Blogs

Blogs (10%)
Blog are a significant component of the course and allow for an ongoing, online discussion of course topics. The blog is your space, meaning that while I will read your posts regularly, I will typically refrain from posting myself. I will only intervene when and if I feel it is necessary, or to post a prompt for you to respond to.
The blog is similar to a journal in that it asks you to record your thoughts on various topics and texts. It differs from a journal in that it is public in nature; not only can your classmates read your posts, but online surfers may check out what you have to say as well (although they won't be able to comment). The blog is also different from a journal in that your classmates will respond to your ideas by posting comments.
My expectation is that the blog will remain a respectful and professional environment. You are free to express your ideas and opinions, and you are free to comment on your classmates' thoughts. I do expect everyone to be respectful of our differences of opinions. No personal attacks or hateful remarks will be tolerated. It's fine to disagree, but please make comments and arguments in a way that does not make others feel uncomfortable about posting (this includes your choice of subject headings).
You are expected to post original comments and respond to your classmates. You can respond to what we've read, class discussions, or bring up other relevant topics. Providing links to other sources, and explaining their usefulness/relevance is also acceptable. Any additional comments beyond the minimum requirement may be shorter in length. I will also provide required prompts on a regular basis. Check the Calendar for weekly prompts.
Basic Requirements for Blogging:

• You must post a minimum of 250 words per week
• You must respond to required prompts (check calendar)
o You can respond by adding an original post, by commenting on another classmates’ post, or both
o Be sure to both post original comments and respond to your classmates over the course of the semester; I will be checking to make sure you maintain some balance between the two.

Grading Criteria for Blogs:

• An “A” blogger will go beyond the basic expectations for the assignment. You post thoughtful and insightful comments, respond intelligently to other blogger’s comments, create conversations that relate to the course as a whole, but go beyond merely responding to prompts, and post regularly.
• A “B” blogger successfully fulfills the blogging requirements. Comments should be well-thought and contribute to the larger discussion at hand. You will respond to your classmates’ posts, and regularly post.
• A “C” blogger does the bare minimum to fulfill the assignment requirements. A “C” blogger meets the word count, but lacks the thought, effort, and regularity of posting that the “B” and “A” range bloggers achieve.
• A “D” blogger does not satisfactorily meet the basic requirements. You do not contribute thoughtful posts, do not comment on your classmates’ posts, and do not regularly post.
• An “F” blogger does not contribute to the blog, and thus does not fulfill the assignment requirements.

Project One: This I Believe Essay

Project One: “This I Believe” Essay (15%)
This project is modeled on the radio feature of the same name, “This I Believe,” and asks you to sketch a personal belief that shapes your daily life. The belief that you choose to illustrate may not be entirely unique to you, but the way you present it should be personal and individualized. You may begin with a larger, general belief, but you will need to narrow it down to a particular life experience in order to demonstrate how that belief shapes your own life.
To begin, think about your day-to-day life. What influences your decisions, your outlook, and your interaction with your environment? What principles guide your life? After you’ve established one belief to focus on, you will then need to choose a specific, personal story to tell in order to illustrate this belief and how you live by it. The important thing is to be specific in your details; this is an essay that can only be written by you.
This is a short essay, so you will need to be concise and choose only the most important details necessary to describing your belief. You’ll want to have a good “lead,” a sentence or two that draws your reader in and sets up the topic. You’ll need to then state your belief. This should be followed by a story that shows your belief in action and demonstrates how your belief shapes your daily life. You have several options as to how you approach your topic; you can use humor, or you can take a more serious approach. Think about what style would best reflect your own personality, and best reflect the belief you choose to discuss, but be sure to avoid lecturing to your audience.
Essays must be between two (2) to three (3) pages. They must also be typed and double-spaced. We will follow the formatting guidelines for NPR’s “This I Believe” program, and I will highly encourage you to submit your essay to them. This gives the project a function outside of the classroom, and presents you with a larger audience.
Please consult the “This I Believe” webpage for more guidelines on to how to write a good essay, and to also read sample essays. http://www.thisibelieve.org
Grading Criteria: I will use these criteria when grading your essay:
• You have a clearly stated belief that guides your essay
• You use a specific story or experience and incorporate concrete details in order to illustrate how this belief shapes your life
• Your essay is personalized and unique to you and expresses your own voice
• Your essay is well organized and your thoughts developed in an effective manner
• Your essay stays within the length requirement
• Your essay shows signs of careful proofreading, with no grammatical or spelling errors
If you have questions, concerns, or need additional help, please come see me or visit the Writing Lab. Consult the Weekly Calendar on the course webpage for due dates.
The guidelines listed here are from the “This I Believe” webpage. Please keep these guidelines in mind as you start drafting your essay.

Tell a story: Be specific. Take your belief out of the ether and ground it in the events of your life. Consider moments when belief was formed or tested or changed. Think of your own experience, work, and family, and tell of the things you know that no one else does. Your story need not be heart-warming or gut-wrenching—it can even be funny—but it should be real. Make sure your story ties to the essence of your daily life philosophy and the shaping of your beliefs.

Be brief: Your statement should be between 350 and 500 words. That's about three minutes when read aloud at your natural pace.

Name your belief: If you can't name it in a sentence or two, your essay might not be about belief. Also, rather than writing a list, consider focusing on one core belief, because three minutes is a very short time.

Be positive: Please avoid preaching or editorializing. Tell us what you do believe, not what you don't believe. Avoid speaking in the editorial "we." Make your essay about you; speak in the first person.

Be personal: Write in words and phrases that are comfortable for you to speak. We recommend you read your essay aloud to yourself several times, and each time edit it and simplify it until you find the words, tone, and story that truly echo your belief and the way you speak.

Taken from: http://www.thisibelieve.org/essaywritingtips.html

Syllabus

English 108: Accelerated First-Year Composition
Instructor: Ellen M. Bayer Office: HEAV 307D
Office Hours: MWF 10:30-11:20, or by appointment Email: ebayer@purdue.edu
Class Website: http://www.digitalparlor.org/sp08/bayer1/
Required Texts: The following texts can be purchased at Von’s Books.
1. Hacker, Diana. A Pocket Style Manual, (4e). Bedford/St Martin’s, 2004
2. Goya, Francisco. The Disasters of War (Dover Books on Fine Art). Dover, 1987.

Course Overview

In this class you will practice the writing process from the planning to the revising stages. The class is structured by the theme “Documenting Reality.” Through this theme we will examine various documentary forms, such as newspapers and magazines, film, fiction, web sites, art, music, and “reality” T.V. You will examine, explore, and critique the many different ways in which we document our reality, and will learn to respond to various texts and situations with various genres of writing. You will learn to become an effective college writer, and learn the skills necessary to succeed as a writer in both your future classes and career. In addition to this, you will learn the skills necessary to complete various types of research, as well as documentation styles (such as MLA) you will encounter in college. This course is structured with the common goals of all 108 classes in mind (a list of these common goals will be provided for you), and uses the theme of “Documenting Reality” as a means for focusing course writing and discussion.
Classroom Environment
Our classes will involve a great deal of student-led discussions. Each student has important thoughts and opinions, and I encourage you to share, debate, and evaluate ideas. I expect each of you to be respectful of your classmates. Harassment of any kind will not be tolerated.
Attendance and Tardies
Attendance will be taken for each class meeting. You may miss six classes with no penalty. These absences may be for any reason. If you miss more than six classes you will fail the course. No exceptions. Please note that when you miss class you receive no participation points and cannot make-up any missed assignments. Thus, it is in your best interest to attend class regularly. If you know you are going to miss a class, plan to complete any assigned work by/before the due date. Consistently arriving late and/or leaving early will be considered an absence.

Intellectual Property
The work you submit for this class should be your own, and you should cite any sources you reference in any version (draft or final) of your class projects. Submitting another person’s work as your own or failing to cite sources you have used will result in a zero on the project or failure of the course. If you have any questions about using and acknowledging a source, please see me or visit the Writing Lab. Please also refer to the University’s guidelines on Academic Dishonesty: http://www.purdue.edu/odos/osrr/integrity.htm
Grading Policy
IMPORTANT NOTICE: ALL of the following projects must be completed in order to receive a passing grade in this course. Detailed Guidelines will be provided for each assignment.

• Participation, Homework, and In-Class Assignments (10%)
This class is a learner-focused class, which means that the instructor will not lecture for the entire class, but that students will engage in and lead a class or small group discussion. Therefore, your participation in class is vital. I expect each student to contribute to class and group discussions, and I will keep track of your participation. You will also complete short in-class assignments, peer review, and homework assignments.
• Blogs (10%)
The class blog will allow you to discuss course topics in an online environment. You will be expected to post weekly, and specific guidelines for each week’s posts will be available on the class website (on the calendar page). You will also be expected to respond to your classmates’ posts. You must write at least 250 words per week on the blog.
• Project One: “This I Believe” Essay (15%)
The first project asks you to develop a personal essay using NPR’s “This I Believe” radio essays as a template. You will choose a personal belief you hold that indicates something unique about you as an individual. Essays will be read to the class in brief presentations as well. Essays will be between two (2) to three (3) pages in length.
• Project Two: Analysis of Documentary Film (20%)
This project asks you to analyze the rhetorical strategies of a documentary film. You will consider the ways in which the filmmaker employs sounds, images, film techniques, etc. to present their argument, and determine the rhetorical soundness of these techniques. We will view the film in class. The paper will be Four (4) to Six (6) pages in length.

• Project Three: Compare/Contrast Visual Responses to War (20%)
Using Goya’s Disasters of War as a starting point, project three asks students to consider similarities in the ways people have responded to war throughout history, as well as explore how different our modes of commentary are today from Goya’s time. The paper will be six-eight (6-8) pages, and will incorporate visual images.
• Project Four: What is it Like to Be ____? (25%)
The final culminating project asks you to fill in the blank: What is it like to be [something/someone] you do not define yourself as? You will document the reality of someone/something from a sub-culture of your choice. The project may take the form of a film, slide show, website, or traditional paper. You will incorporate at least ten sources, including both archival and field sources. You will also write a brief proposal and project reflection paper.
• Additional Information About Papers
All papers must be typed, double-spaced, in 12 point Times New Roman font, with one inch margins (the default on most computers). All papers should adhere to MLA guidelines for formatting and citation. Papers are due at the beginning of class on the due date. Late papers will be penalized; your project grade will be lowered ten (10) percentage points for each day (including weekends and holidays) that it is late.
You are required to turn in a typed draft of each project so that you may participate in a peer review. Peer review is an important component of this class. If you do not have your draft with you on peer review day, you cannot participate in class, and thus will be marked absent. You will revise peer-reviewed drafts and submit them for a grade. You will have the option to revise the graded draft and re-submit it within a week. Revisions must be substantial in order to warrant a revised grade. Submitting revised work does not guarantee a revised grade.
• Writing Lab
The writing lab is an excellent (and free) resource provided to help students with their writing, and I highly encourage you to make use of this valuable campus resource. If you go, remember to take your assignment guidelines and any class notes with you. The Writing Lab is located in Heavilon 226, and you can make an appointment by calling 949-3723.
• Class Schedule
The course website includes a weekly schedule that indicates what we’ll be doing in class, gives details for daily homework assignments, and provides the prompt for that week’s blog. The calendar also includes due dates for drafts of larger course papers. Please consult the online schedule on a regular basis in order to keep up-to-date with course assignments and due dates.