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.)