Change of Office Hours

I will now hold office hours on Mondays and Wednesdays from 12:30-1:30. If you cannot make those times but would like to meet with me, please email me so we can make other arrangements. The location of my office is on the syllabus.

Cancelled office hours, 9/25/12

I will not be holding office hours today. If you were planning on stopping by, please email me so that we can make other arrangements.

On Plagiarism…

A blog post from InsideHigherEd on “The Perils and Temptations of Plagiarism,” from an academic living in Sweden. Read the comments if you dare…oh, and feel free to post a link to an article on plagiarism in the comment section of this post. Perhaps we can gather a collection of articles on plagiarism for discussion in class.

Homework assigned 24 Sept. 2012

First and foremost: your second drafts and revision narratives are due via email by 5pm on Friday, September 28th. Please send them as either .doc or .docx attachments.

Due Sunday, September 30, by 5pm:

Please read Chapter 6 in TSIS, “Skeptics May Object”: Planting a Naysayer in Your Text.

Then, read Gerald Graff’s essay, “Hidden Intellectualism,” which starts on page 380 of TSIS.

On your blog, identify any “naysayers” Graff includes in his articles. Compose your own paragraph in which you state an objection to Graff’s article and then respond to the objection as he might. Please use templates from Chapter 6 and highlight them in bold.

Finally, respond to a classmate’s post with your thoughts about Graff’s article.

Remember: There is no class on Wednesday, September 26. I will see you again on Monday, October 1st. Email me with any questions you have. Have a good week!

PS: Please bring both books to class next time we meet.

Important!

If you did not turn in a hard copy of your essay during class today, you will not get credit for peer review, even if you emailed me a copy.  You must have emailed me a draft BEFORE class, and turned in a hard copy, in order to get credit. Your hard copy signifies your participation as an author whose work was reviewed and as a reviewer. Per the syllabus, you will also not receive written feedback from me on your second draft, which is due Friday, September 28. If you want feedback on your essay before you revise it for your final portfolio, you must come to see me during office hours.

Homework assigned 19 September 2012

For homework:

*Your peer review letters are due to your peers and me by 5pm on Friday, September 21 (see handout)

*Your revised essays, with a revision narrative, are due to me via email by 5pm on Friday, September 28 (see handout)

*Read Chapter Four in TSIS, “Three Ways to Respond.” Then, read “Are Colleges Worth the Price of Admission?” by Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus in TSIS. Write a summary of the article on your blogs according to the guidelines in A Writer’s Reference. Then, separate from your summary, practice the three different ways of responding from Chapter 4. One response will demonstrate disagreement with a point from the article using a template from page 60; one will  express agreement, using a template from page 62; and the third will express simultaneous agreement and disagreement, using a template from 65-66.

Following that exercise, in the same blog post, write a one or two paragraph response to the article using whichever template most closely reflects your actual reaction. Include a quotation from the article in your response paragraph. Make sure you properly introduce the quotation using a template from page 46. Then, explain the meaning of the quotation with a template from page 47. Make sure you accurately explain the meaning/significance of the quotation.  This exercise is due Sunday, September 23, by 5pm.

Problems with Wikipedia…

An open letter to Wikipedia by novelist Philip Roth that you might want to peruse…

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/09/an-open-letter-to-wikipedia.html

Addendum to HW, 9/12/12

As with past assignments, please comment on a fellow student’s post. Thank you.

Quick Note…

Please make sure you attach copies of your image to your drafts when you bring them in next week. They do not have to be color; black and white copies are fine.

Homework, assigned 12 September 2012

Hello, Students.

Today in class we created a draft of a rubric for the first essay assignment. I appreciate your thoughtful suggestions. It’s difficult, isn’t it, attempting to articulate the distinctions between a strong essay and an essay that could use improvement in multiple areas. I found myself asking, “What do we value about writing, and why?” And I think several of you made a good point about whether or not each area we assess should be weighted the same. I will tweak the rubric we developed and bring copies to class next time for peer review. Like your essays, the rubric is a draft, and we can continue to refine it over the course of the semester.

For homework, in addition to working on your first drafts of the visual analysis, before we meet next week, please:

*Read Ch. 3 from TSIS, “The Art of Quoting”

*Read Sanford J. Ungar’s “The New Liberal Arts,” (TSIS, 190-197)

*Post on your blogs a one paragraph summary of “The New Liberal Arts,” followed by a one paragraph response in which you quote specific parts  of the essay using templates from Ch. 3. Use templates to introduce the quotations, and templates to explain the quotations you’ve incorporated into your response (examples can be found on page 46-47). Use the guidelines on page 72 from a Writer’s Reference for your summary.

*As with past assignments, please comment on a fellow student’s post.

On another note, I’ve been really impressed with your responses to each other; I think you’re all making really useful comments and suggestions. Keep it up!