Rhetorics of Crisis in Times of Disaster

Final Draft

Hey squad,

Here are some reminders about the final draft. The deadline is this Monday night, 1am, due in my inbox. Other stuff:

1. You must submit with a Cover Letter, Works Cited page, the entire paper in MLA format, including page numbers (it’s ok if your cover letter is page 1 but that doesn’t count toward the length requirement of the essay).​

2. Proofread! De-clutter. Strengthen word choices. Make it beautiful to read.

3. Remember to use the Rubric and Sample Essays. These are your lifelines for understanding what’s expected of the assignment.

4. REVERSE-OUTLINE. Remember to map out, for each paragraph, the do/say. This will give you a sense of what’s expendable, what’s important, what needs to be clarified, and how you might need to tweak the sequence of paragraphs.

Good luck revising!

Yours in solidarity,

CF

Assignment 18

From the large packet I handed out last week, read p. 132-139. One is an essay on “Clutter” and another is on “Grammar.” After you read, choose 5 sentences from your paper and edit out the “Clutter” and clear up the grammar. In your reply to this post, post two paragraphs: both the original 5 sentences and the decluttered, re-grammarized versions. : )

You should also begin revising your papers this week.

**Remember we’re in the computer lab in the other building on Thursday.**

Assignment 15: due Tuesday 9:55am

For Tuesday,

  1. Edit and expand your guiding question and post it in response to this post. If you have sub-questions related to the big one, you can list them underneath it. Just make sure that the sub-questions are relevant to the guiding question and do not chart an entirely new inquiry.
  2. Find sources and work on your annotated bibliographies (due Thursday). It is a lot of work, but it pays off. Remember that your sources should include the following: at least one primary source, two secondary sources, one multi-media source, one book, and one journalistic article. Your bibliography needs at least 6 sources, but that is a bare minimum. Higher quality papers will include around 10 sources, which includes primary and secondary.

Assignment 13: Due Tuesday 11/6, 9:55am

Your assignment is to choose your topic for your research paper. We will be going over the assignment this week in more detail, but in general you are being asked to research a crisis of your choosing. To help you put more thought into your decision-making process, I’d like you to email me with your topic choice and a one page write-up explaining your choice. Here are questions that you writing should answer:

  1. Why are you curious about this crisis? Do you have a personal stake in it or some other motivation that makes you want to dedicate an unusual amount of time and effort towards understanding its complexities? In general, explain how you decided on this topic.
  2. Why do you think it is important for our classroom community to learn more about the crisis you’ve chosen? Who are other intended audiences for your exploration of this crisis?
  3. What are the multiple perspectives that you imagine as central to an analysis of this crisis?
  4. Which sources have you looked at so far? Please give me at least two links to prove that you’ve done some preliminary searching about the topic that helped you arrive at your decision, and tell me how they were helpful.

Assignment 12: Due Thursday, by 10:55am

Read the PDF sent to your email and the article below (which may take about 45 mins, so budget your time accordingly). In a 300-word post in response to this post, I want you to consider two things:  one piece of advice that Amanda Ripley gives to writers in “Complicating the Narratives” and one detail from the PDF about research process. State both at the top of your post. Then, taken together, how do the two items that you’ve chosen seem useful to researchers like yourselves? How do they help you rethink the way you will write about a crisis in Major Assignment 3? (You can write this without mentioning your potential research topic, but if you already have an idea feel free to reference it)

https://thewholestory.solutionsjournalism.org/complicating-the-narratives-b91ea06ddf63

Final Draft due 10/30 9:55am

Hi all,

Your final draft is due before class on Tuesday morning. Email it to me as a PDF attachment. Here are key requirements:

  • HIGHLIGHT all of your revisions so that I can easily differentiate the changes from the rough draft
  • It must include a cover letter! This cover letter should be completely different than your last one but could comment on areas of improvement that were mentioned. You should reflect on your revision process.
  • Size 12 font, double spaced, 1″ margins, page numbers, a title and appropriate MLA format with your name, my name, the class, and the date
  •  PROOFREAD. Press the Spellcheck button but also read your paper, aloud to yourself ideally, to make sure sentences and punctuation are solid. Tutors at the Writing Center can also be of great help in this regard.
  • MLA style citations (see syllabus for style guides or search on Google), and remember that if you’re in doubt you should just cite.

Rough Draft of Major Project 2: due Tuesday, 10/23

As mentioned in class this past week, your rough draft is due for our peer revision this Tuesday.

FORMAT: Your drafts should be double-spaced, in size 12 font, with 1 inch margins, and page numbers. In the header of the first page and in MLA format please include your name, our course number, my name, the date, and then a title for your essay.

Finish your draft with enough time to print and staple 4 copies. Bring those copies to class on Tuesday. This may mean finishing your draft on Monday, even if it is technically due on Tuesday morning.

Email your draft to me as an attachment so that I can comment on it.