Calendar Post for December 11

• Please meet in Morgan Library Classroom Two on Friday for our last class session before our final period. We'll discuss options for submitting the Public Essay online or via e-mail, and obtaining proof of submission to include with your portfolio.

• Meanwhile, you should be able to offer comments on two collaborators' second drafts via Google Docs. Check this post for the names of your collaborators and guidance on offering feedback, which we'll work on in class tomorrow.

Calendar Post for December 7 and 9 + Workshop/Visual/Analysis Handouts Posted

• Meet back in class on Wednesday for a discussion of visual rhetoric and rhetorical analysis. In preparation, please read a handout on analyzing and presenting the Public Essay (at drop.io).

• By Wednesday evening, as your last Writing Studio forum post, practice analyzing a text rhetorically by applying what you know to one of four essays we read last week. In at least 100 words, propose and analyze just one relationship in the essay you chose to read––writer and audience, purpose and context, text and genre, or a different combination of rhetorical elements. Additional elements and questions to guide your analysis can be found here.

• For Wednesday and Friday, review PHG chapter six, "Analyzing and Designing Visuals." Pay particular attention to pages 214-222 and 231-235. A handout on designing visual rhetoric has also been uploaded to drop.io.

• Instead of holding class on Monday, we will continue drafting the Public Essay and participate in the Google Docs workshop discussed elsewhere on our blog and at the library on Friday. At drop.io you'll find a guide to commenting on the Public Essay. Please note that first drafts and invitations to collaborators are due online Monday by noon and that second drafts and invitations are due Thursday evening.

• Guidance on submitting your Public Essay online or via e-mail will be posted later this week.

Calendar Post for December 2 and 4 + Interview/Survey Forum

• Meet in Morgan Library Classroom Two on Friday and bring materials to support your Local Inquiry/Public Essay writing process (newspaper articles, books, interview notes, survey findings, et cetera).

• As a team, be prepared to profile the person you spoke with during a lightening interview on Wednesday. If your team wasn't able to reach someone during class, tell us how and why your interview failed.

• For Friday and Monday, study one of the following admired essays: Chuck Klosterman's "Crazy Things Seem Normal, Normal Things Seem Crazy," about actor Val Kilmer; Elizabeth Kolbert's "The Truthteller," about scientist James Hansen (it appeared in print as "The Catastrophist"); Charles Komanoff's "Whither Wind," about the aesthetics of wind turbines; or Coco Henson Scales's "The Hostess Diaries, My Year at a Hot Spot," whose title says it all (an alternate version features illustrations). All four essays can be found at drop.io.

• For Wednesday, please read David Boerner's "Our Town (Music) Superhero" as an example of how to profile a local personality.

• In preparation for field research this week, based on what you know about your topic, draft a set of interview or survey questions. Then, by Wednesday night, post them to a Writing Studio forum along with a one-paragraph explanation of your specific purpose in conducting this type of inquiry. (Why do you feel you need to talk to this professor, for example, or ask people in Old Town Square these questions?) As you draft your questions, consider our handout on field research, PHG pages 320-322, and the following guidance.

Interviews:

- Are the bread and butter of field research.
- Can be formal or informal, arranged or impromptu.
- Don’t always lend themselves to recording, but recording allows you to be most accurate.
- Provide you with more control because you’re there to guide the discussion.
- Allow you to ask for more elaborate answers.
- Allow you to clarify confusing questions for more accurate responses.
- Allow you to adjust your purpose in light of your interviewee's knowledge.
- Provide a more comfortable atmosphere for raising personal questions.
- Lend themselves to witnessing body language.

Surveys and questionnaires:

- Allow you to gauge information from large groups of people.
- Are easier to tabulate numerically.
- May lead to more honest responses since writing is more anonymous than talking.

Effective interview questions will:

- Start with objective or factual questions, or at the beginning of a chronology.
- Gradually approach more subjective or controversial questions.
- Almost always invite more than a yes or no answer.
- Avoid assumptions about what the interviewee will say, but reflect some knowledge of his or her situation.

Effective survey questions will:

- Be clear and focused.
- Avoid confusing or ambiguous language.
- Be shaped for a target audience.
- Be respectful and objective.
- Avoid skewing responses or leading respondents.
- Take into account different uses for open-ended and closed questions.
- Not take more than a few minutes to answer.

Most importantly, effective questions will address the writer’s purpose, which is generally to find out what people know and think about the topic at hand. Interviews and questionnaires, in other words, will give you a sense of the conversation surrounding your essay.

• There will be no further news quizzes, as you should have an essay topic in mind by now.

Calendar Post for November 30

• Prepare for our third local news quiz. These in-class writing prompts encourage us to study local news sources for essay ideas. In particular, between now and Monday, browse:

The Coloradoan

The Rocky Mountain Collegian

The Denver Post's coverage of Denver and the West

Our #CO150 Twitter feed

• Read again one of the essays you were assigned in class on Friday, November 20 (by Orlean, Malone, or Maddocks) and prepare for a group discussion and presentation of the text on Monday by reviewing questions shown in class (now at drop.io). Reading each of these essays will be helpful in understanding the Local Inquiry/Public Essay, but if you weren't in class on November 20, focus on either Orlean or Malone's text.

• Continue pursuing field research in support of your Local Inquiry/Public Essay. Samples of previous essays posted online should also inform your writing process. A first draft of the essay will be due in class Monday, December 7.

Calendar Post for November 20 + Local Inquiry/Public Essay Forum

• Please read "Lifelike," a New Yorker essay by Susan Orlean. Also download and bring to class two short texts from local publications, "The Myth and the Magic," by Charles Malone, and "BRIEFS," by the Fort Collins Rabbit (as well as today's text, David Boerner's "Following the Poop"). All four texts can be found at drop.io.

• If you haven't already done so, review "Investigating: The Writing Process" on PHG pages 312-322. A handout at drop.io summarizes four kinds of field research techniques, three of which are covered in the PHG.

• Prepare for our second local news quiz. These in-class writing prompts encourage us to study local news sources for essay ideas. In particular, between now and Friday, browse:

The Coloradoan

The Denver Post's coverage of Denver and the West

Our #CO150 Twitter feed

• By Saturday night, at our Writing Studio forums page, please post a 200-word overview of the Local Inquiry/Public Essay you're planning to pursue. This plan will be tentative and may change. Still, you can discuss how the inquiry you're considering might incorporate qualities of the Public Essay as well as field research techniques (see handouts at drop.io). You can also describe the kinds of people you plan to interview and audience expectations for the publication to which you will pitch your essay or column.

• Update: our Local Inquiry/Public Essay assignment handout has also been posted to drop.io.

Calendar Post for November 18

• Continue reading David Boerner's "Following the Poop" in preparation for a discussion of the Local Inquiry and Public Essay on Wednesday. Other texts that can inform our final assignment have been posted to drop.io. We'll be focusing next on examples of essays in the same genre from two professional writers, "Whither Wind" by Charles Komanoff and "Lifelike" by Susan Orlean.

• Download a three-page handout (also at drop.io) that describes the qualities of the Local Inquiry/Public Essay and the writing process it should entail. The handout includes some tentative due dates.

• Read a short introduction to field research on PHG pages 320-322.

• Prepare for our first local news quiz. These in-class writing prompts will encourage us to study local news sources for essay ideas. In particular, between now and Wednesday, browse:

The Coloradoan

The Fort Collins Now

The Denver Post's coverage of Denver and the West

Our #CO150 Twitter feed will also begin featuring items of local interest. An example of a local news quiz has been posted to dropio.

• Most process work on the Group Inquiry assignment has been handed back with comments and grades. However, Raul neglected to hand back a few annotated bibliographies today in class. These will be available during tomorrow's office hours (see our syllabus) should you want to take a look before handing in your Academic Argument (as a hard copy) on Wednesday. Expect comments and grades on our wiki pages by the end of the week, and a midterm report on grades and attendance following Thanksgiving break.

Calendar Post for November 16

• If you haven't already done so, please provide in-text comments and a thorough summary note in each of your collaborators' Google Docs drafts. An earlier post lists groups of collaborators and handouts to guide this online workshop. As you revise your argument and prepare to submit a final hard copy on Monday or Wednesday, recall the guidance discussed in class about converting Google documents to Word documents. To reiterate, final revisions should take place on your desktop, not online. From our Google Docs handout:

You can edit and format your final paper without the comments showing by clicking "File" and "Print settings." Uncheck the "include comments" box, and the click "OK." Now you can select "File" and "Download file as" to save a copy of your draft as a Word document (without the comments).

• If you haven't already done so, read about revising arguments and identifying logical fallacies on PHG pages 577-582.

• You should also read a final example of how an Academic Argument moves through the writing process. Crystal Sabatke's "Welfare Is Still Necessary for Women and Children in the U.S." appears on PHG pages 583-591.

• Finally, for comparison, read and bring to class David Boerner's "Following the Poop" (at drop.io), which points to the kind of essay we'll be researching and drafting in our final assignment.

• We meet back in our usual classroom on Monday.

Google Docs Groups for the Academic Argument + Calendar Post for November 13

Meet in Morgan Library's Classroom One on Friday for a final workshop using our peer review, Google Docs workshop, and assignment handouts. You may also find our Academic Argument samples helpful.

As discussed in class, you should update your Google document with the (revised) text of your Academic Argument and send invitations to your collaborators (listed below) by noon on Friday. You can find e-mail addresses for collaborators in a class e-mail and on the "Classmates" page of the Writing Studio. If you don't see your name listed below, follow step three in the Google Docs workshop handout.

CO150.37:

• Jason L, Stephen G, Alex H
• Jack H, Jesse S, Rachel S
• Branden K, Cyndi H, Eric S
• Kelly T, Mandy D, Kassi M
• Cooper O, Brian R, Kayla T
• Valerie B, Senite T, Mark A

CO150.44:

• Zach H, Derek W, Chris N
• Justin S, Regan G, Rachael C
• Dan P, Jonny S, Adrienne K
• Sam S, Sean W, Eric W
• Kelsey C, Robbie O, Kaylynn A
• Jillian H, Michael W, Amanda K

Calendar Post for November 11 + Argument Handouts Posted

• Follow steps in our Google Docs workshop handout, especially the part about creating a document and inviting raulmoreno@gmail.com as a collaborator by noon on Wednesday.

• Bring a full rough draft of your Academic Argument to class on Wednesday as a hard copy.

• Read about revising arguments and logical fallacies on PHG pages 577-582.

• Download and bring to class the following handouts (at drop.io):

- argument_appeals.pdf

- argument_fallacies.pdf

- argument_workshop.pdf

Calendar Post for November 9

• Please read about two nontraditional argument techniques on PHG pages 521-525. (And if you haven't yet debated your partner, be prepared to finish "Staking a Claim" in class.)

• As discussed on Friday, also read read and bring to class a short series of counter arguments (at drop.io) by the United Kingdom's Royal Society, a scientific body with a history that spans four centuries. Then skim five "personal opinions" on climate change written by members of the Society and choose one to read closely and discuss in class.

• On Monday and Wednesday we'll continue watching Frontline's 2008 investigation of climate change, "Heat." At Frontline's website on PBS.org, you can also access interviews with sources featured in the program. "Heat" should be useful in providing information to supplement your Academic Argument, but if you do quote from one of its sources, please choose only one.

• By Monday evening, post a thoughtful response to the following questions on a forum about Frontline's "Heat" at the Writing Studio:

What facts, ideas, or points of controversy covered by the program might become important in your Academic Argument? Does this information support your claim or a counterargument?

If you were to quote one source who appears in the program, who would that be and why?

• Looking forward, full rough drafts of the Academic Argument will be due at a workshop in class on Wednesday. Then, on Friday, we'll be meeting again in Morgan Library's Classroom One for a workshop using Google Docs. Between now and then, please familiarize yourself with this online word processor by logging into Google Apps for CSU (or Gmail) and clicking on "Documents" at the top of your inbox. The final Academic Argument is due as a hard copy on Monday, November 16.

Calendar Post for November 6

• If you haven't yet debated your partner, prepare to finish "Staking a Claim" in class.

• Now that (most of) you have a proposed an Academic Argument, received feedback on that proposal in a conference, and begun research on behalf of the claim you will put forward, try drafting a "thesis paragraph" and bring a printout to class on Friday.

This paragraph might eventually become an early part of your argument that appears after you have introduced its context. The thesis paragraph it should both state a claim and forecast key points your argument will go on to address. Examine two paragraphs by Edward Koch on the top of PHG page 535 to get a sense for what this part of the argument looks like.

• Also look for theses and claims in five samples of the Academic Argument now available at drop.io.

• Finally, read and bring to class a short series of counter arguments (at drop.io) by the United Kingdom's Royal Society, a scientific body with a history that spans four centuries. Then for Monday, skim five "personal opinions" written by members of the Society and choose one to read and discuss in class. More reputable sources on climate change debates that might inform your own argument can be found at RealClimate.org and Grist.org.

Calendar Post for October 30 + Conferences Rescheduled

• As you may have heard in class today, due to the university's closure this afternoon amidst snow forecasts, Academic Argument Proposal conferences have been rescheduled for next week. We will hold conferences Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in lieu of class (see below).

• Barring another campus closure, we will meet at our usual time and place on Friday to discuss the proposal and the reading assigned in today's calendar post. In the meantime, please begin drafting your proposal (which is due at your conference) based on guidance in the assignment sheet. Also prepare for "Staking a Claim" on Friday.

• Finally, look for your new conference time below and e-mail Raul (see "Contact" in the sidebar) if you don't have a time or have an unavoidable conflict. Conferences take place in Raul's office, Aylesworth 268.

Conferences on Monday, November 2

11:15

11:30 Brian

11:45 Valerie

12:00 Max

12:15 Derek

12:30 Senite

12:45 Cyndi

1:00 Eric S

1:15 Cooper

1:30 Jack

1:45 Branden

2:00 Chris

2:15 Rachel S

2:30 Mark

2:45 Stephen

3:00 Jesse

Conferences on Tuesday, November 3

11:15 Kelly

11:30 Mandy D

11:45 Zach

12:00 Rachael C

12:15

12:30 Regan

12:45 Sean

1:00 Jason

Conferences on Wednesday, November 4

12:45 Alex

1:00 Dan

1:15 Justin

1:30 Kaylynn

1:45 Kelsey

2:00 Sam

2:15 Robbie
2:30 Derek
2:45 Kayla
3:00 Sal
3:15

Conferences on Friday, November 6

11:30 Jonny

11:45 Adrienne

12:00 Jill

12:15 Amanda K

12:30

Conferences on Tuesday, November 10

11:15 Eric W

11:30 Michael

Calendar Post for October 28

• As in preparing for today's class, download and bring with you on Wednesday a handout on claims and "Proposal: From Inquiry to Argument" (at drop.io), which describes the first of two phases in our upcoming assignment. Note that "purpose" and "audience" in the latter handout refer to the proposal itself, not your Academic Argument, which your proposal should outline and describe.

• Prepare for our in-class trial run at crafting an argument about climate change, "Staking a Claim" (at drop.io). Review that overhead and confirm with your partner (via e-mail addresses at the Writing Studio) which claim you will be debating. As described in the overhead, one partner (who authored the chosen claim) presents reasons and evidence to support the argument, while the other (playing the devil's advocate) presents a counter-claim as well as reasons and evidence to oppose it. Each pair's oral debate should last less than two minutes.

• Read about "Appeals for Written Argument" (PHG pages 516-520) as well as Edward Koch's "Death and Justice" (PHG pages 534-540).

• Begin drafting a proposal for your Academic Argument. As described in the assignment handout (see above), this is a short and preliminary but detailed outline of the argument you plan to write, and it's due during a conference with your instructor. These conferences take place in lieu of class, but they happen very soon: this Thursday (3:45 to 5:15 PM), this Friday (11:15 AM to 3:15 PM) and this Monday (11:15 AM to 3:15 PM). We will assign conference times in class on Wednesday.

Calendar Post for October 26 + Academic Argument Proposal Assignment Posted

• Browse each of our 14 wikis pages and recollect the readings we have encountered thus far, particularly those that put forward arguments. Then, just for practice, draft two questions-at-issue that might guide your upcoming paper, the Academic Argument. These questions should feel narrow, debatable, and significant both to you and an academic audience interested in climate change. For example, you might rephrase or make more specific questions on political science or foreign policy already researched on our wiki. You might also refine a question addressed by Thomas Friedman, "Why go green?" or Michael Pollan, "Why bother?"
  

• Read about argument and claims on pages 509-516 of the PHG. Then, much like we did in class on Friday, practice writing four possible claims in response to the two questions-at-issue you just drafted (use either question-at-issue, or both). These claims should include: a claim of fact or definition, a claim about cause and effect, a claim about value, and a claim about solutions or policies. Type these two questions and four claims, and post them on a Writing Studio forum ("Academic Argument: Two Questions, Four Claims"). You won’t necessarily use any of these claims for your final argument, so don’t worry about perfection.

• Read “The Argument Culture” by Deborah Tannen on pages 474-480 of the PHG. Be ready to talk about Tannen’s definition of “argument” and how it does or doesn’t coincide with your own ideas about arguments.

• Make sure to bring your four claims and your PHG to class on Monday, along with a handout on claims and "Proposal: From Inquiry to Argument" (at drop.io), which describes the first of two phases in our upcoming assignment.

Calendar Post for October 21 and 23

• Keep checking our list of frequently asked questions about group inquiry for updates.
  

• We're meeting back in our usual classroom on Wednesday and Friday.

• The collaborative portion of the group inquiry assignment is now due Friday night. Again, this entails a wiki page complete with introduction, annotated bibliography, and proper formatting (see our wiki's main page for updated guidance).

• On Friday we'll be holding a workshop on the wiki, so try to finish editing your page by noon, if possible. Make sure to save electronic versions of your work in more than one location (e-mail, flash drives, the wiki itself) along the way.
  

• Please make a point to bring your Prentice Hall Guide textbook to class on Friday.
  

Calendar Post for October 16 and 19

• Using guidance from the annotation workshop handout displayed in class today (and now at drop.io), provide in-line comments as well as notes about opportunities for revision on one of your group's member's annotation drafts. Be prepared to hand back those drafts to your classmate on Friday.

• Update about formatting: After the citations, within each annotation, mention the source's author as a "second reference," or using last name only. (Our wiki's critical introductions, however, should introduce each author as a "first reference"--using first and last name, affiliation, et cetera.)

• Using the group inquiry process handout distributed in class today (part of the same file at drop.io), continue finding credible, current, and relevant sources for annotations that will provide the best answers to your group's question-at-issue (and your own aspect of that question). As the process handout suggests, your group may benefit from meeting outside of class ahead of Friday and becoming familiar with your group’s wiki. (Find e-mail addresses at the Writing Studio.) Depending on your group’s plans, you might start drafting a critical introduction.

• Using comments received on Friday from the annotation workshop as well as a sample annotation––and by leaning on the group inquiry assignment handout like a trusted friend––finish revisions to your individual annotated bibliography. Then on Monday, October 19, in a manila folder, turn in your process work: (1) the individual annotated bibliography, as an MLA-formatted hard copy, (2) the stakeholder matrix, and (3) the research log.

• Meet in Morgan Library room EIL1 ("Classroom One") on Friday and Monday to continue drafting your group’s introduction.

Calendar Post for October 14

• Locate one more source worthy of including in your annotated bibliography, enter it into your research log and your stakeholder matrix, and draft its annotation.

• Bring all of your completed annotations to class for an annotation workshop. If your group's research is moving quickly, you should have four annotations by Wednesday. Also bring supporting materials (printed copies of the sources, your research log, and your stakeholder matrix).

• Bring handouts you might need in workshop: a sample annotation, a sample wiki page, the group inquiry assignment handout, research log and stakeholder matrix, and Diane Hacker’s MLA supplement.

• Be prepared to reconvene your group's "test run" at the annotation writing process. A related handout displayed in class is available at drop.io, and we'll be discussing each group's work via our document camera. Some groups will need Thomas P.M. Barnett's "Six Ways to Cool Down Over the Climate-Change Security Scare" and others John Kerry and Lindsey Graham's "Yes We Can (Pass Climate Change Legislation)" (also at drop.io).

• As of now the individual annotated bibliography, stakeholder matrix, and research log are due this Friday, October 16, when will (hopefully) meet at the Morgan Library for a workshop.

Calendar Post for October 9 and 12

• We will not be meeting on Friday thanks to the English Department's Reading Days, a chance to focus on studying instead of attending class.

• Following Wednesday's orientation at the Morgan Library, tomorrow presents a good opportunity to meet with your fellow group members, update one another on your research progress, and adjust your group's question-at-issue as necessary.

• As of Friday, each group member should be (1) aware of what "more specific question" or aspect of the group's inquiry he or she is pursuing, (2) finding a mixture of popular and academic sources to annotate, and (3) entering those sources and the "stakeholders" contained therein in a research log and a stakeholder matrix (distributed at the Morgan Library and now available at drop.io).

• To arrange a meeting on Friday or over the weekend, find your group members' e-mail addresses on our Writing Studio forums page. There, by Wednesday, many of you posted a 150 to 200-word summary of one group member's orientation toward your question-at-issue. Group members should reply to those summaries by Friday, telling us whether the writer has accurately described your perspective and background. Look for more instructions on our forums page.

• During your group's meeting, visit our course's new College Composition wiki, where each group will be composing a "critical introduction" to the sources it annotates (a total of 10 or 15 annotations, or five for each group member). We'll talk more about wikis and what this introduction should look like on Monday. In the meantime, look for an invitation in your inbox to establish an account at Wikispaces.com. This will allow you to edit your group's page, which you'll find listed in our wiki's sidebar. In creating your username, please use your first initial and last name or your first and last name only.
  

• We'll meet back in our usual classroom on Monday. Plan on bringing drafts of annotations for at least one academic and two popular sources. Recall that a sample annotation has been posted to drop.io. Update: the full assignment handout is now also available.
  

• Also bring to class Thomas P.M. Barnett's "Six Ways to Cool Down Over the Climate-Change Security Scare" as well as John M. Broder's "Climate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security." Both texts have been posted to drop.io.

• E-mail Raul (see "Contact" in the sidebar) with any questions.
  

Calendar Post for October 7

• Instead of meeting in our usual classroom on Wednesday, we will meet in Morgan Library classroom EIL1, at our usual time, for an orientation to the library's research tools. Before attending the orientation, please visit the CSU Libraries' C150 page and complete steps one through four under "Before you come to the library." That page also offers a map marking classroom EIL1 in yellow. A handout on additional research help offered by Amy Hoseth, otherwise known as the "Latte Librarian," has been posted to drop.io.

• At our Writing Studio forums page, by Wednesday, please post a 150 to 200-word summary of the interview you conducted with a fellow inquiry group member on October 5 or via e-mail. Questions that might guide your interview have also been posted to drop.io. The Writing Studio forums page displays these instructions:

Please pay careful attention to way you represent this person by proofreading your summary before posting it. Then print your post and bring it to class on October 7 for your group's review. Finally, by October 9, you should respond to the post (click "Reply") that describes your orientation toward your group's question at issue with another post: tell us whether the writer has accurately described your perspective and background.

• In lieu of class on Friday, October 9, we will be participating in the English Department's "reading days," which allow students to focus on studying for a day rather than attending class. Our reading day comes at a good juncture, as we'll be focusing on individually annotating five sources over the coming week in support of the group inquiry assignment. See a sample posted to drop.io for guidance on composing annotations, and watch for a handout outlining the full assignment to be posted this week.

Calendar Post for October 5

• Inquiry groups and their members have been announced on our blog, based on voting at the Writing Studio over the weekend.

• Now that you know the question at issue guiding your group's research, locate one credible source of information that appears to answer that question. We'll talk more in class this week about what kind of sources to look for, where to find them, and what we'll be doing with them.
  

• You may begin to draft a one-page academic summary of the source you find. More importantly, bring this and other sources to class this week.

• Also bring to class Thomas P.M. Barnett's "Six Ways to Cool Down Over the Climate-Change Security Scare" as well as John M. Broder's "Climate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security." Both texts have been posted to drop.io.

• For your calendar: we'll be visiting the Morgan Library on Wednesday, October 7 instead of meeting in our usual classroom. More details will follow.