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Just a few reminders about these last few weeks of writing and revising:

Conferencing with me at least once is required; come on time, come in the classroom to wait for your turn, and bring your SEE and specific ideas of what you want feedback on.

You can also meet with me one or two or even three more times if you want -- email me to make appointments.

You can continue to peer review with your group or friends in the class if that is helpful.

You can go to the writing center and have a writing tutor give you feedback on any stage of the writing process. Bring ideas of what you want feedback on to them as well, so they can be most helpful to you.

Remember to rethink, revise, restructre, as well as edit and polish!

Self-Evaluation Brainstorming

Today in class, you will receive the assignment for the self-evaluation essay, the last piece of writing you will do in this course. In order to help you get started thinking about this essay, I would like you to use the following questions as prompts and write a 300-400 word blog post in response. You do not need to answer all of the questions, just write about the ones that spark the most thought out of you.


1. What assignment was easiest for you? Why? What does that suggest about you?
2. What was the most challenging assignment? Why? How did you deal with the challenge and what was the outcome?
3. In what ways has your writing improved or changed during this semester? What aspects did you choose to work on and to what effect?
4. What activities have helped you work most on your writing or made you realize areas you needed to work on? What, for example, was the effect of peer review, revision, even the informal writing that you completed? Were any of these more helpful or less helpful to you? Why? What did you learn from these experiences?
5. What assignment did you learn the most from and why? What assignment are you most proud of and why?
6. What do you wish you worked more on and why? Did you do more or less than was expected by the instructor? Than your classmates? Why or why not?
7. What do you still need to work on in future semesters in terms of thinking, reading, or writing?
8. Are you the same thinker, reader, or writer who began the class? If not, what is different?
9. What was the most useful part of the course? The most frustrating? What role do you play in that process in relation to the assignments, readings, class dynamics, etc.?
10. What is the relationship between the argument-based writing you worked on in this course and the kinds of thinking and writing you will need to complete in your major field of study and future career? How has this writing experience prepared you to approach those kinds of writing situations?


Compose your piece as a unified piece of writing. Don't just list the answers to the questions you choose. Due Sunday, April 21 by midnight, posted on your blog.

These questions and this writing exercise will help you begin to generate some material for the Self-Evaluation Essay. You should bring a draft of that essay to your writing conferences with me. The SEE also should not just be a list of questions you answered; it needs to be structured like a traditional essay.

Final Exams at SCSU

The final exam schedule has been posted and can be found here. Our exam period is scheduled for Thursday, May 9th from 12:45 to 2:45. We will not have an official exam, but we will have a last in-class writing and some other course wrap-ups. It may not take the entire scheduled time, but I assume that it might take an hour or so.

Making the Most of the Rest of the Semester

Essay 3 will be a rewrite (revision + extension) of either Essay 1 or Essay 2, your choice. You are expected to deepen your thinking and analysis as well as tighten the essay structure and polish the writing. This essay should be the culmination of everything we have been working on up until now and be a representation of your best work. The required length for Essay 3 is 1200-1500 words.

Here is the schedule of due dates for Essay 3:

Thurs 4/4: Choose which essay you are going to revise. In 200-500 words, discuss why you chose this one, what you hope to do with it in revision, what aspects you want to change, delete, add, improve, etc. Post this writing on your blog.

Tues 4/9: First draft of Essay 1 due + 1-pg reflection of what you have been working on so far and what else you need feedback on. Highlight, underline, or put in a different color any new material to this draft. Post on your blog.

Thurs 4/11: Peer review due (Self-Evaluation Essay assignment handed out)

Tues 4/16: Essay 3 due (SEE Writing Workshop in class)

Thurs 4/18: Conferences

Tues 4/23: Conferences

Thurs 4/25: Conferences

Tue 4/30: Conferences

Final Exam: Revised Essay 3 and Self-Evaluation Essay due

Essay #2: Rhetorical Analysis

This assignment is essentially the "Respond" Prompt on pg. 120 in our text. Choose an opinion piece written in the past year from The New York Times Online: nytimes.com.

There is also a Guide for writing a rhetorical analysis in our book starting on pg. 114. Use that to help you write your essay. For Thursday, choose an article, annotate it, do some brainstorming, and come in with a few possible thesis statements for your essay.

The first draft of this essay is due Tuesday, MArch 12; the final draft is due March 23 and should be 700-1000 words long.

Quick Write Assignment, due Tuesday: Identifying Fallacies in Argument

Chapter 5 in our book is all about identifying fallacies. This skill is very important when you are analyzing the rhetoric used in constructing arguments and evaluating them.

Read the following analysis of fallacies employed by anti-gun control proponents: "Gun Control Is Just the Latest Issue Where Facts Lose Out to Emotions and Paranoia" by Mitchell Bard. Whether or not you agree or disagree with the position the author is taking, take note of the way he critiques the positions held by his opponents and exposes the fallacies being used.

Then read this article on graded inflation: "The Dangerous Myth of Grade Inflation" by Alfie Kohn. The author argues that grade inflation doesn't really exist, and if grades are getting higher, that is not truly a bad thing. Again, you may find yourself agreeing or disagreeing with the points made, but pay more attention to the validity of the points and if you think the author is committing any logical fallacies in his reasoning.

Your Quick-Write Assignment, due Tuesday, is to write a critique/evaluation of Kohn's piece, arguing either:

1) that his reasoning is flawed due to fallacies (give specific evidence)

or

2) his reasoning is sound because he accurately exposes his opposition's fallacies (again, give specific evidence)


Use Chapter 5 as a resource. Further discussion of Logical Fallacies can be found at this website: http://www.logicalfallacies.info/

Grades for Essay #1

FYI -- Here is the Grading Breakdown for Essay #1:


Name, Title, Handed in on Time (5 pts)

Met the Word Count Requirement (10 pts)

Fulfilled the Assignment (5 pts)

Thesis is Specific and Analytical (10 pts)

Argument Needs to be Proven (5 pts)

Argument Proven by End of Essay (10 pts)

Paragraphs are Organized in Logical Way (5 pts)

Body Paragraphs have Strong Topic Sentences (5 pts)

Body Paragraphs have Strong Ending Sentences (5pts)

Body Paragraphs Balance Description & Analysis (10 pts)

Introduction Catches Readers’ Attention (5 pts)

Conclusion Leaves Something to Think About (5 pts)

Writing is Clear, Fluid, Grammatically Correct (10 pts)

Writing is Interesting, Varied, Polished (10 pts)