ENG 106: Composition II

Be Your Best: Getting Started

Welcome to ENG 106: Composition II, a course I hope will both challenge and reward you.  Using your abilities and my guidance over the next four months, you will begin to master the art of communication, a skill you can use the rest of your life to make good grades, land a rewarding job, improve your community, and raise successful children.  As we study four general areas--research, written communication, graphic design, and oral communication--you will learn how to find reliable information on virtually any subject, to move audiences to accept your positions, to design an effective World Wide Web site, to conduct a productive interview, and to do dozens of other useful and interesting things.

As you can see, this course requires some knowledge of computers.  While some students find this computer component intimidating at first, most master it in a few weeks.  For now, here is all you need to know: First, each Monday you should read these online announcements, where you will find detailed information about assignments and other class activities.  Second, never hesitate to ask a question.

Let's have a great semester!
August 23-25, 2000

Reading

Meeting
  • Thursday: 147 Dial Building
 

 

Research: Finding Sources

In your previous writing experience, you may have drawn on your own ideas or experiences to make your points.  Many times, however, you can make your own writing more compelling and interesting by drawing on what other people--particularly experts--have said about a subject.  This week, we will visit the library, where you will learn how to find print and electronic sources on virtually any topic.  Probably all of you have visited and even toured a library, but I guarantee that you will learn something new this week.  In fact, if you listen carefully--and write really fast!--you will leave the library on Thursday knowing more about using a library than most people learn in a lifetime.

You also will begin working on your first two writing assignments. First, using the instructions on the syllabus and in the Internet section of Be Your Best, create a profile of yourself and post it on the World Wide Web.  I will provide you with some guidance in class on Tuesday.  Second, during class on Tuesday, I will assign each of you a term for an online glossary of political terminology.  You will have time in class this week to do research on this term.

August 28-September 1, 2000

Reading Writing Meeting
  • Tuesday: Main library
  • Thursday: Dial 149

 
 

Research: Evaluating Sources

The value of a source depends on its credibility--that is, the degree to which we can believe that it is accurate and authoritative.  This week, we will continue our discussion of finding sources, particularly Internet sources, and also examine ways to evaluate a source's credibility.

Now that I know a little about your interests, I will put you in groups so that you can work with your classmates to collect information about various political issues, such as education and the environment.  After you conduct some research, you can begin, working on your third writing assignment: an issue analysis.
September 4-8, 2000

Reading

Writing Meeting
  • Tuesday: Dial 147
  • Thursday: Dial 147

 

Research: Using Sources

Once you have located some relevant, credible sources, you need to know how to use them--that is, how to identify their claims and support, how to synthesize their various arguments, and eventually how to quote, paraphrase, and summarize these sources as you make your own argument.  As you prepare for this week's class meetings, you should review "Research," which you read two weeks ago; in particular, study the section called "Using Sources."  In class, we will look at one another's glossary entries and work on improving the quotations, paraphrases, summaries, and citations in them.  You must bring a printout of your glossary entry, along with photocopies of all the sources you used.

Now that we have formed groups based on your various interests, you should turn your attention to the next writing assignment, an issue analysis.  Read this assignment on the syllabus, choose an aspect of your group's subject, and begin tracking down print and electronic sources related to this topic.  For instance, if your group is working on social issues, you might choose to research violent crime among American teenagers.  Try to find and read at least five sources on this topic this week.  As you do, practice the note-taking strategies described in Chapter 1 of Good Reasons.  When you come across particularly striking information, use what you have learned about creating computer outlines and about using sources to quote, paraphrase, or summarize it in your notes.  By the end of the week, you should have at least a page or two of notes typed in a computer outline.  While this process takes a lot of time, it will make writing your issue analysis--and, indeed, just about any writing project--much easier.

Finally, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I will hold my office hours (8-9 a.m.) in the main library, where I will be available to help you with your research.
September 11-15, 2000

Reading

  • Thursday: Faigley, Ch. 13 and Ch. 14
Writing
  • Thursday: Notes on sources
Meeting
  • Tuesday: Dial 147
  • Thursday: Dial 147

 

Drafts: Claims

Now that you have some experience locating, evaluating, and using sources, we will turn to making an argument with these sources.  As you read the assignments in Be Your Best, Good Reasons and Why Americans Hate Politics, consider the following questions:
  1. What exactly is "argument"?
  2. What makes an argument effective?
  3. What is the central argument of E.J. Dionne's book Why Americans Hate Politics?  Try to identify his claim in the introduction. 
By Thursday, you should have read at least five articles or chapters about your subject.  Building on what you have read about this subject, as well as what you have learned about claims, write a claim of your own for your issue analysis.

Finally, I have posted an online roster for both of my composition classes.  Please take a few minutes to visit this roster, click on your classmates' URLs, and get to know your classmates--especially the ones in your group--a little better.
September 18-22, 2000

Reading

Writing Meeting
  • Tuesday: Dial 147
  • Thursday: Dial 147

 

Drafts: Support 

This week, we turn from writing a working claim to amassing support for this claim.  As you read the assigned chapter in Why Americans Hate Politics, analyze E.J. Dionne's support for his claim.  What type of evidence does he present?  Do you find it compelling? Why or why not?  In class on Tuesday, we will discuss the various types of evidence, as well as ways to analyze it.

By the time you come to class on Thursday, you should have read at least ten credible, relevant sources on your subject and taken notes on them.  Thursday's class will be a writing workshop, in which you will have time to organize your notes and create an effective outline.

The midterm portfolio presentations will begin this week.  During each class meeting, I will meet with two or three of you to discuss your work.  We will continue this process until I have met with all of you. Here are some suggestions for earning the best possible grade on your portfolio and presentation:

  • Review the syllabus, particularly the descriptions of the profile, glossary entry, and portfolio presentation, as well as my grading criteria.
  • Revise your profile and glossary entry so that they meet the criteria and repost them on the Web.
  • Make sure your profile has a link to your glossary entry.
  • Review the study guide for each unit we have covered.  Make sure that you can identify each term and discuss all of the concepts we have covered in class discussions and reading assignments.
September 25-29, 2000

Reading

  • Tuesday: Dionne,  Ch. 2 
    • Writing Meeting
    • Tuesday: Dial 147
    • Thursday: Dial 147

    Drafts: Writing

    By now, you should have a handle on library and Internet research.  That is, you know how to locate relevant sources, how to evaluate their credibility, and how to use and document the material in them through full and partial quotations, paraphrases, summaries, attributive phrases, parenthetical citations, and bibliographies.  You also have learned how to write a working claim, how to collect evidence for this claim, and how to organize this material in a computer outline. By the time you come to class on Tuesday, you should have read at least 10 relevant sources, taken extensive notes on them, written a working claim, and created a detailed outline. 

    Now it's time to write a draft.  When people talk about how hard or unpleasant writing is for them, they more than likely are thinking of this step in the writing process.  While it is relatively easy and even fun to talk about ideas and explore them in sources, articulating these ideas requires a lot of mental energy and patience.  By creating an outline, however, you already have taken an important step toward facilitating your draft work.  Indeed, one way of writing a first draft--probably the hardest draft to write--is merely to cut pieces out of your outline and paste them into a blank document, adding topic sentences, transitions, and explanatory sentences as you go.  The resulting draft will be rough; let it be.  Make this step as painless as possible, and you are less likely to procrastinate, less likely to give into writer's block, and more likely to produce a useful draft in a reasonable amount of time. Don't bother to write an introduction or a conclusion unless one just happens to come to you.  Instead, begin with your one-sentence claim and then focus on presenting organized support for it in individual paragraphs based on the various points of your outline.

    Both our classes this week will be writing workshops, in which you will have time to write your drafts.  Note that we will meet both days in the library, where you will have access to both library materials and computers.  Please bring your source materials, your computer outlines, and anything else related to your issue analysis to the library so that you can make good use of our class time.  We will meet in the reading area in the center of the library, and I will open the class with a few announcements or suggestions.  You then will have the remainder of the class time to work on your drafts and ask me questions.

    Our conferences will continue this week.  Please note that I generally decide in advance whom I am going to meet in conference.  If you are not in class that day, you will fail the portion of the conference devoted to an oral examination of concepts we have covered.  If you know you are going to miss class for a legitimate reason, let me know in advance.
    October 2-6, 2000

    Writing

    Meeting
    • Tuesday: Main library

      • Thursday: Main library

    Revision: Content

    If you have been keeping up with the pace I have set, you now have a first draft of your issue analysis.  Congratulations!  Don't worry that your draft is still very rough.  It should be.  Instead of dwelling on the negative, think about all that you have done.  You have explored an issue by reading several relevant sources, written a working claim, begun to organize your ideas in an outline, and converted this outline to four or five pages of paragraphs that support your claim.

    Now it is time to polish this draft.  This week, we will have a couple of draft workshops, in which you will work with your classmates and me to improve the content of this draft.  Please print out your draft, save it on diskette, and bring both the printout and the draft to class.  In class, we will focus on one or two elements, such as use of details and sufficiency of evidence.  For the first half-hour or so, we will read drafts and make suggestions.  You then will have the remainder of the class to revise your draft.

    Finally, remember that your issue analysis should describe George W. Bush's and Al Gore's positions on the issue--or at least the general subject--you are covering in your article.  The following Web sites might help you to determine where the candidates stand: 

    October 9-13, 2000
    Writing Meeting
    • Tuesday: Dial 147

      • Thursday: Dial 149

     

    Revision: Organization

    This week, we will discuss strategies for improving the organization of a draft.  You also will have time in class to work on your next assignment, the candidate endorsement. 

    By the time fall break arrives this week, I will have sent each of you a midterm evaluation.  Because I will re-evaluate everything in your online portfolio at the end of the semester, you should begin revising the material there right away.  For example, if I mentioned that you need to work on writing clearer sentences or including more supporting details, you should re-read everything you have written and make any necessary revisions.  Of course, you also should focus on these areas in all of your future writing assignments.  The idea is to learn from our conferences, as well as class discussions and workshops, and to use what you learn to become a better writer.
    October 16-18, 2000

    Assignment

    Meeting
    • Tuesday: Dial 147 

     
     

    Revision: Clarity

    We have some new texts for this course: your drafts.  For the next several weeks, we will use these drafts to discuss virtually every aspect of effective written communication: clarity, style, readability, even graphic presentation.  In other words, your own writing will help us to launch our explorations of topic sentences, transitions, sentence variety, grammar, and typography.  At the same time, of course, we will offer concrete suggestions for improving each draft.  In general, we will use the following process:

    Before Class:

    1. As you complete them, post the most recent drafts of your issue analysis, candidate endorsement, and election analysis on your online portfolio.  Make sure we can click on a link from your profile and go to these drafts.
    2. When you read these announcements each Friday, note which drafts you are assigned to evaluate.
    3. Read each draft carefully and write detailed comments on its strengths, as well as ways the writer could improve it.  E-mail your comments to the writer.

    During Class:

    1. We generally will begin the class with a "Think Fast" writing exercise designed to give you practice working with a specific aspect of good writing, such as transitions or comma usage.
    2. We then will refer to this principle as we discuss and evaluate that day's draft.
    3. We will end with a draft workshop, in which you will use the day's lesson to evaluate a partner's draft.

    After Class:

    1. As soon as possible after class, begin revising your own draft.  Use your "Think Fast" exercise, your notes on the class discussion, and your partner's comments on your draft to improve your draft in the specific area we covered that day.  For example, if we discussed levels of generality, read each paragraph in your draft carefully and label the levels of generality; whenever necessary, make changes to improve a paragraph's clarity.
    2. Post this new draft on your online portfolio.
    If you have not posted your draft by the date I have scheduled for your draft workshop, you forfeit your opportunity for this close inspection by your classmates and me.
    October 23-27, 2000

    Outside Class

    Evaluate: 

    Write: Candidate endorsement

    In Class

    Tuesday: Topic sentences and levels of generality (Dial 128)
    Thursday: Transitions (Dial 128)

       

     

    Revision: Style

    If content, organization, and clarity are the foundation, walls, and roof of prose, then style is the carving over the pillars.  Style is what transforms a utilitarian article or report into an enjoyable experience.  If few people can write substantive, organized, and clear prose, then even fewer can write with style.  Like mastery of the piano or the jump shot, rhetorical style comes only with years of practice.

    For the next couple of weeks, we will use exercises, discussions, and draft workshops to enter the world of style.  My goal is to leave you with some tools to use as you polish your style in this class and beyond.  We will begin by focusing on sentences and later turn to word choice.
    October 30-November 3, 2000

    Outside Class

    Evaluate: 

    • 9:30 a.m. class: Candidate endorsements by Jennifer Jones and Nathan Carmichael

      • 11 a.m. class: Candidate endorsements by Melanie Bishop and Blair Allen
    In Class

    Tuesday: Sentences (Dial 149)
    Thursday: Sentences (Dial 147)

     

    Revision: Style

    As we continue our discussion of style, we will finish our work on sentences and turn to word choice.  Please bring your hardback college dictionary to class on both Tuesday and Thursday.  As always, you should apply what you are learning this week about style to your own drafts, including your glossary entry, issue analysis, and candidate endorsement.

    We will also will begin work on the next assignment, the election analysis.  You should begin working on this assignment by setting up a method for collecting data.  Write a detailed description of your method.  For example, if you are going to conduct a survey, write a list of questions and then, in a paragraph, describe who will answer the questions, as well as when, where, and how they will answer them.

    Finally, remember that Tuesday is Election Day, when you will have the opportunity to apply all that you have learned this semester to cast an educated vote.
    November 6-10, 2000

    Outside Class

    Write: Method for collecting data for election analysis
    Evaluate: 

    • 9:30 a.m. class: Candidate endorsements by Sonya Rouse, Dusty Johnson, and Debra Garrison

      • 11 a.m. class: Candidate endorsements by Meghan Emma, Kristy Bridgers, and Matt Williams
    In Class

    Tuesday: Words (Dial 147)
    Thursday: Words (Dial 147)

     

    Revision: Proofreading

    As we have seen, revision involves improving content, clarity, and style, not just proofreading.  Once you have revised all of these elements in your draft, though, you should make a concentrated effort at removing misspellings, grammatical lapses, and other errors, which threaten to distract readers from all of the good things in your draft.  This week, we will make that effort as we review some  grammar basics, discuss effective proofreading strategies, and practice proofreading one another's drafts.  To get the most out of our class meetings, each of you should bring a hard copy of a "proof draft"--that is, a draft that is polished in every other respect and needs only to be proofread thoroughly.  You may bring a draft of any article you have written for this course.

    Only a few weeks remain in the semester.  Please note that you must post your final portfolio no later than 8 a.m. Monday, December 11, 2000.  Beginning on that day, I will read or re-read all of the work you have done this semester, meet with each of you for about 30 minutes to discuss your work and ask you questions, and assign final grades.  You have less than a month, then, to complete your election analysis, to revise the other materials on your portfolio, to write your introductory essay, and to prepare for your individual portfolio presentation.  I urge you to make the best use of this time so that you can earn a grade that reflects your potential.
    November 13-17, 2000

    Assignments

    Evaluate: 

    • 9:30 a.m. class: Candidate endorsements by Jackie White, Janita Brunson, and Rebekah Miller
    • 11 a.m. class: Candidate endorsements by David Bishop, Michael Wester, and Charles Chavis
    Meeting

     
     

    Graphics: Web Design

    Up until now, we have focused almost exclusively on written communication, discussing strategies for making and supporting a claim, conveying information clearly, and proofreading to improve readability.  For the next few weeks, we will explore two other realms of communication: graphics and the spoken word.  This week, for instance, you will learn the basics of typography and layout, and you will have time in class to practice what you have learned to dress up your own Web pages.  Please bring your entire portfolio on disk to the computer lab.  Also, make sure that you have read the assignments listed in the box at the right before you come to class.  Of course, you also should be working on your election analysis outside of class.
    November 20-December 1, 2000

    Assignments

    Read: Graphics; Faigley, Ch. 11 and Ch. 12

    Meeting


     

    Speaking: Interviews

    This week, we will spend some time discussing speaking skills.  Please read Speaking and be prepared to talk about strategies for effective spoken communication.  I hope that you will use some of these strategies when you give your portfolio presentations next week.  You also will have some time in class to continue polishing and publishing the various components of your online portfolio.  I urge you to use this time and your time outside class to put your portfolio into the best possible shape.  Review the descriptions of the various assignments on the syllabus and make sure that your portfolio contains each required component and meets my criteria.  Because technical difficulties inevitably come up, you should post your entire portfolio--even if some parts are still a little rough--before we meet in class for the last time on Thursday, December 7.  That way, if you encounter problems, you will have a chance to ask me for help.  Finally, you should view your entire portfolio on the Web and use the links to navigate through it to make sure that I will not have any problems when I evaluate it next week.

    You may continue polishing your portfolio until 8 a.m. Monday, December 11, 2000, when the final version must be posted on the Web.  I have posted a schedule for your presentations.  Please e-mail me as soon as possible to schedule a time to give your presentation.
    December 4-8, 2000

    Assignments


     

    Speaking: Presentations

    As you prepare to post the final version of your portfolio and to give your presentation to me this week, you should take some time to review the syllabus, where you will find descriptions of the various assignments, as well as my criteria for grading them.  In particular, please note that one assignment is an introductory essay summarizing your progress in the course.

    If you have not yet signed up for a time to meet me for your presentation, please e-mail me immediately.  I will begin reviewing the portfolios on December 11.  I will grade only what I can find easily by clicking on the links from your index page.  If you have failed to post an assignment, failed to create a link to it, or created a faulty link to it, I will not see this assignment, and your grade will be affected.

    If an emergency prevents you from coming to your final portfolio presentation at the time you have requested, you must let me know immediately.  Otherwise, I will expect each of you to arrive on time to your presentation.  If you miss your presentation for any reason other than an emergency, you will fail the presentation portion of the portfolio and may fail the entire course.
     
    December 11-15, 2000

    Assignments

    Post: Final draft of portfolio (due 8 a.m. December 11)

    Schedule

    Monday
    10 a.m.: Sonya Rouse
    11 a.m.: Tiffany Taylor
    1 p.m.: Blair Allen
    2 p.m.: Matt Staley

    Tuesday
    8 a.m.: Judd Sanders
    10 a.m.: Debra Garrison
    11 a.m.: Meghan Emma
    1 p.m.: Jeremy Donhardt
    2 p.m.: Jennifer Jones
    3 p.m.: Tasheena Thomas

    Wednesday
    8 a.m.: Josh Valenzuela
    8:30 a.m.: Matt Williams
    9 a.m.: Jena Bumb
    10 a.m.: Charles Chavis
    11 a.m.: Michael Wester
    noon: Letatia Jones

    Thursday
    8 a.m.: Jenny Hamilton
    9 a.m.: Kristy Bridgers
    10 a.m.: Ginny Bridgers
    11 a.m.: David Bishop

    Friday
    8 a.m.: Dina Evans
    9 a.m.: Khrystal Holder
    10 a.m.: Belinda Jacobs
    11 a.m.: Rebekah Miller
    1 p.m.: Jackie White
    2 p.m.: Dusty Johnson

    Updated December 5, 2000 | University of North Carolina at Pembroke
    © Mark Canada, 2000 | canada@sassette.uncp.edu