From: Mark W Conley (mwconley)
Date: Mon, Apr 6, 2015 at 3:34 PM
Subject: Doctoral courses in writing for the Fall
To: ICL List
Hello, everyone. I want to share information about two courses I am planning to teach in the Fall. These are courses I have developed and taught over the past several years and each focuses on writing at the graduate and professional levels. As the descriptions indicate, I am happy to assist students both individually or in the course itself. Many of my previous students have been international students as well as students seeking specific kinds of support for proposal writing. The courses are interdisciplinary in that students from across campus often participate. A number of my past students have published their ideas during the course. I would appreciate it if you would share this information with your students.
Mark Conley
ICL 8953 Writing for Academic Publication, Mondays 5:30
Fall Semester 2015, Dr. Mark Conley mwconley@memphis.edu
This is an interdisciplinary course about learning how to succeed professionally with academic writing. Ongoing review of academic writing and engagement in academic writing and are central features of the course.
The course begins with a broad overview of academic writing and research. Within this broad view is the immediate issue of concern for many exiting students, how to position themselves within research communities through vita and cover letter writing. The course next shifts to understanding writing across the continuum of qualitative, descriptive and quantitative research and how to accept and provide critiques of writing. This involves writing book reviews, commentaries and reviews of studies. The course then moves from critiquing to promoting students’ own agendas through academic writing. This section includes writing practitioner and practice articles, conference, grant and book proposals and creating lines of research. Finally, the course includes teaching and service-oriented writing, such as course syllabi and programmatic kinds of writing.
Readings for the course and course assignments are tailored each semester to participating students’ interests and career trajectories. Many students have published their own manuscripts either during or following their experiences in the course. Individual instructor and peer feedback are included throughout the course.
While the formal meeting time for the course is set for Monday’s, I am also happy to meet individually with enrolled students each week in place of the course time, if you have conflicts that interfere with your attendance during the formal time.
If you are interested in enrolling in the course, please contact me. I would like to talk with you about the course and your interests. Dr. Mark Conley, mwconley@memphis.edu
ICL 8994 Developing Proposals, Tuesday’s 5:30
Fall Semester 2015, Dr. Mark Conley mwconley@memphis.edu
This is a course in one of the key skills in surviving in today’s world of higher education, crafting and sustaining arguments for proposals. In higher education, the skill of proposal writing is essential for dissertations, research development and grants. Successful proposals are characterized by compelling arguments that result in publication, successful funding or even social change. Proposal writing is a key to surviving or even thriving in a doctoral program. It can be make or break for tenure and promotion decisions in higher education or a successful career in business or the non-profit world. The course uses many of these real-world contexts – higher education, research, business and social change – as the meaningful contexts for successful proposal writing. The course will use live and online guest speakers to shed light on proposal writing in each of these contexts. The major project within the course will be for students to develop a proposal from beginning to end that meets with their interests and goals.
While the formal meeting time for the course is set for Tuesday’s, I am also happy to meet individually with enrolled students each week in place of the course time, if you have conflicts that interfere with your attendance during the formal time.
If you are interested in enrolling in the course, please contact me so that we can talk about the course and your interests. Dr. Mark Conley, (mwconley@memphis.edu)