Class Assignments
This section is where all MAJOR written assignments will be. These are the out-of-class essays and journal assignments. These will appear in order assigned WHEN they are assigned. You will TURN IN the essays and journals in this section as well.
Journal 1: Habits for Success
For this activity, create your own definition of success. Dictionary.com defines success as “the favorable outcome of something attempted.” For many students in college, success means passing a class, earning an A, or learning something new. Beyond college, some people define success in terms of financial wealth; others measure it by the quality of their relationships with family and friends.
Click Here to view the whole assignment. (Online)
(Download)
Journal 2:
Based around the reading page 163 of the PDF, or page 169 of the actual PDF, this journal entry asks you why having a purpose (beyond…it was assigned) is important when attempting to communicate. The text below the assignment is to jar your memory about the sorts of questions a college writer usually asks at some level. They are NOT meant to be answered in bullet point, only meant to get you thinking.
Journal 3:
In a short response (between 300 to 500 words in MLA format), please read a two versions of a fairy tale and compare the two using either block or step-by-step comparison style. Input one quote in proper OREO style. This should demonstrate three things:
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- That you READ the two versions, and you have given through consideration about what you might say were you assigned a comparison paper of 1500- 1700 words.
- That you can organize a short paper as a compare/contrast.
- That you can utilize quotes correctly (and yes, quotes from the sources work here).
- Must have a Works Cited with TWO properly formatted entries.
Journal 4:
MISSING CONTENT
Time Management Journal
- Assess your time management skills by using Ohio University’s self-assessment. Make note of your results.
- Review the University of Georgia’s Time Management: 10 Strategies for Better Time Management and consider the strategies that seem most appealing to you.
- Reflect in a 200-400 word journal entry on your current time management skills, and discuss how you might apply new strategies to improve time management in your life.
Click here to download the assignment:(Download)
Critical Thinking Journal
To Do:
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Visit the Quia Critical Thinking Quiz page and click on Start Now (you don’t need to enter your name). Select the best answer for each question, and then click on Submit Answers. A score of 70 percent or better on this quiz is considering passing.
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Write a 200-400 word reflection on this activity. Based on the content of the questions, do you feel you use good critical thinking strategies in college? In what ways might you improve as a critical thinker?
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Paper 1
For this activity, create your own definition of success. Dictionary.com defines success as “the favorable outcome of something attempted.” For many students in college, success means passing a class, earning an A, or learning something new. Beyond college, some people define success in terms of financial wealth; others measure it by the quality of their relationships with family and friends.
Click here to view/download the assignment:(Online)(Download)
Paper 2
For this activity, create your own definition of success. Dictionary.com defines success as “the favorable outcome of something attempted.” For many students in college, success means passing a class, earning an A, or learning something new. Beyond college, some people define success in terms of financial wealth; others measure it by the quality of their relationships with family and friends.
Click here to download the assignment:(Download)
Paper 3
MISSING CONTENT
Specialized Reading Strategies
No matter which of the sources you selected for your Summary and Analysis Essay, it will qualify as an “online text” by the very nature of how you’re accessing it.
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Review your selected text, both as it appears in this course and how it appears in its original publication location.
- To access the original publication location, select the “Licenses and Attributions” link at the bottom of the page, and follow the web link to the original source.
Review the“Reading the World Wide Web” guide published by Colorado State University".
- How does the textbook version of the text you selected differ from its original publication appearance?
- Which do you find easier to read? Why?
- What techniques or tips from the “Reading the World Wide Web” document help you navigate your selected reading?
- What techniques might you apply to other online reading you’ll do in the near future?
Vocabulary
From your selected reading, identify at least 3 words which seem vital to an accurate understanding of the text. These might be words that are unfamiliar to you, or words which are used in a unique, special way in the text.
Use context clues, word parts, and dictionaries as needed to help you come to a working definition of the terms as they are used in this reading selection.
Write a paraphrase of a definition for each of the 3 words. Consider using these paraphrased definitions in the Summary and Analysis Essay, to help you show the importance of these terms in the text.
Thesis
Review the following video to help you identify the thesis statement from your selected reading.
Video:How to Identify the Thesis Statement
Write a paraphrase of your reading selection’s thesis–you will need this for your Summary and Analysis Essay.
Additionally, make notes to yourself regarding the effectiveness of this reading’s thesis and purpose. How well do you feel this essay met its stated objective? Why do you feel this way? (This will serve as brainstorming for the analysis component of your Summary and Analysis Essay.)
Supporting Claims
- Locate all of the supporting claims used in your selected text.
- Identify what kind of supporting claim each is. As a reminder, the categories defined earlier in this section include
- Exhibits (or Primary Sources)
- Expert Testimony
- Interviews and Surveys
- Anecdotes
- Identify the kind of appeal each supporting claim is meant to address. As a reminder, the categories of appeals defined earlier in this section include
- Logical Appeals
- Authoritative Appeals
- Emotional Appeals
- Note how effective you think each type of support used is, relating back to the source’s thesis. Which do you find most convincing? Why? Which do you find least convincing? Why?
Logic and Structure
Follow the guidance earlier in this section to Diagram the Argument of your selected reading. Submit your Diagram here.
This diagram will allow you to deeply understand the argument, but also the structure of your chosen reading. The summary component of the Summary and Analysis Essay you write will closely follow the same structure.
Summary Skills
You’ve accomplished a lot of prewriting and organizing of your summary in earlier Try It activities. Now it is time to draft the summary itself, using the work you’ve already done and applying all of the summary skills discussed in this module.
This summary should be no longer than 1/3 the length of the original source. (For instance, if your reading selection is 15 paragraphs long, your summary will be no longer than 5 paragraphs long.)
This summary should convey a full understanding of the original source to a person who has not read it. It will:
- Include a paraphrase of the source’s thesis or purpose
- Convey the major ideas of the source
- Include only brief quotations, if they are helpful to capture the unique aspects of the original source
- Represent the tone and style of the source
- Mimic the organizational structure of the source
(This is NOT the complete draft of the Summary and Analysis Essay. You will be adding in the “analysis” component as the last step before you submit the final draft.)
Summary and Analysis Essay Final Draft
Throughout this module you have been reading and analyzing your reading selection closely. Build from the work you’ve done so far, including the summary draft. Add the analysis component, noted below. Work with tutors at the Enhancement Center as needed to finalize your draft into the strongest submission possible. Submit the final version here.
Summary and Analysis Essay Overview
Select a reading from the reading anthology available in this course, and apply all steps of the critical reading process to it. The culmination of this close reading will be a Summary and Analysis Essay, which accurately captures the purpose, meaning, and tone of the reading selection. Directed to an audience unfamiliar with your reading selection, your summary will demonstrate the text’s thesis or controlling idea, its major ideas, and its mode of development.
The summary section of the essay will report only what’s in the reading selection, and will not include personal response or interpretation.
The analysis section of the essay will then move into your personal reactions and interpretations of the work. You will report to your readers how well you feel it meets its rhetorical purpose, and how well the components of its style, structure, and evidence serve to support the text’s thesis.
Assignment Details
Look for the Try It pages along the way to help you prepare for and complete the Summary and Analysis Essay.
The finished Summary and Analysis Essay will be 250-500 words long. It will:
- Mimic the structure of the reading selection.
- Report the thesis or controlling idea of the reading selection
- Present major supporting details of the reading selection
- Include at least one direct quotation
- Include multiple paraphrases
- End with a 2-3 paragraph section that analyzes the rhetorical purpose and features of the text, to conclude with your evaluation of how effectively this text meets its purpose for its intended audience.
Source Analysis
In this section, you learned about analyzing sources to verify that they are current, relevant, authoritative, accurate, and purposeful. In this exercise, you’ll apply what you’ve learned to assess the usefulness of some articles.
- Focusing on the “Authority” aspect of the C.R.A.A.P. test, take a few minutes to read the following two articles and consider the authors and their credentials.
After you have read each article, write a paragraph providing your opinion of the authority of each article using the established guidelines. Remember, you are not stating your opinion of the article but rather your justification of why or why not the article meets the authority test.
- Now you are ready to apply your analysis skills to examine the sources you found in your previous database searching. Pick one of the search results you found through EBSCO and use the C.R.A.A.P. method to evaluate the resource. Write a short paragraph addressing each of the following sections:
- Currency
- Relevance
- Authority
- Accuracy
- Purpose
Refer back to the content pages about for a list of questions and topics to consider with each C.R.A.A.P. section. Finally, write a summary statement indicating if and why you think the resource is worth utilizing for your research.
Summary and Analysis Essay Final Draft
Throughout this module you have been reading and analyzing your reading selection closely. Build from the work you’ve done so far, including the summary draft. Add the analysis component, noted below. Work with tutors at the Enhancement Center as needed to finalize your draft into the strongest submission possible. Submit the final version here.
Summary and Analysis Essay Overview
Select a reading from the reading anthology available in this course, and apply all steps of the critical reading process to it. The culmination of this close reading will be a Summary and Analysis Essay, which accurately captures the purpose, meaning, and tone of the reading selection. Directed to an audience unfamiliar with your reading selection, your summary will demonstrate the text’s thesis or controlling idea, its major ideas, and its mode of development.
The summary section of the essay will report only what’s in the reading selection, and will not include personal response or interpretation.
The analysis section of the essay will then move into your personal reactions and interpretations of the work. You will report to your readers how well you feel it meets its rhetorical purpose, and how well the components of its style, structure, and evidence serve to support the text’s thesis.
Look for the Try It pages along the way to help you prepare for and complete the Summary and Analysis Essay.
The finished Summary and Analysis Essay will be 250-500 words long. It will:
- Mimic the structure of the reading selection.
- Report the thesis or controlling idea of the reading selection
- Present major supporting details of the reading selection
- Include at least one direct quotation
- Include multiple paraphrases
- End with a 2-3 paragraph section that analyzes the rhetorical purpose and features of the text, to conclude with your evaluation of how effectively this text meets its purpose for its intended audience.
MLA Documentation
- Return to the “quote sandwich” practice you completed earlier. Using the guidance in this section, add MLA in-text citations (also known as parenthetical citations) to the end of each quoted or paraphrased passage.
- Create a MLA Works Cited page that includes an entry for every source you plan on using in your Personal Analysis Essay Revision.
