101 Description | 101 Syllabus | 101 Assignments

Ungraded Drafts:

I will ask each of you to submit first and second drafts of five essays representing several different types of writing: personal reflection, informative writing, and argumentative writing. You will be doing invention, preliminary drafting, revision, and editing to prepare these pieces. Though I will not grade each piece of invention writing, preliminary drafts and revised drafts, I will assess all this writing for a grade when I review your portfolio, in which you will keep all writing for the course. The invention writing may be hand-written, if you wish; the first drafts must be typed. There are word processors available to you in the computer labs on campus. Second drafts must be typed. The pieces which you select to work on and submit for a grade must be revised after the second draft, typed, and brought to a conference before you prepare your final revision, which must be typed according to the required format in your writing text.  

Graded Final Essays: 

Each of you will select three of your ungraded pieces, which you revise once again and polish for evaluation. Roughly every five weeks I will ask you to submit for a grade a final version of one of the pieces you're working on, one that you feel has the most potential for final revision. Before submission of this work, I will meet with each of you for an individual conference so that you can discuss your ideas with me and I can add my own constructive responses to those your writing group has offered.

Portfolio Of Writing:

This collection of your writing will contain all the writing you do for the course both in and out of class, much of which I will not grade at the time you write it. I will collect this work and evaluate its quality and quantity at mid-term and the end of the course. The writing in your portfolio will include: any invention and discovery writing you do for the pieces you work on whether or not they are the ones you revise for a final grade, your responses to portfolio writing activities I will assign throughout the course, your written responses to readings from our text, first and second drafts of the five ungraded pieces, the three graded final versions, any other writing which you would like to include for extra credit. Often you will need to complete at home portfolio writing activities begun in class.

Written Self-Assessment Statements at Mid-Term and Final:

At the mid-term and the end of the course, I will ask you to submit along with your portfolio a written self-evaluation of your progress to that point. The purpose of these activities is to provide you the opportunity to reflect upon your own writing and to understand your own writing process. Hence you will be able to perceive your strengths as a writer and the strategies or choices that have brought you success so that you may build upon these.

Home Page | 101 Description | 101 Syllabus | Course Descriptions and Syllabi