The course is divided into four main sections, each of which revolves around a major writing project. We will begin with a unit on literacy, which will culminate in students writing their own literacy narratives. The second unit focuses on language use and debates about language. In this unit, you will choose a language debate that interests you and write a researched argument about it. We’ll move to analyzing visual texts in the third unit. The paper in this section will ask you to closely analyze a specific visual text of your own choosing. Finally, the course ends with a rhetorical analysis of poetry.
All of these writing projects will first be turned in as drafts, commented on by myself and fellow students in workshop sessions, and then revised and turned in as finished papers. I will give you more information about each paper, including written assignment sheets, well in advance of their due dates.
Coursework also includes weekly lab assignments. Honors 110 is a 4-hour credit course. We’ll meet in person for 3 of those hours per week, but the fourth hour will take place online in weekly lab sessions, which focus mostly on the nuts and bolts of good writing. Lab assignments can be done on your own schedule, but they are always due on Sunday nights by midnight, turned in on OAKS.
Grading
Your final grade will be determined according to these percentages:
5% Participation; Class Citizenship
15% Draft Revision Plans/Peer Comments*
20% Lab Assignments
15% Project 1—Literacy Narrative
15% Project 2—Language Debate
15% Project 3—Visual Text Analysis
15% Project 4—Rhetorical Analysis of Poetry
*Note: Draft Revision Plans and Peer Comments, like labs, are low-stake assignments and will not receive formal grades. As long as you do a thorough and thoughtful job on these, you will receive full credit of 2 points. If these assignments seem rushed, careless, or incomplete, you’ll receive 1 point. Any revision plan or peer comment not turned in will receive zero points. With 4 revision plans and 8 peer comments due through the course of the semester, 24 points in this category would equal 100%.