Final Exam Assigment

Your task is simple:

Please write a 500-word essay with an expository thesis statement focusing on the following question:

Now that you've taken the full College Writing Sequence at AU, in what ways are mandatory composition classes valuable, and in what way are the expendable?

I really want to know what you think about. Please use examples from your own personal experience to interrogate the value of College Writing. Be honest-- there's probably nothing you could say that I haven't already thought myself at one point or another.

Your focus in writing should on:

Sentence-level clarity
Fully realized ideas
Structural integrity that helps reveal meaning.

I will grade each essay on a rubric based upon those three factors.

You will have 60 minutes to complete this task.

Have fun, and thanks for your insight!

Anna

Pre-Research Guide

Anna's Genius Guide to Pre-Research Madness

via

1. Go crazy with Wikipedia, Google, etc. THIS IS YOUR CHANCE. Click around. Think broadly. Ask friends for what they know about the topic. This is your chance to gather background info and sharpen your focus. Understand that you are unlikely to find official sources at this stage. Just explore.

2. Generate small questions: Use your pre-research to generate a list of five mini-questions that will help you get to the heart of your main investigation. Make these questions as detailed or as general as you like.

3. Generate Key Words: Use your pre-research to make a list of fifteen important vocabulary words related to your question. You will use these words to conduct formal search engine research.

3. Generate a list of four disciplines for formal research: Consider what areas of study might speak to your question (s). Psychology? History? Hard Sciences? Anthropology? Education? Literature? Think broadly and creatively.

4. Generate a list of three types of primary source artifacts that might speak to your questions. Again, use your imagination: Songs? Movies? Viral Videos? Blogs? Podcasts? Visual Art? Letters or emails? Radio? Advertising? Social Media Posts? Food? Historical Documents?

Gather all of this info into a single document. Congratulate yourself. You are now ready to begin the formal research process!

GET READY

Hi, friends! Here are the link for the reading we'll do today in class:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_philosophies

http://www.jstor.org/stable/358743

Let's have fun!

Paper #2: THE REMIX

Hi, friends! Here is the link for Paper Assignment #2: THE REMIX. This is a gonna be fun.

Here are some of the resources we looked at in class last week:

Food comic and video: Best donuts in LA!
Food photographerL Tastespotting!
Food Podcast: Spilled Milk!

Please share your video resources in the comments!

Foer Reading

Hi, folks. For Friday please read Jonathan Safran Foer's article, "Against Meat". 

This post was supposed to go up on Tuesday and did not, so if you are unable to read it in time, or to do anything other than skim, I understand. We'll work with it primarily next Tuesday.

Anna

Paper #1 Assignment Sheet

Hi friends! Please check out the Assignment Sheet for Paper #1.

Thanks!

Anna

Jake Adam York Resources

Today we'll discuss the poetry of the phenomenal Jake Adam York.  Here are the resources we'll be looking at:

Jake's poem, Grace, as published in the Washington Post.

Jake's reading at the Southern Foodways Alliance:


Jake's mini-essay on Barbecue in the Denver Post.

Enjoy! (and, no, there isn't any good barbecue here in DC).