Grading Rubrics

Rubric for in-class assignments 

0: The assignment was not completed or barely attempted.

1: The assignment was only partially completed; OR, the assignment was completed with only minimal effort and attention.

2: The assignment was completed satisfactorily, though the student may misunderstand one or more of the key concepts that the activity is meant to reinforce.

3: The assignment was completed satisfactorily. All tasks have been completed with thought, care, and attention to detail.

4: The assignment was completed in an exemplary fashion. The student has gone above and beyond the teacher’s expectations by devoting extraordinary time and effort to the assignment and/or producing innovative and thought-provoking work.

Rubric for workshops and feeders

0: The workshop was not completed.

2: The workshop was only partially completed; OR, the workshop was completed with only minimal effort and attention. The workshop partner has not received substantial information that will help him or her to improve the essay.

4: The workshop was completed with less than satisfactory effort. Answers to one or more draft workshop form questions are minimal or dismissive, and there is little evidence that the author has engaged seriously with the draft. The feedback provided will allow the workshop partner to make only surface-level or localized revisions.

6: The workshop was completed satisfactorily. The author has provided thoughtful answers to all draft workshop questions, and these questions should allow his or her workshop partner to make substantive and helpful revisions.

8: The workshop was completed with particular care and diligence. All answers to workshop questions are thoughtful, detailed, and well developed. Inline comments may also appear, pointing out issues not highlighted by the draft workshop form. The workshop partner can use this information to improve his or her essay substantially.

10: The workshop was completed in an exemplary fashion. All draft workshop questions have comprehensive, detailed answers that show not only attention to detail, but also a creative and innovative engagement with the workshop. Inline comments may also provide helpful feedback not related to the workshop questions. The workshop partner can use this information to drastically improve his or her essay.

Accessing Nature

Click here for instructions on how to access Nature through UNC’s Library web site:

http://engl1022010.blogspot.com/2010/01/instructions-for-accessing-nature.html

Take a few minutes to browse the editorials in recent issues. If you find an article you might consider using for your Feeder 1.1 assignment, write down the title, author, and issue number so that you can find it again later. Feel free to discuss articles with your group members as you find them.

If you find an article that you feel confident will work for your Unit 1 Project, you can go ahead and get started with Feeder 1.1.

Kindle Article

http://www.slate.com/id/2263787/

Activity: Slate 9/11 Memorial Article

http://www.slate.com/id/2302983/

Work together in groups of 4 or 5 to answer the following questions about this article: 

• What is the article's main claim? 
• What are the author's most important reasons presented in support of that claim? Identify at least 3. 
• Does the author offer any qualifications of his claim? 
• Can you identify any assumptions (stated or unstated) that a reader might disagree with? 
• Is the author's argument convincing? Why or why not? 

Write your answers collaboratively in a Google Doc and share it with my gmail address. Once you have completed the assignment, have one member of your group submit it via the "Turn in Assignments" link under Course Documents.

Drafting General Introduction

In addition to your personal introductions, your blog should also include a general introduction in which you explain the overall goals of your blog, its target audience, and its subject matter. This blog should orient your readers, much like the introduction page of a book. Work together to brainstorm what your introduction should include and start working on the first draft in the Google Doc so everyone can see and edit it.

Draft Workshop: Introductory Post Assignment

After everyone has pasted their intros successfully, read each of them and then re-read your own introduction. Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do all of the posts follow the same format? Are they of comparable lengths? Do they employ a similar authorial voice?

2. Are all of the posts consistent with the blog identity you talked about on Tuesday? Why or why not?

3. Did you notice any grammatical, spelling, or formatting errors in your or any of your groupmates' drafts?

Based on your answers to these questions, take 5 minutes or so to revise your introduction on the Google Doc.

Drafting Your Personal Introduction

As you know, your Introductory Post Assignment requires you to introduce each of the group members writing for your blog. Your homework this weekend is to compose a draft of your personal introduction. The length of the draft should be 1 substantial paragraph (probably around 5-7 sentences), and it should follow the rough plan for your blog that you and your group members decided on in class last week.

Once you have completed the draft, create a new Google Doc and make sure that it is shared with dlupton79@gmail.com (click the blue "share" button in the upper-right corner of Google Docs). Next, submit a link to the assignment using the "Turn in Assignments" link under Course Documents on the right-hand side of the course blog.

This assignment is due by the start of class on Wednesday, January 23.

Brainstorming Ideas for Your Blog

In your groups, start the conversation about what you want your blogs to look like. Please brainstorm on a new Google Doc shared with me and with all of your group members… it helps get ideas out without judging them. Here are some places you might start:

Who are you as authors? What do you and your group-mates have in common that might give the blog a coherent identity?

Who do you want to write to? What is this population like? What background information do they have? What assumptions or biases will they have?

How will you establish your credibility? Why should your audience trust you as authors? How will you convey this to your audience?

Another Science Blog: Superbug

Take a few minutes to check out the Superbug blog here:

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/superbug

Think about how this blog presents itself differently than ScienceBlog.com, which we looked at last class. With your group, discuss any difference in how the author presents herself, the author’s target audience, and the main features and conventions of the text. We’ll discuss your findings as a class.

Facebook Activity

Get into groups of 2 or 3 within your regular workshop groups. Help one other person in your group find your Facebook profile. You can either friend the person so they can see all of your information, or you can leave them with only the information that non-friends can see. Once you have looked at one of your group members’ profiles, answer the following questions

Write at least four adjectives that describe this person based solely on their Facebook profile.

For each adjective, explain which parts of the profile led you to use the adjective you did.

Consider you are the administrator for a Study Abroad program trying to determine whether to admit the student. How would viewing their Facebook profile affect your decision? In this professional / academic context, do you view the student more or less favorably?

Type the answers to your questions in a new Google Doc and share it with me and the person whose profile you looked at. Title this document “Facebook Activity: [your name]” and post a link to it on the Sakai forum "12.01.16 - Facebook Activity."

Activity: Online Self-Presentation

Though you have only begun thinking about what your blogs will look like this semester, it’s never too early to begin thinking about self-presentation. Take 3-4 minutes to jot down thoughts about how you want to come across on your author page. Try to use the same kind of adjectives we used to describe the author of the blog we just talked about. If you get stuck, consider these questions. What kind of text are you writing? Who are your readers? Your answers to these questions (even if they change in the coming weeks) will help determine how you want to present yourself as an author. 

Once you come up with at least 4 or 5 adjectives, brainstorm a list of 2 or 3 ways in which you can create this impression in your readers. Post your work in a comment on this post.

Lesson: Online Self-Presentation

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/author/brandon9keim/

Discussion: Sciene Blog

http://www.scienceblog.com

Spend 5 minutes or so looking over the blog (you might read a few posts in full and scan through several) then discuss you answers to the following questions in your groups:

1.What were your first impressions when you clicked on the blog? Were you drawn in? Were you pushed away? Explain your answers.

2.What is the ratio of text to images and multimedia content on the blog’s front page? Do you think the blog has too much of one or the other? Why or why not?

3.What kind of audience is this blog for? Give me a quick character sketch of the blog’s prototypical reader… what are his or her other interests? What kind of background, etc.? Would you be friends with this person? How do you know this blog is for that person?

4.What do you think of the blog’s layout? Does it look up-to-date or does it look old? What do you think the web designer’s goals were? Do you think the site achieves these goals?

5.How would you characterize the tone of the writing on the site? Is it easy or difficult to understand? What age group or education level does the author seem to be writing for?

Activity: Finding a Blog

Go to google.com/blogsearch and find a blog post that you like. Try to search for specific things to find recent posts… so instead of searching for “Carolina Basketball” maybe search for “Carolina Clemson” to find analysis of last night’s game. To find a more recent post click “last day” or “last week” on the left hand side of the page.

Look at a bunch of different posts and blogs and try to find one that you would consider returning to regularly. Once you have decided on a post, copy and paste the following questions into the comment window on this post and answer them with a sentence or two each:

Name:

Link to your blog post: 

1.What did you search for to find this post?

2.What made you choose this post rather than others you looked at?

3.What kind of introduction does the post have? How does the writer try to hook his or her reader?

4.What do you think of the blog’s layout? Is it inviting or intimidating?

5.How does the blogger conceive of his or her audience? Is it for insiders or outsiders? What kinds of knowledge does the author assume of his or her reader? Are these assumptions true of you?

Diagnostic Writing Assignment

For your first assignment for this course, I would like you to write a short, impromptu essay about your personal history as a writer and your goals for this course. 

Begin by reading the following questions and thinking about them for at least a minute or two. Take your time both thinking about the questions and composing your response. You have until the end of the class period to finish your essay, but this should only take most of you around 10 minutes or so.  

• What role does writing play in your life? Do you write daily? Just for school? 

• Do you consider yourself a strong writer? What are your personal strengths and weaknesses? 

• How do you think writing is important to your long-term academic goals? 

• What writing courses have you taken? What did they teach you? What do you wish they taught you?

I will use these essays to place you into workgroups. You will remain in these workgroups for the entire semester and work with the other students to build and complete your blogs and workshop one another's writings. I do my best to create groups whose members share common interests, backgrounds, and goals, so the more you can tell me about your personal history and goals as a writer the more likely that you will be placed in a group that will help you to achieve these goals.

Unit 3 Assignments

As I mentioned in the Unit 1 assignment sequence, the humanities are often viewed as a set of disciplines based on personal opinion rather than fact. In this unit we will test this assumption, using the argumentative strategies we developed in units 1 and 2 to determine if there are such things as "proof" and "facts" in the humanities. You will present these arguments using software called VoiceThread, which will allow you to build on your podcasting skills by adding images to the mix.

Feeder 3.1: Gathering First Impressions

For your first feeder assignment, visit the Ackland Museum on campus and choose a piece of art that strikes you. Note that the Ackland Museum has strange hours, so consult their web page (http://www.ackland.org/Visit/index.htm) to make sure the museum will be open. You may want to choose a piece from the museum’s permanent collection, since digital images and other information is often unavailable for pieces in the temporary exhibits. 

After you choose a piece, spend at least five minutes or so studying the piece. Try just looking at it without taking notes; as you spend time with the piece, you will probably notice many details that did not strike you at first glance.

Next, spend a few minutes free-writing about your impressions of the piece. Write down anything that occurs to you... feelings that the piece evokes, details that you might not understand, connections to topics you already know about, etc. Fill at least one typed page with your thoughts. You don’t need to shape this into a coherent essay, just a list of notes or impressions that occur to you while you’re looking at the piece.

Place your final document in a Google Doc, share it with my gmail address, and when you have completed the assignment turn it in using the "Turn in Assignments" link under Course Documents.

Feeder 3.2: Background Research / Exploring Contexts

For your Unit 3 Project you will be asked to make an argument about how your piece fits into a particular artistic, social, historical, or cultural context. For Feeder 3.2, you will begin exploring these contexts in much the same way you did in Feeder 1.1. Begin by brainstorming a list of at least 4 key terms that will allow you to explore the artwork’s various contexts. These might include:

• the artist’s wider body of work
• movements or schools with which the artist is associated
• significant buildings, people, or characters depicted in the piece
• significant cultural events occurring as the piece was being created or in the time period it depicts

For each term, write a concise, one-paragraph explanation of the term and its significance in clear, straightforward language and include a list of at least two links to reliable sources that explain the topic further, along with a short, 1-2 sentence explanation of the source and its significance. These should be formatted similarly to your Feeder 1.1 assignments.

Place your final document in a Google Doc, share it with my gmail address, and when you have completed the assignment turn it in using the "Turn in Assignments" link under Course Documents.

Feeder 3.3: Collecting Visual Contexts

In Unit 3 we are working with visual art, so we must go beyond just finding written contexts. For this assignment find at least 5 images that relate to the contexts you explored in Feeder 3.2. For each image, write a concise, one-paragraph explanation of its significance in clear, straightforward language, including an explanation of how the image relates to the piece of art you chose in Feeder 3.1.

Paste these images and your explanations in a Google Doc, share it with my gmail address, and when you have completed the assignment turn it in using the "Turn in Assignments" link under Course Documents.

Feeder 3.4: Working Thesis Statement

Next, review the research you collected in the earlier feeder assignments and begin brainstorming claims you might make about the relationship between your artwork and a specific social, cultural, historical, or artistic context. Think about how the artist is attempting to have an impact on the world: who is he or she talking two, what is s/he trying to say, and how is s/he saying it? Once you have decided on a claim, shape it into a working thesis statement. As we talked about in Unit 1, a strong thesis statement should:

• Introduce your essay’s central claim
• Provide a road map for how your argument will unfold
• Describe the stakes of your argument, i.e. why it matters to your readers

As we also noted in class, your thesis statement may be composed of more than one sentence, but it should be as concise as possible.

Place your final document in a Google Doc, share it with my gmail address, and when you have completed the assignment turn it in using the "Turn in Assignments" link under Course Documents.

Feeder 3.5: Outline / Script for Your VoiceThread

Now that you have a working thesis statement, it’s time to begin constructing an outline/script for your VoiceThread. This document will be constructed in much the same way as your Feeder 2.5 assignment, but rather than following the format for a scientific research report, you will be following the format of an argumentative essay. As with your Unit 2 podcast, your VoiceThread should contain a strong introduction, a mix of scripted/extemporaneous speaking, and transitional music / sound effects to orient the viewer, but you are not required to use other voices for this assignment.

Place your final document in a Google Doc, share it with my gmail address, and when you have completed the assignment turn it in using the "Turn in Assignments" link under Course Documents. Since your VoiceThread will be 4-6 minutes long, your outline should be about 3-4 pages in length.

Feeder 3.6: Recording Audio

For the next feeder assignment you will record the audio for your VoiceThread. Record the audio using the same tools and skills you used to record your podcast for Unit 2, and I will explain in class how to export the audio and construct your VoiceThread.

Unit 3 Project

For your Unit 3 Project you will create a 4-6-minute VoiceThread video presentation in which you make and support a claim that, in the piece you selected, the artist has attempted to make a statement about a particular social, historical, cultural, or aesthetic context. In addition to historical, biographical, or other contextual information, your VoiceThread should contain a sustained analysis of the piece's formal qualities. At least 40-50% of your VoiceThread should be devoted to analyzing the artwork directly.

A successful VoiceThread will (in order of importance):

1. be focused around a sophisticated, surprising thesis about the author's political, social or aesthetic motivations.

2. include thoughtful, sustained analysis of the chosen piece of art.

3. include background information and other research that helps the viewer understand this context more fully

4. contain a strong introduction that follows one of the patterns for strong introductions that we discussed in class

5. be delivered in a lively, engaging and authoritative style

6. Be free of errors in spelling and grammar as well as visual formatting

Unit 2 Assignments

In unit 2 you will be using the research methods of behavioral psychology to perform a case study with yourself as the subject. After performing this experiment on yourself, you will shape your findings into a podcast that tracks your progress and tests your original hypothesis.

Feeder 2.1: Establishing a baseline

For your first feeder assignment, you will choose a behavior that you would like to modify and begin thinking critically about what role this behavior plays in your life. First, choose a behavior that you would like to increase or decrease in frequency or duration. Though many people choose to modify a behavior that will improve their health or productivity, you can modify your behavior in any way that is not harmful to yourself or others. 

Next, you will begin thinking critically about your behavior by keeping a journal documenting that behavior and establishing a rough baseline. Choose a three-day period in which you will begin tracking your behavior, and each evening at roughly the same time answer the following questions:

• Roughly how many times or for how long did you do the behavior?
• When were you likely (or not likely) to display the behavior?
• What benefits (socially, psychologically, etc.) did you get from displaying the behavior?

You should answer each of the three questions three times, once for each day. At the end of the three-day period, you should begin thinking about how you will change your behavior. In order to start this process, answer the following questions:

• What activities, people, or treats might motivate you to change your behavior?
• What kinds of rewards are you able to offer yourself for changing your behavior? (brainstorm at least of at least 4)
• What kinds of rewards are you able to deny yourself? (brainstorm a list of at least 4)

Place your final document in a Google Doc, share it with my gmail address, and when you have completed the assignment turn it in using the "Turn in Assignments" link under Course Documents.

Feeder 2.2: Researching Your Behavior

For your next feeder assignment, you will compose an annotated bibliography of at least four credible sources related to your behavior. Since the behaviors each of you will modify will be very different, your sources will be as well. If you choose to modify a conventional behavior such as dieting, exercise, or studying you will find a wealth of material that relate to these topics directly; if you choose a different kind of behavior, your sources may be more unconventional. Unlike your annotated bibliography from Unit 1, all of your sources do not have to be argumentative, but all of them must be credible and they must relate to your topic in some way (such as the topic of behavior modification in general, background sources about your behavior and its effects, etc.).

For each entry in your annotated bibliography, begin by constructing an MLA citation of the source. Underneath this citation, write a short (4-5 sentence) analysis of the source, including its main claim (if it has one), its most important evidence, and its relevance to your topic.

Place your final document in a Google Doc, share it with my gmail address, and when you have completed the assignment turn it in using the "Turn in Assignments" link under Course Documents.

Feeder 2.3: Formulating a Hypothesis

After you have completed the first two feeder assignments it’s time to begin thinking about your experiment. The first step is to come up with a working hypothesis statement. Much like a thesis statement, a hypothesis statement will introduce the topic of your study, provide a roadmap for how it will unfold, and explain the significance of your experiment to your target audience. However, whereas a thesis statement introduces a central claim about your topic, your hypothesis statement will include a prediction about what will happen in your study. More specifically, this prediction will posit a relationship between your independent and dependent variables. We will talk more about what this means in class.

Place your final document in a Google Doc, share it with my gmail address, and when you have completed the assignment turn it in using the "Turn in Assignments" link under Course Documents.

Feeder 2.4: Designing Your Experiment

Now that you have a working hypothesis and a deeper understanding of your behavior (both through primary observation and consultation of secondary sources), it’s time to begin designing your experiment. We will talk extensively in class about how to conduct a valid scientific experiment, and it is expected that you will follow all of these guidelines in your own study.

The first step will be to decide on the rewards and/or punishments that you will use to reinforce your behavior. You began thinking about this in Feeder 2.1, and now it’s time to decide which rewards and/or punishments are most likely to motivate a change in behavior. Finalize your system of rewards and punishments and decide how they will be implemented. Write a paragraph describing your system and place it in the Google Doc with your other Unit 2 feeder assignments.

Next, you will design the form that you will use to collect your data during your experiment. A few things to consider here:

• your data sheet must contain a significant quantitative component; we will talk about the differences between quantitative and qualitative data in class. You will probably also want to include a qualitative component as well, though this is not required
• you must fill out your data sheet at least once per day during the experiment; for frequently recurring behaviors, you may design a data sheet that requires you to fill it out more than once per day
• the data you collect must be targeted toward directly proving or disproving your hypothesis; there are likely many interesting aspects of your behavior that you may wish to track, but you must ensure that you collect data that directly relates to your hypothesis
• your data sheet must also include information about your rewards and/or punishments, including if and how they were administered; you may also want to collect data about whether and how these incentives motivated you
• We will workshop your data sheets extensively in class, but each data sheet must be approved by me before you begin your experiment. I can approve data sheets either during class time or via email. Failure to get approval for your data sheet will negatively affect your Unit 2 grade.
• Upload your data sheet to Google Docs and title your document “[your name]’s Unit 2 data sheet.” Make sure that the document is shared with my correct email address.
• After your data sheet is approved and you have completed Feeder 2.1-2.4 you may conduct your experiment. You must collect data for at least 6 consecutive days.

Feeder 2.5: Beginning to Construct Your Podcast

As we will discuss in detail in class, a standard scientific research report has four parts:

• Introduction
• Methods & Materials
• Results
• Conclusion

Your Unit 2 Project podcast will contain all four of these sections as well, though they may be formatted somewhat differently given the different medium (i.e. podcasting) and the specific target audience you have identified for your blog. As you are conducting your experiment you can get get started on the first two sections of the podcast. After your experiment has been completed you can begin work on the other two sections.

For your Feeder 2.5 assignment, you will compose an outline / script for your Unit 2 Project podcast. For guidelines on what should be included in each section, consult your notes from my two presentations on writing a scientific research report. Some things to consider as you compose:

• Your introduction should follow all of the guidelines for strong introductions that we have already discussed in class
• Some parts of your podcast will be strictly scripted, while others will require you to speak extemporaneously; in your outline/script, you should work toward writing out exactly what you will say for the scripted sections (important / detailed information such as the explanation of your hypothesis, your introduction, and your results section), while impromptu sections will only be a rough outline
• You should be careful how you explain / relate the quantitative information in your podcasts; long lists of numbers are difficult to process without visual aids, so consider carefully how you will convey this information in a way that the reader can understand
• In your conclusion section, you should confirm or deny whether your hypothesis was supported (avoid overly strong language such as stating that your hypothesis was “proven”), as well as a re-evaluation / re-formulation of your hypothesis if necessary
• You will want to include markers / descriptions for transitional music, sound effects, and other audio effects that will make your podcast easier to understand and more exciting to listen to

Place your finished outline / script in the Google Doc, share it with my gmail address, and when you have completed the assignment turn it in using the "Turn in Assignments" link under Course Documents. Since your Podcast will be 4-6 minutes long, your outline should be about 3-4 pages in length.

Feeder 2.6: Adding Other Voices

As we noted at several points in class, listening to the same voice for several minutes in a row can be quite boring. Brainstorm ways that you might include other voices besides your own. Some ideas include giving your podcast a co-host, interviewing a friend who is directly affected by your behavior, or interviewing an expert on your behavior or on behavior modification in general. Your podcast must contain at least one voice that is not your own.

After deciding how you will introduce other voices into your podcast, revise your outline/script to indicate where these other voices will appear and, if necessary, conduct the interviews themselves and record the audio using your computer or smartphone. You do not need to submit anything for this assignment, but you will be assigned a grade for Feeder 2.6 based on how well you integrated others’ voices into your podcast.

Unit 2 Project: Behavior Modification Study Podcast

After you have completed the feeder assignments it’s time to begin constructing your podcast. The final version should be 6-10 minutes long and should contain each of the four standard sections for a scientific research report (all clearly demarcated), at least one voice other than your own, and transitional music and/or sound effects to help orient your listener. 

A successful podcast will (in order of importance):

1. contain a clear, original and interesting hypothesis that posits a clear relationship between the independent and dependent variables

2. contain each of the four sections of a standard scientific research report, each of them clearly demarcated; each section will contain the proper information as discussed in class

3. be designed in a manner that adequately confirms or denies the study’s hypothesis

4. contain a strong introduction that adheres to one of the strategies for effective introductions that we outlined in class

5. include background information / research about the topic that helps the listener understand the topic better and establishes the author’s credibility

6. convey the experiment’s results in a clear, digestible manner

7. honestly assess the strengths and weaknesses of the study and re-evaluate the hypothesis if necessary

8. make use of at least two different voices in a way that makes the podcast both more exciting and easier to understand

9. make effective use of sound effects and transitional music to orient the listener

10. be delivered in a clear speaking manner that is appropriate to the blog's target audience.

Unit 1 Assignments

The natural sciences are often viewed as disciplines based on cold, hard fact, in contrast to the humanities which appear to be based on subjective opinion. In this unit we will challenge this view by examining controversy in the scientific community. What is up for debate in the natural sciences? Are these disciplines really as factual and as rational as popular perception would have them to be?

In this unit you will enter into a current scientific controversy, researching and evaluating evidence and learning how to shape that evidence into a focused and powerful argument. Each student will choose an editorial from a current issue of the scientific journal Nature, working to understand that author’s argument and develop your own counter-argument. You can find a tutorial for accessingNature here (http://lupton105032.blogspot.com/2012/09/accessing-nature-revised.html), though we will also spend time in class going over this information and working together to choose an appropriate article.

When an assignment asks you to summarize, explicate, or respond to another author’s work, the first step is to understand that work thoroughly and completely. The first few feeder assignments will guide you through that process, while the latter feeder assignments will help you to perform your own research, collate and evaluate this information, and use it to construct a powerful counter-argument to your original author’s claim.

Feeder 1.1: Background Research

After choosing a recent editorial from Nature, you may be at a loss as to how you will construct a powerful counter-argument; after all, these editorials are written by professional, accomplished authors who know how to make their position seem valid and logical. The first thing we want to do is try to move past the author’s tight, focused argument and begin to see the larger constellation of information and opinions on the topic at hand.

For your first feeder assignment, identify a list of at least 4 key terms from your editorial. These terms might include: unfamiliar scientific concepts; the names of people, organizations, or legislation pertinent to the topic; dates or key events relating to the topic. Most of these terms will probably be mentioned in your Nature editorial, but if you find key terms that the author has overlooked or excluded you can include these as well. For each term, write a concise, one-paragraph explanation of the term and its significance in clear, straightforward language and include a list of at least two links to reliable sources that explain the topic further, along with a short, 1-2 sentence explanation of the source and its significance. An example entry might look like this:

BP Deepwater Horizon

Deepwater Horizon was an offshore oil rig owned by BP (British Petroleum) and designed to extract oil from the ocean floor, operating at depths of up to 8,000 feet. The rig was stationed in the Gulf of Mexico, about 41 miles off the Louisiana coast. On April 20, 2010, the well exploded, killing 11 men working on the rig’s platform, and sent oil spilling directly into the Gulf. The spill continued for three months, sending 4.9 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, constituting the largest accidental marine spill in the history of the petroleum industry. The spill caused extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitats throughout the Gulf Coast as well as a significant disruption in fishing and tourism industries throughout the region. 

http://www.boemre.gov/ooc/press/2011/press0914.htm

Final investigative report on the Deepwater Horizon spill by The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement /U.S. Coast Guard Joint Investigation Team. The report attributes the accident to defective cement used in the well’s construction, laying most of the blame for the accident on BP (the well’s owner), Transocean (the contractor who operated the well), and Halliburton (the company who made the faulty cement mixture).

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=lasting-menace

An article from the magazine Scientific American explaining that the effects of the Deepwater Horizon spill may be felt for decades. These effects include the displacement of native species,  the promotion of toxins that can cause cancer and inhibit reproduction in wildlife, and the dispersal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that can sicken plants, fish, and even humans.

Place your final document in a Google Doc, share it with my gmail address, and when you have completed the assignment turn it in using the "Turn in Assignments" link under Course Documents.

Feeder 1.2: Annotated Bibliography

The research you performed for your Feeder 1.1 assignment constituted general background research on your topic, but for this feeder assignment we will move toward analyzing the arguments that people have put forth about your issue. For Feeder 1.2, you will compose an annotated bibliography of at least five sources relating to your topic. While the sources you cited in Feeder 1.1 might have included general reference works, the works you cite for Feeder 1.2 should not only be reliable, but they should also be argumentative, i.e. they should make a substantive claim about your topic. The first source on your annotated bibliography should be the article from Nature that you chose before we started Feeder 1.1.

For each entry in your annotated bibliography, begin by constructing an MLA citation of the source. Underneath this citation, write a short (4-5 sentence) analysis of the source, including its main claim, its most important evidence, and its relevance to your topic. The source’s main claim should be summarized in the first sentence of your entry, so each entry will probably begin with a phrase such as “[the author] argues...” or “[the author] claims...” For more information on annotated bibliographies (including example entries), click here: http://olinuris.library.cornell.edu/ref/research/skill28.htm.

Place your final document in a Google Doc, share it with my gmail address, and when you have completed the assignment turn it in using the "Turn in Assignments" link under Course Documents.

Feeder 1.3: Retrospective Outline / Analysis

The next step in formulating your counter-argument is to revisit your original source, the Natureeditorial you chose before we started Feeder 1.1, and compose a detailed retrospective outline of the article. We will talk about retrospective outlines in detail in class, but if you need a refresher you can click here (http://www.georgetowncollege.edu/eng/resources/editing-and-the-retrospective-outline/). Your retrospective outline must contain:

• The author’s thesis statement (or a paraphrase/summary of it) at the top of the document)
• The central claim or purpose of each body paragraph

In addition to composing the retrospective outline itself, each of you will also write a short, 1-2-paragraph analysis of how the author has chosen to construct his or her argument. This analysis should not concentrate on the issue itself, but rather how the author has employed the argumentative strategies we have discussed in class. In order to get started thinking about these issues, you might ask yourself:

• what type of introduction does the author employ, and why has he or she chosen this type?
• in what order does the author present his or her key evidence? why?
• has the author excluded or ignored any key information or evidence that you uncovered in your research? why did the author make this choice?
• how does the author conclude his or her essay? what impression does he or she attempt to leave the reader with?

Place your final document in a Google Doc, share it with my gmail address, and when you have completed the assignment turn it in using the "Turn in Assignments" link under Course Documents.

Feeder 1.4: Constructing a Working Thesis Statement

For your final feeder assignment for Unit 1 you will compose a working thesis statement. Review all of the background research you have collected so far as well as your retrospective outline from Feeder 1.3 and decide on the central claim that you will make in your essay as well as the key evidence that you will use to support this claim. Next, compose your working thesis statement. We will talk about thesis statements extensively in class, but your working thesis should do each of these three things:

• Introduce your essay’s central claim
• Provide a road map for how your argument will unfold.
• Describe the stakes of your argument, i.e. why it matters to your readers.

As we noted in class, your thesis statement may be composed of more than one sentence, but it should be as concise as possible. 

Place your final document in a Google Doc, share it with my gmail address, and when you have completed the assignment turn it in using the "Turn in Assignments" link under Course Documents.

Unit 1 Project

After completing each of the feeder assignments you will have a sophisticated understanding of your topic, an appreciation for how the author from Nature has approached this issue, and a working thesis statement of your own. Now it’s time to formulate your own counter-argument.

There are several ways you can begin formulating your essay. You might begin by composing a prospective outline, you might free-write about your topic, you might begin composing the body paragraph about which you feel the most confident, or you might just jump right in and start crafting your introduction. If you have devoted yourself to the feeder assignments, though, composing your final essay should mostly be a matter of arranging and presenting the material you have already collected, though you should not underestimate the time and effort that this process will take.

Your final product should be an argumentative blog post (length: equivalent to 3-5 typed pages) that poses a credible counterargument to the original article you chose from Nature and presents compelling evidence in support of this claim. Some authors will find it helpful to mention the originalNature article and refute it directly; other authors might choose present their claim directly rather than as a reaction to the Nature editorial. 

A successful post will (in order of importance):

1. Contain a strong thesis statement that meets all of the qualifications we outlined in class

2. Support the thesis with a wealth of credible, engaging evidence from authoritative sources

3. Be organized, presenting the evidence in a clear, logical order

4. Have a strong introduction that grabs the reader’s attention, introduces the topic, and transitions quickly to the main argument.

5. Have organized paragraphs with a clear topic sentence and adequate supporting evidence

6. Cite all sources in a manner appropriate for the blog and its audience.

7. Be written in a lively, engaging and authoritative middle style appropriate to the blog’s target audience, avoiding “to be” verbs in favor of a strong, active style

8. Be visually interesting, with pictures and/or links to other multimedia content

9. Be free of errors in spelling and grammar as well as visual formatting.

Introductory Post Assignment

For your first writing assignment this semester, your group will collaborate on an introductory post for your blog. Your post should accomplish 3 main goals:

1. Introduce each group member (including a photo of each person).

2. Establish the subject of your blog, i.e. give your readers a sense of what you will be writing about this semester.

3. Establish the tone and rhetorical style of your blog.

We will spend the first few days of class discussing a number of different blogs and what does and does not work about each. You will also engage in discussions amongst your group members, during which you will negotiate a coherent and appropriate rhetorical approach for your blog based on a target audience that you work together to identify. You should take into account each group member's interests as well as their strengths as writers, since you will be expected to adhere to this plan throughout the semester.

A successful post will (in order of importance):

1. Establish a rhetorical tone that is appropriate to the blog's subject matter and target audience. Not only will the post address this topic explicitly (i.e. a section of the post that will explain the authors' rhetorical approach), but also implicitly through the tone and style of the post itself.

2. Inform your readers about what they can expect from the blog's content over the course of the semester. In addition to explaining the blog's main subject areas (i.e. natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities), an outstanding post will will give a sense of the authors' unique approach to these subjects.


3. Introduce each of the blog's authors in a manner that emphasizes their credibility as authors as well as the common ground they share with their audience.

4. Be free of errors in spelling and grammar.

5. Be formatted in an appealing and consistent manner.

Length: at least 3-4 paragraphs

Syllabus

English105

Instructor: Daniel Lupton

Spring 2013

Office: Greenlaw Hall 307

Office Hours 

Monday/Wednesday: 1-2PM

Email 

dlupton@email.unc.edu

Course Description

The goal of English 105 is to introduce students to the conventions of specific types of written academic discourse. Over the course of the semester each student will complete three units of study: one unit each on the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities. However, unlike most English 105 courses, in this course students will create blogs that explore how the conventions of academic discourse interact with the conventions of more popular media.

Draft Workshops

Much of our class time in English 105 will be spent evaluating student writing in group-centered draft workshops. Your participation in these workshops is MANDATORY, and poor performance in them (i.e. failing to give helpful comments to your peers, consistently pulling the discussion off-topic) will adversely affect your grade for that unit.

Required Texts (Available in Student Stores)

Student Guide to English 105

How to Write Anything

In addition to the above texts, it is required that you bring your fully-charged laptop to every class meeting.

Attendance

More than one absence over the course of any given unit will adversely affect your grade for that unit and any student who accumulates more than five absences over the course of the semester will receive a failing grade. If you have extreme circumstances which require you to miss several classes (i.e. mononucleosis, the death of a close relative, etc.) please let me know as soon as possible so that there may be as little disruption to the operation of your group as possible. Please note that there is no distinction between excused and unexcused absences. Students who are consistently late for class will also be penalized; three late arrivals will count as one unexcused absence.

Assignments

You will produce three finished products for each of our 3 units: an argumentative essay in Unit 1, a podcast in Unit 2, and a VoiceThread video presentation in Unit 3. In addition to these larger assignments, each unit includes several feeder assignments that will either develop skills you will need or help you put together preliminary research for your unit assignment. At the end of each unit each student's work for their blog will be evaluated based on criteria we have developed in class. Blogs will be evaluated along with your participation in class and performance in workshops to determine your grade for the unit.

All blog posts should be formatted properly according to the conventions of published blogging.

Late posts are not only unprofessional, they are unfair to your fellow students who worked hard and turned their papers in on time. Posts are considered due by the end of class on the due date unless another time is specified by me. Late posts may or may not be accepted, but they will be strictly and severely penalized.

Even more unacceptable than late work is plagiarism. All instances of plagiarism will be prosecuted in the honor court to the fullest extent allowable by university policy. If you are thinking of plagiarizing, remember that it’s not difficult to tell your writing from a professional’s and I can probably find the original source as easily as you did. You will get far more from the course if you do the work yourself, and your grade will always be better if you work hard on a mediocre assignment than if you plagiarize an excellent one.

Grading

Three grades will be assigned in this course: one each for your cumulative work in each of the three units (including your blog post, feeder assignments, workshops, drafting, pre-writing, class participation, etc.).

Click here for a sample feedback sheet for Unit 1: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B11JiXOw1yx0QnprU1Ayc0hLdnM

Writing assignments are evaluated based on evidence that you have fully digested and implemented the lessons covered in class. If you wish to receive an A in the course, the most important things you can do are 1. complete all assignments completely and on time and 2. pay attention during lectures and class discussions and deliberately work to integrate what you learn during the lessons into your writing. The students who follow these two instructions for the entire semester, without exception, do well in the course.

The Writing Center (http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/)

Students are encouraged to visit the UNC Writing Center (located on the lower level of Phillips Annex). The tutors at the writing center will work with you one-on-one through problems or concerns about any stage of the writing process and can provide useful feedback between in-class draft workshops. Please note that the writing center tutors will not edit or proofread your papers.

Course Web Site

As a computer-intensive course, the internet will be an integral means of communication between yourself, your teacher and your group members. You are expected to check this course web site and the course calendar regularly. If you have trouble accessing the site please alert me as soon as possible, as many of our assignments will depend upon this technology.

Email Correspondence

If office hours are inconvenient students are encouraged to communicate with me via email with the caveat that I will respond at my convenience. I will not review drafts via email; if you are grappling with specific issues you may send a section of your post, but no more than two paragraphs at a time.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined as the unattributed or unacknowledged use of another’s words or ideas and is a breach of the honor code. If I suspect you of a willful violation of the honor code, I will report you to the honor court. See your Student Guide for further information on plagiarism.