Calendars

This class is designed to introduce writing as a field of study and reshape the way you think of writing as a process and a product. As such, the material we read in class covers a range of approaches, from academic scholarship to professional blogs. The calendars below outline our path we’ll take, the topics we’ll study, and the assignments we’ll complete along the way. Additionally, details about the requirements of each unit can be found on the Assignments page. And finally, a combined, detailed calendar is available as a spreadsheet.

Units of Study

Weeks	Topic	Major Assignment
1	Course Overview & Policies	Syllabus Policies
2–3	Rhetorical Reading & Literacies	Literacy Narrative
4–7	The Writing Process	Process Research Report
8–11	Discourse Communities	DC Ethnography
12–14	Rhetorical Situations	Rhetorical Analysis
15	Reflective Writing	Final Portfolio

Readings Calendar

We won’t use a traditional textbook in this class. Instead, with a few exceptions noted below, each of our readings comes from freely available online sources. Additionally, you can choose the type of material you want to read each week: Selections are available from primary academic scholarship (generally research articles written for writing scholars), accommodated sources (generally chapters written by teachers to students), and student-authored textbook chapters (written by students previously enrolled in classes like this one). No matter which kind of source material you read, you’ll get ideas and insights from folks who came before you, helping you think through our course content and making you a more intentional writer.

Week	Topic	Primary Scholarship	Accommodated Texts	Student-Authored Chapters	Blog Category
1 Sep 4–6	Course Overview & Class Policies	Elizabeth Wardle’s “You Can Learn to Write in General” (audio version also available)	• Savini’s “Looking for Trouble: Finding Your Way into a Writing Assignment” • Warner’s “Rethinking My Cell Phone/Computer Policy” • Bunn’s How to Read Like a Writer • Rosenberg’s Reading Games: Strategies for Reading Scholarly Sources • Irvin’s What is Academic Writing	• Mallory Helmes’ “The Training Wheels Need to Come off of the 5 Paragraph Essay” • Jennifer Gross’s “First-Year Composition Prepares Students For Academic Writing” • “Habits of Mind” from WRI@SLU	Relationship with writing: Strengths & desired improvements
2 Sep 9–13	Rhetorical Reading & Multiliteracies	Haas & Flower’s “Rhetorical Reading Strategies and the Construction of Meaning”	• Dryer’s “Words Get Their Meanings from Other Words” • Roozen’s “Texts Get Their Meaning from Other Texts” • Brooke and Grabill’s “Writing is a Technology through Which Writers Create and Recreate Meaning”	• “Reading Rhetorically” from WRI@SLU • “Reading and Writing as a Researcher” from WRI@SLU	Unexpected literacies
3 Sep 16–20	Peer Review & Revision: Literacy Narrative	• James Paul Gee’s “Literacy, discourse, and linguistics: Introduction” • Hawisher & Selfe’s “Becoming literate in the information age: Cultural ecologies and the literacies of technology”	• Maddalena’s “I need you to say ‘I’”: Why First Person is Important in College Writing • Ramsdell’s Storytelling, Narration, and the “Who I Am” Story • DePeter’s How to Write Meaningful Peer Response Praise	• Danielle Dell’Aquila’s “Put Yourself In Your Writing” • Sister Molly Heine’s “Find Your Style and Voice”	Writing the Right Words (in context)
4 Sep 23–27	The Writing Process: Historical Views	Carol Berkenkotter’s “Decisions and Revisions: The Planning Strategies of a Publishing Writer” and Donald Murray’s “Response of a Laboratory Rat: Or, Being Protocoled” (same link)	• Lamott’s Shitty First Drafts [see Canvas > Files] • Dila’s “Rethinking the Shitty First Draft” • “Finding Your Way In”: Invention as Inquiry Based Learning in First Year Writing from Writing Spaces	• Geena Scirica’s “Research Begins with Unsettling Problems and Questions” • Emily Contreras’s “Research Starts With A Hypothesis” • “Brainstorming” from WRI@LEO	Process Questions
5 Sep 30 – Oct 4	No class: Service Trip	[none]	• Reid’s “Ten Ways To Think About Writing: Metaphoric Musings for College Writing Students” • Grauman’s “What’s That Supposed to Mean? Using Feedback on Your Writing”	• “First Drafts” from WRI@SLU • “Editing and Revising” from WRI@SLU	Relationship with Revision
6 Oct 7–11	The Writing Process: Self-Study	Nancy Sommers’ “Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers”	• Brooke & Carr’s “Failure Can Be an Important Part of Writing Development” • Downs’ “Revision is Central to Developing Writing”	• Alexus Yeakel’s “Failure is Awesome” • Haleigh Cedervall’s “Revision Is Not the Nail in the Coffin”	Iterative Writing
7 Oct 14–18	Peer Review & Revision: Writing Process Research Report	[none]
8 Oct 21–25	Discourse Communities v Speech Communities; lexis	John Swales’ “The concept of discourse community.” [See Canvas > Files]	• Melzer’s Understanding Discourse Communities • Tremain’s What Can I Add to the Discourse Community? How Writers Use Code Meshing and Translanguaging to Negotiate Discourse	“Discourse Communities” from WRI@SLU	Community Membership
9 Oct 28 – Nov 1	DCs: Genres as social action	Amy J. Devitt’s “Generalizing about Genre: New Conceptions of an Old Concept”	• Hart-Davidson’s “Genres are Enacted by Writers and Readers” • Lerner’s “Writing is a Way of Enacting Disciplinarity”	“Genre & Lexis” from WRI@SLU	Enacting Genres
10 Nov 4–8 [No class 11/5]	DCs: Expertise, authority, and membership	• Penrose & Geisler’s “Reading and Writing Without Authority” • Wardle’s “Identity, authority, and learning to write in new workplaces.” [See Canvas > Files]	• Yancey’s “Writers’ Histories, Processes, and Identities Vary” • Lunsford’s “Writing is Informed by Prior Experience” • Villanueva’s “Writing Provides a Representation of Ideologies and Identities • What Color Is My Voice? Academic Writing and the Myth of Standard English from Writing Spaces • Workin’ Languages: Who We Are Matters in Our Writing from Writing Spaces	• Lavenda Oluoch’s “Official American English is a Choice” • Zachary Martin’s “African American Language is Good English” • Maya Ostfeld’s “There are Infinite Correct Ways to Communicate” • “Authority & Belonging” from WRI@SLU	Identity & Authority in Writing
11 Nov 11–15	Peer Review & Revision: DC Ethnography	[none]
12 Nov 18–22	Rhetorical Situations: Purpose & Exigence, Rhetor & Audience	Grant-Davie’s “Rhetorical Situations and Their Constituents”	• Carroll’s “Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis” • Duffy’s What Is Rhetoric? A “Choose Your Own Adventure” Primer • Boyd’s Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking)	“Rhetorical Situations” from WRI@SLU	Situating Rhetoric
13 Nov 25–27 [No class 11/28–12/1]	Rhetorical Situations: Genres, Affordances, & Constraints	Miller & Shepherd’s “Blogging as social action: A genre analysis of the weblog”	• Mirabelli’s “The Language and Literacy of Food Service Workers.” [See Canvas > Files] • “Make Your “Move”: Writing in Genres” from Writing Spaces • Dirk’s Navigating Genres	• Catherine Garner’s “Excellent Academic Writing Can Be Funny” • Keith Erickson’s “Pop Culture is Good for Writing”	Demonstrating Values through Genres
14 Dec 2–6	Peer Review & Revision: Rhetorical Analysis	[none]
15 Dec 9–13 [Wed 12/11 on Tue Schedule]	Reflective Writing	• Yancey & Wiser’s “Situating portfolios: Four perspectives” • Desmet et al’s “Reflection, revision, and assessment in first-year composition ePortfolios”	• Giles’ “Reflective Writing and the Revision Process: What Were You Thinking?” • Duffy’s “Writing Involves Making Ethical Choices” • Klein & Shackelford’s “Beyond Black on White: Document Design and Formatting in the Writing Classroom”	• “Building a Portfolio” from WRI@SLU • “Writing for Academic Audiences” from WRI@SLU	Function of a Portfolio and cover letter
Exams Dec 16–20	Final Portfolios; Peer Review & Revision: Course Audit	[none]