Thursday, September 27th (.210)

Today we will spend a bit of time organizing our schedules for the next few weeks. You have quite a few outstanding assignments to complete between now and midterms. Next, we will review a few blogs from last semester and examine the grading rubric. Time permitting...we will wrap things up with a workshop.

Reminders

• You have all the information you need to complete the Midterm Portfolio. Work continuously on this project. Even if I don't have an official deadline for a piece of material, the expectation is that all final/assessable materials will be submitted with the Midterm Portfolio.

• Yes, you can always go back and revise items you have already submitted. As long as you aren't making changes after

• You have no GDD for this week, but you are still expected to turn in your Discovery Blog.

• This DB should focus on the material you are discussing in your Research Proposal for next semester.

• If you need help, what should you do?

• Come see me!

• Reach out to a colleague.

• Visit the Writing Center.

• COME SEE ME!!

Today

• The To-Do List

• Open up a new document on Google .docs. On this document create the heading Writing and Rhetoric.

• Under this heading, list everything you have to accomplish for the Midterm Portfolio.

• And I mean everything...even stuff like going back and revising documents.

• Now create additional headings and continue filling out the list with your other obligations.

• These could be things associated with other classes, on-campus groups, work, family, etc.

• Now, you cannot do all of this stuff at once, so my next suggestion is that you begin itemizing these lists into specific weeks.

• In what week will you complete your Proposal? In what week will you revise Discovery Blogs 1 and 2? In what week will you finalize your GDDs?

• This method of scheduling is one of the many ways that you can organize your academic calendar. It is incredibly important that you begin managing your own time more effectively at this point in your college career, as this is one of the skills that will allow you to achieve success in the future. Time management is no joke.

• Research Help

• As you shift towards searching for more credible and scholarly sources in your research, I would like to include a few helpful links in the plans below. These are just a *few* of the many options available to you.

• Bell Research Guides

• ​Many of these are designed for specific majors or Learning Communities, but they can still be used based on your Area of Interest.

• General Google searches or Google Scholar

• Google saves lives, but you need to begin focusing on selecting credible or "unbiased" sources for your research. Using only Peer-reviewed sources or something like Google Scholar can help with that process.

• Pew Research Center

• ​Pew is a great resource for finding data to support your claims or arguments.

• Discovery Blog Discovery

• Check out this series of Discovery Blogs. Now this one.

• These are blogs created by former students. These are two completely different sets of topics from very different writers, but both of these are examples of solid blog entries. (These aren't perfect or holy grails...they are just nice examples. Your blogs don't have to "look" like theirs, but they should contain similar types of writing. See the rubric below.)

• Now, take a look at my grading rubric.

• Check out the categories and how your individual blogs will be assessed.

• Use these resources to continue to draft and revise your own blogs.

Homework

• I would like you pick the blog that you are most confident meets the criteria on the rubric. Submit this blog to the "Perfect Blog" discussion post for feedback.

• Please complete a rough draft of your Research Proposal by Thursday of next week.

• This is a draft, but you should have a *complete* draft available by that point.

• We will resume readings for next week, so now is a good time to catch up on those and your GDDs if you are behind.