Writing Reviews

1. 2 December 2010 Writing Reviews

2. Course Evaluations Reading Quiz Writing Reviews Reflection: Free Write What to expect in 1302 For today:

3. Description: To complete this assignment, begin by taking the post-semester diagnostic available at the E-Handbook site. You will need to include a discussion of the pre- and post-semester diagnostic in your review, including both scores. Then look back at your pre- and post-semester grammar diagnostic scores and results, all of your assignments and commentary, and class notes and in-class activities. Based on what you find when you examine these materials, write a 400 - 550 word reflection on what you have learned about academic writing and what you understand about it that wasn’t clear to you before. Develop a thesis that helps your readers understand what you will focus on in the review.  You should focus on one or two major concepts you have learned or improved upon this semester Then, give specific examples that help you illustrate your thesis. For example, you can discuss specifically what you have learned about summarizing and paraphrasing texts, about analyzing texts, organizing essays, critical reading, etc.  You should discuss what challenges you faced when working on your particular concept and how you overcame those challenges.  If you would like, you can should also discuss what you have learned about grammar and mechanics. You may also include any other important learning experiences in the course.  Finally, you should discuss how the work you’ve done in 1301 has transferred to the writing you have been asked to do in other courses this semester or in future classes. You may use first-person pronouns in this review, but keep in mind that the language and tone of the review should be professional. Final Writing Review

4. It isn’t a summary of the semester. Nor is it a catalogue, assignment by assignment, of what you did. It’s not a discussion of what you did or didn’t like about the course, the instructors, or the grading. You will receive an automatic F for flaming, it is unprofessional and has no place in academic writing. What a Writing Review is NOT:

5. A writing review is a critical analysis of the student’s learning through the semester. • That means that it has a beginning, middle, and end. It discusses where the student begins as a writer when he or she enters the course. • After review your performance over the semester, answer these questions on a separate sheet of paper: • What are the student’s strengths and weaknesses as a writer—whether these are things that the student has determined, or that the student has been told by instructors, tests, diagnostics, or other external agents? • What were the student’s goals when entering the course? • Did the student have a plan for achieving those goals, or did the course, as it unfolded, help the student find a way of achieving those goals? • What assignments were most representative of the student’s best work? The worst work? And *why*, in either case? How did the student know this? • Finally, of the goals the student had at the beginning of the course, how many of those were achieved? How many remain a work in progress? And, perhaps most significant to the student’s learning, what new goals surfaced during the semester—goals that aren’t easily met in the course of 16 weeks. • What does the student have to work on in his or her writing over the next few years of college? •  To fully consider these questions, students need to look at their entire body of work—the diagnostics, their class notes and activities, every writing assignment, their textbook, their e-handbook, conferences with you, feedback and grades. • After answering the questions, look at your answers and begin to form your thesis statement. What is a writing review?

6. A successful Writing Review will: Include a brief 2 – 3 sentence discussion of the pre and post-semester diagnostics. Have a guiding thesis statement which focus on a major concept in writing that you have improved over the course of the semester. Be organized into body paragraphs that are developed around topic sentences. Include examples from your own work that show how you have improved. Analyze each example. Include some discussion of how this course has or will transfer to your other course either this semester, or in future semesters. Range from 400 – 550 words.

7. Take 10 minutes to free write about what you have learned or figured out in this class. • Consider the skills you learned this semester • What are you capable of now, as a writer, that you were not capable of at the beginning of the semester? • Think about the classes you are enrolled in for next semester • How will you use these new skills in those classes? Free Write

8. 4 drafts instead of 2 Assignment every week from the first week You will write about 19,000 words You will use the same text book Ask me anything you want about 1302. What to expect in 1302:

9. Writing Review due Monday, Dec 6, 11:59 p.m. Class Participation grades will be posted to Raider Writer by the end of the day. Final grades will be on Raider Writer by Dec 20 Raider Writer and Homework

10. It’s been a pleasure teaching you this semester! Happy Holidays!!