Week One

Before beginning the material for Week One, be sure to review the Syllabus and Schedule (found on the homepage) carefully.

Quite often students approach writing assignments by focusing on product rather than process, meaning that they focus on sitting down and churning out a paper in one sitting. But good academic writing requires time, transition, revision, and investment.

Read the following:

• "What is 'Academic' Writing?"

• "Quality Academic Writing is a Process"

• "Top Twenty Errors in Undergraduate Writing"

In many online classes, discussion boards seem like busy work ... "answer a discussion board question, respond to three people, check the task off your list."

In Composition I, we will view discussion boards as practice for learning to effectively communicate in writing publicly (e.g., social media and other group spaces).

To be successful in our class discussion boards, you'll want to focus on three areas (these are also the criteria for assessment in the discussion board rubrics linked into the Grade Center):

• Write a solid initial post. Be sure that the post follows all of the directions from the prompt, is clear and concise, and provides valuable information for others.

• Engage with your peers. Read the posts of classmates who respond to you and respond to them. I have often seen listservs where someone has an elaborate initial post and then doesn't respond to anyone who responds to them. Doing so looks arrogant and sloppy. You don't have to respond to EVERY person who responds to you, but if you make an initial post and then never respond to it again, you will leave a negative impression that could come back to you later (remember: it's a small world).

• Include compelling content. In both your initial post and your responses, include relevant, up-to-date content that furthers the discussion. This content might be personal experience, websites on the topic (see this Inserting Hyperlinks into Blackboard Discussion Threads tutorial), helping a student brainstorm a topic or idea, or answering to questions your classmates ask.

Read this article for a quick reference to five ways to be successful on discussion boards in this class (and others). The discussion board rubric below indicates how you will be evaluated on discussion boards in this class.