Blog Post MakeUp

Any made-up blog posts must be COMPLETED by the last day of classes, 12/11 by 5:20 pm. 

There are two ways to make up lost blog post points. You can ONLY choose one of the two:

1. You can go back and complete any missed blog posts for half-credit. This means you can earn UP TO 5 points for each made-up post. I recommend this method particularly for those of you who have missed more than two posts on time.
2. You can, for a full ten points, write a new blog post. This post must be 4-5 paragraphs and be about writing and technology. You need to find an article online that relates to writing and technology in some way and then write both a summary of the article and an analysis in which you critique the article and any arguments it makes, as well as describe how it applies to anything we have learned in class this semester. Your blog post must link to the article you found at the beginning of the post.

Again, you can only choose one of the above options. And if you are all caught up on your blog posts on time, no need to worry about this at all. If you have any questions, please ask me asap.

Blog Post #8: Reflection Writing

Blog Post DUE Thurs. 12/3 – 4:30 pm

In order to get more practice writing reflectively, I would like every person to write 3-4 paragraphs answering ONE of the questions below:

1. When you think about your past as a reader and writer, what person or set of people have been the biggest influence on your reading and/or writing (positive or negative)? Why?
2. What is the writing assignment you have been most proud of in your entire life? Why?
3. What is the writing assignment you have been least proud of in your entire life? Why?
4. Is there a particular book or other piece of media that has a had a major influence on you as a reader, writer, or person? What was it? Why was it so influential?

Remember that good reflection writing uses a questioning or tentative tone and strong details. Good reflections should not only be informative and entertaining but should leave the reader with something to think about, as well. You shouldn’t necessarily “know” all of your answers when you write a reflection. A reflection is partly a thinking-through process of writing.

 

Individual Conferences – Week of 11/16

Below are your assigned conference times. Make sure to pay attention to when your conference is and where it is located (my office vs. conference room). Please be on time and ready to go so that everyone gets an even amount of time.

Wednesday 11/18 – in my office, Heavilon 207
3:00 – Colin
3:10 – Emily P.
3:20 – Sam
3:30 – Ania
3:40 – Sara
3:50 – Nick
4:00 – Katelyn

Wednesday 11/18 – in the conference room, Heavilon 225
4:30 – Kyle
4:40 – Will
4:50 – Vineel
5:00 – Peter
5:10 – Harrison

Friday 11/20 – in my office, Heavilon 207
3:30 – Luke
3:40 – Emily S.
3:50 – Kevin
4:00 – Steven

Friday 11/20 – in my conference room, Heavilon 225
4:30 – Bethany
4:40 – Chandler
4:50 – Addison
5:00 – Matthew

 

Blog Post #7: Grant Writing

Blog post DUE Tues. 11/10 – 4:30 pm

The website grantspace.org keeps a wonderful collection of real grant samples here: http://grantspace.org/tools/sample-documents

For this blog post assignment, pick one of the grant samples to read (feel free to pick one related to your own interests. And make sure you read one that is a full proposal – not just a cover letter or budget. Read the grant example and write a blog post of 3-4 paragraphs that does the following:

• Summarizes what the grant proposal is about and what the proposed money will be used for
• Discusses how the grant proposal does or does not meet your expectations of the genre
• Describes how it is similar to the proposals we are writing for this class
• Describes it is different from the proposals we are writing

I want you to be detailed and to consider our proposal assignment throughout your process of writing this post. Consider the difficulties of reading a grant proposal when removed from the context of the grant itself. Consider what it was that made these grant proposals successful. I highly recommend reading the great commentary that goes along with each grant proposal. You might also consider how this site itself could be considered a writing resource. My goal is that this post assignment will help you better understand the genre conventions of grant proposal writing.

Blog Post #6: Plagiarism and Remix

Blog post DUE Thursday 10/29 – 4:30 pm

After reading the Jonathan Lethem essay “The Ecstasy of Influence,” please write a 3-4 paragraph blog post that addresses ONE of the themes below. Please use details and examples to strengthen your response, and please engage directly with the essay.

1. One of the claims Lethem seems to make in this essay is that nothing is truly original. He uses several examples to back this up. Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?
2. Lethem talks about remix in this essay, and it is often said that we currently live in a “remix culture.” What is a remix culture? What do you think it means to be in a remix culture?
3. The form of this essay is very interesting because the structure and notes section are both part of Lethem’s larger argument. Does this form match his argument, and how? Is it important for writers to use structure as a way to make their point?
4. Technology plays an important role in Lethem’s argument. Do you think that technology is changing the way we think about copyright and plagiarism? Why/why not, and how?

I would also like everyone to comment on at least TWO other people’s blog posts before 4:30 pm on Friday 10/30. You must comment on others’ blogs to receive the full points for this post assignment. 

Discussion Questions – for Thurs. 10/29

Reading to be discussed: Jonathan Lethem, “The Ecstasy of Influence”

General questions about plagiarism:

1.  Think about your past experiences discussing plagiarism in classes?  How do those discussions make you feel?  Were they productive?

2.  Can you think of examples from your daily life that might could as plagiarism?

3.  What are some examples of sampling, copying, or non-cited use of other people’s work in the music, films, books, or other cultural items you encounter regularly?

Here are some questions intended to help you analyze and reflect on Jonathan Lethem’s essay “The Ecstasy of Influence,” which puts pressure on our notions of plagiarism:

1. Lethem says: “Plagiarism and piracy, after all, are the monsters we working artists are taught to dread, as they roam the wood surrounding our tiny preserves of regard and remuneration.”  Does this line up with your own experiences of being taught about plagiarism?  Why or why not?

2.  Lethem points out that technology is changing the way we think about issues of plagiarism, copying, and copyright.  What ways do you see technology as a force that changes the ways we think about these things?

3.  What is the difference between a market economy and a gift economy, at least according to Lethem?  Is a gift economy even possible in our current society?

4. How do we unpack this idea, especially as members of a class that puts a lot of focus on collaboration: “That a language is a commons doesn’t mean that the community owns it; rather it belongs between people, possessed by no one, not even a society as a whole.”?

5. Lethem says “Contemporary copyright, trademark, and patent law is corrupted.”  Do you agree or disagree?  Why?

6.  The “notes” section at the end of the essay are part of Lethem’s central argument.  What were your reactions when you came to this section when you started reading it?

7.  How does this essay and Lethem’s argument make you feel?  Do you agree with it?  Why or why not?  Does it affect the way you think about plagiarism at all, and why/why not?

8.  What are some examples of sampling, copying, or non-cited use of other people’s work in the music, films, books, or other cultural items you encounter regularly?

Blog Post #5: Research

Blog post DUE Tuesday 10/20 – 4:30 pm

After reading Ch. 4 of Compose, Design, Advocate, I want you to consider your past research experiences, as well as the advice the textbook provides. In a blog post of 3-4 full paragraphs, please discuss and describe: a) your past experiences with doing research (particularly research done for a paper); b) what you do and don’t like about the advice for research CDA provides; and c) and what you consider to be hard and easy about research.

Keep these questions in mind as you write (but DON’T explicitly answer them one-by-one; remember you are writing an informal mini-essay, not simply taking a quiz):

1. What past research projects have you done? How did you do that research?
2. What research tools or methods do you use the most? Why?
3. What do you consider easy about research? Why? Conversely: What do you consider difficult about research? Why?
4. What advice or tips does the textbook give that you like or dislike? Why do you find this advice helpful or not?

Homework for Mon. (10/5) and Tues. (10/6)

Due Monday:

1. Each person in your grant group must post, in a Google doc in your shared group folder, one paragraph about their strengths as a writer and what they think they can bring to this project. This doc should be shared with me by the beginning of class on Monday.
2. Blog post #4

Due Tuesday: Read the first four pages in the grant writing section of the Purdue OWL. The link for this section is under the Readings page on this site.

Blog Post #4: Post-Analysis Reflection and Resources

Blog post DUE Monday 10/5 – 4:30 pm

Now that you have finished your first major assignment for the course, a rhetorical analysis of a website, I want you to reflect on what resources you used as you wrote about the paper and what resources you would have liked to have had. Think of this as a bridge between the analysis and our next project, a web development grant. This blog post should allow you room to consider 1) what type of online resources are already out there for composition students, and 2) what types of resources there should be more of for comp. students.

Please write this post as a semi-formal piece of writing, with multiple paragraphs and some kind of internal organization. Remember that the questions I pose in the prompt are NOT to be answered one-by-one, but rather meant to be generative, to get you thinking about how to answer the prompt.

Questions to consider:

1. What was hard and/or easy about completing your analysis? What types of feedback did you take into account as you worked on your final draft?
2. What online or in-person resources did you use as you completed this writing assignment? How did you use them, and at what point in your process? Be specific and detailed.
3. What online or in-person resources would have been helpful as you completed this assignment? How would you use these “dream” sources? Again, be specific and detailed.

Grant Proposal & Conference Groups

These are the new conference group assignments for the semester. Please make sure to show up and be ready to go at your new time in our usual conference space.

Wed. 4:30 – Sam, Colin, Emily P., Kyle, Will

Wed. 4:55 – Ania, Peter, Vineel, Harrison, Katelyn

Fri. 4:30 – Addison, Sara, Nick, Chandler, Steven

Fri. 4:55 – Bethany, Kevin, Matt, Luke, Emily S.