English 319 Section 01:
Introduction to Research and Written Communication

Spring 2000



The Facts

Instructor: Professor Stephen A. Bernhardt, PhD

Tuesdays 4:00-630

Room: 127 English building

Office Phone: 646-2027

Office: 222 English

email sbernhar@nmsu.edu

classlist: comtec-l@listserv.nmsu.edu

Office hous: Monday Wed 1:30-2:30; Tuesday 3-4 and by appointment

If you have questions or need help, please stop by my office or send me email.

Required Textbook:

A style guide/handbook specifically related to your discipline (for example, American Psychological Association Style Manual, MLA Handbook, Council of Biology Editors’ Style Manual)

Davis, Martha. Scientific Papers and Presentations. San Diego: Academic Press, 1997.

 Recommended

If you want to develop your control of sentence structure and command of professional style, I recommend my own book. It is written for self-study, and I would be happy to work through it with you.

Course Description:

This course is the first semester of a two semester workshop to help McNair Scholars develop their research for publication and presentation.

Students develop a proposal for research they will conduct during summer internships. Throughout the course, students engage in a variety of communicative tasks related to their research and careers: participating in email conversations, preparing materials for graduate school admission, and joining conversations of professionals who share the research interests of the students.

A frequent format for classes will be some time in lecture and discussion, some time spent discussing assignments, and then some time spent analyzing and critiquing samples of student writing. We will count on each other throughout the course, sometimes in small groups, sometimes in pairs, sometimes as a full class. I will give each of you careful criticism of your work and make myself available for individual conferences at your convenience. I like to help you with your projects as you work on them, rather than evaluate them after you are finished (though I must also do that!).

We can invite guests to our class to discuss their lives as researchers and writers. If you know of someone--perhaps your mentor, someone from the university or scientific community, or a McNair Scholar who had gone on to graduate school--who might make an interesting guest for our class, please talk to me about arrangements.

I hope you will catch some of my enthusiasm for the challenge of research communication, and that you will develop your own interests. Build your own reference library on scientific publishing and communication. Find out what is in the library. Browse the current journals in your field. Find out where the conferences are and when. Begin to make personal contacts with professionals in your chosen field. Becoming a professional who communicates well and enjoys the challenge of writing for publication is the overall goal of this course, and it can only be accomplished with your full enthusiastic initiative.

Requirements:

  1. Attendance is required and missing classes will negatively affect your grade. We have only 15 class meetings, so each meeting is equal to a week’s participation. If you know in advance that you must miss a class, send me an email to let me know the situation in advance. Follow up by reporting to me in writing on what you accomplished in your absence, and by talking with students about what you missed. An absence for an important personal commitment may be appropriate if you handle it professionally.
  2. Bring a planner and get used to keeping track of deadlines, work commitments, goals, and milestones for projects and for your life.
  3. Each student will follow a schedule of work for the term, coordinated by the attached schedule of assignments, but individualized to allow for special circumstances. Details to follow.
  4. Each student must complete a review of literature, a research proposal, and a timetable to track the research from start to publication. Attendant documents include memos, drafts-in-progress, progress reports, and other incidental writing tasks.
  5. Each student will give two oral presentations based on their work and have their work reviewed by the class.
  6. Homework readings will provide a background on scientific research and communication. Each student is required to read the assigned chapters before class.
  7. Each student will participate in an online, email discussion group among students, mentors, directors, and alumni of the McNair program.
Grading:

Your final grade will be an overall assessment (letter grade) based on your portfolio of work completed during the term, including evaluations of written work, oral presentations, and contributions to class. Self-initiated work can be documented through memos and included with the portfolio (attendance at meetings or lectures, special projects outside of class, continuing research initiatives with your mentor or in other situations). You will receive extensive feedback on your work, from me and your classmates. Drafts will receive a check (satisfactory), check plus (good work) or check minus (needs more work). Final versions of assignments will be graded with a letter grade. Work can be revised and resubmitted up until the end of the term, but quality work must be submitted on a timely basis throughout the term to achieve a high grade of A or B. Let me know when you consider a draft ready to receive a grade.

I will give you an evaluation of your progress at any time you request it–the grade I would give you if your work continued at the current level.Late work will be graded down. Being unprepared for class, not attending, or not participating will negatively affect your grade.
 
 

Students with Disabilities

If you have or believe you have a disability, you may wish to self-identify. You can do so by providing documentation to the Office for Services for Students with Disabilities, located at Garcia Annex (phone: 646-6840). Appropriate accommodations may then be provided for you.

If you have a condition which may affect your ability to exit safely from the premises in an emergency or which may cause an emergency during class, you are encouraged to discuss this in confidence with the instructor and/or the director of Disabled Students Programs. If you have general questions about the Americans with Disabilities ACT (ADA), call 646-3635.

Assignments

Fall activities: Class presentation.