Kate Francis
Long Writing Assignment for Students
2005 Workshop on Improving Student Writing
Center for Writing Excellence
Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching
INTRODUCTION FOR FACULTY TO THIS LONG WRITING ASSIGNMENT
The course for which I planned this assignment, ENG 111 (College Composition) focuses on learning multiple reading and writing skills, ones that will serve students both in the academy and beyond. Students’ own writing is a primary text for ENG 111, and improving student writing is one of its major goals. This assignment is one of the major projects for the sequence entitled “Joining Pubic Debate.” In this sequence, students select a topic of public debate, formulate and research a question, and use their work to present a written argument. This is usually a challenging project for students, as they are asked to move beyond the type of “research and report” kind of work they’ve usually done in high school, and instead to use research to support their own arguments.
Because this is a large project, and because I try to structure the work of ENG 111 in ways that encourages students to move away from those late night, last minute, writing endeavors, I’ve broken up the project into smaller assignments, ones that will teach students the multiple steps involved in quality research and work. This idea, of breaking large assignments into smaller ones that are more easily accomplished, is one that came out of the workshop. Another idea was to list the goals and grading criteria for each part of the project. Finally—and this is the biggest change in this redesigned project—I’ve constructed a grading rubric, one that I hope will give students a clearer idea of that ever mysterious “what it is she’s looking for,” and that will facilitate the assessment of the completed project.
| LONG WRITING ASSIGNMENT
Sequence III Project: Adding Your Voice to Public Debate
Goals:
Due dates:
Length: 5-7 pages (reading draft) As you can see from the due dates listed above, we’ll be breaking this project into a number of more manageable parts. This approach to a large assignment might be quite different from your earlier experiences with projects requiring research, but it’s certainly a strategy that you’ll be able to take with you into other courses in your academic career. I’ll distribute a handout for each step of the project. Each handout will describe both the work to be completed and criteria for assessment. We’ll also spend time in class on various exercises designed to help you with several components of the project. Your grade for this project will be determined not only by the grade on the reading draft, but also on the timely completion and quality of the work leading up to that draft.
Description: In Sequence II, you learned about rhetorical appeals and how they operate in an argument. You also practiced using textual evidence. In Sequence III, you analyzed several arguments in terms of claim, supports, and warrants. Now it’s time to incorporate these elements into your own argument. For this project, you’ll select a topic of public debate that interests you, formulate a research question, and then construct an argument that is supported by a variety of evidence. This topic need not be one of global significance. You can think locally, about a community issue (should the closing time of the public swimming pools be extended?), or one affecting the university (would having smaller introductory courses in calculus improve student learning?) Your project does not need to be in traditional essay format. Consider structuring your project as a series of letters, a speech to a specific audience, or one that incorporates visual elements. Point Distribution:
ENG 111 Fall ‘05 Seq. III Select Your Topic (10 pts.)
Goals:
Due date: Friday, November 4 Length: 1- 2 pages; write until fully developed Description: This part of the project is designed to help you choose a topic. The first, and most important, criteria is this: are you really interested in the topic? The second criteria is this: is the topic one of public debate? There are probably many things you’re interested in, but not all of them are suitable topics for this project. While I’m open to most topics, there are a few that I’m saying “no” to.
These are interesting and highly debatable topics, but the research associated with them can easily overwhelm you.
Directions: List three topics that you think you might want to research and write about. These don’t need to be global issues; in fact, often smaller, more local issues are more manageable and more interesting. If you have trouble, spend some time with a couple of newspapers or current events magazines in order to learn what people are talking about, what topics are currently being debated. After you’ve selected three, write a few paragraphs about each one: Where did this idea come from? What do you know/think about it? Why are you interested in it? What are the positions already associated with it? Keep in mind that public debates are seldom as simple as pro/con, although of course those are the starting points. Bring your writing to class on Friday, November 4. I’ll ask each of you to offer at least one topic and list them on the board, thus generating a list of possible topics. At this point, you’re not committed to any of the topics you’ve written about. This is simply a class-composed list and you’re free to stay with one of your own topics or to select something from the list. Grading Criteria
ENG 111 Fall ‘05 Seq. III Begin Your Research: Write an Annotated Bibliography (20 pts.)
Goals:
Length: 2-3 pages; four sources Due date: Wednesday, November 9 Description: “Annotated bibliography” sounds intimidating, but if you give yourself enough time and not try to do it all at once, you’ll find it’s not so bad. Here’s what you need to do:
I suggest you do your research in a couple of shorter sessions, rather than one long mega-session that leaves you frustrated and exhausted. Keep in mind the kinds of sources we discussed in class—online scholarly journals, edu. or gov. domains are usually reliable. Steer away from personal webpages, unless of course your research is analyzing them or something of that nature. Also, be aware that some newspapers charge a fee for their articles. Here’s an example of an annotated bibliography entry: Worrell, Judith. “Recovered Memories.” Encyclopedia of Women and Gender. Vol. 2. San Diego: Academic Press, 2001. 905-17. Judith Worrell obtained her information from several sources: past studies that she had conducted and journal articles written by others in her field. This essay examines traumatic moments in depth, including an overview of theories concerning traumatic memories, how and why they are forgotten, and the mechanisms employed for recovering these experiences. Worrell also examines false memories, why they are created, and discusses the appropriate treatment for various kinds of memory loss. Although Worrell doesn’t explicitly endorse one type of treatment, it is clear from the amount of writing she gives to her own treatment style, which she calls “non-invasive memory recall stimulus,” that she is arguing for this approach. This essay would be a good source for anyone who is focusing on either treatment of memory loss or more specifically, memory loss in women. At this point, I plan to use the part of the article about false memory, since that is the main idea of my project.
ENG 111 Fall ‘05 Seq. III Finalize Your Plans: Write the Prospectus (30 pts.)
Goals:
Due date: Friday, November 11 Length: no more than 2 pages Description: I know it might seems difficult, if not impossible, to write about a project you’ve yet to do. I agree that it’s difficult, but I know that it’s not impossible, since I’ve done it myself. The key to writing a prospectus is to first, spend some time thinking about the project, and second, to be ready to write at least two drafts. What usually happens is that as you compose the prospectus, the project begins to take shape, and by the end of the prospectus, you have some definite ideas. The thing is, you needed to do the writing to get to that point. The second draft should begin by engaging with those newly-developed ideas. It’s certainly possible to write a prospectus in a hurry, but that technique might lead to a commitment to a project that you have very little interest in. While you’ll be happy to have finished the prospectus, the trouble is that now you’re stuck with the project you’ve described. As I explained in class, every project takes on a life of it’s own once we start working on it, and new ideas arise—that’s to be expected, and slight deviations from the prospectus are fine. However, I won’t accept any project that is radically different from the prospectus, so think before you commit. A prospectus is comprised of several sections:
Grading Criteria:
Feel free to submit earlier drafts of the prospectus in addition to the reading draft. The next page offers a sample prospectus, with the various sections labeled.
Sample Prospectus
Give Us What We Need to Succeed: Changing Requirements for a Changing World [working title]
For this project, I will argue that in this highly technological and globally connected age, American college students should be required to take a course in writing and developing web pages for international audiences. [statement] Students going out into the job market today need every competitive edge possible. College writing courses in this country generally prepare students to write in the academy for an English speaking community. Most students are given very little instruction on how to write for the Internet, one of our major sources for news and information, as well as the single most powerful connection to the rest of the world. Therefore, I believe that students should be required to take a course designed specifically to train them for writing on the Internet. [rationale] The format for my project will be a series of letters written to various members of Miami University’s academic and administrative personnel: the chair of the English department; the dean of Arts and Sciences, and the vice-president for academic affairs. I will use sources from academic journals, college catalogues of other Ohio colleges and universities, and several articles from newspapers to effectively support my argument, employing both logos and ethos to persuade my audiences. [description of development of project]
Working Bibliography [sources with correct MLA format would be listed here]
ENG 111 Fall ‘05 Seq. III Putting Your Ideas into Writing/Receiving Feedback: Rough Draft (20 pts.) and Peer Response (20 pts.)
Goals:
Due date: Friday, November 18 Length: no less than 5 pages Description—rough draft: Keep in mind the essay by Annie Lamott. This is your “shitty first draft,” the one where you just get out the ideas, the one where as you write new ideas form. It’s a place of mess and disorder from which you’ll take your best thoughts to use for the next draft. It is NOT the reading draft. Too often, beginning writers expect to write one draft, tinker with it a bit (fixing spelling, perhaps, or replacing a word here and there), and end up with a piece of writing that’s engaging and polished. Writing just doesn’t work that way. While this is the rough draft, it still needs to be a completed rough draft. That means it has an introduction, supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion. Grading Criteria:
Description – peer response: You’ve had several opportunities to respond to the writing of your peers, and you’re familiar with the kinds of feedback that are, and are not, helpful. For this peer response, you have two documents that shape your response: the questions from the writer, and the criteria I’ve provided. Although what you’re reading is the rough draft, you should still be able to discern the writer’s main ideas. Don’t be too concerned with sentence-level errors at this point, unless you see some that are repeated and might show up in the reading draft. Focus instead on larger issues: the argument and its supports, organization, and focus.
Here’s what you should do:
Grading Criteria:
ENG 111 Fall ‘05 Seq. III Revising, Proofreading and Editing: The Final Steps Before Submitting Your Work
Goals:
Due date: Tuesday, November 22 – bring to my office; do not place in my mailbox Description—revising: As we’ve seen from the examples from class, “revising” isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” kind of activity. Your revision depends on a number of factors, but the main ones are where the writing is now, at the rough draft stage, and how much time you have to devote to further work. After receiving feedback from your peers, and spending some time away from the writing, you should be able to see places that need further work—and this further work is individual to each project. Revising could mean reorganizing; it could mean realizing you need to sharpen your focus; it could mean that you’ve found one or two good ideas and need to build the revision around them. The most difficult part of revising is highlighting text that you’ve already written and hitting the delete key. It’s tough to toss out our work, I know, but think of it this way: why would you want to submit work that you know isn’t that good? And then most likely receive a grade that you’ll be disappointed with? Description-proofreading After you’ve finished revising, take some time to proofread. This is when you concentrate on individual sentences and even individual words. One of the best techniques I know for proofreading for “flow” (meaning the actual graceful rhythm of the words themselves) is to read your work aloud or have someone else read it to you. You’ll quickly hear places that sound rough, believe me. Proofreading also means checking for grammatical and technical errors, such as misspelled words. Think of proofreading as going over the draft on a micro-level, as opposed to the macro-level required for revision. Description-editing Editing is polishing. It’s what you do in response to proofreading: tweaking sentences, replacing one word with another, providing transitions between sentences. It’s the place for the final “fix-its.”
Once you’ve revised, proofread, and edited, your final step is write the writer’s memo. The memo is counted as part of the 100 points for the reading draft; take some time with it. You’ve written a couple of memos already, so you know what to include, and you know above all to BE SPECIFIC. Include in your envelope:
Grading Criteria for Sequence III Project
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