Graduate Studies Reports Access
Graduate Course Proposal Form Submission Detail - ENG6005
Tracking Number - 1534
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Current Status:
Approved, Permanent Archive - 2010-04-06
Campus: Tampa
Submission Type: New
Course Change Information (for course changes only):
Comments: Approved by GC 10/19/09; Sent to USF SCNS Office 11/23/09; SCNS approved 12/14/09, effective 1/2010. Posted in banner 12/14/09
Detail Information
- Date & Time Submitted: 2009-09-18
- Department: English
- College: AS
- Budget Account Number: 122300
- Contact Person: Nicole Guenther Discenza
- Phone: 41887
- Email: ndiscenz@cas.usf.edu
- Prefix: ENG
- Number: 6005
- Full Title: Scholarly Research and Writing
- Credit Hours: 3
- Section Type: C -
Class Lecture (Primarily)
- Is the course title variable?: N
- Is a permit required for registration?: N
- Are the credit hours variable?: N
- Is this course repeatable?:
- If repeatable, how many times?: 0
- Abbreviated Title (30 characters maximum): Scholarly Research & Writing
- Course Online?: B -
Face-to-face and online (separate sections)
- Percentage Online: 50
- Grading Option:
R - Regular
- Prerequisites: none
- Corequisites: none
- Course Description: PhD students will improve their skills with advanced research methods in preparation for writing the prospectus and dissertation, work on conference papers and journal articles, and research the job market and the challenges that face new faculty.
- Please briefly explain why it is necessary and/or desirable to add this course: Needed for program/concentration/certificate change
- What is the need or demand for this course? (Indicate if this course is part of a required sequence in the major.) What other programs would this course service? This course will be required of all students completing coursework for the Ph.D. with a concentration in Literature or in Rhetoric and Composition.
- Has this course been offered as Selected Topics/Experimental Topics course? If yes, how many times? No
- What qualifications for training and/or experience are necessary to teach this course? (List minimum qualifications for the instructor.) In addition to a terminal degree, instructors must maintain an active research program.
- Objectives: Students will be taught: advanced research skills, approaches to writing the dissertation prospectus, the workings of academic conferences, the process of publishing in academic journals, and the workings of the academic job market.
- Learning Outcomes: By the end of the class, students will know: how to conduct research at an advanced level, how to complete the dissertation prospectus in the semester following the course, how to write conference papers and journal articles, and how to produce their own materials for the job market.
- Major Topics: 1) Advanced research methods and the dissertation prospectus; 2) conferences: producing papers and entering the profession; 3) writing for academic journals; 4) the job market and the challenges facing new faculty.
- Textbooks: 1) Julia Miller Vick and Jennifer S. Furlong. The Academic Job Search Handbook. 4th ed. Philadelphia: U Pennsylvania P, 2008.
2) The Academic’s Handbook. Ed. A. Leigh Deneef and Craufurd D. Goodwin. 3rd ed. Durham, NC: Duke U P, 2007.
3) Joseph M. Williams, Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace. 9th ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2007.
4) MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing. 3rd ed. New York: MLA, 2008. OR Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 5th ed. Washington, DC: APA, 2001.
- Course Readings, Online Resources, and Other Purchases: In addition to textbooks listed above: The Chronicle of Higher Education (available online through departmental subscription); The MLA Job Information List (available online through departmental subscription)
- Student Expectations/Requirements and Grading Policy: Class attendance and participation: 10%;
weekly posts on Blackboard: 10%;
presentation: 20%;
paper or poster proposal: 10%;
sample CV and self-evaluation: 10%;
statement about article: 15%;
annotated bibliography: 25%;
- Assignments, Exams and Tests: Class attendance and participation: Participation includes coming to class on time, contributing to class discussion, and listening well. The participation part of the class grade is not a bonus. If you come late repeatedly or do not listen well and contribute to class, you will earn a poor grade for participation. If you listen and respond well in each class, you will earn an A for this part of the grade. Either way, the participation grade can have a serious impact on your final grade. Class time is a time to try out new ideas, to listen, and to learn. Feel free to ask questions, speculate, and disagree, but base your comments on texts and a respectful hearing of others.
Weekly posts: Weekly posts on Blackboard are required; I ask for a minimum of 200 words. I will post questions for you, but I strongly encourage you not simply to respond to my questions but to read posts that have been made before yours and reply to them. Please post by midnight of the night before class and then make time to read others’ posts; we will not read most of them in class because of time constraints, but you have much to learn from each other as well as from me. We will begin class discussions on Blackboard before class and then delve deeper into some issues in class.
Presentation: Your Work-In-Progress presentation should take 12–15 minutes, followed by five to ten minutes of questions and comments from the audience. Do not read an annotated bibliography but present your project, addressing these questions: What are your topic and your ultimate goals for the dissertation? What are the key points of the current scholarly conversation on the topic, including what is generally agreed and what remains controversial, uncertain, or unexplored? How can you contribute to this conversation? How did you approach your topic and find appropriate resources? What has not been working in your research so far? Where will you go next?
Paper or poster proposal: Prepare a proposal for an actual conference in your field; follow the guidelines that the conference normally uses, even if the deadline falls outside of term. Include a copy of the guidelines when you turn in your proposal.
Sample CVs and Self-Evaluation: Turn in two CVs, one designed for a teaching-heavy institution (a community college, a small liberal arts college, or some similar institution) and one designed for a research university. With the CVs, submit a five-hundred-word self-evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the CVs and how you will ameliorate the weaknesses.
Article Statement: Submit a one-thousand-word statement about your article addressing the following points:
• How did this piece begin? (Was it a course paper? What was its length? How much research did you use?)
• To which journal do you plan to submit it first, and why? How does the review process work at that journal? (Does your paper meet length requirements without exceeding them? How many copies do you need to submit? Is the review process blind or double-blind? How long do you expect to wait before you receive reader’s reports?)
• What revisions have you already made to adapt the paper to a scholarly journal?
• What revisions do you plan to do? Briefly describe your timeline for revisions and submission.
Annotated Bibliography: The annotated bibliographies are due in the classroom at the start of our final class meeting. They should feature a minimum of twenty items, each with full bibliographical information and two to five sentences about the item and how it fits into your research.
- Attendance Policy: Attendance, preparation, and participation are mandatory.
Students who anticipate the necessity of being absent from class due to a major religious observance must provide notice of the dates to the instructor, in writing, by the second class meeting.
This class will only have fifteen meetings. Your attendance is expected at each (exclusive of religious observances as specified above). If you will not be able to attend on a regular basis, please drop the course. If an emergency does arise and prevents you from attending a particular class, please arrange to get notes as soon as possible to ensure that you do not fall behind. More than two unexcused absences will result in a failing grade in participation. Lateness will also lower the participation grade.
- Policy on Make-up Work: Extensions will only be allowed in extraordinary circumstances (such as the hospitalization of oneself or an immediate family member), and you must notify me as soon as possible if such circumstances arise.
There are no incompletes in this course. If conflicting activities or other concerns will prevent you from completing the work for this class on time, drop it.
Since plagiarism is the theft of others’ words or ideas, it is a very serious offense, especially for graduate students. USF defines the unattributed use of any published material as plagiarism, and the buying, taking, or use of another person’s paper as your own as cheating. Though the definition of dishonesty is in not in the graduate but the undergraduate handbook (see below), academic dishonesty is even more serious at the graduate level and in this class will automatically be punished by a grade of “FF” for the course. Plagiarists also face possible dismissal from the program. DON’T DO IT!
If you have any questions about what constitutes plagiarism or cheating, ask me. Penalties for dishonesty are stiff, but there are no penalties for asking for help! Use the MLA Style Manual or Publication Manual of the APA and other aids for help with proper paraphrase and citation, and do not hesitate to ask me—even if it means handwriting corrections on a paper you will turn in a minute later.
This course requires you to submit your paper to a plagiarism detection site that will be identified by your instructor. In order to comply with federal (FERPA) and state privacy laws, you (students) are not required to include personal identifying information such as your name, SSN, and/or U# in the body of the work (text) or use such information in the file naming convention prior to submitting Please follow carefully your instructor’s instructions regarding what identifying information to include. Your submission will be placed in the course grade center in your account that can be accessed by the instructor and attributed to you.
For the University’s official policy on academic honesty, see http://www.ugs.usf.edu/catalogs/0708/adadap.htm.
- Program This Course Supports: English Ph.D. programs in Rhetoric and Composition and in Literature
- Course Concurrence Information: none
- if you have questions about any of these fields, please contact chinescobb@grad.usf.edu or joe@grad.usf.edu.