Public Bibliography Project 30% | details updated 9/13/15
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Purpose: build interests
in composition scholarship, practice writing the detailed, accurate, insightful,
critical summaries central to scholarly writing, expand your sense of the discipline
and make contributions to it
Finding a Focus: Building from our shared readings, you’ll choose an area, figure, movement, or some other focus in composition studies that you wish to learn more about. To do so, you might build upon our shared readings, suggested readings, past projects or interests, or any other resources (e.g. the Rebecca Moore Howard bibliography). Basically any focus is cool, so long as you can make a case for its role in composition studies. Researching/Reading/Writing: You’ll then conduct research—find articles, books, and/or chapters that you find compelling and worth writing about. You’ll write about 6-8 sources, but I invite you to include just the bibliographic information of other texts you’ve found that complement the detailed set. With your selected 6-8 sources, you’ll read them, and for each, write critical annotations suitable for a newcomer composition studies audience. There are many ways to approach the summary; one way is to offer details about the author’s argument, methods, insights, but may also offer connections to other texts or insights into wider story you’re telling about this area in composition. You can consult this example bib from another grad class at the Univ of Kansas, "Resources for Writing Teachers" and read around for inspiration on how you might structure the annotation paragraphs. |
To orient readers to your subject/area, your page will also include an introductory note that establishes connections between your featured sources, indicates your interests in the area and/or its significance more generally to the field.
Audience: public, newcomers to rhet/comp; orient your readers, pique their interest Publishing: Using “Resources for Writing Teachers” as a model, we’ll compile these entries on a public website, using Weebly (see syll. appendix for instructions). We’ll briefly discuss in class how we want to format the pages and elements to build continuity across the site. Due Dates:
Some Resources: Rebecca Moore Howard Bib Example bibliography, published in RTE Example bibliography of LGBTQ Rhetorics, published in Present Tense Genre Model: UK's "Resources for Writing Teachers" How to access, browse NCTE Journals (CCC, Coll Eng, RTE) through the library database |
CONFERENCE LENGTH ESsay + Proposal 40 % | details updated 10/5/15
- Scholarly writing = "process of learning to 'take a hand in what is going on' by joining the conversation of COMPOSITIONkind" (555) (Bruffee quoting Rorty, modified by me)
- "Ideas are also always continuous, as they arise within and modify fields of discourse" (Cooper 369)
Purpose: to learn about and execute the conference paper genre; to contribute to knowledge in composition studies
An 8-12(ish) page researched, intervention-driven essay related to disciplinarity, history, pedagogical questions, current issues, etc. in composition studies.
You can, but don't have to, structure your argument so that it could be suitable for oral delivery. You’ll do some reading about conference papers (read a couple resources, posted on the schedule) and we'll look at some calls for papers and submissions categories for CCCC (see pg. 5).
Before composing this final, you’ll write up a proposal and get feedback from your classmates. Please post your proposal to the discussion questions page no later than Sunday, NOV 1 and bring 7 copies with you to class on Monday, Nov. 2 for workshop. Your proposal should include the topic you want to write about, your motivating questions and/or intervention and/or problem space you wish to establish, brief comments on your main ideas (if you want), and your sense of how this work is significant to the field. Include a brief list of resources (maybe 3 or more).
Finals will be due, emailed to me, sometime during exam week (we'll decide when together).
Participation 10%
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Ink Shedding/Reading Log 20%
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PARTICIPATION: Quality participation will include 1) reading, thinking through, and noting questions and comments about the assigned readings, 2) actively listening and responding to your classmates during discussion, 3) contributing regularly to discussion while being mindful that you're not dominating the conversation, 4), contributing text/evidence-based insights to advance our conversation.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: you'll be in charge of preparing 2-3 discussion questions informed by the week's reading. To set up your questions you can write a bit, include quotations, etc. and/or ask a series of related questions. You'll post your questions to the Discussion Qs page by no later than Sunday night before seminar. You'll share at least some of your questions in seminar and field responses. |
For every class session, you’ll prepare an ink shed/reading log entry about the set of assigned readings. This is a 1-page minimum, single spaced record of writing about the readings meant to aid your understanding and participation. It will also help you develop your interests and motivating questions, foci that can inform the major assignments in the course (the Bib and the Conference Length Essay) as well as scholarly interests and projects in the future.
You can select the elements to include in your ink-shed that work best for you. You can try different approaches. Some possible elements might include: 1) bibliographic/title/author information, 2) short rhetorical summaries, 3) pertinent quotes, 4) reactions, connections, questions. Another possible approach: write synthesis and response, concluding with a short list of quotes and a couple motivating questions. Or, try a dialectical notebook style, one side with short summaries and quotes, the other with reactions, questions, and connections to other texts. Be sure to date each entry at the top (e.g., 2: Aug 31). This is not meant to be tedious or rote. Use any rigorous, personalized approach that works for you, so long as it helps advance your thinking in the course. I expect that for some weeks you’ll write minimally (about 1 pg.) and other weeks you might be inspired to write more. It may take you some time to figure out what works best for you. Feel free to change course. I recommend that you prepare your entries for the corresponding class meeting and bring a copy with you, but I won’t check or collect them. Instead you’ll compile them at two points during the term. You’ll bring the your first set of entries-to-date to a mid-term conference. We’ll discuss what you’ve done and set goals for the second, final due date at the end of the term. It’s fine, in the end, if you have one week or so missing. |
