College Writing

Monday, April 23. I was disappointed to see how much difficulty people had working together on annotation project (though I see there has been activity in the past few days). I will be copying individual paragraphs into a file and put comments to send to each group–I should be able to get this to you by tomorrow (Tuesday). It is very important that people be clear on the basics of research, in particular the use of in-text citations and how to construct a Works Cited page, as these are skills you will need for your argument paper. Once you get annotations returned with comments, please let me know if you have any questions, or stop by my office in K226 if you’d like to go over anything face-to-face.

There are two linked essays you need to complete in the next couple of weeks–the argument and the photo essay. Be sure to read over both assignments in the course blog sidebar, and let me know if you have any questions. You may do the two assignments in either order. A draft for one of them will be due next week (Wed., May 2 or so) and the other one the next week (Wed., May 9). Please feel free to run a partial draft by me via email, or stop by my office to have me look at an essay cold (or email a day ahead of time with essay draft if you’d like more detailed feedback. I will be on campus a lot these last few weeks, so don’t hesitate to call/email to check my availability.) Spend your time on whichever one of these you want to put in your portfolio; if you include only one of these last two essays in your portfolio, the essay not in the portfolio can be passed in during finals week.

The most important due date, though, is for your portfolio, which will be due at our last class meeting on Thursday, May 10. This is an absolute deadline, or you will receive an incomplete in the class (at best). The requirements for the portfolio are listed in the drop-down menus across the top of the course blog at far right, with guidelines for assignments required:

• three essays, one of which must include MLA documentation); you may not use your annotation paragraph or reading journal posts, but you may use your rhetorical analysis if it’s a fairly well-developed essay–ask if you have a question what qualifies
• plus a cover letter (an assignment plus a student sample are available on the blog).

All four pieces should be printed out as clean copies, double-spaced.

Good luck, these last few busy weeks. Let me know how I can best help.

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Saturday, April 14. (Sorry, I thought I’d posted here already!–I’ll give you some leeway with due dates.)

I believe I’ve now made comments on everyone’s ethnographies, so please complete your rough drafts and submit in dropbox on eLearning site. Target date for that was tomorrow (see below), but any time next week is fine.

Read through the information about Argument in the tab labeled Projects. By the middle of next week or so, post on your blog a short proposal (just an informal paragraph) about the issue you’d like to argume. Please include the following information:

• what issue would you like to write about, and why do you consider that issue controversial?
• what do you already now about the issue?
• how do you plan to conduct research? (where will you look for sources?; if you have any sources already, go ahead and post them as hyperlinks)
• how will you link this issue to a photo essay?

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Monday, April 2. Group annotation projects will be due next Sunday, April 8. Post comments on each other’s paragraphs using this checklist early in the week, and revise your own paragraph taking feedback of other group members into account. I will also post some feedback by mid-week. One person should start a post titled Works Cited, in which each person should add his/her sources in MLA format (with everyone’s entries compiled together and alphabetized).

I will try to get comments on ethnographies shortly; the final draft of ethnographies will be due April 15, as well as proposal for a researched argument (based on an issue or problem connected to your theme).

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Monday, March 26. The main focus this week is to work on annotation project on your group blogs. I will be creating a post (on the main part of blog) later tonight that will walk you through the process a bit more, but do make sure you’ve read over the Kindle example (under sample annotation). I will also add some info re: note-taking and citing sources. It is a challenge to coordinate group work in online format, so try to communicate about how everyone will meet deadlines. Your goal should be to get brainstormed questions assigned, sources collected and evaluated, and initial individual paragraphs posted by the end of the week, Sunday, April 1.

In addition, don’t forget reading journal entry (see note from last week about focusing on argumentative topics and controversial issues in preparation for argument paper). It’s Week 7.

Finally, remember that ethnography rough drafts were due yesterday–try to get something up asap if you haven’t done so already.

And look for an email from me later today about grading for memoir (which will go to your AccessBCC email–set up a forwarding email if you don’t look there).

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Monday, March 19. Several things are going on this week. (I want to make sure no one gets bored!!)

First, the rough draft of your ethnography is due next Sunday, 3/25, to be posted onto your blog.

Second, you should be working on your group annotation project. (If you haven’t been assigned a group yet, you need to contact me asap.) These week concentrate on fine-tuning your list of questions and posting research links. Once your group gets a good set of links, divide them up so that each person can evaluate several of the ones he/she did not post. Depending on how many links your group has and how many member in your group, divide up the links evenly (try to evaluate links other than the ones you posted yourself) . Copy the links from the group post into a post of your own. Underneath each link post a couple of sentences (keep it short!) that identify what type of info the source contains (i.e., which of your questions would it help to answer) and how you assess the source’s credibility (who is the author? how do you know he/she is reliable? is the source objective or biased, and why? is the source sufficiently up-to-date?). You may not have time to complete this evaluation this week–focus on your ethnography if you need the time for that. I haven’t set a due date for the annotation–we’ll see how things go.

Third, continue on with your reading journals. It is now week 6 for journals. Keeping in mind that an argument is looming on the horizon, I’d suggest you focus on trying to find reading journal articles that take on some sort of controversial issue within your theme. (This is a suggestion, not a requirement.) Once you’ve identified an issue you’re interested in researching, you may use your research journalling as a way to co9llect up sources for your argument to come. (Just remember to get my approval ahead of time for sources not listed on my list of approved articles.)

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Monday, March 12. Since it’s spring break this week, I won’t be making a specific assignment for this week, but you do have a few things you could be working on if you get bored. The rough draft of ethnography will be due the week after break (Sunday, 3/25). In the meantime, if you haven’t done so already, please post a brief intro to what you will be writing about (check master list by theme if you need inspiration, and I will be adding some info/tips to the blog post on ethnography here). Your proposal should include the following info: what subculture will you observe? what fieldsite (real-world or virtual) or will you do a profile? what do you know already about this subculture? how will you access it?

Also, get started on your group annotation assignment by contributing to the joint post on brainstormed questions. I will add some feedback in comments. Then get started looking for sources to post as links. I’ll post some additional info soon, but in the meantime check the sample annotation on the Kindle for a model. Your goal should be to get questions assigned/claimed and sources posted in the next two week or so.

STUDENTS WHO DID NOT ATTEND OUR SESSION LAST WEEK MUST CONTACT ME TO GET INFO ON GROUP ASSIGNMENT!! (I would like to be able to meet with those students in person, if at all possible.)

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Sunday, March 4. In preparation for our meeting this Thursday (3/8), please read over the information under the Research tab, Annotation project. (There are three pages: What’s an annotation?, Sample annotation, and Annotation assignment.)

You will also need to read the pages under the Research tab, Stages of the process (there are six pages there).

We will also have a chance Thursday to talk about the ethnography assignment, so be sure you have read over that to see if you have questions.
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Monday, Feb. 27. Due Sunday, Mar. 4.

Sorry, it looks like I let time slip away last week–as did several of you–:).

I have posted feedback on all memoirs (I believe) that were posted as of this weekend. I’d like you to give each other some peer review as well. Please follow the guidelines on this post. (If you have not posted your memoir yet, please concentrate on getting that done. Try to get peer reviews done by the middle of this week.

Final draft of memoir is due Sunday, 3/4, to be posted on eLearning. Once you sign in and click on this course, the drop boxes are right there on the front page. Click on drop-box for memoir, and post your memoir as attached file (in .doc, .docx, .rtf, or .pdf formats).

Also I will be grading reading journals/informal writing by this weekend or early next week. You should have four posts done by next Sunday, 3/4.

Finally, read over the sample ethnographies under ethnography tab. Be thinking over your possibilities for a subculture you can write about that’s linked to your theme. I’ll do a post with some suggestions my f2f classes brainstormed. By the end of the week, please post a short proposal for the ethnography (a paragraph that includes the following information: what subculture will you observe? what fieldsite (real-world or virtual) or will you do a profile? what do you know already about this subculture? how will you access it? what are your plans for observation and interview?).  Rough draft of ethnographies will be due the week after spring break.

***Remember: we have a class meeting scheduled for next week, Thursday, 3/8, in K104 (same room as first class meeting). It’s very important that you attend if possible; if you can’t come, you must see me in person sometime next week (or this week would be OK too, if that works out better for your schedule).

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Monday, Feb. 20. Due Sunday, Feb. 26. 

Just a quick summary here, to be filled in by tomorrow. The main goals this week are to give each other some feedback on memoirs and to start thinking about ethnography (the next essay).

I will give info about peer review once a few more people get their memoirs posted. It was a fast turn-around time for your class, so don’t worry about being a few days late. I do hope everyone can get a rough draft up by the middle of the week, though!!

The ethnography will require some footwork on your part, either to visit and observe some subculture related to your theme or to profile a “representative” person, so I thought you needed some advance warning. The ethnography essay itself will not be due until after spring break. There is some info posted already under the Observe tab that relates to the ethnography; I will be postin gmore info there shortly, along with a few sample ethnographies for you to read.

Also remember to do your reading journal post for the week (and work at catching up if necessary; by the end of this week, you should have done three posts).

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Sunday, Feb. 12: Due Sunday, Feb. 19. 

• Read all of the sections under the Remember tab. (I will also be writing a blog post in the next day or so with some suggestions about deciding on a topic–link to be provided.)
• Spend some time meditating on a topic for your memoir, something that connects to your theme and narrow enough to “bring to life” in an essay of about 1000 words (or more). Work through some of the brainstorming exercises here.
• Post a rough draft of your memoir on your blog. Include a note at the top of the draft if you have any questions for your readers or anything you’d like to tell them (or me). Remember that this is a rough draft, and rich possibility rather than perfection is the goal.
• Finally, remember your weekly reading journal post.

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Sunday, Feb. 5: Due Sunday, Feb. 12.

• Read the first two sections under the Writing tab (as rhetorical act and as thinking made visible). 
• Write a short blog post on your own blog rewriting the four sentences at the bottom of the page on thinking made visible (rewriting general statements to use specific detail).
• Read and complete the assignment Rhetorical analysis.
• Once your theme has been approved, read one article from your theme’s reading list and post a reading journal entry (details about how to do can be found here).
  

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Sunday, Jan. 29: Due Thursday, Feb. 2 (for proposal); Sunday, Feb. 5 (for other reading assigned). The main goals this week are to get themes chosen/approved and to do some reading about the reading process. Info about choosing a theme can be found in Choosing a theme (under Intro tab) and the post Info on choosing a theme and writing a proposal. After taking some time to brainstorm possible writing topics, please choose the theme you’d most like to tackle. (I’ll do a blog post on Monday, 1/30 with some things to consider, including suggestions from students and my own suggestions. Write a blog post (another chunky paragraph) that explains why you have chosen this theme: why it interests you and what are some possible topics within this theme that you might want to write about (as I did for essays I might write for the business and economics theme). I would like to see evidence that you are not just settling for the first thing that crosses your mind, but rather that this particular theme causes you to ask some questions that have some weight, depth, complexity. Remember that you must come up with personal, observational, and argumentative topics within this theme.

Also, please give two themes that you would consider as second and third choices if your first choice is not approved. (In addition to considering the thoughtfulness of your proposal, I will also try to “spread things out” so that each theme has a number of people writing on it.)

In addition to posting your proposal, also please read under the Reading tab the sections on Why writers need to read and Reading strategies (three articles).

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Thursday, Jan. 26: Due Sunday, Jan. 29. It was nice to meet you all today…sorry for how rushed the meeting was, and I hope no one’s freaking out about technology! (Let me know if you are.) Make sure that you’ve given me your blog’s URL either in class or via email  (if you’ve been successful in setting it up). If you do have blog set up, please do Writer’s autobiography as a first post. (If you don’t have blog set up, just type out Writer’s autobiography and save it–we’ll get blog set up and you can post next week.)

Also, read over the introductory material for the course under Intro tab on the top of this course blog (note the drop-down menu with five separate small pages).

Email if you have questions.

Wednesday, Jan. 25: Since we’ll be meeting Thursday, I’ll wait till then to give an assignment. In the meantime, please look around this site, especially the links under the “Intro” heading. We’ll talk some about general course info on Thursday and make sure everyone has set up a blog. Feel free to do that on your own, if you’re comfortable with technology, either via blogger.com or edublogs.org. Those of you who have set up blogs can act as consultants in class to help every0ne else. If you run into technology problems, GIVE UP and wait till Thursday.