WRD 104: Composition & Rhetoric II

Wednesday, February 22 6 pm Scott Turow and Judge Richard Posner will talk about the future of books, authors, and libraries in the digital age at the next “Conversations at the Newberry,” a new series of discussions to generate thought-provoking discourse for and frame important questions about enduring issues that are timely today.

An attorney and author of nine best-selling works of fiction, including his first novel, Presumed Innocent (1987), Scott Turow has written numerous op-ed pieces and conducted interviews about the future of libraries and the digitization of books. The New York Times has called Judge Richard Posner “the most influential jurist outside the Supreme Court.” The author of more than 2,500 published judicial opinions and 30 books, some of Judge Posner’s current research focuses on intellectual property, a field that has become particularly contentious in light of the ease with which intellectual property is digitally disseminated, and of evolving notions of artistic integrity and engagement.

(more…)

… maybe too late to use as a source, but still a good read:

Psychology Majors, rejoice:

WSJ: What’s Wrong With the Teenage Mind?
NYT: Hysteria and the Teenage Girl 

Everyone:

NYT: The Mixtape of the Revolution 
NYT: Contraception Ruling Draws Battle Lines at Catholic Colleges 
WP: Studying the purpose of college

In preparation for our Op-Ed essays, it’s interesting to reflect on some of the conventions of the Op-Ed essay versus, say, the academic essay.  

Who writes academic essays, for whom, and why?
Who writes Op-Ed pieces, for whom, and why?

 So that we have these in the same place:

December 14, 2011: What Is College For?
April 11, 2011: Burden of College Loans on Graduates Grows (and Letter to Editor)
January 11, 2012: What Is College For? (Part 2)
August 23, 2011: Do We Spend Too Much on Education?
January 11, 2012: Getting a Degree: Less Rigor, More Value

You can also use the NYT search database, which goes back to 1851, to explore other possibilities, like this one from 1948:

“We are what we find, not what we search for.”
– Piero Scaruffi

Welcome to WRD104 — Winter Quarter 2012

In WRD 104 we focus on the kinds of academic and public writing that use materials drawn from research to shape reasonable conclusions based on supportable facts and convincing, defensible arguments. As the second part of the two-course sequence in First Year Writing, WRD 104 continues to explore relationships between writers, readers, and texts in a variety of technological formats.

You’ll be happy to note, I hope, that we build on your previous knowledge and experiences; that is, we don’t assume that you show up here a blank slate. We assume that you have encountered interesting people, have engaging ideas, and have something to say. A good writing course should prepare you to take those productive ideas into other courses and out into the world, where they belong, and where you can defend them and advocate for them.

If you have a project from another course that you would like to continue, or a community project that would benefit from rigorous research, or a professional aspiration that needs research-based support, this is the course for you.

WRD 104 has the following learning outcomes:

Rhetorical Knowledge, which includes focusing on defining purposes, audiences, and conventions

Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing, which emphasizes writing and reading for inquiry, thinking, and communicating; finding, analyzing, and synthesizing appropriate primary and secondary sources; exploring relationships among language, knowledge, and power

Composing Processes, which includes practice in using multiple drafts to create and complete a rhetorically appropriate audience-based text and the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes

Knowledge of Conventions, in which we employ a variety of genre and rhetorical conventions in order to appeal to a variety of readers and audiences

You can read the First Year Writing Learning Outcomes in more detail here.

Your digital portfolio

This is a portfolio-based course, which means that you will collect, organize, reflect on, and showcase your work at the end of the quarter in a digital portfolio format.

As a DePaul student, you will be able to keep your portfolio and have access to it during your time here and after you graduate, as alumni. I mention this now because we can take the time to think about, and to work on, different purposes and audiences for our portfolios: for colleagues, classmates, instructors — academic purposes — and for creative, professional, career, and non-academic purposes and audiences.

Writing Center

Finally, it’s no secret around here that students who take early and regular advantage of DePaul’s Center for Writing-based Learning not only do better in their classes, but also benefit from the interactions with the tutors and staff in the Center.