Intro/Conversation Assignment

For Friday, you should write a draft of your Project 1 Introduction and "conversation"- This is due to your blogs at 9 pm on Thursday evening so that I have a little time to look over your work and select some examples to discuss the next day in class. This piece is process work and doesn't need to be polished; however, I do expect you to meet certain requirements to get credit for this assignment:

1). Introduce your topic/construct. This draft should provide a fuller introduction to your topic/construct than you provided in the proposal. It should also be written for an audience beyond me, an audience composed of other academics and students interested in writing studies. If it helps you, you can think back to the target audience on the assignment sheet: readers of the journal Young Scholars in Writing.  Something you'll need to remember when thinking about this audience, then, is that you can't take for granted that your reader knows anything about the assignment (in fact you shouldn't even talk about the assignment) or the assigned readings. You may even need to explain the term "construct" if you use it. Though it's fine to use a term like "misconception."

You should spend some considerable time providing detailed information about your construct and how you are dealing with it -challenging it, complicating it, etc. As in the proposal, you'll want to explain how the construct is visible in culture and how it is perpetuate by different individuals.

2) Summarize the scholarly conversation. Your draft should also attempt some synthesis of at least 5 sources. In the synthesis, you'll want to emphasize the similarities and differences  between different author's treatments of your topic. For example, if you're considering the construct that "good writing?teaching=good grammar"- how do these different authors  challenge that idea with their own arguments? This summary should get you thinking about YOUR ideas and what you can add to the conversation. Who do you agree with and disagree with? What arguments are left out or misrepresented? End this draft by thinking about where your own thoughts/ideas fit in.

Remember- Post to your blogs but also save a digital copy (Ms. Word) for your portfolio. Title it: Project 1 Intro/Conversation.