FTS100 : Renewable Energy
Overview of Writing Assignments
Gustavus Adolphus College
Fall Semester 2007
When writing, the main goal is clear and concise communication. As such, it is important to develop not only grammatical skills, but to develop a process which insures good writing. Thus, the major papers in this course will undergo a revision process; the goal of this process is a "perfect" paper.
This course has been approved as a Level I writing (W) course. There are three types of papers required for the course. They are short summary papers, an argumentative essay paper, and a research paper. The purposes scope, and other information for all the papers are described below.
General Information:
● All papers must be typed double-spaced. (A 12-point, double spaced page with one inch margins on all sides has about 250 words - this is the basis for the length requirements).
● All writing will be carefully checked for both mechanics (grammar and spelling) and content. For general grammar questions, refer to Everyday Writer (2nd Edition, A. Lunsford). You may wish to fill out the checklist for some ideas on how to check your papers. There is additional reference material available on the internet. You may also wish to consult with theWriting Center.
● Several of the papers will be distributed to other members of the class for comments. You are requested to promptly read papers which are distributed to you and write any appropriate feedback on the paper and return it to the instructor.
● You will have the opportunity to revise several of the written assignments.
IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT REVISIONS:
Revising a paper involves not just "fixing" the comments by the instructor and other reviewers, but also carefully re-reading the entire paper and improving on the content and format. When re-reading the paper, it is likely that you will notice many refinements which can be made to the paper. Since later versions of the paper are expected to be more "polished" than earlier versions, you may get the same or even a lower grade if only minimal revisions are made in later drafts of a paper.
The purpose of these short summaries (less than about 250 words or one single-spaced typed paper) is to develop the student's skills in obtaining information from (and assessing the significance of) material presented in oral, written or video formats. The student will also develop the skill of presenting a clear and concise summary of the information. For each paper, the exact assignment will be distributed in class. These summaries are to be submitted at the beginning of class period on the due date.Late summary papers will not be accepted.
The purpose of this paper is to familiarize the student with developing a logical argument, and to defend this in writing. (Note - in this context, an "argument" is not a "disagreement" but a "statement in support of some position"). Another objective is to sharpen the student's skills at extracting the significant points from a variety of sources and supporting the major points with sufficient details to make a coherent summary. This paper also requires that the student document the sources of their information.
This paper should be written in such a way so that another student taking this course would find them informative, interesting, unambiguous and concise. The paper should be double spaced, and at least 1000 words in length (which is about 4 double spaced pages).
Term Paper:
The preliminary term paper and its expanded version (the final paper) will require the student to research and develop a topic, form early draft through final submission. The emphasis in this assignment is on organization and presentation of ideas and facts distilled from several references. The student will be expected to incorporate writing suggestions read about and/or discussed throughout the semester in class and on video.The topic discussed in your argumentative essay may not be used as a topic for your final research paper.
The scope of the research papers is broader than that of the other papers and may include historical or biographical material as long as it is related to the topic. Resources include articles, monographs, films, autobiographies, biographies, internet sources (used with care), etc. The final paper should be at least about 2000 words (8 pages) in length.