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Bullock - Comp 1301 & 1302

Minor Assignment Instructions

Introductory Discussion Board Instructions

Hello everyone! Welcome to ENGL 1301. This Discussion Board will have two parts:

Part 1

Briefly introduce yourself to me and the class.

Include the following in your post:

  • Name
  • Interests and hobbies (both academic and personal)
  • What do you feel are your strengths/weaknesses with writing?

Part 2 

Respond to two other classmates with a question or connection to their post.

Criteria

Completion

Journal: The Writing Process Instructions

For this journal, I want you to:

  1. Reflect on your past writing experiences: Do you like or dislike writing? Why? Were there any writing assignments from the past that stick out as being particularly enjoyable or unenjoyable?
  2. Identify areas for improvement: What aspects of writing do you struggle with the most? Grammar, sentence structure, writer’s block, perfectionism?
  3. Acknowledge your strengths as a writer: What aspects of writing are you confident about? Maybe it’s your ability to persuade, or your creativity.
  4. Set goals for improvement to focus on throughout the semester: Based on your reflections from 1-3, what are some goals you want to set for yourself this semester? Be specific and come up with actionable steps to take to achieve your goals.

To receive full credit, please write at least 200-250 words.

Criteria

Completion

Topic Proposal: Response Essay
Purpose

Topic proposals are an opportunity for students to test drive a topic before writing a full essay on it. They also allow instructors to provide feedback and guidance to help students choose a topic that is focused and manageable, and that is related to the themes and concepts covered in the course. 

Instructions
  1. Read Response Essay Instructions.
  2. Choose a topic (Ex.: Procrastination, Medieval Life, AI) that interests you and find a video, article, or podcast that discusses some aspect of that topic. 
  3. You can use any of the sample topics/resources from the Response Essay Instructions or come up with your own.
  4. Read/watch/listen (or at the very least skim) your chosen resource.
  5. In the discussion board text box, write a brief (around 200 words) proposal in which you: 
  6. Introduce your topic and chosen resource (including title and author).
  7. Explain why you chose that particular topic and resource.
  8. Express your initial impression of the resource.
  9. Strengths and weaknesses?
  10. What do you like/dislike about it? Why?
  11. Is any good information or advice present? Bad info or advice?
  12. You DO NOT have to respond to other students' posts to receive full credit on this assignment, but I recommend reading through their posts to see what others are writing on.

Criteria

Completion

Response Essay Topic Proposal Instructions
Purpose

Topic proposals are an opportunity for students to test drive a topic before writing a full essay on it. They also allow instructors to provide feedback and guidance to help students choose a topic that is focused and manageable, and that is related to the themes and concepts covered in the course. 

Instructions
  1. Read Response Essay Instructions.
  2. Choose a topic (Ex.: Procrastination, Medieval Life, AI) that interests you and find a video, article, or podcast that discusses some aspect of that topic. 
  3. You can use any of the sample topics/resources from the Response Essay Instructions or come up with your own.
  4. Read/watch/listen (or at the very least skim) your chosen resource.
  5. In the discussion board text box, write a brief (around 200 words) proposal in which you: 
  6. Introduce your topic and chosen resource (including title and author).
  7. Explain why you chose that particular topic and resource.
  8. Express your initial impression of the resource.
  9. Strengths and weaknesses?
  10. What do you like/dislike about it? Why?
  11. Is any good information or advice present? Bad info or advice?
  12. You DO NOT have to respond to other students' posts to receive full credit on this assignment, but I recommend reading through their posts to see what others are writing on.

Criteria

Completion

Response Essay First Draft (NonTraditional) Instructions
Purpose

Writing is an incredibly personal process. As such, I cannot expect all of you to approach starting a piece of writing in the same way.

The drafting part of the writing process comes at the beginning (although drafts should be in constant progress) and I want this to be a chance for you to write how your brain works instead of attempting to produce what you think I want.

The purpose of this assignment is to embrace your own writing process, whatever that might be. All forms of drafts are welcome (ex. written, audio, visual, etc.). Your draft needs to present a clear formation of ideas in a way that I can follow your thoughts so that I can give you helpful feedback.

A first draft is more about what you have to say instead of how you say it, and I'm hoping that this non-traditional approach to drafting will help you to formulate your ideas more clearly.

Task

You need to complete a draft of the ideas for your Response Essay. This could be in a more traditional format, or it could not. Feel free to use a variety of media (ex. drawings, voice memos, videos, diagrams, words, or a mixture of media). Your goal should be to create something that will communicate what ideas you want to put on paper.

Criteria

Completion

Reflection on Response Essay Instructions
Purpose

Reflect on the work you did with Response Essay. In order to become a better reader, writer, and learner, it is critical to practice thoughtful reflection. This is called "metacognition" (thinking about your own thinking). Practicing metacognition allows you to correct mistakes, look for areas of improvement, and reinforce the things you're doing well. Self-reflection will benefit you in schoolwork, but it also benefits you long-term because it will allow you to continually improve every aspect of your life (social, work, family, future academics, etc.)

Task

Reflect on the Response Essay assignment by answering any or all of the following questions:

  • What areas of your writing were strengthened by this assignment? 
  • What weaknesses did you discover?
  • What did you enjoy or not enjoy about this assignment? 
  • What did you discover about the piece you chose to respond to; did you learn anything new?
  • Which part of the writing process did you find the most useful, interesting, or enjoyable?

Then, respond to at least one classmate with a question, comment, connection, or anything related to their post.

Criteria
  1. One main post discussing the questions above (250 words minimum
  2. One response to a classmate (no word count; make sure it is thoughtful
Rhetorical Analysis: Elevator Pitch Instructions
Purpose

Practice using the rhetorical appeals (ethos, logos, and pathos). Persuasive writing is an integral part of life. Politicians, public speakers, political activists, advertisement agencies and so much many more use these rhetorical appeals to sway the masses or convince or persuade a person of something. Therefore, rhetoric can be a powerful and dangerous tool. Remember what Plato had said: "Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men". This discussion will allow you to begin to practice using rhetorical appeals to be able to recognize when others are using these weapons/tools against you and to be able to use these tools/weapons on others to perhaps one day advocate and initiate positive change in your community. For this course, specifically, you can use this as a stepping stone for your Persuasive Essay that will be introduced in the next module as you will be asked to persuade your reader of your particular stance. 

Task

Choose one elevator pitch from this list of multiple prompts and, using the rhetorical appeals (ethos, logos, and pathos), argue for your position.

  • You must convince the OC president that college should be completely free for students.
  • You must convince your boss that you deserve a 2 week long vacation in Italy.
  • You must convince your sister that the earth is round. 
  • You must convince a friend that aliens exist. 
  • You must convince your instructor that water bottles are actually good for the environment. 
  • You must convince yourself that robots are more beneficial than they are harmful. 

Criteria
  1. One main post discussing the questions above (250 words minimum).
  2. One response to a classmate letting them know where you saw them using the rhetorical devices and if you believe that they were effective in their persuasive pitch (no word count requirement, be insightful and thorough). 

Purpose:

The purpose of this MLA Citation Scavenger Hunt is to help you become familiar with the key elements of MLA formatting in academic papers. By actively searching for and identifying these elements, you'll develop a better understanding of how to properly format your own academic papers using MLA style.

Task:

Look at this example paper (can also be found at the bottom of this page). Then, answer the following questions:

  • What do you notice about the top right corner?
  • What do you notice about the top left corner?
  • Look at the second sentence. What do you notice about it? What comes at the end? Why do you think I included that? Can you find any other sentences that look similar to the second sentence?
  • On page 3, in the last paragraph on the page, there is one quote. What do you notice about the quote?
  • Look at the works cited page at the end. What do you notice about it?
  • What do you notice about the title?

Criteria for Success:

To successfully complete this activity, you should be able to:

  1. Identify and explain the purpose of the page header in MLA format.
  2. Recognize and describe the correct format for in-text citations.
  3. Explain how direct quotations are properly integrated and punctuated in MLA style.
  4. Describe the key features of an MLA Works Cited page.
  5. Identify the correct formatting for the title in an MLA paper.
Analytical Essay Topic Proposal Instructions
Purpose

It is important to begin formulating ideas and generating a topic early on in the process of writing an essay. This journal is a personal space to begin word dumping what you believe that you would like to write about for the Analytical Essay without the pressure of worrying about format or organization. By doing this, you can help reduce procrastination by already choosing a topic (perhaps the hardest part!) for your Analytical Essay. You can also use this as a framework for your introduction paragraph for the Analytical Essay. Using this "who/what/when/where/why" method of topic choosing can help you academically in other fields as well as it prompts you to consider every angle of a prompt or topic. 

Task

Please read through the Analytical Essay prompt and propose your topic to me using these questions as your framework:

  1. What mode of art are you choosing to analyze? Visual art (painting/mural/photo)? Music? Book? Story? Video? Who is the author/creator of the work you are choosing?
  2. Why did you choose this? Does it have a personal meaning to you? 
  3. What do you already notice about your chosen piece? What stands out? Why? 
  4. Briefly explain to me the history of your chosen piece. When was it written/painted/sung? Why? Where was it written/painted/sung/created? 

Criteria

This all can be completed in a minimum of 200 words

Analytical Essay First Draft (NonTraditional) Instructions
Purpose

Writing is an incredibly personal process. As such, I cannot expect all of you to approach starting a piece of writing in the same way. My own writing process has changed over time!

The drafting part of the writing process comes at the beginning (although drafts should be in constant progress) and I want this to be a chance for you to write how your brain works instead of attempting to produce what you think I want.

The purpose of this assignment is to embrace your own writing process, whatever that might be. All forms of drafts are welcome (ex. written, audio, visual, etc.). Your draft needs to present a clear formation of ideas in a way that I can follow your thoughts so that I can give you helpful feedback.

A first draft is more about what you have to say instead of how you say it, and I'm hoping that this non-traditional approach to drafting will help you to formulate your ideas more clearly.

Task

You need to complete a draft of the ideas for your Analytical Essay. This could be in a more traditional format, or it could not. Feel free to use a variety of mediums (ex. drawings, voice memos, videos, diagrams, words, or a mixture of mediums. Literally anything is welcome as long as it is communicated clearly enough that I can give you feedback). Your goal should be to create something that will communicate what ideas you want to put on paper.

Criteria
  • complete, thorough draft is submitted on time
  • Ideas in the draft are clear enough for me to give you quality feedback

That’s it. All I’ll be looking for on your non-traditional drafts (AKA your first drafts) is that your sources are cited ethically, that I can give you helpful feedback, and that you’ve made an intentional, and thorough, effort to think through your paper.

Reflection on Analytical Essay Instructions
Purpose

Reflect on the work you did with Analytical Essay. In order to become a better reader, writer, and learner, it is critical to practice thoughtful reflection. This is called "metacognition" (thinking about your own thinking). Practicing metacognition allows you to correct mistakes, look for areas of improvement, and reinforce the things you're doing well. Self-reflection will benefit you in schoolwork, but it also benefits you long-term because it will allow you to continually improve every aspect of your life (social, work, family, future academics, etc.)

Task

Reflect on the Analytical Essay assignment by answering any or all of the following questions:

  • What areas of your writing were strengthened by this assignment? 

  • What weaknesses did you discover?

  • What did you enjoy or not enjoy about this assignment? 

  • What did you discover about the piece you analyzed; did you learn anything new?

  • Which part of the writing process did you find the most useful, interesting, or enjoyable?

Then, respond to at least one classmate with a question, comment, connection, or anything related to their post.

Criteria

  1. One main post discussing the questions above (250 words minimum) - 75%

  2. One response to a classmate (no word count; make sure it is thoughtful) - 25%

Research Topic Proposal Instructions
Purpose

Before you get started on drafting and researching, I think it might be helpful to have a space to get feedback from me on your topic and the direction you are wanting to take your project. 

As you start to think about what topic you want to write about, consider these questions...

Is there an issue of particular cultural, political, or social importance to you? What about that issue is important? What do you want to find out about it? Is there something you are unfamiliar with but want to examine further? Is there a specific problem you'd like to solve?

Task

From there, please turn in at least two potential research questions. These questions are intended to guide your research, so they should be both complex and open-ended. You may not be able to ever answer your question, and that's fine! 

The goal is to provide a starting point when gathering research.

Post at least TWO potential research questions, and I will give feedback. Remember this: the narrower the better.

Follow this formula for narrowing your question (for guidance, see reading on "Generating a Research Question")

  1. General Topic:

  2. Narrow:

  3. Narrower:

  4. Still Narrower:

  5. Even Narrower:

Criteria

Submitted TWO potential research questions, following the formula provided (100%).

Working Thesis Statement Instructions
Purpose:

The proposal assignment gives you the opportunity to develop a working thesis statement/argument/position before charging full-speed ahead into the Persuasive Research Essay. It's a good idea to know what you want to argue for before you actually do it! It also allows you to get feedback from me on your thesis. That way, you'll have one of the most crucial pieces of your paper figured out ahead of your rough draft.

Keep in mind that your working thesis should be evolving as you write and research; eventually, you will discover your definitive thesis.

Thesis statements tell us what the paper is going to be about; without them, your reader will be confused, puzzled, aloof, and maybe even a little bit frightened. We don't want that now, do we? 

The goal of the thesis statement is to tell us what your response to the research is. What are you trying to persuade your audience of?

Task:

This assignment consists of two parts.

  1. Write out your research question.

  2. Draft at least two working thesis statements. These typically consist of one or two sentences. Your thesis statements need to consist of a main claim (what are you persuading us of?) and reasoning (so what? why do you think that way?)

Criteria:

You will receive 50% for each proposed thesis statement.

Persuasive Research Essay Draft (Traditional) Instructions
Purpose:

Now that you've crafted a working thesis statement and begun drafting what your essay could look like, it's time to put this thinking into practice. Write a traditional rough draft. It does not have to be complete, but you should strive to write as complete a draft as possible.

Drafting, revising, and receiving feedback is essential to improving your writing. Peer review is a big part of this. As just one person, I may miss things in your drafts. Having an extra set of eyes on your writing allows you to get a variety of feedback from multiple sources. Additionally, being able to examine and critique your classmates' writing gives you a chance to see what others are working on (not just what they could improve, but what you could improve too).

Task: 

1) For your rough draft, please attach a Word document to your main discussion post.

The main criteria of your rough draft is that it needs to contain a minimum of 800 words.

 

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