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CO300 Student Syllabus Spring 2000

Students should come to every class prepared to draft and revise papers they are composing. Bring all materials to class every day. Most class discussions and activities won't take the entire class period so a great deal of work can be completed in class. Please note that I reserve the right to change or alter exercises and due dates if I realize that students need more or less practice or instruction on different techniques related to their writing and/or writing processes.

Wednesday, January 19th - Introduction to the course, semester topic and computers
Read Lame Deer's "Talking to the Owls and Butterflies" (Handout) - Bring notes to class on Friday, January 21st.

Friday, January 21st - Class Forum / "Talking to the Owls and Butterflies" and Critical Thinking/Critical Reading
Read and annotate Pollan's "Why Mow? The Case Against Lawns" (Being in the World pp. 433 - 442)
Read Chapter One in AIMS.

Read Chapter Two in AIMS.

Monday, January 24th - Writing Elements/Reading Arguments

Exercise 1 - Summarize "Why Mow? The Case Against Lawns" (Being in the World pp. 433 - 442) for Wednesday. Post your summary on the forum by Wednesday, January 26th at 5:00 P.M. Bring a hard copy of your summary to class on Wednesday, February 2nd.

Wednesday, January 26th - Summary
Exercise 2 - Summarize "The Face of the Spider" (Being in the World pp. 32 - 37). Post your summary on the forum by 5:00 P.M. on Friday, January 28th. Bring a hard copy of your summary to class on Monday, January 31st.

Exercise 3 - Summarize Sagoff's "Nature Vs. the Environment" (Handout). Post your summary on the forum by 5:00 P.M. on Monday, January 31st. Bring a hard copy of your summary to class on Wednesday, February 2nd.

Friday, January 28th - Critical Thinking/Critical Reading and Logical Fallacies

Exercise 4 - Summarize "Dirty Word, Clean Place" (Being in the World pp. 646 - 654). Bring a hard copy of your summary to class on Wednesday, February 2nd .

Monday, January 31st - Critical Thinking/Critical Reading and Logical Fallacies Cont'd (Analyze Essays)

Wednesday, February 2nd - Revision (cont'd)

Exercise 5 (Due on Friday, February 4th) Look at the drafts of E.B. White's
"Moonwalk" and note the different types of revision practices he used. Describe what you see as effective and then ineffective changes here. Then give a definition of "revision." Discuss how overall successful E.B. White's revisions were here. After thoroughly scrutinizing E.B. White's process, explain how this relates to you as you begin to revise your writings in this class, specifically your summaries. This assignment should be at least one processed page, double spaced if you are to answer each question above thoroughly, using examples from the text.

Friday, February 4th - Revision (Writing Processes) and Practice Workshop ("Talking to Owls and Butterflies" Handout)
Monday, February 7th - Mandatory/Essential Summary Workshop and Introduction to Text Analysis

Read Chapter Four in Aims.

Wednesday, February 9th - Toulmin and REALM
Exercise 6 - Complete a Toulmin Analysis on Lame Deer's "Talking to the Owls and Butterflies." Post it on the forum by Friday, February 11th at 5:00 P.M. Turn in a hard copy at the beginning of class on Monday, February 14th.

Friday, February 11th - Toulmin and REALM

Monday, February 14th - Mandatory/Essential Workshop on Text Analysis Paper
Wednesday, February 16th - Response Essay
Exercise 7 - Address the prompt under For Negotiation at the end of the Postrel's "The Environmental Movement: A Skeptical View" (Handout). Post your essay on the Forum by Friday, February 18th at 5:00 P.M. Turn in a hard copy during class on Monday, February 21st.

Friday, February 18th - Class discussion of Response Focus

Monday, February 21st - Response: Adding to the Issue

Wednesday, February 23rd - Mandatory/Essential Response Workshop

Friday, February 25th - Mandatory/Essential Portfolio One Workshop

Monday, February 28th - Portfolio One Due (Postscript Writing) and Annotated Bibliography and Formatting Annotated Bibliography
Skim Researching Arguments in AIMS (pp. 227 - 279 in Aims)

Wednesday, March 1st - Library and Web Search

Friday, March 3rd - Focus (Convincing and Persuading Essay Assignments)

Monday, March 13th - Annotated Bibliography Cont'd

Wednesday, March 15th - Annotated Bibliography Due and Portfolio Two (Convincing Essay)
Read Chapter 5 in Aims (You might consider reading Chapter 6 also as you need to write two essays with different Rhetorical Contexts; however, they are somewhat similar.)

Friday, March 17th - Introducing Convincing
Exercise 8 - Complete the Rhetorical Prospectus with regard to your Convincing Essay. This is due on Wednesday, March 22th.

Monday, March 20th - The Convincing Process

Wednesday, March 22nd - Citing Sources and Formatting the Convincing Essay
Exercise 9 - Read the DiPerna's "Truth vs. Facts" (p. 699 - 709 in Being in the World). Answer questions 1-8 under Analyzing and Discussing the Text OR complete a Toulmin analysis on the essay. This exercise is due on Monday, March 27th.

Friday, March 24th - Constructing Arguments

Monday, March 27th - Practice Workshop
Intervention Draft for Convincing is during at the beginning of class.

Wednesday, March 29th - Workshop Convincing Essay - Mandatory/Essential

Friday, March 31st - Momaday (Being in the World pp. 605 - 611)

Monday, April 3rd - Workshop Convincing Essay - Mandatory/Essential

Wednesday, April 5th - Persuasion Essay

Friday, April 7th - "Letter from Birmingham Jail" in The Aims of Argument
Exercise 10 - Word process thorough, complete answers to the 4 questions under Following Through on pp. 133-4 of Aims. Question 4 deserves a half of page of writing!! AND Complete the prompts under Following Through on page 135. This is due on Monday, April 10th.

Monday, April 10th - Appeals - "Keep It Simple" (Being in the World pp. 679 - 683)

Wednesday, April 12th - Workshop Persuasive Essay, Mandatory/Essential

Friday, April 14th - Style

Monday, April 17th - Workshop Persuasive Essay, Mandatory/Essential

Wednesday, April 19th - Portfolio Two Workshop, Mandatory/Essential

Friday, April 21st - Portfolio Two Due and Postscript

Monday, April 24th - Argumentative Analysis Essay

Wednesday, April 26th - Audience Analysis

Exercise 11 - Complete the Audience Analysis for the essay you are working with. This exercise is due on Monday, May 1st.
Exercise 12 - Complete the Organization/Development/Style analysis for the argument you are working with. This exercise is due on Monday, May 1st.

Friday, April 28th - NO CLASS - READING DAY / DRAFTING DAY

Monday, May 1st - Workshop Analysis Essay, Mandatory/Essential

Wednesday, May 3rd - Analysis Essay Due

Friday, May 5th - NO CLASS

Final Exams:
CO300.1 - Thursday, May 11th, 7:00 A.M. - 9:00 P.M.
CO300.3 - Thursday, May 11th, 1:30 P.M. - 3:30 P.M.