Class Calendar and Schedule of Assignments
 
Week
Date
Points Topics to be Covered
Reading Assignment Due
Writing Assignment Due
1 8/27 .75 Welcome to the Class: Objectives and Means
Why Writing is Difficult
Objectivity, Empathy, Courtesy, Hygiene
The English Language’s Specific Challenges
The Scale of Abstraction
1 8/29 1 Research and Writing as a Recursive Process
Writing as Inquiry
Discourse Communities and Genre
How Ideas Develop Over Time
Booth et al
The Craft of Research
1-26
Exercise: Initial Thoughts on a Topic
2 9/3 No Class — Labor Day
2 9/5 .75 The Role of Questions in Research
Types of Problems
Proposals
Annotated Bibliography, Audience Analysis, and Proposal Assignment
Booth et al
The Craft of Research
27-64
3 9/10 1 Finding Useful Secondary Sources
Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources
Academic, Trade, and Popular Journals

Booth et al
The Craft of Research
65-104
Karen Rosenberg
“Reading Games:
Strategies for Reading Scholarly Sources”
Exercise: Planning for an Audience
3 9/12 1 Research, continued
Stylistic Issues
Clarity
Coherence and Transitions
Concision
Booth et al
The Craft of Research
248-267
Exercise: Initial Research
4 9/17 .75 Argument
The Rhetorical Triangle
Platonists and Sophists
Basic Logic
Booth et al
The Craft of Research
105-154
4 9/19 .75 Toulmin Analysis
How Quotations Fit into an Argument
Annotated Bibliography, Audience Analysis, and Proposal
5 9/24 2 Peer Response #1
MS Revision Tools
Reflective Commentaries
Peer Response for Annotated Bibliography, Audience Analysis, and Proposal
5 9/26 .75 Finding Useful Type 1 and Type 2 Secondary Source Quotations
Quotations
The Hall Scale
Using Type 1 Quotations Effectively
Extending, Applying, Rebutting

Booth et al
The Craft of Research
200-213
Kyle D. Stedman
“Annoying Ways People Use Sources”

Revision of Annotated Bibliography, Audience Analysis, and Proposal due by midnight, 9/28 along with Reflective Commentary
6 10/1 1 Finding and Using Type 1 Quotations Effectively, continued
Understanding Sources in Context
Discipline Awareness Project: Tracing the Path of Scholarship Assignment
Exercise: Mining a Source for a Quotation
6 10/3 1.25 Library Research Day
Class meets in Fenwick Library
Do not come to our usual classroom first
7 10/9 1

Columbus Day Recess
Monday Classes Meet Tuesday; Tuesday Classes Do Not Meet
Finding Type 1 Quotations and Using Them Effectively, continued

In-Class Exercise:
Scholarly Writing as a Record of Influence
7 10/10 1 Stylistic Issues Redux Exercise: Correcting a Stylistic Error
8 10/15 .75 Discipline Awareness Project Workshop Come to Class with your Project in its Current Form
8 10/17 1 Making an Argument with a Quotation
Bad Writing
9 10/22 1.25 Peer Response Instructions Discipline Awareness Project:
Tracing the Path of Scholarship
In Class Exercise: Working with a Quotation
9 10/24 2 Peer Response #2 Peer Response to Discipline Awareness Project:
Tracing the Path of Scholarship
Revision of Discipline Awareness Project:
Tracing the Path of Scholarship
with Reflective Commentary due by midnight, 10/26
10 10/29 2

Individual Conferences

10 10/31
11 11/5
11 11/7
12 11/12 1 Thesis Statements GMU Writing Center
Thesis Statements
12 11/14 1 Closed-Form and Open-Form Essays
Subheads
Introductions and Conclusions
Class Web-Page
Essay Structure Options
Exercise: Thesis Statement and Planning
13 11/19 1.25 Introductions, continued
Works Cited and Reference Lists
In-Class Exercise:
Closed-Form and Open-Form Introductions
13 11/21 No Class — Happy Thanksgiving
14 11/26 1 Works Cited and Reference Lists, continued Exercise: Works Cited or Reference List
14 11/28 .75 Peer Response #3 Instructions Research Project: Sources, Quotations, Citations, Commentary, and Introductions
15 12/3 2 Peer Response Session #3 Peer Response for Research Project: Sources, Quotations, Citations, Commentary, and Introductions
15 12/5 1 Peer Responses, continued
Class Evaluations
Peer Response for Research Project: Sources, Quotations, Citations, Commentary, and Introductions Stage 2
 
Revision of Research Project: Sources, Quotations, Citations, Commentary, and Introductions with Reflective Commentary due Sunday, 12/9 by midnight
 
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