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Discovery Core I: The Human Place in Nature
Composition and Online Assignments |
Updated: 12/11/06 |
Basic Formatting Requirements for All Assignments Submitted as Word (.doc) or Rich Text Format (.rtf) documents
Thursday, Sept. 28 Assignment:
Tracy Kidder's Mountains on Mountains tells the story of one man's efforts to make substantial positive change in a political and cultural landscape that seemed to many to be completely without hope. Few of us choose to make such a massive effort and produce such extraordinary results, of course, but we are all capable of making some positive change in the world. Even Paul Farmer started on a relatively small scale. Write a short (500-750 word) personal essay discussing one event that made you see the world differently and caused you to act upon that feeling in a way that made a positive difference to someone outside your family. If you've never experienced this situation, write about an event that moved you to think beyond yourself and the reasons why you chose not to act. Like most assignments, this essay requires an argument (your are arguing about why the event was important and how (or how it did not) change you, and the effect of that change. You will therefore want to develop and refine a thesis statement and organize your essay around it. In the essay, if you can reflect upon Farmer's experiences in a way that clarifies your own, you may do so, but it is not necessary. (It is not part of the criteria for assessment.) I will use this assignment as the bechmark measurement for your writing for the quarter.
Due date and time: Must be posted by Monday, 12 noon. No late postings will be accepted, so post what you have to receive partial credit.
| Learning Outcome | Criteria: Weak |
Strong |
NMHH |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Edit with care so that choices regarding grammar, punctuation, style, spelling and mechanics enhance rather than detract from the writing's meaning and effect. | Reader has trouble understanding the majority of sentences because of these errors. Inconsistencies in usage, tense, etc. cause reader to be distracted. | Reader reads through the piece without stopping to ponder meaning. Errors are minimal and non-invasive, and grammar, punctuation, etc. improves the experience of the reader. | 5h, i; Parts 7, 10. 11 |
| 2. Shape well-developed paragraphs with effective transitions leading to an integrated text. | Paragraphs have multiple ideas and little internal consistency; reader cannot determine the logical connection between paragraphs. | Paragraphs contain a single idea that is developed to its natural conclusion given the scope of the topic sentence and with the proper support for assertions made. Reader follows the argument or narrative within and between paragraphs with ease. | 4 b,c, d; 5f |
| 3. Adopt appropriate and genuine voice, tone, and level of formality. | Choice of voice, tone, and level of formality creates dissonace with the reader because they do not correspond to the needs of the assignment (using humor inappropriately, using academic language in a personal essay, etc.); consistancy of choice is maintained throughout. | Choice of voice, tone, and level of formality draw the reader in and enhance interest rather than distract it. | 2c,d.e.f |
| 4. Make thoughtful choices about diction (word choice) and syntax (word order); distinguish correct from captivating. | Use of wrong, inappropriate or non-existant words creates confusion or suggests a different meaning for the reader. | Diction and syntax choices enhance interest and help clarify meaning for the reader. | 5h, i; Parts 8, 9 |
| 5. Understand and effectively respond to assignments as given | Writing leaves out most of the required parts of the essay, including content, structure, and tone. | Writing contains all of the required parts of the essay and demonstrates a deep understanding of its intent. | 2a,b,c |
| 6. Seek clarification for questions about assignments when necessary. | Student does not communicate with instructor about most to any concerns or questions s/he has about the assignment, or communicates and doesn't follow up when confusion still exists. | Student gets clarification from instructor on all questions or concerns, and follows up as necessary. | 2c; 5c |
| 7. Practice academic integrity, adhering to all rules of academic honesty. | Writer unintentionally does not cite sources for attribution, background and/or evidence in most or all cases; writer intentionally steals the intellectual content from other people, whether other students, writers or his/her own work from another course. Any other major infraction of academic honesty. | Writer scrupiously subscribes to the UW's code of academic honesty in its spirit as well as letter. | 21 |
| 8. Value and practice genuine intellectual exploration and risk-taking. | Piece includes few if any original ideas or conclusions that are not obvious and unchallengeable; writer's work never develops intellectually over the life of the course. | Piece demonstrates willingness to push beyond the obvious and assert ideas and conclusions that compel the reader's attention; writer's work demonstrates intellectual growth over the length of the course. | 1a; 2a; 3a |
| 9. Develop a focused thesis that allows for appropriate depth and complexity. | Piece does not contain a thesis. Piece contains a very broad thesis with no specificity, a thesis that is unarguable, or a thesis with too many parts to be developed adequately within the space constraints of the assignment. | Thesis lays out the complexities of the argument to be developed, conveys the importance of the assertion, and restricts its scope to the space constraints of the assignment. | 3b; 5d |
| 10. Utilize clear organizational strategies to develop lines of inquiry. | Piece contains no obvious organizational strategy, bounces from point to point without making connections, and provides little or no sense of the overall direction of the argument. | Organizational strategy leads the reader through the complexities of the argument laid out by the thesis, and leads logically to a compelling conclusion. | 3c; 5e |
Assessment criteria specific to this assignment (see the assigned NMHH chapter for further explanation and criteria):
An excellent essay contains:
Steps to take:
Oct. 5 Assignment
We begin to explore the craft of writing within an academic environment by concentrating on generating a few well-focused paragraphs. As the NMMH notes, paragraphs are the building blocks of writing. Without command of paragraphing, you will find it difficult to communicate effectively. We will therefore spend the next two weeks working on paragraphing.
For this assignment, identify one point made in the readings this week (Oct. 3 or 5) that made you rethink an assumption you had about the concept of "nature." A point is a specific claim that is backed up with logic and evidence. The point needs to be narrow enough so that you can effectively describe it in the first paragraph and make your analytical point in the second paragraph, and interesting enough that you are able to make a compelling point for the reader. The entire essay should be no more than 300 words. Use the Word Count function of your word processing program and include the count at the end of your essay.
Your first paragraph's topic sentence will introduce your reader to the point you intend to discuss. You will spend the rest of the paragraph describing it. NMHH refers to this as "a general-to-specific" organization (p. 70). (To keep things simple, you might want to start by writing something like "Jennifer Price, in her essay 'Looking for Nature at the Mall,' argues that..." You don't have to use that format, however.) To explain your idea within the first paragraph, you will probably use the "definition" approach to developing the paragraph (p.74-5).
Your second paragraph's topic sentence will explain how your assumption has changed. The second paragraph's organizational strategy is up to you (p. 69-70). You will need to use logic and evidence to support your claim, most likely drawing on details from your personal experience and relating them directly to the specific point made in the first paragraph. For the second paragraph, most of the suggested approaches to developing a paragraph will work (p. 71-83). However, if you have an approach that doesn't appear in the section but which you think will be effective, you should certainly use it. You should include a sentence or two at the end of the second paragraph that provides a conclusion, answering the "so what?" question (p. 87-88). You should cite references to specific pages by including the page number(s) within a parenthesis at the end of the appropriate sentence. You should not include a full citation.
Although this is a short essay, you should still go through the process of generating ideas, organizing, drafting, revising, and editing. Compose the essay first on your word processing program, and edit and revise from there, then cut and paste it into Blackboard.
Online Component:
Respond to at least two and no more than three postings with a single paragraph that explains how the posting helped you to rethink your own assumption about nature, using the same instructions for the second paragraph described above. The person who posted originally should then follow up with a response to a single or multiple replies to his/her posting. This response may be as little as a few sentences and no more than a paragraph.
There will be two Discussion Board forums for this assignment, divided alphabetically according to the first letter of your last name. You may read the postings in the other group, but you may only post to your group. If you want to make a reference to another student's writing in the other group, you may do so (but remember to cite the source by including that person's name).
Learning Outcomes and Criteria: Apply the first eight outcomes and criteria in the Sept. 28 assignment. Additional outcomes will include:
Steps to take:
Remember that you have a two chapter reading assignment for Tuesday, so budget your time accordingly.
This week, we will continue to work on reading comprehension and paragraph development, but make a step forward by keeping the writing entirely focused on the assigned reading for the week rather than your own experience and using this material to construct a critical argument. For this assignment, you will select one specific point from one of the three assigned essays, introduce the point and then provide one or two paragraphs that either challenge the point or extend the point by adding an argument that extends the usefulness of the original point. In either case, you will use logic and evidence from the course readings to support your claim. You may only make one additional point, but may use one or two essays to make that point. As with the Oct. 5 assignment, you should conclude your essay with a sentence or two clarifying the importance of your point.
While all of the assignments thus far (and most—perhaps all—of the writing you will do in college) have been arguments of sorts, this is the first assignment that calls for you to construct the type of analytical argument most commonly found in scholarly writing. That is, most college assignments ask you to convince the reader of the rightness of the content provide, even if it is to convince them in a seemingly "objective" report of the rightness of what you include versus what you exclude, how you define terms and explain others theories, etc. But argumentative writing seeks to explicitly convince your of its main point based on logic and evidence. At a later date, we will be covering the finer points of analyzing logic and evidence and applying your own effectively. At this point, we will do a short exercise using a few of these tools on Thursday, and you will draw on your past learning to do the rest. This will give you an opportunity to compare your skills level in this area early in the course and at a later point. You should of course review any sections of the handbook or Catalyst 2.0 that will help based on the assessment of your writing on Thursday.)
Online Component:
This week we will open up the responses a bit by encouraging more of a "real" conversation based on the initial posting, rather than having the responses be an extended writing assignment like last week. However, I will still provide clear criteria. Students will be assessed based on this criteria as part of the large class communication assignment. Students who have avoided participation in class are especially encouraged to provide additional comments beyond the minimum noted below (though no more than the maximum allowed, of course). Participating online does not replace in-class participation, and you will still receive a negative assessment (which will lower your final grade) regarding limited or no in-class participation, but it does offset the effect to some degree. As a happy medium, the less forthcoming in the classroom should aim for one substantive comment per class meeting (as outlined in the Criteria for In-class Collaborative Learning Assessment) while providing additional comments online.
You should respond to at least two of the writing assignment postings and no more than four. You should add an additional comment to at least two ongoing conversations. As with other online assignments, try to spread out your comments so that a good conversation grows out of every essay. To support this approach, you must post your second initial response to a posting that does not already have a response unless all essays in your group have received at least one response. For your second set of responses, you must post at least one of your responses to a conversation that does not yet have a a second-set response (that is, every essay should have a response and a follow-up).
Everyone begins a conversation by posting their essay to a new "thread" and choosing the subject line. A thread is the main organizing unit of a forum. Within a traditional classroom, there is usually only on "thread" (subject of discussion) going at once. Online, we usually have multiple threads going (unless the forum is limited to one thread). The following guidelines are intended to help you consider the special needs of the online environment, which provides a number of different advantages compared to classroom discussion but also has a number of potential pitfalls. (The same, of course, can be said for classroom discussion.) In either case, we want to try and maximize the learning potential of the specific environment.
It is very important to maintain a discussion structure (a "tree") that offers participants a good idea of the direction of the contents of the discussion. If yours is the first response to an essay, you should hit the "reply" button of the essay you are reading and responding to. In most cases, you will keep the subject line the same as it was (the default setting will generate a "Re:" and the original subject line. However, if you think you are adding a substantive point that alters the direction of the original essay (keeping to its original intent, of course) you may alter the subject line accordingly (using the same box where you enter the subject for your original posting).
Once there is a response posting, you will have the choice of responding to the original essay (as you did in your first response) or responding to the response (or responding a response to a response, etc.) Any response that references content from the original essay should respond to the essay, even if you are also including content from other responses in the thread. If you are replying to a specific point within a response and no other (or to a reply to a response, etc.), you should respond to that posting (using the same considerations about subject line as noted above). Usually, a thread that has a series of replies to replies (represented graphically by successive intentations for more than three postings in a row) a few other responses to the original essay is not going to be very productive. It indicates that the discussion is getting narrower and narrower rather than integrating the whole of the thread.
You may also begin a new thread with your second posting from your second set of responses. You may only do this if all of the threads have at least three responses and your are referencing at least two essays or threads fairly equally. (If you are mainly responding to one essay/thread but including a relatively small bit of content from another, respond to the main essay.) Your subject line should reflect this synthesis. This option is a good choice if you want to make a comment that offers some concluding thoughts to multiple threads.
It is important not to get too uptight about your posting decisions, since the main point is to create an intellectually stimulating learning experience. There are often more than one appropriate choice with advantages and disadvantages to different strategies. As with in-class discussion, different participants prefer different strategies (in both structural and content choices). In both environments, it's important to be mindful and respectful of those differences while still expecting everyone to play by the same set of rules. If you make your choice with care and can provide a reason based on the guidelines, you'll be fine. (The alternative is to mindlessly reply to whatever reply you happen to have open or create a new thread without a specific purpose in mind. That's what we want to avoid.)
The basic criteria for a successful response is that you would be interested to read it if it came from another students. As noted early, simply affirmation ("great essay, thanks!) will be removed, as will opinions unburdened by logic or evidence. You may offer a clarifying question, but you should explain clearly why you don't understand a writer's point (or what part of the point seems missing) and what are you looking for in response. (That is, avoid something like "I don't understand your point about White's misunderstanding about how logging works. Please explain?) If you ask a question requiring the expansion of a point, you should offer your own insight as well. Don't simply expect the first writer to do all of the work. For additional criteria, see Learning Outcomes #14 and 15, above.
All claims should be backed by logic and evidence from the text. At this point, do not bring in personal experience, as we have in past weeks, but stick to course readings. I will create a separate forum where you may discuss personal experience, connections with other courses, etc. For now, we want to stay narrowly focused on building our comprehension, analysis and argument skills within a limited environment. We will expand this format at a later time.
Steps to Take:
Learning Outcomes:
This assignment uses the same learning outcomes as Oct. 5, with one additional outcome:
| Learning Outcome | Criteria: Weak |
Strong |
NMHH |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17. Question the meaning of texts, and assess text based on a variety of criteria. | Analysis of text does not assess the logic, evidence, authorial perspective or methodology fairly or at all, or provides little or no details; analysis of text misreads the obvious intended meaning of the source's author. | Analysis of text fairly assesses the logic, evidence, authorial perspective and methodology with sufficient detail while clearly conveying the intended meaning. | 7a, b. c; 10a, b |
NOTE: There IS assigned reading for the Discovery Core section for Tuesday. See the syllabus for full details about the reading and research assignment discussed in class.
For this week's assignment, we will build on our reading comprehension and communication skills by adding the skill of synthesizing information from different sources. You will be working with sources that are generally "tertiary," that is they are the third step removed from the original, or primary, sources from which their information was derived. Secondary sources, whether scholarly or non-scholarly, gather primary sources and reference other secondary source writers to construct their works. Then, tertiary sources such as encyclopedias, survey textbooks, and web sites gather these secondary sources together and condense them, making choices about what gets included and what does not, and how it gets described. As we will learn, not all tertiary sources are equally useful or valid for a particular task, and all have specific preferences and perspectives that shape the information they are reporting.
The audience for this report is your group members. As an internal background report, you will be able to cite tertiary sources for both the factual evidence and analysis they provide. In most other cases in academia, you will not be allowed to cite these works, but must rely on scholarly and primary sources. Always check with your instructor so that you fully understand what she or he will accept as valid sources for a project. However, as will become clear in this project, tertiary sources can be very productive places to start a research project in order to gain a quick understanding of the parameters of a problem.
You will be reporting on theses sources to provide a background understanding for your group's research project.The project asks your group to research an identified environmental challenge or problem in the Puget Sound area and provide your audience, the general public, with a strong overview of the problem, its general and local history, the challenges or obstacles we face in solving it, some resources for those interested in learning more about the situation, and some possible solutions. You will be doing scholarly research and writing to get an understanding of the experts' view of the problem, as well as gathering primary sources to support your report. At the end of the course, each group will construct a multimedia presentation that will be placed on the web for the general public to view, so that others may benefit from what you have learned.
For this assignment, you will first participate in the class library exercises that are assigned in the "Individual and Society" part of the Discovery Core. Following your postings and choices from the exercises, you will be placed into research groups with a specific local environmental problem. Each group member is to write a report on their assigned topic, following the same guidelines. Afterwards, you will compare group findings to determine differences and similarities, and from this comparison move forward on your research project.
The questions you will address is the report are:
The report should be 750-1000 words long. Include the word count at the end of the report.
Online component:
After the report is posted, read through all of the reports. Post a short observation about differences and similarities. Respond once when all of your group members have posted their observation. (The Library Exercises also contain online components.
Steps to Take:
Remember that we still have a reading assigned as part of the Individual and Society Discovery Core
Learning Outcomes:
For this assignment, you will be assessed based on Learning Outcomes 1-8 and 13-16, as well as the following. Please reread the past outcomes as well as the new ones before proceding.
| Learning Outcome | Criteria: Weak |
Strong |
NMHH |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18. Identify, comprehend and describe the main points used in reports. | Piece does not provide clear sense of reports main points, supporting evidence, or logic; does not provide understanding of key terms; provides few to no details. Piece over-emphasizes or only provides one perspective; piece editorializes. | Piece conveys main points, supporting evidence and logic; all key terms are explained clearly and details are provided as needed. Piece is fair-minded and includes logical conclusions rather than editorializing | 8a, b |
| 19. Integrate information literacy goals with writing goals. | Writer uses limited range of sources; sources are not appropriate for the purpose of the assignment. | Full range of appropriate sources are used . | 16 |
| 20. Use appropriate technologies to discover sources of information; apply new information seeking strategies and/or methods to modify, update or learn about a research question/topic. | Writer only makes use of databases and sources from latest iteration of project; writer does not make effective use of search terms and strategies to identify sources. | Writer uses databases and sources from all stages of the project, making adjustments along the way. Writer's effective use of search terms and strategies supports project. | 16 |
| 21. Appreciate legal or ethical standards for appropriate and responsible information use; apply citation formats such as MLA, Chicago, or APA; cite sources appropriately. | Writer does cite sources of information either within or at the end of the piece. Writer does not use an identifiable citation format. | Writer cites information within and at the end of the piece using an identifiable citation format. | 20; Part 4 |
For this week's assignment we will return to the short, analytical argumentative essays you wrote for the Oct. 10 assignment. We will be working to improve several facets of your writing in this area. First, we will be thinking more extensively about topics to write on. You will choose your topic from the study questions that we are using for the Hardin and Quamman articles. (You will only be writing an essay on one of the assigned articles.) In class, we will be working through our understanding of the basic meaning of the articles and will then spend some time discussing questions that invitte analytical thought. Your involvement in these discussions should help you generate some ideas for your essay. As with the Oct. 10 assignment, you will be asked to add a new point beyond that which the authors have made while drawing on other readings to help you provide logic and evidence; as with the previous assignment, you should use the first paragraph to convey a clear sense of the author's point that you are discussing. You will not be limited to challenging or extending the author's point, but rather can make any argument that is generated by the study questions. You again should stick to a single point. This time, underline your thesis statement (which, given the number of words, should be no more than two sentences and will probably be one sentence).
Second, we will be focusing more on the basic elements of argument to develop further your ability to think critically and respond productively to scholarly writing. you should read Chapter 10a-c in the NMHH as soon as possible (before Thursday would be ideal). This section deals with how to analyze, assess and communicate arguments. This reading and class discussion should help you hone your ability to write short analytical argumentative essays.
Third, every student will document the effort they have made to improve their writing, basing their strategy on my Oct. 5 and 10 assessments of their writing. You will be asked to check off the steps that everyone is expected to take as well as listing three additional steps you have taken to respond to my assessment. When you post your essay (by cutting and pasting, as on Oct. 10), you will add the Documented Writing Improvement Form by attachment. The care that you take with your answers, and the connection between your answers and your actual performance, will become part of your final portfolio grade.
Online component:
The online component will be very similar to Oct. 10. One change is that you must respond to a posting about the article you did NOT write about, and that response must be a fully realized paragraph (two at most) that extends, complicates or challenges the original point made—it may not simply be a question or observation. This response must make use of material from the reading you are resonding to. That is, you must demonstrate that you have read and understood the article. You will make two responses (one of which may be a thoughtful question with your observations) and then will contribute a final comment to the discussion surrounding your original posting. Otherwise, this discussion will follow the same guidelines and criteria as Oct. 10.
Steps to Take:
There will be a reading assignment for the following Tuesday.
Learning Outcomes:
This assignment uses the same learning outcomes as Oct. 10, with one additional outcome:
22. Employ the tools and approaches associated with pre-writing, drafts and revision, including careful consideration of the comments of the instructor(s) and peers.
Happy Holloween! Here's the treat: This week we will take a break from a formal writing assignment. Whew! Time to catch your breath a bit and review all of your past writings and assessments.
Online component:
The online componant will be separate from the composition assignment this week. There are two parts to our online work (kind of the trick, but not so bad).
First, we will be engaging in a discussion of the readings from this week. You will need to post at least one initial observation about the readings. Your initial observation must be on a point that someone in your group has not already covered, and should be substantive—that is, you must make an analytical or interpretive point based on material from the readings. You will then need to post two response messages. Of these three messages, at least one of them must be from the Oct. 31 reading and one must be from the Nov. 2 reading, and again must cite a substantive point from the readings. You are encouraged to post additional comments, up to six total. Your additional comments do not have to reference the readings specifically, and may bring in personal experiences, other courses, broader observations and conclusions. In all of your postings, you are encouraged to bring in information that you or others have gained from your research assignments. As before, you may not post a second response to an original posting that already has a response if there is one that doesn't yet have a response. While this is not a composition assignment, your postings should be clearly written with a minimum of typos. Cite page numbers and titles of your sources. Your performance will be assessed as part of your large groups participation grade. Refer to the Oct. 10 Online Component description and guidelines for further tips and guidelines. Although this is not a formal writing assignment, it is designed to improve your comprehension and argumentation skills.
Second, you will begin a discussion with your group about the specific focus of your group project. This discussion should begin after Thursday's class. I will provide more information at that time. There will be a short information literacy assignment attached to this that will prepare you for next Tuesday's info lit workshop in the library.
Steps to Take:
Online Assignment #1:
Online Assignment #2:
This week we begin the first stage of a four-part assignment tied to your group research project. The overall writing assignment is to write a 1000-1500 word argumentative analytical essay that compares and contrasts two scholarly articles that disagree about an important issue from the same disciplinary or interdisciplinary perspective. You have already started to focus your topics and generate your search terms in your groups; today we will begin gaining the information literacy skills you need to select your articles. The four parts of the assignment are: a descriptive essay on the two articles' arguments; a formal sentence outline or alternative; a first version of the essay; a revision of the essay. For this project, we will be using APA citation style.
Descriptive essay: Write a 500-750 word essay that describes the main arguments of each article, their area(s) of disagreement, and their reasons for disagreement. Note whether the disagreement includes methodology, ideological perspective, use of evidence, logic, conclusions drawn from the evidence, or any other reason. I would suggest that you structure the paper so that you write a short introductory paragraph that includes the focus of the articles and their relationship to your group project, then one paragraph each describing the main arguments, then whatever number of paragraphs needed for areas of disagreement. No not offer your opinion. Do not editorialize in any way. Your title should be "Comparison of [titles of articles]. Place the word count at the end of the essay, and include full APA citations for each source. Before you start writing, fill out the Documented Writing Improvement Form 2. Review especially the 10_17 and 10_24 assessments. Post it with your essay.
Revisions:
Option #1: Same as before. Use two scholarly peer-reviewed sources as the basis for writing a compare/contrast argumentative essay. This week’s composition assignment remains the same.
Option #2: Use two scholarly or non-scholarly secondary sources written by experts who disagree. Basically the same thing.
Option #3: Use five scholarly or non scholarly sources that are closely connected to a focused topic and provide the pieces of the puzzle needed to write an argumentative analytical paper. This writing process will probably be more challenging, but is the alternative in case you still can’t find sources that disagree.
Standards for non-scholarly secondary sources:
Must be secondary sources (see NMHH)
Must be written by experts (see NMHH). A Ph.D. or similar degree is expected, unless author has record of scholarly writing.
Must be an argumentative analytical piece of writing. (Must make a claim and back it up with logic and evidence.)
Must have been located through a database.
Non-scholarly sources might include magazines like the New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, New York Times Magazine, National Review, etc. If you are unsure AT ALL, check Ulrich’s database. Search the name of the publication and click the Review tap. That should also give you some idea of the publications political/ideological perspective, if any.
NO NOT USE “OBJECTIVE” (NON’ARGUMENTATIVE) SOURCES LIKE NEWSPAPERS. DO NOT USE WEB SITES OR ORGANIZATIONAL, GOVERNMENT REPORTS.
If you have any doubts or further questions, please email me.
| Learning Outcome | Criteria: Weak |
Strong |
NMHH |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Edit with care so that choices regarding grammar, punctuation, style, spelling and mechanics enhance rather than detract from the writing's meaning and effect. | Reader has trouble understanding the majority of sentences because of these errors. Inconsistencies in usage, tense, etc. cause reader to be distracted. | Reader reads through the piece without stopping to ponder meaning. Errors are minimal and non-invasive, and grammar, punctuation, etc. improves the experience of the reader. | 5h, i; Parts 7, 10. 11 |
| 2. Shape well-developed paragraphs with effective transitions leading to an integrated text. | Paragraphs have multiple ideas and little internal consistency; reader cannot determine the logical connection between paragraphs. | Paragraphs contain a single idea that is developed to its natural conclusion given the scope of the topic sentence and with the proper support for assertions made. Reader follows the argument or narrative within and between paragraphs with ease. | 4 b,c, d; 5f |
| 3. Adopt appropriate and genuine voice, tone, and level of formality. | Choice of voice, tone, and level of formality creates dissonace with the reader because they do not correspond to the needs of the assignment (using humor inappropriately, using academic language in a personal essay, etc.); consistancy of choice is maintained throughout. | Choice of voice, tone, and level of formality draw the reader in and enhance interest rather than distract it. | 2c,d.e.f |
| 4. Make thoughtful choices about diction (word choice) and syntax (word order); distinguish correct from captivating. | Use of wrong, inappropriate or non-existant words creates confusion or suggests a different meaning for the reader. | Diction and syntax choices enhance interest and help clarify meaning for the reader. | 5h, i; Parts 8, 9 |
| 5. Understand and effectively respond to assignments as given | Writing leaves out most of the required parts of the essay, including content, structure, and tone. | Writing contains all of the required parts of the essay and demonstrates a deep understanding of its intent. | 2a,b,c |
| 6. Seek clarification for questions about assignments when necessary. | Student does not communicate with instructor about most to any concerns or questions s/he has about the assignment, or communicates and doesn't follow up when confusion still exists. | Student gets clarification from instructor on all questions or concerns, and follows up as necessary. | 2c; 5c |
| 7. Practice academic integrity, adhering to all rules of academic honesty. | Writer unintentionally does not cite sources for attribution, background and/or evidence in most or all cases; writer intentionally steals the intellectual content from other people, whether other students, writers or his/her own work from another course. Any other major infraction of academic honesty. | Writer scrupiously subscribes to the UW's code of academic honesty in its spirit as well as letter. | 21
|
| 13. Use active reading for inquiry, learning, thinking, and communication--learn how to read more precisely and evocatively, to make sense of difficult texts, both linguistic and visual. | Piece reveals little to no understanding of both the basic and underlying meaning of the source, or only a surface understanding of both; piece demonstrates little to no ability to contextualize points or facts within larger argument or framework of source. | Piece communicates the essence of both the basic and underlying meaning of a source in a complex way that does justice to its context within the argument or framework of the source. | 7 |
| 16. Write with precision--employ adequate details, definition, and context. | Piece communicates only surface or imprecise ideas and descriptions. Writing is abstract and non-specific with few or no details or imprecise or confusing definitions and with little or no integration to the context of the piece's argument or framework so that reader is confused about the writer's true intent. | Piece communicates the essence of the writer's intended meaning with clarity and specificity, offering details and definitions as needed within the argument or framework of the piece. | |
| 19. Integrate information literacy goals with writing goals. | Writer uses limited range of sources; sources are not appropriate for the purpose of the assignment. | Full range of appropriate sources are used . | 16 |
| 20. Use appropriate technologies to discover sources of information; apply new information seeking strategies and/or methods to modify, update or learn about a research question/topic. | Writer only makes use of databases and sources from latest iteration of project; writer does not make effective use of search terms and strategies to identify sources. | Writer uses databases and sources from all stages of the project, making adjustments along the way. Writer's effective use of search terms and strategies supports project. | 16 |
| 21. Appreciate legal or ethical standards for appropriate and responsible information use; apply citation formats such as MLA, Chicago, or APA; cite sources appropriately. | Writer does cite sources of information either within or at the end of the piece. Writer does not use an identifiable citation format. | Writer cites information within and at the end of the piece using an identifiable citation format. | 20; Part 4 |
| 23. Identify, comprehend and describe the main thesis and sub-arguments. | |||
| 24. Identify, comprehend and describe the evidence used. | |||
| 25. Identify, comprehend and describe any conclusions made. | |||
| 26. Identify, comprehend and describe the intellectual context in which the source's author(s) places it, including scholarly and other debates within and across disciplines. |
Online Component:
As the Library Workshop explains, post your responses to Part 2, Section B, to the general discussion board forum, "Database Search Information." Read all of the other postings so that you can get a good idea of the different databases available. Post any questions you might have about the database. Answer any questions for your database exercise by Tuesday, Nov. 14, 11am.
Steps to Take:
This week, we will continue to develop our essays by engaging in the prewriting process, which you read about in chapters 2 and 3 of NMHH. In your last assignment, you described the main arguments found in your chosen article or articles and either noted how the two articles differed or how the article(s) suggested a topic about which you might write. All of you have broad topics; many of you have narrow topics. If you don't, that will be your first task. You are being asked to write an argumentative analysis. (NMHH refers to it simply as an "argument.") You have been writing short versions of this type of essay for most of the term. You will be writing for a college-educated audience interested in your topic but with no preconceptions.
For those of you with two articles that disagree, your job is easier, since you only have to focus on the disagreements to come up with your preliminary thesis. For those without this advantage, I would strongly encourage you to consider using a concept from the other course writings as the basis for your thesis. For example, what happens when you apply Cronon's concepts of the "wrong wilderness" to your topic? What about Price's concepts of using certain concepts of nature (for example, cute animals like seals) to make us feal connected to nature? Or Hardin's concept of mutual coersion, mutually agreed up? Of the concept of "human weeds" in Quamman. The NMHH notes different ways to generate ideas for your writing. You should, of course, take careful notes about the article(s) you are writing on. If you are considering using concepts from past readings, you should go back to your critical notes and review those. In class on Thursday, we will do a number of these exercises. You should bring to class whatever notes you have made for the assignment thus far.
Your assignment for this week is to create an organizational plan for your essay. You have the choice between doing a formal sentence outline or a do/say plan, as described in the NMHH, p. 50-54. I would encourage you to try generate these using longhand first, and then transfer them to the computer, unless you feel strongly that you do your best work straight to the computer (consider whether you have tried alternatives before).
Because of the glitches in the research part of the assignment, I have cleared away the schedule and pushed back some deadlines to support your learning goals. The outlining assignment must be posted to the "Essay Organization" Discussion Board by Saturday, 10pm. The essay is now due Tuesday, Nov. 28, at 11am in class.
| Learning Outcomes | Criteria: Weak | Strong |
| 5. Understand and effectively respond to assignments as given | Writing leaves out most of the required parts of the essay, including content, structure, and tone. | Writing contains all of the required parts of the essay and demonstrates a deep understanding of its intent. |
| 6. Seek clarification for questions about assignments when necessary. | Student does not communicate with instructor about most to any concerns or questions s/he has about the assignment, or communicates and doesn't follow up when confusion still exists. | Student gets clarification from instructor on all questions or concerns, and follows up as necessary. |
| 22. Employ the tools and approaches associated with pre-writing, drafts and revision, including careful consideration of the comments of the instructor(s) and peers. | ||
| 27. Advance, reflect on, and develop claims that emerge from and explore a line of inquiry. | ||
| 28. Argue from published evidence and draw appropriate evidence-based conclusions | ||
| 29. Create an integrated organizational structure |
Your final essay will build on the last two assignments. By now you should have a good sense of the basic content of your source as well as your basic argument. As usual, you will follow the steps of organizing, drafting and revising your essay. You will be following the processes you have read about in chapters 2-4 in NMHH. Although you will have a chance to revise the essay, you must turn in a carefully constructed finished work at this point. Post the Argumentative Essay forum in your GROUP DISCUSSION BOARD. You must also bring hard copies for yourself and each of your group members on the day it is due. We will be completing a peer review workshop on that day.
| Learning Outcome | Criteria: Weak |
Strong |
NMHH |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Edit with care so that choices regarding grammar, punctuation, style, spelling and mechanics enhance rather than detract from the writing's meaning and effect. | Reader has trouble understanding the majority of sentences because of these errors. Inconsistencies in usage, tense, etc. cause reader to be distracted. | Reader reads through the piece without stopping to ponder meaning. Errors are minimal and non-invasive, and grammar, punctuation, etc. improves the experience of the reader. | 5h, i; Parts 7, 10. 11 |
| 2. Shape well-developed paragraphs with effective transitions leading to an integrated text. | Paragraphs have multiple ideas and little internal consistency; reader cannot determine the logical connection between paragraphs. | Paragraphs contain a single idea that is developed to its natural conclusion given the scope of the topic sentence and with the proper support for assertions made. Reader follows the argument or narrative within and between paragraphs with ease. | 4 b,c, d; 5f |
| 3. Adopt appropriate and genuine voice, tone, and level of formality. | Choice of voice, tone, and level of formality creates dissonace with the reader because they do not correspond to the needs of the assignment (using humor inappropriately, using academic language in a personal essay, etc.); consistancy of choice is maintained throughout. | Choice of voice, tone, and level of formality draw the reader in and enhance interest rather than distract it. | 2c,d.e.f |
| 4. Make thoughtful choices about diction (word choice) and syntax (word order); distinguish correct from captivating. | Use of wrong, inappropriate or non-existant words creates confusion or suggests a different meaning for the reader. | Diction and syntax choices enhance interest and help clarify meaning for the reader. | 5h, i; Parts 8, 9 |
| 5. Understand and effectively respond to assignments as given | Writing leaves out most of the required parts of the essay, including content, structure, and tone. | Writing contains all of the required parts of the essay and demonstrates a deep understanding of its intent. | 2a,b,c |
| 6. Seek clarification for questions about assignments when necessary. | Student does not communicate with instructor about most to any concerns or questions s/he has about the assignment, or communicates and doesn't follow up when confusion still exists. | Student gets clarification from instructor on all questions or concerns, and follows up as necessary. | 2c; 5c |
| 7. Practice academic integrity, adhering to all rules of academic honesty. | Writer unintentionally does not cite sources for attribution, background and/or evidence in most or all cases; writer intentionally steals the intellectual content from other people, whether other students, writers or his/her own work from another course. Any other major infraction of academic honesty. | Writer scrupiously subscribes to the UW's code of academic honesty in its spirit as well as letter. | 21 |
| 8. Value and practice genuine intellectual exploration and risk-taking. | Piece includes few if any original ideas or conclusions that are not obvious and unchallengeable; writer's work never develops intellectually over the life of the course. | Piece demonstrates willingness to push beyond the obvious and assert ideas and conclusions that compel the reader's attention; writer's work demonstrates intellectual growth over the length of the course. | 1a; 2a; 3a |
| 9. Develop a focused thesis that allows for appropriate depth and complexity. | Piece does not contain a thesis. Piece contains a very broad thesis with no specificity, a thesis that is unarguable, or a thesis with too many parts to be developed adequately within the space constraints of the assignment. | Thesis lays out the complexities of the argument to be developed, conveys the importance of the assertion, and restricts its scope to the space constraints of the assignment. | 3b; 5d |
| 10. Utilize clear organizational strategies to develop lines of inquiry. | Piece contains no obvious organizational strategy, bounces from point to point without making connections, and provides little or no sense of the overall direction of the argument. | Organizational strategy leads the reader through the complexities of the argument laid out by the thesis, and leads logically to a compelling conclusion. | 3c; 5e |
| 16. Write with precision--employ adequate details, definition, and context. | Piece communicates only surface or imprecise ideas and descriptions. Writing is abstract and non-specific with few or no details or imprecise or confusing definitions and with little or no integration to the context of the piece's argument or framework so that reader is confused about the writer's true intent. | Piece communicates the essence of the writer's intended meaning with clarity and specificity, offering details and definitions as needed within the argument or framework of the piece. | |
| 17. Question the meaning of texts, and assess text based on a variety of criteria. | Analysis of text does not assess the logic, evidence, authorial perspective or methodology fairly or at all, or provides little or no details; analysis of text misreads the obvious intended meaning of the source's author. | Analysis of text fairly assesses the logic, evidence, authorial perspective and methodology with sufficient detail while clearly conveying the intended meaning. | 7a, b. c; 10a, b |
| 21. Appreciate legal or ethical standards for appropriate and responsible information use; apply citation formats such as MLA, Chicago, or APA; cite sources appropriately. | Writer does cite sources of information either within or at the end of the piece. Writer does not use an identifiable citation format. | Writer cites information within and at the end of the piece using an identifiable citation format. | 20; Part 4 |
| 22. Employ the tools and approaches associated with pre-writing, drafts and revision, including careful consideration of the comments of the instructor(s) and peers. | |||
| 28. Argue from published evidence and draw appropriate evidence-based conclusions |
This week, we will begin the revision process. You will receive feedback from your peers and from me. After you have considered the feedback, complete the Documented Writing Improvement Form 3 and post it to your group's Argumentative Essay forum as a "reply" to your original essay posting. You will begin to consider the larger issues that your readers have raised, starting with your thesis and organizational structure. You will may be deleting and adding paragraphs (remember, these should be consider first drafts), and adding evidence and analysis as needed. By next week, you will be moving on to revising within paragraphs, including paragraphs and transitions, editing sentences for clarity and effectiveness, and then finally proofreading. Before you start the process, you should read Ch. 5 in NMHH to get a complete overview (skip 5g on visuals).
We will also begin working on an alternative to the cancelled multimedia project. Your group will be creating a poster that demonstrates what you have learned about your research problem. On Dec. 12, you will share your poster with students in Prof. David Stokes' Northwest Environmental History course, who are also doing posters. Because we were not able to complete the research required to understand the project in its local context, most of you will be addressing the problem more generally. A full description of a poster project and the steps to take, along with some samples, may be found at http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/speaking/poster/ . We will go over the process more carefully on Tuesday, Dec. 5. The posters will be divided into three sections: Research Problem, Historical Background, Research Findings, and Conclusion. The group will have three collective writing assignments: Research Problem, Historical Background, and Conclusions. For the Historical Background section, each group member will provide 1-2 paragraphs from one section of the topic. Most of the information will come from the Research Encyclopedia entries (such as those found in Gale Virtual Reference), although you can also use information found in your own research. These paragraphs are reports, not explicit arguments. You will be working to craft your collective research problem on Tuesday, Dec. 5, along with other tasks related to the poster. On Thursday, you will work on your conclusions and put the poster together. I will provide basic tools (glue sticks, scissors, Sharpies).
For this Tuesday's class, your group should immediately begin an online discussion about how you want to divide up the Historical Background section (use the General Comments section of your group) and decide which encyclopedia entries you will be using (refer back to your original postings and reports on the topic). You should also begin sketching out how your want to present your own research findings, and bring your ideas to class. Read the tips at http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/speaking/poster/ and start to check the web or other souces for images. If you know how to use Excel, consider creating graphs or tables. Read Chapter 4d in NMHH to get ideas about how to use visuals. Both Word and PowerPoint can be used to combine drawing, graphics, text, and images.
Our final assignment provides us with an opportunity to reflect on what we have learned in the course and present our findings. We will be assembling a portfolio of our work in the course, which will include every Composition Assignment (I will create a special web page with the assignments and without the online elements for you to print out), every essay and every assessment (both the scoring rubric and the returned essays with comments). By Friday, you will receive your first essay back (remember that one?), which you will use as a benchmark to help measure your progress in the course. If you are missing any assessment, let me know as soon as possible. The only assessments I don't have are the first two returned essays (I have the rubrics, of course), before I started commenting on them using the computer.
Once you have assembled your portfolio, you should read over every assignment, essay and assessment carefully. Take special note to read and think about the criteria on the assignment page. Take notes as you read in anticipation of answering the questions below. When you are done, go through the usual writing process of prewriting, drafting and revision. As always, you will need to provide logic and evidence to support your argument. You should have a polished essay when you are done, which will provide final proof of your level of achievement this quarter. In writing your essay, you should aim for honest reflection. You are not making a case for a grade, but rather demonstrating that you have understood and gained from the assessment process. Also, you may certainly include elements from the course which you feel did not serve you well in explaining your learning process. Do not present these as an"excuse," but rather part of the evidence that supports your argument. In creating this essay, you are also providing yourself with a roadmap for the future—which capacities you can build on, which you need to improve in the future. The essay should be between 500-1000 words, with the usual formatting requirements.
I have decided to change some deadlines to provide you with more time to do the reflection and separate the writing of the final essay revision from the portfolio essay (and to give you the opportunity to reflect on the final essay). The final essay revision is now due Monday, Dec. 11, 10pm, posted as a reply to your original essay. The portfolio is now due Thursday, Dec. 14, 11am, in my office. There will be a box outside the office for your to turn the portfolio in if you have finished before the deadline. This new deadline actually gives you more time for both the revision and portfolio essay, since you would have needed to finish up the revision by Sunday night at the latest in order to do the portfolio essay properly.
Questions for the essay (do not use these as subheadings for your essay, but rather as prompts to get you thinking):
After considering your learning trajectory from start to finish, for which learning outcomes have you demonstrated the most improvement? Discuss the process and explain why you think you were able to improve these outcomes.
For which learning outcomes have you demonstrated the least improvement? Discuss the process and explain why you think you were not able to improve as much.
In thinking about the above questions, consider the availablity of resources and your use of them: reading (and re-reading) the New McGraw-Hill handbook, completing the online Catalyst 2.0 exercises and explanations, emailing or visiting with me about help with your writing or clarifying assessment comments, posting questions and ideas on Blackboard, using the Writing Improvement Form, and visiting the Writing Center.
How would you characterize your overall writing capacities at the end of this course? What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses?
What do you hope to accomplish in your learning by the end of the academic year (Spring Quarter)?
Steps to Take:
Cooperative Learning Poster Project
Fill out this Group Member Evaluation Form and email it to me by Tuesday, Dec. 12, 10pm. Completion of this form is a central part of your small group participation grade.
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© 2001-2006 Michael Lewis Goldberg: intellectual property information