ENG 101: Writing 1 LEC – F2
Matthew Herzog
Course Information
Term: Fall 2015
Credits: 3
Meeting Time: MWF 1:00-1:50pm
Classroom: Clemens 220
Instructor Information
Office: 648 Clemens Hall
E-mail: mjherzog@buffalo.edu
Office Hrs: MF 11:30 am – 12:30pm
Course Description
First semester of the General Education Writing Skills Requirement for students required to take both
ENG 101 and ENG 201. Students will practice developing writing skills through two primary means: first
by developing their writing processes through their editing, revising, and proof reading skills. Secondly,
by engaging with a number of different genres and learning the conventions of those genres such as
audience, purpose, style, and tone. This class introduces documenting and writing from sources. Twentyfive pages of graded, revised writing, excluding first drafts, exercises, and quizzes. Students may not
receive credit for both ENG 101 and ESL 407.
Course Introduction
English 101 is designed as a primer to college writing and through this it is also an introduction to a
number of elements of university culture and its standards. As such, this class will center on developing
successful writing and reading practices for college. The goal is to for you to cultivate a contextual and
situational understanding of writing. However, with this in mind, we will learn about certain writing
practices that can be applied to vastly different writing situations and still be effective. In the end, our
focus is to introduce you to broader views of writing and to an even larger constellation of writing genres
and practices across academic, professional, and civic contexts.
Syllabus Location: The Syllabus is located on the course blog under “Course Information”
https://eng101classblogfall2015.wordpress.com/
Required Textbook and Online Materials
Palmquist, Mike. Joining the Conversation: Writing in College and Beyond. 2nd ed. Bedford/St.
Martin’s, 2014. Print. **It is necessary that you have the 2nd edition and not the 1st edition.
Reynolds, Nedra and Elizabeth Davis. Portfolio Keeping: A Guide for Students. 3rd ed.
Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014. Print.
ePortfolio – Digication – provided for free
Handbook – Purdue Owl Website - http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
Other readings available electronically on the class blog and UB library course reserve.
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Goals
Assessment
In 101, students will
learn rhetorical strategies for successful academic
writing
formal and informal writing assignments
compose in a variety of academic, professional,
and civic contexts, including digital environments
formal writing assignments, including one
digital composition and assignments in more
than one genre
formal writing assignments require drafts and
revision
formal and informal writing assignments
undertake a productive writing practice, including
revising
make and support arguments
acquire an introductory understanding of rhetorical
analysis
practice critical and evaluative reading
understand the role of conventions in different
genres.
In 201, in addition, students will
formal and informal writing assignments
formal and informal writing assignments
students write in more than one genre
practice library research methods
a formal, research-based writing assignment
evaluate primary and secondary sources
a formal, research-based writing assignment
compose a researched essay
a formal, research-based writing assignment
Through 101 and 201, students will
be introduced to the humanistic discipline of
rhetoric
investigate questions of the humanities through
rhetorical study
formal and informal writing assignments
formal and informal writing assignments
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Course Policies
Classroom Experience
In order to create a positive environment for learning, students need to be present, prepared, and
engaged, refraining from distractions, disruptions, and disrespectful behavior. At minimum this
means not using technological devices such as cellphones and laptops, except as the instructor
directly permits, and only then in ways immediately relevant to activity that the class is currently
engaged in. You may use laptops and tablets to take notes and read texts in class or work on peer
review. Cell phones are not a substitute for your textbook, hard copies of your essays or your
laptop screen. I ask that you do not use your cell phone if you have forgotten any of these
materials. Moreover, if you finish in-class work early, whether on your own or in a group, you
should check over what you have written and not take out and begin to use any technological
devices. Also, you are not to leave class early unless it is a necessity. Leaving early because you
have finished your assignment is disrespectful and inappropriate. Upon entering the classroom,
students implicitly agree to abide by the University’s policies on classroom decorum:
Undergraduate Behavior Policies
Be mindful of others’ rights to and vested interest in a valuable learning experience, as well as
your own. Come to class prepared, having read carefully any text assigned for reading and
having given your absolute best on writing assignments.
Digication e-portfolio
As a major feature of this course, you will use Digication’s e-portfolio to assemble materials for
presentation at the end of the semester. This content platform will be extensively used as a part of
the new General Education curriculum’s integrative initiative, which seeks to encourage students
to bring the various aspects of their university learning experience together. You should be able
to access the Digication system using this URL: https://buffalo.digication.com/ Your UB email
address is your ID and your password should be sent to you when your account is created. If you
have technical problems, please contact the Digication help desk at (888) 342-DIGI or
support@digication.com, or look at guides and materials on the help desk’s website:
https://support.digication.com/home
Accessibility Resources
If you require classroom or testing accommodations due to a disability, please contact
Accessibility Resources, located at 25 Capen Hall. AR can be reached by phone at (716) 6452608 or by email at stu-accessibility@buffalo.edu. You may also visit the Accessibility
Resources website for further information: www.student-affairs.buffalo.edu/ods/. Please inform
me as soon as possible about your needs so that we can coordinate your accommodations.
Academic Dishonesty
Please familiarize yourself with the University’s Academic Integrity policy, which can be found
at http://undergrad-catalog.buffalo.edu/policies/course/integrity.shtml In a writing course, we are
particularly concerned with plagiarism, which the catalog describes as “Copying or receiving
material from any source and submitting that material as one’s own, without acknowledging and
citing the particular debts to the source (quotations, paraphrases, basic ideas), or in any other
manner representing the work of another as one’s own.” The writing program’s policy states that
the first instance of plagiarism will result in an “F” on that assignment. Any additional instances
of plagiarism will result in failure of the course.
Late Assignment Policy
On occasion, students are unable to meet assigned due dates. If you believe you will be unable to
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meet a due date, you must email me prior to the day an assignment is due. In your email you
should explain your situation and identify when you will complete the assignment. Typically I
will grant students a week extension on one assignment during the semester. Assignments turned
in late without prior arrangement will be reduced one full letter grade. Assignments later than
one week may not be accepted.
Attendance Policy
The writing program attendance policy allows students one week of absences. That means you
may miss three classes without penalty. Students with more than two weeks of unexcused
absence cannot pass the course. See below for an explanation of the policy. Make-up work may
be given at the discretion of the instructor. If you are late by more than 10 minutes you will be
marked absent. I take attendance every class by calling out each student’s name.
University Repeat Policy
Please be advised that English 101, 102, and 201 have been designated as “limited enrollment”
courses. Self-registration in these courses in the Fall and Spring semesters will be limited to
those students who are taking the course for the first time; repeat enrollments during Spring and
Fall will not be allowed. Students who plan to repeat one of these courses for any reason should
plan to register for the course during one of the summer sessions. Repeat enrollment refers to
registration by a student who was previously enrolled in the course at UB, or who transferred an
equivalent course to UB, and who received a letter grade of A, B, C, D or F and qualified values
thereof (e.g., A-, D+) or a grade of P, S, U, I, J, N or R. The only case in which a student may
self-register for a repeated course is when the student has taken an Administrative Withdrawal
for an entire previous semester, so that all the grades for that semester were registered as W.
Incomplete Policy
An incomplete grade may only be given to students who have (1) fulfilled the attendance
requirement for the course and (2) completed all but one of the written assignments.
Student Support Services
Students interested in receiving guidance in overcoming obstacles, in addition to other services
to ensure your success at UB, should check out UB’s Student Support Services Program (SSS).
SSS is located in 215 Norton and at www.cpmc.buffalo.edu/sss Students in any major are
welcome to apply to SSS. SSS is geared toward helping first-generation college students to
obtain guidance and support. A first-generation college student is anyone whose parents did not
attend a four year university and receive a bachelor’s degree. If you have any questions about
SSS or first-generation student status please feel free to ask.
Drop/Add and Resign Dates
Last Day to Drop/Add – 9/8/15
Last Day to Resign – 11/13/15
Tutoring in Writing:
UB's Center for Excellence in Writing "supports writers across the university as they compose,
construct, and share meaning. Since learning to write is a life-long endeavor, all members of the
UB community are also students of their own writing processes. Committed to the idea that
writing both creates and communicates knowledge, understanding, and individual reflection, the
CEW provides attentive, respectful readers, offers workshops on writing and writing instruction,
and conducts research to guide the future development of writing practices." Staffed by graduate
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students and trained undergraduate writing consultants, the CEW is located along the Baldy
Walkway.
Attendance Policy In-Depth:
As was stated previously you are allowed to miss three classes without penalty and without an
excuse/documentation. If you miss more than three classes and you do not have a written excuse
or documentation you will receive the following penalties:
- 4 classes reduces your final grade by two points
- 5 classes reduces your final grade by four points
If you reach this point you should contact me to discuss your possibilities for passing the course:
- 6 classes or two weeks of class reduces final grade by a whole letter
- 7 classes reduces your final grade by a whole letter and two more points
- 8 classes reduces your final grade by a whole letter and four more points
- 9 classes or three weeks of class reduces your final grade by two whole letters
- More than 9 classes and you automatically fail the course.
Grading
Reflection
5%
Proposal
10%
Professional Blog
10%
Essay
15%
Blog & Informal Writing
10%
Portfolio
50%
Grading Structure:
The grading scheme of this course is set up with a certain logic in mind.

Writing Assignments: The three graded writing assignments – the reflection, proposal and
the essay – are all set up as low stakes assignments in order to allow room for you to
learn the conventions of these genres and work on developing your writing skills.
Together they make up 40% of your grade.

Blogging and Informal Writing: There will be a combined 10 blog posts between your
personal blog and the class blog. The due date for each post can be found on the course
calendar. These post are graded with a complete/incomplete – you do them and do them
on time and you get the credit. They are 10% of your grade.

Portfolio: The portfolio comprises the vast majority of your grade. This is the assignment
where your writing will be most thoroughly assessed. You will be given feedback on low
stakes assignments and now you will be expected to implement the writing skills you
have learned to respond to the feedback on your assignments and develop them along the
lines of high order revision.
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READING ASSIGNMENT SUMMARY
**NOTE THAT THE DATE LISTED IS THE DATE THE ASSIGNMENT IS TO BE READ BY AND NOT THE
HOMEWORK FOR THAT NIGHT.
9/4
“THE SIXTH PARAGRAPH: A RE-VISION OF THE
ESSAY”
9/9
JTC PG. 18-24 & 28-39 & PORTFOLIO KEEPING PG.
1-8
9/11
JTC 40-48 & PORTFOLIO KEEPING 11-19
9/14
“HOW TO WRITE A GREAT STATEMENT OF
PURPOSE” & HOW TO WRITE AN EFFECTIVE STUDY
ABROAD ESSAY”
9/16
JTC PG. 99 – 104 & PORTFOLIO KEEPING PG. 20-25
9/18
JTC PG. 133-141 & 142-148
9/21
YANCY REFLECTION IN THE WRITING CLASSROOM
PG. 2-7 & PORTFOLIO KEEPING PG. 26-33
9/23
PURDUE OWL “HIGH AND LOW ORDER CONCERNS”
9/25
JTC PG. 506-507 & 527-537
9/28
“THE IMPETUS TO WRITE” FROM BLOGGING FOR
EDUCATORS
9/30
JTC PG. 216-217, 223-224, 228, 270 #10
10/2
ALEX REID “WHY BLOG”
10/12
JTC PG. 325-346 NOT THE SAMPLE ESSAYS
10/14
“HUMBLE AND HOPEFUL: WELCOMING FIRST
GENERATION AND LOW INCOME STUDENTS TO
COLLEGE”
10/16
JTC PG. 346-367
10/23
PORTFOLIO KEEPING PG. 34-42 & UNC WRITING
CENTER “GETTING FEEDBACK”
10/26
JEFFERY ARNETT “EMERGING ADULTHOOD: WHAT
IS IT? WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?”
10/28
JTC PG. 213-217, 232-237
10/30
CHAPTER 5 - OXFORD GUIDE TO LIBRARY RESEARCH
11/2
JTC PG. 238-260 SKIP DATA ANALYSIS & 268
PROJECT IDEAS 1-4
11/4
JTC PG. 498 – 504 & UNC WRITING CENTER
“THESIS STATEMENTS”
11/6
JTC. PG. 610 – 632 SKIP SAMPLE ESSAYS &
PORTFOLIO KEEPING PG. 45 - 54
11/18
JTC PG. 633-645 & PORTFOLIO KEEPING 55-62
11/20
UNC WRITING CENTER “ABSTRACTS”
11/23
“OPEN CONTENT, OPEN LEARNING 2.0: USING
WIKIS AND BLOGS IN HIGHER EDUCATION”
11/30
JTC PG. 602-608 & PORTFOLIO KEEPING PG. 63-76
12/2
“REFLECTIVE WRITING AND THE REVISION
PROCESS” & PORTFOLIO KEEPING 77-79
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COURSE CALENDAR
WEEK ONE: AUGUST 31 –SEPTEMBER 2 – 4 INTRODUCTION & WRITING PROCESS
Monday:
Course Introduction.
For Wednesday: Set up a WordPress.com account and collect pictures to
represent research blog.
Wednesday:
Computer Lab – Clemens 128 - Blogging and Digication Set Up
For Friday: Read “The Sixth Paragraph: A Re-Vision of the Essay”
http://writingspaces.org/sites/default/files/lynch--the-sixth-paragraph.pdf
Friday:
Begin Discussing the Writing Process and the Genre Process
For Monday: Read JTC pg. 18-24 & 28-39 & Portfolio Keeping pg. 1-8
Sunday:
DP#1 Respond to Portfolio Keeping pg. 8 “Predicting What’s Ahead – by
midnight.
WEEK TWO: SEPTEMBER 7 – 9 – 11 THE WRITING PROCESS
Monday:
Class Cancelled – Labor Day
For Wednesday: Read JTC pg. 18-24 & 28-39 & Portfolio Keeping pg.
1-8
Wednesday:
Genre and Writing Communities at the Research Level
For Friday: Read JTC 40-48 & Portfolio Keeping 11-19
Friday:
Writing and Time – Enjoy Writing by Managing Your Time
For Monday:
- Read “How to Write a Great Statement of Purpose” by Vince
Gotera
http://www.uni.edu/~gotera/gradapp/stmtpurpose.htm
- “How to Write an Effective Study Abroad Essay”
http://www.mica.edu/Documents/How%20to%20Write%20an%20Eff
ective%20Study%20Abroad%20Essay.pdf
- Why your major will never matter | Megan Schwab | TEDxFSU
Sunday:
DP# 2 Respond to the Megan Schwab video “Why your major will never matter”
– by midnight.
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WEEK THREE: SEPTEMBER 14 – 16 – 18 THE WRITING PROCESS & REFLECTION
ESSAY
Monday:
The Writing Process Beyond the Classroom – Institutional Contexts
For Wednesday: JTC Chapter 5 Writing to Reflect
- pg. 99 – 104
- Portfolio Keeping pg. 20-25
Tuesday:
DP#3 In what institutional contexts will your writing be important? – by
midnight.
Wednesday:
Conventions of the Reflective Essay Genre
For Friday: Read JTC Chapter 5 Writing to Reflect
- pg. 133 – 141
- pg. 142 - 148
Friday:
Working with the Conventions of the Reflective Essay
For Monday: Read Porfolio Keeping 26 – 33 & Kathleen Blake Yancy
pg. 2-7 in Reflection in the Writing Classroom – eBook Library Website
WEEK FOUR: SEPTEMBER 21–23 – 25 REFLECTION ESSAY CONTINUED
Monday:
Beginning to Look at High Order Revision and Reflective Blogging
For Wednesday: Look over JTC Peer Review pg. 149 & Read
High Order and Low Order Concerns – Print Off
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/690/01/
Wednesday:
DUE DATE: Rough Draft – Reflection Essay on Digication at 1pm.
High and Low Order Concerns & Peer Review Workshop – Bring TWO hard
copies of Rough Draft to Class
For Friday: Read Sections from Chapter 15 & 16 JTC
- pg. 506 – 507 Chapter 15
- pg. 527 – 537 Chapter 16
- ** Bring Copy of Reflection Essay to Class
- Bring a Copy of your Personal Blog Post
Thursday:
PB #1 – Reflection on Rough Draft – Use Portfolio Keeping chapter 4 as a guide
– by midnight
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Friday:
Organizational Patterns, Introduction and Conclusion Strategies, and Drafting
Paragraphs
For Monday: Read “The Impetus to Write” on Library Course Reserve
WEEK FIVE: SEPTEMBER 28 – 30 – OCTOBER 2 PROFESSIONAL BLOG
ASSIGNMENT
Monday:
Blogging and Community – Genre Conventions of the Professional Blog
For Wednesday: Read Chapter JTC
- pg. 216 - 217
- pg. 223 – 224
-pg. 228 “Analytical Blog Posts”
- pg. 270 “10. Post a Blog Entry”
Wednesday:
DUE DATE: Final Draft – Reflection Essay on Digication by midnight.
Analyzing Professional Blogs and Writing to Inform
For Friday: Begin creating your professional blog & Read Alex Reid
“Why Blog” – Digital Readings Class Blog
Thursday:
Personal BP #2 – Reflection Essay Final Draft - Post by midnight.
Friday:
Computer Lab –Clemens 128 – Work on Professional Blogs
For Monday: Prepare for Conferences
WEEK SIX: OCTOBER 5 –7 – 9 CONFERENCES
Held in Clemens 648
For the Week: Our first round of conferences will be a chance for us to discuss your progress in
the course. Be prepared to discuss your ideas for your professional blog as well as
your class blogs, and other elements of your performance in the course.
For Monday: Read pg. 325-346 JTC – only read sub-genre explanations,
and not the sample essays.
WEEK SEVEN: OCTOBER 12 –14 –16 PROPOSAL ESSAY
Monday:
Conventions of the Proposal Essay Genre and Assignment Introduction
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For Wednesday: Read “Humble and Hopeful” By Kenneth Oldfield –
Access through Library Website
Wednesday:
Analyze Rhetorical Moves of “Humble and Hopeful” Essay
For Friday: Read JTC pg. 346 - 367
Friday:
Working with the proposal genre
For Monday: Do “Defining a Problem” exercise pg. 355
Have a thesis written out and printed to bring to class.
WEEK EIGHT: OCTOBER 19 –21 –23 PROPOSAL CONTINUED
Monday:
High Order Concerns and the Proposal Essay
For Wednesday: Read pg. 389 “Peer Review” Section
Wednesday:
DUE DATE: Rough Draft – Proposal Essay on Digication by midnight.
Peer Review Session – Proposal Draft – Bring TWO hardcopies to class
For Friday: Read Portfolio Keeping 34-42 &
“Getting Feedback” UNC Writing Center Website
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/files/2012/09/Getting-Feedback-The-Writing-Center.pdf
Thursday:
Personal BP #3 – Reflection on Rough Draft- Respond to questions pg. 31 in
Portfolio Keeping – Post by midnight.
Friday:
Writing and Peer Review
For Monday: Jeffery Arnett “Emerging Adulthood: What is it? What
is it Good For?” Access through Library Website
WEEK NINE: OCTOBER 26 – 28 – 30 RESEARCH ESSAY
Monday:
Discuss Emerging Adulthood and Sample Analysis Essay on the Topic
For Wednesday: Read JTC Chapter 7
- pg. 213 - 217
- pg. 232 – 237
Wednesday:
DUE DATE: Final Draft – Proposal Essay on Digication by midnight.
Conventions of the Academic Essay - Writing To Analyze .
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For Friday: Oxford Guide to Library Research by Thomas Mann –
Read Chapter 5 – eBook Library Website
Thursday:
PB#5 Final draft Proposal Essay – due by midnight
Friday:
Library Session – Lockwood 108
For Monday: Read JTC Chapter 7
pg. 238 – 260 skip data analysis
pg. 268 Project ideas 1-4
WEEK TEN: NOVEMBER 2 – 4 – 6 RESEARCH ESSAY CONTINUED
Monday:
Conventions of the Academic Essay Continued
For Wednesday: Read Chapter 14 JTC pg. 498 – 504 &
UNC Writing Center “Thesis Statements”
https://writingcenter.unc.edu/files/2012/09/Thesis-Statements-The-Writing-Center.pdf
Wednesday:
Writing Thesis Statements
For Friday: Read JTC Chapter 19 pg. 610 – 632 skip sample &
Portfolio Keeping pg. 45 - 54
Friday:
Using Sources Effectively – Integrating Quotes
For Monday: Read JTC pg. 259 “Peer Review” Sections
Develop a Portfolio Plan to discuss during conference
WEEK ELEVEN: NOVEMBER 9 – 11 – 13 CONFERENCES
Monday:
DUE DATE: Rough Draft – Research Essay on Digication by midnight.
Peer Review
Tuesday:
PB#6 Rough draft of Research Essay – by midnight.
For the Week: This set of conferences will center on the draft of your research essay. Bring two
hard copies and be prepared to discuss your work. Also you will develop a
portfolio plan to discuss.
For Next Week: Work on developing your professional blog so that you can get peer review
feedback on your site.
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WEEK TWELVE: NOVEMBER 16 – 18 – 20 HIGH ORDER REVISION & ABSTRACTS
Monday:
Computer Lab – Clemens 122 – Professional Blog Peer Review Session
For Wednesday: JTC pg. 633 – 645 & Portfolio Keeping pg. 55-62
Wednesday:
High Order Revision.
For Friday:
- Read “Abstracts” Hand out – Digital Readings Page on Blog
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/abstracts/
- Look over sample abstracts
Thursday:
PB#6 Reflect on composing the Professional Blog – by midnight.
Friday:
Developing an Abstract
For Monday: “Open Content, Open Learning 2.0: Using Wikis and
Blogs in Higher Education” by Steve Wheeler from Changing Cultures of
Higher Education – eBook Access on Library Website
WEEK THIRTEEN: NOVEMBER 23 PORTFOLIO INTRODUCTION AND BREAK
Monday:
DUE DATE: Final Draft – Research Essay on Digication by midnight.
Portfolio Assignment Introduction & Digication in the University
Tuesday:
Personal BP #7 – Reflection on Final Draft – Post by midnight.
Wednesday & Friday: No Class – Fall Recess
For Monday: Read JTC pg. 602-608 & Portfolio Keeping pg. 63 - 76
WEEK FOURTEEN: NOVEMBER 30 – DECEMBER 2 – 4 PORTFOLIO
Monday:
Computer Lab – Clemens 122 – ePortfolio Introduction
For Wednesday: “Reflective Writing by Sandra Giles & Portfolio
Keeping pg. 77-79
http://writingspaces.org/sites/default/files/giles--reflective-writing-and-the-revision-process.pdf
Wednesday:
Writing the Reflective Essay
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For Friday: Read Portfolio Keeping pg. 55 – 62 & Create a Storyboard
for your Portfolio Print Out and Bring Hard Copy to Class
Friday:
Preparing a Portfolio Plan & Writing with Style
For Monday: Have a Draft of Reflection Essay Ready
WEEK FIFTEEN: DECEMBER 7– 9 – 11 PORTFOLIO WORKSHOP
Monday:
Portfolio Workshop: Two Writing Assignment of Your Choice
Wednesday:
Portfolio Workshop: Reflection Essay. Bring 2 Hard Copies to Class
For Friday:
- Work on High Order Revisions to your Portfolio.
- Bring a device to do online course evaluations – iPhone, Ipad, Laptop
etc.
Friday:
Course Evaluations. FINAL PORTFOLIO DUE: Post on Digication by 1pm
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Reflection Essay
Rough Draft Workshop: Wednesday September 23rd
Due Date: Wednesday September 30th
Executive Summary
In this essay you will be writing to reflect. Specifically, you will focus on experiences with the
world of education. A general discussion of all your experience with education will be too broad
for this assignment. You will only have the space of 1000 words to reflect. Consequently, you
will want to choose one to three specific experiences to discuss, or a specific aspect of education
and your experiences with it, such as music education. The goal of the writing task will be to
relate to your readers how you have understood your educational experiences and how this
understanding can help you in your college career in the future.
The Process
1. Point of View: The tone and style of your reflective essay is going to be based on
which role you feel comfortable taking up. When writing to reflect you can choose
between the role of detached observer or participant observer (JTC pg. 136). Still
further, you can work to find a middle ground between these two positions.
2. Choosing a Topic: One of the key elements in finding our role as a writer is finding
what we want to write about. If you choose to write about a specific experience you
might want to take up the participant observer role and give a more intimate
reflection. This would correspond to the sub-genre of the education narrative: a
narrative of events or experiences that influenced your identity as a student. On the
other hand, if you choose to write about a specific aspect of your education and your
experience with it, you might then want to take up the role of detached observer. Here
you would discuss a certain topic in education and relate it to the boarder context
3. Develop Your Process: This is our first writing assignment and as such will be your
first chance to work on developing your writing process. Part of this will involve
working on skills such as time management. The assignment is low stakes in order for
you to work on developing your process based skills with only a very small
percentage of your grade on the line. I understand nobody gets something perfect on
their first try. The important thing is to show that you are trying to develop and work
on your writing skills
Requirements
• Your article must be a minimum of 1000 words in length.
Evaluation Criteria
You will be evaluated by the following criteria:
• Clear explanation of at least one educational experience
• Articulation of the meaning of this experience
• Demonstration of understanding of genre and sub-genre conventions
• Demonstrate understanding of one of two writing roles
• Reflection on topic in relation to college career
• Thoughtful response to workshop feedback
• Spelling, grammar, other stylistic concerns.
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Proposal Assignment
Rough Draft Workshop: Wednesday October 21st
Due Date: Wednesday October 28th
Executive Summary
In this assignment you will take up the role of the problem solver and find a problem within
education to address. We will look at the sub-genres of the Professional Article, Proposal, and
the Problem-Solving essay to get a better grasp on the genre of writing to solve problems. Your
first task will be to pick the problem you want to deal with in your essay; for example, the
problem of creativity in high schools. Once you have found your problem figure out what subgenre has the conventions that will best help illuminate your topic. You will want to pick a
specific institution to deal with.
Questions to Start
1. What kind of institution are you going to discuss? Elementary School? High School?
College?
2. In determining the problem you are going to deal with, is it going to be curricular or
extracurricular? Ex. Curricular – the problem of standardized testing. Extracurricular
– the quality of school lunches.
3. Think of the specific problem you want to deal with. Which of the sub-genres do you
think will be best to discuss this issue?
4. Going hand in hand with this is the issue of who your audience is going to be.
Professionals? Parents? Other Students?
The Process
1. Reading and Discussion: For this assignment we will be looking at an outside
reading that blends all three of our sub-genres together. Read carefully and try to
establish which of the areas of the essay adopt different sub-genre conventions
2. Point of View and Topic: In this essay you will take up the role of Problem-Solver.
However, your tone and style will be based more around your choice of sub-genre
then your role. Thus, this is different than the Reflection essay, which offered the
choice of roles in combination with sub-genres. The different sub-genres have slightly
different conventions and these conventions are where you can find guidance on your
tone and style.
3. Writing the Proposal: give yourself some time to write this. Bounce your ideas off
your friends and classmates. If need be review the sample essays in the textbook and
in our outside readings to help you out along the way.
4. Develop Your Process: As with all of our assignments this year the proposal is a
chance for you to work on bettering your writing process and refining your process
based skills. The assignment is still low stakes so you can work on skill development.
Also, the word length is longer and will require more time for writing and editing and
thus better time management. Clarity will be a factor in the grade of this paper, which
means you want to make sure you are editing and revising.
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Requirements
• Your article must be a minimum of 1500 words in length.
Evaluation Criteria
You will be evaluated by the following criteria:
• Propose a way to improve the education institution of your choice
• Demonstrate understanding of genre and sub-genre conventions
• Thoughtful response to workshop feedback
• Clarity of writing (use of revising and editing skills)
• Use of personal experience and observation
• Ability to address multiple audiences: peers, faculty, and administrators
• Spelling, grammar, other stylistic concerns.
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Professional Blog Assignment
Drafting Workshop: Monday November 16th
Due Date: Friday December 11th
Executive Summary
Our class blogs and personal blogs can be categorized under the genre of research blogging. This
type of blogging is often individual and done for a writer’s own working processes. The genre of
blogging that we normally associate with the term, however, is much different. Professional
blogging is a large genre of its own and contains within it a number of different sub-genres. For
this assignment you will choose a professional field and find blogs written by those working in
that field. Professional blogging works different for every profession. In turn, it will be important
for you to engage in sub-genre analysis as you read different professionals’ blogs.
In this assignment you will create your own professional blog site and write two 400 word blog
posts that fit into the sub-genre of professional blogging. Both the writing and creation of the site
will require a number of different approaches from our class blogs.
The Process
1. Creating Your Site: When making our personal blogs, the images we used and
where we obtained them were not of consequence. However, when you are putting
your blog and writing out in the public sphere you need to be conscious of copyright
issues to be taken seriously. In turn, you will need to use images that have a creative
commons license and make sure you follow the rules of the license.
 Creative Commons Image Sites:
o https://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
2. Developing Your Blogging Style: Professional blogging is done in conversation with
others. In turn, we will learn about how digital citation and attribution work. You will
want to start off both blog posts by referencing the articles of other bloggers or
writers. The posts themselves will be written in an informal, but objective tone. This
means that rhetoric defined by pathos or emotion will not suite the sub-genre, but also
that your writing does not need to be academic and can have a conversational tone.
3. Choosing Your Professional Topic: Joining a professional conversation is about
engaging with the topics that others are talking about in the field. This puts
constraints on our own choices about what we can write about. In order to find your
professional blog post topics, find an article from a professional blog site with a topic
that interests you. For example, a professional education blog might address what
presidential candidates propose to do about student loans. This post could discuss
whether you agree or disagree with the blogger and/or the presidential candidates’
views on student loans.
4. Writing the Posts: This assignment will be due by the end of the course. This is to
say it will be up to you to develop your own writing habit and the blog. We will learn
about the importance of the “Save draft” function and discuss why caution, editing,
and revising are all important when publishing writing in the digital sphere. We will
touch on the implications of putting content online and how this can help or hinder
you professionally.
5. Using Blogging: we are using WordPress because this site is yours. You can delete it
at the end of the semester or you can continue to use it for whatever purpose you
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choose. Depending on the career you wish to pursue, having a web presence can be a
valuable asset. It’s a way for you to network with others in your profession and to
share your work with the world.
Requirements
• Create a Professional Blog site with Creative Commons Images in your header image
• Write and post two blogs, 400 words in length, written in the sub-genre of the
professional blog
• Include one creative commons image in each blog post
Evaluation Criteria
You will be evaluated by the following criteria:
• Effective construction of a professional blog
• Proper tone and style, informal and objective, for the blog posts
• Effective use of images in blogs
• Digital citation - Linking with other bloggers/writers and engaging with that material
• Spelling, grammar, other stylistic concerns.
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Research Essay
Rough Draft Workshop: Monday November 9th
Due Date: Monday November 23rd
Executive Summary
You will write an essay that analyzes a social, cultural, or political issue facing students/young
adults today. The prompt is broad; however, we will be working in the sub-genre of the
Analytical essay. This sub-genres will require the role of detached observer. In other words you
will need to take up an objective tone and critically analyze the issue you choose. In turn,
choosing a subject you are very passionate about might make writing in this genre difficult. You
will want to pick an issue that you feel comfortable analyzing and breaking down from a critical
position.
You will make an interpretive claim about a social, cultural, or political issue facing
students/young adults. For example: social class adversely impacts young adults’ ability to get
married. You will want to frame your problem for your readers before you begin your analysis.
The Process
1. Start with a Question: Once you find the issue or problem you want to analyze
begin by developing a question. This is what will guide you towards your interpretive
claim. For example, why do young people get married later in life than they used to?
2. Outside Research and Focus: From your question narrow your focus. You will want
to begin to develop a very specific topic. Keeping with the example, our topic could
now move to economic inequality and later ages for marriage. This focus will come
out of doing some outside research and finding a specific issue in your topic that
interests you, but also fits the assignment.
3. Writing the Essay: unless you have a great moment of insight, don’t start by trying
to come up with your argument/claim. Start by writing about your sources, both the
class readings and your outside research. Summarize their positions. Write about the
quotes you want to use. Evaluate their arguments and explain why you agree or
disagree with them. Discuss how they connect with one another. This kind of textual
analysis will form the bulk of the body of your paper. Once you discover what your
claim will be, start to pull this draft writing into a cohesive text. Then you can write
the introduction and conclusion.
4. Write Up Your Claim: In an analysis essay you will want to make an interpretive
claim and provide an analysis of source materials to support that claim. For this essay,
textual and rhetorical analysis will be the preferred methods. The sources you will
find will be text based and thus you will want to examine how these texts define and
discuss your issue. Also, you will be creating your own text so you will want to work
through what aspects of the textual sources you agree with and what aspects you do
not.
5. Develop Your Process: Traditional genres such as the analysis essay, a genre
associated with academic writing, require clear and precise language. Thus, you will
want to put a great deal of emphasis on the time you spend editing and revising what
you have written. As you read the essay out loud to yourself, see if what you have
written is phrased in the clearest way possible. Make sure your writing in this piece
conveys the claims you make clearly and effectively. Revise and edit where
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necessary. If a sentence is vague make it specific. If information is irrelevant delete it
or move it to a more appropriate spot in the essay. Revising and editing moves such
as these will be crucial in the production of your essay.
Requirements
• Your article must be a minimum of 1650 words in length.
• Cite 2 outside sources.
• Cite and quote from the Jeffery Arnett article.
• Your essay needs an abstract of at least 100 words, but no more than two hundred
Evaluation Criteria
You will be evaluated by the following criteria:
• Create a thesis that argues a point about a problem young adults today.
• Thoughtful response to feedback
• Clarity of writing (use of revising and editing skills)
• Demonstrate understanding of genre and sub-genre conventions
• Find and employ an appropriate piece of outside research
• Use close analysis of your sources to support your claim (thoroughly unpack quotes)
• Consider counter-arguments
• A well written abstract.
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Portfolio
Due Date: Friday December 11th
Executive Summary
The Portfolio is 50% of your final grade, so clearly it is an important assignment. We will begin
discussing the portfolio project early in the semester, but the portfolio isn’t due until the very end
of the course. You will select two of following assignments to include in your portfolio: the
reflection, the proposal, the professional blog, and the essay. You will also write a reflective
essay in which you discuss why you chose the texts you included and your experience of revising
them for high order concerns.
There are three purposes for the portfolio. First, in asking you to select the texts you will include
in your portfolio, you are being given an opportunity to claim an interest in your writing. In the
“real world,” beyond the classroom, most writers have limited freedom in selecting their writing
tasks. However, they do tend to write in areas in which they have expertise. You should select
the texts that connect most closely with your interests and experience. The second purpose is to
focus in a genuine and extensive way on revision. We know from research into writing practices
that experienced writers approach revision differently from novice writers. Expert writers
compose, write, and create in and through revision (both high order and low order). Novice
writers tend to type up a full document and then edit for low order concerns and maybe a few
high order concerns. The difference is in how the writing process is approached. For expert
writers, the process revolves around constant revision: write a small amount and then revise,
develop, and build on what was written through reading your composition out loud and using a
pen to mark it up with new revisions and developments. Then, compose more of the document.
This goes on until they get a polished copy that is then revised at the global level as a whole
document. For novice writers, the process tends to fall along the lines of write/type the whole
document (whether in one sitting or multiple sittings); then, revise once for both high order and
low order concerns.
This project will allow you to move toward a more accomplished and developed writing
process, as you will work on your revision over most of the semester. As such, you shouldn’t
pick texts that you think are easiest to fix but rather the ones that you are most interested in
continuing to develop. The final purpose is related to reflection. One of the things research tells
us about improving as a writer is that advancement is often tied to what is called “metacognition.” Simply put, meta-cognition is having an awareness of your learning process, putting
into words the experiences you have with writing. Your reflective essay is an opportunity for you
to develop an awareness of your learning process with writing.
One final piece of advice: do the work! This is half of your grade for the semester. It should
represent half the work you do for the course.
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The Process
1. Selecting your texts: though you may ultimately choose any two of the four
assignments, you will begin your revision process following the reflection and
proposal assignments, so it is likely you will choose at least one of those to include in
your portfolio. You should read through all the comments you receive and meet with
me to discuss your revision plan.
2. Bring something new: you should not expect that your revision will simply entail
fixing or expanding upon your existing text. The best revisions bring new material
and/or a new perspective to a text. After all, re-vision technically means seeing again,
with a fresh set of eyes. Though you will want to give yourself a week or so before
you start your revision, you should not wait too long.
3. Tracking your revision: keep track of what you do as you revise, as you will want to
include details in your portfolio. Reflections on your writing might make for good
blog posts. This will make writing your reflection essay much easier.
Requirements
• Two writing assignments from this semester substantially revised at the high order
level
• Reflection Paper minimum of 750 words explicitly discussing your high order
revisions
• A Portfolio Introduction of 200 words
• A e-Portfolio Page on Digication
• Include at least two Personal Blogs and one Class Blog
Evaluation Criteria
You will be evaluated by the following criteria:
• The quality of your high order revisions to the writing assignments of your choice
• An insightful reflection that explains your specific revisions and why you made them
• An articulate portfolio introduction that conceptualizes your portfolio
• The visual composition of your portfolio
• Proper inclusion of previous assignments
• Respond thoughtfully to feedback
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Blog Assignment
Blog URL: https://eng101classblogfall2015.wordpress.com/
Executive Summary
Blogging has been a part of Internet culture for more than a decade and is now a familiar part of
our media experience. Blogs are a technology more than a genre of writing as many kinds of
writing can be done on blogs from personal diaries to academic research. In this case you will be
maintain a learning/research blog. Your job will be to write about the various readings and
assignments we are doing, while connecting them to personal experience and current events. The
first task with blogging is to find an angle into our subject that is of personal interest to you. The
second task is to share that interest with your readers. In the long run, blogging is a good way to
develop a regular writing practice that will support your more formal writing (i.e. writing for
courses).
The other part of this assignment is learning to compose in a digital medium. Though you won’t
be asked to create your own images or videos, you can (and should) include relevant media you
find on the web. You should also link to other websites. Finally, you will also need to customize
your blog in terms of its overall design and the various elements you choose to include in your
sidebar. While you aren’t expected to become a master web designer (or a professional writer for
that matter), part of this assignment is thinking through the particular challenges and
opportunities that blogging offers.
NOTE: The blog site is public and can always be accessed by simply copying and pasting the
URL above or by placing your cursor over the link and holding the Control key down and
clicking.
The Process
6. Blog Posts: you will be expected to blog on a regular basis. The time and due date for
each post can be found on the course calendar. Each will be at least 200 words long.
Posts will be written on both the class blog and your personal blog. See the calendar
for which blog page to post on (DP = Discussion Post PB = Personal Blog).
 Discussion Posts – These will be blog posts that will be responses to a prompt.
They are posted on the class blog as a way of having a digital conversation
and are meant to allow you to see and engage with your classmates
viewpoints.
 Personal Blogs – These blog posts will mainly consist of digitally composed
reflections on your writing practices in the class. After each assignment’s
rough draft and final copy you will then reflect on the writing of that piece.
This is meant to help you work on developing the ways you write about your
learning process. The goal will be for you to have practiced learning reflection
before you have to write your final learning reflection for your portfolio.
7. Composing digitally: using WordPress (our blogging platform), it is easy to embed a
video or an image into your blogs. It is even easier to add a link. Every blog post
should include an image, video, or link. Ideally you would do more than that
(multiple links, a video and a link, etc.). Linking to your classmates’ blog posts is a
great idea. It’s a way to use blogs to have a conversation with others who share your
interests.
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8. Designing your space: we are using WordPress because this site is yours. You can
delete it at the end of the semester or you can continue to use it for whatever purpose
you choose. Depending on the career you wish to pursue, having a web presence can
be a valuable asset. It’s a way for you to network with others in your profession and
to share your work with the world. As such, you should think carefully about the
design you choose. WordPress has hundreds of free themes that you can easily
customize. Customizing your theme (rather than going with the default one) is an
important first step in showing your readers that you care about your blog.
Requirements
• Post 10 times with a minimum of 200 words per post and 2000 words total.
• Include at least one image, video, or external link in each blog post.
• Make sure your post is uploaded by the due date and time
• Customize your blog’s design.
Evaluation Criteria
You will be evaluated by the following criteria:
• Posting on time with the minimum word count
• Effective use of images and videos
• Linking with other website and engaging with that material
• Customizing your site to reflect your interests
• Spelling, grammar, other stylistic concerns.
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