250 points: clear organization, effective strategy, well-supported points, good editing.

200 points: minor weaknesses and flaws. Overall well-planned and effective.

150 points: some significant weaknesses that will make readers question the paper’s validity or fail to follow the main points. Bias to the point of making logical errors and/or reducing the paper’s credibility.

100 points: major problems. Strong bias, poor organization and/or strategy, many logical fallacies and important points inadequately supported.

Here’s a summary of the additional assignment options we discussed today in class. They fit into the “Other Points” area where you can earn up to 260 points (all but the critical thinking option are due April 14). (To see other assignment options, scroll to the bottom of the syllabus.)

Writing Self Assessment: tell about your experience and progress this semester concerning your writing skills and attitudes. Address any of the following topics: the Writing Process, organization, peer review, writing skills, strategy, or anything else you’ve learned. Single spaced. Due date: last day of class.

5 points: about 1/4 page, a few good points.
10 points: about 1/2 page, several good points.
15 points: about 3/4 page, several good points.
20 points: about a page, several great/insightful points.

Critical Thinking Self Assessment: tell about your experience and progress this semester concerning your critical thinking skills and attitudes. Address any of the following topics: claim/evidence/warrant, evaluating sources, bias, logical fallacies, sweeping generalizations, evaluating news media, self awareness, critical thinking habits, taking the time to think/evaluate/etc. before forming an opinion or acting, or anything else you’ve learned. Single spaced. Due date: last day of class.

Same scoring criteria as above.

Extraordinary Peer Reviewer: if someone does an outstanding job reviewing your final paper, let’s reward them for it. Bring me a copy of your draft with their notes on it and be sure to write down who it was.
5 - 10 points. Due date: when the final paper is turned in.

Also: in the spirit of portfolio grading, if you earn a higher % of points on your final paper than you did on your first two papers, then that % score will be applied to your first two papers. Interpretation: take this paper seriously! Double check your organization! Triple check your claims! Are they reasonable? Have you supplied adecquate explanation and evidence? Are they clear for readers to understand? Does your paper make them seem important and applicable?

This is a good example for either paper 4 (content development) or 5 (final academic paper).

The Offshore Drilling Controversy
by Anonymous
Jake Rowley was staring at his gas gage.
The little red arrow was drooping a bit behind the orange line that had a white, emboldened capital letter “E” beside it.
How he hated that little red arrow right now. The stupid, flimsy, red arrow. From Jake’s anger, his cheeks now matched the color of that arrow with which he was attempting to lift with his mind.
The arrow did not budge. In fact, it seemed to drop down another miniscule notch.
He clenched his teeth in a grimace of frustration.
Using his white knuckled hand, he then turned the key in the ignition, hoping against hope that maybe, just maybe, a wisp of gas fume in the tank would start the car. Continue Reading »

The due date for this paper has been extended one week, and we’ll have a peer review the Tuesday of that week.

This paper will build on your Organization Draft and will be graded for completeness and quality of your claims, evidence and warrants.

This will be graded as if it’s the final paper, except that it won’t take into account grammar, style, and you don’t need to add actual citations (though it may help to write “(citation here)” to indicate where you’ll add them).

100 points: clear organization that leads readers along (they see the big picture, want to know more, don’t get alienated). Bombproof claims & support.

75 points: clear organization though readers’ attention may wane. Solid claims & support that may require readers to do some of the thinking on their own or leave important questions unsatisfactorily answered. Slight bias shows in unfair treatment to one side (you *may* take a side, but you still must treat both sides completely and fairly). Continue Reading »

If you forgot your password (or never set it up) for the Discussion Forum on this site, here are the step-by-step instructions. Use the forum for brainstorming & peer review anytime, or whatever else.
Instructions:
1. Set your password
A. go to the forum by clicking “Forum” at the top of the page.
B. at the top right (but under the light bulb picture), click “Login”
C. Click the “Lost Password” button that appears below the “Login” button.
D. Type in your username (which is your name, like: Jane Doe) and email address.
E. Click “Retrieve Password”
F. A new password will be generated and emailed to you.
2. Login Continue Reading »

INTRO:
1. Hook– story of kid running out of gas in his car
2. Information of seriousness of oil problem—
A. USA has largest economy and therefore has a higher demand for energy
B. USA has only 3% of the worlds proven oil reserves
C. oil is above $100 a barrel
D. Arabia provides USA with 1.7 million barrels per day of crude oil
E. 58% of crude oil and petroleum products used in the USA comes from other countries
F. though oil is not necessarily “running out”, the resource will be harder to come by
i. developed economies grow 1% oil consumption every year
ii. developing countries grow 3-4% oil consumption every year
iii. worldwide oil production declines on average 5% per year (4.3 million barrels a day) Continue Reading »

This assignment’s purpose is for you to create a highly-detailed outline of your final paper. From the syllabus:

Organization draft is a detailed outline with the majority of your points and subpoints with major claim/evidence/warrants spelled out. The organization should demonstrate easy-to-follow idea development and audience awareness (anticipating their reaction and maintaining their interest and cooperation). 50 points.

This is due next Thursday, and on Tuesday, we’ll spend some time doing Peer Review to get feedback. Also feel free to submit your stuff on the discussion forum to get feedback from each other any time.

50 points: exquisite detail, sensible organization & comments about strategy (like if you mention a story for the intro, tell what impact you plan to have on readers). You could practically write the paper from this outline.

40 points: lots of detail. Good strategy and organization.

30 points: some detail and good apparent strategy & organization.

20 points: all major points and good apparent strategy & organization but not a lot else.

10 points: good brainstorm.

I’ll post more here soon…. Some examples may show comparisons but may not include rhytm or otherwise not match the assignment completely, so be sure to double check your paper against the assignment to make sure yours fits.

“First Born” by Anonymous

A baby is born. The baby is ours. We look carefully at our newborn. We turn it over. We hold it up to the light. We rummage through the blankets. No matter how thoroughly we look, there just doesn’t seem to be an owner’s manual.
We feel as though we have been given a new toy that is so technically advanced we have no idea what to do with it. It starts to make noise. Where is the button we push to make the noise stop? What do we do now?
We want the very best for this child. What is the “very best”?

The Old Man by Michael Dodson

The old man sat in his chair in the corner of the living room. He whistled softly in his sleep. His hair was grey and stuck up in all directions like the peeling skin of the indoor basketball that had been forgotten by the grandkids in the yard. Continue Reading »

You’ll probably want to write a new paper this time, rather than revising the one you may have used for the last three assignments again.

For full credit, do the following:

1. The extended comparison is where you use ONE COMPARISON between two objects (or people or whatever) and develop it a lot. In other words, don’t compare one object to several different things, but tell many ways the two objects being compared are similar to each other.
2. Pick a comparison that works for metaphors and stuff. For example, don’t choose 2 items that are too similar, like a Corolla and a Civic.
3. Write the comparison into a story or description. It doesn’t need to be a complete story, but could seem like it comes from the middle of something more complete (but should have enough info about what’s going on so readers don’t feel confused).
4. Use all 3 of the styles of comparison: metaphor, similee, and allusion.
5. Create at least one parallel construct where you use the same grammar pattern at least three times in a row. Underline the first sentence (or portion of a sentence) where this begins.
6. Use rhythm (Sounds / Word Sounds / Sentence Variety) to emphasize at least two spots in your assignment. This should be obvious enough that I won’t miss it.
7. Use Repetition at least once.
8. Use frequent paragraph breaks to keep the pace moving along.

See the detailed instructions here: http://www.uoflife.com/writing/about/description/dialogue/

Read an excellent example paper with tons of great dialogue here: http://www.uoflife.com/writing/about/sample-papers/what-your-recruiter-didn%e2%80%99t-tell-you-things-you-ought-to-know-before-going-to-basic-military-training/

You may revise your concrete/sensory details paper by adding dialogue skills for this paper.

Grading: 25 points for accomplishing the following:

1. Add enough realistic words, descriptive details, and action to create a strong characterization of at least one character.
2. Correctly punctuate all dialogue.
3. Include at least 12 lines of dialogue.