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31-Aug and 01-Sep
Class Setup Meetings
Meet in one of several Zoom sessions to set up your online course. (The Zoom meetings will include a walkthrough of signing up for the class blog, Lesson Posts, and Slack.)
03-Sep
Writing on the Internet
Write an introductory email to a more formal version of me, as per the prompt in this day's Lesson Post. Send it to my email (mbhp@udel.edu) by 9/6 at midnight. Similarly, introduce yourself on the class Slack.
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Slack: Introduce yourself in #Intros (due Sunday)
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07-Sep
Telling a Story That Isn't Terrible
Develop a draft personal essay for Thursday, 9/10. Turn the draft in on Canvas.
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10-Sep
Peer Review of Narrative Essays
Review your peers' drafts, and receive feedback on your own, during the peer review timeslot. Finalize your narrative essay and submit a final version on Canvas by 9/13 at midnight. Post a short blog adaptation (basically, a summary or trailer) of your essay to the class blog. For this peer review session, your groups are assigned semi-randomly. Before the next peer review day, a signup sheet will go around where you may pick your permanent Peer Review Team.
Blog: Adapted Narrative Essay due Sunday (700w)
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14-Sep
An Introduction to Discourse (P1 Assigned)
Select an article from last year's Arak Journal and read it using the methods described in the Lesson Post. Write a brief (350 words or less) summary of the article and keep it somewhere safe--it’s not due yet.
17-Sep
Analysis: Disassembling Arguments
Return to your chosen article, and this time, outline its structural elements and argumentative moves using the categories described in the Lesson Post. Post your outline to the class slack (share it as a file or a drawing or whatever). If you have a spare hour over the weekend, write this outline up into a few paragraphs of analysis and keep it for yourself.
Slack: share Article Outline (due Sunday)
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21-Sep
Critical Response: Being Nice, But Not Too Nice
Sign up for a permanent Peer Review Team. Then, building on the summary and analysis you've already written, write an assessment of whether you think the article does a good job or not. Combine this with your summary and analysis into a cohesive essay. Turn this draft in on Canvas by 9/23 at midnight.
24-Sep
Peer Review of P1
Revise your draft, and turn in the final version of P1 on Canvas by 9/27 at midnight. Post a "tiny version"--basically your assessment and a point or two of important evidence--to the class blog.
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Blog: Adapted P1 due Sunday (300w)
28-Sep
Being Good at Arguing
Read one of the Weird Wikipedia Issues shared in the Lesson Post. Read up on context, figure out a position or angle to take on the issue, and briefly make your argument in this week's blog post (due Friday, 10/2).
01-Oct
Building a Formal Argument and Proposal (P2 Assigned)
Think about what you might want to write a large research paper on. Don't forget to do your (unrelated) blog post.
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Blog: Weird Issue Post due Friday (500w)
05-Oct
How to Do Research and Cite It
Keep developing your topic, and think about what kind of argument you'd like to make about it. Do preliminary research online and with library resources.
08-Oct
Writing a Good Proposal
Draft the proposal part of P2--where you describe your topic, your plan, and your context--and turn it in on Canvas by 10/11 at midnight.
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Slack: share your paper topic ideas (due Sunday)
12-Oct
P2 ZOOM CONFERENCES PT. 1
Sign up for Zoom appointments to meet with me one-on-one. In the meeting, we'll discuss your topic, and work together to develop your ideas before you commit to writing the whole proposal document.
15-Oct
P2 ZOOM CONFERENCES PT. 2
After you've had your conference with me, feel free to update or change your draft before sharing it with your peers on Monday's peer review session.
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Slack: follow-up: what topic did you choose? (due Sunday)
19-Oct
Peer Review of P2
Revise your P2 proposal and research based on feedback, and turn in a final version on Canvas by 10/21 at midnight.
22-Oct
How To Write a Big Paper (P3 Assigned)
Describe your plan to tackle this large assignment in a Slack discussion. In other words, this week's Slack discussion is group therapy--this is a good week to share ideas and strategies with your peers there.
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Slack: discuss your plan (due Sunday)
26-Oct
Structures and Conventions of Longer Arguments
Begin drafting your research paper--maybe start with a temporary "ugly" introduction and some background, or do some outlining?
29-Oct
Organizing Points and Research
Get a serious outline somewhere on screen or paper and begin drafting. Tip: there's no rule that says you have to write stuff in order.
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Slack: open questions
02-Nov
Special Unit: A Crash Course in Context and Ethics
Sign up for one-on-one Zoom appointments with me. Have a partial draft--maybe a temporary intro, background section, and some outline--ready by the time your conference with me happens. Turn in your partial draft on Canvas by midnight the day before your appointment. Also, don't forget to vote on Tuesday, if you're eligible.
05-Nov
P3 ZOOM CONFERENCES PT. 1
One-on-one Zoom appointments. You can always share an updated draft with me prior to the meeting.
No blog or slack content.
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09-Nov
P3 ZOOM CONFERENCES PT.
Keep working on your P3 draft--you want to have most of it done before peer review next week.
12-Nov
Writing Day: No Class Post
You should be mostly done with your draft by now. Maybe eat a cookie or watch a nostalgic compilation of memes on Youtube.
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Slack: open questions
16-Nov
Peer Review of P3 (and a Special Post)
This peer review session is special because the time window is extended--these drafts are long, and the paper is important, so really take your time to help your peers, and take their feedback seriously.
19-Nov
Revision Day: No Class Post
Revise your P3 draft. The assignment box on Canvas will open on 11/19 and stay open until the end of Thanksgiving Break on 11/29. You may turn in your finalized P3 at any point before 11/29 at midnight.
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Slack: open questions
23-Nov
Thanksgiving Break
No official blogs or slack content. (Post memes to escape awkward family stuff.)
26-Nov
Actually Thanksgiving
Use social distancing to hopefully avoid your one (or more) racist relative(s). Turn in your P3 if you haven't already.
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30-Nov
Making It Pretty on the Internet
Post a miniature adaptation of your research paper to the class blog by 12/6.
03-Dec
Blog Adaptation Workshop
While finishing up your blog adaptation, pick out an image (meme, painting, billboard, .gif, advertisement, magazine cover, etc.) that you think is doing something interesting for next week's assignment.
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Blog: Adapted Mini-P3 due Sunday (500w)
07-Dec
Image Analysis (P4 Assigned
Draft your image analysis paper (P4) as per the instructions in today's Lesson Post. Turn this draft in on Canvas by 12/9 at midnight. Note: as this is a final "can you survive outside ENGL110?" assignment, you will not receive feedback from me on your draft. You must rely on your own skills and the feedback of your Peer Review Team.
10-Dec
Peer Review of P4
Revise your P4, and turn the final version in on Canvas by 12/13 at midnight. Post an adaptation to the blog on the same day. The course is now over--there is no final exam, only P4 and the last blog post.
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Blog: Adapted P4 due Sunday (500w)
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