Start of Semester

Week 1 (8/26), Introductions to Each Other and the Course

“Readings” Due:
Read the syllabus and course calendar
Watch the Welcome video
Watch the “setting up your CUNY Commons” and “setting up Hypothesis” videos and follow the instructions

Assignments Due:
Getting to Know You Survey
Syllabus “Quiz”
Self-introduction posts and responses

Week 2 (8/31), Intro to Rhetorical Genres Studies + Posting and Annotating

Readings Due:
McGuigan, Sections 1 & 3 (PDF) – like 4 pages
Intro to Genre selections (PDF) – like 4 pages
Rhetorical Triangle Video
“How To Make a Post on WordPress” video
Annotating Video 1
Annotating Video 2

Assignments Due:
Imaginary Resume (post to course site)
Resume Self-Analysis (post to course site OR submit on Blackboard)

Unit 1: News Reporting

Week 3 (9/7): Styles of News

Monday (9/7) is Labor Day, so CUNY is closed. We will not have Optional Zoom Class on this day.

Readings Due:
Read my blog post for this week on Styles of News
Students will find and share your own examples by posting the links and perhaps a 1-2 sentence description to the course site—please read and annotate the examples shared by 1-2 other classmates.

Assignments Due:
Examples and Annotations
Discussion Comments/Responses

Week 4 (9/14), Political News

Readings Due:
TBD, I will choose political news examples from multiple perspectives and levels of depth

Assignments Due:
Annotations
Your news articles (3)
Unit Reflection

Friday (9/18) CUNY is closed for Rosh Hashanah. I will not be available for appointments on this day.

Unit 2: Humanities Reviews and Analysis

Week 5 (9/21), Writing Reviews

Readings Due:
Lammott, “Shitty First Drafts” (PDF)
Zinsser, “Writing About the Arts: Critics and Columnists” (PDF)
Gray, “Son of the Black Panther”
Other Examples TBD

Assignments Due:
Review of a Piece of Media (1-2 pages)

Week 6 (9/28), Humanities Writing in Non-Academic Genres

Monday (9/28) CUNY is closed for Yom Kippur, so we will not have Optional Zoom Class on this day.

Readings Due:
Shrek Twitter Threads 1 & 2
Willems, “How Greta Gerwig Revolutionized Little Women”
Willems, “The Art of the PG-13 F-Bomb”
Close Reading Video

Assignments Due:
Discussion posts/comments about the videos
Write your own Twitter* thread or create a short video on a humanities topic of your choice

Week 7 (10/5), Academic Writing in the Humanities

Readings Due:
Shrek Paragraphs
Academic Article Examples (TBD)

Assignments Due:
Convert your Twitter thread or video from last week into academic paragraphs
Unit Reflection

Unit 3: Writing in the Natural Sciences

Week 8 (10/13), How To Tell a Lie Using Scientific Genres

CUNY is closed on Monday (10/12) for Indigenous Peoples’ Day, so we will not have Optional Zoom Class.

Readings Due:
Podcast: “Sawbones: COVID Lies, Darned Lies, and Statistics”
Phony Study on Coronavirus from April

Assignments Due:
Annotations + Podcast Posts
Rhetorical Data Visualizations Activity
Fill out the Peer Review Survey

Week 9 (10/19), Natural Science Writing Part 1

Readings Due:
Commentary on Phony Study
Imaginary Scientific Paper
Real Scientific Paper (I will choose a recent one as we get closer to this week)

Assignments Due:
Draft of Science Article Due
Peer Review Due

Week 10 (10/26), Natural Science Writing Part 2

Readings Due:
Excerpts from “Genre and the Experimental Article” (PDF)

Assignments Due:
Annotations
Halloween Assignment (TBD)
Revised Science Article Draft Due

Week 11 (11/2), “Midterm” Check-In

Tuesday, 11/3 is Election Day, so we are going to have a chill week. I know many of us will be stressed about the outcomes (both the obvious presidential race and perhaps the outcomes for other offices too), some of us may be doing political volunteer work, and probably most of us will be surrounded by emotionally charged conversations, in our homes and/or on our social media.

We will use this week to reflect on our class and learning so far, and to revisit our news unit by looking at some election coverage.

Readings Due:
None!

Assignments Due:
N. Science Unit Reflection
Check-In Activity
Election Day Assignment

Unit 4: Writing in the Social Sciences

Week 12 (11/9), Ethnographic Writing

Readings Due:
What is Ethnography?
“Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”
Other Example(s) TBD

Assignments Due:
Annotations
Discussion Posts
First Draft of Mini-Ethnography Due

Week 13 (11/16), Bias and Genre in the Social Sciences

Readings Due:
TBD

Assignments Due:
Peer Review
Final Draft of Mini-Ethnography Due

End of Semester

Week 14 (11/23), Portfolio Overview

Readings Due:
Watch WordPress Training Videos
Read Portfolio Instructions
Read Final Mini-Project Instructions

Assignments Due:
Social Science Unit Reflection
Create Portfolio Site (don’t need to do anything else except Create it, unless you want to start working on it)

On Thursday (11/26) & Friday (11/27), CUNY will be closed for Thanksgiving. I will not be available for appointments on these days.

Week 15 (11/30), Web Writing

Readings Due:
Video on Best Practices for Writing on the Web

Assignments Due:
Web Genre Analysis
Email me your plan for your portfolio

Week 16 (12/7), Reflection Writing

Readings Due:
Yancey, Excerpt from Reflection in the Writing Classroom
Reading About Portfolios

Assignments Due:
Writer’s Resume

Finals “Week”

John Jay has yet to announce the finals schedule for Fall, but your portfolio and all late work will be due on the day set aside for our “Final.”

There is no final exam.