Course Syllabus

Want to improve your writing skills in an SCA context? Need incremental deadlines to finish large projects? Would you like to know tricks and tips other people use to successfully write documentation? I have a course for you!

This is a collaborative, peer-driven (note the lower case) class. I (Meistara Kadlin in Storradtha) am hosting, coordinating, refereeing, and will be giving MY tips on writing. However, *I* cannot be personal editor to everyone, and that is not the purpose of this course. The purpose is for all of the participants (myself included) to practice and improve our writing.

This is a weekly course, if you sign up, you are committing to finishing the assigned task EVERY WEEK. No spectators here!

Please see the syllabus for the schedule, expectations, rules, etc. We will be using BOTH fb and a google drive, you must have access to both, and the ability to save and open files in .doc or .docx format.

Syllabus (subject to change)

NOTE: you must sign up (request to join the fb group) before midnight of Oct 26

Course description

The goal of this course is that you will end up with well-written documentation/research papers. It is timed for the paper to be finished by An Tir 12th night. This is a peer (note the lower case) driven course.

You MUST turn in your work before midnight on WEDNESDAY of each week. Even if what you have is really rough, that is totally fine! We are here to HELP! Turn in something, anything! for each week. This course is a collaboration, if you don’t do your part, then there will be nothing to DO. I am here a director, to give you tips on what has helped ME, and to point you toward resources. There are a thousand ways up this mountain, I can show you my path, but yours may not be the same.

Class time, 2 hours per week, I’ll be AT my computer and ready to answer questions. Depending on the number of people who participate, we can do a big fb chat or a google hangout, of if people desperately need face-time, Skype is an option. Class will happen on Thursdays, we can work out a time. You do NOT have to participate in class time, but other than your own writing, all your responsibilities to the group can be completed during that time.

You will have the opportunity to collaborate freely all week, and I’ll comment as I can. DISCUSS! These people are here to help!

Tentative Schedule (subject to minor changes)

The RULES. 

1. All work must be submitted TO the group (add to the google drive) by MIDNIGHT on Wednesday. Class will be held on Thursday (participation optional, but really useful!). All work must be submitted in a .doc or .docx format. In order to participate in this course, you must be able to save, open, and edit files in this format. If you need technical assistance, please ask the instructor 24 hours PRIOR to due dates. You may need to install software on your computer, it will be free if required for this course.

2. Be helpful and be kind. If you get snippy, you get one warning. Come talk to me if you feel something went off the rails and you don’t know how to respond. Learning to give and take criticism can be hard, so if you are TRYING to learn, that’s great, but if you are just being mean on purpose, then I will remove you from the group.

3. In feedback, you MUST BE SPECIFIC. If something is wonderful, what about it is wonderful? If you like a paragraph…why? If a citation is incorrect, what part? You are required to give feedback in this course, and neither generalized praise nor generalized condemnation counts at all. This is at my discretion, I will give warnings and ask people to leave the group if they do not give useful and helpful feedback.

4. Part of this PROCESS is learning to take (and give!) good and helpful feedback. Please let me know if you feel the feedback you received was not helpful! However, since this is a group for adults, I am expecting primarily adult behavior from all of you.

5. This is a collaborative process, so you have to keep up. Even if your stuff is only partially done, you have to turn SOMETHING in. If you repeatedly don’t turn in your assignments on time, you’ll be removed from the group.

6. This course is NOT anonymous, sorry. It will be pretty obvious right off who is writing which paper, and you are going to see a lot of drafts of the same stuff. This means you HAVE to put your name on both your writing that you want comment on, AND on your comments. As above, this is a course for adults, and a course that should help all of us learn about feedback, so keep things civil AND helpful.

FAQ

A. Where in my project do I need to BE in order to participate?

Anywhere where this process is going to be helpful. I am designing this for people who have done a lot of research. Having made an object is not required, and having anything written is not required. If you already have a rough draft, that’s fine, but you can’t be in love with it, as you’ll have to take it apart to begin. Please ask me questions if have specific concerns!

B. What background do I need for this course?

High school level English skills are my base assumptions. If you have an advanced degree or do a lot of technical writing, I would LOVE to have you participate so you can be a good mentor for others, and help me improve the course! I am assuming that you are doing fairly high level research, appropriate for entering something like Kingdom A&S. This is not going to be a research focused class. I can make ANOTHER class for research, but THIS class is for writing. I am going to assume that people can write a sentence that makes sense.

C. Does this mean I get your services as a personal editor on my paper?

NOPE. This is primarily a peer-editing group, and by peer, I mean “your equals”. I will be giving overviews/lessons on some of the concepts I use when writing. I am going to be participating, so I will read SOME of your papers, and you will read some of mine! Not only that, but for the most part, we will not be reading the entire paper of anyone else in this course. You will get peer feedback on limited sections, which you will then need to apply to the entire work, yourself. If you are entering something big (say…Kingdom Arts and Sciences), then I would highly recommend that you recruit some people to be your “readers”: people who read and comment on your later drafts to make sure they are ready. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SCAwritingWorkshop/