JINS 376: Women’s HealthHow to complete this course online in eight weeks

Play with the linksExplore the different sections of

the course

Become familiar with what’s posted at which link

Use the external links to outside sources

Not for a grade; just to stretch your brain

“Information”Goes to documents that tell you

what to do

Consider downloading the syllabus, article list, and wiki schedule to your own machine

Read the syllabus; it’s your friend

SyllabusA syllabus is a contract between

instructor and students

Course policies as detailed in the syllabus apply to all students consistently

Any exceptions to syllabus policy must be available to all students equally

Course calendarThe course calendar is available

to you in two places:

◦The last two pages of the syllabus

◦The “my calendar” module in Blackboard

These should be consistent; notify me if you find discrepancies.

Try to do a little bit every day.You’ll work on all multiple things

simultaneously.

You will probably need to do some reading and/or writing every day.

Get in touch with me right away if you’re having trouble with the class.

I want all of you to be successful in the course.

Please note policy on extensions in the syllabus.

Please do contact me by email, in office hours chat, or by phone (785-4561) if anything needs clarification.

A few considerations:

Any exception I make from course policies for one student must be available to every student.

I will be reading, writing, and grading every day myself– any exceptions from course policy shouldn’t exacerbate the already intense summer schedule.

What you can expect of meI will be absolutely consistent in

the application of course policies.I will read all written work within

one business day after it’s posted to Blackboard.

I will post scores and provide feedback on each assignment in time for students to incorporate that feedback into the next step of their work.

What you can expect of meI will keep office hours from 2-4 Monday

through Friday, accessible by phone or Blackboard chat.

I will work with the class to adjust those hours if they’re incompatible with your needs.

I will check my email twice daily M-F, once before noon and again before 5 p.m.

Think of the course as three strands:

Reader’s Journals and Replies

Wiki entries

Your synthesis project

About writingI assume you’ve all had at least one

writing class in the past.

We are not going to spend time going over writing process and basic composition.

Click “Synthesis paper” in the homepage sidebar for links to writing-related resources.

About citations and plagiarismI also assume you’ve received instruction

about how to cite sources appropriately.

Refer to your discipline’s style manual or the online resources provided for details on how to cite when paraphrasing or using direct quotes.

You will submit papers in Blackboard through SafeAssign, which screens for plagiarism. See syllabus for academic integrity policy.

READER’S JOURNALS AND REPLIES

As a result of Writing-Enhanced Courses, students will:Cognition: use writing as a mode of learning as well as a method of communicating what was learned; be able to generate, organize, and communicate information and ideas fully, clearly, and cogently; exhibit critical thinking such as the ability to analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and reflect; show audience awareness….

http://academics.truman.edu/interPerspect.asp

Reader’s JournalsStudents will respond in writing to the

assigned readings. Each student is required to post a one- to three-page response to the assigned readings in the Blackboard discussion group for each topic. Reader’s journals are due to the discussion boards in Blackboard by 9 pm on each due date. Each journal entry is worth up to fifteen points. (180 points total)

From the syllabus

Reader’s Journal grades Late = zero. I will refer to the timestamp on Blackboard to determine time

turned in.

A 5-point reader’s journal or reply demonstrates that you read the prompt and at least some of the material. It may leave out some articles or chapters, or it may be a simple summary of the content; but it includes recognizable references to most of the assigned readings. Something > nothing.

A 10-point reader’s journal or reply includes all of the assigned readings, including each OBO chapter, and shows minimal synthesis, evaluation, analysis, or reflection that clearly relates to the prompt. “Minimal” means the journal goes beyond summary, but just barely. The reader’s immediate emotional reaction to the readings (like/don’t like; agree/disagree) would fall in this category.

A 15-point reader’s journal or reply includes all of the assigned readings, and shows thoughtful synthesis, evaluation, analysis, or reflection that provides a meaningful response to the prompt. “Thoughtful” means the writing offers some kind of original critical thinking about the readings.

From the syllabus

So how do you do that?First, find the required articles.

Read the required material. Take notes as you go along. OBO = Our Bodies, Ourselves.

Consider writing the journal prompt at the top of your note-taking paper. Jot down page numbers or quotes relevant to the prompt as you read.

While you’re at it,Take notes for your wiki entry for

the week, too.

Write your wiki concept for the week at the top of your notes.

Make notes about what parts of the articles (not OBO; just articles) relate to your wiki concept for the week.

Some of the articles are dense reading.

Give yourself time to read slowly and deliberately.

Look up unfamiliar words.

Re-read passages that don’t make sense to you the first time through.

For example:

Week one required reading:Women and the health care system. OBO 67-81, “Complementary health practices,” 701-718, “Navigating the health care system”

Wells “Our Bodies, Ourselves: Reading the written body”; Choi & Pak “Multidisciplinarity…”

Week one RJ prompt:Choose which statement better represents your perspective: "I am a body" or "I have a body." Refer to the required readings in Our Bodies, Ourselves (OBO) and Wells to expand on how one of these statements better describes your perspective than the other.

So that Reader’s Journal should include:A cited reference to Chapter 5 of

OBO, a cited reference to Chapter 30 of OBO, and a cited reference to the Wells article;

An answer to the question about whether you are a body/have a body;

Some original critical thinking tying all that together

Some notes on style in RJsUse good college-level composition; complete

sentences with standard spelling and punctuation

Use of the first person (I, me, us) and references to personal experience and opinion are acceptable in RJs, but be very clear about the distinction between personal knowledge and authoritative disciplinary knowledge

Citations don’t have to be in formal style-manual style, but need to clearly refer to the readings (for example, OBO p. 73; Wells p. 698)

How to post RJs It works best for everyone if you compose your

Reader’s Journals and Replies as Word documents (save frequently!) and copy/paste them into the text box for the discussion board.

Click the title of the discussion forum; click the purple “Create Thread” button; type a subject line (your name works well); copy/paste text into text box; click the purple “Submit” button.

Last minute = bad idea. If the system is slow, your timestamp may be late. Failure to plan ahead is not grounds for an exception to course policy.

Replies work roughly the same way.

Note the prompt for each topic’s reply at the top of your note-taking paper, too.

The prompt usually requires you to integrate an additional article into a response to a classmate’s Reader’s Journal.

For example:Week 1 reply prompt:

◦ In your reply, identify a discipline as defined by Choi & Pak that might be fruitful for exploring issues of women's health given your classmate's perspective on embodiment.

◦ So this reply should include an application of the Choi & Pak article’s concepts about disciplines to your classmate’s perspective on “am a body/have a body.”

To post a Reply,Compose the reply in a word processing

document and save it.

In the discussion forum, click the subject line for the RJ you’re replying to.

Click the purple “Reply” button

Copy/paste text from word processing document to text box and click “Submit”.

Please be courteous online.

Offer analysis graciously. Validate what works before critiquing what doesn’t.

Critique the writing, not the person.

Receive challenges to your own writing graciously, too.

A brief note about defensivenessThe content of this course is

likely to trigger discomfort from time to time. That’s okay.

It’s not okay to inflict your discomfort on others.

When you notice yourself feeling freaked out or angry, pause and be quiet. Just breathe and observe your own sensations for a while.

Defensiveness usually means you’re about to learn something.

What a gift! What a treasure!

If it turns out some of your assumptions don’t hold up in the light of evidence or analysis, you can let go of illusions.

Sometimes evidence and analysis turn out to support your assumptions, which is also gratifying.

WIKI ENTRIES

This course integrates biomedical perspectives of topics relevant to women’s health with sociohistorical perspectives on the construction of clinical knowledge. Participants will explore critical analyses of global health disparities associated with gender, race, class, disability, and sexual orientation.  Participants will also expand their knowledge and appreciation of culturally diverse concepts of health and gender.

Catalogue description of JINS 376: Women’s Health

There are eight wikis:BodiesDiscoursesIdentitiesPowerKnowingAutonomyJusticeHealth

You will contribute to one Wiki each week. This course uses peer-reviewed scholarly articles as both text and

research material. Students must demonstrate the ability to perform a close reading of scholarship from clinical and interpretive perspectives. Eight wiki entries worth ten points each will be due each Saturday of the summer semester. (80 points total)

This is where you demonstrate your ability to perform close reading of scholarly text across disciplines and to participate in collaborative discourse. Each wiki entry is due to Blackboard on Saturday evening. Every student will post to a different wiki every week. See the document entitled “Wiki participation schedule” under the “Information” tab in Blackboard for a calendar detailing who will post to which wiki each week. All students posting to a wiki will share the same score for the week’s entry. If Students 1, 2, and 3 are responsible for posting to Wiki A during Week 1, for example, I will evaluate material added to Wiki A during Week 1 and assign Students 1, 2, and 3 a score that reflects the quality of the overall work.

Material posted after 9 p.m. on Saturdays will count towards the following week’s content—in other words, there is no such thing as an extension on wiki entries. Each wiki entry should incorporate all the “required” articles for the week, cited appropriately.

From the syllabus

How to do Wiki entries:Take notes as you read the

articles about how they relate to your Wiki concept for the week.

For example, if you’re assigned to “Autonomy” for Week 1, you need to take notes as you read Wells and Choi & Pak about how the material relates to individual bodily self-determination.

Everyone assigned to the Wiki contributes.Scoring as follows:

◦2 points– cites all the articles; something is better than nothing

◦4 points– notes relevant passages from each article

◦6 points– reflects close reading of the text and thoughtful application of concepts

◦8 points– relates to previously posted content for the Wiki and/or to overall course

◦10 points– does all that with good writing style

DON’T PANIC

Here are some detailed illustrated instructions for using Blackboard Wikis

Click “Wikis” in sidebar:

Click the title of your topic for the week:

First entry: Name the page, copy/paste content, and click “Submit.”

Once the wiki is started, click “Create Wiki Page” or “Edit Wiki Content.”

“Create Wiki Page” works well for setting up weekly entries.

“Edit Wiki Content” works well for collaboration among students.

YOUR SYNTHESIS PROJECT

Interdisciplinary study should offer a model of how connections can be made. It should expose students to multiple ways of thinking about issues, problems, and concepts. It should enable the simultaneous use of multiple modes of inquiry and demonstrate that their source of power is synergistic rather than additive. It should help students construct their own mental frameworks of retrievable knowledge. And it should make possible an evaluation of competing and complementary ways of knowing.

http://academics.truman.edu/interPerspect.asp

Also known as a term paperYou’ll work on it over the full

eight weeks.

I’ll provide feedback on several steps along the way.

You’ll save your final paper to submit as evidence of interdisciplinary thinking for your senior portfolio.

How it works:Over the course of the semester, each student will

develop an interdisciplinary research-based paper on a topic relevant to women’s health. The research paper must address a topic, or a perspective on a topic, not covered in the assigned readings. If you have trouble choosing a topic, consider browsing chapters 28 & 29 in Our Bodies, Ourselves for ideas. The project will include a paper proposal (50 points), source genealogy (50 points), first submission (75 points), Blackboard chat session for peer review groups (75 points), and a final polished draft integrating pre-writing with peer and instructor feedback (200 points).

From the syllabus

What it must include:This paper must integrate scholarship from at least

two distinct academic disciplines. One discipline will fall under the “health sciences” block of disciplines and the other will fall under either “social sciences” or “humanities” per Choi & Pak. You may cite up to four sources from the article list provided, but you must also integrate at least two additional peer-reviewed sources from professional academic literature. The synthesis paper should incorporate references to at least six total peer-reviewed articles. Students may find it helpful to think of this as two literature reviews in two separate disciplines, each using three sources, mashed up to focused on one topic.

From the syllabus

Not negotiable.All of your sources will be articles from

peer-reviewed academic journals.

Your articles must come from two distinct disciplines as evidenced by authors’ credentials and/or the journals in which they were published.

You may use up to four articles from the required/recommended list (might save you some time), but you don’t have to.

Paper proposal The paper proposal should be no more than three double-spaced pages. It should

include enough description of the topic that I can provide useful feedback. You need to tell me which two disciplines you plan to use as you explore your topic. One of your disciplines should focus on clinical knowledge and the other should fall within either the social sciences or the humanities (interpretive disciplines). Since psychology shares characteristics with both clinical and interpretive disciplines, it is inappropriate for achieving the epistemological distance necessary for this assignment. Refer to the article list for sources that can provide support for your topic, a clinical perspective, and an interpretive perspective. You may use up to four articles from the list as sources for your synthesis project. Note that your articles must correspond to the disciplines you claim to be using—author and/or journal should reflect disciplinary affiliation. This is where you demonstrate beginning-level interdisciplinary thinking.

Effective writing per “Rubric for Analytical Writing Assessment” 0 - 10 Clearly articulated topic 0 - 10 Two disciplines named, with appropriate inter-discipline distance 0 - 10 Relevant to course (women + health) 0 – 10 Distinct from assigned material 0 – 10

◦ From the syllabus

Due June 13

Style notes for paper proposalUse standard college-level

written English.

It’s okay to use the first person (I, me) in the paper proposal, since you’re writing about what you personally intend to do.

Your only source at this point is the Choi & Pak article, which you’ll use to justify your choice of disciplines.

Source genealogy This is where you demonstrate college-level information literacy.

Tell me the story of how you found your sources in a way that answers these questions: What do these articles have to do with each other, with your topic, with disciplinary perspectives? What do you still need to know after reading the articles from the list? Who would know? If you started with material from the article list, how did you find at least two more peer-reviewed sources that pull together your first four, your disciplines, and your topic in a way that makes sense?

Scholarly, peer-reviewed sources cited appropriately 0 – 15 Sources work within disciplines and topic 0 – 15 Genealogy describes information-seeking process 0 – 10 Effective writing per “Rubric for Analytical Writing Assessment”

0 – 10◦ From the syllabus

Due June 27

Style notes for source genealogyThis is not an annotated bibliography.

This should be written as an essay in the first person, telling the story of how you found your sources.

In the process, you should use appropriate in-text citation for each of your sources.

You should have a “References” page with citations consistent with your discipline’s style manual.

First submission The first submission should include a controlling idea and

interdisciplinary perspectives. You should use your best college-level composition skills to present a logically structured, clear, sophisticated synthesis. Your sources should be integrated into the body of the paper and cited appropriately. This does not mean you are claiming to know the Ultimate Truth about this topic; it means you can lay out well-reasoned support for an original idea from complementary scholarly perspectives.

Clearly stated controlling idea 0 – 15 Controlling idea is interesting and debatable 0 – 15 Persuasive support with logical structure 0 – 15 Valid interdisciplinary scholarly sources 0 – 15 Style and mechanics 0 – 15

◦ From the syllabus

Due July 11

Please note:“First submission” does not mean the

same thing as “rough draft.”

Incorporate all your sources and cite them appropriately.

This paper should be as good as you can get it.

You will be sad when you get your grade if you turn in weak work for this assignment.

Chat presentations The presentation is your opportunity to bring your controlling idea

(which has now grown to be a thesis) and its interdisciplinary scholarly support to a group of your peers for feedback. Plan a Blackboard chat session that can be delivered clearly in less than ten minutes. See Blackboard for specific instructions on how to prepare for your chat session. Your instructor and classmates will be giving you feedback on whether your thesis is clear; whether it is interesting and debatable; whether your support is persuasive, clear, & logical; and whether your sources appear to be valid. Only the instructor’s evaluation is counted towards your grade.

Effective presentation <10 minutes 0 - 15 Clearly stated thesis 0 – 15 Thesis is interesting and debatable 0 - 15 Persuasive, clear, logical support 0 – 15 Valid, interdisciplinary scholarly support 0 – 15

◦ From the syllabus

Due July 20-22

This part is in development.You will definitely give a presentation of

your work to a group of your peers.

We will be using Blackboard’s chat and virtual classroom functions for my office hours in the coming weeks.

Based on how those components function in real-life use, I’ll develop more detailed instructions in the first weeks of the summer session and post them for you.

Final draft of your paper Your thesis, while quite clear, should be smoothly integrated into the paper as a

whole. It should be focused, with room for reasonable people to disagree. The paper should persuade the reader that the thesis is a perfectly reasonable conclusion, given your scholarly synthesis of such different academic disciplines. Use of the first person (I, me, my; we, us, our) and appeals to sentiment are inappropriate to the style of this paper. Editorializing is not persuasive in this context. You must turn in documentation of peer editing by a classmate with your final draft.

Clearly stated thesis 0 – 30 Thesis is interesting and debatable 0 – 25 Persuasive, logically structured support 0 – 25 Valid scholarly support 0 – 20 Thoughtful application of multiple disciplines/epistemological distance to topic 0 -

20 Effective synthesis of disciplines to support thesis 0 – 20 Style 0 – 20 Mechanics 0 – 20 Documentation of peer editing consultation 0 - 20

◦ From the syllabus

Due July 29

Please note style requirement for this paper:This should be in formal

academic English.

No use of the first person (I, me, my; we, us, our) is appropriate in this kind of writing.

Use appropriate rhetorical strategies. This is all about analysis and reason, not appeals to sentiment or ranting.