Assignments

We have a variety of assignments to help every student succeed. You might like certain activities better or certain lessons better. Each is ultimately designed though to help you learn a concept and succeed on a major paper. There is no busy work, because like you, I'm busy. I respect your time and understand that this isn't the only "thing" you have going on. So, try not to skip an assignment or lesson. Chances are then you will have to spend more time later trying to relearn that concept.

What kinds of assignments do we do?

Field Research & Story Mapping

We focus on field research in this course, learning not just from reading and writing but from physically participating in the very ideas we are exploring. This means if we are learning about something, we will often take a hands on approach to discovering deeper levels of this material. These activities will be document in a Story Map, a creative, visual documentation of your work this semester that you will present to the class at the end of the semester.

10% of grade

Group Work

Oftentimes this course will be led by you the student. and since in the real world we often work in groups, pairs, and collaborate, we will mirror this real world scenario in our class. After our first paper, we will develop theme groups. These groups will help you formulate your major research paper and panel group for your capstone project. These people will become your team, the people you collaborate with, who challenge you, and who I hope will become your friends.

Skill Builders

Good writing takes practice. So we use these low stakes, skill builders to work on areas of our writing that may be challenging or use them as a way to practice aspects of our writing we hope to use in full length essays. We can use them to examine reading material and deepen our understanding of complex concepts.

7% of grade

Major Papers

Paper #1 Field Research and Visual Observation Essay 10%

Paper #2 Rhetorical Analysis Essay 15%

Paper #3 Argumentative Essay 23%

Paper #3 Proposal 5%

Paper #3 Annotated Bibliography 5%

Paper #3 Field Research & Final Project 5%

Paper #4 Argumentative Research Essay 25%

Methods of Evaluation

Skill Builders, Drafting, & 1 Library Workshop 7%
Field Research & Story Map 10%
Paper #1 Field Research and Visual Observation Essay 10%
Paper #2 Rhetorical Analysis Essay 15%
Paper #3 Argumentative Essay with Rogerian 23%
- Paper #3 Proposal 5%
- Paper #3 Annotated Bibliography 5%
- Paper #3 Field Research & Final Project 5%

Paper #4 Argumentative Research Essay 20%

What are we going to learn

Honors Student Learning Outcomes

Students will analyze and evaluate scholarly texts and/or primary sources representing diverse experiences, perspectives, disciplines of thought, and/or forms of authority.

Students will utilize forms of critical reasoning, such as deductive and inductive reasoning, when conducting primary and/or field research.

Students will make effective rhetorical choices in their writing based on context, audience, and/or purpose.

Students will connect their interests and/or experiences to broader real-world, historical, or theoretical contexts.

Students will practice a process of inquiry-based research when planning, writing, and revising an extended argument.

Students will locate, evaluate, and integrate relevant and scholarly sources when composing a research assignment.

Students will produce original research-based writing that reflects their own thinking, making ethical choices when using digital tools.

Students will conduct primary and/or field research as part of an extended research project.

Students will share a multi-modal presentation, highlighting the process devoted to an extended, self-directed research project.

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this course, the student should be able to:

Define, recognize, and utilize forms of critical reasoning, including deductive and inductive reasoning, in a variety of rhetorical contexts.

Reflect critically on one’s own thought processes to identify and avoid cognitive biases and common fallacies of language and thought.

Employ critical reading and research strategies to locate and evaluate complex texts representative of diverse experiences, perspectives, and forms of authority.

Evaluate and document evidence to construct arguments in a variety of rhetorical situations, distinguishing knowledge from belief and fact from judgment.

Draft written arguments to respond appropriately to texts, with attention to intended audience, purpose, and social context, and revise for clarity, cogency, persuasiveness, and soundness.

Course Content

Develop writing and reading skills for logical reasoning and argumentation using primarily nonfiction texts. Minimum 5,000 words of writing which may include a combination of drafts, written peer response, and other forms of writing that inform students’ inquiry-driven research and writing process. Students should revise and receive feedback from their instructor on at least one extended argument. [Honors]: Inquiry-driven and student-led research should emphasize the use of scholarly sources and primary research, such as field research, and be conveyed in an oral presentation and capstone project. Assignments should be derived from complex interdisciplinary nonfiction sources.