Academic Writing and Publishing Practicum

ENG 696 | Spring 2020 | University of Miami

Tuesdays, 1:00 - 3:00 pm
Ashe 733

Lindsay Thomas, lindsaythomas@miami.edu
Office hours: I am available by appointment. Please just email!
Ashe 307

Course Description

This practicum will focus on academic writing and publishing. We will discuss writing for publication, the academic publication process, and workshop each other’s writing with the aim of producing a publication-ready piece by the end of the semester. You should begin the semester with a specific piece of writing you would like to further develop, workshop, and prepare for publication (i.e., a seminar paper, a conference paper, a dissertation chapter, etc.).

Course Digital Infrastructure

We will make use of two different online systems in this course:

We will use our course site to manage course information and our schedule. You will find an online version of our course calendar here (including the most up-to-date version of assignments, due dates, and workshop schedules), as well as information about all course assignments. We will use a shared class Box folder (miami.box.com) to distribute course readings and other materials. Every UM student, staff, and faculty member has free access to Box, but you will need to create a Box account to access the shared folder if you don’t have one already. You will receive a link to this shared folder via email.

Requirements

Class attendance and participation; completion of near-weekly assignments; reading and commenting on other participants’ writing; submitting your writing for reading and commenting by others by the date to which you have committed; revising your writing at least twice; submitting a publication-ready piece to me by the end of the semester.

Grades

This is a pass/fail course. There are no grades. Completing the above requirements means you will pass the course.

Accessibility and Accommodations

If you have received accommodations from UM’s Office of Disability Services, please let me know. Whether or not you have documentation, I hope to make our learning experience as accessible as possible to all. Please let me know early in the semester if you have any concerns regarding your learning potential, participation, or general access in this course.

Writing and Workshopping

This course is organized according to a collaborative and open ethos. Much of the course is centered on sharing and workshopping the writing of fellow participants. You will share most of your assignments with the entire group. By taking this course, you are committing to this ethos.

This means, first, that you are committing to reading and commenting on the work of your colleagues in a timely, respectful, and professional manner. Each workshop day, you will come to class having read the piece of writing under discussion and formulated notes for the author. You will use these notes to give oral feedback to the author during our discussion of their writing that day. If you will be gone from class during a day in which we are workshopping someone’s writing, you will be responsible for sending the author written feedback on their writing.

You are also committing to submitting weekly assignments on time so that we can discuss them in class. Even more importantly, you are committing to submitting your writing for feedback from your colleagues by the date for which you have signed up. This course doesn’t work if you don’t submit your writing on time. Weekly assignments are due by the dates indicated on the course calendar. A full draft of the piece you are writing this semester is due 1-2 weeks before the date we are scheduled to workshop it (depending on the workshop you sign up for). You will submit the piece we are workshopping to our course Box folder in the appropriate subfolder, in .docx form, with an abstract, and with a separate document including a list of 3 questions for the group and/or things you would like your readers to focus on.

Finally, as the instructor of this course, I am committing to reading and giving oral feedback on all participants’ writing and ideal outlines. I am also committing to reading and providing written feedback on a polished revised version of each piece of writing at the end of the semester. The final draft you submit to me by the end of the semester should follow all guidelines for submission for the journal/outlet to which you will be submitting it (especially length).