Unit 1: E-mail To the Author (Academic Argumentation, Summary, Analysis, and Critique)

Monday, August 29 (Please try to do these things BEFORE class.)

• Fill out the pre-course survey before class.
• Sign up for Slack by following all of the instructions in this course site post. 

Wednesday, August 31

• Find the recap document on the #whatyoumissed channel on Slack. Read the Q&A and the sample recap at the bottom. We will sign up for slots today in class, but please do these things before class.
• Read “Grading Has Always Made Writing Better” from BIAW (Mitchell R. James, pp. 255-258, PDF). 
• Read the Grading Agreement (course website) for this class, including the Q&A after the chart.

Monday, September 5: Labor Day

No classes today.

Wednesday, September 7

• Read “Official American English Is Best” (PDF) from BIAW (Steven Alvarez, pp. 93-98) before class.
• Watch the Unit 1 and Assignment 1 overview video and read Assignment 1: E-mail To the Author before class.
• Weekly Work #1: Reading Guide is due tonight (after class) by 11:59pm. You can complete a reading guide on ANY chapter from Bad Ideas About Writing that looks interesting to you. It doesn’t have to be for a chapter that we’ve already read or that we will read together. Here is a PDF copy of the full book.

Monday, September 12

• Read Sample Essay #1: E-mail to Dr. Alvarez (Google Doc). Think about how this student summarizes Alvarez’s major claims.
• Read Guidance for Requesting Feedback. Think about what you already believe to be true about your writing. What kind of feedback have you gotten in the past? What do you hope to find out about your voice, style, and strengths this semester?
• Think about this guidance for requesting feedback in relation to the student essay. How well does this student connect claims and evident? How is the development and analysis? What else do you notice?

Wednesday, September 14

• Read “Teaching Grammar Improves Writing” (PDF) from BIAW (Patricia Dunn, pp. 144-149) before class.
• Weekly Work #2: Journal is due tonight (after class) by 11:59pm via the assignment submission form. You can complete this journal entry on the same chapter that you completed your reading guide on, or you can choose a different chapter if you’d prefer to do that.

Monday, September 19

• Read Sample Essay #2: E-mail to Dr. Dunn (Google Doc). Think about how this student makes claims and supports them with specific evidence from her own life.
• Read this handout on annotating your draft: something you’ll be asked to do when you turn in the first draft of Assignment 1.

Wednesday, September 21

• Read “Texting Ruins Literacy Skills” (PDF) from BIAW (Christopher Justice, pp. 308-314)
• Weekly Work #3: Choose Your Own Adventure is due tonight (after class) by 11:59pm. Whether or not you submit this through the assignment submission form will depend on which option you choose. It is best to complete this assignment on a chapter that you have already written about, unless you’re certain you don’t want to keep working on those chapters and you have a new chapter in mind.

Monday, Sept 26: Rosh Hashanah 

No classes today.

Wednesday, September 28: Last Day to Turn In Late or ⚠️ Work

• Read “Developing a Research Question” in the Library Workbook for English 110: A Topic-Based Approach. In Weekly Work 2: Journal (and maybe also for last week’s Choose Your Own Adventure), you wrote 2-3 questions for the author about the topic of their chapter. Revisit those questions as you read this piece. Are your questions research questions or regular questions? If they are regular questions, how can you make them more like research questions?
• Today is the final day to turn in late weekly work or weekly work that has been marked “not yet.” There are no readings or assignments due so that you can work on catching up. If you’re already caught up, you might use this time to begin drafting Assignment 1. Remember: don’t reinvent the wheel! You’ve been working on this draft throughout this entire unit, so apply the feedback that you’ve gotten.

Thursday, September 29: Classes Follow a Monday Schedule

• Read “How To Write a Research Question.” Building on the work that we did yesterday, think about your research questions so far. Are they clear, focused and complex according to this guide? It’s OK if they aren’t yet. Bring these questions with you to class.

Monday, October 3: Assignment 1 First Draft

• The first draft of Assignment 1: E-mail To the Author is due today by class time. Please submit it through the assignment submission form, and please also bring a copy with you to class, or make sure that you have a shareable, electronic copy available.

Wednesday, October 5: Yom Kippur

No classes today.

Monday, October 10: Indigenous Peoples Day

No classes today.

Wednesday, October 12: Peer Review Due

• Work on peer review form before class today so that you can meet with your partner once more. The form is due tonight by 11:59pm.
• In-class conferences

Monday, October 17: Assignment 1 Final Draft

• The first draft of Assignment 1: E-mail To the Author is due tonight by 11:59pm. Please submit it through the assignment submission form.
• We will set up for Unit 2 today in class. Please read Assignment 2: Annotated Bibliography prompt and watch the overview video to prepare. Note: you do NOT have to complete this assignment! We’re just setting up for it today.

Unit 2: Annotated Bibliography (Conducting Library Research)

Wednesday, October 19 – MLA Introduction

• Read  “Plagiarism Deserves To Be Punished” from BIAW (Jennifer A. Mott-Smith, pp. 247-252)
• Read “Scholarly vs. Non-Scholarly Sources” handout
• Browse through the MLA sample paper. You don’t need to read this for the content: just look through it to remind yourself about MLA formatting.
• Please read Assignment 2: Annotated Bibliography prompt and watch the overview video to prepare. Note: you do NOT have to complete this assignment! We’re just setting up for it today.

Conference hours today will be devoted to MLA formatting fundamentals. If you haven’t used MLA formatting before, or you would like a refresher, please plan to stay.

Monday, October 24 – Library Prep

• Read “Research Starts With Answers” from BIAW (Alison C. Witte, pp. 226-230, PDF) 
• Return to your research questions from the end of Assignment 1, noting any feedback that you got from me or from your peer reviewers.
• Begin completing exercise 1, exercise 3, exercise 4, and exercise 5 in the library workbook. These are not due until after class by Wednesday, but getting a head start on them will help me answer your questions today in class.

Conference hours today will be devoted to clarifying the questions that you have about the library workbook and to learning about some tools for building a Works Cited list.

Wednesday, October 26 – Reading Research Papers

• Read “How To Read Academic Papers Without Freaking Out” (Lee)
•  Exercise 1, exercise 3, exercise 4, and exercise 5  in the library workbook are due tonight by 11:59pm. Please copy and paste your answers to exercise 3, 4 and 5, and put them into an e-mail that you send to me at [email protected] and also to Dr. Leila Walker (a QC librarian who will lead our workshop) at [email protected] . For exercise 4, please put the Annotated Bibliography: Assignment 2 into your own words. Also, please make sure to fill out the “focused research question” and the “key terms and concepts” section in exercise 5 with the ACTUAL research question that you’re thinking of using for Assignment 2 and not just a random question.  

Monday, October 31 – Library Day

Please meet in Library Classroom 227 today. Note that it can be tricky to find because level 2 of the library is downstairs from the library entrance.

Wednesday, November 2 – Reading Research

• Read Sample Annotation
• In-class practice with locating, reading, and evaluating sources using the CRAAP test (please bring your computer / tablet if you can). We’ll also look at the reading guide (due Wednesday) together, so please bring your questions!
• Weekly Work #2: Reading Guide due tonight by 11:59pm.

Monday, November 7: Paraphrasing and quoting

• Watch “Write On! Avoiding Over Quoting”

Wednesday, November 9: Paraphrasing and quoting

• Watch “Write On! Paraphrasing”

• Weekly Work #3: Paraphrasing and Quoting Guide due tonight by 11:59pm. Please note that this guide needs to feature a DIFFERENT SOURCE than the one featured in your Reading Guide.
• In class: practice with paraphrasing and quoting

Monday, November 14: Final Day to Submit Weekly Work for Unit 2

• Today will be a day to workshop our questions about our first draft of Assignment 2 in small groups. To prepare for class today, please take the feedback that you’ve been given on Weekly Work 1, 2, and 3. Make a list of your questions about any piece of feedback you have received, and start to compile your annotated bibliography.
• Today is the final day to submit any missing weekly work for unit 2 or anything that needs revision. Please submit it by tonight at 11:59pm.

Wednesday, November 16: First Draft of Assignment 2

The first draft of Assignment 2: Annotated Bibliography and Process Log is due today by class time. Edit: you can turn it in by 11:59pm, but please still bring what you have to class. You can print it out and bring a hard copy, or you can have it electronically available.

Note: it’s OK if you don’t have all of your sources completely summarized yet, but the more that you can have done, the better your peer review and conference will be. Don’t forget your process log.

Please submit this assignment through the assignment submission form. It’s OK if your annotated bib and your process log are in the same document, and it’s also OK to submit them separately.

We will sign up for draft conferences and peer review today in class.

Monday, November 21: Assignment 2 Peer Review

• Work on the Assignment 2 Peer Review form before class today so that you can meet with your partner once more. The form is due tonight by 11:59pm.
• In-class conferences

Wednesday, November 23: Final Day to Submit Weekly Work + Exit Tickets for Unit 2

• Final draft of Assignment 2: Annotated Bibliography is due tonight by 11:59pm. Please submit it through the assignment submission form. The final draft deadline for Assignment 2: Annotated Bibliography has been extended to Monday, November 28th.
• Today is the final day to submit Weekly Work #3: Paraphrasing and Quoting because it didn’t meet requirements the first time. Please do so by tonight at 11:59pm. Please also submit any remaining exit tickets and any recaps you haven’t completed yet (or sign up for new ones).
• We will set up for Unit 3 today in class and discuss how your annotated bibliography will be the basis for your literature review. Please read Assignment 3: Literature Review before class.

Unit 3: Literature Review (Synthesizing Research)

Monday, November 28

• Final draft of Assignment 2: Annotated Bibliography is due tonight by 11:59pm. Please submit it through the assignment submission form.

Wednesday, November 30  

• Watch “Research Synthesis”
• Watch “Synthesis: Definitions and Examples”. I’m linking to this video in the middle of it. The whole video does a great job of explaining the differences between summary, analysis, and synthesis if you want to watch from the beginning, but we’re focusing specifically on the “synthesis” portion, since this is what we’re working on in this unit.
• Read Sample Literature Review #1 and look at the comments that I’ve made on the draft.

Monday, December 5

• Weekly Work 1: Synthesis Matrix due tonight by 11:59pm

Wednesday, December 7

• Discuss end-of-semester grade conferences and sign up for them.
• Work on your literature review first draft to prepare for class today. Please bring what you have to class: either printed or electronically on your computer. Today is a good day to rent a computer from the library if you don’t have one already.

Monday, December 12: First Draft of Assignment 3

• Meet in the cafeteria today for 🍕!
• First draft of Assignment 3: Literature Review is due tonight by 11:59pm via the Assignment Submission Form. Remember: the first draft needs to contain at least 750 words, but can still be pretty rough.
• There is no exit ticket necessary for missing today’s class.

Wednesday, December 14: Deadline extension for revisions

I am extending the deadline for REVISIONS to Assignment 1: E-mail to the Author and Assignment 2: Annotated Bibliography to 11:59pm tonight. If you would like to revise and resubmit these to try to meet more of the requirements, you are able to do this.

This will also be the day to turn in remaining exit tickets that you’ve accrued from November 28 – December 7th.

Wednesday, December 21: Final Draft and Final Revisions Due

Final draft of Assignment 3: Literature Review and any final revisions on weekly work for Unit 3 are due tonight by 11:59pm. There is no final exam for this course.