonstrate mastery of these skills through an informative research paper. Information Literacy Outcomes 1. Understand the definition of information literacy 2. Write a thesis sentence 3. Use and evaluate books as an academic resource 4. Use and evaluate periodicals as an academic resource 5. Use and evaluate the Internet as an academic resource 6. Summarize, paraphrase and integrate information 7. Understand use of evidence in academic writing 8. Cite and reference sources accurately in MLA format 9. Use appropriate evidence to support conclusions 10. Search for sources on OPAC and databases Required Texts Piscitelli, S. (2014) Study skills: Do I really need this stuff? (3rd Edition). New Jersey: Pearson Assessment. Assignments Reflections Quizzes Final Paper Attendance and Participation
35 points 10 points 40 points 15 points
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All assignments are due via email or turnitin.com by the start of class. I will not accept late work without my approval at least 24 hours before the due date. Also bring a copy to class, either as a hard copy or on your computer. Be clear about the assignment for the following class before you leave each day: ask questions. I will not answer questions about homework in the few hours before it is due. Critical thinking and writing comprises a significant portion of your grade in this course. In order to succeed in FAS 0210, your careers at AUI and your post-collegiate professional careers, you must become comfortable thinking and writing critically. To that end, I encourage you to visit the AUI Language Center and Writing Center for help with the intricacies of spoken and written English grammar. Critical thinking and writing are not skills anyone is born knowing. Instead, they are just that: skills, and as with any skill, they must be practiced. If you will commit yourself to these skills this semester, I expect that in December you will be amazed at the progress you’ve made and the comfort you feel thinking and writing critically. AUI Writing Center:
Building 10, Room 103; Extension 2430 http://www.aui.ma/en/academics/resources-support/writing-center.html
AUI Language Center: Building 8, First Floor Reflections require you to reflect on the material we’ve read for and discussed in class. They must be no longer than one typed page and in many instances should be much shorter: a few sentences or a paragraph. See the detailed calendar for more information on each reflection. 8 total reflections; 35 total points: Reflection 1: 3 points; Reflection 2: 3 points; Reflection 3: 4 points; Reflection 4: 5 points; Reflection 5: 5 points; Reflection 6: 5 points; Reflection 7: 5 points; Reflection 8: 5 points Quizzes are designed to ensure that you keep up with the material and to facilitate class discussion. The quizzes are not designed to be difficult if you have, in fact, read the material and participated in class discussions. 3 quizzes; 10 total points: Quiz 1: 3 points; Quiz 2: 3 points; Quiz 3: 4 points The final paper offers you the opportunity to synthesize all of the work we’ve done throughout the semester. With my consultation, you will choose a research topic and write a paper that is 6-8 pages in length, double-spaced, with 12-point font using MLA citation. Your paper must include properly cited parenthetical citations and a works cited page. In addition, during the last week of class, each student will give a 4-6 minute oral presentation on their topic. The format of your presentation is up to you, but it must be well prepared and professional. 40 total points Due Date
Final Paper Component
Points
M Nov 16
Final paper topic
2
M Nov 23
Identify three sources that you plan to use in your final paper
3
F Nov 27
Thesis statement
5
F Dec 4
Outline and annotated bibliography
5
Dec 7-11
Final paper presentation
5
M Dec 14
Final paper
20
Attendance and Participation is a critical component of the course. There is a strong relationship between your participation as a member of our community and how much you get out of the course. Further, participation is more than talking: you actively participate through listening thoughtfully and responding respectfully to your colleagues, bringing the appropriate text to class, completing the reading by the assigned date and contributing your ideas. A good participation grade requires much more than your mere physical presence in your chair. 15 points
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That said, some of us are more comfortable speaking in class than others. My goal is not to create a sense of panic but to include each of your voices in our ongoing conversation. To that end, you can also receive participation credit by speaking with me after class or during my office hours or by emailing me with your thoughts about the readings and the in-class conversations. Relay your thoughts and reflections within one week of their assigned reading or class discussion. Attendance Policy: Only absences excused by the Office of Student Affairs will be forgiven. This includes all absences related to illness, AUI-sponsored athletic and academic events, job interviews and family obligations. Plan all absence and communicate them to me early in the semester: except in cases of emergency, I frown on students sending panicked emails after class has started. Absences will impact on your grade. Each absence results in a half-point deduction from your attendance score. Eight absences results in a WF (withdraw failing) from the course. It is your responsibility to keep track of your absences. Upon your eighth absence, I will administratively withdraw you from the course and a WF will be recorded on your academic transcript. If I see you using your phone at all or using your computer for non-class activities (email, Facebook, etc.) without my prior approval, I will mark you absent for the day. Do not expect me to tell you that I have made the change in my records. Instead, I will quietly make the change. Lateness Policy: Students who arrive more than fifteen minutes late to class will be marked absent. Students who arrive more than five minutes late will be marked “late;” three tardies will equal one absence. This can easily make the difference between an A and a B, or a B and a C in the course. If something serious presents itself during the semester that might affect your performance, I will work with you to the extent that I am able. This means that you need to communicate with me early and often. Expectations Throughout the semester we will work together to build a community in which each of us has a safe space to freely express our ideas, questions and concerns about the material we cover. In order to accomplish this, we need clear expectations of each other. What I expect of you • Respect the space of the classroom and your peers: arrive on time. Consistent tardiness is disruptive and will negatively impact your attendance and participation grade. • Do not interrupt or speak above others. Instead, actively listen to what they are saying. Raise your hand to speak. Interrupting others will negatively impact your participation grade. • Practice active and engaged participation as well as good listening skills; don’t simply wait to talk. • Work together to create an active and engaged learning environment. Each class is a collective group endeavor: it is up to all of us to make it productive and fun. Do not take my silence to be professional incompetence but rather my encouragement for you to get involved and share the burden. • Read the material before class; come to each class prepared to participate. • Be prepared to remain in the classroom and awake for the entire class period. Use the restroom before class; bring plenty of water and tissues with you. • Use only learning-based technology in class. This is not your phone or Facebook. Turn off and put away your phones; log out of email and Facebook before class begins. If you expect an emergency call during class, tell me beforehand. Otherwise, I expect to see no phones on your desk or in your lap. • AUI is an English-language campus; this is an English-language classroom. Refrain from using Arabic or French while in class. • Challenge yourself to think critically and individually. Learning is both a collective and an individual endeavor. Find learning strategies that work best for you - not your friends - and actively use them. • Do not memorize my words or those of your peers and regurgitate them on your writing assignments or in your final paper. Instead, learn to generate your own ideas based on those presented in class discussion and readings. • Challenge yourself to think critically and creatively, to make mistakes and learn from them. • Speak with respect and care for those who might disagree with you and with whom you might disagree. • Use inclusive language. 3 of 8
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Learn with and from this space. Disrupt the ideas you bring into the classroom by reading, thinking, listening and engaging with me, the texts and your peers.
What you can expect from me • I will begin and end class on time; I will be prepared for each class. • I will be available during office hours and other meeting times we schedule; should I need to change these hours, I will notify you ahead of time. • I will evaluate your work fairly and consistently and return it in a timely manner. • I will practice active listening skills, allowing you ample opportunity to share your thoughts. • I will not talk with parents. You are an adult; you are enrolled in the course, not your parents. • If you allow me the opportunity, I will learn with and from each of you. Final Notes Transitioning to AUI No matter your family or academic background, your transition from Bacs to AUI is likely to be bumpy. AUI represents a new language system and a new academic system for all incoming freshmen, no matter their background. We all encounter new situations and new expectations, both academic and personal, that are bound to make us a bit uncomfortable. If you find that you’re having trouble adjusting to university life, I encourage you to ask for the help that you need in making the transition more comfortable and ultimately more successful. Two resources I encourage you to explore for help with the academic transition:
- Counseling Services: email:
[email protected]; website: http://www.aui.ma/en/counseling.html - Student Affairs: http://www.aui.ma/en/sao-menu/division-of-student-affairs.html On using inclusive language I expect all of us to use inclusive language in all classroom conversations and all written assignments, especially with respect to sex, sexual identities and gender, nationality, ethnicity, race and religion, social class, age and ability. If you are unclear what this means, ask me and we can have a discussion about it. On Wikipedia and Internet sources Wikipedia is a great a way to approach a concept with which you are unfamiliar. That said, it’s not ok to use it as an academic source. Just because something is on Wikipedia or the Internet writ large doesn’t mean it’s true or credible. Be very careful about what online sources you use and how you use them. Plagiarism There is zero tolerance for cheating or plagiarism in any form or fashion, including but not limited to falsification of an assignment (i.e.: using any part of someone else’s essay, whether garnered from the Internet or your friend; using an essay that you wrote for another course) or any act of deception or dishonesty. Students may work together in and out of class. However, under no circumstances is it acceptable to copy another student’s work or allow another to copy yours: all assignments must be your work and yours alone. In addition, I expect you to respect that knowledge is a form of intellectual property and thus private, not public: under no circumstances is it acceptable to copy passages - however short or long - from a book or the Internet without properly citing your sources. Not only is this considered cheating; it is also considered stealing. There should never be a reason for this to become an issue; you are all certainly capable of doing creative, quality work without resorting to dishonest means. At the same time, I recognize that none of us are born inherently knowing what constitutes plagiarism and its many complexities and intricacies. When in doubt about what constitutes cheating or plagiarism, ask me. Negotiating Your Grades I make every effort to be transparent about your grades. If you have a question about a grade or believe you were graded unfairly, see me immediately. However, I will not negotiate grades at the end of the semester. Don’t wait until then to talk with me.
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Date
Topic
Reading Assignment
Writing Assignment
to be completed by the beginning of class
to be submitted before the beginning of class
M Aug 31
Introductions
Introductions, Review of Syllabus
W Sept 2
Do I Really Piscitelli, Chapter 1 (Do I Really Need Need This Stuff? This Stuff?)
F Sept 4
Do I Really Need This Stuff?
- Study Skills: Time Management and Procrastination
- AUI 2015-2016 Academic Calendar (both will be distributed Sept. 2)
M Sept 7
Critical Thinking
Piscitelli, Chapter 2 (Critical Thinking)
W Sept 9
Critical Thinking
Hajer, “The Economy of Mental Health: Inequalities in Access to Care in Morocco”
F Sept 11
Critical Thinking
Bogaert, “Paradigms Lost in Morocco: How Urban Mega-Projects Should Disturb our Understanding of Arab Politics”
M Sept 14
Priority Management
Piscitelli, Chapter 3 (Priority Management)
W Sept 16
Priority Management
Dantec and Jowers, “Independent Learning”
F Sept 18
Priority Management
Roham, “Morocco’s Mawazine Reflection 4: What is the author’s main Festival: Exposing Class Tensions and argument? What evidence does the Social Unrest” author provide to support it?
M Sept 21
Learning Styles
Piscitelli, Chapter 6 (Learning Styles)
W Sept 23
No Class
Eid al Adha (tentative)
F Sept 25
No Class
Eid al Adha (tentative)
M Sept 28
Note Taking
Piscitelli, Chapter 7 (Class Time Listening and Note-Taking)
W Sept 30
Note Taking
Piscitelli, Chapter 8 (Reviewing and Using Your Notes Outside the Classroom
F Oct 2
Note Taking
- https://www.utexas.edu/ugs/slc/ -
study/prr Sepeda-Miller, “Morocco’s teachers battle urban-rural education divide”: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/ 2015/06/morocco-teachers-battleurban-rural-educationdivide-150625081603977.html
Reflection 1: 1) Create a weekly calendar listing the days and times that your courses, clubs and other activities meet; 2) Create monthly calendars for September - December listing all course assignments and their due dates.
Reflection 2: What are the article’s assumptions? What information can we draw from it? What conclusions can we draw?
Reflection 3: What is independent learning? Why is it important to your success? List 3 things you can do to improve your independent learning skills.
Reflection 5: What, in your opinion, is the purpose of Turnitin? What is its relation to academic integrity? Create a Turnitin account; link with FAS 210.
Reflection 6: Using the skills you’ve learned in Piscitelli chapters 7 and 8 as well as recent class readings and discussions, take notes on Sepeda-Miller, “Morocco’s teachers battle urban-rural education divide.”
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Date
Topic
Reading Assignment
Writing Assignment
to be completed by the beginning of class
to be submitted before the beginning of class
M Oct 5
Test Taking
Piscitelli, Chapter 11 (Test Preparation and Performance)
W Oct 7
Information Literacy
- http://www.ala.org/acrl/issues/infolit/ intro
- http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ informationliteracycompetency#ildef
F Oct 9
Library Tour: What are the stacks?
M Oct 12
Library Tour: using library databases
W Oct 14
Information Literacy
Piscitelli, Chapter 5 (Information Literacy)
F Oct 16
How to read an academic article
- http://www.pasadena.edu/ -
Quiz 1: Using the AUI Library
hstutoringlab/writing/ writingscholarlyarticle.cfm http://faculty.washington.edu/ davidgs/ReadArticle.html https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/689/1/
M Oct 19
How to read an academic article
Rogers, “Warding off terrorism and revolution: Moroccan religious pluralism, national identity and the politics of visual culture”
W Oct 21
The Writing Process: Getting Started
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
Reflection 7: What is Rogers’ thesis statement? What evidence does Rogers give to support that thesis statement? Do you agree or disagree with it and why?
resource/749/1/
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/587/1/
F Oct 23
The Writing Process: Revising
Lamott, “Shitty First Drafts”
M Oct 26
Plagiarism
- http://www.lib.usm.edu/legacy/plag/
Reflection 8: What does Lamott mean by “shitty first drafts?” Why is this important to your own academic writing?
whatisplag.php
- http://www.ox.ac.uk/students/ academic/guidance/skills/plagiarism
- http://writingcenter.unc.edu/ handouts/plagiarism/ W Oct 28
Paraphrasing
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/563/1/
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/563/02/
- https://student.unsw.edu.au/ -
paraphrasing-summarising-andquoting https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/563/03/
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Date
F Oct 30
M Nov 2
Topic
Reading Assignment
Writing Assignment
to be completed by the beginning of class
to be submitted before the beginning of class
Choosing Final Paper Topics
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Finding and Evaluating Printed Sources
- http://library.clark.edu/?q=content/
-
Quiz 2: Plagiarism and paraphrasing
v=KhgxuNvbNrA https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=HbFXk27BPDE evaluate-information
- http://guides.library.cornell.edu/ criticallyanalyzing
- http://www.clark.edu/Library/iris/ types/books/books_p3.shtml Finding and Evaluating Periodicals
- http://www.clark.edu/Library/iris/
F Nov 6
No Class
Green March Holiday
M Nov 9
Finding and Evaluating Online Sources
- http://www.clark.edu/Library/iris/
The Writing Process: Writing a Thesis Statement
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
The Writing Process: Establishing an Argument
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
W Nov 4
W Nov 11
F Nov 13
types/scholarly_popular/ scholarly_popular.shtml
types/web/web.shtml
-
Quiz 3: Evaluating Sources
resource/545/01/ http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/ pamphlets/ thesis_statement.shtml#assigned resource/588/01/
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/588/02/
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/588/03/
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/588/04/ The Writing Process: Reviewing and Integrating Sources
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?
W Nov 18
No Class
Independence Day Holiday
F Nov 20
The Writing Process: MLA Citation Style
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
M Nov 16
v=2BJAqOeQjAo&feature=related
Final Paper: 3-5 sentences briefly outlining your ideas for your final paper
resource/747/01/
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/747/02/
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/747/06/ M Nov 23
The Writing Process: Writer’s Block and Procrastination
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ -
resource/673/1/ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/673/02/ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/567/1/
Final Paper: Identify three sources that you plan to use in your final paper. Two must be printed sources that come from the AUI library. Write 1-2 sentences explaining why you plan to use each text. Fully cite each text using MLA citation.
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Date
W Nov 25
Topic
The Writing Process: Developing an Outline
Reading Assignment
Writing Assignment
to be completed by the beginning of class
to be submitted before the beginning of class
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/544/1/
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/544/02/
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/544/03/
F Nov 27
M Nov 30
The Writing Process: Annotated Bibliographies
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
The Writing Process: Introductions and Conclusions
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
-
Final Paper: Thesis statement due
resource/614/01/ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/614/02/ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/614/03/ resource/724/01/
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/724/04/
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/572/01/
W Dec 2
The Writing Process: Passive Voice, Revising and Proofreading
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/572/1/
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/572/02/
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/572/04/
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/561/01/
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/561/02/
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ resource/561/03/ F Dec 4
Final Paper Workshop
Group Work: Discuss final paper topic; Final Paper: Outline and annotated offer constructive feedback bibliography
M Dec 7
Final Paper Presentations
Presentations: Final Paper Topic
W Dec 9
Final Paper Presentations
Presentations: Final Paper Topic
F Dec 11
Final Paper Presentations; Final Thoughts
Presentations: Final Paper Topic
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