WRT 100B: MWF 10:10 a.m.-11:05 a.m., Dunleavy 220
WRT 100I; MWF 1:25 p.m.-2:20 p.m., Dunleavy 228

Instructor: Dr. Erin Karper || E-mail: ekarper@niagara.edu or ekarper@gmail.com || AIM:ProfKarper || Office: Dunleavy 350 || Office Phone: 286-8631 || Office Hours: MWF 2:30-4:00 p.m.; other times by appointment

Download Syllabus (PDF File)

Wednesday, April 15

Today we’ll discuss and analyze how appeals are used in argumentative writing.

Assignments for Next Class
Read 250-254 in Norton Field Guide to Writing.

Friday, April 17

Today we’ll generate claims, reasons, and thesis statements for your research papers and then discuss research integration and paragraphing strategies.

Assignments for Next Class
Write sample body paragraph of your paper; bring it to class.

Monday, March 30

Today we’ll review annotation principles and discuss how to find models for citaions.

Assignments for Next Class
Bring sample annotation and citation to class; also bring list of sources with source information for citation practice.

Wednesday, April 1

Today we’ll review your sample annotations and practice working with citations.

Assignments for Next Class
FIRST DRAFT OF ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE: BRING THREE COPIES TO CLASS.

Friday, April 3

Today we’ll discuss and work on peer review for your annotated bibliographies. We’ll also review some stylistic terms and concepts and do some practice exercises.

Assignments for Next Class
Complete peer review sheets and bring them to class.
Style exercises as assigned in class.

Monday, March 23

Today we’ll discuss what annotated bibliographies are and how to write annotations.

Assignments for Next Class
REPORT TO THE LIBRARY BASEMENT LAB FOR CLASS ON WEDNESDAY and FRIDAY.

Wednesday, March 26

Today you’ll work in the library to locate sources for your project.

Assignments for Next Class
Work on locating sources for your project.

Friday, March 28

Today you’ll work in the library to locate sources for your project.

Assignments for Next Class
Work on locating sources for your project.
Bring list of sources and one actual source to class; read pp. 318-328 in Norton Field Guide.

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Jump to: Topic || Research || Annotated Bibliography || Position Paper

What’s this project about?

You are in the process of committing a number of years of your life to learning about a particular discipline, such as English, Elementary Education, Accounting, Tourism Management, Physics, History, or Biology. You may also have specific career plans for when you leave Niagara.

For this project, you will investigate, analyze and argue about a topic related to your major or future career which focuses on these questions:

• How do people make knowledge in your field of study or in your career?

• What happens when experts disagree? When and why do they disagree?
• How do you sort through all of the evidence surrounding a controversial question or idea and decide what your position is?
• How do you create a solid argument and respond to counter-arguments?

This assignment asks you to identify a controversial issue in your field, research multiple perspectives on this issue, and to decide which perspectives you agree and disagree with.

You’ll write an annotated bibliography (10 entries) and an position essay (8-10 pages) aimed at people outside of your field.

You will be expected to work both individually and in-groups to complete these assignments, as well as to complete multiple drafts and to show significant evidence of revision on the final versions. You will also be expected to pay attention to deadlines and to check the course Web site and the weekly agendas for the most current information about assignments, deadlines, and other vital information.

You may not “recycle” a paper or an annotated bibliography that you have written for another class for this assignment. If you wish to work on the same topic that you are pursuing in another class, that may be acceptable; please talk to the instructor.

You can earn a total of 450 points for all of the assignments in this unit plus points for peer review activities; the amount of points for each component are available next to each component, as well as explained on each assignment sheet and on the course syllabus. Grading rubrics will be distributed with the final version of each project.

Choose A Topic and Form A Research Question

First, you’ll choose a topic and form a research question that you can use to help guide your research. Your topic should:

• Be related to your major or career OR to a major or career that you want to explore.

• Be about an issue in your field of study that has multiple perspectives or some controversy attached to it.
• Be a topic on which you can locate academic, trade, and popular sources.

The topic cannot be a “generic issue” such as abortion, gun control, the death penalty, stem cell research, lowering the drinking age, legalizing drugs, or other common social issues, unless you can show exactly how these controversies are dealt with in your academic field. It must be a topic about which there is disagreement: you are writing a position paper, NOT an informative paper. Your topic should be as specific as possible, and you should be able to articulate clear research questions about it to help you look for sources and develop a thesis.

Here are some possible topics that would fit the assignment guidelines:

• Should elementary school students be taught how to use computers, or does teaching computer skills at a young age actually hinder their learning? (Education)

• What are the best strategies for dealing with prison overcrowding? (Criminal Justice)
• Does building a casino in an area cause economic harm, or does it benefit the area? (Tourism Management)
• Are electronic voting machines or paper ballots a better practice for elections in the United States? (Political Science)
• Is outsourcing information technology jobs a positive or negative practice for businesses in the united states? (Business)
• What are the best therapies for treating breast cancer? (Medicine)
• Do cognitive behavior therapy or anti-depressants work better in treating depression? (Psychology/Medicine)
• What really happened to the lost colonists of Roanoke Island? (History)

On March 13 and March 16, we’ll work on choosing topics and forming research questions. By March 18, you should e-mail the instructor (ekarper@niagara.edu) with a description of your chosen topic and your research question. 

If after you have started researching, you discover that you need to change your topic because you cannot find sources, you must notify the instructor by e-mail or in person by March 27.

Conduct Research in the Library and Online

After you choose a topic and formulate a research question, you will conduct research in the library and online on March 25 and 27. During your research, you should locate at least ten (10) sources and complete research worksheets for each source.

To encourage you to seek out a variety of sources and to practice working with different types of sources, I’m going to ask you to choose sources from different categories – you’ll notice that each category has sources in it that come from both print and the Web.

At least six (6) of your sources should be from the following categories:

• Books or essay collections

• Academic journal articles (from library databases, Web sites, or print journals)
• Trade journal articles (from library databases, Web sites, or print journals)
• Academic, educational, or professional Web resources

Four (4) of your sources can come from the following categories:

• Interviews with experts in your field

• Popular newspaper or magazine articles (from library databases, Web sites, or print journals)
• Commercial Web sites
• Specialized resources from your field, such as encyclopedias
• Other sources (please check with the instructor)

You can use encyclopedias such as Wikipedia or textbooks from your major courses as a reference for identifying controversial questions and perspectives, but you cannot use them as sources in the assignment because they do not provide enough depth and breadth. However, you can look up and use the references they cite as part of your research.

Make sure that you give yourself enough time to locate sources. Also make sure that you consult with the instructor or with a librarian if you are having trouble locating ten sources.

Write an Annotated Bibliography

After you have located research on your topic, you will write an annotated bibliography where you annotate at least ten (10) sources and summarize, assess, and reflect on each source.

To complete the assignment, you should:

• Write ONE introductory paragraph for the annotated bibliography that presents your research question and explains what you’ve discovered in your research. (You do not need to write an introductory paragraph for each citation.)

• Create a citation for each source as if you were going to cite it in a works cited list. Alphabetize your citations (and their annotations) as if they were in a works cited list.
• Under each citation, write two paragraphs for each source where you:
  • Summarize the source’s content: What are the main points being conveyed?

  • Assess the source’s credibility and importance: Why is this a reasonable and useful source for your project?
  • Reflect on why this is a relevant source for your project: Why is it important that you use this information in your project instead of some other source? (You can talk about how this isn’t a good source for your project if you don’t think it will be useful.)
• If you quote directly from any source in your annotation, attribute the quotations using MLA style conventions.
• Write with care and attention to grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

You only have to write two paragraphs for each source; however, you must make sure that you summarize, assess, and reflect on the source in each annotation. See the sample annotated bibliography in the printer-friendly version for an example of what the project should look like.

Grading Criteria

This project will be graded on the following criteria:

• How well you use MLA style to create a citation for each source.

• How well you summarize, assess, and reflect on each source.
• How well you use appropriate conventions for written English (grammar, spelling, punctuation, style and tone).

The first draft of the annotated bibliography is due on April 1; The final draft is due on April 8. You can earn a maximum of 200 points for the annotated bibliography.

Write A Position Paper

You’ll use the sources that you’ve collected and presented in your annotated bibliography to help you write a long academic essay where you take a position on the issue and use your research and your own ideas and opinions to explain and argue for your position.

Specifics

In the essay, you should:

• Describe the issue you have chosen to research.

• Describe the different positions which people in your field have on this topic using research and your own knowledge.
• Provide a clear and explicit thesis statement which explains your position and your reasons why this position is the best choice.
• Develop an argument for your position with reasons and evidence from outside sources as well as your own opinions.
• Use at least ten (10) sources of information in your paper. These sources should include some of the sources from your annotated bibliography.
• Connect your ideas using transition words and phrases.
• Write in an academic style. (You can use first person, but your language should be precise, concise, and more formal than other types of writing.)
• Create sentences that are precise, concise, and correct.
• Show evidence of revision in your final draft.
• Pay attention to English conventions for spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Formatting

The essay should:

• Have a heading on the first page with your name, your section, and the date. (A title page is not necessary.)

• Have a title that is centered on the first page under the heading.
• Contain page numbers on all pages but the first.
• Be 8-10 pages long (double-spaced; twelve-point font), including your works cited list.
• Use MLA style to give credit to sources by providing in-text citations, attributive tags, and a works cited list.

We’ll work together in class to help you develop all parts of your paper. You’ll also have an opportunity to give and receive feedback with your classmates on your first draft, as well as receiving comments from the instructor.

The first draft of the essay is due on April 22; the final draft of the essay is due on May 4.

Grading Criteria

This paper will be graded based on how well it:

• Describes the issue and explains the different perspectives.

• Takes a clear position and justifies the this position.
• Presents a specific thesis statement with a claim and reasons and has a clear focus.
• Presents and incorporates information, including using the works of others and the opinions and experience of the writer.
• Includes the minimum of ten sources.
• Organizes and presents information, including making transitions and connections between ideas.
• Uses MLA format to attribute information and format the paper.
• Shows evidence of revision by the writer.
• Presents information using strategies for clarity and conciseness.
• Uses appropriate conventions for academic written English.

You’ll receive comments on your first draft, and a grading rubric with your final draft that explains how your paper met the assignment guidelines. You can earn a maximum of 250 points for this paper. When you turn in your final version of the paper, you should also turn in your first draft and the peer review sheets you received. The peer review will be graded.

The Writing Center, in the Seton Presidential Lounge, offers free tutoring in writing; you are encouraged to bring a draft of your paper there as well. You can make an appointment to see a tutor by calling 286-8075. 


What will I learn during this project?

As you work through the components of this project, you will:

1. Use writing for inquiry, learning, critical thinking, and communicating what you have learned from your research and to justify a position that you have taken.

2. Respond appropriately to a rhetorical situation which asks you to conduct academic research and create two types academic writing.
3. Demonstrate control of generic conventions for annotated bibliographies and argumentative academic essays including structure, development, paragraphing, tone, mechanics, and design.
4. Demonstrate an understanding of writing as an open, collaborative, and social process and work through the stages of the writing process: invention, drafting, revising, and editing.
5. Critique and edit your own work and the works of others.
6. Develop a specific research question or focus to respond to a writing assignment.
7. Identify a need for information and access, evaluate, use, and attribute primary and secondary sources in your work.
8. Integrate the words and ideas of others into your work and avoid accidental or deliberate plagiarism.
9. Write with clarity, brevity, coherence, and control of conventions such as syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
10. Use technologies to conduct research and to draft, revise, edit, and design documents.

Monday, March 16

Today we’ll discuss the article that you read as well as the different types of sources available for academic writing.

Assignments for Next Class
Read pp. 354-357 in Norton Field Guide and article given out in class.

Wednesday, March 18

Today we’ll discuss critical reading and note-taking strategies for working with sources.

Assignments for Next Class
Read Chapters 4 and 5 in Style.

Friday, March 20

Today we’ll do some work with different stylistic techniques and exercises.

Assignments for Next Class
Read pp. 112-119 in Norton Field Guide.
Work on locating sources for your project.

Monday, March 9

Today you’ll discuss the suggestions made by your peer review group members. Then we’ll ask and answer questions about revision strategies, including thesis statements, use and attribution of sources, and organization.

Assignments for Next Class
Work on revisions; read pp 213-218 in Norton Field Guide to Writing.
Read Chapter 3 in Style.

Wednesday, March 11

Today (or Tuesday, or Thursday) you’ll have an individual conference with the instructor. Be sure to note the time of your conference after signing up for it on Monday.

Assignments for Next Class
Work on revising your draft.
Final draft due on Friday.

Friday, March 13

Today you’ll turn in your final drafts, we’ll discuss the next set of assignments, and work on some more style exercises.

Assignments for Next Class
Read pp. 199-204 in Norton Field Guide to Writing.
Finish style exercises.

Monday, February 23

We’ll discuss strategies for locating sources about your urban legend and strategies for recording and citing information as you do research.

Assignments for Next Class
BRING YOUR BOOKS TO CLASS.
Bring a source of information about your myth to class.
Read pp. 205-207 in Norton Field Guide to Writing.



Wednesday, February 25

Today we’ll discuss and practice evaluating sources for credibility, usefulness, and appropriateness to a rhetorical situation. Then we’ll discuss developing a focus for your analysis papers and practice generating claims and reasons statements.

Assignments for Next Class
FIRST DRAFT DUE; BRING THREE COPIES TO CLASS.

Friday, February 27

Today we’ll discuss strategies for revision and peer review. We’ll practice them with a sample paper and then you’ll work in peer review groups to give each other feedback.

Assignments for Next Class
Complete peer review sheets; bring them to class after Spring Break.

Monday, February 16

Today we’ll continue our investigation into urban legends by discussing how three investigators approached the same urban legend.

Assignments for Next Class
SHORT DISCUSSION PAPER DUE.

Wednesday, February 18

Today you’ll turn in your short discussion papers. Then we’ll begin brainstorming possible topics for the analysis paper.

Assignments For Next Class
Email instructor with chosen topic.
Read pp. 44-54 in Norton Guide
Read Chapter 2 in Style; complete exercises as given out in class.

Friday, February 20

Today we’ll finalize topics for the analysis paper and start generating ideas for what you need to know about your urban legend and how you might find that out through research.

Assignments For Next Class
Read pp. 319-328 in Norton Guide.
RESEARCH PLAN DUE.

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Jump to: Discussion Paper || Topic || Research Plan || Analysis Paper

What does it mean to be information literate? Should you believe everything you read on the Internet? What about everything you hear from the experts? In an age bursting with information, it can be difficult to figure out what’s true, what’s false, and what’s in-between. This assignment asks you to analyze and assess an urban legend and to engage in informative and analytical writing.

Short Discussion Paper

Content
As a class, we’ll read and watch some contemporary legends and some analyses of them and write a short (1-2 page) paper which discusses how people research and analyze urban legends.

Your paper should:

• Explain at least two ways how people investigate the veracity of urban legends and analyze why people tell them to others.
• Provide specific examples to develop your discussion and support your ideas.
• Refer to at least two of the articles, Web pages, or TV show clips that you have read or watched in or outside of class.
• Give credit to the works of others in your text using a citation system. (You may use any citation system that you know and are comfortable with.)
• Use appropriate conventions for academic writing, including creating paragraphs with one main idea, taking a more formal tone than writing an email or a text message, and paying attention to spelling, punctuation, and grammar.

Format
Your paper should:

• Have your name, section (WRT 100 B or I), and date in the upper left hand corner
• Be two pages long.
• Be double-spaced in 10 or 12 point font.

YOUR SHORT DISCUSSION PAPER WILL BE DUE ON WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 18.

Grading
You can earn a maximum of 25 points for this paper. Your paper will be graded based on how well it:

• Explains how people investigate and analyze urban legends, including providing specific examples and citing the research we have read and discussed in and outside of class. (15 points)
• Uses and cites the works of others in your text (5 points)
• Uses appropriate conventions for academic writing (5 points)

The instructor will provide a rubric when she returns your paper which explains the number of points you scored.

Choosing A Topic

Next, you’ll choose a specific urban legend to analyze. The urban legend needs to meet the definition of an urban legend that we discussed in class: it’s believed and told as true, and it has moral or social implications. Most conspiracy theories (like a second shooter on the grassy knoll or a faked moon landing) and cryptozoology (like the Loch Ness monster or the chupacabra) are not appropriate topics. If you’re not sure about a topic, the “Bust a Myth” links section on the course Web site provides links to various sites that collect urban legends.

You will be expected to do the following with your chosen topic:

• collect examples and variations of your urban legend
• research and prove whether the urban legend is true, false, or indeterminate
• research the urban legend’s origin and causes for why people believe in it and pass it along

E-MAIL A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF YOUR CHOSEN URBAN LEGEND TO THE INSTRUCTOR BY FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20. It won’t be graded, but the instructor will respond with some brief feedback about your topic.

Research Plan

We’ll talk about what you might need to find out in order to investigate and analyze your urban legend, and you’ll create and submit a research plan which explains what information you think you’ll need and where you’ll look for it.

Content
Your research plan will:

• Provide a brief summary of your urban legend.
• Explain what you need to find out and how you will find it:
  • Where will you find specimens of your urban legend?
  • How are you going to determine whether or not your urban legend is true, false, or indeterminate?
  • Where will you find information about where the urban legend came from, why people believe it, or why people circulate it?
• Ask any questions related to researching or understanding your topic.
• Use appropriate conventions for academic writing, including creating paragraphs with one main idea, taking a more formal tone than writing an email or a text message, and paying attention to spelling, punctuation, and grammar.

Format
Your research plan will:

• Have your name, section (WRT 100 B or I), and date in the upper left hand corner
• Be between one and two pages long.
• Be double-spaced in 10 or 12 point font.

YOUR RESEARCH PLAN WILL BE DUE ON MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23.

Grading
You can earn a maximum of 25 points for your research plan. It will be graded based on how well it:

• Summarizes your urban legend (5 points)
• Explains where you will look find information about all three aspects of your urban legend. (15 points)
• Uses appropriate conventions for academic writing (5 points)

The instructor will provide a rubric when she returns your paper which explains the number of points you scored.

Analysis Paper

Next, you’ll use the information you collected and your own ideas to write an academic paper about your urban legend. You will write multiple drafts of this paper, receive comments on your draft from your classmates and your instructor, and revise and edit your work.

Content
Your analysis paper will:

• Present your urban legend (including variations) and discuss where it originated

• Take a position on whether the urban legend is true, false, or indeterminate and provide evidence to support your position.
• Analyze and speculate about why people believe in and circulate this urban legend to others.
• Have a well-organized introduction, body, and conclusion which present your ideas.
• Contain a clear thesis statement that tells the reader what to expect in the paper.
• Cite the works of others to support your arguments using attributive tags and parenthetical citations in MLA format.
• Provide a works cited list in MLA format for the works that you cite in your paper
• Use appropriate conventions for academic writing, including creating paragraphs with one main idea, taking a more formal tone than writing an email or a text message, and paying attention to spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
• Have a first draft which will receive written comments from your instructor and your peers.
• Have a final draft in which you revise your writing based on feedback and edit your writing to make it more clear, concise, and correct.

Format
The final draft of your analysis paper will:

• Have your name, section (WRT 100 B or I), and date in the upper left hand corner
• Be between five and seven pages long.
• Be double-spaced in 10 or 12 point font
• Have page numbers in the upper right hand corner of each page.
• Include all previous drafts and peer review sheets (attached with a paper clip).

THE FIRST DRAFT OF YOUR PAPER WILL BE DUE ON FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27. THE FINAL DRAFT OF YOUR PAPER WILL BE DUE ON FRIDAY, MARCH 13.

Grading
Your first draft will not be graded, but the peer review activities you produce for your peers that they turn in with their final drafts will be graded. Your final draft will be graded and is worth 200 points.

Your paper will be graded based on how well it:

• Presents, takes a position on, and analyzes your urban legend (50 points).
• Provides a clear thesis statement and develops and organizes information (50 points).
• Attributes information using parenthetical citations, attributive tags, and a works cited list in MLA format (40 points).
• Uses appropriate style, tone, and formatting for an academic paper (20 points).
• Uses appropriate conventions of grammar, spelling, punctuation, and usage (40 points).

Learning Outcomes Covered in This Sequence

These assigments will help you learn how to:

1. Use writing for inquiry, learning, critical thinking, communicating, and engaging with the world through the different types of writing that you will do for each assigment.

2. Respond appropriately to different kinds of rhetorical situations and to the needs of different audiences by giving you a chance to write in a variety of rhetorical situations.
3. Demonstrate control of generic conventions such as structure, development, paragraphing, tone, mechanics, and design by giving you a chance to analyze, discuss, and produce different types of writing.
4. Demonstrate an understanding of writing as an open, collaborative, and social process and work through the stages of the writing process: invention, drafting, revising, and editing.
5. Critique and edit your own work and the works of others through peer review activities.
6. Develop a specific research question or focus to respond to a writing assignment through class discussion and through the thesis statement you include in your analysis paper.
7. Identify a need for information and access, evaluate, use, and attribute primary and secondary sources via class discussion and activities as well as the content of your short discussion paper and analysis paper.
8. Integrate the words and ideas of others into your work and avoid accidental or deliberate plagiarism via class discussion and activities as well as the content of your short discussion paper and analysis paper.
9. Write with clarity, brevity, coherence, and control of conventions such as syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling in the written work that you produce.
10. Use technologies to conduct research and to draft, revise, edit, and design documents.

Monday, February 9

Conferences with the instructor in Dunleavy 350.

Assignments For Next Class
FINAL DRAFT OF LITERACY NARRATIVE DUE.
Style exercises from Friday.
Question of the Week

Wednesday, February 11

Today you’ll turn in your literacy narratives. We’ll then go over the guidelines for the next assignment sequence (Busting a Myth) and begin talking about how people analyze and discuss urban legends.

Assignments For Next Class
Read “What Are Urban Legends?”, “Preface,” (Brunvand) and “Introduction” (Craughwell) (Given out in class.)

Friday, February 13

Today we’ll continue our investigation into urban legends by discussing how people define urban legends.

Assignments For Next Class
Read “Curses! Broiled Again!” and “Brown Betty.” (Given out in class.)

Monday, February 2

Today we’ll discuss and practice strategies for peer review.

Assignments for Next Class
Complete peer review sheets; bring them to class.

Wednesday, February 4

Today we’ll discuss and practice various revision strategies.

Assignments for Next Class
Review Chapter 1 in Style: Basics of Clarity and Grace.

Friday, February 6

Today we’ll (finally!) have our first style discussion and exercises.

Assignments for Next Class
Attend conference on Monday or Tuesday (no class on Monday); final draft of literacy narrative due on Wednesday, February 11.

Monday, January 26

10:10 a.m. class: We’ll continue discussing and working on literacy narratives by analyzing another literacy narrative, discussing different strategies for writing a narrative, and practicing some of these strategies.

1:25 p.m. class: We’ll work on descriptive writing strategies to help you with your literacy narratives.

Assignments For Next Class
10:10 a.m. class: Read/review pp. 33-38 in Norton Field Guide to Writing.

1:25 p.m. class: Read Chapter 1 in Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace. Bring a piece of your writing to class.

Wednesday, January 28

10:10 a.m. class: We’ll work on descriptive writing strategies to help you with your literacy narratives.

1:25 p.m. class: We’ll discuss concepts from the first chapter of Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace and practice applying them.

Assignments For Next Class
10:10 a.m. class: Read Chapter 1 in Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace. Bring a piece of your writing to class.

1:25 p.m. class: Read excerpt assigned by visiting professor.

Friday, January 30

10:10 a.m. class: We’ll discuss concepts from the first chapter of Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace and practice applying them.

1:25 p.m. class: Professor Kelly Bradbury will visit class to give a lesson on literacy narratives.

Assignment For Next Class

FIRST DRAFT OF LITERACY NARRATIVE DUE: BRING THREE COPIES TO CLASS.

Wednesday, January 21

We’ll review the guidelines for the literacy narrative assignment. Then we’ll discuss and analyze some sample literacy narratives to help you get a better idea of the genre and the rhetorical situation. Finally, you’ll work on brainstorming possible topics for your literacy narratives.

Assignments For Next Class
Read “Potato Chips and Stars” (given out in class). Answer questions 1-4.
EMAIL INSTRUCTOR (ekarper@niagara.edu) WITH POSSIBLE TOPIC FOR LITERACY NARRATIVE.

Friday, January 23

10:10 class: Professor Lew Caccia will visit class to discuss the use of tone.

1:25 class: We’ll continue discussing and working on literacy narratives by analyzing another literacy narrative, discussing different strategies for writing a narrative, and practicing some of these strategies.

Assignment For Next Class

Read/review pp. 33-38 in Norton Field Guide to Writing.

Printer-Friendly Version (PDF)

In today’s world, literacy means more than reading and writing; it also means being able to use information and work with technologies. What does it mean to be literate in the information age? How has literacy shaped your life? How have your literate practices changed throughout the course of your life?

This assignment asks you to tell a 4-6 page story (narrative) about a moment in your life where literacy – of any kind, including “regular” literacy, information literacy or technological literacy — was important. You could write about…

• a moment when you learned an literacy skill (such as learning to read, searching for information to write your first research paper, or learning how to use a computer to play Oregon Trail in the third grade).

• a time when you succeeded or failed in life due to your literacy skills (such as a love of reading helping you to score high on the SATs, getting a bad grade on a research paper due to poor information literacy skills, or getting a job testing video games because of your mad tech skills).

Content

Your paper should:

• Provide a well-told story about a specific moment in your life when literacy was important.

• Use vivid details to give the reader an impression of the scene.
• Give some indication of the narrative’s significance: show the reader what this story demonstrates about your literate practices.
• Use appropriate conventions for writing a narrative, including creating paragraphs with one main idea, taking a more formal tone than writing an email or a text message, and paying attention to spelling, punctuation, and grammar.

For more information and help with content, see “Writing A Literacy Narrative” in The Norton Field Guide to Writing as well as the links in the Write A Literacy Narrative” section on this Web site.

Format

The final draft of your paper should:

• Have your name, section (WRT 100B, WRT 100E, or WRT 100I), and date in the upper left hand corner

• Be double-spaced in 10 or 12 point serif font (such as Times New Roman).
• Be between four (4) and six (6) pages.
• Include the peer review sheets given to you by your group members with the final draft.

FIRST DRAFT DUE: MONDAY FEBRUARY 2
FINAL DRAFT DUE: WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 11

Grading

You can earn a maximum of 200 points for this paper. Your paper will be graded based on how well it:

• Narrates a clear and well-told story about literacy (75 points)

• Provides vivid detail for the reader and a sense of the significance of the moment (75 points)
• Uses appropriate conventions for narrative writing (50 points)

The instructor will provide a rubric when she returns your paper which explains the number of points you scored.

Connections to Course Goals
This assignment will help you learn how to:

1. Use writing for inquiry, learning, critical thinking, communicating, and engaging with the world through the creation of a literacy narrative.

2. Respond appropriately to different kinds of rhetorical situations and to the needs of different audiences by giving you a chance to write in a specific rhetorical situation.
3. Demonstrate control of generic conventions such as structure, development, paragraphing, tone, mechanics, and design by giving you a chance to analyze, discuss, and produce a specific genre of writing (literacy narrative).
4. Demonstrate an understanding of writing as an open, collaborative, and social process and work through the stages of the writing process: invention, drafting, revising, and editing.
5. Critique and edit your own work and the works of others through peer review activities.
6. Develop a specific research question or focus to respond to a writing assignment through class discussion and through the focus of your literacy narrative.
7. Write with clarity, brevity, coherence, and control of conventions such as syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling in the written work that you produce.
8. Use technologies to conduct research and to draft, revise, edit, and design documents.

This online scavenger hunt asks you to do some work online and to e-mail your results to the instructor. It’s designed to help you become familiar with the course Web site and also to give the instructor some necessary information about you.

Send an e-mail to the instructor (you’ll need to find her e-mail address in one of its many locations as part of the scavenger hunt) with answers to the following questions:

1. What’s your name?
2. What’s your phone number?
3. What’s your email address?
4. What’s your major?
5. What link on the site would you click on if you wanted to know what we were doing in class each week?
6. When are the instructor’s office hours, and where is her office?
7. Which category of links will help you with the urban legends projects?
8. Which link in the “Do Research” category will help you cite your research using MLA style in a research paper?
9. Which link in the “Write a Draft” category will help you write an outline?

Bonus round:

1. What is rhetoric? (Extra special credit for not using dictionary.com or Wikipedia to acquire your answer.)
2. How much wood could a woodchuck chuck, anyways?

When you’ve finished, be sure to bookmark the course Web site (or add it to your favorites) so that you can refer to it later.