Course Calendar

• Key terms: claim, fact, assumption, premise, opinion, ideology, argument, advocacy
• Key concepts:
• Interpretive communities
• Reader-based writing that accomplishes something
• Subscribe to the New York Times
• St. Martin’s Handbook
• Reading Critically 7a
• Summarizing 7c
• Digication: log in, create “Summary” section, and compose summary page

Due: Course survey

Recommended this week: We’re reading the New York Times at an interesting time in its early-in-the-21st-century redevelopment in both print and digital platforms. You should spend some time browsing its most recent digital manifestations on Facebook, on its proprietary applications, via podcasts, and on its web site.

Due: Article summary via Digication: Nicholas Kristof, “Politics, Odors and Soap” 
In class: Rhetorical précis method of summary

Optional, but recommended: Charles Simic, “Age of Ignorance”

 Week Two
Relationships Between Research, Audience, & Purpose

Reading: NYT article TBA Sunday via email
In class: Rhetorical précis method of summary, continued
Due: revised summary in précis form and a second précis on a NYT article of your choice (pick one): 

• Mark Edmundson’s “Education’s Hungry Hearts”
• Isabel Wilkerson’s “In Florida, a Death Foretold”

Page One, part 1

Background: review in St. Martin’s Handbook 8d on rhetorical appeals, and 8e, on elements of argument — especially claims, assumptions, and premises

Reading: NYT, continued
Due: Rhetorical précis: “A Quantum Theory of Mitt Romney

Preview: Letters to the Editor

Page One, continued

Reading: NYT article TBA Sunday and a 60-90 second overview of an article of your choice, telling us why it is significant to you and why it should be significant to us
Due: Rhetorical précis — “The Other Arab Spring,” by Thomas Friedman

In class: Planning Letters to the Editor and Op-Ed pieces

21st-century alternatives to Letters to the Editor?
21st-century alternatives to Op-Ed pieces?

Reading: NYT, continued
In class: Letter to the Editor Workshop & Submissions
Due: Letter to the Editor: send to them and BCC me.

Op-Ed Resources: 

• Shipley, “And Now a Word From Op-Ed”
• Shipley, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Editing”
• “How to Submit an Article to the Op-Ed Page”

Reading: NYT article TBA Sunday
In class: Op-Ed Workshop
Due: Op-Ed Draft

“Our decisions about which essays to publish aren’t governed by a need for editorial variety alone. Among other things, we look for timeliness, ingenuity, strength of argument, freshness of opinion, clear writing and newsworthiness. Personal experiences and first-person narrative can be great, particularly when they’re in service to a larger idea. So is humor, when it’s funny. Does it help to be famous? Not really.”

(“All the views that are fit to print?” Not a chance, alas.)

Reading: NYT continued
In class: Proofreading Workshop & Submissions
Due: Op-Ed Draft #2

In class: Rhetorical précis and peer review on two classmates’ Op-Ed articles (we’ll do this in class)

Reading: Sunday NYT
In class: Review and discuss initial inquiry questions
Due: Op-Ed Final Draft

Due: Contextual Analysis inquiry question, map, and Online library workshop

Meet in the Richardson Library Room #417
Library and database workshop
Due: 

St. Martin’s Handbook 10b: analyzing the assignment; 10c: narrowing a topic; 11a: differentiating kinds of sources

No Class Today

Due: Contextual Analysis Proposal 

In class: NYT article TBA Sunday
Due: Contextual Analysis draft #1

Reading: NYT Magazine
In class: Workshop & peer review: St. Martin’s 12c (sources) and 4b: Peer Review Research & Argumentation

Due: Contextual Analysis draft #2

In class: Revising and Editing Contextual Analyses
St. Martin’s Companion site: the Top 20

Due: Peer Reviews

Reading: NYT, continued
In class: 

9:40 section: memes
11:20 section: dialogic responses

Reading: NYT, continued
In class: 

9:40 section: memes
11:20 section: dialogic responses

• WRD104 course portfolios
• Distinctions article
• WRD/FYW Resources [+ examples]
• Curating with tables

Option #1: WRD Learning Outcomes-based Digital Portfolio
Option #2: WRD Curated Digital Portfolio

UCWbL: Designing Digital Portfolios
WRD Resources, especially formatting 

• Organizing principles
• Providing links — both figuratively and literally
• Formatting
• Professional presentation
• Scoring Guide (PDF)

Reading: NYT, continued
In class: Portfolio workshop

• Organizing principles
• Providing links — both figuratively and literally
• Formatting
• Professional presentation
• Scoring Guide (PDF)

Section #314: Tuesday 6/5, 8:45-11:00 a.m.
Section #315: Tuesday 6/5, 11:45 a.m.-2:00 p.m.

We will meet during our assigned Final Exam time for the final, official delivery of your WRD104 Portfolios. Extra office hours will be available if you need help with your portfolio before and during Finals Week.