Composition II & College Writing II

Congratulations on making it to class! Did you have trouble finding a parking space? Was the bus crowded and noisy? Are you running into this classroom, panting, dragging your backpack behind you, cursing because the only seat left is the one in the front row, right in front of the teacher?

Hey, wait. Here in cyberspace, every parking space is right next to the building; every seat is in the back of the classroom, comfortably out of your teacher's sight line. One of the lovely things about an online class--wearing your PJs and sipping coffee/hot chocolate and nobody knows.

Composition I and College Writing I are basically the same class~different colleges have different names. However, the topics will be the same.

At any rate, you're here, and you're no doubt just salivating to get going with this, your favorite class. 

Well, I'm here to please. Let's do this.

Once you get access to D2L/Brightspace, the first thing you should do is explore the class a bit and see how things are set up. The key areas of this particular class are the Discussions forum, the Content page, and the Assignments folders. You will also periodically be using your student Email and Quizzes. So click around, try things out, and don't freak out when you first look at the Content page, which lists all the assignments you'll be doing in the next few weeks. 

This class focuses on the research process, textual analysis of primary and secondary sources, rhetorical strategies for argument and persuasion, and successful integration of sources into a longer academic paper utilizing MLA (or other, as appropriate) documentation format. The class may be disciplinary, interdisciplinary, or topical in content.

Having said this, I still expect you to feel overwhelmed when you first take a gander at the amount of work you have to do before the end of the term. What's that I hear right now? Panic? No need to panic.The number of assignments may seem frightening, but when you knuckle down and start completing them, they aren't so very bad. Like any big meal, you will tackle them...One bite at a time!

To help you keep track of what is due when, you can use the Due Dates Overview Spring 2026 on the Content page (in the section labeled Introductory Information), but even more helpful will be the weekly announcements that I post on this, the course homepage. Keeping on top of what is due will be important, as I don't accept late work. Although you are more than welcome to turn things in early. Do we need to take a moment here to yell, collectively, "Holy migraine and EEEEEEEEKKKKK"? 

Okay, now that we've got that out of the way, we can face facts: the class will have a weekly due date of Sunday at 10 p.m. Feel free to work ahead <evil giggle>. 

Since this may be your first online class -- or even if you're already experienced with online classes, every teacher sets up their class differently -- I imagine there will be a learning curve, and we will run into some snags. But hang in there, let me know when things aren't working, and we'll figure it out. Onward!