Dr. Dean Taciuch
George Mason University

Fall 2021


English 302: N21 & N22 Schedule
Course Schedule

Weekly Course Schedule

Week 1 (Aug 23– 29)

Lesson 1: Introduction to the course
Review the course syllabus and course schedule

Lesson 2: Finding conversations in your field – Academic and professional discourse communities
Read GMU Library Subject Guide for your field.
Watch Academic Disciplines - Social Sciences
Watch Inform Your Thinking: Episode 1 - Research is a Conversation
Read instructions for Research Log 1: Professional Organizations and Advocacy Groups

Post in Library Subject Guide Discussion by Friday Aug 27


Week 2 (Aug 30 – Sept 5)

Lesson 3: Choosing topics of interest
Read How to Select a Research Topic
Read Overview - Selecting a Research Topic
Post in Preliminary Research Topics discussion by Wednesday Sept 1

Lesson 4: Reading Rhetorically – Professional Publications
Review the key terms in the lesson module
Complete Trade Source Analysis (journal) by Friday Sept 3


WEEK 3 (Sept 7 – 12)
Labor Day, Monday Sept 6 (University Closed)

Lesson 5: Determining types of sources/Evaluating sources

Read the following resources from the George Mason University Library. Note that all of the following sources are charts that can also be downloaded as PDFs. 

Watch: Evaluating Sources
Optional Watch (but definitely worth it): Check Yourself with Lateral Reading

Lesson 6: Finding key words – Preparing for advanced database searches

Read Search Terms
Read Searching with Keywords - Research Skills Tutorial
Post in Refining Key Terms Discussion by Wednesday Sept 8
Research Log 1 and Reflection Due Friday Sept 10


WEEK 4 (Sept 13– 19)

Lesson 7: From topic to question – Using keywords and search terms

Read Comer “Effective Questions”
Post in Research Questions discussion by Wednesday Sept 15

Lesson 8: Library visit 1 – Finding scholarly, peer reviewed sources

Read instructions for Research Log 2: Scholarly Sources
Read instructions for the Literature Review
Watch Library tutorial


WEEK 5 (Sept 20 – 26)

Lesson 9: Reading rhetorically – Analyzing in-text citations in scholarly sources

Watch "Parts of a Reference" video

Lesson 10: Library visit 2 – Advanced citation mining strategies

Complete Library module
Complete Source Evaluation (journal) by Wednesday Sept 22
Research Log 2 and Reflection Due by Friday Sept 24


WEEK 6 (Sept 27 – Oct 3)

Lesson 11: Reading rhetorically – Annotating a scholarly source

Read Annotating a Text
Read Rosenberg’s "Reading Games"
Read Carillo’s “Reading Strategies”

Complete Reading & Annotating a Scholarly Journal (journal) by Wednesday Sept 29

Lesson 12: Refining the research question – Key terms and stakeholders

Watch this tutorial about narrowing a topic and research question: Narrowing Your Topic
Read the Writing Center handout, "How to Write a Research Question."
Read "Narrow a Research Question" and "Identify Key Words"

Complete Narrowing the Research Question worksheet by Friday Oct 1


WEEK 7 (Oct 4 – 10)

Lessons 13 & 14: Putting the research together – Audience, genre, purpose

Small group conferences focused on narrowing the research question and brainstorming stakeholders


WEEK 8 (Oct 11 – 17)

Fall Break: Monday classes/labs meet Tuesday. Tuesday classes do not meet this week.

Lesson 15: Genre – The literature review

Reread instructions for the Literature Review
Read Wrench et. al
Watch The Literature Review
Complete Literature Review Outline (journal) by Wednesday October 13

Lesson 16: Stakeholders – Audiences for the literature review

Read p. 45 Miller-Cochran
Post in Literature Review: Audiences discussion by Friday October 15


WEEK 9 (Oct 18 – 24)

Lesson 17 : Finding conversations in newspapers – Public, non-expert audiences

Read “Understanding Genres”
Read instructions for Research Log 3
Complete Analyzing Public Genres (journal) by Wednesday October 20

Lesson 18: Writing introductions for lit reviews – Using current events to provide context

Read Writing a Literature Review
Read Literature Reviews (una)


WEEK 10 (Oct 25 – 31)

Lesson 19: Source integration – Synthesis Matrix

Review Wrench et al.
Read Literature Reviews (gmu)
Browse this document explaining how to build a synthesis matrix
Complete Creating a Synthesis Matrix (journal) By Wednesday October 27

Lesson 20: From question to complex thesis

Read p.41-43 Miller-Cochran
Research Log 3 and Reflection Due by Friday October 31


WEEK 11 (Nov 1 – 7)

Lesson 21: Revision - Peer Review

Literature Review Draft due Wednesday Nov 3

Lesson 22: Reflection – The research question

Post in Your Research Question discussion by Friday Nov 5

Peer Reviews due Sunday Nov 7


WEEK 12 (Nov 8 – 14)

Lesson 23: Line revisions

We will work on revisions for the most common issues in the class

Lesson 24: Literature Review

Literature Review is Due by Friday November 12


WEEK 13 (Nov 15 – 21)

Lesson 25: Advocacy letter – Genre

Read instructions to Advocacy Letter Assignment
Read Effective Advocacy Letters
Read Write a Letter to Your Legislator
Read Effective Advocacy
Read sample advocacy letters posted on Blackboard

Complete the audience analysis (journal) for advocacy letter by Wednesday November 17

Lesson 26: Advocacy letter – Audience

Post in Advocacy Letter discussion by Friday November 19


WEEK 14 (Nov 22 – 23)

Thanksgiving Recess Nov 24 – 28
Lesson 27: Revision – Peer review

Post Advocacy Letter draft in Peer Review group by Tuesday November 23.

All revisions due by November 23 (see revision policy on syllabus)


Week 15 (Nov 19 – Dec 5)

Lesson 28: Reflection – Audience and genre

Advocacy Letter Peer Review due Wednesday December 1
Advocacy Letter
Due Friday December 3
Complete
Reflection (journal) and Course Evaluation by Sunday December 5


Back to Course Syllabus

This course schedule was developed by the George Mason Composition Program, and it is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.)