Thammasat University

Course Syllabus
Academic Writing
Second Semester 2020

Course Number/Sections: BS 111, Sections 1 and 2

Course Time/Place: Tues. and Thurs. LA 502

Section 1: 11-12:30
Section 2: 3:30-5:00

Instructor: Assistant Professor Dr. Chanon Adsanatham

E-mail: chanon.a@arts.tu.ac.th
PLEASE DON’T SEND LINE MESSAGES

Course Website: https://bs111tr2020.school.blog

Office Location: LA Building, fourth floor (last office on the left

side)

WHAT’S ACADEMIC WRITING ABOUT?

The ability to think, read, and write—in other words, communicate well—is
essential to succeed in any field. At first, academic writing may sound like
a course that introduces you to kinds of writing you will do in school; the
class is more than that, however. You will acquire flexible and
transferable writing skills that can be used in school and professional
contexts. Specifically, you will learn to use writing as a sophisticated
instrument to accomplish different tasks: to discover and develop your
own ideas and arguments, analyze information you read, make informed
judgment, and create change in readers. We will begin by understanding
how to compose an effective paragraph and build up to elements of an
essay. Along the way, you will learn the recursive writing process, research
and citations, information synthesis, and grammatical accuracy.
Altogether, this course allows you to learn to write, write to learn, read like
a writer, write like a reader, think like a writer, and write like a thinker. In
the end, your thinking, writing, and reading skills—communication—will be
enhanced!

WHAT MAJOR CONCEPTS WILL THE COURSE COVER?

1. What’s an argument?
2. Paragraph structure
3. Essay structure
4. Revision VS. editing
5. Techniques for invention
6. Types of introduction and conclusion

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 7. Cause and effect essay
8. Persuasive essay
9. Writing summary with effective signal verbs
10. Source analysis
11. Integrating sources
12. Recursive writing processes
13. Types of clauses
14. Sentence fragment
15. Creating annotated bibliography
16. They say/I say move (synthesis and response)
17. MLA citations

WHAT ARE THE GOALS OF THE COURSE?

1. Utilize writing as an instrument to learn, think, explore, and
discover.
2. Develop a personalized toolbox of writing techniques that you can
confidently use throughout life to accomplish different writing tasks.
3. Learn the recursive writing processes.
4. Understand elements of a paragraph and essay and rhetorical
techniques for writing them.
5. Master moves for summarizing and responding to sources and
integrating them into academic writing.
6. Form a community of writers in class to support each other’s writing
development.
7. Employ critical and analytical thinking to question, challenge, and
analyze information you encounter.
8. Utilize writing to explore and learn topics that are personally
significant to you.
9. Master the skills and conventions of academic research.

TEXTBOOKS AND MATERIALS

Text (abridged copies available at the copy shop on the first floor of LA
building)
1. Longman Academic Writing Series: Essays (level 4, 5th edition)
2. The DK Handbook

Hardware/Software
1. TU Google account
2. Reliable access to the internet and YouTube

EVALUATION
A 100-93% B+ 92-85% B 84-77% C+ 76-69%
C 68-61% D+ 60-53% D 52-45% F 44% and
below

ASSIGNMENTS
 Project 1: 11 steps paragraph with revision
30 points

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  Project 2: Cause and effect essay 100
points
 Project 3: Annotated bibliography with source analysis
40 points
 Project 4: Persuasive essay 100
points
 Quizzes on readings and concepts 160
points
 Daily homework exercises (drafts, worksheets) 110
points
 Professional ethos, meaningful contributions, participation
20 points

SATISFACTORY QUIZ SCORE REQUIREMENT

Reading quizzes will be given unannounced to motivate reading. If you fail
to maintain at least a 61% or C on more than 3 quizzes, you will be
required to take additional exams, and your ethos grade will be reduced
by 50%.

DRAFT AND SCAFFOLDING REQUIREMENT

For the final draft of major writing projects to be accepted—11 steps
paragraph and 2 essays—you must submit every draft required on the
course calendar. If you miss any draft, your final grade for the final
product will be reduced by 20% per every skipped draft. If you miss more
than 2 drafts, your final paper will not be accepted.

REQUIRED TIME COMMITMENT

Throughout this semester, you will write a total of approximately 40-50
pages. Please expect to be reading about 25-40 pages a week. A typical 3
credit hours course requires 6 hours of work outside of class every week. I
ask that you devote at least 3-5 hours to the homework assignments each
week. When a major project is due, more hours of outside class time
might be necessary. I realize that some of you may have other duties
besides school, so I take great care in balancing your weekly assignment
and reading load.

HOW THE CLASS WILL RUN

What to Expect in Class
Utilizing a seminar and workshop format, I envision our classroom to be a
combination of an orchestra rehearsal hall in which we practice various
rhetorical skills, a lab in which we learn and experiment with disparate
writing conventions to discover ideas and knowledge, a studio in which we
refine your composing skills and compositions, and a town hall in which
everyone can contribute ideas and explore disparate perspectives. All in
all, I want our class to function as a community of intellectuals. Each day
we will engage in lots of interactive discussions, reading/rereading, and

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writing that will help you form complex inquiry questions—ones that
fascinate you—and explore them through writing. Your contributions
are important, so please come to class prepared to offer your
perspectives in a thoughtful, considerate, and respectful manner.

Draft Workshops
Approaching writing as a recursive process, the course enables you to
develop two major writing skills that are integral to becoming a strong
writer: 1) learning to be a critic of your own writing and the writing of
others, and 2) learning how to revise your work given comments and
questions from your peers. Your writing will improve by having others read
and respond to it. We will have a draft workshop before each paper is due.
During these sessions, you will exchange your paper with a peer (or
peers) and offer revision suggestions. Your participation in the workshop
will be part of your grade.

Revision is a major part of this course and a major element of strong

writing practice. You will revise each of your papers after the scheduled
draft workshop. In addition, your final assignment for this course asks you
to revise substantively an essay you’ve submitted and to which I’ve
responded.

Grammar Workshop
Throughout the semester, particularly when final drafts are almost due,
we will hold grammar workshops in which we use errors in your writing as
topic of instruction. That is, you will learn grammar in the context of your
writing and maintain and an error tracking chart to help you build
grammatical accuracy throughout the semester.

Informal Writing
Each week you will have informal assignment prompts that ask you to
reflect on an issue or a compelling aspect raised by the assigned text.
Think of this assignment as an opportunity to do “evaluation free zone”
work, a chance for you to explore ideas and questions that fascinate you,
or a time to experiment with writing styles. Your informal writing will not
be graded for grammar; you will be given completion credits for
thoughtfulness instead.

Conferences
You will have opportunities to conference with me about your writing. The
conference is designed for me to assist you with any issue or concern that
you may have.

Peer Response
After writing multiple drafts of major essays in this class, you will share a
more polished draft with your classmates and engage in peer response—

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not editing—in which you provide and receive concrete constructive
feedback on your writing. We will cover how to do effective response in
class, and you will evaluate your classmates’ helpfulness as peer
reviewers.

The Final Project

The finished project is the refined piece that you will submit to me for a
grade, along with “trails” that show how the composition unfolded.

CLASS POLICIES
Checking Course Website & Email
Assignment descriptions, course calendar, and announcements will be
released online. I will also be sending emails throughout the semester.
It is expected that you will check information often in a timely manner.

Punctuality Expectation and On-Time Arrival for Quiz Eligibility

You are expected to arrive to class on time. To take a quiz, you must be
in your seat by the time it is distributed.

Attendance
Attendance will be taken. If you arrive after attendance is taken, you
will be marked absent, and if you return from break for more than 15
minutes late, you will be considered absent as well.

If you have more than 2 or more absences without a valid document to

support a BAS-approved reason, your final participation grade will be a
zero. When absent, you are responsible for obtaining all missed
information and adhering to assignment due dates.

Absence Due-In-Class Assignments

If you are absent the day a quiz or assignment is given in class, at
your initiation, you can make up one quiz with my TA during his
office hour. The quiz must be taken within one week of absence.

Late Work and Deadline Extension

Assignments are due on the date specified on the course calendar.
Late work is not accepted. If you will be absent, you are still
responsible for turning things in on time. If you are not able to
complete a project because of an emergency, please inform me at
least 48 hours in advance. The sooner you let me know, the more
options I might be able to suggest to ease your stress. Extension
request cannot be considered if the due date lapsed.

Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty

Academic dishonesty includes cheating and plagiarism. Cheating is the
unauthorized use of assistance with the intent to deceive the instructor

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or any other individual responsible for evaluating your work. A few
examples of cheating and plagiarism:
 Using other people’s ideas or words without proper citation
 Using or possessing unauthorized materials such as notes,
books, or soliciting unauthorized assistance from another student
during quizzes or exams
 Reusing a previous assignment or project and re-presenting it as
a new, original work without my permission
 Copy another person’s answer or ideas without citation
 Recycling the assignment in this class to gain credits for another
class
 Redistributing examination or quiz materials and/or answer keys
If you are suspected of academic dishonesty, BAS and university
procedures will be followed, and if you are caught, you will receive a
zero on the assignment and your attendance, attentiveness,
punctuality, conduct grade. Other appropriate sanctions from BAS will
also be applied.

Technological distraction
Do not use your phone or laptop in class, unless instructed. I find
laptop and phone distraction and interruption disrespectful and
detrimental to class engagement. You may be asked to leave and/or
receive a zero participation grade if technological distraction becomes
a concern.

Side Conversations in Class

Please refrain from having side conversations with friends while your
instructor and classmates are speaking. It distracts other and hurts
your opportunity to listen—and learn what others are contributing.