Category Archives: Assignment Instructions

Instructions/Rubric for Media Review

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The review/criticism of a piece of media is due by the end of the day on Monday, September 28. You are welcome to turn it in late for no penalty.

Instructions

  1. Choose any piece of media. It can be something you like, or something you think is terrible, or somewhere in the middle. It can be a book, a movie, a TV episode, a TV show, a song, an album, or some other thing not listed here.
  2. Using what you learned from “Writing About the Arts” and the examples you read/skimmed, write your own review or piece of criticism about this media. See the PDF for the difference between “reviews” and “criticism.” A review will be easier/faster, but choosing criticism will give you a head start on the assignments for Weeks 6 and 7.

Grading

0 points– you didn’t turn in anything
3 points– you turned in something, even if it is incomplete
5 points– you turned in something that clearly resembles a review/criticism, but it is missing some features of the genre
7 points — you turned in a review/criticism of a piece of media that follows most or all of the genre features

Unit 3 Project Instructions and Rubric

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Unit 3 Project: Imaginary Scientific Article

The purpose of this project is to practice writing in the genre of academic science articles.

Due Dates

First draft: End of Thursday, 10/22
Peer Review Comments: End of Sunday, 10/25
Revised draft: End of Sunday, 11/1

To begin:

  1. Choose an imaginary world (it can be the same as Unit 1 or a different one). It can be a fantasy world (like Harry Potter), or a fictional version of our own world (like Riverdale).
  2. Imagine a science experiment or study that could take place in that world.
  3. Imagine how the researchers would design their experiment, what they would do, and what kinds of data they would collect.
  4. Decide what you want the results of the experiment/study to be (this is NOT part of the scientific process. We are ONLY doing this because it is imaginary, so we have no real data).
  5. Make up some data that supports those results.
  6. If you were a scientist in your imaginary situation, doing your imaginary research, what pre-existing articles might exist that you would want to refer to? For example, if you’re making up an experiment conducted in Stranger Things 2, maybe you refer to an imaginary previous paper based on the events of Season 1. For starters, come up with a title and author name for each imaginary source.

Once you have completed the imagination work, now it’s time to write!

Your article should:

  1. Use APA formatting (have an APA-style title page, have a running head, have an abstract and key words, use APA subheading styles)
  2. Include all of the major sections of a scientific article (Introduction, Methods, Results, Analysis/Discussion, Conclusion)
  3. In each paragraph, follow conventions for academic writing (topic sentence, information, explanation/analysis of information, conclusion/transition sentence)
  4. Include an imaginary works cited page (also in APA style—3 imaginary sources)
  5. Use a sentence-level conventions appropriate for scientific writing (third person, passive voice, objective tone, etc.)

Rubric (graded out of 10 points)

APA Formatting (0.2 points each for a total of 2 points)

  • Title page ___
  • Title ____
  • Name ___
  • University ____
  • Correct Running Head First Page ____
  • Correct Running Head Subsequent Pages ____
  • Page Numbers ____
  • Abstract ___
  • Keywords ___
  • Beginning of works cited page is titled “References” ___

Structural Genre Norms (1 point each for a total of 4 points)

  • Article is divided according to the major sections of a scientific paper and includes all of these sections ___
  • These sections are labeled with APA-style subheadings ___
  • Each paragraph is focused around one subtopic or piece of information ____
  • Each paragraph includes a topic sentence, analysis or interpretation of the information, and a conclusion or transition sentence ___

Stylistic Genre Norms (1 point each for a total of 3 points)

Article consistently exhibits:

  • Use of the third person ___
  • Passive voice when appropriate ___
  • Formal tone/word choice ___

Works Cited/References (0.5 points each for 1 point total)

  • Article includes 3 imaginary sources that are referenced in the body of the article and documented in APA style in a references section ___
  • The imaginary sources make sense within the context of the chosen imaginary world and make sense as sources that would be referenced within a scientific paper ___

 

Unit 2 Reflection Instructions

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At the end of each unit, I will ask you to submit a reflection on your/our work for that unit. The instructions/rubric for each one will be very similar.

The Due Date for Unit 2 Reflections is October 13 (Tuesday) at 11:59pm. You are welcome to submit them on Blackboard OR post them on the course site, if you would like to share your reflections with the class. There will be no penalty for turning this in late.

In your reflection, please answer the following questions:

  1. What do you feel like you learned this unit that you didn’t know before?
  2. What did you already know , but now understand better or learned more about?
  3. What (if anything) do you feel like I wanted you to learn, but you still aren’t sure about?
  4. What are the strengths of your final project articles? What are you most proud of?
  5. If you were to revise your final project articles, what would you want to do differently?
  6. How would you describe or rate your participation/engagement in this unit?
  7. What did you do this unit that helped make you successful?
  8. What (if anything) do you want to do differently in the next unit?
  9. What additional things (resources, support, information, etc.) do you wish you had had for this unit?
  10. Is there anything you would like me to change (in the structure of our course, in how I’m presenting information, etc.) going forward?
  11. For you, how did this unit compare to the News Unit?
  12. What (if anything) from this unit would you like to discuss/think about/explore further? (either this semester or just in your life)

You can write this as an essay, or you can copy/paste the questions and answer each one individually. You can be as formal or as informal as you want.

Length Requirement: There is no set length (in pages or word count) for this reflection. Your reflection should be as long as it needs to be for you to feel like you have answered all of the questions.

Grading:

The unit reflection will be graded out of 5 points.

0 points: You didn’t turn in a reflection.
1 point: You turn in something that does reflect on the unit at least a little
2 points: You address at least half of the questions in your reflection
3 points: You address most of the questions in your reflection
4 points: You answer all of the questions in your reflection
5 points: You answer all of the questions using specific examples

Unit 1 Reflection Instructions

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At the end of each unit, I will ask you to submit a reflection on your/our work for that unit. The instructions/rubric for each one will be very similar.

The Due Date for Unit 1 Reflections is September 21 (Monday) at 11:59pm. You are welcome to submit them on Blackboard OR post them on the course site, if you would like to share your reflections with the class. There will be no penalty for turning this in late.

In your reflection, please answer the following questions:

  1. What do you feel like you learned this unit that you didn’t know before?
  2. What did you already know , but now understand better or learned more about?
  3. What (if anything) do you feel like I wanted you to learn, but you still aren’t sure about?
  4. What are the strengths of your final project articles? What are you most proud of?
  5. If you were to revise your final project articles, what would you want to do differently?
  6. How would you describe or rate your participation/engagement in this unit?
  7. What did you do this unit that helped make you successful?
  8. What (if anything) do you want to do differently in the next unit?
  9. What additional things (resources, support, information, etc.) do you wish you had had for this unit?
  10. Is there anything you would like me to change (in the structure of our course, in how I’m presenting information, etc.) going forward?
  11. What (if anything) from this unit would you like to discuss/think about/explore further? (either this semester or just in your life)

You can write this as an essay, or you can copy/paste the questions and answer each one individually. You can be as formal or as informal as you want.

Length Requirement: There is no set length (in pages or word count) for this reflection. Your reflection should be as long as it needs to be for you to feel like you have answered all of the questions.

Grading:

The unit reflection will be graded out of 5 points.

0 points: You didn’t turn in a reflection.
1 point: You turn in something that does reflect on the unit at least a little
2 points: You address at least half of the questions in your reflection
3 points: You address most of the questions in your reflection
4 points: You answer all of the questions in your reflection
5 points: You answer all of the questions using specific examples

 

 

Instructions/Rubric for Unit 1 Project

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Due Date: September 20 (Sunday) at 11:59pm
Submit Via: Blackboard OR Posting to the course site (if you would like to also share your creations with the class)

At the end of Week 3, I will compile all of your observations about your own and your classmates’ articles into a list of Rules for News Writing. You will use this collaboratively-generated list to then write your own news articles.

Instructions

As your final project for this unit (due at the end of Week 4), you will write 3 imaginary news articles around the same imaginary topic.

Your Options:

  1. Write each article in the same subgenre but from a different political perspective (My example from the syllabus: Star Wars– A set of news reports about Luke Skywalker blowing up the Death Star. One from a pro-Empire news site, one from a pro-Rebels site, and one from a centrist site.)
  2. Write each article in a different subgenre about the same topic. (Star Wars example: 1 news report simply reporting that Luke Skywalker blew up the Death Star, 1 analysis for how this will impact the Empire economically/politically, and 1 opinion piece arguing whether or not the Rebels are terrorists or freedom fighters. Or, you could do less-serious pieces: “The Dark Side of Fashion: Inside Lord Vader’s Closet” )
  3. Do either of the above options for a real world topic instead. However, if you choose to write about a real world topic, you must make sure your reporting is accurate/cite sources. The plus side is, in news reporting, you don’t have to use MLA or APA formatting. A hyperlink to the source works just fine!

If you choose option 1 or 2, please be as creative as you want.

The rubric is below (either in the document viewer or available as a downloadable file).

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Resume Self-Analysis Instructions

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The purpose of this assignment is to apply what you have learned about rhetoric this week to your own choices as a writer.

Due Date: 12:00pm (Noon) on Monday, September 7

Write a short (Just a couple of sentences for each question is fine) rhetorical analysis of your own Imaginary Resume based on what you learned from The Rhetorical Triangle video, and turn it in on Blackboard. Specifically, answer these questions:

  1. If you were submitting this to an imaginary job, how are you trying to portray yourself? (The Speaker part of the Rhetorical Triangle) What choices did you make when writing the resume to make yourself seem that way?
  2.  If you were submitting this to an imaginary job, what are the main things you want to convey to the hiring team? (The Message part of the Rhetorical Triangle) What choices did you make when writing the resume to make sure they understand those things?
  3.  If you were submitting this to an imaginary job, what do you imagine the hiring team is like? What do you think they want to see? (The Audience part of the Rhetorical Triangle) What choices did you make when writing the resume to make it appealing to your audience?

Now, we also know you are NOT actually submitting this to an imaginary job. In addition to this imaginary rhetorical situation, you also wrote this for a REAL rhetorical situation—introducing yourself to me and the rest of the class. Answer the same questions as above, but for this situation.

4. How did you want to portray yourself to the class? What choices did you make when writing to achieve this goal?

5. What did you want US to know about you? What choices did you make when writing to achieve this goal?

6. How did you imagine us when you were writing? What did you imagine that we would want to see? What choices did you make when writing to make your imaginary resume achieve this goal?

Grading —  out of 2 points. Full credit for answering all of the questions, and 1 point for answering only some of the questions.