Writing across Contexts: Transfer, Composition, and Sites of Writing

Appendix C: Week-by-Week Schedule

DoI: 10.7330/9780874219388.c008 aP P endix c Teaching for Tran sfer: Week- by- Week schedule and M aj o r assi g n M en Ts Major assignment #1: source-based article on genre, audience, and rhetorical situation Potential Sources for Study • Lloyd Bitzer, “Rhetorical Situation” • Kathleen Blake Yancey, “On Reflection” • Billy Collins, “Commencement Address at Choate-Rosemary Hall” • Martin Luther King, Jr. “Letter From Birmingham Jail” • Nora Ephron, “A Few Words About Breasts” • Gloria Anzaldua, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” • Al Gore, Jr. (w/ William Clinton), “White House Climate Change Action Plan” • The McGraw-Hill Handbook, 3rd Edition, Chapter 1 (Writing Today), Chapter 2 (Understanding Assignments), Chapter 3 (Planning and Shaping), and Chapter 7 (Reading, Thinking, Writing). For this assignment, you will write a 6–8 page source-based article, in which you will go beyond summarizing to analyze and make connections between the concepts of genre, audience, and rhetorical situation, and begin to develop a theory of writing. You will choose four of the assigned sources (which represent a variety of genres) listed above, from which you will incorporate evidence to support your ideas about these key concepts and reflect on a possible theory of writing. You must first define the key terms audience, genre, and rhetorical situation and investigate their relationships within the context of all sources in order to determine the connections between them. You will closely analyze the sources you choose to write about in your article, looking at how each writer uses genre, handles the rhetorical situation, and reaches an audience. As you develop your article you will incorporate Appendix C 159 both the rhetorical strategies we will explore in class and your understanding of audience, genre, and rhetorical situation. At the same time you are developing your article, you will also create a 2–3 page reflection piece in which you begin to develop your theory of writing, considering the concepts of genre, audience, and rhetorical situation and how they connect. Week one: Course Introduction, Overview of Major Assignments READING DUE: Billy Collins; M-H Handbook Ch. 1 WRITING DUE: Journal #1—What is Writing? Reflection on Key Terms Week two: Genre, Rhetorical Situation READING DUE: Nora Ephron or Gloria Anzaldua; Martin Luther King; M-H Handbook Ch. 2 WRITING DUE: Journal #2—Genre and Audience Journal #3—Rhetorical Situation Week three: Rhetorical Situation, Audience READING DUE: Lloyd Bitzer; M-H Handbook Ch. 7 WRITING DUE: Draft #1 of Major Assignment #1 Week four: Workshop, Reflection READING DUE: Kathleen Yancey, “On Reflection”; M-H Handbook Ch. 3 WRITING DUE: Draft #2 of Major Assignment #1 FINAL—Major Assignment #1; Reflection Intro to Essay Two Major assignment #2: inquiry-based research essay Potential Sources for Study • Al Gore, TED lecture on climate change • Paul Auster, “Why Write” 160 KATHleen BlAKe YAnCeY, lIAne RoBeRTSon, AnD KARA TACzAK • Henry Jenkins, “Survivor Spoilers” • Nora Ephron, “The Boston Photographs” • Steven Johnson, “Where Good Ideas Come From” (excerpt from book and video) • Nicholas Carr, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” • The McGraw-Hill Handbook, 3rd Edition, Chapter 15 (Understanding Research), Chapter 16 (Finding and Managing Sources), Chapter 18 (Evaluating Sources), Chapter 21 (Working with Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism), Chapter 22 (Writing the Paper), and Chapter 23 (MLA Citation Style) • Sample student research essays For this assignment you will write a 7–10 page research essay. The objective in developing this inquiry-based research essay is not, perhaps, like other research essays with which you may be familiar. In an inquirybased essay, the development of a research question is the cornerstone of the essay, providing a guideline for you to follow your research wherever the information takes you. You are investigating and possibly raising additional questions rather than providing a definitive answer or arguing for one side or another. Therefore, the careful formulation of a solid research question about your topic is crucial to ensure your inquiry will be effective. Once your research question is finalized, you will conduct extensive inquiry into the potential implications and significance of your research question. You will seek connections between the information you discover during your research and the potential significance to your topic, identified audiences, and further inquiry. Your thorough research of multiple sources, and full analysis of your findings, will be the foundation from which you develop your essay. Your sources should be used as evidence to support, contradict, or expand on your ideas, and your essay must...