PRINCIPLES OF ACADEMIC

WRITING AND RESEARCH:

COURSE OVERVIEW
ENGL 10102

Dr. James Collins

What’s on today’s agenda?

● Introductions

● Course Overview

● Class Structure

● 4 Assignments and Research Project

● Assignment Submission
ENGL 10102: Principles of Academic Writing
and Research (PAWR)

Course Overview and Goals: PAWR is a course is essentially

“academic boot camp” and is designed to teach students how to
research, engage with and evaluate readings, and reference in
APA and MLA format. With an emphasis on critical reading and
academic writing, this class is a requisite course for students to
graduate from their programs.
TEXTBOOK
The textbook is FREE. It is available on SLATE.

This textbook has been designed by our own faculty and the
content/layout have been created specifically with the needs of
this course in mind.

Supplements for the textbook will include external APA sources:

Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL) website; Sheridan
Libraries “Cite it Right” Research guides on APA.
COURSE OUTLINE VS. COURSE
SYLLABUS

Course Outline: the Sheridan approved document

that outlines weekly/module content, learning
outcomes, assessments, etc.

Course Syllabus: a version of the topical outline,

customized by the professor to meet the needs of your
class/schedule. Provides a weekly breakdown of
topics, deadlines for assignments, class policies, etc.
CLASS STRUCTURE

For this course, the "weeks" will begin on

Mondays at 9:00 am. This is the time when
assignments are due, the discussion forums will lock
(so you need to stay current with your work), and the
next content module will be released.
CLASS STRUCTURE

At the beginning of the lesson for each week, you will

find a list of requirements that are due or coming due
shortly, including discussion posts, assignments, tests,
and readings for the week. Please take note of these
messages and keep track of due dates that are listed in
course syllabus.

As you work through the lessons, you will find

hyperlinks that will direct you to the discussion boards
or important online resources that contain
supplementary information.
CLASS STRUCTURE

VIRTUAL CLASSROOM:

A Virtual Class will be held every week at the beginning of the

scheduled class time for this course. The Virtual Classroom can
be found under Communication -->Virtual Classroom.

The session will be recorded. Once the class is finished, the

recorded file is not immediately available. It will take the Slate
system several minutes to process the file before it will be
available in the recorded version. If you want to watch the
recorded version, please allow the system enough time for Slate
to process the file in order for it to be available. Ensure that you
are using Chrome or Firefox and that it is up-to-date.
CLASS STRUCTURE

VIRTUAL CLASSROOM:

During the class session, I am happy to answer questions on

Chat. Please note that the Chat is a public domain and the
College Code of Conduct applies (meaning, please be
professional, positive and respectful on the Chat).

The lecture will usually run an hour. There will be no formal lab
period online. (It is recommended to use the lab time to do work
for this class based on the weekly content.) After the lecture
there will be live office hours in the virtual classroom for
meeting with individual students for support.
CLASS STRUCTURE

TURNITIN:

Turnitin is a software that checks your assignment content for

originality and sources.Turnitin has been activated on all
Dropboxes (under Assessments --> Assignments) for this
course.When you submit your assignments to the Dropbox,
Turnitin will automatically calculate your score. (If you look at the
screenshot below, you can see the 8% in the upper right hand
corner; this is the Turnitin score of the document). As a general
rule, no more than 30% of your assignments can be quotes or
paraphrasing from other sources. Written assignments need to
follow APA style. We will be covering APA style in this course to
ensure that you know how to reference properly.
CLASS STRUCTURE

TURNITIN:
CLASS STRUCTURE

THE SELF-CHECK FOLDER:

The Self-Check Folder (found in Assessments -->Assignments) is

set up so that you can check your Turnitin score in advance
before you submit an assignment.The Self Check Folder is
optional and it is meant to help you.

I will NOT be looking over any of the assignments in advance to

check them myself. Please make sure that you still submit your
completed assignment to the correct Dropbox once you have
checked your Turnitin score.
CLASS STRUCTURE

THE SELF-CHECK FOLDER:

(Some students submit their completed assignment to the Self-Check Folder,

and then forget to submit it the proper Dropbox. Don't do this! Remember to
submit your completed work to the correct Dropbox. Otherwise, you may get a
zero on the assignment). As we all know, plagiarism is serious. Any outside
material consulted must be properly cited. Any words or ideas that are not your
own must be cited. Plagiarized work will receive a 0, as outlined in Sheridan’s
Academic Integrity policy. Please ensure that when you upload your
assignment, your Turnitin score is no higher than 30%.

For more information and for further help, click on this link to the Sheridan
Library: https://sheridancollege.libguides.com/c.php?g=703640&p=5003031
Evaluation Plan:

4 Assignments (2x10%) (2x15%) 50%

Research Essay Proposal 5%

Annotated Bibliography 10%

Research Essay 20%

Presentation (10%) and Presentation

Critical Response (5%) 15%
4 Assignments
Assignment #1: Navigating Academic
Resources (10%)

Week 3

Time Allotted: 2 hours

Instructions:

Students can be asked to search the Sheridan library and look for key
information such as library hours, academic integrity, course guides, specific
passages from articles, etc.

Must be completed in Assessments -> Quizzes by Jan. 31 at 9 am.

Assignment #2: Academic
Integrity (10%)

Week 5

Time Allotted: 2 hours

Instructions:

The week before the assessment, the students can be provided with the
Sheridan Academic Integrity policy and procedure documents to review and a
newspaper article on the subject of plagiarism. Students can then be asked to
do a written response (letter, short analysis, etc) on the topic of plagiarism.
Faculty may wish to provide a question for the students to respond to with
evidence from the sources. Citations and integration of evidence should be
evaluated in this exercise.

Must be completed in Assessments -> Quizzes by Feb. 14 at 9 am.

Assignment #3: Analyzing
Professional Sources (15%)

Week 9

Time Allotted: 2 hours

Instructions:

Students can be given an academic article on a general interest topic and asked
to provide a reference entry and analysis of the source in an annotated
bibliography format. Referencing format should be evaluated in this exercise.

Must be completed in Assessments -> Quizzes by Mar. 21 at 9 am.

Assignment #4: Media
Literacy (15%)

Week 11

Time Allotted: 2 hours

Instructions:

Students can be given an advertisement, commercial, blog, etc to

analyze using media literacy skills. Faculty may wish to provide
prompt questions for this assignment. .

Must be completed in Assessments -> Quizzes by Apr. 4 at 9

am.
Research Project: The Research Essay
Proposal, the Annotated Bibliography, the
Presentation, the Presentation Critical
Response, and the Research Essay
Research Project: The Research Proposal, the
Annotated Bibliography, the Presentation, the
Presentation Critical Response, and the Research
Essay

For the second half of the semester, the students will complete
four assignments based on a topic of their choosing. The
research proposal requires students to provide a research
question, a thesis statement, main discussion points, and a
counter argument. The annotated bibliography requires
students to find academic and professional resources, create a
reference list, summarize the sources, and explain how they
intend to use each source.
The Research Essay Proposal (5%)
Week 6

Instructions:

The research proposal requires students to provide a research question,

a thesis statement, main discussion points, and a counter argument.
Due in Assessments-> Assignments by Feb. 22 at 9 am.
The Annotated Bibliography (10%)
Week 7

Instructions:

The annotated bibliography should include the following:

- Five entries at 350-400 words each

- At least two academic (peer-reviewed) sources

The annotation for each entry should address who is the

author and his/her credibility, what the source is about, why the
source was chosen, the biases, and how students intend to use
the source.
Due in Assessments-> Assignments by Feb. 28 at 9 am.
Presentation (10%) and Presentation
Critical Response (5%)

Weeks 10-12

Presentation:
Students will submit a presentation on their individual topics and will be
evaluated on breadth and depth of knowledge/research.
Due in Assessments-> Assignments and the Week 10 Discussion forum
by Mar. 28 at 9 am.

Presentation Critical Response:

Students will also evaluate one presentation from a classmate for the
Presentation Critical Response.
Due in Assessments-> Assignments by Apr. 4 at 9 am.
Research Essay (20%)

Beginning of Week 13

Instructions:

The Research Essay is the final stage of a research and writing process
that incorporates your work on the Research Proposal, the Annotated
Bibliography and the Presentation. You MUST USE THE SAME TOPIC
THAT YOU HAVE CHOSEN FOR YOUR ANNOTATED
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND PRESENTATION.
Research Essay (20%)

Beginning of Week 13

Include the following:

-APA style title page

-Introduction, thesis, four-six body paragraphs,

and conclusion.

-An APA style reference page with a minimum of five research sources – with at
least two academic (peer-reviewed) sources.

-A word count between 1,000 and 1,500 words, not including the title page and
references page.

Due in Assessments-> Assignments by Apr. 11 at 9 am.

Assignment Submission
Unless otherwise specified, assignments must be
submitted online in Quizzes or Assignment drop boxes by 9:00
am on Mondays. Email submissions cannot be accepted.

Assignments submitted to drop boxes will need to be in

Microsoft Word or PDF. If you don't have Microsoft Word on
your computer, click here.
Commonly Asked Questions About Assignments
Submission

1) When will I get my marked assignment back?

Sheridan’s policy is two weeks from the date of submission.

That being said, I do my best to mark and return assignments
earlier than that. Once your assignments have been marked and
posted, I will let you know on SLATE.

2) If I submit my assignment early, do I get my mark early?

If you submit your assignment early, you will get your mark once
all assignments have been graded for the class. This is in order to
keep things consistent.
Commonly Asked Questions About Assignment
Submission

3) Can I send you the entire draft of my assignment for you to look over
and give me feedback? That way I can fix any problems before I submit it
to the Dropbox.

No, as a general rule, I do not mark assignments twice.

If you need general guidance or help for an assignment, please contact me in
advance (I'm always happy to help), but I will not be able to mark assignments
twice.

4) Why do I have to upload some assignments to the SLATE Dropbox?

Why can’t I just email it to you?

Some assignments need to be processed through Turnitin.

Commonly Asked Questions About Assignment
Submission

5) I submitted my assignment to the Self-Check Folder. Why haven’t you marked it?

I will not be checking or marking any assignments in the Self-Check Folder (found in
Assessments-->Assignments).
The Self-Check Folder is set up so that you can check your Turnitin score in advance
before you submit an assignment. This is meant to be an optional tool for you.

6) How do I know you’ve received my assignment in the drop box?

Once the deadline for assignments has passed, I check the Assignment drop box.
If I do not see your assignment, and if you have not asked me for an extension, I will post a
zero in your grades. This will indicate to you that I have not received anything from you.
In the past, some students (being understandably busy) have forgotten to submit their
assignments even though they have completed them, and they don't realize that they
forgot to submit until days or even a week after the deadline. This scenario ends up being
stressful for everyone, so that's why I will post a zero to make it clear that I haven't received
anything from you.
Commonly Asked Questions About Assignment
Submission

7) Do you give extensions?

Yes, I give extensions provided you ask me in advance (a week)

before the assignment is due. Also, in your request, please
indicate how much time you need for the extension.

Proper medical documentation, or the advanced written request

for an extension for appropriate/accepted reasons, is required for
non-penalized late submission.

Sheridan late policy: loss of 10% per day, for up to 5 business

days.