assignment sequence
(fall 2013)

recurring writing assignments

Responses (10% of your final grade)
  • 500 words each
  • 4 total
  • turned in via BlackBoard (and eventually included on your personal portfolio website) by noon on the dates listed below
Response #1 due by noon Friday 6 September
Response #2 due by noon Wednesday 2 October
Response #3 due by noon Friday 1 November
Response#4 due by noon Friday 15 November
Questions to Think About (QTTA) Wiki (component of 10% total participation grade)
  • 2 QTTAs posted on the QTTA wiki on BlackBoard along with the selection from the reading that prompted the question by noon each Wednesday, starting on 3 September and ending 3 December
  • QTTAs should be prompted by your engagement with the reading you do for class the Wednesday after (so for the readings that we discuss starting 4 September through 4 December) and should prompt discussion in class, so you should read them by class time each Wednesday


Vocabulary Wiki (component of the 10% total participation grade)
For the dates listed below (each day you complete content reading) (i.e. readings on the South and Southernness rather than on grammar), you are responsible for identifying 3 vocabulary words that are either entirely new to you or that are used in new ways
M 2 September
M 9 September
F 13 September
F 20 September
M 23 September
F 27 September
W 2 October
W 9 October
W 23 October
M 28 October
M 4 November
  • Look up the words in a reputable dictionary of your choice (whether it is a traditional dictionary, an idiom dictionary, or a dictionary of slang or informal usage) and find appropriate definitions
  • List the three words, the sentence they are used in in the content reading, a parenthetical citation for the sentence you provide, and the appropriate definition(s) (and their accompanying parenthetical citations) on the BlackBoard Vocabulary Wiki by noon the day we discuss the content reading from which you’re drawing your vocabulary

Grammar + Mechanics Wiki (component of the 10% total participation grade)
  • On the dates listed below (that typically correspond to the dates you complete Grammar Spots on BlackBoard), you should find one correct example of the grammatical or mechanical rules we are learning that week (also listed below) in the assigned content reading
  • Then post your example on the Grammar + Mechanics Wiki on Blackboard along with an explanation of how the grammatical or mechanical rule you’re demonstrating works in your example sentence
Monday 9 September – Verb Tenses
Wednesday 18 September – Verb forms
Friday 27 September – Modals
Monday 7 October – Conditionals
Friday 11 October – Passive versus Active Voice
Friday 18 October – Sentence Structure
Monday 28 October – Subject-Verb Agreement
Friday 8 November – Articles
Wednesday 13 November – Singular vs Plural Nouns
Wednesday 27 November – Prepositions 

formal assignments

Group Reportage (10% total: 5% for the written portion; 5% for the pecha kucha presentation)
  • ~750 words or 3 pages, double-spaced with factual, newspaper or news magazine reporting-style background information on the writers, texts, and/or issues we’ll address (you will choose a group topic from a list that I provide)
  • Version 1 of the written portion must be turned in on BlackBoard by noon Monday 16 September
  • Version 2 of the written portion must be turned in on BlackBoard by noon Wednesday 25 September
  • The presentation will be in the form of a pecha kucha presentation, a spoken introduction by the group, and a conversation that the group leads the class in that comes out of the pecha kucha
  • You will complete both elements of this project with your writing partner
  • Groups will present their findings to the class on assigned dates over the course of the semester

Project Proposal + Electronic Annotated Bibliography (10%):
Version 1 due on BlackBoard by noon Wednesday 16 October
Version 2 due on BlackBoard by noon Friday 25 October
~1000-1200 words or 3-4 pages incorporating both the proposal and the bibliography

Project Proposal: explain the question or topic or problem you want to write about in your final project, how you plan to engage the topic or problem as well as the critical conversation surrounding the topic

Electronic Annotated Bibliography: will help you get a handle on the critical conversation surrounding the questions, texts, and authors we’ll address in the course; should be completed on your portfolio website and turned in as a link in the appropriate BlackBoard assignment; should include annotations comprised of approximately 5 sentences each for 5 wide ranging sources (must include at least one book that you physically check out from the library; can also include chapters from book collections, articles from academic journals, etc.); each annotation should both summarize and evaluate the source

Major Written Project (20%):
  • Version 1 due Friday 8 November (returned Monday 11 November)
  • Version 2 due Monday 18 November
  • Written argument of approximately 1200-1450 words or 5-6 pages that you will house on your portfolio website so that you can add electronic benefits like linking out, including images and videos, etc.
  • Since this assignment will be hosted online, you will turn them in on BlackBoard as a link in the appropriate Blackboard assignment
  • You will complete many individual steps leading up to the due date of the first version (like draft thesis statements, outlines, intro and conclusion writing, etc.)

Major Project Digital Story Presentation (10%):
  • Presentations of your digital stories will occur in class on Wednesday 4 December and Friday 6 December
  • Each of you will carefully remix, prepare, and craft a 5-minute digital story that translates and presents in a different mode the message of your major written project

Language Upgrades Journal + Editing and Revision Logs (5%):
  • For each formal assignment, you will receive detailed grammatical and mechanical feedback as well as feedback on your ideas.  You should fill out the appropriate column of the Editing and Revision Log and update your Language Upgrades Journal for each version of each formal assignment. 
  • Then turn in the up-to-date Editing and Revision Log and Language Upgrades Journal with each successive formal assignment you turn in.
  • These documents, if kept up-to-date, should help you keep in mind the grammatical and mechanical issues you have and help you revise them away before you turn in each successive assignment.
  • On Friday 13 December, at the end of the semester, you will turn in a Language Upgrades Journal and an Editing and Revision Log that reflect the grammatical and mechanical problems and revisions you made over the course of the semester.

Portfolio Website (15%):
  • Version 1 due by noon Monday 9 December
  • Version 2 due by noon Wednesday 18 December
  • Will include each major artifact you create for this course

Final In-Class Writing (10%):
  • On the last day of class, you will complete a piece of in-class writing that reflects on your progress this semester as a communicator, as a reader, and as a student of the South and “southern-ness”