Description of the Writing Workshop. If you are in English 109.01, 109.02, or 110.03, you are part of the Writing Workshop. In your class, you will have no more than fourteen classmates and a teacher who wants to help you get the best start possible in your college career. Through this small class, you will experience an intensive introduction into college writing, a kind of work that may be much different from the writing you did in high school. You will be writing, reading and discussing, making connections between what you read and what you and other class members write. Collaborative work will be a central part of your perceptions and experiences and an important part of learning. Sometimes collaboration may mean writing a paper with a group of your classmates. Other times, it may mean discussing and negotiating ideas about what you have read or talking about your writing with classmates, your teacher, or writing tutors.

You should expect to be writing frequently every week, nearly every day; turning in several drafts of each essay; getting your teacher's and classmates' advice about revision (advice all writers need and the best seek out); and developing a kind of independent thought that is a crucial component of the kind of writing and reading required at the university. Most students who place into the Writing Workshop agree afterward that their courses in this program help them a lot. We hope you will have some fun learning as much as you can about writing, reading, and thinking like a college student.

Writing Assistance: In addition to the responses to your writing given in class, you can talk about your course work with the following people outside class.

Your Teacher
Each teacher sets aside office hours and may make appointments to help you--to understand an assignment, to comment on a draft, to give you whatever help you need. Consult your class syllabus for the times when your teacher is available.

Success Challenge Tutoring
As part of the Success Challenge Program, you are required to receive feedback on your writing from a Writing Center tutor three times during the quarter, during Weeks 2, 5, and 8. The first two of those exchanges will be facilitated through the use of your eportfolio, and the third (during Week 8), will take place either face-to-face or on-line. The list of students and tutors appears below. When you "share" your draft, simply use your tutor's user name to share your document, and be sure to include an explanation about what type of feedback you would find most useful for the particular draft you are submitting.

CSTW Writing Center
All members of the OSU community are invited to discuss their writing with a trained consultant at the Writing Center. The Center offers the following services:
-One-to-one tutorials at Mendenhall (Monday-Friday, 8:30-5:30) or the Younkin Success Center (Monday-Thursday, late afternoons)
-One-to-one online tutorials via an Internet Messenger system (no ads or downloads)
-Online appointment scheduling (available 24 hours a day)
Please visit www.cstw.org to make an appointment or have an online tutorial.

Attendance:
Regular attendance is necessary and expected because much in-class work simply cannot be made up. Do not schedule your class to coincide with your job; do not leave class early or come late because of an appointment with your advisor or anyone else. In the case of illness, a physician’s note will excuse the student and allow the student to complete the work for a grade. Other excused absences include religious holidays, a death in the family, jury duty, official college competitions, etc. For such absences, written notification before the absence is expected.

In the case of a true emergency because of which an absence is unavoidable, phone or email your instructor immediately. Office staff can take messages during office hours 7:30-5:00 Monday-Friday (292-8134). Messages can be left on voice mail at other times.

Two unexcused absences will result in a B for the attendance portion of your grade.

Three unexcused absences will result in a C for the attendance portion of your grade.

Four or more unexcused absences will result in an E for the attendance portion of your grade. If you choose to miss more than these numbers of unexcused absences, your attendance will be reported to your advisor.

Three tardies equals one absence. Please be on time (door closed) to get the benefits of the full 48 minutes of class!

Folders: In order to pass your course, you must turn in all the writing assignments, including rough drafts, journals, and graded work, at the end of the quarter. Please use a folder for your work, not a 3-ring or spiral notebook. You may pick up your writing folder after the seventh week of the next quarter in 218 Ohio Stadium East.

Final Exams: A final examination (an in-class essay or final project) will be given in all classes. You must take the exam at the time scheduled for your class. See your syllabus or the University Master Schedule for the date and time of your final. Unless you receive other instructions from your teacher, your exam will be in the room regularly scheduled for your class. Do not ask your teacher to exempt you from this general policy.

Questions and Concerns: If you have a complaint about a grade or another aspect of your Writing Workshop class, please discuss it with your teacher first. By informing your teacher of your concerns, the two of you may be able to resolve the issue without further intervention. If a conference with your teacher does not resolve the problem or if you feel you cannot discuss the problem with your teacher productively, you may want to make use of one of the following resources described below:

Placement: If you have a question about placement testing, please see Mindy Wright, Director, Writing Workshop (218 Ohio Stadium East, 292-8134).

Summary of First-Year English Course Sequence:

For placement level 6, be sure to schedule your First-Year English courses immediately after one another so that you can complete 110 by the end of your first year, avoid setbacks in your writing progress, and be well-prepared for your subsequent college courses. Register early to avoid being closed out of courses. If you are closed out of 109.02 or 110, come to the Writing Workshop office in 218 Ohio Stadium East. We will do all we can to help you add those courses.

Other Course Issues (grades, personal conflicts, etc.):
For 2005-2006, the Writing Programs Ombud is Matthew Cariello. The Ombud provides students and teachers in the first-year and second-level writing courses with impartial mediation for disputes and misunderstandings. You can contact him at 292-5778 or cariello.1@osu.edu. Winter 2006 office hours in Denney 533 are Tuesday 1:00-3:00 p.m. and Monday/Wednesday 1:30-3:00 p.m., but other times are available by appointment. Issues brought to the attention of the Ombud often involve grading and assignments or the occasional student-teacher conflicts, but students may also seek a sympathetic audience for personal, health, family, or social problems that interfere with performance in first-year writing courses.

The Ombud is not a tutor. Although the Ombud may occasionally help students by explaining or clarifying an assignment, he or she never provides assistance in completing any assignment. The Ombud's function is exclusively advisory. Generally, the Ombud deals with student work only after it has been written and graded.

The Ombud does not monitor teachers' classrooms; he or she intercedes only when requested to do so, either by students or by teachers who frequently consult the Ombud when they want a second opinion.

The Ombud will keep consultations confidential, if you wish. You need not fear that your teacher will be informed or that your visits will result in a grading penalty. A visit is reported to your teacher only at your specific request. In certain circumstances, the Ombud may exercise discretion on consulting about a particular case with Mindy Wright, the Director of the Writing Workshop.

Ombud's office hours for Autumn 2005: Tues.-Thurs.11:30 to 2:30, and by appt.

Plagiarism: Plagiarism, the stealing of the ideas and/or words of another and representing them as your own, is not permitted. You will not save time this way or get a higher grade. Although we encourage you to read and share your writing assignments with others, the work you submit is expected to be your own. After appearing before the University Committee on Academic Misconduct, penalties for plagiarism range from failing the course to being dismissed from the university. Do not take the risk!

ADA/Office for Disability Services:
If you need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability, you should contact your teacher to arrange an appointment as soon as possible. At the appointment, the two of you can discuss the course, anticipate your needs, and explore potential accommodations. Your teacher relies on the Office for Disability Services for assistance in verifying the need for accommodations and developing accommodation strategies. If you have not previously contacted the Office for Disability Services, we encourage you to do so.

The Office for Disability Services (ODS) located in 150 Pomerene Hall (292-3307) offers a variety of services for students with documented disabilities, including but not limited to students with learning disabilities, who are deaf or hard of hearing, visually impaired, mobility impaired, or who have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), psychiatric disabilities or medical disabilities. ODS proctors examinations for students who need exam accommodations. These accommodations include extended exam time, readers or taped exams; scribes who write out answers verbatim; computers; enlarged print tests; and adapted equipment. This office provides a variety of other services and auxiliary aids thatinclude access to class notes, taped textbooks, interpreters and/or closed captioning for deaf students, and a variety of special equipment housed in an Adapted Technology Center. To access services, students must provide ODS with documentation of the disability. ODS staff also diagnose learning disabilities. Students are frequently referred to this office by faculty or advisors when it has been observed that a student has difficulty with some aspect of learning or exhibiting what has been learned. Students may also refer themselves. For more information, please see the ODS website http://www.ods.ohio-state.edu.