9.4 Course readings and using the University Writing Rubric

We will meet in CAS 307 for class on 9.9

We started class by looking through the readings in TheySay/I Say, and deciding which sections we wanted to write about for our course. You chose The American Dream, College Education, and Fast Food as your three topice, in that order.

I  copied your list of ideas for things to write about for these topics. They were:

American Dream: Mistaken assumptions, The difference in image, How American Dream is affected by the time/place, and What are the main problems of America

College Education: Learn how to earn a living,Professional education for better pay

Fast food: For/against, Health more important than business,Obesity rate increase,Most fast food places have a dense populaton in the “inner city”

Essays for each unit:  You chose The American:Dread Alive or on Hold, Hiding from Reality, and Progressive Wal-mart, Really as the essays we will work with in this section.  We decided we would choose essays for the other two unitw when we got to them.

Sounds like we should have good material to work with!

Using rubrics to assess writing

During the second part of class we practiced using the University Writing Rubric.  Before we applied the rubric to the sample essays (posted to the right), we talked about what the audience/genre expectations were for academic writing.  

Content:  Our list on the board state the following features that academic readers look for in terms of content:nake a side, focus on the topic from the reading (make a conversation with other texts), hit issues/questions raised in the reading, include your observations, present examples/evidence/illustrations to develop your points (rather than just stating the points over and over again), relate your evidence/illustrations to your postion, refer to the reading.

Form: We also noted that academic writing generally has:

• an introduction that sets up the essay's focus and explains background information; 
• a body where each paragraph relates to and develops that focus in a different way by making a series of points and by using detailed, specific illustrations, examples, references to other texts (and so on); 
• and a conclusion that draws the discussion to a close.

When we applied the rubric to the sample essays, we noted that the criteria (audience/genre; focus; development, organization, grammar/mechanics, and revision => were not mutually exclusive. For example, focus and genre/audience were related in that if the essay did not reply to or connect back to the prompt/reading the essay was meant to discuss - the rating would suffer for both those criteria.  Other critera were related as well. 

You did a great job applying the rubric, and even more important, you made excellent observations about what the writers could do to strengthen their writing.

Applying what we did in class.  This exercise was meant as practice using your knowledge of what a particular reader/or writing assignment "expects" of your writing as a way to work on your writing assignments.  Once you can "see" and talk about what you need to work on in your writing - it is only a matter of time and practice until you get it.  Good work on this today!

For next class:  We will meet in CAS 307 for both classes.

What we will do in class.   I will hand back your diagnostics and we will start by talking over the general patterns I saw and what those patterns suggest about we want to focus on as a class during this semester.

Next- you will set up your portfolios using google.sites and you will post your diganostic to your portfolio, and you will do some writing about what you want to work on.

  

During the second part of class we will talk about the readings. We will work on strategies for  identifying the main points/supporting points, and we will begin talking about how to summarize those points in an academic voice.   

Homework assignments:

Read: TS/IS Introduction (p 1-14); Brandon King, The American Dream: Dead, Alove, or on Hold? p.572.

Write:  take notes (for yourself); write down what you see as the main idea + supporting points for each reading.