COLLEGE COMPOSITION: READING AND WRITING ANALYTICALLY
01 February
2016
27 May
2016
Barnet, Sylvan and Hugh Bedau. Bedford e-Book to
Go for Current Issues and Enduring
Questions: Portable & Downloadable. 10 ed.
2014. Online. You must use this edition. Access
cards are in the bookstore, or if you prefer, you
may order the paper version.
Cather, Willa. My Ántonia. Any unabridged edition
is fine.
There is an inexpensive one in the bookstore with a
good introduction by Guy Reynolds. I have not
ordered an online edition but I am sure you can
find one online. Just make sure it is complete and
unabridged.
SCHEDULE WILL BE AUGMENTED BY MORE ASSIGNMENTS ONLINE
Week 1: Feb 1-7
 Complete personal profile online and post picture (there is a directional
video on the course Blackboard [BB] site); check that your Southwestern
email is working and enabled (if you have not received the two
welcome/textbook messages I sent out in January then you should check
your email address at Southwestern because I send out weekly messages)
 Introduce yourself to your colleagues in the online forum by Thursday, 8:00
AM to avoid being dropped. Most, but not all assignments are due on
Thursdays
 Buy textbooks; read Ch 1 in Barnet and Bedau (B&B; assume that readings
are from this text unless stated otherwise)
 Do the Code of Ethics assignment online
 Begin essay # 1; Polished draft of essay is due for peer review on Friday Feb
19 (prompt is on the BB site)
Week 2: Feb 8-14 (Feb 12 through 15 is a holiday weekend)
 Harlan Coben’s essay “The Undercover Parent,” (p 21) is followed by a letter
of response written by Carol Weston. Write your own letter of response,
imagining as an audience the readers of Coben’s essay. This is a topic that
allows you to offer opinions based on experience.
 In the Discussion Board Forum please respond to the essay by Coben and
also to “Military Women in Combat,” by Jena McGregor. How would you


characterize the tone of each essay? Thoughtful? Pushy? Be sure to quote or
paraphrase the passages that support your view.
Read Ch 2
Create a thesis statement for your essay that is specific and narrow in focus.
Week 3: Feb 15-21 (Feb 15 is a holiday)
 Evaluate Gwen Wilde’s essay, “Why the Pledge of Allegiance Should Be
Revised,” 56. What grade would you give this essay? Support your
statements with the text
 By Feb 19: Finish preparing your paper for peer review and deposit it in the
peer review forum. Peer reviews should be completed and returned by Feb
25.
 You will find directions for peer review online. Please read the criteria
carefully, and plan on referring back to it whenever you read someone else’s
work. Each person should critique one other essay following the guidelines
carefully.
 After you receive your essay back from your reviewer you should begin
revising.
Week 4: Feb 22-28
 Complete and return peer reviews by Feb 25; revise your essay and upload
the final draft into the drop box by Mar 3
 Read Ch 3 paying particular attention to Webley, “Is Forgiving Student Loan
Debt a Good Idea?” (129); Edmond, “Why Asking for a Job Applicant’s
Facebook Password Is Fair Game,” (132); and Turkle, “ The Flight from
Conversation,” (136).
Week 5: Feb 29-Mar 6
 Read the prompt for essay 2. Polished draft of essay 2 due in the peer
review forum no later than April 4; Final draft of essay to be turned into the
official drop box no later than April 14.
 Read Ch 8, 337-349; Read Ch 4. Pay close attention to “Reading
Advertisements" (153)
 Complete online activity by Thursday.
Week 6: Mar 7-13
 Collaborative Activity: Visual analysis workshop; Exchange visuals with
your group and critique according to the online instructions.
 Read Ch 5: “Writing an Analysis of an Argument” 179-186. Read “A Checklist
for Analyzing a Text,” (186); Read Singer, “Animal Liberation,” (207)
Week 7: Mar 14-20
 Read Ch 6 from pp 228-266
 Look online for further directions and activities
Week 8: Mar 21-27
 Finish preparing essay 2 for peer review so that you can deposit it in the
peer review forum by April 4.
Week 9: Mar 28-April 3- Happy Spring Break! (you might want to start My Ántonia)
Week 10: April 4-10
 Deposit your paper in the designated peer review area by April 4. You will
find directions for peer review online. Please read the criteria carefully, and
plan on referring back to it whenever you read someone else’s work. Each
person should critique two other essays. Peer reviews should be completed
and returned by April 7.
 After you receive your essay back from your reviewers you should begin
revising.
 Read the first half of My Ántonia: Book 1, Book 2 by Thursday
 Online Activities due by Thursday
 Begin essay # 3; Polished draft of essay is due for peer review on May 5
Week 11: April 11-17
 Read Ch 12, “Arguing About Literature,” 420-435
 Upload final draft of essay 2 into drop box by April 14
 Finish My Ántonia
 Follow the online prompts to submit a short writing assignment by
Thursday
 Discuss readings in the forum
Week 12: April 18-24
 Read Auden, “The Unknown Citizen,” 691; and Le Guin, “The Ones Who
Walk Away from Omelas,” 695
 Read the online prompts, then following the guidelines for critical
commentary, discuss in the forum
Week 13: April 25-May 1
 Read Glaspell, Trifles, 761; Thoreau, Selections from Walden, 778
 Online activity
Week 14: May 2-8
 By May 5: Finish preparing essay 3 for peer review and deposit it in the
peer review forum. Peer reviews should be completed and returned by May
12
 You will find directions for peer review online. Please read the criteria
carefully, and plan on referring back to it whenever you read someone else’s
work. Each person should critique two other essays
 After you receive your essay back from your reviewers you should begin
revising.

Read “The Loss of the Creature” by Walker Percy (posted on BB) and begin
online assignment
Week 15: May 9-15
 Complete response to Percy by May 12
Week 16: May 16-20
 May 19: Revise and upload final essay into drop box.
 Complete any other revisions and upload into revision drop box by May 19.
 Note that there is also an online final that also must be completed by May 27
Week 17: May 21-27 (Finals Week)
 Complete the online final by May 27
 Have a great summer break!
Class participation, peer review
20%
Writing reflection, activities, quizzes 20%
Essay 1
10%
Essay 2
20%
Essay 3
20%
Final
10%
Grading Scale:
A 93-100
A- 90-92
B+ 87-89
B 83-86
B- 80-82
C+ 77-79
C 73-76
C- 70-73
D 60-69
F below 60
For each of the essays that are written out of class
we will:
1. Read essays and/or view films.
2. Take reading quizzes in class or online.
3. Analyze, discuss, and write about rhetorical
strategies and/or filmic techniques online and in class.
4. Locate topics worth writing about.
5. Write essays and critique each other’s writing in a
workshop environment.
6. Revise, edit, and proofread essays