Final Blog Entry: SRTE

For your final blog entry, I'm asking for all of you to fill out the online SRTE form for this class. You don't have to post anything to your actual blogs -- all you have to do is go to ANGEL and fill out the evaluation  for English 15.

Because I can't see these until next semester, I also have no idea who actually filled out the survey or not. So, please, when you are done filling out the survey, please send me an email letting me know you did so and I'll give you credit!

I'll send reminder emails all through the next two weeks.

Thanks!

Proposal Guidelines for Scholarly Research Paper

- Format Your Proposal according to MLA Guidelines

- Identify your topic of interest -- be specific and precise. If you are using the same topic as the last paper, tell me what you are doing differently in this paper -- how is your question/research different?

- What question are you asking about this issue/problem/phenomenon/object?

- For what purpose? Why are you asking this question? 

- What is your tentative thesis statement? This can and will likely change, develop though more research.

- What sort of evidence will make your paper strong?

- Identify three scholarly sources you might use for your paper. Write a sentence or two about each: what do they claim and how do they make their claims? 

- Create a separate works cited page in MLA format for these sources.

Due by Friday, November 18

Blog Entry Thirteen: Motivating Your Research

Please read "The Craft of Research" PDF posted to ANGEL under Lessons. Then, follow the author's suggested line of inquiry used to motivate and focus one's research by composing the following into your own statements about your scholarly research paper:

1. I am studying/trying to learn about _____________.
2. I am studying/trying to learn about _____________, because I want to find out who/what/why/when/where/whether or not _______________________.
3. I am doing this in order to ________________________.

These statements will be clear/obvious to you if you did the reading. The point is to specifically identify your topic, the question you are asking about your topic (make it specific and precise), and your rationale/purpose for asking such a question.

Due on Wednesday, November 16

Final Paper: Scholarly Research and Reporting

Purpose

Identify an unresolved question or problem about a specific issue or topic that interests you, investigate it using scholarly sources, and then use evidence from your sources to support a thesis that attempts to answer the question or identify the cause of the problem.

Invention

Keep in mind as you brainstorm/draft:

The process for putting together your research paper will be similar to what you did for your argument paper, only that you are now restricted to using scholarly sources. With these sources, you will be making an argument about something, though it will likely be more nuanced and even more specific than the argument you made in the previous essay. You might not argue that stem cell research is morally right or wrong, but instead, you might argue how it is the most effective method for researching the cure of Parkinson’s disease. Similarly, you won’t argue that Teen Mom encourages pregnancy among teens, but you might look at how Teen Mom creates a specific image of teenage pregnancy and what this image is meant to convey about our society. 

Your research for this paper should be guided by a research question to which you do not already know the answer. You are allowed to use the same topic that you wrote about for your Argument Paper, but you want to pose a more nuanced and sophisticated questions rather than: is this right or wrong. Look for cause and effect or an interesting interpretation of a cultural phenomenon.

As you choose an audience with some investment in your topic (likely a group of scholars in the field), consider what kinds of sources and support they will find credible as well as terms they are familiar with.

Aim to include at least one source that challenges your own preconceptions about your topic to build a rebuttal argument.

Expectations

A successful research paper will:

1.     Define the situation or problem that calls for your attention;

2.     Makes a clear statement about this problem or situation (cause and effect; interpretation);

3.     Speak with the appropriate terms for your scholarly audience;

4.     Incorporate good thorough evidence to support a clear thesis statement

5.     Acknowledge and respond to opposing viewpoints; and

6.     Supply a clear, identifiable conclusion that you want your audience to reach about the issue.

7.     Your paper must have the correct MLA formatting.

Length: At least 5 pages (double-spaced) of rigorous analysis backed up by at least 4 respectable outside sources, at least one of which challenges your argument

Final Assignment Portfolio Due: December 9, 2011

Blog Entry Twelve: Revision

I want you to pick one of the weakest paragraphs in your Argument paper and revise it as best as you can for grammatical errors, mechanics, word choice, etc. Your blog entry should include that paragraph in its original/weak form as well as its revision so I can see exactly how you revised your work. Make sure to fix all verb tense agreement issues, too. Include strong transitions if necessary. Get rid of sentence fragments and/or run-on sentences. Tidy up your word choice. Clarify language where needed. And make sure any citations or quotes are properly formatted.

Blog Entry Eleven: Venue For Your Argument

Based on the audience for your argument paper, decide what the best venue for your essay would be. Is it a sports magazine? The op-ed section of a national or local newspaper? A teen magazine? A website? Pick a specific publication in which you can envision your argument essay being published. Then, find an article from that specific publication that makes an argument about an issue, whether it's the effect of reality TV on teenagers, the NBA lockout, stem cell research, or the bank bailouts. Find one that is similar to the sort of argument piece you are writing. It doesn't have to be about the same exact issue, but something similar. Post a link to the article you read and then answer the following questions in 500 words or more:

1. What issue is the article about?
2. What is the author's stance on the issue?
3. How does the writer make his/her argument? How is the piece organized?
4. Did you agree with the writer? Why or why not?
5. What did you like about what the writer did in his/her piece? What would you have done differently (if nothing -- don't worry, you don't have to force an answer)?
6. How might you incorporate some of these techniques into your own piece? What might you do similarly to the author in writing your essay? Consider voice, narrative, statistical information, etc.

Due by class on Friday, November 4

Blog Entry Ten: Finding a Controversial Topic

After being introduced to the various databases available through the PSU Library website during our Library Session on Wednesday, I now want you to find three different links to newspaper articles from these databases, each one focused on a different current issue that truly sparks your interest. 


For each link: I would like you to provide an MLA citation (show me how you'd cite it on your Works Cited Page, that is). Then, give me a brief summary of the issue and then tell me what your stance on that issue is. You can find more on how to cite various sources in an MLA Works Cited page in the handbook of your Norton Field Guide. 


This entry is meant to get you thinking about a topic for your fourth paper: Arguing A Position. It will be important that you pick a controversial, relevant, and timely topic for your paper. I do not want you arguing for the merits of using sunscreen -- that is obvious and not controversial at all. Controversy will be the heart of why your paper topic merit's a discussion. So think about this when finding possible topics for your paper.


Due by class, Friday, October 28

Paper Four: Arguing A Position

Purpose

Identify an interesting problem or current issue that merits your taking a stand; translate your stand (or position) into a thesis statement; support the reasons for your position with specific details and examples; and marshal your reasoning and appeals to persuade others to accept your position by modifying their thinking, behavior, or influence.

Invention

Keep in mind as you brainstorm/draft:

1. You might begin by thinking about what your position paper might accomplish: Argue a point. Take a stand. Solve a problem. Change a behavior. Introduce new policy or procedure. Correct a misconception. Refute an argument or belief.

2. In general, a position paper aims to either establish conviction (encourage someone to identify with and understand your position, persuade someone to change their mind) or to prompt action (attempt to make change based on your position).

3. Given these typical aims, your audience could range from one that is completely unsympathetic to your position to one that is understanding and ready to be persuaded to action.

4. Make sure that your proposed topic is debatable and lends itself to genuine disagreement.

5. Consider which available means are going to be most effective for making your major claim or for supporting points. A paper could deploy definition, comparison, cause-and-effect analysis, process analysis, or narration (or a combination of these available means) in order to argue your point. (For example: perhaps you want to argue for healthier dining options in the residence hall. A paper might deploy cause and effect related to the so-called “Freshmen 15,” incorporate a short narrative involving an acquaintance of yours who is struggling to find healthy dining choices, and spend space arguing that the current definition of “healthy food” at Penn State dining centers is inadequate and needs to be redefined.)

6. Be sure you find at least three sources from which you draw evidence to back up your argument as well as frame your rebuttal argument. Practicing paraphrasing sources and pulling out good quotes to use in your paper

Expectations

A successful position paper will:

1. Define the situation or problem that calls for your attention (exigence);

2. Include reliable sources that are appropriately cited and back up your claims;

3. Establish an audience who is (or should be) invested in this situation or problem;

4. Communicate your purpose (to express or defend a position, to question or argue against a belief or action, to invite or convince an audience to change an opinion or practice);

5. Marshal emotional appeals, logical reasoning, details and examples to enhance your points;

6. Employ a tone that expresses your opinion and advances your views without being confrontational;

7. Acknowledge and respond to opposing viewpoints; and

8. Supply a clear, identifiable conclusion that you want your audience to reach about the issue.

Length: 4-5 pages (double-spaced)

Proposal Due: Monday, October 31, 2011

Rough Draft Due: Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Final Assignment Portfolio Due: November 14, 2010

Blog Entry Nine: Compare and Contrast

For this entry, please take a look at the comparison below made between Nabisco's Sugar Wafer and Fig Newton by Paul Goldberger, the architectural critic for the New York Times:

SUGAR WAFER (NABISCO) There is no attempt to imitate the ancient forms of traditional, individually

baked cookies here—this is a modern cookie through and through. Its simple rectangular form, clean and pure, just reeks of mass production and modern technological methods. The two wafers, held together by the sugar-cream filling, appear to float . . . this is a machine-age object.

FIG NEWTON (NABISCO) This, too, is a sandwich but different in every way from the Sugar Wafer. Here the imagery is more traditional, more sensual even; a rounded form of cookie dough arcs over the fig concoction inside, and the whole is soft and pliable. Like all good pieces of design, it has an appropriate form for its use, since the insides of Fig Newtons can ooze and would not be held in place by a more rigid form. The thing could have had a somewhat different shape, but the rounded tip is a comfortable, familiar image, and it’s easy to hold. Not a revolutionary object but an intelligent one.

Here, Goldberger focuses on the "architectural design" of the cookies for his compare/contrast exercise. I want you to do something similar. Find two objects that are equally interchangeable and write 200-300 words for each item, comparing and contrasting them using "design" and aesthetics as the only criteria for your evaluation. You might look at cell phones, the covers of two CDs from the same artist, toothbrushes. Have fun picking your objects. The only rule: KEEP IT SIMPLE!

ALSO: Please include photos of the objects you are evaluating in your blog. When you are composing your new post, you'll see an image next to "Link" in the toolbar above your post. Click on this image and then you'll receive instructions for how to paste images into your post. It's quite easy. Good luck!

Due by class Wednesday, October 19

Proposal Guidelines for the Critical Evaluation

-        At least 1 page, typed, 12-pt font

-        What do you want to review?

-        How will you establish merit?

-        What category does it fall into?

-        What might you compare or contrast your object with?

-        Who is your audience?

-        Name at least three pieces of criteria you will use in your evaluation.

NEW DUE DATE: Monday, October 17

Paper Three: Critical Review

Purpose

Evaluate an object or phenomenon that interests you and merits your attention. Write to a specific audience, one who can act upon or respond to your evaluation, and write with a specific purpose in mind.

Invention

Keep the following in mind as you brainstorm/draft:

1.          Choose a specific object/phenomenon to evaluate, and explain why it merits evaluation.

2.          Identify the category in which you are placing your subject, and develop evaluative criteria   for that category. For example, if you are going to evaluate The Office, you would determine whether or not you want to categorize it as a mockumentary, an American or British comedy, an Emmy-award winning show, intelligent comedy, etc.

3.          Once you know the subject and category for this paper, brainstorm a long list of evaluative criteria that could be applied to your subject/category and then determine which criteria are most important for your subject/purpose, keeping your specific audience in mind.

4.          Develop an argument that either explicitly states whyyour subject meets the evaluative criteria for the category you have chosen or specify why the subject needs to be re-categorized.

5.          Consider your purpose and intended audience--is your evaluation of your subject informative, entertaining, and/or persuasive?

6.           Revisit your exigence for your paper. How does your subject of evaluation correspond to your exigence?

Expectations

A successful critical review will:

1.     Have an introduction that explains why the subject merits evaluation;

2.     Place the topic in a precise category;

3.     Develop evaluative criteria by which you will make your key judgments, negative and/or positive (these criteria should be agreeable to your audience, or you should make the case as to why they are valid criteria);

4.     Use concrete evidence and examples that illustrate the ways in which the subject/phenomenon does or does not meet each evaluative criterion; and

5.     Compare and contrast your subject with others in the same category in order to help the reader understand your claims.

Length: 3-4 pages (double-spaced)

Rough Draft Due: October 21, 2011

Final Assignment Portfolio Due: October 26, 2011

Blog Entry Eight: Establishing Merit and Criteria for Evaluations

Pick something to evaluate. It can be anything you like: a product, a movie, an album, a book, etc. It does not have to be something you will use in your final evaluation paper, but it could be. After you've decided on the thing that you want to evaluate, I want you to do the following in 500 words:

1. Tell me what you are evaluating and why it merits evaluation (Is it popular? New? Revolutionary? Controversial?).
2.  Define what category this thing is in. Is it a horror film? A romance novel? Is it indie rock? Or is it pop music? Is it functional or is its aesthetically valuable? What other items could you compare it to? 
3.  List THE CRITERIA you would use to evaluate your subject. You need to have at least FIVE pieces of criteria that you would use to establish the value of your subject.


Due by class Friday, October 14. 

Blog Entry Seven: Evaluating the Rhetoric of Web Design

After reading Chapters 51 and 53 in The Norton Field Guide, you should now have a good sense of the things one must consider when constructing something like a website or a blog: issues of audience, readability, usability, hypertext, interactive features, visuals, etc.

Now, I want you write a paragraph or two (at least 250 words) evaluating the design of your own blog. Is it easy to read? Is it appropriate for a college classroom about Rhetoric and Writing? Does it express who you are as a writer and a student? Does it accomplish its purpose?

Then, I want you to perfect the design of your site. Pick new fonts, headers, a new color scheme. Edit your blog entry headings -- anything that will be an improvement on your current design. Add photos, etc. Make your site visually appealing and easy to read, correcting major typos -- things of that nature. Consider that you are editing your rough blog into your final blog, or something along those lines.

After perfecting your design, I want you to then write a paragraph or two (at least 250 words) on why you chose the new elements that you did. Use at least two hypertext links to websites whose design inspired yours (don't just copy and past the URL into your text, but use the "Link" option in the tool bar to help make hypertext links). How are the new choices you made meant to consciously contribute to the larger rhetorical situation you are creating with your blog? How do these choices more appropriately satisfy the criteria for a good English 15 blog?

Due by class Friday, October 7 

Proposal Guidelines for the Investigative Report

Proposal for Investigative Report/Profile:

Write at least one page, typed, dbl. spaced, and include the following:

What local issue or person are you writing about?

What is the question you are trying to answer about this issue or person?

Why are you writing about this issue or person now? (A recent article you read? An event that’s coming up? What prompted this idea that makes it new, interesting, or fresh?)

What is your reporting plan? Who will you interview? What secondary sources will you look up (newspapers, websites, etc.)?

Who is your audience (consider what publication you might see this article in and who the readership of that publication usually is)?

Name a particular element/technique/style from one of the pieces we’ve read and explain how it might inspire your own work. 

Blog Six: Investigating

This assignment is meant to help you get a decent head start on researching your topic for the investigative report. For this week's blog I want you to do all of the following:

1. I want you to give me a 200-300 word description of a place or scene related to your issue/profile. You'll need to do some observation for this part. If you are writing about drinking in your dorm: Describe your dorm. If you are writing about manic street preachers, give me a portrait of a scene of someone preaching -- where are they? In front of the Hub? What are they wearing? What are they saying? If you are, say, writing about ANGEL, describe how the platform works -- what does it look like? How is it used?

2. I want you to give me three quotes from a few interviews you've conducted that are related to your issue. Make sure they are relevant and colorful. They can be from an interview with a student, a friend, a professor, your subject, a police officer. Whomever. Just make sure you tell me who the quote is from -- give me their name, their age, their profession (or their year if they are a student). Things like that. They can be three quotes from the same person -- just make sure that each quote says something unique and points to a particular point of interest within your issue.

3. Write down four relevant facts that you have found in at least two different sources, whether from a website, a newspaper article, a survey, an expert you have talked to. Make sure that you cite each fact -- tell me where you got the fact from.

4. While observing, interviewing, and researching, you likely stumbled across new ideas or avenues you hadn't thought about before -- things you might want to look into further for your paper. Tell me about two areas that you are interested in doing a bit more research, issues that you feel you need to address to make your paper stronger. Maybe you feel you need to interview someone in the IT department or you need to talk to a different fraternity or look for a specific article someone mentioned. Let me know what your next investigative steps will be.

You must include all four of these items in your blog -- there is no option to pick and choose.

Due by class Friday

Supplementary Reading for Friday

Read one of the following profiles before class on Friday: 


- Gross, Michael Joseph. "Sarah Palin: The Sound And The Fury." Vanity Fair. October 2010.
- Grollmus, Denise. "Sex Thief." Cleveland Scene Magazine. September 2005.
- Jones, Chris. "The Corporation: Carmelo Anthony." Esquire. December 2005.  
- Talese, Gay. "Frank Sinatra Has A Cold." Esquire. 1965.

Supplementary Reading for Wednesday

 Read "Penn State's Liquid Cocaine," by Kevin Battista. Then, answer the following questions on a sheet of notebook paper (you can type your answers, but you must print them out and bring them to class):

1. Consider the elements of the Investigative Report you read about in the Norton Field Guide. Which ones does he use?

2. What is the issue Kevin is writing about?

3. What is his take on the issue?

4. Does he do a good job of portraying all sides of the story? How so?

5. What is your overall impression of Kevin's story? What did you like about it? What did you dislike?

Paper Two: Investigative Report

Purpose

Identify a local person, problem, or issue that interests you and merits your investigation. Write to a specific audience, one who can appreciate, act upon, or respond to your investigation. In addition to a specific audience, write with a specific purpose in mind (what it is you want your audience to do or think).

In this assignment, an exercise in community engagement, you’ll learn about your surroundings by exploring, listening to, absorbing, and questioning what others say and do; conducting limited research; and, most importantly, interviewing. You may choose one of two options to fulfill this assignment:

1.     Profile – Interview a local professional and spend some time with her or him (a significant portion of a work day) in the workplace. If you choose this option, you should be tactful, generous, and humble as you approach someone to request their time and energy—and as you observe them closely and pick their brain.

2.     Report – Select a nearby location, institution, or campus issue to investigate. You may be attracted by some glaring or not-so-obvious problem (exigence). Or you may be simply curious about it. Learn what you can about both the “historical” background of your topic and its “contemporary” life today.

Invention

Keep in mind as you brainstorm/draft:

-  Choose a specific person, problem, or issue to investigate. Be specific.

-  Bring together a variety of observations, research findings, and judgments in order to stimulate your investigation.

-  Synthesize the most appropriate of them in order to reach your reasoned/logical conclusion or solution.

-  Think about how your investigation might be informative, entertaining, or persuasive for a specific audience.

Expectations

A successful investigative report will:

1.     Introduce why the subject merits investigation;

2.     Approach the subject from various perspectives, with the use of concrete examples, evidence (including anecdotes), and direct quotations to develop your purpose;

3.     Tell a compelling story about your subject by expertly incorporating source materials into your narrative

Length: 4-5 pages (double-spaced)

Rough Draft Due: October 3, 2011

Final Assignment Portfolio Due: October 10, 2011

Blog Entry Five: #1 Party School

In 2009, the Princeton Review named Penn State the #1 Party School in America. In honor of this new title -- and out of a certain curiosity -- journalists from This American Life came to investigate the scene. Their findings culminated in an hour long broadcast entitled "#1 Party School." Though this is radio journalism, it is still an investigative report that is structured in much the same way you would a written article.  

Click on the link above and listen to the report. Then, in at least 500 words, answer the following questions:
1. What is the issue of the piece? 
2. What reasons are given for why the issue needs to be investigated?
3. Who is the intended audience?
4. What facts and details are given to explain how the issue affects different groups that might have an interest in or connection to the issue?
5. What conclusion is drawn by the end of the report? 
6. What research and interviews were included in this report? 
7. What narrative techniques were used in this report? 


I also wanna get your take:
Did you like it? Why? Why not? What worked for you? What didn't? What would have liked to hear more of/less of in the story? 


Post your response on your blog by class on Friday, September 23.

EXTRA CREDIT

You may attend one of the Mary E. Rolling reading events and write a 500 word reflection in order to receive extra credit. This reading series is sponsored by Penn State's MFA program in English and provides the Penn State community with the opportunity not only to hear celebrated living authors read from their work, but to ask them about their process as writers. You can attend as many readings and write as many reflections as you want. Each reflection will be worth one blog entry. The Mary E. Rolling reading series schedule is as follows:

Thursday, September 22: Linda Gregerson
Thursday, October 13: Sharon Olds
Thursday, October 20: Anne Stevenson
Wednesday, November 2: John Edgar Wideman
Thursday, December 1: Stuart Dybek

Readings are always held at the Foster Auditorium in the Paterno Library and start at 7:30 p.m. -- try to get there 10 minutes early for a good seat. These events fill up fast!  

For your reflections, I want you tell me a bit about the author, what sort of writing they do, what they read, how you liked it, what you learned about the author's writing process during the Q&A session, and what you feel you took away from the reading, whether it was about writing, or something topical in the author's work that got you thinking about life in general.

If you do attend a reading and write a reflection, please send me an email to let me know so that I can give you proper credit.

Blog Entry Four: Bird By Bird

Now that we are finished reading Bird by Bird, I want you to consider what sticks out in your mind the most from all the reading. What piece of advice that Anne Lamott delivers is something you will carry around with you for a while/had the greatest impression on you/really blew you away and encouraged you to think differently about the writing process? Why do you think this particular point moved you the most out of all? How did you connect with it/relate to it? How did it change your mind? How did Anne's writing affect the poignancy of this point? I want you to think consciously about the writing techniques she used to compel you. It's not just the content but that form at work and I want you to consider how each works together. Take 500 words or more to consider these questions as you write your final Bird by Bird reflection.

Due before class, Friday, September 16

Blog Entry Three: Memoir Analysis

Read one of the following personal essays and then, in 500 words or more, break down for us those elements of memoir that are being employed by the writer. Tell us what the story is about in your own words, identify the tension/conflict of the story, the resolution, tell us what the point of the story is, why this particular story is timely or relevant, who is the intended audience, and what narrative techniques are used that you found particularly strong and are ones you might like to incorporate into your own writing? Also, consider how the writer transitions from scene to scene so that you always know where in time you are. Here are your choices:

- Giffels, David. "Shirt-Worthy," The New York Times Magazine. October 28, 2007.

- Owens, John. "Confessions of A Bad Teacher," Salon, August 29, 2011.

- Sheff, David. "My Addicted Son," The New York Times Magazine. February 6, 2005.

- Towers, Wells. "Meltdown," Outside Magazine, April 1, 2008.

Your entry is due by class on Friday, September 9.

Entry Two: School Lunches

In Chapter Five of "Bird by Bird," Ann Lamott describes how to build a vivid world off the simple concept of "school lunches." She even offers up her own examples of the myriad directions in which such a topic can go. In order to get you ready to write descriptive and sensory detail for your memoir paper, I'd like you to give your best shot at writing a "School Lunch" piece. This is essentially a free writing exercise -- your story doesn't need to have a plot, just try to be as descriptive and creative as possible, whether you are writing about the tribes of a lunch room or the monochromatic color palette of the food options on display. Feel free to include dialogue, scenes, characters -- whatever appears in your mind as you write. Make sure you write at least 500 words.

Due by class Wednesday, August 31

Paper One: Personal Narrative (or Memoir)

Purpose

Recall, retell, and analyze a significant experience in your life. Carefully choose a sequence of events that 1) supports a specific thesis and 2) helps you fulfill your rhetorical purpose regarding a specific audience.

Invention

Keep in mind as you brainstorm/draft:

--Scope: You cannot explain your entire high school experience or history as a baseball player in one brief essay. Choose one particular memory as a starting point.

--You will want to be especially strategic in deciding which features of the experience (which details, characters, settings, and dialogue) you want to emphasize and which ones you should ignore if you are to achieve your desired purpose. 

--You may want to conduct some naturalistic research (e.g., interviewing a friend or family member about a specific memory, observing a particular environment, etc.). This research will allow you to understand a moment from someone else’s perspective or look more closely at a space or behavior.

--You should have a purpose in mind as you write your own memoir: to argue a point, to create a mood (maybe entertain), to instruct, inform, explain, or to provide cultural or philosophical commentary, blame, praise, and so forth.

--Your memoir should be tailored for a specific audience—think about who could learn something from your experience.

Expectations

A successful personal narrative will:

1.     Focus on a significant experience;

2.     Use ample sensory details;

3.     Include dialogue that reveals information about your characters;

4.     Employ transitions that will help your reader follow your narrative and/or logic;

5.     Showcase a personal narrative voice (e.g., use a variety of sentence patterns and lengths, don’t sound like you come from the bureau of statistics, and so on); and

6.     Provide reflection and analysis in order to help your audience understand the significance of the experience.

Length: 3-4 pages (double-spaced)

Rough Draft Due: September 12, 2011

Final Assignment Portfolio Due: September 19, 2011

Assignment One: Build a Blog, And They Will Come

For your first assignment, you are required to register for Blogger and then build your own blog. I sent invitations to each of your Penn State email accounts. Click on the link in the email and then, if you don't already have a Blogger account, you'll need to register or sign in with your Google account. Once you are logged in, you will arrive at your Dashboard page. In the right hand corner of your  Dashboard, click "Create a Blog." As you begin adding titles and design elements to your blog, remember that all your choices are part of a rhetorical situation in which each decision you make plays its own role. Choose a title that suits you and your interests and is appropriate for an English 15 class. Once you've found a suitable title and an available URL (the unique address at which we can find your blog), then you'll be sent to a page where you can choose from a variety of design templates. Again, pick a template that will suit the aesthetic and feel of the blog you are developing. Once you're done, you can Start Blogging. At the top of your blog page, you'll see a "Design" tab. Click on it. Here you can rearrange the elements on your page. You can also customize your site more fully by clicking on the "Template Designer" link. Upload a background, change your fonts, the color of your text. Just make sure that your design choices allow for easy readability. You can also customize your user profile.

Once you are satisfied with the look of your blog, you can finally post your first Blog Entry! Here's the prompt:

Think about your past experiences as a writer and rhetor. What are two of your strengths as a writer and rhetor? What are two of your writing weaknesses? Specifically, how would you like to improve as a writer? What could you do or learn to make such improvements? How do you anticipate that this particular course will help you improve as a writer and rhetor?

Answer these questions in 500 words or more. Also, include examples, via at least two hyperlinks, of writing or rhetorical situations that inspire you to be a better writer. It could be song lyrics, a scene from a television show, your favorite book, or a recent article you read. For example, I just read "Away" by Amy Bloom and I found the lyricism of her prose to be incredibly inspiring. It's often the way she writes about feelings or events more than WHAT she writes that really brings her story to life for me. I am also a big fan of the new Fleet Foxes record. I love the heavy amount of reverb on songs like "Grown Ocean." It sounds so lush and the lyrics are achingly beautiful. Here's a video for the song:

What inspires you?