Instructor: Lindsay Cuff

Email: lindsay.cuff@ubc.ca

Teaching Assistants: Chelsea Krahn (LFS 150 003), Lauren Oakley (LFS 150 005), lauren.o@ubc.ca 

I will respond to emails and direct messages through Canvas within 24 hours between 9:00–4:30 Monday to Friday. I am here to support your learning. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns about assignments, topics we are exploring in class, etc. 

Office hours: I will be hosting weekly drop-in coffee chats around a theme related to what we're learning that week. Come drop in via Zoom and chat about the theme or about anything on your mind! The coffee chat will be at the same time and day each week and the link will be posted weekly. If you'd like to meet with me one-on-one, message me and we'll make an appointment.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The University of British Columbia is located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Musqueam people. It is our responsibility to honour the stewards of this land by educating ourselves about the histories and contemporary realities of First Peoples, and by contributing to the important work of reconciliation and decolonization.

COURSE DESCRIPTION    

During this course, you will learn how to communicate concepts of land and food systems and their links to human and environmental health. We will explore academic writing strategies, argumentation, learn how to evaluate evidence, and search for and cite references to back up claims.

The work we do together in this course will be  a combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning— we will have a one hour live lecture each week, and there will also be activities to complete at your own pace (according to the deadlines). Since some of you are not in the Pacific Time Zone and we're still in the midst of a global pandemic, I will not be giving marks for your attendance at the live lectures. That said, I HIGHLY recommend you attend the lecture if you are able. I'll upload a recording of the lecture onto Canvas within 24 hours of the live lecture. 

By the end of this course, I am confident you will be a better writer than you were when you started.

WHAT TEXTBOOK DO YOU NEED? 

We will be using mostly online resources for this class, with the exception of one small, but mighty, textbook that you can buy through the bookstore or through Amazon:

Graff, Gerald and Birkenstein, Cathy. "They Say, I Say": The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing. Fourth edition. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2018.

WHAT ARE THE STUDENTS’ ROLES IN THIS COURSE?

• Actively participate in the online class environment through activities, quizzes, discussions and assignments
• Complete assigned readings
• Make decisions with students and the instructor that will benefit the whole group
• Take action to figure out what’s important to know, figure out how to learn it, and figure out if you learned it well enough
• Take responsibility for your decisions and actions

WHAT IS THE INSTRUCTOR’S ROLE?

• Prepare for the course by structuring activities and bringing effective resources
• Create learning activities in response to students’ needs
• Make decisions with students that will benefit the whole group
• Provide guidance to help students meet the learning outcomes of this course
• Implement decisions about UBC policies and academic integrity

WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?

There are so many resources available at UBC to help you navigate your studies, this course, and to give you extra support with your writing.

Check out some of the resources and supports for online learning here.

Check out this amazing UBC resource to support your writing here.

HOW WILL YOU EARN YOUR GRADE? 

ACADEMIC HONESTY

If you use someone else’s work without clearly acknowledging the source—this is plagiarism. This includes paraphrasing or directly quoting any work, published or unpublished, that another person wrote without clearly acknowledging that person as the source. If you allow someone else to do your work for you and claim that work as your own, you will have committed collusion, which is a form of plagiarism. 

I am committed to helping you work honestly, and I will help you learn how to avoid these mistakes. If you have any questions about whether you might be plagiarizing without knowing it, please ask me before you turn in your assignment.

A NOTE ON GRADES

It's important to keep up with your readings, activities and assignments so your work doesn’t pile up. But if, for any reason, you cannot submit an assignment on the due date, you must contact me at least 24 hours in advance to discuss a possible extension. I will subtract 5% per day for late assignments that have not received an extension.

UBC's Statement regarding online learning for international students during the COVID pandemic
During this pandemic, the shift to online learning has greatly altered teaching and studying at UBC, including changes to health and safety considerations. Keep in mind that some UBC courses might cover topics that are censored or considered illegal by non-Canadian governments. This may include, but is not limited to, human rights, representative government, defamation, obscenity, gender or sexuality, and historical or current geopolitical controversies. If you are a student living abroad, you will be subject to the laws of your local jurisdiction, and your local authorities might limit your access to course material or take punitive action against you. UBC is strongly committed to academic freedom, but has no control over foreign authorities (please visit http://www.calendar.ubc.ca/vancouver/index.cfm?tree=3,33,86,0 for an articulation of the values of the University conveyed in the Senate Statement on Academic Freedom). Thus, we recognize that students will have legitimate reason to exercise caution in studying certain subjects. If you have concerns regarding your personal situation, consider postponing taking a course with manifest risks, until you are back on campus or reach out to your academic advisor to find substitute courses. For further information and support, please visit: http://academic.ubc.ca/supportresources/freedom-expression.

I look forward to getting to know you this semester!