Final exam (reflective essay and optional rewrite)

Our "official" final exam slot is Friday Dec. 11 from 3:30-5:30PM. The dropbox will be open all day Friday until 5:30PM for you to upload your final reflective essay, and your optional rewrite of paper 1 or 2. I need to close the dropbox at 5:30PM.

Note

I forgot to collect the printouts today for attendance. Please keep them and pass them in on Friday.

For Friday (and Blog Post 38): Reflective essay organizing idea and thesis

The Student's Guide chapter 12 suggested five organizing ideas/themes for your reflective essay (p. 247-48):

1. Focus on a specific assignment, experience, or concept 
2. Compare your experience writing in this course to past experiences
3. Reflect on strengths and weaknesses 
4. Focus on course objectives
5. Focus on your writing process/self-perception as a writer

Blog Post 38: Write a sample thesis statement for each theme.  If you would like to use a different organizing idea from one of the above, describe it and write a thesis for it in addition to the ones above.

Then pick the one you are most interested in using for your reflective essay, and explain why you think it would be the most effective, interesting way to organize your essay (think about SOAPSTone).

Give detailed suggestions and feedback on two other classmate's blog posts. Link to their posts in your post.

==> FOR FRIDAY: Bring your chosen organizing idea and thesis, with the SOAPSTone, printed out, to class!!

Office hours today

I will be holding office hours today in the Main Library in the lobby area to the left of the main entrance between 9:30 and 11:00.

Blog Post 37: Audience and invention for reflective essay

Answer at length the questions posed in the chart in the Student's Guide p. 249:

1. What topic do I want to discuss with my readers? What do I want them to understand about the topic?
2. Who is my primary audience? Who is my secondary audience?
3. What do my audiences already know or believe about my topic?
4. How will I organize and develop my ideas to make them convincing to these readers?
5. How will I establish my ethos (relationship and tone) with my readers?

Change for blog grading policy

You may have noticed that the blogs are not graded on d2l. I have been reconsidering the way I assess the blogs, and I have decided that each blog will be graded on a pass/fail/bonus basis. 

• Each blog post (there will be 40 in all) will be worth 2.5 points (100 total, or 10% of your grade). 
• If you did the blog post, you earn 2.5 points for it. 
• If you did not write the blog post, you get 0 points for that post. 
• You can earn bonus points for exceptional blog posts: for each exceptional post, you can earn extra bonus point (1) for that post, up to 25 bonus points. 

You may, if you have time and inclination, go back and write your missing blog posts, up until the last day of class (Wed. Dec. 9). Any posts revised or added after the last day of class do not count toward your grade.  Blog Post prompts. 

Blog Post 36: Discovering your writing process (Revisited)

Review Chapter Three of the Student's Guide, especially section 3.2. Think about how your own writing process may have changed over the course of the semester. 

First essay reflections word cloud

Then for this blog, answer the questions posed in the craft box on page 246.