Dr. Sean Zdenek Office: 487 Engl Bldg Office Hours: TR 1-3 p.m. Skype: seanzdenek sean.zdenek@ttu.

edu Spring 2012

writing for publication

English 5390 English Bldg 357 TR 11-12:20 pm Texas Tech University

Description
This graduate course will teach you the skills necessary to write publishable material in your academic discipline. The primary goal of the course is for each student to revise one article that can be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal in his/her field. Our class meetings will help you work toward this goal through a combination of lecture, discussion, and writing workshops. In order to make this course work for you, you will need to have a single-authored course paper that you wrote for another class. We will talk in class about what makes a good academic paper for this course. At this point, you should probably avoid choosing course papers that are very close to publication (i.e. that have already been submitted to a journal and revised based on peer feedback from the journal). You want a course paper that is complete (at least 5000 words), has promise, needs significant revision, has not been submitted to a journal before (but may have been presented at a conference), and does not require additional data be collected or analyzed. This course will not focus on data collection, analysis, theory, or methodology. Thats because the course isnt discipline-specific. Unfortunately, no single book covers academic writing in the humanities, social sciences, education, natural sciences, and engineering. So we have two books, one for the humanities & social sciences, and one for the hard sciences. This course will also not focus on grammar, mechanics, or surface-level editing. If you need help writing in English (because, for example, your first language is not English), or need someone to edit your writing, this course may not be for you. This course is concerned with the conventions, genres, audience expectations, and argumentative and organizational structures of the academic article. This is not a grammar course. You will be expected to engage in significant revision of your writing in this course. You might browse the required books to get a sense of how we will be approaching the preparation of your article for publication. Finally, you should expect to workshop your writing with other members of the class and share your progress weekly on the password-protected course website. In other words, your writing will be readily available to the other students in the class. Getting and giving feedback is a crucial part of preparing your writing for publication, and we want to engage in as many workshop activities as we can.

Two required books

Belcher, Wendy Laura (2009) Writing your journal article in 12 weeks: A guide to academic publishing success. Los Angeles: Sage. ISBN: 978-1-4129-5701-4.

Cargill, Margaret & Patrick OConnor (2009) Writing scientific research articles: Strategy and steps. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN: 978-1-4051-93351.

Contacting the Instructor

Dr. Zdeneks office hours: TR 1-3 p.m. and by appointment. Office: 487 English Building. Contact methods: Drop by during regularly scheduled office hours or by appointment. Send an email: sean.zdenek@ttu.edu Place Skype call to seanzdenek. Available live during office hours and by appointment. Skype-toSkype calls are free. I do not have a phone in my office. If you need to speak with me by phone, we can exchange cell numbers after making an appointment via email. Feel free to discuss course questions and concerns with me during my scheduled office hours, by appointment, via email, Skype, or by phone. I will do my best to respond to your email queries within 24 hours, except during weekends and holidays.

Course website: Moodle

Course materials will be posted to Moodle: https://moodle.english.ttu.edu/course/view.php?id=267. Join the course as a participant. If you dont have a Moodle account, sign up for one using your real (TTU) name.

Grading
Your final course grade will be calculated according to the table below, using the standard curve of 90-100% = A; 80-89.9% = B; 70-79.9% = C; 60-69.9% = D; 0-59.9% = F. Under no circumstances will grades be rounded up or down.

ASSIGNMENT
Exemplars report Journal analysis Feedback notebook Weekly homework First major revision Second major revision Third major revision

VALUE
10 10 10 25 10 15 20

TOTAL

100%

Assignments
Exemplars report New scholars need published articles written by other scholars in their field that can serve as models for their own writing (see Belcher p. 62). For this assignment, you will locate three published journal articles that will serve as models or exemplars for you throughout the semester. The model articles dont have to be on the same topic but they should have been published in your target journals (i.e. peer-reviewed, scholarly journals you would like to publish in) and should have been published in the last five years. You will study your exemplar articles and submit a detailed written analysis (including a detailed outline see Belcher p. 184) of one of your models. In addition to a 1000-word report, you should also be prepared to make your exemplars public to the class, present your exemplars to the class, and work with them throughout the semester. Full details of what to include in the exemplars report will be included in the course notes posted to Moodle. Deliverables: Three exemplars, 1000-word report, and a 5-minute formal presentation. Journal analysis For this assignment, you will choose three journals from your field to review. You will conduct a basic review of two of those journals and an in-depth review of the third. Your in-depth review will be based on at least five different issues of the journal published over the last five years. See Ch. 4 in Belchers book for an overview of how to do a journal analysis. Full details will be provided in the course notes posted to Moodle. Your review will be submitted as a 1500-word report. You will also present your in-depth analysis to the class on the day assigned (see the course schedule). The journal you present to the class will be the one you plan to submit your article to. Deliverables: 1500-word analysis, and a 5-minute formal presentation. Feedback notebook Getting and giving feedback to other scholars on their writing is a crucial part of the publishing process. For this reason, we will devote class time to exchanging drafts or portions of drafts. You will be required to give feedback on other classmates writing as well as receive feedback on your writing from other students in the class. To keep track of which students in our class you gave feedback to and received feedback from (including what feedback you received), you will keep a written record. The types of feedback you give will be formalized in the course notes posted to Moodle. You will also be required to arrange time outside of class to exchange drafts. (You can exchange drafts inside Moodle or via email.) Full details will be provided in the course notes posted to Moodle. Finally, you will be required to receive new feedback on your revised essay from at least one expert who is not a member of our class. An expert could be a professor in your field of study.

Deliverables: Two lists (one for the feedback you gave and another for the feedback you received, making sure to identify the expert by name and field), the feedback you received (e.g. submitted as separate files with Word comments embedded), and a 1000-word analysis of the feedback you received. Weekly homework assignments The textbooks Ive chosen are full of short activities designed to move you closer to publication. Its not enough to read these activities. You need to be actively working through these activities on a weekly basis. For this reason, I am going to assign a selection of these activities each week. The course notes posted to Moodle will list which activities Id like you to complete. (In other words, you wont be required to complete every activity listed in the textbooks, only the ones I list in the course notes.) You will submit these weekly assignments to the appropriate Moodle link. See the course schedule for due dates. Deliverables: Completed weekly assignments posted to Moodle as directed in the course notes. Three major revisions You will submit three significant revisions of your essay. Your revision will incorporate what youve learned in the course (through lectures, discussions, workshops, and reading assignments). Deliverables: Original version of your essay, the revised revision(s), and a reflective memo that explains in 500 words what you revised and why. You will present your third revision to the class at the end of the semester.

Expected learning outcomes

Upon completion of the course, students should be able to: 1. Identify and analyze the major journals in your field; 2. Identify the major conventions, expectations, and structures of the typical academic journal article in your field; 3. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of your own academic writing; 4. Make effective use of peer and expert feedback; 5. Revise your academic writing accordingly (in keeping with the conventions in the academic journals in your field).

Methods for assessing the expected learning outcomes

Lectures, discussions, workshops, reading assignments, weekly homework assignments, exemplars report, journal analysis assignment, feedback notebook assignment, written reading responses, intervention assignments, whole-class and small-group discussions of the readings, two major revisions of essay targeted for publication, numerous opportunities to discuss course issues with the instructor during office hours.

Standard course policies

Be prepared for class by doing the assigned reading and writing in advance. Bring the assigned readings to class every day. Submit all required assignments to be eligible for a passing grade. Save backup copies of all your work in the event of a computer crash or other disk problem. If the electronic content on the course website is deleted or becomes corrupted (e.g. one of your assignments disappears or didnt post to the site as expected), you must be able to repopulate it with backup copies of your work. This is extremely important. You are responsible for turning your work in on time, even if you experience a catastrophic computer crash right before an assignment is due. If you always assume your computer is prone to crashing, you can take the steps needed (re-saving often and keeping multiple backups) to minimize the loss of your work. Contact me immediately if you have a question about or problem using the course website or

any course materials. Attendance policies o Be on time for class. I take attendance at the beginning of class. If you are not here when I take attendance, you will be marked absent for the day. o Expect to attend every class meeting. Your performance in the course, as well as the overall success of the course, depend upon your regular attendance. If you are absent more than three times, your final course grade will be reduced by 5%. More than five absences will warrant a failing grade in the course. I do not excuse absences. ADA statement: Any student who, because of a disability, may require special arrangements in order to meet the course requirements should contact the instructor within the first two weeks of class to make any necessary arrangements. Students should present appropriate verification from Student Disability Services during the instructors office hours. Please note instructors are not allowed to provide classroom accommodations to a student until appropriate verification from Student Disability Services has been provided. For additional information, you may contact the Student Disability Services office in 335 West Hall or 806.742.2405. Participation policy: Expect to participate actively in class and online discussions. Civility in the classroom o Respect the views of others. o Maintain and promote a civil and respectful environment i.e. an environment conducive to learning. o Students are prohibited from engaging in any form of distraction. Inappropriate behavior in the classroom may result in a directive to leave class. Academic Integrity o Do not plagiarize. Your work must be your own. If you borrow words or ideas from another writer, you need to make it explicit (through proper citation) that the words/ideas in question are not your own. If you use someone elses paper as your own, you are in violation of the Universitys policy on academic integrity. Please keep in mind that the penalty for plagiarism can be severe. See me immediately if you have questions about the Universitys policy on plagiarism. o All work submitted for this class must be your original, new work not submitted for any other class. Late policy: Submit your work on time. Late work is penalized 10% per day. Assignments more than five days late will not be accepted. Submission requirements: Submit your assignments using Moodle. All assignments can be submitted using the links provided in Moodles weekly outline.