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For authenticated users: a .pdf version of this syllabus is attached.
Syllabus Approach: Writing Your Way Into Purdue
English 106-08-02
Contact Information
• Instructor: Linda Haynes
• Office: Heavilon 303E
• Office Phone: 49-61643
• Office Hours: Mon/Tues/Wed/Thurs 10:30am-11:30am
(and by appointment.)
• Email Address: lhaynes@purdue.edu
Monday Classroom: HEAV 106
Tuesday Conference HEAV 225
Wednesday Classroom: HEAV 106
Thursday Conference HEAV 225
Friday Computer Lab ENAD 130
Introduction
Welcome to this section of English 106: Writing Your Way Into Purdue.
The description of our syllabus approach from Introductory Composition at Purdue (ICaP) states:
By requiring students to identify and interact with other members of the Purdue community, each of the assignments in the Writing Your Way Into Purdue sequence enables student to become more integrally involved in social action that affects them on the Purdue campus while developing their college-level writing abilities and research skills. Assignments include a profile, a public document, an annotated bibliography, a report, and a proposal.
In this section of English 106 we will examine your life at Purdue beginning with who you are and how you got here (Literacy Narrative); then with looking closely at some organizations, departments, people, or opportunities at Purdue that could affect you while you are a student (Profile); and ending with either a solution to a problem at Purdue, or with an in-depth investigation of how your education and experiences in college will carry over into your life after your degree(s) (Research Project). In any case, you will have a lot more to write than just three items; you will write drafts, revise, write parts of your papers, revise them, write a research proposal, maintain an annotated bibliography, peer review each others’ work, write an explanatory report, analyze things visually, edit, write reflections, blog, revise, and revise some more.
What is Introductory Composition?
Students at Purdue have diverse academic interests and professional goals. And although not every student at Purdue is an English major or strives to become a career writer, the ability to communicate creatively and effectively is important to all of us for several reasons: 1) it provides us an outlet for sharing our ideas and an opportunity for making those ideas better; 2) it empowers us to understand different conventions, genres, groups, societies, and cultures; and 3) it allows us to have a voice in multiple academic, civic, and personal situations. In short, writing is a way of learning that spans all fields and disciplines; it is broadly defined to include many reasons for and methods of composing. Introductory Composition at Purdue is designed to help you:
• build confidence in your abilities to create, interpret, and evaluate texts in all types of media;
• develop knowledge and inspire new ideas through writing;
• understand, evaluate, and organize your ideas;
• understand what it means to write in different academic contexts;
• articulate, develop, and support a topic through first-hand and archival research;
• become an effective writer who can respond credibly and accurately to a variety of writing situations.
Required Textbooks
You need to purchase the following textbooks. They are available at Borders, University Bookstore, and Follett’s. If you’d like you may purchase a used copy of Refuge from an online bookseller, you may; we won’t begin reading it right away. I do, however, expect you to have the other two textbooks the first week. We will begin readings in them right away. Also, I expect you to bring your books to class at every class meeting.
compose, design, advocate by Anne Wysocki and Dennis Lynch, ISBN: 0-321-11778-6 (about $50.00)
The LIttle, Brown Handbook with excercises by Jane Aaron, ISBN: 0-321-40914-0 (about $50.00)
Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams, any edition (about $12.00).
Make sure the copy of The Little, Brown Compact Handbook is the one you see above. There are many different versions of The Little, Brown Compact Handbook. This one comes with exercises. To make sure you have the correct version, check the ISBN.
Required Materials
• You must have a computer storage device. I recommend a flash drive. You need to get into the habit of backing up your work and making it portable. We will be discussing file management, and a storage device is a "must-have." Make sure you have your storage device with you during our lab days.
• A supply of "springy" clips. You will need to hand in your longer papers with an appropriately sized clip (NOT a wire paper clip!). I will not accept your paper if it does not have a springy clip that does not fall off. Short assignments may be stapled. I’ll let you know when you may simply staple your work together.
• You need a comfortable writing utensil. Make sure you always come to class with paper and pencil (or pen).
• You should also have a good college dictionary. Spell check just doesn't offer the love that a good dictionary can.
• You need a device in which to put your accumulating semester’s body of work. It could be a 3-ring binder or a sturdy folder.
Attendance
We have a lot to do in this class! We meet twice a week in a traditional classroom, once a week in a computer lab, and once in the conference center. I expect a good deal of activity and instruction every time we meet, so you must attend class regularly. Many times, whatever you miss cannot be made up. In order to participate in discussions, activities, peer reviews, and in other instructional activities, you must be present. I realize that sometimes you have illnesses or circumstances beyond your control, so I am allowing you three absences without attendance penalty. Beyond 3 absences, your final letter grade will be lowered. This means if you have 4-5 absences, the highest grade you may obtain is "B." If you have 6-8 absences, the highest grade you may obtain is "C," and if you have 9-11 absences, the highest grade you may obtain is "D." If you have 12 or more absences, the highest grade you may obtain is "F."
I will excuse absences for illness if you have the appropriate documentation (a signed doctor's excuse).I will excuse absences for a death in the family if you have documentation (a funeral notice). I will not excuse absences for personal crises. Therefore, save your absences in case you really need them
In addition, I expect you to let me know before class via email when you are going to be absent. I often schedule specific group activities, and I need to know how many students will be participating. Your absence can alter effective group activities. I want you to think of your college experience as your job. You must always report to work, right? And there are repercussions if you don't show up without letting anyone know, right? Well think of this class as preparing yourself for life after college.
I also expect you to take responsibility for what you miss in class. I will not come to you to tell you what you missed. I also will not answer an email in which you ask, “Did I miss anything in class today?” Of course you did. Likewise, I will not spell out everything you missed if you email me the question, “What did I miss in class today?” Ask another student or come see me during my office hours.
Conferences
English 106 has a conference component, which means you will meet with a small group of your peers and me nearly every week. You will not be in your conference for the entire class period. I will provide for you a conference schedule that will tell you when you need to be ready for your conference. Missing your conference is counted as an absence. Please be on time for your conferences.
In addition, I expect to see you in my office from time to time. If you want to discuss class topics one-on-one, or if you’d like to discuss your grade, I will happily meet with you during my office hours. Our time will be more productive if you come prepared with a list of questions and concerns. In other words, come to our meeting with an agenda. Know what you would like to achieve from our conference, and your time will be well spent.
Student Etiquette for the ICaP Conferencing Center
• If you arrive early for your scheduled conference, please wait in the hall.
• If your instructor hasn’t finished with the previous appointment at your scheduled conference time, please let the instructor know you have arrived and are waiting.
• Because it’s confidential information, don’t ask your instructor to discuss your course grade during a conference unless you can be certain the conversation won’t be overheard.
• Please don’t bring food or drinks into the conferencing center.
• The computers in the conferencing center are only for students and instructors participating in a conference.
Drafts and Revising
At least one draft of each paper will be written for peer review in class. Your papers should and will go through multiple revisions. Revision is a process we all must go through to write well, think well, and learn well. I expect you to revise your first drafts by writing more than one version of your paper. By that, I mean you need to add material, cut out extraneous information and words, reorganize your thoughts and arguments, and develop your ideas more. In later drafts, I expect you to do more sentence level editing for style and to proofread your work carefully. For in-class and virtual peer reviews, I will give you handouts that will guide you though this process as you work with each others' papers.
Description of Grades
Here’s the meaning behind the numbers I put on your paper (you can use these statements as clues about how you might work toward a higher grade):
Course Assignments and Their Value toward Final Grade
Over the course of the semester, you will accumulate 1000 points:
Main Projects
With that said, if you find yourself overwhelmed and unable to complete an assignment, please come talk with me...but do so BEFORE the assignment is due. I expect you to do your best work and to turn work in on time, but I do know that sometimes "life happens."
Assignments and Format Guidelines
Your work must be presentable. If you hand in sloppy or poorly proofread documents, they will be returned to you for correction. You need to use 11- or 12-point in a readable serifed font, and your papers must be double-spaced unless I instruct you otherwise. We will be using MLA style in this class, and I expect your papers to be formatted accordingly. Work you hand in to me should have the following in the top left corner of the first page:
Your name (Jane Purdue)
Name of paper/assignment and draft # (Literacy Narrative, Draft 3)
Class, division, section (English 106-08-02)
The current date (of this draft) (January 16, 2008)
In the header of every subsequent page, you must put your last name (only) and the page number.
Your shorter papers need to be stapled together. Connect your project pages together with a "springy" clip; if you use regular paper clips, I will hand your paper back to you and I will not accept it until you bring it to me in my office later that day with the appropriate fastener. Likewise, if you simply fold over, or “dog-ear” the corners of your paper, I will hand it back to you. Do NOT put your work in folders. They annoy me and take up too much space.
Unless otherwise announced, I will collect all assignments at the beginning of the hour. In addition, I require that you email your final papers to me before class. You will need to save your work in Word files, and in .doc format (NOT .docx). I will show you how to do this in class. You will be expected to remember to do this for every final draft you complete.
Grammar and Spelling Problems
Composition is not a course in grammar. You need to have mastered basic grammar rules by now. From time to time, we might have a quick refresher course in grammar or mechanics; in addition, we will have workshop sessions on how to proofread for grammar and mechanics. But at this point in your academic career, you are expected to take responsibility for learning whatever grammar issues you need to improve. If you are having problems, you should go to the Writing Lab for help. Oh, and grammar checkers and spell checkers? Pay attention to them, but don’t count on them.
Adaptive Programs
Students with disabilities must be registered with Adaptive Programs in the Office of the Dean of Students before classroom accommodations can be provided. If you are eligible for academic accommodations because you have a documented disability that will impact your work in this class, please schedule an appointment with me as soon as possible to discuss your needs.
Professionalism and You
Please conduct yourself professionally at all times. You should not harass, threaten, or belittle others in any way. You should listen respectfully to the views of others. Your cell phones and iPods should be off and in your bookbag (not on your desk) and you should not be reading the newspaper in class unless it is part of our assignment that day. I will give you one warning if you do any of these things. If you continue, I will ask you to leave the room. If you continue further, you may be asked to leave the class for that day and marked absent.
Computer Responsibilities and Etiquette
Some class time will be reserved for computer work when we are in the computer lab. You must be able to access the space available to you on the server. In addition, you must back up your documents. Make sure you have the appropriate tools to do so. I strongly recommend a flash drive.
You are expected to treat all computer equipment with respect. You must follow Purdue’s and ITaP’s rules concerning your internet account and software theft.
Classroom “Rules”
I have three main rules for my classes.
• Respect others and yourself. If another student is speaking, give that student your full attention. Likewise, when I am speaking, give me your attention. Do not IM or email, play video games, mess with your cel phone or IPod, surf the net, tinker with your keyboard or engage in other disruptive behaviors when someone is speaking in class. It's very rude, and I expect you all to offer each other common respect.
• Do your best work. Make it a point to learn something unexpected this semester. Take responsibility for your education. YOU can make a difference in your own learning process.
• Do YOUR best work. Hold yourself to a high level of integrity. Don't succumb to academic dishonesty. Doing so cheats YOU, and cheating yourself of your own education is being disrespectful to yourself. Let’s discuss more on academic dishonesty in the next section....
Academic Integrity and Plagiarism
We will have discussions throughout the semester about plagiarism. I want to stress that I value learning and honesty in the classroom. I also want to stress that I do report cases of plagiarism to the Dean of Students: I have, I do, and I will. When you plagiarize, you cheat and defeat yourself. You rob yourself of your own educational experience. That is a kind of violence to yourself.
The English Department's official definition of plagiarism is:
When writers use material from other sources, they must acknowledge this source. Not doing so is called plagiarism, which means using without credit the ideas or expression of another. You are therefore cautioned (1) against using, word for word, without acknowledgement, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, etc. from the printed or manuscript material of others; (2) against using with only slight changes the materials of another; (3) against using the general plan, the main headings, or a rewritten form of someone else's material. These cautions apply to the work of other students as well as to the published work of professional writers.
Penalties for plagiarism vary from failure (NO credit) of the plagiarized assignment to expulsion from the university, and may include failure for the course and notification of the Dean of Students' Office.
The Department of English considers the previous explanation to be official notification of the nature and seriousness of plagiarism.
You should become familiar with the student regulations located at http://www.purdue.edu/oop/univregs/pages/stu_conduct/stu_regulations.htm... (the section on plagiarism is at III, B, 2, a.) and with the Dean of Students policies at http://www.purdue.edu/odos/osrr/integrity.htm.
We will use the following website in further discussions about plagiarism: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/technotes/workshops/talkingplagy.htm. If you still have questions about what is and is not plagiarism, do not hesitate to ask me in class, in my office, during conferences, or via email.
Resources
Besides seeing me during your conference time or in my office, you have other resources at Purdue to help you with your writing and writing assignments. The Writing Lab in Heavilon Hall, Room 226, offers FREE tutorials to students by appointment or on a drop-in basis. For more information or to make an appointment, call 494-3723. You may also access the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at http://owl.english.purdue.edu. You may use The Digital Learning Collaboratory (DLC) to help you create multimedia projects. You can check out equipment, use the computers, learn new software, or reserve space to work collaboratively on a class project. For more information, go to http://www.lib.purdue.edu.
All course handouts, guides, and readings can be found here. (Attached, for authenticated users who are logged on.)
Here's a link to the printed text and audio version of "A Day in the Life of a Tireless Imam".
Find audience descriptions of several Purdue publications.
Here's a profile about the real-life character Meryl Streep played in The Devil Wears Prada, Anna Wintour.
The Great SaltAir is mentioned several times in Refuge. Read about the history and the current use for this landmark.
The website for Terry Tempest Williams' Coyote Clan homepage.
Follow the links at the bottom of this page for a schedule of assignments for each week this semester. Within each week, you will find daily listings of assignments. Each bullet point for the day is a different task for you to complete. Unless specifically noted otherwise, all assignments are to be completed before class on the day listed.
This course calendar may be updated throughout the semester. I'll notify you about any major changes, but you are still responsible for keeping up with the current schedule.
IMPORTANT: You must visit all of the links provided within the course calendar. There are many links to follow and read. Make sure you visit all of them. Some links provide easy access to other parts of the class site which will help you in your assignments. Some links are to required readings. Others provide you with detailed instructions on completing the assignments. Eventually, you may come to know the instructions which supplement assignments that are repeated throughout the course, but it's still a good idea to continue to revisit the instructions to make sure that you are satisfying all of the requirements.
Monday, January 7th
Syllabus, Course Policies, Introductions
Writing Activity: Course expectations
Conferences: Tuesday and Thursday , January 8th & 10th
Small group discussion:
What do you like about your writing?
What would you like to improve about your writing?
Wednesday, January 9th
Introduction to first writing assignment: Literacy Narrative
In your daily lives, how do you design, compose, and advocate?
Computer Lab: Friday, January 11th
Writing diagnostic
Monday, January 14th
Writing Lab Tour: Meet in classroom & we'll go to the Writing Lab at 2:29.
Discuss Literacy Narratives
Generating ideas and prewriting
Conferences: Tuesday, January 15th & Thursday, January 17th
Permission forms & syllabus signature slips
Blogs and blogging
Wednesday, January 16th
Bring to class: your compose, design, advocate textbook and your Little, Brown Handbook.
Writing a statement of purpose.
Plagiarism workshop I (from the syllabus)
Learning the Comment feature on Word
End of class: email me your "commented on" first draft literacy narrative. Over the weekend or on Monday, I'll email comments back to you.
No class on Monday: MLK, Jr. Day.
Monday, January 21st
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (no classes)
Conferences: Tuesday, January 22nd & Thursday, January 24th
Bring questions about your literacy narrative to conference.
Make sure you have a hard copy of your literacy narrative (the one I commented on) AND your Little, Brown Handbook with you.
Wednesday, January 23rd
Computer Lab: Friday, January 25th
The final draft of your literacy narrative is due on Monday, January 28th. Revisit the Literacy Narrative Assignment for what must be handed in.
Monday, January 28th
Introduction to the Profile Assignment.
Conferences: Tuesday, January 29th & Thursday, January 31st
Bring topic ideas (notice the use of PLURAL: ideaS) and your Little, Brown Handbook to conference.
Wednesday, January 30th
More on profiles. Brainstorming, invention, planning.
How to write a basic proposal.
Computer Lab: Friday, February 1st
Plagiarism workshop. We will work in small groups.
If time remains, we'll work with Open Mind.
Monday, Febraury 4th
Here's a link to the printed text and audio version of "A Day in the Life of a Tireless Imam."
Conferences: Tuesday, February 5th & Thursday, February 7th
Bring your Little, Brown Handbook to conferences. You will receive your evaluated Literacy Narrative and Reflection at the end of your conference.
Wednesday, February 6th
Today: Discussion of "Higher Education."
Computer Lab: Friday, February 8th
Hand in your one-page analysis of one of the photographs in "Higher Education."
Researching/interviewing activity
Looking for/at publication venues.
Blog prompt (due by Monday, 2pm): By now you have been a member of the Purdue community for at least a semester. Describe the best place you have found in which to study. Try to use all of your senses to make this place real for the other blogger/readers. Why is this an ideal place to study? If you have not found an ideal place to study, describe the place in which you do study (and why it's not so ideal). Again, use your powers of observation. Listen. Sniff. Look around. Feel.
Monday, Febraury 11th
Don't forget: your blog entry is due today by 2pm. Your blogging prompt is posted on last Friday's calendar.
Discussion of Sarah Vowell's "The Partly Cloudy Patriot" and The Declaration of Independance.
Conferences: Tuesday, February 12th & Thursday, February 14th
--The Wonderful World of Independent and Dependent Clauses (and how to use a comma well).
--Your interview progress: an update, please.
As always, bring your copy of The Little, Brown Handbook.
Wednesday, February 13th
Computer Lab: Friday, February 15th
Working with forums, publication venues, and profiles.
Monday, Febraury 18th
Today: discussion on rewriting, revision, editing, proofreading.
Activity: examination and analysis of your publication venue.
Conferences: Tuesday, February 19th & Thursday, February 21st
Discussion: Drafting your profile.
Wednesday, February 20th
Small group work: dominant impression or the "angle" of your profile.
Description and dialogue
Computer Lab: Friday, February 22nd
Quote for the week: Writing the last page of the first draft is the most enjoyable moment in writing. It's one of the most enjoyable moments in life, period. -Nicholas Sparks, author (1965- )
Monday, Febraury 25th
Today: Description and dialogue. Bring your printed and marked-up copy of the online article I assigned for today.
Writing Thank You notes.
Conferences: Tuesday, February 26th & Thursday, February 28th
Bring to conference: On your flash drive, a picture of your profile subject (ideally) OR a representative graphic that would accompany your profile article. Also bring an electronic version of your current profile draft.
Wednesday, February 27th
Bring to class a hard copy of the draft you've worked on since your first peer review. We will do an in-class peer review today.
Introductions and Conclusions
Computer Lab: Friday, February 29th
Bring to class an electronic copy of your revised draft (since Wednesday's peer review) of your formatted profile.
Monday, March 3rd
Here is a wonderful profile from Indianapolis Monthly about two professors here at Purdue: the married couple Porter Shreve and Bich Nguyen. Notice the introduction and conclusion. Also, what is the dominant impression that you get from this couple?
Conferences: Tuesday, March 4th & Thursday, March 6th
Bring your Little, Brown Handbook.
Your grades so far.
Wednesday, March 5th
Computer Lab: Friday, March 7th
Bring Refuge to class on Monday after break.
SPRING BREAK: Monday, March 10th-Friday, March 14th
HOMEWORK: Return to campus safely.
Monday, March 17th: Last day to drop a course.
Monday, March 17th
Last day to drop a course.
If you need to drop any course, please see your academic advisor.
Conferences: Tuesday, March 18th & Thursday, March 20th
Bring your Little, Brown Handbooks to conferences.
Wednesday, March 19th
Today's class: The Annotated Bibliography and writing a proposal.
You will write your preliminary proposals in class today. This proposal is worth 30 points.
Please note: Monday's class will be held in the iLab (Hicks Undergraduate Library, G595. Please be on time for our guest lecturer, Professor Jennifer Sharkey, Assistant Professor of Library Science.
When the oak is felled the whole forest echoes with its fall, but a hundred acorns are sown in silence by an unnoticed breeze. -Thomas Carlyle, historian and essayist (1795-1881)
Monday, March 24th
CLASS WILL BE HELD IN THE HICKS UNDERGRADUATE LIBRARY, G959 (the iLab).
Jennifer Sharkey, Assistant Professor of Library Science, will be our guest lecturer. Please make every effort to be on time for this presentation.
Due: Your Hicks Undergraduate Library Tour sheet and map. Hand them to me as you enter the iLab.
Conferences: Tuesday, March 25th & Thursday, March 27th
Bring LBH and the work you have been doing toward your project. We will discuss the direction of your research and the work you've accomplished so far.
Wednesday, March 26th
Today we'll discuss anything you need to talk about concerning Professor Sharkey's lecture from Monday.
Your reading for today in Refuge is: Pages 77-152 (Ravens, Pink Flamingos, Snow Buntings, White Pelicans, Yellow-Headed Blackbirds, Redheads, Killdeer, Whistling Swan, Great Horned Owl, Roadrunner, Magpies, and Long-Billed Curlews.)
You are dying to know more about Starlings, aren't you? This link will tell you all you care to know about sturnus vulgaris. In fact, if you'd like to know more about any of the birds in Refuge, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is the place to look.
Computer Lab: Friday, March 28th
Today we'll cover writing your formal proposal, creating your research timeline, and assembling and formatting your annotated bibliography.
The best work is done with the heart breaking, or overflowing. –Mignon McLaughlin, journalist and author (1913-1983)
Monday, March 31st
Conferences: Tuesday, April 1st & Thursday, April 3rd
Bring to conference your in-progress research, writing, and questions. Be ready to talk about what progress you've made toward your problem/solution.
Wednesday, April 2nd
In class, we'll read the essay "The Clan of the One-Breasted Women," by Terry Tempest Williams (pages 281-290 in Refuge) and At The Bomb Testing Site, a poem by William Stafford.
Computer Lab: Friday, April 4th
Discussion today will be about analyzing visuals and analyzing & responding to a text.
New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common. -John Locke, philosopher (1632-1704)
Monday, April 7th
Beginning your Explanatory Report: What information should you supply to your readers?
Prewriting and planning
Conferences: Tuesday, April 8th & Thursday, April 10th
Explanatory Report, citing sources, your multimedia presentation (showing one example)
Wednesday, April 9th
More discussion of your Explanatory Report: citing sources
Bring to class: your typed up notes/planning and writing that you did in class on Monday. (If you already have a draft of your report, bring that.) Also bring any source material (journal article, web site, etc.) that you might be using in your Explanatory Report.
Handout: from They Say/I Say
Computer Lab: Friday, April 11th
Showing one more multimedia presentation example
More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly. -Woody Allen, author actor, and filmmaker (1935- )
Monday, April 14th
Your name
Explanatory Report, Final Draft
English 106-08-02
Date you completed this draft
Assemble in the following order (with the final draft on top), attached with a springy clip:
Final draft in MLA format, properly cited, proofread carefully.
Most recent updated and corrected Annotated Bibliography
Graded Annotated Bibliography
Drafts
/Revisions in reverse order of when written
A copy of the peer review that was done on your report
Your planning and pre-writing
Conferences: Tuesday, April 15th & Thursday, April 17th
Conferences are cancelled this week.
Tuesday: ICaP Showcase 9:00-3:00 in Stewart Center.
For 30 points, you will visit the Showcase at some time during the day, vote for your favorite project, and write a description of the Showcase in general and of two projects specifically. Write the description as if you are telling someone about it who has never been to a Showcase before.
Wednesday, April 16th
Computer Lab: Friday, April 18th
Due today: Explanatory Report and Research Reflection
In lab today: Working on multimedia projects
It's like, at the end, there's this surprise quiz: Am I proud of me? I gave my life to become the person I am right now. Was it worth what I paid?
-Richard Bach, writer (1936-)
Over the weekend (give yourself some time after you have presented):
Reflection Questions Over Your Presentation: Thinking About Your Outcome
25 point writing assignment
In this reflection, you should NOT merely answer these questions one-by-one; you need to think about your essay in terms of these questions. Use the questions as pre-writing, but then, craft your reflection and organize it like a meditative essay in which you have actually examined your writing critically.
• Did you find the Research Project/Explanatory Report/Presentation of the Outcome assignment interesting? Explain.
(You’ll be talking about the entire project here.)
• What did you find most difficult about forming your Outcome?
• What was most difficult about presenting your Outcome for the class?
• What did you find easiest about completing the project?
• What do you wish you had spent more time on when completing this project?
• What instruction proved most helpful to you when completing this project?
• What did you need more help with when completing this project?
• What are the strengths of your outcome and presentation, as you see it?
• What are the weaknesses of your outcome and presentation, as you see it?
• What would you do differently if you were to begin this project anew? What advice would you give a friend who is about to begin the same assignment?
Email me your reflection as an attached Word document (.doc only, please) by Monday morning. Do not write your presentation reflection until after your presentation. Make sure you read it aloud and carefully proofread what you've written.
Monday, April 21st
Class today will be held in ENAD 233 for PRESENTATIONS.
Go over Semester Analysis assignment.
Conferences: Tuesday, April 22nd & Thursday, April 24th
Final work on presentations
Wednesday, April 23rd
Class today will be held in ENAD 233 for PRESENTATIONS.
Computer Lab: Friday, April 25th
Class today will be held in ENAD 130 (our regular Friday computer lab) for PRESENTATIONS.
Your Semester Reflection must be emailed to me by Wednesday, 2pm OR as a hard copy delivered to my office (Heavilon 303E) by 4pm.
You may pick up your work on:
I will be in my office on:
Descriptions of major course projects are listed here.
In your Literacy Narrative you will be telling us, an audience of your classmates and me, a story about you and part of your "literacy life." You will use your skills of description and narration to pull your readers into your story. Be sure you convey the significance of your story; this will make your readers care about what you are saying.
You are writing this essay for several reasons. Of course you want to entertain your audience with a good story, but you also will be investigating and learning something about yourself as well. We learn unexpected and wonderful things when we write, and sometimes we write things we don't know that we know! You will also be exercising those writing muscles you already have: the muscles called narration, description, focus, organization, development, and so on. You will be using these muscles/skills in the writing you will be doing all semester.
Length: Whatever it takes, yes, but it should be at least 3 pages long.
Format: MLA style for the essay (double-spaced, 1-inch margins, standard font, 11- or 12-point). Make sure you are also using the proper heading for your essay (your name, English 106-08-02, the name of the assignment and draft number, and the date of the draft as you are revising it).
Hand in your project in this order (WITH a springy clip):
Your Reflection on the Project is to be written as a "Dear Reader" letter, and it should be about a page and a half to two pages long. In your Reflection, you will address the questions I have provided for you. In addition, you'll need to explain the significance of your narrative. [Note: this is a very important part of your Reflection. Don't omit it.]
Due:
Friday, January 18th--rough draft emailed to me
Wednesday, January 23rd--Revised draft (print hard copy to class)
Friday, January 25th--Further revised draft (bring electronic version to class)
Monday, January 28th--Final Literacy Narrative** project. Bring project (as listed above) to class, ready to hand in at the beginning of the hour.
Wednesday, January 30th--Reflection of Literacy Narrative** due: Bring hard copy to class to hand in at the beginning of the hour.
**As soon as you complete your Reflection, email me your final draft of both your Literacy Narrative and your Reflection. Remember that they must be .doc files.
The Literacy Narrative assignment is worth 50/1000 points.
The Reflection of the Literacy Narrative assignment is worth 10 points.
Reflecting on Your Literacy Narrative
In your reflection, you should NOT merely answer these questions one-by-one; you need to think about your reflection essay in terms of these questions. Use the questions as pre-writing, but then, craft your reflection and organize it like a meditative essay in which you have actually examined your writing critically.
• Did you find the assignment interesting? Explain.
• What did you find most difficult about writing the literacy narrative?
• What did you find easiest about completing the project?
• What do you wish you had spent more time on when completing your literacy narrative?
• What instruction proved most helpful to you when completing this paper?
• What did you need more help with when completing this paper?
• What are the strengths of your literacy narrative, as you see it?
• What are the weaknesses of your literacy narrative, as you see it?
• What will you do differently the next time you write a paper like this? What advice would you give a friend who is about to write the same assignment?
I would expect your reflection to be 2-3 pages, MLA formatted. (What is MLA formatted? Re-read the course syllabus under the "Description" tab.)
Your Reflection is due Wednesday, January 30th at the beginning of class.
Your Reflection on the Literacy Narrative is worth 10 points. Future reflections will be worth more points.
Note: During this project, you will also begin your Annotated Bibliography as part of your research. The Annotated Bibliography is described on another page under the Projects tab.
Profile Assignment
We encounter many different kinds of profiles. We read user profiles published on MySpace sites or on blogs. A profile of a sports figure often includes nothing more than statistics and a bit of general background information. We watch CSI and try to outwit the investigators as they compile a psychological profile of a killer. We think of a profile as the side view of a person. We might think of a biography or an interview. We might consider a profile to be a detailed account of someone or something. Conversely, we might think of a profile as a general overview of someone’s accomplishments.
For this writing assignment, you will be writing a profile about a person who is affiliated with Purdue. Your job is to look for this person’s achievements: has this person done something particularly noteworthy? Does this person have an unusual pastime that’s unusual? Perhaps this person seems to be an ordinary, everyday “Joe” (or Jane). But what’s beneath the surface? Remember that even the most seemingly ordinary person can appear fascinating when you write about that person with your perspective.
The profile you will be writing will be like a “human interest” story that we find in magazines and newspapers. These profiles often take us “behind the scenes” of a person or sometimes an event or place. You will want to describe your profile person from a particular angle or perspective depending on your audience and publication. For example, if you were to profile Johnny Depp, why ask him the same tired questions about his movies and acting? Boring profile. What if, during your conversations, you discovered that he and Chris Martin of Coldplay regularly spend weekends together camping and riding their BMW motorcycles through the Italian Alps? Ok, that’s interesting. At least it’s different.
Possible Subjects
We will discuss who might be an inappropriate subject for your profile, but here is a list of good possibilities:
• A person from another generation
• An international student
• A professional from your field of study
• Someone you encounter everyday but never talk to
• Someone who performs a very important function on campus
• Someone who has an unusual hobby or interest
• A student representative of Purdue (Marching Band, University Senate Rep, Purdue Student Union Board, PMO, Athletics, Tour Guide[?])
Research
Before the interview (primary research) you must thoroughly research (secondary research) your subject and his or her environment. If you are interviewing an academic advisor, you need to know as much about both the advisor and the advising office as you can. The more you know about your subject, the better your interview questions will be--especially your unscripted questions. Since the person you are interviewing is somehow connected to Purdue, you should be able to find things on Purdue’s websites or through the library. Has your subject written a book? Been on Purdue committees? Had a newspaper article written about him/her?
Length and Format
I would expect your profile to be about 3-5 pages long. Yes, it could be a little more, especially if you have included a photograph. We will discuss in class the format your profile will take.
Publication Venue
It is important that you to begin to understand how necessary it is to have a specific audience when writing. Being able to make writing choices always depends on knowing for whom you’re writing and why you’re writing. For this assignment, I want you to choose a publication venue for your profile and write for that venue. This venue needs to be appropriate for the person you’re profiling and for the reasons you’re profiling him/her. For example, you could profile a faculty fellow and try to publish it in your residence hall newsletter (after studying the conventions of the newsletter’s profiles and their publication guidelines). You will need to include a description of your publication venue to each draft of your profile.
Deliverables and Grading
Your profile package will be worth 100 points. (You will also hand in your peer reviews and your Profile Reflection, each worth points separate from the 100 points listed here.) In addition to your profile and profile drafts, you will be required to hand in the following documents as a part of your project package:
• Your original proposal
• Copies/notes of your secondary research
• Contact correspondence
• Interview questions
• Interview transcript
• Description/dialogue
• All drafts
• A copy of your publication venue
• Thank you correspondence
• The Peer Response you wrote AND the one written for you (additional 10 points)
• Your final draft, formatted
You will need to arrange these materials with the most recent document (your final draft) on top. The rest of the documents need to be in reverse order so that the first thing you wrote (your initial planning) is on the bottom of the stack. Use a springy clip.
Grading Criteria
I will consider the following criteria as I read your paper:
• The profile should create a dominant impression of the person through selective use of detail, and every detail should contribute to that dominant impression in a meaningful way.
• The profile should address the intended audience and be appropriate for the publication venue.
• The organization should be easy to follow and should contribute to creating the dominant impression. The introduction should catch the reader’s attention, and the conclusion should provide closure for the profile.
• The profile should effectively incorporate research from a first-hand observation and an interview you conducted. If you use archival (library) sources, the material from these sources should not dominate the paper; they simply should contribute details to the dominant impression.
• Overall, the profile should be free of errors.
Skills
The skills you should improve during this assignment are researching, interviewing, notetaking, observing, describing, synthesizing, shaping, and of course, writing.
Major Due Dates
See course calendar for ALL assignments and due dates.
Helpful Hints
Here are a few things to keep in mind about profiles as you begin to write:
• A profile creates a picture through selective use of detail. Every anecdote, quote, and descriptive detail must contribute in a meaningful way toward your dominant impression of the person. Remember writing the vivid details in your literacy narrative assignment? That was practice for this assignment.
• A profile often uses present tense to create a sense of immediacy and intimacy for the readers. By helping them feel like they are a part of the people and events you are describing, you will create a more powerful relationship between the audience and your profile subject.
• A profile is your interpretation of your interviewee. What special insight have you found while interviewing this person? Can you talk to someone else who might have a different perspective on this person? What motivates your subject? What can you find out about this person that will make people want to read this profile?
I encourage you to visit the Writing Lab (HEAV 226) at any stage of the writing process. Take a copy of this writing assignment with you.
If you have any questions or concerns about the profile assignment, please contact me.
Your Profile is worth 100/1000 points.
Your Profile Reflection is worth 20/1000 points.
You have been a student at Purdue for at least a semester now. You've dealt with a lot of changes, and you've become more comfortable in your surroundings. Now you get to question things that you've been exposed to, experienced, or suffered through. You get to be an advocate for change.
Your research project will have something to do with Purdue University and what you, as a student, can do here as an advocate.
What (be realistic) changes would you like to see?
In what ways can you be an agent for change?
What ideas do you have for an improved life at Purdue?
Rarely do we write an 8 1/2" x 11" one-inch margins all around, MLA formatted document to solve "real world" problems to advocate for change, but you will have to write up something in this format for an audience of your classmates and me. In addition, you will have to produce something that is applicable for the rhetorical situation in which you are working. You will need to decide in what format your message will be most effective. Here are some possibilities:
• Editorial (not just a short letter to the editor)
• Video
• Web Page
• Power Point Presentation
•
Podcast
• Brochure
• Booklet
• Poster
The audience for your final outcome will be the person, committee, agency, or department that can implement, fund, or approve the change(s) you are advocating for or proposing.
Your Research Project will include the following documents:
Preliminary Proposal, due at the end of class, Friday, March 21st, 30 points
Proposal + Timeline, due Monday, March 31st, 75 points
Preliminary Annotated Bibliography, due Monday, March 31st, 10 points
Final Annotated Bibliography, due Friday, April 4th, 100 points
Explanatory Report, due Wednesday, April 16th, 100 points
Two Peer Reviews, due Friday, April 11th & Monday, April 14th, 10 points each
Research Reflection, due Friday, April 18th, 20 points
Outcome/Presentation, due the week of April 21st, 100 points
Presentation Reflection, due the week of April 21st, 25 points
Drafts of the Explanatory Report will be due on Friday, April 11th and Monday, April 14th.
[Note: Your final Semester Analysis will be due via email on Wednesday, April 30th by 5pm.]
Annotated bibliographies provide brief overviews or summaries of articles related to a specific topic. Often they are compiled in order to demonstrate what sources are available on a topic that a scholar is considering studying.
For this assignment, you will find, read, and create annotations for scholarly articles related to a problem or concern that you have identified on Purdue’s campus. After doing some research, you will better equipped to write your research proposal and timeline (due Monday, March 31st) that explains to me your research intentions. Later, you will synthesize these sources in an Explanatory Research Report (due Wednesday, April 16th). Then you will combine this archival research with field research to develop a presentation (in an audience-appropriate mode) to address the problem you identified (presentations due during Week 16). Therefore it is important to select a topic that interests you and that you believe is a genuine concern for the Purdue Community.
In the past, students have addressed campus topics such as:
• Recycling options
• Orientation programs for students who do not live in residence halls
• Signage in Grant Street parking garage
• The use of paper and Styrofoam cups in the residence halls
• The need for a new student organization
• Placing the original Heavilon Bells in the bell tower
Guidelines and Criteria for Evaluation:
Your final annotated bibliography must consist of the following:
1. Annotations for at least ten sources. At least five of these sources must be scholarly journals.
2. A list of entries introduced with the full citation in MLA documentation format so your readers may retrieve the source in its entirety.
3. A brief summary of the content of each source. What are the main points covered in this site, article, book, or interview, etc.?
4. An evaluative statement on the usefulness and/or quality of the given source for a particular audience or research project. (Why is this source/research important to my understanding or to the argument I’m trying to make for my audience?)
5. A statement that indicates how you determined the credibility of the source.
Due Dates
Your preliminary annotated bibliography is due on Monday, March 31st. It is to be handed in with your proposal and timeline.
Your final draft is due on Friday, April 4th. When you submit your final draft, you should attach a copy of your evaluated rough draft.
I encourage you to visit the Writing Lab (Heavilon 226) for help with any part of the writing process.
The Annotated Bibliography
An annotated bibliography is used widely by different disciplines as a means of simultaneously providing a compilation of sources on a given topic and detailed summary information about the content of those source materials. Consequently, an annotated bibliography can be much more useful than an ordinary bibliography, which lists sources but offers no summary of their content.
Annotated bibliographies can vary greatly in length. They may consist of a few pages with five or six entries, serving as a resource for a short research paper, or they may be book-length documents, offering comprehensive information on a broad topic. But despite the variance in length, all annotated bibliographies essentially do the same thing: itemize a group of sources, provide complete reference information on a single topic, and supply a brief abstract for each source entry. Sometimes an annotated bibliography relates the contents to other sources being considered for the research. It may even include significant short quotes from the original text to help establish the author’s main points, attitude, opinion, and/or style. Sometimes a formal annotated bibliography begins with an introduction that contextualizes the research question and offers brief background information about the topic being researched.
Most often, annotated bibliographies consist of three distinct features:
1. a list of entries introduced with the full citation in a given documentation format (such as MLA or APA) to enable retrieval of the source in its entirety,
2. a brief abstract of the content of that source, and
3. an evaluative statement on the usefulness and/or quality of the given source for a particular audience or research project.
Because of the inclusion of this third component, the annotated bibliography has an obvious bias. It is not intending to be totally neutral in the way many abstracts are; rather, it is offering a perspective on the content and value of a group of related resources.
Keep in mind that to write an annotated bibliography, as opposed to a simple bibliography, a writer must read (or at least carefully skim) the sources in order to compose effective abstracts. They are much more demanding to create than ordinary bibliographies, which simply list resources according to the format rules of some particular system of documentation. Not surprisingly, annotated bibliographies are also much more useful to a reader and/or potential researcher seeking information on a given topic.
--last section excerpted from Academic Writing: Genres, Samples, and Resources
Your Annotated Bibliography is worth 100 points.
You will hand in your Research Proposal and Timeline (or Research Timetable) on Monday, March 31st, along with your preliminary Annotated Bibliography. The assignment sheet for the proposal is attached.
Your Research Proposal and Timeline is worth 75 points.
After you’ve gone through your research phase, the next step in your project is to explain to an audience of your classmates and me what other people have written about the problem or concern that you have identified. In this paper, you should synthesize and integrate your annotated bibliography sources.
Remember that your primary purpose is to fully explain the problem or concern and to offer some history of your subject. You might find it necessary to compare and contrast your sources, highlighting agreements and dissonance. When you note disagreement, you should evaluate the sources to determine which source you think best addresses the concern. Soon you will be using these arguments as support for your own argument for change.
Guidelines
Your explanatory report should synthesize at least five (5) sources, and at least four (4) of your sources must be from scholarly sources. Your paper should be four (4) to six (6) pages long. This length is an approximation; the development of your topic should dictate the length. Make sure you adequately explain your main concept and any controversies surrounding it.
Your paper should be typed in an 11- or 12-point font and adhere to MLA formatting guidelines.
Grading Criteria
• Do you have an identifiable thesis about a relevant concept, issue, or problem?
• Do you adequately support your thesis?
• Do you effectively integrate sources to support your thesis and to clarify your topic?
• Are your sources credible? If they are not, do you acknowledge their lack of credibility and address why you used them anyway?
• Does your report meet the assignment guidelines?
• Do you have an effective title for your report?
• Overall, is your report well organized and free of errors?
Due Dates
One draft of your Explanatory Report will be due for peer review on Friday, April 11th. Another revision will be due on Monday, April 14th.
Your final revision is due on Wednesday, April 16th.
When you submit your final paper, you also must turn in a copy of your drafts and your peers’ review sheets. Make sure you include your Works Cited page.
I encourage you to visit the Writing Lab (Heavilon 226) for help with any part of the writing process.
Your Explanatory Report is worth 100 points
Reading for Friday: Refuge pages 281-290. This is an essay titled, "The Clan of the One-Breasted Women." Also read the poem I gave you (and that's attached to this page), "At the Bomb Testing Site" by William Stafford. Find one (at least) credible online site that discusses the bomb testing of the 1950s and 60s. (See A-Bomb Testing for a start, but you must find one of your own.)
Assignment for Friday: Write a response to Williams' essay and Stafford's poem. In your response, make sure you refer to parts of each work (the essay and the poem). Things to consider in the essay:
Be sure you read the essay and the poem more than once. Only through thoughtful and critical reading can you begin to understand what happens in writings that are this personal and political. Use MLA format in your response. Cite the URL that you use to get some background information on the bomb testing of the 1950s and 60s. I would expect your response to be at least 2 pages long.
Your first draft of this paper is due at the beginning of class on Monday, April 7th. Your revised version will be due on Wednesday, April 9th.
This paper is worth 30 points.
Reflections are very important pieces of writing. They give us the opportunity to examine what we learned through the writing process, and they allow us to think about how we'll write in the future.
As each reflection is due, I will post its description here.
Your Literacy Narrative Reflection is worth 10 points.
Your Profile Reflection is worth 20 points.
Your Explanatory Report Reflection is worth 20 points.
Your Presentation Reflection is worth 25 points.
Your Reflection paper total is 75 points.
Reflecting on Your Literacy Narrative
In your reflection, you should NOT merely answer these questions one-by-one; you need to think about your reflection essay in terms of these questions. Use the questions as pre-writing, but then, craft your reflection and organize it like a meditative essay in which you have actually examined your writing critically.
• Did you find the assignment interesting? Explain.
• What did you find most difficult about writing the literacy narrative?
• What did you find easiest about completing the project?
• What do you wish you had spent more time on when completing your literacy narrative?
• What instruction proved most helpful to you when completing this paper?
• What did you need more help with when completing this paper?
• What are the strengths of your literacy narrative, as you see it?
• What are the weaknesses of your literacy narrative, as you see it?
• What will you do differently the next time you write a paper like this? What advice would you give a friend who is about to write the same assignment?
I would expect your reflection to be 2-3 pages, MLA formatted. (What is MLA formatted? Re-read the course syllabus under the "Description" tab.)
Your Reflection is due Wednesday, January 30th at the beginning of class.
Your Reflection on the Literacy Narrative is worth 10 points. Future reflections will be worth more points.
Your reflection should be a thoughtful and personal exploration of the work you did while writing your profile. I want you to consider your research and writing and develop some intriguing insights on your work. Your reflection needs to be in essay format, and I would expect it to be at least two pages long. You need to address the concerns below, but I do NOT want you to simply answer the questions in the order you see them below. You need to consider your own work carefully, and you need to organize your thoughts in your reflection.
Use MLA format for your paper with your last name and page number in the upper right corner of all pages (except the first one) and the following information in the upper left corner of the first page:
Your name
Name of paper/assignment and draft #
English 106-08-03
The current date
Things to Consider and Write about in Your Reflection
• Is the information complete enough for your audience’s needs?
• What background information did you need to give your audience for them to understand your subject?
• What strategies did you use to determine your audience, your audience’s needs, and the purpose for your profile?
• How did you go about researching information on your interviewee? What sources did you find?
• What is the dominant impression you created for your profile subject?
• How does your use of detail create this dominant impression (or angle/perspective)?
• How did you use your introduction and conclusion to help shape your dominant impression of your interviewee?
• What steps did you take in the revision process?
Your reflection is due by 2pm, Friday, March 7th, via email.
Reflection on your Research and Explanatory Report
Your Reflection is worth 20 points
Due: Friday, April 18th at the beginning of class.
Your reflection should be a thoughtful and personal exploration of the work you did while researching and writing your report. Your reflection needs to be in essay format, and I would expect it to be at least two pages long. Your opening paragraph should include your thesis (main idea) and the context (your problem and solution) that I need in order to understand your reflection. In addition, you need to address the concerns below, but I do NOT want you to simply answer the questions in the order you see them. You need to consider your own work carefully, and you need to organize and develop your thoughts into clear, well-constructed and complete sentences. Proofread your work carefully.
Use MLA format for your paper with your last name and page number in the upper right corner of all pages and the following information in the upper left corner of the first page:
Your name
Explanatory Report Reflection
English 106-08-02
Date you completed this draft
Things to Consider and Write about in Your Reflection
• What kinds of research did you do? Describe your research methods.
• What kinds of things did you learn about your project topic that you didn’t expect to learn? Describe any odd “discovery paths” you were led down.
• What kind of primary research did you do? How did you do it?
• What changes did you need to make in your drafts to address the concerns of your audience (of your classmates and me?)
• What kind of secondary research did you do? How did you do it?
• How did you handle revising your document? What was your revision process?
• Who, besides your classmates and me, read your paper? What feedback did that person/those people give you?
Reflection Questions
Presentation: Thinking about your Outcome
25 point writing assignment
In your reflection, you should NOT merely answer these questions one-by-one; you need to think about your essay in terms of these questions. Use the questions as pre-writing, but then, craft your reflection and organize it like a meditative essay in which you have actually examined your writing critically.
• Did you find the Research Project/Explanatory Report/Presentation of the Outcome assignment interesting? Explain.
(You’ll be talking about the entire project here.)
• What did you find most difficult about forming your Outcome?
• What was most difficult about presenting your Outcome for the class?
• What did you find easiest about completing the project?
• What do you wish you had spent more time on when completing this project?
• What instruction proved most helpful to you when completing this project?
• What did you need more help with when completing this project?
• What are the strengths of your outcome and presentation, as you see it?
• What are the weaknesses of your outcome and presentation, as you see it?
• What would you do differently if you were to begin this project anew? What advice would you give a friend who is about to begin the same assignment
Email me your reflection as an attached Word document (.doc only, please) by Monday morning (April 28th). Do not write your presentation reflection until after your presentation. Make sure you read it aloud and proofread what you've written carefully.
You'll do some writing for this class in your individual weblog space on the course website. You can access your weblog by clicking on the "Blogs" link in the sidebar, then by clicking on the "My Blog" link.
One way to think of a weblog or blog is as a journal. However, unlike a journal that you might keep at home (as well as most if not all of the writing you have done in school before), your blog space is public. Your fellow class members will be invited to read your blog. Classmates may respond to your posts with comments and replies. Group members may review notes you take when doing research. And, of course, since it's on the Internet, other Web readers may encounter your writing and take a look at what you have to say.
There are many uses for weblogs, but we'll only use them for a few things here. During this class, you may be asked to use your course weblog to
Good Blogging Practices
I will post blog prompts on the course calendar for you to respond to. These will be a part of your Blog points. I will usually post them on Thursday, and your entry will be due on Mondays by 2pm. Pay close attention to the prompts, and make sure you fully address them.
I will expect your postings to become more sophisticated as we discuss online writing and blogging.
Each blog post is worth 10 points, and there will be a 70 blog points possible (that's 7 blog posts).
Your semester analysis assignment sheet is attached to this page as a Word document. (Remember, you must be logged on to see attachments.)