Summary/Analysis Assignment

Apologies for not posting this earlier:

This second writing assignment will have you writing a summary/analysis paper. First, you will choose one of the articles in either of the course packets (the readings for weeks 1-5 or weeks 6-11), or you will choose one of the longer pieces in North of Center. Second, you will summarize the article, noting the key issues the article addresses. Finally, you will analyze how the article addresses the issues.

Remember, by analysis, we mean a breaking down of the entire issue into parts so that you may enlighten the reader as to how the article works—or in some cases, where and why and how you fell it does not work.

Basic Guidelines: Essays should be between 800 and 1100 words in length and have a title. They should also be typed in 12 font (Times New Roman font), double spaced, and have 1 inch margins all around.

Essays are due the last class period before Fall Break.

I will grade you on your ability to engage with the following new and old principals.

New Principals: Creation of an effective summary that leads to detailed analysis; a placement of your summary into a specific context for the reader; an adequate introduction; a title that introduces the topic and grabs the reader’s attention; an effective integration of paraphrases and quotations into your paragraphs; ability to follow basic guidelines above.

Old Principals: awareness of audience (in choosing your topic), writing in complete sentences, using active sentences, defining any key terms, developing coherent and full paragraphs, utilizing elements of narration, description, definition, and/or comparison in your essays.

Analysis Idea

If you are looking for something (a "text") to analyze and would like greater flexibility than using the course readings or North of Center, here's a show that would make a great analysis, particularly for you people blogging on college transition.

If you have other ideas, GET THEM APPROVED BY ME BY September 24.

Faculty and Staff,

On Thursday at 9:30 p.m., NBC will premiere a new series called Community. Expected to be one of the season’s biggest hits, Community is set at fictitious Greendale Community College and stars Chevy Chase and Joel McHale. The series is about community colleges and the role they play in providing individuals with a second chance.

KCTCS is embracing the new series and the dialogue it will create around two-year colleges. Dr. McCall has taped a commercial to air on Kentucky NBC affiliates during the show. Like other comedies such as The Office, the comedy pokes fun of the operations of two-year colleges, but mainly focuses on the relationships between the characters. We believe this is an excellent opportunity to communicate to the citizens of this state the real truth about community and technical colleges and how they are Transforming Lives. Transforming Kentucky.

You won’t want to miss it!

The commercial is already available on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMQkVdLrIVI

To learn more about the show visit: http://www.nbc.com/community/

In-Class Reading for Context

Read this piece in class. Note how the author places science in the context of sports. Why does he do this?

http://www.powells.com/blog/?p=6721

For those missing class Monday (9/14) or Tuesday (9/15)

We held off on discussing "introductions" and instead talked about context (by way of some songs, images, and articles). You can drop by my office during office hours if you'd like to hear more.

I'll have your next 6-week outline and analysis/summary paper assignment for you on Wednesday/Thursday, and I will also post both here.

Short Newspaper Article Assignment

In this assignment, you will write a short newspaper article for North of Center. The paper is a free bi-weekly geared to giving news and commentary related to the Lexington community and its environs. You may choose to write to already covered topics—local sports, local happenings, music, film, an editorial—or you may choose to go “off topic” and write on topics not yet covered in the paper. Remember, newspaper articles tend to be both timely and specific. The more general your topic, the less successful it will be. Write on something that you feel the community and audience might be interested in or need to know about.

I will grade you on your ability to engage with the following principals: awareness of audience (in choosing your topic), writing in complete sentences, using active sentences, defining any key terms, developing coherent and full paragraphs, utilizing elements of narration, description, definition, and/or comparison in your essays.

Essays should be between 700 and 1000 words in length and have a title. Acceptance and publication in the paper constitutes an automatic “A” and will result in 3 Extra Credit Points added to other grades.

See First 5 Week Outline for due date.

Note: You may choose to write to a different paper, with a different audience, but you must have the different paper approved by me at least 1 day in advance of turning in the paper. (Informing me is not approval—I must approve it.)

Blog Posting Assignment

Your blogs are a running assignment; you will be graded on them at two points during the semester, mid-term and end-of-term. I expect blogs to be “practice” for your more formal writing assignments (newspaper and classroom writings). When we discuss, say, descriptive paragraphs and narrative, the blogs offer you a way to practice writing these things (rather than just talking about them).

Your blog work will provide you with a topic for your longer research paper (4-6 pages) that you will complete at the end of the semester. Ideally, you will be able to use some of your blog entries as research for your longer essay.

At the bare minimum, I expect on average 1 blog post per week; at the minimum, each post should, on average, comprise a fully-developed paragraph that is coherent (sticks to 1 idea, which is emphasized by using a topic sentence). This is the bare minimum (ie, you can expect a 70). The more you write, the higher your grade will go.

Semester Outline: Weeks 1-5

NOTE: This is the outline for my Tueday/Thursday classes. If you are in my Monday/Wednesday classes, just subtract one day from the dates given. All the assignments are the same.

Danny Mayer Fall 2009
ENG 101-TR
First 5 Weeks Semester Outline

Week 1
August
18 IC: Introductions/Blog Set-up
HW: Complete blog set-up by Aug. 24
20 IC: Sentence basics (148-55)/Syllabus
HW: Blogwork

Week 2
25 IC: Paragraph Size, Coherence, Organization, and Transitions (40-43, 50-56) (Politics of Poop)
Blog-work
HW: Read “Learning? Yes of course”
27 IC: Definition and Classification/Division Paragraphs (49-50) (Science’s Rule Book Keeps Us All Safer”)
Audience Matters (3, 8-10)
HW: Read North of Center, issue 8

Week 3
September
1 IC: Active Verbs (80-83)
Definition and Classification/Division Paragraphs, revisited
Blog Work
HW: Read “Food is Good”
3 IC: Narrative and Descriptive Paragraphs (p. 45)
Read “Thanks Giving” (in class handout)
HW: Continue Working on Blogs
Complete Short Article Assignment

Week 4
8 NO CLASS
HW: Complete Short Article Assignment
10 IC: SHORT NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ASSIGNMENT DUE
Active Reading (346-49) (Lawrence Summers Memo)
HW: Read North of Center

Week 5
15 IC: Introductions (21-25)
Blog Work
HW: Read TBA
17 IC: Responding to texts: Summary and Analysis (350-57)
HW: Continue Blog Postings
TBA