WRIT 101
Fall 2009
Profile: Writing up Someone’s Story about Writing
“There is no better way of dramatizing the impact of a problem, the importance of a
question, or the significance of an idea than showing how it presents itself in the life
of one person” (CW).
To write a profile, you will turn your attention to interviewing a classmate about his
or her writing story. Your aim is to ground an abstract concern or question
(generally framed as “what’s your writing story?”) in the experiences of a
representative person.
Genre Issues
 Organize “around ways your profile seems representative or typical of the
larger group to which your subject belongs”
 Include anecdotes to help reveal the profile’s purpose
 Use selective quotations to give voice to your interviewee
 Write 1000 - 1200 words
Guides to Invention
 Engage in the Generating Ideas invention prompts in the text
 See interview questions and suggestions on the NCoW site:
http://comppile.org/NCoW/ and browse submissions to NCoW
 View “I Hate Writing” on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvIYAcUGJDU
Evaluation
You will receive comments rather than a grade on the drafting and final draft.
I will collect and look over your drafting materials to see if you complete all aspects
of the assignment and understand and practice assigned writing process activities.
Please select one invention artifact, your homework on judging what you have, and
one drafting artifact. Staple all of this together in chronological order with the finalfor-now version on top.
I will read your final draft to determine your success:





Focusing on a purpose
Selecting and using evidence (paraphrasing and quoting) from your interviews
Selecting and using evidence gathered through other forms of research as
necessary (observation, library or internet research)
Engaging the genre of the profile for a peer and NCoW-interested audience
Practicing conventions of grammar, punctuation, spelling as appropriate to the
writing situation

Practicing conventions for documenting source use (including interviews)
within the text and in a works cited page
Schedule for Unit 1 MWF: Profile
W
9/9
Discuss
participation &
Ballenger’s
method of inquiry
F
Introduce profile
9/11 (see 133-137)
Work on invention
and getting a
partner
Use 52-56 EW
M
Discuss reading
9/14 Interview session
#1
W
Interview session
9/16 #2
Do check in
writing
F
Work with
9/18 judgments &
discuss/analyze
profiles in CW to
model workshop
M
Workshop I:
9/21 sketch
Discuss revision
possibilities
W
Workshop II: draft
9/23 Editing minilesson
View “Who is a Writer? What Writers Tell Us”
http://comppile.org/NCoW/
Take notes
IW #4: pick two of the interview questions asked in
the video to write about in 1 ½ - 2 pages.
Read and take notes on:
http:www.bk.psu.edu/Academics/Degrees/26432.htm
Click volume 5; scroll down to read “Past Experiences
and Future Attitudes in Literacy” by Erica Jackson
Read “Conducting the Interview” 160-162 CW
Develop additional interview questions (see YouTube)
Use 4 ways of inquiry (exploring p. 71, explaining, 73,
evaluating 74, and reflecting 75) to analyze your
current interview material
Rd. Judging what you have 156-159
Write up your current judgment about your material:
What’s promising? What isn’t? Is there something we
can learn about writing? What have you learned about
yourself as a writer from interviewing someone else?
Write sketch (do additional interviews as necessary);
bring copies for group
Revise sketch into complete draft. Read 165-170 for
help.
Conduct final revisions: do editing and proofreading
F
Profile due: turn in TBA with research unit
9/25 final copy plus
required artifacts
Introduce personal
academic essay
2
Unit 1 Profile: T/Th Schedule
Th
Discuss
9/10 participation &
practice Ballenger’s
4 ways of inquiry
Introduce profile
and partners
T
9/15
Th
9/17
T
9/22
Th
9/24
T
9/29
Work on invention
using 52-56 EW
Discuss
“Conducting the
Interview” 160-162
CW
Begin to prepare
for first interview
Discuss reading
Interview session
#1
Work with
judgments &
discuss/analyze
profiles in CW to
model workshop
Use 4 ways of
inquiry (exploring
p. 71, explaining,
73, evaluating 74,
and reflecting 75)
to analyze your
current interview
material
Workshop sketch
Discuss moving
from sketch to
draft: organizing
and quoting
Profile due
Introduce personal
View “Who is a Writer? What Writers Tell Us”
http://comppile.org/NCoW/
Take notes
IW #4: pick two of the interview questions asked in
the video to write about in 1 ½ - 2 pages.
Rd 133-137 CW
Read and take notes on:
http:www.bk.psu.edu/Academics/Degrees/26432.htm
Click volume 5; scroll down to read “Past Experiences
and Future Attitudes in Literacy” by Erica Jackson
Conduct interview session #2
Rd. Judging what you have 156-159
Write up your current judgment about your material:
What’s promising? What isn’t? Is there something we
can learn about writing? What have you learned about
yourself as a writer from interviewing someone else?
Write sketch (refer to Features of the Form, 135-137 &
164-5 CW)
Compose complete profile (see 165, 167-8 CW) – be
sure to proofread and edit, too.
TBA with Personal Academic Essay
3
academic essay
WRIT 101
Fall 2009
Composing a Personal Academic Essay
 traditional academic essay – personal academic essay – personal essay 
This research assignment focuses on what Candace Spigelman refers to as a
personal academic essay.
Genre
Spigelman rejects an either/or privileging of personal versus academic writing in
favor of a “blended approach” that puts the personal in dialogue with the academic
to create what she calls “personal academic argument” (14). Personal academic
argument depends heavily on the strategic use of personal experience – that is, use
of the personal as evidence. Spigelman argues that judicious use of the personal in
academic writing brings together narrative and positivist epistemologies to create
“an alternative orientation and a more complicated description of the world” that
manifests as “surplus” (93). “Surplus” is a point in a text where the uses of personal
experience and traditional argument strategies combine to create “a new kind of
understanding that belongs to neither narrative thinking nor analytic thinking
alone” (95). In other words, you’ll be asked to inquire into an issue from a point of
engagement – of interest to the writer and of value to readers.
Topic
The collective subject matter you will study is sustainability. Your assignment is to
explore this vast topic through a few class readings that offer overviews of some
issues. From there, you’ll develop a research question to explore through further
research with the aim of articulating an informed argument of your own on some
“angle” of this expansive issue to an appropriate audience.
Diamond, Jared. “Prologue: A Tale of Two Farms.” Collapse: How Societies Choose to
Fail or Succeed. New York: Penguin, 2005.
4
Kates, Robert W., Thomas Parris, and Anthony A. Leiserowitz. “What is Sustainable
Development? Goals, Indicators, Values, and Practice.” Environment 47:3
(April 2005): 9-21.
Hawkin, Paul. Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History is
Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beauty to the World. New York: Penguin, 2008.
Guides to Invention
 Engage in the Generating Ideas invention prompts in Ballenger
 Review “Preparing for a Research Project” (149 EW)
 Explore definitions of key terms that arise in readings
 Begin to learn to use the library and its many electronic databases and print
resources and be attentive to your research log (aka journal)
 Listen to Paul Hawkin talk at a bioneers conference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1fiubmOqH4
 Your final draft should be 2,000 – 3,000 words
Evaluation
You will receive comments rather than a grade on the drafting and final draft. Please
select one example of your invention work related to researching and one piece of
drafting to hand in with your paper. You will also need to turn in copies of all the
research that you cite in the paper (beyond the class articles) and your research log.
This will help me help you with your research process and use of source material.
I will read your final draft to determine your success:






Answering (even tentatively) your research question related to our common
topic of sustainability
Selecting and using sources appropriately
Engaging the genre, which includes
 Strategically using personal experience as evidence,
 Incorporating strategies of traditional argumentation, particularly the search
for and use of relevant data,
 Achieving “surplus”
Demonstrating an understanding of the research process
Practicing conventions of grammar, punctuation, spelling as appropriate to the
writing situation
Practicing conventions for documenting source use within the text and in a
works cited page
Unit 2 Personal, Academic Essay: MWF Schedule
F 9/25
Profile due
Rd. Diamond, Kates,
Introduce Personal
Hawkin.
Academic Essay
IW #5 write
discussion sheet for
each article:
5
M 9/28
Analyze readings using
12a EW (p. 114)
Discuss Features of the
Form
W 9/30
Meeting in SLC, Library
Practice key word
building & searching
Introduce research log
F 10/2
Hanging out with your
Research Workshop #1
(bring all research
sources to class)
Research log due
M 10/5
Hanging out with your
research Workshop #2
Developing a thesis and
support
summarize the
primary argument,
write list of key
words, key
quotations, and a few
questions for
discussion for each
article
Rd. p. 429-433 CW
Revisit readings
IW #6: explain what
you understand to be
the definition and key
topics/questions in
sustainability (refer
to CW 72-3) & reflect
on your experience
with this texts (refer
to CW 74-5)
Rd. p. 440 “Reading
Academic Research
Essays”
Conduct research,
take notes, write
research log about at
least 4 hours of
research
Write about your
research findings
using Ballenger’s 4
ways: exploring,
explaining, reflecting,
evaluating and judge
what you have
Rd. “Judging what you
have” p. 455-457
Rd. Writing the sketch
p. 459, Write a project
narrative. Include a
summary of each
source you’re using
and how you expect it
works in relationship
to your thesis.
6
W 10/7
Workshop project
narratives
Workshop source use
using chapter samples
F 10/9
Workshop on genre
M 10/12
W 10/14
F 10/16
M 10/19
W 10/21
Pair conferences
Pair conferences
Draft workshop #1
Draft workshop #2
Personal Academic
Essay due; intro op-ed
Rd 463CW
Continue research as
needed
Write 1 pg on your
stake in the
assignment
Prepare for
conferences
Bring 3 typed pages of
research paper to
conference & 3
questions for
assistance
Write complete draft
Write complete draft
Revise essay
Complete essay
TBA
Unit 2 Personal Academic Essay T/TH Schedule
T 9/29
Profile due
Introduce personal academic essay
Th 10/1
Analyze readings using 12a EW (114)
Introduce research log.
T 10/6
Meet in SLC Library
Practice key word search
Conduct research & log
Th 10/8
Pair conferences (on hanging out with your
research and developing your thesis)
Rd. Diamond, Kates,
Hawkin
IW #5: write a discussion
sheet for each article:
summary of the article, list
of key words, key
quotations, and questions
for discussion
IW #6: explain what you
understand to be the
definition and key
topics/questions in
sustainability (CW 72-3)
and reflect on your
experience with the texts
(CW 74-5 for reference)
Write about your research
findings using Ballenger’s 4
ways: exploring, explaining,
reflecting, evaluating and
judge what you have
Rd. Judging what you have
(455-457)
Rd. Writing the sketch
(459), Write a project
7
T 10/13
Workshop project narratives
Discuss genre
Th 10/15
T 10/20
Th 10/22
Workshop: focus on source use and genre
Draft workshop
Personal academic essay due
Introduce op-ed
narrative. Include a
summary of each source
you’re using and how you
expect it to work in
relationship to your thesis
Rd 463 CW
Write 3 pages of your
research paper
Write complete essay
Revise, edit, proofread
TBA
ENEX 101
Fall 2009
Op-ed: Putting in Your Oar about Restoration
Imagine that you enter a parlor. You come late and when you arrive, others have
long preceded you, and they are engaged in a heated discussion, too heated for them
to pause and tell you exactly what it is about. In fact, the discussion had already
begun long before any of them got there, so no one present is qualified to retrace for
you all the steps that had gone on before. You listen for a while, until you decide that
you have caught the tenor of the argument; then you put in your oar. Someone
answers; you answer him; another comes to your defense, another aligns himself
against you, to either the embarrassment or gratification of your opponent,
depending on the quality of your ally’s assistance. However, the discussion is
interminable. The hour grows late, you must depart. And you do depart, with the
discussion still vigorously in progress.
~ Kenneth Burke
The metaphor of entering a conversation at a party is a useful one for thinking about
argumentation. To engage academic conversations, or even a conversation at a
party, you need to (1) see what conversations are going on and find one that
interests you, (2) listen to what’s being said in the conversation, (3) and join the
conversation by responding to someone, building off what someone has said, or
asking a new question. In other words, to enter an academic conversation, you need
to research the history of a question or issue that interests you, do further research
and thinking to determine what your contribution to that issue or question will be,
and write up your contribution to the conversation.
8
Your argument assignment will focus on entering a conversation that crosses both
academic and civic contexts through the genre of the op-ed. The op-ed is an
argument located in the context of a local newspaper or magazine (electronic or
print) whose subject is an issue of civic concern. Your aim is to compose an
argument that contributes to yours and readers’ understanding about
environmental restoration. It might be that you want to weigh in on the wolf hunts
in MT, or return of grizzlies to the Bitterroot Valley, the asbestos contamination in
Libby, or the removal of the Milltown dam.
To write your op-ed piece, you’ll use primary and secondary forms of evidence. In
addition to drawing on prior research, writing from observation and experience,
and possibly conducting an interview, you also need to do some more formal library
and Internet research to help you determine what you want to contribute to this
conversation. To help you enter into this conversation, you’ll begin with some
restoration related readings:
Carvill, Sarah. From Golden Gate to Grant Creek. “On this Piece of Ground:
Landowner Perceptions of Restoration in the Deer Lodge Valley.” M.S. Thesis, May
2009.
Jordan, William R. “Weeding Key Biscayne.” The Sunflower Forest: Ecological
Restoration and the New Communion with Nature. Berkeley: U of California P, 2003.
Pritchard, James. “Epilogue to Preserving Yellowstone’s Natural Condition: Science
and the Perception of Nature.” Ecological Restoration 21.4 (December 2003): 254-7.
Genre Issues
 Focus explicitly on an arguable question related to restoration (your
tentative answer is your major claim)
 Make clear premises and claims in support of your major claim
 Use appropriate, researched evidence to support your claims
 Write in the op-ed genre
 Your final draft should be 700 – 1000 words
Guides to Invention
 Engage in the Generating Ideas invention prompts in CW
 Use Critical Thinking and Argument (103-146 EW) as a resource
 Explore definitions of key terms: argument, claim, ethos, logos, pathos
 Read op-eds in your local papers and online publications to help you learn
about the genre and consider what argument you want to make
 See websites for local restoration projects: http://www.clarkfork.org/, the
UM Natural Areas Integrated Plant Management Program
http://www.umt.edu/sentinel/default.htm
9

Revisit readings related to your personal academic argument for further
resources
Evaluation
You will receive comments rather than a grade on the drafting and final draft.
I will collect and look over your drafting materials to see if you complete all aspects
of the assignment and understand and practice assigned writing process activities.
Please select one piece of invention work and one piece of drafting to turn in along
with copies of all the research that you cite in the paper (beyond the class articles).
I will read your final draft to determine your success:







Focusing on a purpose
Doing primary and secondary research to develop your argument and evidence
Selecting and using evidence appropriately for your audience and purpose
Demonstrating an understanding of argument and appeals
Engaging the genre of the op-ed
Practicing conventions of grammar, punctuation, spelling as appropriate to the
writing situation
Practicing conventions for documenting source use within the text and in a
works
cited page
Unit 3 MWF Schedule
W10/21 Research paper due
Introduce op-ed
F10/23
Discuss texts
Discuss Motives for Writing an
Argument (CW) and analyzing
and constructing arguments
(sections 12, 13 EW)
Rd: Jordan
IW #7 How does
Jordan define
ecological restoration?
How can you explain
the values of
restoration to the rest
of the class?
Rd. Carvill & Pritchard
IW #8 Analyzing
arguments: What is
Carvill’s argument?
How does she extend
the discussion of
ecological restoration
begun in class? What is
Pritchard’s argument?
10
M
10/26
Practice invention (bring copies
of all 3 articles)
Discuss rhetorical appeals via
Carvill’s essay using EW & CW
W10/28 Workshop lists
Work on Judging what you have
F 10/30
Workshop 1: sketch
Discuss warrants & logical
fallacies (figure 8.7 301-02, 307308 CW)
M11/2
Workshop 2: draft
W 11/4
Op-ed due
Begin personal essay
How does his
discussion of the
management of
Yellowstone add to the
conversation about
restoration?
Write: a list of your
major claim, minor
claims
Rd. Judging what you
have (291-295)
Write sketch: focus on
having an arguable
major claim, some
minor claims, and
evidence to support
those claims
Rd 303-308 CW (skip
Workshopping the
Draft)
Revise sketch into a
draft
Revise, edit, and
proofread
TBA
Insert T/Th schedule
Th
10/22
Research paper due
Introduce op-ed using Jordan essay
T
Discuss texts
Rd Carvill & Pritchard
IW #7: Analyzing
arguments: What is
Carvill’s argument? How
does she extend the
discussion of ecological
restoration begun in
class? What is Prichard’s
argument? How does his
discussion of the
management of
Yellowstone add to the
conversation about
restoration?
Continue invention
11
10/27
Discuss Motives for Writing an Argument
(CW) and analyzing and constructing
arguments (sections 12, 13 EW)
Begin invention
Th
10/29
Workshop invention
Discuss rhetorical appeals via Jordan’s essay
using CW and EW
Write lists of major claim, minor claims.
Practice judging what you have (291-295
CW)
Workshop 1: sketch
Discuss warrants and logical fallacies (figure
8.7 301-02, 307-308 CW)
Workshop 2: draft
Focus on paragraph development
Op-ed due
Begin personal essay
T 11/3
Th
11/5
T
11/10
Rd: Jordan
IW #8 How does Jordan’s
article contribute to your
emerging understanding
of ecological restoration.
How in your own words
can you explain the values
of restoration to the rest
of the class?
Write sketch: focus on
having an arguable major
claim, some minor claims,
and evidence to support
those claims
Rd 303-308 CW
Revise sketch into draft
Revise, edit, proofread
TBA
WRIT 101
Fall 2009
Personal Essay: Where I Live, and What I Live For
12
“Somewhere in the swirl of life, each of us ponders three essential questions: ‘Who
am I?’ ‘Where am I?’ and ‘What am I supposed to do?’ We often consider the first
question in isolation, as if it were the true key to our existence – as if the matter of
who we are could be resolved independently of the two remaining questions. But all
three of these questions must be answered in [concert], as together they articulate
the totality of the human condition…. Questions of our existence and action are
separable neither from each other nor from place – but it is place that we have most
often ignored.” (Thayer 1)
“A bioregion is literally and etymologically a ‘life-place’ – a unique region definable
by natural (rather than political) boundaries with a geographic, climatic,
hydrological, and ecological character capable of supporting unique human and
nonhuman living communities. Bioregions can variously be defined by the
geography of watersheds, similar plant and animal ecosystems, and related,
identifiable landforms (e.g., particular mountain ranges, prairies, or coastal zones)
and by the unique human cultures that grow from natural limits and potentials of
the region.” (Thayer 3)
As college students many of you are making Missoula your home here (perhaps
temporarily), and this final personal essay challenges you to consider how where
you live now shapes who you are and how you try to live. Your purpose here is to
compose a bioregional personal essay to communicate some point about your lifeplace to readers, your peers who are also making their homes here.
Genre Issues
 “There must be a purpose behind telling the story that speaks in some way
to someone else.”
 Your experiences and bioregional research serve as evidence
 Analysis and reflection are critical methods to go beyond simply telling a
story
 A personal essay is not just for the sake of the writer – it’s intended to be a
window on the world for readers
 Your final draft should be 1,000 words
Guides to Invention
 Engage in the Generating Ideas invention prompts in the text
 Write what you know about Missoula as a place
 Conduct research on Missoula as a bioregion as a class
 Read: excerpt from Henry David Thoreau’s Walden: “Where I Lived and
What I Lived For”
 Read: preface and chapter one from Robert L. Thayer’s Life Place: Bioregional
Thought and Practice
Evaluation
13
You will receive comments rather than a grade on selected drafting artifacts and
your final draft.
I will collect and look over your drafting materials to see if you complete all aspects
of the assignment and understand and practice assigned writing process activities.
Please select one piece of invention work and one piece of drafting to submit with
the draft.
I will read your final draft to determine your success:






Focusing on a purpose that engages readers in your study of how where you
matters to who you are and what you do
Using personal experience and research on bioregion as evidence
Using narration and reflection as methods of development
Engaging the genre of the personal essay
Demonstrating an understanding of bioregionalism
Practicing conventions of grammar, punctuation, spelling as appropriate
Unit 4: MWF Schedule
W 11/4
Op-ed due
Introduce personal essay
F 11/6
Discuss readings
Set up research homework
M 11/9
Discuss Missoula as bioregion
(bring logs)
Practice invention
W
11/11
F 11/13
Invention workshop
Revisit Developing Paragraphs
(8a-f EW) using models
Workshop sketch
M11/16
Pair conferences
W11/18 Pair conferences
Rd. 91-95 CW
Rd. Thayer & Thoreau
IW # 8: What is
bioregional thinking?
How does/doesn’t
Thoreau engage in it?
How might you?
Conduct small group
research: Missoula as
bioregion
Write individual
research log based on
group effort
Continue invention
(see 109-114 CW & 5256 EW)
Write sketch
Develop sketch into full
draft for conference
Attend conference
prepared
Attend conference
14
F 11/20
M11/23
Workshop Draft 2
Personal essay due
Revisit final portfolio guidelines
prepared
Revise, edit, proofread
TBA
Unit 4: T/Th Schedule
T
11/10
Op-ed due
Begin personal essay
Th
11/12
Discuss readings
Practice invention (see 109-114
CW & 52-56 EW)
Set up research homework
T
11/17
Discuss Missoula as bioregion
(bring logs)
Invention workshop
Move towards sketch
Pair conferences: workshop
sketch
Personal essay due
Th
11/19
T
11/24
Rd. 91-95 CW
Rd. Thayer & Thoreau
IW#8 What is
bioregional thinking?
How does/doesn’t
Thoreau engage in it?
How might you?
Continue invention
Conduct small group
research: Missoula as
bioregion
Write individual
research log based on
group effort
Write sketch
Revise, edit, proofread
TBA
Revision and Final Portfolio Preparation MWF Schedule
W11/25- Thanksgiving break
F11/27
M11/30
W12/2
Create revision plans
Get back personal essay
Workshop personal essay
Review course
guidelines & working
portfolio, reread goal
statement; revisit
Portfolio Keep; bring
entire working
portfolio to class after
break & bring EW
every day
Radical revision:
personal essay
Radical revision:
15
F 12/4
Workshop paper of choice
Invention: introductions
M 12/7
Workshop: choices,
arrangements
W 12/9
Workshop introductions; check
in on portfolio questions
Portfolio due
Receive graded portfolios during
exam slot; Attendance required
F 12/11
12/1412/18
weakest major paper
Revisit Reynolds:
consider choice and
arrangement of entries
Continue revising
Finalize portfolio
Revision and Final Portfolio Preparation T/TH Schedule
W11/25- Thanksgiving break
F11/27
T 12/1
Create revision plans
Get back personal essay
T 12/3
Workshop 2 papers
Invention for introduction
T 12/8
Workshop: introductions &
choices/arrangement
Portfolio due
Th
12/10
12/1412/18
Review course
guidelines & working
portfolio, reread goal
statement; revisit
Portfolio Keeping;
bring entire working
portfolio to class after
break & bring EW
every day
Radical revision:
personal essay &
weakest major paper
Write introduction
Revisit Reynolds:
consider choice and
arrangement of entries
Continue revision of
papers
Finalize portfolio
Receive graded portfolios during
exam slot; Attendance required
16