*Assignments (online)

Week 15 (May 1 – 6)

Portfolio is due Thursday, May 5 by 10 pm to be posted on your blog. There is info about how to do this (with some other tips) on the post Info for portfolio and other end of semester stuff.

I am working today (Saturday, April 30) to get comments on arguments of those who have posted them. I’ll keep checking back over the next few days, but let me know via email if you’ve posted yours and I haven’t responded within a day or so.

We will not have a final; you may use the additional time to finish up final drafts of Essay 4  (or any other essay from earlier in the course that is not a part of your portfolio). Final drafts of all non-portfolio pieces due Thursday, May 12 by noon.

UPDATE: Given time frame, Essay 5 (which had never officially been assigned a due date–oops!) will be an extra-credit assignment, with final draft due Thursday, May 12 at noon (if you wish to submit it).

============================================

Weeks 12 – 14 (April 11 – 30).

I have posted comments on everyone’s proposals for Essay 4. Your task for this week is to start finding sources for your research. Post at least a dozen possible sources on your blog as hyperlinks, then use criteria of relevance, authority, bias, and currency to narrow to four (or more, if you want) sources. Indicate which are the sources you intend to use with a quick comment about what info the source contains and how you know it’s a credible source. I will give you a “punctuality point” if sources are posted by this Sunday, April 17.

Then read pages on Note-taking, Basics of argument, Types of argument, Structure of argument, and the section on Classical argument from the Writing Commons.

Rough draft of Essay 4: argument will be due by Wednesday, April 27, to be posted on your blog as usual.

I will be putting comments on Essay 3 rough drafts this week, and tentatively final draft of Essay 3 will be due Sunday, April 24.

==================================================

Week 11 (April 4 – 10).

The assignments for the week won’t be too heavy to give some of you (I hope) a chance to catch up. I’m still missing final drafts of ethnographies from quite a few of you, and only four people have text-wrestling rough drafts posted. So, the first step is to get those posted.

Then do peer review of text-wrestling. Here are questions and partner assignments:

===========================================

Week 10 (March 28 – April 3).

The main work for this week is rough draft of Essay 3 (text-wrestling), as assigned previously. Article assignments for each theme are listed here. Be sure to note that, in addition to the article you’re summarizing and responding to, you also need to incorporate some additional info from a source that you locate yourself. This info may be used in your introduction to establish some context for the article, or you may use it to answer some question raised by your reading of the original article, or to add in another voice that connects in some way to the issues raised by the first author. Note that you will need a Works Cited page that includes both sources, as well as in-text citations for the second source (refer back to page on Citation: how and why). Remember that this is a rough draft only, so just do the best you can, and don’t worry if you haven’t had much experience citing sources.

If you have not had much experience searching four sources, you may want to refer to this page on finding and evaluating sources.

========================================================

Weeks 8 and 9 (through March 27).

NOTE: Sorry for the delay in getting this posted; I’ve been swamped with some other work, and I noticed that many of you needed some extra time to finish rough draft of ethnography. I’ve combined two weeks’ work (somewhat educed in amount) to adjust. I’ll be returning Essay 1 shortly via email, and will also send mid-term grade reports from my grading app by mid-week of spring break.

I will be posting comments on ethnographies during break, and final draft will be due Sunday, March 27. If your own ethnography has been posted, you may do a peer review for extra credit by Tuesday, March 22 (post both as comment on the writer’s blog and as separate post on your own blog). Just pick someone who hasn’t already had peer review done. Suggested questions are as follows:

• Comment on the writer’s use of specific detail. What are the most successful places where you can “see” the subculture. Point out general statements that could be sharpened with more specific detail, and give suggestions for types of details that could be included.
• What are the essential characteristics of the subgroup as defined by the writer?
• How has the writer organized the material? Does the organization work well? Do paragraphs seem to have one clear main idea (point out any paragraphs that seem to lack this unity)?
• What’s the most successful aspect of the draft?

We’ll stop the reading journal assignments, since you’ll be doing plenty of reading for here on for text-based writing.

Also read about the citation process and, in particular, how to construct a Works Cited entry. By  Sunday, March 27, go back to your already published reading journal posts and add the Works Cited entry at the bottom of each post (in MLA format). For future reading journal posts, do Works cited entries as well as hyperlinks. A neat way to do both at once is to add the Works Cited entry and hyperlink the title within it.

Read the Text-wrestling assignment, which is a colorful name for a basic academic genre: the summary-response essay. Choose one of the articles from your theme on the list here. Be sure to access the entire article; I tried to link to full articles, but may have missed a print-format button. Most of the articles are 10-12 pages. Rough draft of Essay 3 will be due April 3.

===========================================

Week 7 (starting Feb. 28).

The main task for this week is rough draft of ethnography, due on Sunday, March 5. If you haven’t posted your idea for ethnography, please do that asap. I tried to respond to the ones I saw–if I missed yours, please shoot me an email.

Reading journal post #5 also for Sunday, March 5 (or thereabouts).

=============================================================

Week 6 (starting Feb. 22).

• Early this week (if you haven’t done so already) please do a short post about what you’re planning to do ethnography on. I’ve posted some suggestions on the page Sample ethnographies (see the google doc you can access by clicking on “here” on that page). If you have any ideas or hear of any events that might fit your theme or one of the other themes, I’d appreciate your posting on that google doc (sign your name so I know who you are). I’m in the process of looking for some more sample ethnographies that fit the various themes as well, so keep an eye out. Please let me know asap if you’re having problems thinking of a workable idea for ethnography!
• Reading journal post #4 due by Sunday, February 28. For this week’s post,  look at links on the top of Sample ethnographies page to find an ethnography that fits your theme (or google if you can’t find one that way). Post link to the ethnography you find, as well as a brief summary of the features of culture described (just a paragraph) and comment on how the writer has structured the ethnography.
• Rough draft of ethnography will be due, posted to your blog, by Sunday, March 5.

=========================================

Week 5 (Feb. 15 – 21).

• Reading journal post #3 due by Sunday, Feb. 21. I’ll be adding to the lists–I realize that there are some broken links, particularly from Byliner.
• Final draft for Essay 1 is due Sunday, Feb. 21. I should have comments on your essays done by Tuesday. Please email me the essay as an attached file (either .doc., .docx, .pdf, or .rtf). Convert the file to a paper-appropriate format (double-spaced, with indented paras, and no extra space between paras. Also be sure to add your name to the top of the file. I’d also suggest posting your final drafts as a new post on your blog in order to back-up the files, to archive progressive versions of a draft, and (last but not least) to share a revised version with peer reviewers or others who may be curious about how you incorporated their advice.
• Read the information under the Observe tab at the top of the course blog page (four pages about ethnography). In order to share and brainstorm with others in your theme, please write a short post about what you are planning to do for that assignment.

============================================ Week 4 (Feb. 8 – Feb. 14). For Sunday, Feb. 14:

• Please do a second reading journal post on your chosen theme. Especially at the beginning of the semester, try to use these readings as a way to explore some issues you may have been unfamiliar with, so look for a variety of topics to cover. (You may find articles on your own, but please submit them to me for approval. Articles should be–for the most part–previously published in print newspapers, magazines, or journals, or on well-respected websites.)
• Read the page on (Writing) as interplay between the general and the specific and do the Writing Exercise at the bottom of that page (to be posted on your blog). Keep this info in mind as you read other students’ memoirs and think about your own. In order to vividly the writer’s experience, a memoir generally must be composed largely of scenes, with perhaps some added reflection.
• Then read the following pages: Thoughts on peer review.
• Next, read the post here on questions to address for memoir review. Using the list below, find your peer review partner, click into his/her blog from the links on the course page to read the memoir, and address the questions in my post. Your peer review should be posted both as a comment on your partner’s blog as well as on a separate post on your own blog (to make sure you get credit for it, in case your comment is accidentally deleted).

Peer review partners:

• Amanda B and Dyani
• Amanda L and Dessy
• Courtney and Denise
• Elham and Kelsey C
• Jon and Rob
• Kelsey K and Saquan
• Liz and Nitzia

(Note that I have not assigned peer review partners for those students who have not yet posted a rough draft. If you’re late posting a draft and you’d like to participate in peer review process, please let me know via email once your daft is posted and I’ll try to find you a partner.) =============================================== Week 3 (Feb. 1 – Feb. 7). Your main work for the week is a rough draft of memoir connected to your theme which should be posted to your blog by Sunday, Feb. 7. (I will be posting comments on your blog proposals today, with either an approval or my suggestion that you reconsider or rethink.) I’ll also do a post with some info/suggestions about choosing and narrowing a topic. I’d also like you to start your reading journal–info about how to do that is on the page Keeping a reading journal under the Reading tab at the top of the blog. This post includes a couple of screen-shot videos that walk you through the tech aspects. (Let me know if anything isn’t clear!) Your ongoing assignment will be to do one reading journal post per week, starting this week. ====================================== Week 2 (Jan. 25 – Jan. 31). Be sure to email me the link to your blog if you haven’t already done so. This week (due Sunday, Feb. 2) you will continue to do a variety of prep-type work involving choosing a theme and reading about the reading process and a bit about memoir as a genre (which will connect to your first essay for the course). Here are the details: Re-read (if necessary) the page on Choosing a theme as well as the post More thoughts/info on choosing a theme. Post your theme proposal on your own blog. (I will try to be explicit about what goes where; if I forget or you have any questions, please feel free to send me an email or, even better, post a question below.) The proposal should include the following info:

• the theme you’re interested in reading, thinking, and writing about
• why you’re interested in that theme (what your prior knowledge and experience are; what are your curiosities)
• a few possible approaches for each essay (memoir, ethnography, argument, and photo essay)

Read the page on Why writers need to read and the article “How to Read like a Writer” (which is under the Reading tab, under Reading strategies (it’s a pdf download). Read the pages under the Remember tab: Why should anyone care about your life and Memoir: samples to read. Look online for a short and well-written memoir that would fit your chosen theme. Do not go to freeessays.com type sites that give sample student essays or just google “memoirs family” (for example), but rather look for more polished writing by sites that are edited/curated or online sites associated with print journals. I will get a post up shortly that gives some suggestions for good places to look. Please post a link to the essay you find as a third post on your blog (second for the week; third total), along with a couple short paragraphs (the first paragraph should provide a short summary/description of the essay and the second your evaluation–why did you pick it? what do you like about it? did it give you any ideas you might use for your own memoir?) NOTE: If you’re still having trouble finding your way around blog, check out the video Blog tour I made (sorry for all the hems and haws). ============================================================== Week 1 (Jan. 20 – 24). The quick version of assignments for short Week 1 (due Sunday, Jan. 24 at midnight):

• Read Welcome to spring semester post and the material under the Intro tab at the top of page (click on Intro and then each of the five subheadings listed below, Starting out, Syllabus, etc.)
• Set up your own blog using the instructions on page Setting up your blog. Email me the URL of your blog and indicate what name you’d like me to use when I list your blog on course blog (you can use a nickname or pseudonym if you wish to remain anonymous to the general public).
• Write a first post on your blog to introduce who you are as a writer (and maybe reader as well). Suggestions for this post are in the Welcome to spring semester post on course blog.