Class Calendar for Spring, 2011
Information on this website
applies only to courses taught by Owen Williamson
This is a writing-intensive course. For each class meeting expect one or two short writing exercises that develop skills necessary for analytical writing, research, synthesis, and documentation; all in-class activities are designed to support course goals and allow practice with course content.
Calendar may be changed at any time with advance notice.
Drafts and assignments will be due at 7:30 a.m. on the day indicated.
CDA = Compose, Design, Advocate; GFC = Guide to First-Year Composition
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Calendar |
Weekly Topics and Assignments |
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GFC |
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Week One |
Introduction to class, review of syllabus. Welcome survey. Academic integrity. Discuss blog assignment options. Choose your theme for the semester. Be sure to select something that you are truly interested in, that you can study about, form an opinion on, and argue about all semester! Three big writing rules in this class. Website E-Portfolio assigned. Intro to MS SharePoint or FrontPage. Becoming a "Power User."
Call Help Desk 915-747-5257 NOW to activate your UTEP webspace if you have not done so already. Weekly posting on your Blog: Respond to "Style" with your own thoughts on the subject. |
Textbook: Compose, Design, Advocate (CDA): Read pages 1-9 and pages 18-21. |
Chapter 1: 1—12 Chapter 7: 241-252
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Week Two |
Begin discussion on E-portfolio and Genre Analysis. View Discourse Community Powerpoint. Comprehending different genres. Analysis of sources: What were they written / designed for? For whom? What are their standpoints? What are their shortcomings? Introduction to composition and advocacy. Audience, Stasis, Style. Identifying and omitting irrelevant or insignificant content. and wording: Cut the Verbal Fat article. The K.I.S.S. principle. Logos.
Deadline for practice turn-in 1/28. View Genre Analysis Matrix. View Genre Analysis PowerPoint on your own. Weekly blog entry: Read "This Time, Slump Hits Well-Educated, Too" and then comment in two or three paragraphs. In your comments, discuss what the article has to do with you and your household, and include a link to this article. |
Read Chapter 1, pages 23-56. Read Chapter 5
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Genre: 263-288 Eportfolio, 376-387
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Week Three |
Genre Analysis draft due 2/4/11. Advocacy cont’d: Pathos. Antagonistic and non-antagonistic advocacy. Learn Cicero's six-part argument. In-class practice of advocacy. "If you do not have an agenda of your own, you become part of someone else's agenda." (anon.) Slide Show on Rhetoric For peer review use Matrix. Read "E-Persona Non Grata: Strategizing Your Online Persona." (Link may not work on non-UTEP computers.) Weekly blog entry: Respond to "E-Persona non Grata": How are you currently strategizing your own online persona? |
Instructor will assign specific genres to read for class discussion--Section 3, Chapters 10-16 (online), and pages 315-532. |
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Week Four |
Continue Genre Analysis Ethos. Tentative: Discuss your response to "E-Persona Non Grata." Division / Stasis.
Collaborative exercise: Analyze poem, “Cha Till Maccruimein” as advocacy. Ideology and composition. Quality control and product testing . Academic expectations: language, levels of style. Proofreading.
Weekly blog entry: Read and respond to "Optimize your References." Discuss what you are doing or will do NOW to optimize your references for your career. How does this relate to your own future? |
Instructor will assign specific genres to read for class discussion-Section 3, Chapters 10-16, and pages 315-509. |
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Week Five |
Genre Analysis final draft due 2/18/11. Begin Literature Review / Primary Research Report.View Literature Review PowerPoint 1 and PowerPoint 2 and discuss. Read CARS [Creating A Research Space]. Then formulate your research questions (3-4). Remember that more specific questions allow for more specific answers, and this improves the focus immensely.
Weekly blog entry: Submit your research questions to instructor on your blog for approval. On your blog post, be sure to briefly explain how your theme and research questions specifically meet the CARS criteria. |
Read Chapters 5 and 6, pages 109-176. |
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Week Six |
Literature Review / Primary Research Report continued. By this class you will need 7-10 sources for your paper. Scholarly and popular sources. How to evaluate whether an outside source is verifiable, credible, reliable and authoritative (Tentative): The "Who Cares?" test. Review CDA 67-8. Primary research. See pages 150-154 and 161 in Compose, Design, Advocate. Discuss.
Weekly blog entry on Blog: |
Read Chapter 12. |
Read Chapter 5. |
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Week Seven |
Literature Review / Primary Research Report draft due by 3/4/11. Antagonistic and non-antagonistic advocacy. (Tentative): Reductio ad absurdum. Special assignment. Advocacy: Marching through Georgia. Analyze.
Weekly blog entry: Read "How to Aid the Less Fortunate." Then, respond to this article by answering in two or three paragraphs: What can YOU, personally do to aid those who are suffering the results of this crisis? Or, what have you done already?Weekly blog entry: |
Read Chapter 5 and 6. |
Read pages 91-93. |
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Week Eight |
Literature Review / Primary Research Report continued. Discuss final arrangements on Lit Review and Research reports. Reports must have live links to sources and a copy should be posted on your e-portfolio. Refresher on APA citation style. Computer literacy for the 21st century. Degrees of computer literacy:
Tentative Practice (Advocacy): Rhetorical analysis of "Brother, Can you Spare a Dime."
Weekly blog entry: Professional Peer Review of rough drafts of the Literature Review & Research Report. Complete peer review: briefly answer all 12 questions and e-mail answers to the author, with copy to me. Do not post on blog. |
Read Chapter 5 and 6. |
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Spring Break Mar 14-18. |
Spring Break |
Spring Break |
Spring Break |
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Week Nine |
Literature Review / Primary Research Report final version due 3/25/11. Begin Documentary
Weekly blog entry: Carefully read "Student Expectations Seen as Causing Grade Disputes" and then respond. Answer in two paragraphs: Do you, yourself, believe you should pass your courses primarily on your attendance instead of on real results? Why or why not? |
Read Chapter 9, pages 263-314.
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Documentary: 325-344 |
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Week Ten |
Documentary continued.
Audience—writing for the reader. Know yourself, know your audience.
Weekly blog entry: Read "The Facebook Generation vs. the Fortune 500" and comment: Is what the author writes about "Generation F" true for you? Why or why not? Include a link to this article on your blog entry. |
Read Chapter 13, pages 399-426. |
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Week Eleven |
Documentary continued. Tentative: Delivery. Possible exercise. The "good student" fallacy of asking "What is the moral of this story?"
Weekly blog entry: Analysis of material requirements for delivery/publishing. Discuss how you will deliver your Opinion Piece assignment to an intended audience and get them to read it. |
Read Chapter 9, pages 263-314. |
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Week Twelve |
Begin Online Opinion Piece Begin discussion of Presentation Review Cicero's six-part argument. Use either this format or a classic rhetorical refutation. for your Opinion piece. View Opinion PowerPoint. (Tentative) Review CDA 414 and 415 (Counterargument). Two sides to every argument: brief intro to the dialectic. (Tentative): Objective vs. Subjective reasoning. Exercise: Analyze subjective factors behind your standpoint. (Tentative): Review and discuss: Refutation. Review Ch. 13 in CDA.
Begin Online Opinion Piece. Use either Cicero's six-part argument or a classical-style refutation. Weekly blog entry: Search for and choose an opinion venue to post your opinion piece. Then, complete the Audience Questionnaire on page 69 of Textbook, for your chosen Opinion Piece venue, post results of audience questionnaire on your blog, with a link to your venue. |
Read Chapter 13, pages 399-426. Read Chapter 8, pages 223-262. |
Online Op Ed: 345-352 Presentation: 353-375
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Week Thirteen |
Documentary final due 4/22. Revision, proofreading and revising one's own and others’ writing for quality of expression and to meet the needs of subject, audience, and purpose. Assign peer review of professional homepages. Sign up for a day to present your documentary in class. NO CLASSES Friday, April 22, Study Day.
Complete peer review of other student's website, answer questions on form above. E-mail results to owner, with a copy to me. Do not post on blog. |
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Week Fourteen |
Begin presentations
Get your website indexed. Use Google's Sitemap Feature. Weekly blog posting: Do a web search on yourself. Post results on your blog and briefly comment on what you found. |
Read Chapter 4, pages 80-85; Re-read Chapter 13 pages 399-426. |
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Week Fifteen |
Presentations. Online Opinion Piece final drafts due online 5/6/11. Advise me by e-mail of address where it is posted, and screen-name used if any. Completed e-portfolio due for grading by May 5 at 7:30 a.m. NO CLASSES Fri., May 6.
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Re-read Chapter 5 |
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| Finals week |
To be announced. Advocacy Website Due Grades due by 5/18.
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CDA 
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For educational purposes only. |
O.W. 1/11, updated constantly.
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Owen M. Williamson - Education Bldg 211E - phone: (915) 747 7625 - fax: (915) 747 5655 |
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The University of Texas at El Paso - 500 W. University Ave. - El Paso, TX 79968 |
Open Courseware | OCW |This work is dedicated to the Public Domain..