Tag: weeklyoverview

Overview for Week of 8/16

As we head into the final stretch of the course, your focus will be on developing your Unit 3 project. That will unfold through a few different steps. this week. Please read on for more about what you’ll be doing (and how, when, and why).

Make sure you take the time to review comments from me and from your classmates on the blog, as well as the feedback you received from me on your research portfolio, project proposal, and project plan. I’m looking forward to seeing how these projects take shape in the coming days.

As you’re doing that work, some things to keep in mind about genre. As we’ve been discussing (see below), genre is not simply a template, but rather a response to the demands of the subject matter/author’s purpose and the needs of the audience. (This might sound familiar–this is how Graff and Birkenstein talk about their They Say/I Say templates, as starting points for organic work, rather than as static cookie-cutter patterns. Those TSIS techniques may come in quite handy as you are working to orchestrate a complex conversation among you and your sources!)

For that reason, it’s essential that you head into this drafting work with a very clear picture of your audience and a clearly articulated objective. You have free license here to invent the parameters of your rhetorical situation, and in fact you’ll need to provide a brief statement of that situation with your draft. Tell us who you’re writing for (as precisely as possible), and explain the circumstances under which that audience will receive your text (i.e. browsing through social media, sitting at a professional conference, visiting their company’s Human Resources Department or their university’s Career Services Office, etc.).

As you see from the rubric for this project (below), your project will be evaluated based upon both content and approach–how well you work with your sources to develop and communicate your ideas AND how effectively you convey that material to your given audience within the situation you have constructed. Make sure you consult the criteria listed in the rubric as you are drafting and revising.

Content
Has clear research focus/question/2
Provides appropriately detailed examination of research focus/question/2
Provides background/examples appropriate for target readers/2
Includes discussion of/implications for workplace culture(s)/2
Utilizes and appropriately references source materials/2
Subtotal/10
Presentation of information
Clear visual organization of ideas/information—constructed for easy comprehension by readers in the situation you have outlined/1
Makes effective use of visuals (graphics, images, pull-quotes, white space/background, other) to enhance reader understanding and interest/1
Text is not marred by proofreading errors/1
Language is clear, engaging, and audience-appropriate/2
Subtotal/5
TOTAL: /15

Your draft (with brief accompanying statement explaining the rhetorical situation for your text) is due by the end of the day on Thursday, 8/19. Please post this to the blog. You’ll each read and respond to at least two of your classmates’ drafts by the end of the day on Sunday, and will begin revising your drafts based upon their feedback, even as you are waiting for additional feedback from me.

If you would like to talk with me about your draft-in-progress or any of your other work in the course, please email me directly, and we can communicate that way or set up a time to talk by phone. 

So here are this week’s tasks:

Reading

  • genre samples on Blackboard–check out the Genre Samples folder in the Unit 3 readings folder to see some of the various forms that researched writing can take
  • sample(s) you locate on your own of the type of text you’d like to develop–thinking about your target audience and your intended purpose, look for texts that seek to reach a similar objective

Writing

  • draft of your Unit 3 research project (post to blog as link or attachment by Thursday, 8/19)
  • revision worksheet–considering and reconsidering your own draft as you await feedback from me and from your classmates (due by Sunday, 8/22)
  • discussion work as outlined in the post below:
Discussion prompts for Week of 8/16

Overview of Week of 8/9

We’re moving into Unit 3 this week, with just a few weeks to go before the end of the summer term.  Read on for an explanation of where we’re headed in this final segment of the semester. 

Over the course of Unit 2, you’ve assembled a body of sources that cover a range of perspectives and ideas related to your research topic. You’ve spent some time thinking about how these texts fit together and how you fit into the subject–what you find interesting and significant about what you’re learning.

So now it’s time for you to jump into this conversation–to develop an argument based on the research you’ve compiled for an audience and purpose of your choosing. Over the next week and a half, we’ll be working through the process of selecting an appropriate audience and articulating your purpose in addressing that audience. Be sure to read through the unit 3 assignment sheet in preparation for this work.

Along the way (this week and next), we’ll be looking at some examples of different genres, considering how writers bend their texts stylistically to suit their purposes and the needs of their audiences. Towards that end, here’s what’s up this week.

Reading

Writing

  • project proposal (due Sunday, 8/15)–this will be a brief blog post in which you plot out the basics of your project, including what audience you think ought to hear about what you’ve been learning (i.e. what group would benefit from hearing the argument you plan to develop)
  • discussion posts in response to this week’s prompts (due Wednesday, with follow-up comments, as outlined in the prompt due by Monday or Tuesday at the latest):
Discussion prompts for Week of 8/9

Overview for Week of 8/2

We’re wrapping up Unit 2 this week, and your primary focus will be on assembling your research portfolio. This set of texts is kind of a checkpoint on the way to your research project, an opportunity to assess what you have to work with and what you might be able to make from it. It’s not an end in and of itself, but rather a stopover.

A few reminders about the items that the portfolio will contain (taken from the unit 2 assignment sheet )

  • at least 6 annotations (2 paragraphs each, 1 of summary, 1 of discussion)
  • focusing flowchart
  • research plan
  • complicating your research activity
  • rounding out the conversation worksheet
  • your unit 2 reflection (see assignment sheet for prompt)

In short, this portfolio will represent your research progress, from the inception of your idea, through locating and considering sources, and including your efforts to broaden that conversation to better understand the issues under consideration.

As you advance towards this goal, then,

  • be sure to read through feedback on the above assignments and your discussion posts (I’ll get you feedback on your draft annotations ASAP)
  • refresh your memory on writing an effective summary (review this handout on summary)
  • review the rubric and assignment overview on the unit 2 assignment sheet
  • email me with any questions

Read on for the week’s agenda.

Reading

Writing

  • write your unit 2 reflection
  • complete your source annotations
  • assemble your research portfolio. This will come in as a single blog post with embedded PDF files. Check out this post for instructions on how to do that:
Instructions for creating a blog post with embedded links and files
  • respond to this week’s discussion prompts by the end of the day on Friday (this is a 1-day extension). See post below:
Discussion prompts for Week of 8/2

Note that I’m going to push back the next assignment (the project proposal) to next week, so that you’ll have some more time to work through your ideas. You can look for more info on that in next week’s overview on Monday.

Overview for Week of 7/26

Your research work continues this week, and will be the primary focus of your writing work. We’ll be doing that against the backdrop of a conversation about office design that intersects with our larger discussions around inclusion and organizational culture.

See, all the work we’re doing individually overlaps with these other conversations–there’s a lot of thinking and writing around these issues, and we can learn from all of the pieces that we bump into.

So, first, please take a few minutes to read through this post about the conversation analogy we’ll be using: 

Rounding out the conversation

Then, move on to this week’s work.

Reading

Writing

  • Complicating your Research–look through the folder of that name in Helpful Links on Blackboard, and then head to the Unit 2 dropboxes for instructions (due Wednesday). This is an important step in rounding out the conversation you will present in your research portfolio.
  • Rounding out the Conversation (detailed in the Unit 2 dropbox) (due Sunday)
  • Complete this week’s discussion work on the blog (due Thursday). See this post for prompts:
Discussion prompts for Week of 7/26

Overview for Week of 7/19

As we approach the midpoint of the course, it’s a good time to take stock of where you’re at–any missing assignments you need to catch up on, any discussion posts or replies you didn’t complete, how your research work is coming along. If you have any questions, please reach out to me by email–we can chat that way or set up a time to talk by phone/Zoom to make sure you’re clear on where you stand.

This week, you’ll be continuing your work toward the research portfolio; locating, reading, and taking notes on sources; and firming up your research plan. Read on for an overview of this week’s work.

Reading

  • “Changing organizational culture: from embedded bias to equity and inclusion” by Cori Wong (on Blackboard)
  • Chapters 8 and 9 of They Say/I Say (“As a result” and “You mean I can just say it that way?”)–note that chapter 9’s title was incorrect on the schedule of assignments. Sorry about that.
  • possible sources for your research portfolio as you locate them

Writing/discussion

  • Preliminary notes exercise (submit through Bb dropbox by Wednesday, 7/21)–the goal here is to catalog the sources you’re finding and begin sketching out the different perspectives they have to offer
  • Research plan–review page 3 of the unit 2 assignment sheet (submit on blog by Sunday, 7/25). Categorize this as “Research Portfolio,” and tag it with “plan,” “weekof7/19,” and [your name].
  • Discussion work on blog (here are the prompts)

Making use of this week’s readings

This week’s discussion prompts focus on your research work and ask you to share how your research process has been taking shape. This week’s assigned readings are kind of a backdrop–not front-and-center as they have been in our blog discussion–so I want to take a few minutes to suggest how we might synthesize and make use of that material as we forge ahead.

“Can company culture survive Zoom?” is a brief piece that I included because I think the impact of these last 17 months is inevitably on our mind as we look ahead to what work and school environments will be in the days ahead. As many of you have noted in your recent posts, your experience of the Covid-19 pandemic has influenced the way you’re thinking about your research topic (and in many cases even the topic itself–you’re interested in things that might not have been on your radar previously). Given that the pandemic continues to be part of the context in which we research and write, I think it’s useful to hear from others grappling with similar questions.

In particular, I find this passage from Sabri Ben-Achour’s article provocative:

“Why do they choose to work for one organization versus another is often based on their perception of how they fit,” Bell said. “I also think company culture is really important for signaling what companies value.”

Are we an innovation company? Are we a traditional company? What is the point of this company? How is disagreement handled here? Is seniority more important than innovation? Are rules to be bent, broken, or followed with precision? How are ideas challenged? None of this is handled or transmitted through the employee handbook, Bell pointed out. It’s transmitted through relationships.”

In placing the focus on relationships rather than handbooks or mission statements, I think Ben-Achour and his interview subjects add something valuable to the discussion.

The other texts I asked you to read this week also offer some valuable perspectives. I urge you to think about the guidance in the TSIS chapters at hand (5 and 6), which nudge us to engage a range of perspectives in our research (including those we don’t necessarily agree with) AND to be sure to explain ourselves to our readers (to get really direct about explaining why they ought to care about what we have to say). That last point is really important. Be thinking about that as you proceed.

(I can’t help but read the title of chapter 6 in Joy Behar’s voice–I’m not sure if it’s intentional on the part of the writers, but that’s how it echoes in my head. Not sure what I mean? Here’s Behar discussing it, and there’s a mountain of gifs of Fred Armisen’s impression of Behar, which she seems to find pretty entertaining.)

Gifs aside, the point echoes–we can’t presume that people will appreciate why we think something is important if we don’t tell them. So, tell them!

Finally, Chapter 2 of Rewriting (“Forwarding”) gives us another analogy that we’ll be making use of throughout the coming weeks. Anytime we work with source material, we are moving it from one context (that of the original author) to another context (our own), and it’s useful to have some terminology that explains what we’re doing and why. “Forwarding” gives us that–ways to talk about the different uses to which we can put source materials.

We’ll be making use of all this a lot more in the weeks ahead, so please make sure to read these chapters, and ask any questions that you might have.

Overview for Week of 7/12

I’ll be getting you feedback on your recent posts and on your focusing flowchart within the next 48 hours, so please be on the lookout for that, and use that to get started on your research for sources for your research portfolio.

Read on for the particulars of what’s due this week, but first, let me give you a bit more of the Big Picture of Unit 2.

big picture

In this Unit, you will be assembling a set of sources–representing a mix of voices of various stakeholders, a variety of source types (including primary, scholarly, and others), and a range of perspectives. Your primary tasks in this unit will be making decisions about what sources to include and becoming conversant with those sources. In this unit, we’ll focus on these elements:

  • locating sources (working with the SU library databases and other tools)
  • evaluating sources (assessing their value, credibility, and utility to your project)
  • writing about your sources (in a couple of note-taking and discussion exercises, and in longer annotations that are part of your portfolio)

You’ll be building a research project with these and other sources down the road in Unit 3. This unit will let you take your time developing a strong foundation for that work, so that your research can be intentional, critical, and productive (and not just quote-dropping or patching together other people’s words and ideas). This will allow you to make something new, a valuable contribution to the world of knowledge on the subject you choose to explore.

Read on for this week’s tasks.

Reading:

  • “Can company culture survive Zoom?”
  • chapters 6 and 7 of TSIS
  • chapter 2 (“Forwarding”) of Rewriting
  • this overview of different types of sources

Writing and discussion work:

  • discussion posts (your posts due Wednesday, replies to classmates’ posts due Saturday). Here’s the link to the prompts.
  • 2 note-taking exercises (1 due Wednesday, and the other due Sunday)–this begins with you locating possible sources, and then working with 2 different techniques spelled out on this handout on notetaking techniques
WRT 205 notetaking techniquesDownload

Overview for Week of 7/5

Apologies for the delay in posting this–I spent the weekend celebrating my newly-minted teenager (my youngest turned 13 yesterday), and it was a day full of grandparents and cousins and cake and swimming and rockets and no computer time whatsoever.

We begin Unit 2 this week, during which each of you will identify and begin to plot out your research path and assemble a body of sources to carry your inquiry along. For many of you, this will mean continuing to build on something you learned in Unit 1, but you are not limited to that topic. Our work will continue to unfold beneath the big umbrella of “diversity and organizational culture,” but as you’ve seen from how your classmates have taken up this work, there are a whole lot of possibilities to explore. Read on for an overview of this week’s assigned work.

Readings

Writing Assignments

Blog post in which you list at least 5 rhetorical moves you see Bogost making in “The problem with diversity in computing”–in other words, 5 different places in the text where you see that how he says something helps you as a reader understand what he is trying to say. Think about how he works to make a connection with the reader, how he introduces key ideas/evidence, how he tries to make a point stick.  Quote these briefly so we know what you’re talking about, and try to name/explain what you see him doing there (due on blog by Wednesday, 7/7). Categorize this as Discussions/Homework, and Tag it with “weekof7/5,” “unit2,” “bogost,” and [your name].

Complete the Focusing Flowchart exercise on Blackboard (due in Unit 2 dropbox by Sunday, 7/11)

Discussion work on blog. See this post for the prompts and instructions (due by Thursday, 7/8)

Overview for Week of 6/28

We’ll be closing out Unit 1 this week, so that means your first Unit assignment deadline is approaching (Sunday, 7/4).

Read on for an overview of how we’ll be moving toward that:

Look for feedback from me in the next couple of days on the summary of your article that you submitted yesterday. You’ll work with that feedback to finalize your summary, which will become part of your Unit 1 blog post (along with your commentary on how this article would enrich our understanding of the specific organizational culture issue/area you’re exploring). Be sure to review the Unit 1 assignment sheet. Consider your purpose carefully.

show & tell

While you’re waiting for that feedback, start thinking about and looking at your options for a media component (link, video clip, image, etc.) to incorporate into your post. You’ve got a lot of latitude to work with here. I suggest using the assignment’s purpose as your starting point.

Here’s what I mean: while you’ve read this article (probably multiple times by now), your classmates probably haven’t. You’re suggesting that this text ought to be part of our canon, that looking at it would enrich our knowledge and understanding of this important issue. You need to show and tell us how that’s the case. You’ll be offering summary, analysis, and commentary. The media element is there to round that out.

For example, your media component might:

  • provide some background knowledge that would be crucial to our understanding (i.e. through a link or a video)
  • contain some visual context for the scope or complexity of the issue (i.e. an infographic) or assist with our understanding of change over time or comparison (i.e. graph, chart)
  • offer an opportunity to explore this issue further (i.e. through a link) for those who want to learn more

You may incorporate more than 1 element if you would like; just make sure you have at least 1.

Also be sure to attend to the following:

  • if using a link, make sure it is functional–use the “Add Media” button in the +New Post window to “Insert from url”
  • if using an image, make sure it is high-resolution so that it’s legible–again you’ll use the “Add Media” button to “Upload files” and “Insert into post”
  • if using an image, provide a caption that includes the source information (where you found the image–the actual web page, not just “Google search”)
  • whatever your media component, be sure that you explain its relevance in your post–don’t leave your reader to draw their own conclusions about its significance. Walk us through what you want us to learn from this item.

Here’s the other work on tap for this week:

  • draft of your blog post (let’s extend the deadline here to the end of the day on Wednesday, 6/30)
  • a few TED talks to watch (linked from Blackboard) for more perspectives on diversity and organizational culture (and in preparation for this week’s discussion)
  • discussion work on the blog–see the prompt here

I’ll be reading your drafts (due Wednesday) and getting you feedback by the end of the day on Friday. Your final version of the blog post is due by the end of the day on Sunday, 7/4.

Overview of Week of 6/21

Now that we’re getting our feet under us in terms of what organizational culture is, why diversity and inclusion are part of the conversation, and how thinking about rhetorical situation can help us to engage with complex texts, it’s time for us to build on that.

As a group, we’ve all been working with the same set of texts, and that gives us a shared foundation of knowledge. What I’ve tried to assemble here is a set of texts that function as a canon–works that are essential to an understanding of the subject matter, important and influential works. But there’s so much more out there to explore, and that will be your primary work for the week–looking around to locate an additional text that you think should be part of the canon.

Canonical works are substantive–building on careful and thoughtful research. They provide new insights and ideas, and don’t simply re-present known information. They work well for their audience, so that they can contribute to the world of knowledge.

Chances are you’ll need to look at several articles to find one that does all this and that meets the particular criteria that are set forth on the

Unit 1 schedule and assignment sheetDownload

The SU libraries’ website is a good starting point. You can use the Advanced Search functions there to help filter the results so they meet some of the basic criteria to start with (i.e. adjusting the publication dates, limiting the types of publications, etc.). You’ll find a number of useful tutorials on the library site if you’re not already familiar with using it. This search tips page is a good place to start.

(A quick note on using SU libraries vs. Google Scholar–you’ve already paid for the SU services and won’t ever bump into a paywall; on Google Scholar, you often will. The library also provides free research support, which you can’t get on Google.)

So, where to begin? Here’s an overview of your tasks for the week:

Reading assignments:

  • chapters 2 and 3 of TSIS
  • chapter 1 of Rewriting by Joe Harris (PDF on Blackboard)
  • “Understanding key D&I concepts” (PDF on Blackboard)
  • your selected article (that you plan to contribute to the canon)–to write an effective summary, you will need to read this carefully and probably more than once. Be sure to consult the close reading handout and the handout on summary.

Discussion/writing assignments:

  • write a 100-200 word summary of either the Kaplan and Donovan article from this week OR the Austin and Pisano article from last week, and submit this on the blog (categorize as “Discussions/Homework”; tag with “K&D” or “A&P” as appropriate, along with “weekof6/21,” and [your name] (due Weds., 6/23) 
  • respond to 2 of this week’s discussion questions (linked below). Categorize as “Discussions/Homework”; tag with “weekof6/21,” “unit1,” and [your name]. (due Thurs., 6/24):  https://ksoakes.expressions.syr.edu/wrt205summer2021/2021/06/21/discussion-prompts-for-week-of-6-21/
  • respond to at least 2 of your classmates’ discussion posts on the blog (due Sat., 6/26) write a 200 word summary of your selected article. Include a link to or PDF of the article you’re working with, and reference the author and title of the text you are summarizing. Categorize this as “Expanding the Canon”; tag it with “summary,” “weekof6/21,” and [your name]. (due Sun., 6/27)