Home Teaching Resources Composition Archive CO150 2007-2008 Syllabus Finals Week

Finals Week

CSU and the English Department require instructors to meet with their classes during scheduled times during finals week.  Given the nature of CO150, we do not administer an exam; instead we conduct an activity that wraps up the semester in a meaningful way. Here is one option for a final exam activity:

Since students will be turning in their Public Context Arguments at the final exam time, you might have students write an extended postscript that explains their rhetorical choices.  Asking several questions can encourage students to explain their rhetorical choices thoroughly:

• How did you identify the problem you address in your argument?  How and why is it significant right now?  What motivated you to write about it?
• What are your argument’s purposes?  What did you do to accomplish those goals? Explain.
• To whom have you written your argument?  Why did you choose this audience?  What are the needs and interests of this audience?  What did you do to appeal to this audience?
• Describe the genre you chose.  Why did you choose this genre?  What are the conventions of this genre?  How did you shape your argument to follow the genre conventions? 
• What do you think the outcome of your argument will be?  Why?

Alternatively, you could provide students with these questions ahead of time and ask them to prepare a short presentation for the class that explains their argument and their rhetorical choices.