Course Description

The goal of this Advanced Writing and Research course is to help you learn how to reason carefully and express ideas clearly as you respond to a variety of rhetorical situations and audiences. You develop these competencies as you learn to recognize strong arguments, uncover assumptions, evaluate evidence, recognize rhetorical patterns, and infer ideas from data. To apply these skills, you will conduct advanced research and write reports and essays synthesizing ideas from diverse sources. 

Prerequisites

You must have completed ENG 150 (or its equivalent at another university) and must have accumulated 22 college credits.

Course Outcomes

1. Write a cogent, extended argument supported by reliable research.
2. Write substantive critiques of complex arguments.
3. Synthesize evidence in a clearly written document.
4. Produce writing that adapts to distinct rhetorical situations.
5. Accurately document sources using a specific style guide.
6. Produce at least thirty pages of polished writing, including at least twenty pages of instructor-assessed writing.

Required Materials

Textbook

Your textbook was created specifically for this course. It is provided at no additional cost to you and accessed through the textbook module of the course.

Please note that studying the textbook readings is crucial for your success in this course. Assignment instructions assume you have completed the readings. You should refer to the textbook as you complete your assignments. You will also complete timed, open-book reading quizzes throughout the course.

Software

You will use Microsoft Word, part of the Microsoft Office Suite, when writing papers in this course. As a BYUI student, you can download Word for free. Visit the Downloads section of the University Store website, choose the option you prefer, and follow their instructions. 

Course Structure

This 14-week course is divided into five units:

• Unit One: Writing and Thinking Foundations
  • Weeks 01–02
• Unit Two: Ethical Decision Making
  • Weeks 03–04 
• Unit Three: Research and Writing for a Technical Audience
  • Weeks 05–07 
• Unit Four: Research and Writing for an Academic Audience
  • Weeks 08–12 
• Unit Five: GE Assessment and Course Reflection
  • Week 13–14

Each unit will require you to adapt your writing to a different rhetorical situation--a key life skill you use whenever you communicate with others. 

Writing Projects

• Ethical Dilemma
  • You will respond to an ethical dilemma, justifying your response within a clear argument grounded in an ethical framework. (500-750 words)
• Technical Report
  • You will evaluate and synthesize primary research to prepare a report for a corporate client. (1000–1250 words)
• Academic Paper or Academic Conference
  • You will conduct secondary research, producing a research-based argument for an academic audience. The argument must take a clear position and support that position with clear claims, logical reasoning, and quality evidence. (3000 words)

Online Writing Center

You are encouraged to plan ahead to allow enough time to work with tutors from the Online Writing Center to strengthen your writing skills. Using this free resource is optional and is meant to help you improve your writing skills, not just fix your paper. Tutors create a supportive and resource-rich environment where writers of all disciplines can enhance their writing skills, consider a reader's response to their writing, discuss revision strategies and writing principles, and increase their confidence and writing ability. Tutors will suggest improvements you can make and explain the writing or grammar principles behind those changes; however, they will expect you to make the changes on your own. Be sure to double check with your instructor if something a tutor says seems contradictory to course instruction. 

You may work with a tutor in an appointment or through email. If you choose to set an appointment, please be punctual. If you are late to your appointment, you may not be able to receive help that same day.

You can access the Online Writing Center using the link provided above or the link located in the course's Student Resources module.

Grading

Your grade will be based on the points you earn in each of the following weighted categories. Check the Grades tab for full details.

Category	Weight
Activities and Preparation	20%
Ethics Essay	10%
Technical Report	30%
Academic Paper	35%
GE Final Assessment	5%
TOTAL	100%

Grade Scale

Letter Grade	Percentage Range
A	100%–93%
A-	92%–90%
B+	89%–87%
B	86%–83%
B-	82%–80%
C+	79%–77%
C	76%–73%
C-	72%–70%
D+	69%–67%
D	66%–63%
D-	62%–60%
F	60% or less

Due Dates

You should work on course assignments each day to prepare for the two weekly due dates: one midweek and one at the end of the week. See the course calendar for due dates in your time zone.

Late Work Policy

Late work is not accepted on standard assignments. However, instructors may, at their discretion, accept late work when there are circumstances clearly beyond the student's control.

Writing projects submitted after the due date will receive a 10% penalty per day. No work will be accepted after the end of the semester.

University Policies

Academic Honesty

To facilitate better learning, papers submitted in ENG 301 must be new papers; you may not "recycle" or reuse papers originally written for other courses. The originality and similarity reports from Turnitin are used in this course to check for original work.

You are expected to observe the Academic Honesty Policy by doing your own work and refusing to plagiarize. Any violation of the University’s Academic Honesty Policy may result in a failing grade for the affected assignment or a failing grade in the course. In addition, instructors will report all academic honesty violations to the Student Honor Office.

AI and Academic Integrity 

Students should not use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to assist with writing unless they have permission and guidance from an instructor. AI tools include Chat GPT, Bard, CopyAI, Writesonic, Jasper AI, Anyword, GrammarlyGo, and many others. Some teachers may ask students to use AI for specific purposes, but if not, students should assume that they must ask for permission in order to use AI tools or simply not use AI at all. If students aren’t sure of an instructor’s policies, they should ask for clarification. 

 Dishonest uses

• Giving the AI a prompt and submitting what it writes (even just one sentence) as your own work. 
• Combining content from several different AI prompts and submitting as your own work. 

Ask your professor about these uses.

• Using AI to generate ideas for a paper.
• Using AI to write portions of an assignment but clearly indicating (based on guidelines from your instructor) which parts were written by the AI and which were written by you.
• Using AI for outlines and organization.
• Using AI for summarizing or paraphrasing technical language.
• Using AI to write a sample paper and then modeling your own work after the work of the AI bot.

Students with Disabilities

Brigham Young University-Idaho is committed to providing a working and learning atmosphere that accommodates qualified persons with disabilities. If you have a disability and require accommodations, please contact the Accessibility Services Office at 1-208-496-9210 or visit their website and follow the Steps for Receiving Accommodations. Reasonable academic accommodations are reviewed for all students who have qualified documented disabilities. Services are coordinated with students and instructors by the Accessibility Services Office.

This course may require synchronous meetings. If you are currently registered with the Accessibility Services Office and need an interpreter or transcriber for these meetings, please contact the deaf and hard of hearing coordinator at 1-208-496-9219.

Other University Policies

Student Honor and Other Policies

The materials in this course are also intellectual property and taking any materials from the course and posting them outside of this course in any manner (such as posting on Course Hero) will be construed as theft. If you post course materials without authorization, the instructor has the right to impose an appropriate academic sanction (for example, give you a failing grade for the assignment and/or fail you from the course).

Please read through the document called University Policies. It gives important information about the following topics:

• Student Honor
  • Academic Honesty
  • Student Conduct
    • Sexual Harassment
• Student with Disabilities
• Complaints and Grievances
• Copyright Notice

Go to the Student Resources module to review further resources and information.

Resources

If you need assistance, visit the I-Learn help tab located on the left-hand side of your screen to contact the appropriate support center.