CO130: Sample Syllabus
Week 1: Writing processes and writing rituals
- What processes help writers get started and keep going as they write?
- Do all writers use the same strategies?
Assignments: Diagnostic writing; students write about preferred writing processes and rituals
Week 2: Reading strategies; prewriting strategies
- How are reading and writing connected?
- How does reading for learning differ from reading for other purposes?
- How is reading a prewriting strategy?
- What other techniques help writers collect, plan, and organize their writing before they begin drafting?
Assignments: Writing in response to readings in the text
Week 3: Audience awareness; summarizing
- Who are potential audiences in the university?
- How do audiences differ?
- What are the features of effective summaries?
- Why is summarizing a valuable learning tool?
Assignments: Writing in response to readings--summaries and reactions
Week 4: More practice with summary; focusing and developing ideas
- Why should summaries be objective?
- What techniques can help writers communicate effectively with readers?
- Why do readers need detail?
Assignments: Writing in response to readings--summaries and reactions
Week 5: Organizational strategies; workshopping
- What are typical ways writers organize material to present it efficiently to readers?
- Why do readers expect these organizational patterns?
- How do the patterns make reading more efficient?
- How can writers revise their texts to make the patterns more helpful to readers?
Assignments: Drafting essays for portfolio 1 (Portfolio 1 will include at least 6 pages of revised prose and all informal writing done to date)
Week 6: Revising to meet audience needs; preparing portfolio 1
- What techniques help writers revise?
- When might writers prewrite as they revise?
- How do audience and purpose shape revising strategies?
Assignments: Revising essays for portfolio 1
Week 7: Revising strategies; portfolio 1 due
- Where does proofreading fit into the writing process?
- How can readers help writers with final revisions and proofreading?
Assignments: Revising and proofreading essays for portfolio 1
Week 8: Linking personal experience with academic context
- How do readers use their personal experience to make sense of new information?
- What academic reading/writing assignments draw mainly on personal experience?
- What academic reading/writing assignments draw less on personal experience?
Assignments: Writing in response to readings--synthesizing readings
Week 9: Prewriting, audience revisited
- What prewriting strategies help writers collect data to supplement personal experience?
- What do readers expect from writing based on data?
- How can writers help readers understand new concepts?
- What mixture of personal experience and data works well in academic papers?
Assignments: Synthesizing readings
Week 10: Introducing library and Internet research
- When do writers use other sources to supplement their personal experience and insights?
- What resources in the library and on the Internet are available to help writers find information?
- How do writers document their sources?
Assignments: Library and Internet work on thematic topics, research process, synthesizing personal knowledge and source-based information
Week 11: Organizational strategies revisited
- How do writers organize data for readers?
- What are the typical ways that writers blend personal experience and data for readers?
Assignments: Begin drafting for portfolio 2 (Portfolio 2 will include at least 8 pages of revised prose and all informal writing done since portfolio 1.)
Week 12: Drafting a paper that uses sources
- How do writers know when they have included enough source material?
- What is a quick draft and how can it help writers working with source material?
Assignments: Continue drafting for portfolio 2
Week 13: Documenting source material
- How do writers acknowledge their sources for quoted or paraphrased material?
- How do writers evaluate sources for credibility?
- How many sources should a writer use to support an argument?
Assignments: Continue drafting and revising for portfolio 2
Week 14: Revising strategies revisited; workshopping
- How do audience and purpose shape revising strategies?
- What revising strategies help writers who use outside source materials?
- How can writers use workshop peers to be sure they have included enough information and organized it clearly?
Assignments: Revising portfolio 2
Week 15: Preparing portfolio 2; portfolio 2 due
Assignments: Revising portfolio 2
Final exam week: Holistically scored final summary-and-response essay
