PAST DAILY ASSIGNMENTS

Before coming to class on Wednesday, August 25:

  • If you want to go ahead and get started gathering materials, we only have one required textbook:

Mr. Jefferson’s Telescope: A History of the University of Virginia in One Hundred Objects,
by Brendan Wolfe, 978-0813940106

*First readings from that book will be assigned for 8/30.

  • Otherwise, we’ll create most material through independent software (i.e., whatever you have that works) and collaborate through Google Drive; additional readings will be provided as PDFs or links.

  • See you on Wednesday in Maury Hall 115!

In class on Wednesday:

For Friday, 8/27:

For Monday, 8/30:

  • Meet at the Harrison-Small building, slightly before 12.

  • The library is also called the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library (if you’re searching your GPS, this is what will probably pop up). The street address is 170 McCormick Rd, Charlottesville, VA 22904.

  • The front doors to the building may be locked, but if so, there will be a staff person there to let us in.

  • The presentation will begin at 12:00; arriving a little early will let us space out physically and get settled in the auditorium before the presentation begins.

  • DO wear a mask that covers your nose and mouth during the entire visit.

  • DO bring a laptop or tablet or phone to take notes/photos. You may also have loose paper and pencils.

    • To preserve delicate materials, no pens, notebooks, food, drink, or gum are allowed. There will be a designated “drop-off” area for bags, coats, etc.

For Wednesday, 9/1:

  • Read Mr. Jefferson’s Telescope, the front matter and then objects 1-50.

    • You probably won’t be able to read all of these in detail. Please skim over all of them to see range, then choose 3-10 to read carefully.

  • Post a Forum response to both the Special Collections visit and the Telescope reading.

  • We’ll discuss all (or at least, as much as we can get through) in class on Wednesday.

For Friday, 9/3:

  • Read Mr. Jefferson’s Telescope, objects 51-100.

    • As with the first half of the book, please skim over all the objects to see range, then choose 3-10 to read carefully.

    • Post a Forum response (draft thesis statements) for us to discuss in class on Friday.

    • Review the first essay assignment and bring questions as needed. Also feel free to check out the sample papers from last semester for this assignment and bring questions they might generate for you.

For Monday, 9/6:

  • Consider these sources on “academic writing”:

    • “What is academic writing?”

    • “Yes, Even Professors Can Write Stylishly”

    • Summary of The Burkean Parlor:

      • When you write in university, you're not just writing for yourself--you're entering a conversation.

        Imagine showing up at a party with faculty and other students. Everyone else has been here for a while already, and they're deep in conversation. You're going to need to listen for a while to figure out what's going on, and then formulate meaningful contributions to the discussion--plus support your positions and modify your claims when you learn new information from others. Eventually, you'll have to leave the party, but others will still be there--you'll need to have done your best to communicate clearly and effectively, so people remember what you said (and remember accurately what you meant to say).

        —See the original discussion in The Philosophy of Literary Form (1941)

  • Keeping in mind Friday’s discussion regarding academic voice and purpose, as well as the course’s overarching goals and YOUR goals for this paper, draft:

    • 2 different introductions and outlines for your paper

    • A rough conclusion for either version of the paper

    • If you want to keep writing, feel free to choose a direction and just keep going, so long as you’ve done the diverging exercises first. We’ll workshop whatever you have in Monday’s class, and you’ll have a full rough draft due on Wednesday.

    • Submit whatever you’ve written before class to this folder.

For Wednesday, 9/8:

  • Submit your first draft to this folder.

    • Include 2-3 questions to your peer reviewers at the top of the draft. [Examples: “I’m not sure I’m supporting X point well enough. Do you have any suggestions for more evidence, or how I could make my argument more effective?” / “Is my organization working, or are you getting confused anywhere? Do you have suggestions for better transitions?” / Etc.]

    • I recommend you aim to complete 2/3 to 3/4 of the paper for your draft.

    • Let it be messy. Feel free to use placeholders [i.e., I need to add a section here that does X].

    • Don’t put so much time into drafting that you don’t have any time/energy left to revise before the full draft is due on Friday.

    • Notes/resources on creating your diagram(s):

  • If you can go ahead and include images in your rough drafts for Wednesday, you can get helpful peer feedback on them! They’re only required by final drafts on Friday, though.

  • Underneath your images, include captions:

For Friday, 9/10:

  • Add your cover memo to your paper.

    • This memo can be informal.

    • Please add it to the front page of your document, so I see it first.

    • As a reminder, your 250–400 word cover memo should address the following:

      • Who helped you with writing this essay? (Be sure to disclose any friends, family members, tutors, classmates, etc., who helped you, to avoid charges of collusion.)

      • What did you learn about texts and cultures in general through this assignment?

      • What did you learn about essay writing through this assignment?

      • What changes did you make during the revision process and why?

      • What do you most want your reader to learn from your paper?

      • Optional: After you’ve answered all of the above, feel free to vent about things you hated about this assignment.

  • Submit your final draft to this folder.

In-Class on Friday, 9/10:

For Monday, 9/13:

  • If you’re still working on your paper, do that. :)

  • Otherwise, relax and enjoy the weekend. We’ll start Unit 2 on Monday.

For Wednesday, 9/15:

  • Meet at the Harrison-Small building, slightly before 12.

    • Street address is 170 McCormick Rd, Charlottesville, VA 22904.

    • We may be upstairs again or downstairs; ask the guard at the front when you come in (i.e., ask where ENWR 2520 w/Krystal Appiah is meeting).

    • The presentation will begin at 12:00; arriving a little early will let us space out physically and get settled in the auditorium before the presentation begins.

  • DO wear a mask that covers your nose and mouth during the entire visit.

  • DO bring a laptop or tablet or phone to take notes/photos. You may also have loose paper and pencils.

    • To preserve delicate materials, no pens, notebooks, food, drink, or gum are allowed. There will be a designated “drop-off” area for bags, coats, etc.


For Friday, 9/17:

  • Search for artifacts and identify 3-10 that you’d like to examine.

  • Request these, and set up an appointment (either formally or informally) for later this week/early next.

    • You’ll want to allow time for scheduling hiccups, and/or realizing you want different artifacts, etc. Working with archives is a bit of a mystery experience; you never know quite what you’re going to get, and you’ll likely need extra time to pivot, go back for additional visits, etc.

    • If you don’t make an appointment, bring other work and be prepared to wait a bit; remember the librarians are pulling materials on the half-hour, so you may have to entertain yourself as you wait for materials to arrive.

  • Come to class ready to report on what you’ve found so far, in small groups and to the class at large.

In-class on Friday, 9/17:

Sources mentioned:

For Monday, 9/20:

  • Meet in the Lower East Oval Room of the Rotunda for our historic tour.

    • Text me if you have any trouble or need me to share location (for those coming from far-away classes right before): 615.509.7448.

  • Keep working on your research—identifying/requesting artifacts, and hopefully starting to get in for initial appointments in Special Collections to examine things in person.

    • Do plan to go back at least 2-3 times, as you realize you need to request different materials or need more time with your artifacts.

    • DO take pictures of materials while you’re there, for our gallery and for your reference.

      • I recommend the Microsoft Lens app for scanning images. (It’s free, and it lets you adjust the image to straighten out awkward camera angles; it exports to image or PDF files.)

      • Pro tip: Take at least one picture of each item WITH the library record slip; it’ll help you identify artifacts later.

For Wednesday, 9/22:

  • Post to the Forum, responding to Monday’s tour.

    • FYI: Those Isabella Gibbons eyes on the Memorial can be hard to see! A lot depends on lighting. Here’s an article with a photo on a day the light worked well. :-D (You could also try going after dark; the lights are supposed to be set up to help make her eyes visible. See this article/photo.)

  • Hopefully most of you have had your first visit to Special Collections by now. Please bring your notes and images of your artifacts to class, for reference as we work together.

    • Keep working on your independent research, of course, including setting up follow-up visits and looking to put your artifacts in context, pursue your research questions, etc.

  • Glance through this basic resource on primary v. secondary sources. It’s nothing earth-shattering, but it will at least help you get into a helpful mindset for Wednesday, when we’ll talk about how to write an essay working with both primary and secondary sources, since you’ll frame and use those source types differently. We’ll be talking about voice considerations and citations, among other related issues.

  • Optional: I’m going to go ahead and post some of Friday’s readings here now, since I know the pace of research can vary from person to person—feel free to get started on the reading now, or wait for Wednesday. We’re reading these in part to flesh out one of our original course questions, as we consider not only what IS written down in UVA’s history/culture, but also what isn’t, and what those absences mean:

In class on Wednesday, 9/22:

For Friday, 9/24:

  • If you didn’t make it to the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers on our Monday tour, please visit before Friday.

  • Note that the Memorial’s creation, too, was a student-led initiative.

  • Read this brief article on the design in advance of your visit. (Or you could pull one of the print brochures that are available in a box on a post near the Memorial.)

  • While there, observe what’s written down and what gaps are there—especially, I suppose, how the artists tried to represent the gaps so we can better see at least some of what’s missing in our historical records.

  • Keep working on your independent research, of course, including setting up follow-up visits and looking to put your artifacts in context, pursue your research questions, etc. Bring any questions or notes you’d like to share to class.

  • Read the sources below, then post to the Forum. Be ready for in-class discussion.

Newly listed:

  • Read this article on how a newly available archive of Black ancestral documents has changed genealogy and more for African Americans.

Pre-listed on Wednesday:

For Monday, 9/27:

  • Live class attendance is optional. DO, however:

    • Be prepared to receive your first graded paper via email and read the notes with an eye toward both revising Paper #1 and drafting Paper #2.

    • Make sure you have been to Special Collections at LEAST once by now, preferably at least twice, to collect and study your chosen artifacts. (You’ll begin drafting Paper #2 on Wednesday.)

    • Be brainstorming for people we should interview in Unit 3. I’ll put up a starter spreadsheet for you to add to—you should all add 1-2 people, and also rank your preferences for whom to interview. We’ll begin reaching out to the people soon to set up interviews. DO NOT CONTACT ANYONE YET. (We need to establish language, protocols, etc.)

For Wednesday, 9/29:

  • Start adding your suggestions for Unit III interviewees to this spreadsheet.

    • Reminder: You can add ANYBODY you think would contribute to our collective knowledge on writing culture at UVA. So that could be faculty or staff or community members you wish you had a chance to talk to, but it could also be students (i.e., your friends). We would love to add voices/perspectives we haven’t heard much from, so underrepresented individuals would be awesome. I’ll post a link soon to who we interviewed semester, for your reference.

  • Bring a working thesis and outline to class, along with your contact sheet for this paper. (See instructions and example here.)

    • Go to this link, create a folder with your name on it, and drop both your contact sheet and your thesis/outline to your folder.

    • Heads up: I will be assigning you to groups this time for in-class workshop.

  • Read your graded drafts and be thinking toward revision plans, if you want to make them. Please do be sure you see COMMENTS in your graded documents and read those!

For Friday, 10/1:

  • Please add your suggestions for Unit III interviewees to this spreadsheet. Suggest at least 1-2 people who you think would be worth including in our gallery.

    • Reminder: You can add ANYBODY you think would contribute to our collective knowledge on writing culture at UVA. So that could be faculty or staff or community members you wish you had a chance to talk to, but it could also be students (i.e., your friends). We would love to add voices/perspectives we haven’t heard much from, so underrepresented individuals would be awesome.

      • You can see info. on the people we’ve already interviewed on the second worksheet tab in the same above-linked spreadsheet.

      • The interviews themselves are in lockdown until I finish curating them, but you can visit them for class purposes; just don’t share anything outside this class. They’re posted here; the password is set to: temp21

  • Drop a copy of your full working essay draft to this folder before coming to class.

    • As always, DRAFTY drafts are encouraged.

    • Aim to have at least 2/3 completed, with placeholders to explain missing content to your peers.

    • Add 2-3 questions for your peers at the top of the document—what do you want feedback on/help with?

For Monday, 10/4:

  • Be revising your draft per workshop feedback and bring the most recent version to class on Monday.

    • We’ll be working on style issues this week, and I’ll ask you to have your papers open as we walk through issues so you can do hands-on work applying the material.

  • Read these excerpts from Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace.

    • I’ve attached a PDF with highlights in it, to help you quickly identify main points. Don’t feel like you have to achieve mastery of every technique here, but try choosing one or two to work on in your revision and upcoming paper.

    • I do recommend this full book, although the newest edition is always expensive. As you can see, though, it’s been updated many times (you’re reading from the 12th edition); the older editions are usually very cheap online (as low as $5), and we have a few older copies in our libraries on Grounds. [The new copies DO have some useful updates, enough that I was willing to buy one; you can leaf through the various Introductions for a quick reference list of what changes took place between editions.]

  • Also skim over these two items:

For Wednesday, 10/6:

  • Work through your current essays for cohesion/coherence issues. Refer to the Style excerpts and class slides, your notes, etc., from Monday, and:

    • Start with transitions within each paragraph—do they hold together, from topic sentence through the body?

    • Then look at transitions between paragraphs—how does the previous paragraph end? How does this one begin? If you need to add some sentences to make the connections more clear, what content should those new sentences convey? What patterns could you use to establish more cohesive?

    • Finally, look at your full essay. Consider your introduction—what images, ideas, language are you opening with? Consider your entire essay—what images/ideas/language are your favorite? (Do you want to pull something into the framework more explicitly?) Consider your conclusion—does it complete the frame and pick up on the images/ideas/language of the rest of the paper? (And then of course, does the conclusion address “so what?” questions, helping us reflect on the meaning you want us to consider?)

  • Do come to class on Wednesday with a near-final draft. We’ll work through more granular style issues one at a time, so that by the time you’ve completed THOSE revisions, you should only have light proofreading to do before handing in the final on Friday.

    • We will NOT meet for class on Friday; I’m at a conference that day.

In-Class on Wednesday, 10/6:

Slides

For Friday, 10/8:

  • Before Friday’s class time, indicate your preferences for the people you’d like to interview in our contacts spreadsheet.

    • Don’t contact them yet.

    • Once we have everyone assigned, I’ll post sample email language you can use for reaching out to set up interview.

  • Complete and polish your second essays and submit to this folder before 5 p.m.

    • Drop your final exhibit pieces (contact sheet and support files) to this folder.
      *Please visit the Unit Two page for a refresher on how to prepare these materials.

    • If you need an extension, I may not be responding to email; just send me a note to tell me when you expect to submit so I can track things when I’m back online.

For Wednesday, 10/13:

  • Come to class prepared to discuss our approaches to Unit 3, the contemporary unit, and jumping into interview and survey/sample collection planning.

In class on Wednesday, 10/13:

  • Part I:

    • Take 20 minutes to walk around Grounds, then come back to the classroom. Look for whatever you can find regarding writing on Grounds today. Take pictures as appropriate and share to this folder. Be prepared to report/discuss. You might, for example, look for:

  • trends in chalking (on sidewalks, on the Remembrance Wall outside Newcomb, in buildings)

  • what people have written/posted on doors, outside their offices, etc.

  • posters on bulletin spaces

  • any announcements you see anywhere that actually addresses writing (writing groups, tutoring, invitations to submit papers or creative work, readings, etc.)

  • any writing you see/do in other classes is fair game! (please be sure to share the course info. somehow, so we can capture where activity is happening)

  • Part II:

    • Take 10 minutes to review last semester’s contemporary survey data and brainstorm:

      • What do you notice?

      • What could we potentially add? (Given: We can’t distribute another large-scale survey, so we’d need to distribute ourselves, either en masse or to your individual social networks.)

      • Do we want to do surveys at all, or alternately, would you be comfortable approaching other students to request writing samples in different disciplines, etc.? (With language/support from Special Collections?)

      • Is there something else we could do to fill this gap?

For Friday, 10/15:

  • Initiate contact with your assigned interviewee, using these templates and guidelines. Try to set up an interview time as soon as possible.

    • Interview Assignments
      *basically whoever you signed up for; these look good to go so far—if you didn’t sign up yet, please contact me after class

  • Review your assigned pre-recorded interviews from last semester (assignments on spreadsheet below); select 30-90 seconds (or 3-7 sentences, ish, in a written interview) that you would recommend for a “montage” presentation.

    • Indicate your recommendations (timestamps or cut/pasted text) on this spreadsheet

For Monday, 10/18:

  • Sign up for a student-professor conference with me. These will replace classes on Wednesday and Friday!

    • I’m also meeting with advisees this week, so you’ll be sharing a sign-up schedule with them.

    • If you happen to BE one of my advisees, huzzah! Please sign up for two conference slots—2 in a row to make 30 minutes is totally fine. Send word if you have any trouble or questions.

  • Review the basic guidelines for your Unit 3 assignment; bring questions to class on Monday as needed.

  • Email me your preferred group members—should be groups of 4. (Okay, one group will be a group of 3; we have 15 people. If you submit a group-of-3 preference, I’ll do my best to keep you together, but you may get a 4th person.) I’ll confirm groups on Monday.

  • Continue working on your research—collecting and processing your interviews, and planning for writing sample collection. I’ll try to post a release form by Monday, so you can begin formally requesting those samples. (We’ll have to have releases for everything.)

  • Do some get-out-there research into today’s writing at UVA, in any ONE of three ways:

    • Go to the O-Hill hiking trails. Somewhere on there (hard to describe, but it’s not actually that far from the parking area—you go to the right and up a little bit, and then down maybe a 1/4 mile???) there’s a box on a tree, and in that box there are journals. Read the journals. If you’re up for it, write a new entry. Take pictures of at least 3 pages that stand out to you and add them to our image collection folder.

    • Go to the university bookstore. Go to the faculty author section. Pull 3-10 books that look interesting to you. From there, choose 1 that actually is. :-D Take pictures of the cover and at least 2 pages we should care about. Add them to the image collection folder.

    • Go online and find active publications—student-run journals, the Cav Daily, casual posting boards or forums. Make observations about what you find toward our class question (what is the culture of writing at UVA?). Take at least 2 screenshots and add them to the image collection folder.

For the rest of this week:

  • Be working to collect writing samples (from peers or other students—the wider range, the better).
    Here is a release form to use.

  • Keep in touch with your group as needed in preparation for your presentation next week.

For Monday, 10/25:

  • Try to have collected all of your individual materials (your interview + recommended excerpt; your writing samples) so you can just launch into group work in Monday’s class.

    • I’ll be logging into the writing sample survey regularly now to pull submissions and share them to this Drive folder.

      • The release permissions on those will vary, so please do NOT share any samples in that folder outside our class.

      • If you don’t see a sample in the folder that you’re expecting, feel free to text me and ask me to check/pull files.

      • Some of these are self-identified; some are not. If you’re having trouble identifying “your” collected writing sample(s), feel free to ask me to cross-reference and figure out who submitted what.

  • Monday and Wednesday’s classes will be group work time for you to prepare your presentations. Bring questions for me as needed.

For Friday, 10/29:

  • Complete THIS survey by Thursday, 10/28 (letting me know whether or not I can record your presentation; your choice will not influence your presentation grade in anyway)

  • Come ready to present! Please be sure all your files are dropped to the correct folders here, so you’ll be able to quickly present from the instructor’s station in our classroom. (I’ll have this folder open for you to access during class.)

For Wednesday, 10/27:

For Monday, 11/1:

  • I thoroughly enjoyed all presentations Friday! Before Monday’s class, please hop over to the Forum and share your thoughts. (There will a prompt posted by late Friday night.)

For Wednesday, 11/3:

  • Continue gathering your material and planning/drafting your Unit 4 project. We’ll mostly be drafting together in class this week.

  • Sign up for a workshop date. I always recommend going sooner than later! Remember that workshop drafts can be partial—the goal is to submit enough material so that your peers can give you meaningful feedback. Roughly, aim for 2/3 of a complete, drafty draft.

For Friday, 11/5:

  • Continue gathering your material and planning/drafting your Unit 4 project. I highly recommend getting together with peers to write—feel free to use the classroom!

    • We will NOT meet in person tomorrow, as I seem to have come down with a bug. I tested negative for Covid, but no sense in spreading discomfort when this is an easy day to cancel.

    • We won’t have other opportunities to cancel this semester, so enjoy this surprise flex day!

  • Workshop launches next week!

    • Jackson and Coleman, you’re on deck—your drafts are due on Monday.

    • Everyone else, the workshop schedule is now above as a quick reference link so you can keep track of your submission dates.

  • Watch this page for Monday’s assignments—I’ll post a writing sample for you to read/respond to in advance of class, for a practice workshop in Monday’s class.

For Monday, 11/8:

  • Continue working on your Unit 4 project.

  • Read this very drafty, really notes toward a draft thing I’ve submitted.

    • Fill out this Google Form.

    • Add at least 1 comment in the Google doc. (Normally, you’ll add at least 2, but I realize my draft is pathetically short. I thought you’d rather me be grading your papers than writing myself today.)

  • Jackson and Coleman, please submit your drafts to this folder before class on Monday. Be sure your name is clear in the file, to help us identify your submission.

  • Allie and Karly, your drafts will be due on Wednesday.

For Wednesday, 11/10:

  • Thank you again for your notes on my draft! Your input was very helpful!

  • Keep working on your Unit 4 project, and pay attention to your submission dates on the workshop schedule, linked above.

  • Review your graded Unit 2 papers here.

  • Heads up: I’ll have extra office hours next Thursday (via Zoom) for discussion Unit 2 revisions or works-in-progress, etc. Feel free to sign up here. If you want to meet and can’t find a spot, my usual office hours are also available!

  • Allie and Karly, submit your workshop drafts to the Drive folder (linked above) before class on Wednesday. Be sure your file names are labeled with your names, so your peers can find your drafts easily.

    • Kishan and Elizabeth, your drafts will be due on Friday.

  • Everyone:

    1. Read Coleman’s draft for workshop

    2. Read Jackson’s draft for workshop.

    3. Note for clarification: You can always skip commenting on your own projects. So Coleman, you don’t need to comment on your paper or fill out a form for your paper; Jackson, same thing. And so on for everyone throughout this unit.

For Friday, 11/12:

  • Keep working on your Unit 4 project, and pay attention to your submission dates on the workshop schedule, linked above.

  • Kishan and Elizabeth, submit your workshop drafts to the Drive folder (linked above) before class on Friday. Be sure your file names are labeled with your names, so your peers can find your drafts easily.

    • Sophia and Jamie, your drafts will be due on Monday.

  • Everyone:

    1. Read Allie’s draft for workshop

    2. Read Karly’s draft for workshop.

For Monday, 11/15:

  • Watch this TED talk on creativity and flow. It’s fun. I hope it helps you think about getting yourself into places where you can “get in the zone” during your academic work.

  • Keep working on your Unit 4 project, and pay attention to your submission dates on the workshop schedule, linked above.

  • Sophia and Jamie, submit your workshop drafts to the Drive folder (linked above) before class on Friday. Be sure your file names are labeled with your names, so your peers can find your drafts easily.

    • Niyathia and Minah, your drafts will be due on Wednesday.

  • Everyone:

    1. Read Kishan’s draft for workshop

    2. Read Elizabeth’s draft for workshop.

For Wednesday, 11/17:

  • Keep working on your Unit 4 project, and pay attention to your submission dates on the workshop schedule, linked above.

  • Niyathi and Minah, submit your workshop drafts to the Drive folder (linked above) before class on Wednesday. Be sure your file names are labeled with your names, so your peers can find your drafts easily.

    • Tyler and Avery, your drafts will be due on Friday.

  • Everyone:

    1. Read Sophia’s draft for workshop

    2. Read Jamie’s draft for workshop.

For Friday, 11/19:

  • Keep working on your Unit 4 project, and pay attention to your submission dates on the workshop schedule, linked above.

  • Tyler and Avery, submit your workshop drafts to the Drive folder (linked above) before class on Friday. Be sure your file names are labeled with your names, so your peers can find your drafts easily.

    • Luca and Kanishk, your drafts will be due on Monday.

  • Everyone:

    1. Read Niyathi’s draft for workshop

    2. Read Minah’s draft for workshop.

For Monday, 11/22:

  • Keep working on your Unit 4 project, and pay attention to your submission dates on the workshop schedule, linked above.

  • Luca and Kanishk, submit your workshop drafts to the Drive folder (linked above) before class on Monday. Be sure your file names are labeled with your names, so your peers can find your drafts easily.

    • Rhea, your draft will be due on Monday, 11/29.

  • Everyone:

    1. Read Tyler’s draft for workshop

    2. Read Avery’s draft for workshop.

For Monday, 11/29:

  • Keep working on your Unit 4 project—you’ll want to try to have your revised, near-final draft completed by Wednesday, 12/1, so we can start copy editing and production stuff in class as soon as workshops end.

  • Rhea, submit your workshop drafts to the Drive folder (linked above) before class on Monday. Be sure your file name is labeled with your name, so your peers can find your draft easily.

  • Everyone:

    1. Read Luca’s draft for workshop

    2. Read Kanishk’s draft for workshop.

For Wednesday, 12/1:

  • Course Evals AND Class photo day!!! Please meet at the classroom. We’ll do course evals together; we’ll take a class photo on the steps of Maury Hall, and then we’ll come back inside for Rhea’s workshop.

  • Did I agree to do your final regrade via email? Are you still waiting for that regrade? :-D Please let me know here.

  • Everyone:

    1. Read Rhea’s draft for workshop

  • Heads up: I will not be physically present on Friday. I WILL be assigning you to groups for structured editorial work (substantive and copy), and I’ll post instructions to the website to guide you through those activities. It might be easiest for you to go ahead and work together in the classroom, during class time, but you can choose to coordinate however works best for you.

In-Class on Wednesday, 12/1:

Please take time to complete the following TWO course evaluations in response to our class. I use these

  1. University Course Evaluation: https://in.virginia.edu/CourseXperience
    *The link above takes you to a list of ALL your courses. Select our course from your list.

  1. Dept.-equivalent Evaluation: https://virginia.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_e3Ai01rGACET0gK

For Friday, 12/3:

  • Drop a complete, as-polished-as-possible draft of your project to this folder BY class time.

  • I’ll be assigning you to groups to do substantive and copy edit work before Monday’s class. You can complete these synchronously (i.e., show up to class and work together as usual) or on your own time, so long as you DO provide your group members with meaningful feedback. I will review files in Drive to be sure everyone is giving/getting notes.
    *I will not be physically in class on Friday.

  • Monday’s class will be last-minute trouble-shooting day.

  • I’ll post a sign-up sheet for Monday meetings, in case you want to meet with me before submitting your final projects. That will be time for students in other classes, as well; if we run out of spaces, be in touch for alternatives.

For class time on Friday, 12/3:

  • Please work with your presentation groups—you all seemed to work well together.

  • Again, please feel free to meet with your groups during class time or outside, but DO submit all edits by midnight tonight, so you and your peers have notes to use in revising before Monday.

  • I’m not in the classroom, but I’m available—feel free to text me with questions, esp. during class time! 615.509.7448

  • Instructions:

    1. Access your group members’ papers in this folder. All papers should be there by class time, so you can log in and use the hour for this exercise if you want to.

    2. Each person should review TWO other papers; likewise, each person should receive feedback from TWO other people. I’ve left a sign-up sheet in the linked folder, so you can indicate whose papers you’ve reviewed/see who still need review.

    3. This weekend, I want you to focus mostly on substantive (big picture) edits, with some light attention to copy edits (NOT proofreading).

    • Round One: Sub Edits—spend 15-20 minutes reading each paper and use the color-coded highlighting + comments model. (Note on timing: For both papers, this part should take you 45-60 minutes.) So:

      • If you see gaps or places that still need development, highlight in green.
        *Green would also be appropriate if you notice the voice slipping or changing, or if a joke isn’t landing, or you just want more details, etc.

      • If you see places where the organization seems off or needing transitions, highlight in yellow.

      • If you really love an idea or a passage’s writing style, highlight in purple.

      • Avoid using blue for now; we’ll get to that in the next round.

      • Go back through and add comments on a few items that most need attention (green first, then yellow). Add at least one note on why you used purple.

    • Round Two: Light/limited copy edits—do NOT copy edit the full paper. Choose 2 paragraphs—1 that seems clean and easy to read; and 1 that seems messier. Then:

      • Highlight issues you see in blue. Issues are likely to include:

        • Nonspecific pronouns (casual writing shouldn’t mean confusing writing—you still want to be using specific nouns/phrases in these projects)

        • Passive voice (esp. matters with unclear actors)

        • Wordy constructions (if the sentences are sort of running away for no reason, and esp. if they’re getting tangled)

        • Punctuation issues (you can mark stuff if you’re just not sure, for the author to look up later—for quick reference on these, I like The Punctuation Guide, https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/index.html, and Grammar Girl, https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl).

For Monday, 12/6:

  • Bring your really really almost final drafts to class for final proofreading, formatting, etc.

  • We’ll also be signing release statements and doing related administrative wrap-up stuff.

  • Drop your FINAL project drafts to this folder before midnight. Include:

    • The actual project (as you want it submitted—PDFs recommended; hard copies may be submitted at the final exam)

    • the cover memo

    • a static image (which will be the cover for your project in the public gallery)
      *You can skip the exhibit label; we’ll just link the images directly to your projects.

For Thursday, 12/9:

Prepare for the final—see you in Maury at 2 pm!