Section Four: Sample Syllabi

Sample Syllabus 1 for Connections:

First Year Composition Class Focusing on Traditional Papers

 

Week 1: Class Introductions

· Read Chapter One (excluding the Internet Nuts and Bolts section) as an introduction to the writing process

· Read Chapter Twelve (and the Internet Nuts and Bolts section on e-mail) to become familiar with e-mail and class discussion lists

· Set aside workshop time in class to set up e-mail accounts

 


Week 2: Rhetorical Foundations

· Read Chapter Two for a discussion of basic rhetorical principles.

· First Writing Assignment (2-3 pages): Analyze the Message, Speaker and Audience of an advertisement.

 


Week 3: Defining Argument

· First Writing Assignment DueFirst Draft

· Read Chapter Thirteen for more discussion of electronic communications forums and introduce class message forums in-class

· Read Chapter Three and begin discussing arguable positions

 


Week 4

· First Writing Assignment DueFinal Draft

· Read Chapter Four to introduce the idea of writing with a purpose

· Second Writing Assignment (2-3 pages): Write and develop an argument, in the form of a newspaper editorial or a letter to someone in a position of authority, which advocates for an issue that is important to you

· Read Chapter Five to discuss critical reading skills

· In-class workshop with small groups analyzing a current editorialwork on summary skills as a class


 

Week 5

· Second Writing Assignment DueFirst Draft

· Continue in-class work with critical reading

· Read Chapter Six as an introduction to researc

· Our the library with class and familiarize students with print-based research tools


 

Week 6

· Second Writing Assignment DueFinal Draft

· Read Chapter Seven on Web research

· Third Writing Assignment (2-3 pages): A critical reading of an article which uses research to support its claims

· Spend time in-class working on Internet research skills and helping students refine their paper topics


 

Week 7

· Read Chapter Eight on Newsgroup research

· Continue working on paper assignment in-class using small groups and instructor comments to make suggestions about topics

· Third Writing Assignment DueFirst Draft

· Read Chapter Fifteen as an Introduction to Design


 

Week 8

· Read Chapter Seventeen, and Eighteen and spend time in-class this week introducing the principles of HTML composition. Work on in-class exercises to get students started on Web building


 

Week 9

· Third Writing Assignment DueFinal Draft

· Read Chapter Nine on multi-staged Internet Research

· Introduce Final Web Project (modeled on the additional exercise in the Instructors' Manual about Third World problemsthroughout the next several weeks there will be extensive in-class workshop time devoted to this final project)


 

Week 10

· Students begin researching to find good topics

· Research groups should be formed and work divided among group members

· By the end of the week, issue overview and project proposals should be posted along with a list of a few useful sources


 

Week 11

· Annotated Bibliography Due.

· Basic structural map of group Web site Due: All of the major nodes should be described and decisions made about how the site will look and how the nodes will be linked


 

Week 12

· First Draft of Sites Due

· Continue working, particularly posting requests for comments on newsgroups and to relevant Web sites


 

Week 13

· In class work

· Final Draft of Web projects Due by the end of the week


 

Week 14

· Student Presentations


 

Week 15

· Student Presentations and course wrap-up