Writing Project 1: Producing academic genres: Annotated bibliographies | 15%
Due Week 2
Description: Description: In the first project, we will work in teams and as a class to develop an XML-based model of a particular academic genre, the annotated bibliography. By analyzing examples of the genre, we will model the annotated bibliography structurally and rhetorically using XML tags and attributes of our own creation. Then, working individually, you will each produce an annotated bibliography (written in XML) based on research into a problem or situation you identify on campus (or in Boston) that you believe your discipline can address, improve, or solve in some way.
Writing Project 2: The Modeling and Production of Genres | 40%
Due week 6
Team model, design journals, and presentation: 20%
Individual composition: 20%
Description: For this project, you will first work in teams to research and analyze a particular textual genre in your discipline, using our developing understanding of genre (as a response to a recurring rhetorical situation, a way of getting something done).
In the first phase, your group research and analyze your chosen genre in order to design a new generic model for our shared class schema. Next you will work individually to produce an example of that genre using the schema that you created through analysis. During the composing process, you will continue to meet with your team members to determine if composing in your genre prompts any changes to your schema design. As a team, you will present your model and the compositions created out of it to the class.
This is our biggest project in the course and is weighted accordingly. The team-based and individual work will be assessed equally in determining your individual grade for the project (see breakdown above).
Writing Project 3: The Production and Revision of Genres | 25%
Due week 8
Individual composition and presentation: 20%
Team model revisions: 5%
Description: As a class, we’ve now created models of several genres that are, broadly speaking, relevant to your chosen discipline. For this final project, you will choose one of the genres that you did not model for project 2. This project asks you to devise a rhetorical situation (real or imagined) and use the genre model to help you craft an appropriate (and effective) response to this situation.
Depending on which genres are chosen, we will create ad hoc teams of people composing similar genres to work collectively to make revisions to the schema based on your experiences of composing. These revisions will comprise part of your grade for project 3 (see breakdown above).
Design Journal | 10% (approx. 500 words each)
Design Journal Entries are made to help you work through the design of the XML markup system: They provide a space for you to log any issues, map out ideas for changes to the schema, and reflect on the ways that this activity does (or does not) help you better understand your writing process in this course. Specific prompts for entries will be posted weekly and there will be opportunities for group entries in class. These entries will be graded for completion. Students can skip any two entries over the course of the term without penalty. Design journal posts are to be submitted to the WordPress course page by class time on the due date. (Just log into the WP dashboard and go to Posts > Add New. Make sure that the journal category is checked in the right-hand column before you post.)
Peer Review Reports | 5% (4 total – approx. 500 words each)
Having someone else read your writing can feel uncomfortable and awkward. My goal as your instructor is to make it collaborative and meaningful, as well as fun. Therefore, for each formal peer review session, you will not only be reading and reviewing other students’ work, you will also be writing a short analysis of their work, analyzing your peers’ writing in the same way we analyze the readings we look at together as a class. I take peer review and instructor review very seriously, and I hope that you will learn to as well, as these sessions are a rare chance for you to receive devoted feedback on your writing. Students who miss a peer review session will be given a zero on the peer review report.
Participation | 5%
Come to class prepared, on time, having completed the readings or prepared to peer review, and you get a more or less free 5%. Missing one of the peer reviews without a valid excuse loses you the 5%. Repeatedly texting, sleeping, or Facebooking in class loses you the 5%. Basically, the 5% is what you get for acting as a responsible student—it is a completion grade that you only lose through disrespectful classroom behavior.
Grade Breakdown:
- Project 1: 15%
- Project 2: 40%
- Project 3: 25%
- Design Journals: 10%
- Peer Review Reports: 5%
- Participation: 5%
Grade Scale:
- A: 94-100
- A-: 90-93
- B+: 87-89
- B: 84-86
- B-: 80-83
- C+: 77-79
- C: 73-76
Assessment:
Further breakdowns can be found on each assignment description. As a general rule, each project will be graded holistically, meaning that all components are taken together to build one Writing Project grade.
A student must receive a grade of C or better in order to pass all required writing courses in the
Department of English. (C or better is necessary for graduation.) C- or D grades are not allowed in required writing courses.
An F grade indicates that the student has not fulfilled the requirements of the course as specified in the course syllabus. I make the final decision with respect to the final grade, if a passing grade. However, the decision of a grade lower than a C- —versus passing—is shared by an assessment group of three to four instructors at the Writing Programs’ end-of-term portfolio review.
Please note: Failure to complete working drafts or peer reviews will dramatically lower your grade. Failure to complete revision will lead to a grade of no higher than a C. You must complete all 4 projects to pass this class.
