Author Archives: Ruth Garcia

Final Reflection Assignment (Ruth Garcia)

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Final Reflection

We have arrived at the end of the semester and are nearly done!  I am so proud of you all for making it to this point. Now it is time for you to pull all your work together and, look at it as a whole, and reflect on what you have done over the course of the semester.

For this final assignment, reflect upon the following questions:

  1. What have you learned about yourself as a reader, writer and scholar this semester?
  2.  How will you be able to use what you have learned this semester and transfer that knowledge to other writing situations—either in college or in your community?

Your reflection is due with your Final Portfolio and should be a minimum of 1000 words.

As a way to begin gathering ideas and information for your Reflection, look back through all your work: in-class writing exercises, homework assignments, blog posts, earlier reflections, essays/projects, and so on. As you browse through your work, ask yourself about and take notes on the following questions:

  • How would you compare/contrast work done early on in the semester to now? How have your developed as a writer?
  • What was your favorite/least favorite assignment and why?
  • What are some notable lessons that have stuck with you after completing certain assignments?
  • What changed in your writing (and reading and thinking) as the genres changed?
  • How did you make decisions in your assignments about content and design?
  • What were your early assumptions/beliefs about yourself and writing? Have they since changed? Explain.
  • What was your experience revising assignments?
  • Was there any peer feedback that stands out to you and why?
  • What was particularly challenging for you in our course this semester and how did you overcome it (or attempt to)?
  • What did you expect to learn in this class? What did you actually learn? Is it the same? Different? Less? More? How do you feel about the class and what you have learned now that the semester is over?
  • What advice would you give to students taking this course next semester?

 

Things to keep in mind:

  • Don’t simply answer the above questions in your final reflection. In fact, you do not need to answer them all. Instead, use them as a guide to help you brainstorm ideas.
  • Think about all of the essays we’ve read about writing this semester—some of them certainly hooked your interest while others… probably did not. The ones that did were well-written, they had a point, the writer had a voice that you felt was worth listening to.  Try to do that in your own writing here.
  • Remember that this isn’t just you writing off-the-top of your head; this is a finished piece of writing. Treat yourself as a respected author who has learned: you are someone with something to say.

 

Here’s what I will be looking for (and grading you on):

  • Attention to audience. You need to have a “so what?” Don’t just list off a bunch of random opinions about your writing—write an article about what you’ve learned. Think about who you are writing for (hint: it’s not just me).
  • Attention to organization. This does not have to be a traditional organization, but you should have paragraphs (not just a 1000-word paragraph, please) and some reason for why they’re in the order they’re in!
  • Evidence and analysis. If you tell me you learned something about yourself as a writer, show me proof! By proof, I specifically mean quotes from your own writing. All reflections should have at least three quotes from your own writing this semester. And, it is really important that you don’t just drop those quotes in there and expect your readers to figure out why you’ve chosen them. Explain why that passage is important to your readers and to your “so what?”
  • Proofread. Make sure it’s long enough. As usual, you can use whatever language you see fit to use, but make decisions about your language—that is, the words that are there should be there for a reason.
  • I am as flexible as possible with deadlines, but it is the end of the semester and the final portfolio (including this reflection) are due ________ and I don’t have any leeway because I need to turn grades in.The rough draft is due________.  Make sure to get this done on time!  You’ve probably never written anything like this before, so I’m sure you’ll want to get some feedback!

 

Units 2 and Unit 3 (Ruth Garcia)

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Unit 2: Research 

Prof. Ruth Garcia

English 1101, Spring 2020

Unit 2: Annotated Bibliography (1000-word minimum)

Due: ?/?/2020

Assignment

At this point, you have brainstormed issues that are deeply important to you and you have narrowed those down to one in particular. Over the last couple of weeks, you have also worked to develop a question related to the topic you want to investigate.

Now, for this assignment you will do research and put together a 1000-word annotated bibliography of three sources that help you answer your question.

Here is a useful site explaining what an annotated bibliography is and how to do one: https://guides.library.cornell.edu/annotatedbibliography

Your particular annotated bibliography should include the following:

  • Your research question at the top of the page.
  • An opening statement (a paragraph) explaining why this topic is important to you, what you know about it, and what you expect to find.
  • Three sources that are properly formatted in MLA style.
    • Note that each of your sources should be a different kind of genre. Examples of genres you might include are: newspaper articles, TED talks, personal essays, magazine article, scholarly article, organizations website.
    • You can find more on how to do MLA citations at the link below and throughout the Purdue OWL site: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_and_style_guide.html
    • You can also use Purdue OWL, Easy Bib, or Citation aNchine to do your citations—you can google for the second two sites and the first is at the link above.
    • Make sure your citations are in alphabetical order by author’s last name.
  • After each MLA style citation, put a summary of the source that tells what the piece is about.
  • Following each summary, you should also include
    • a few sentences that explain the genre, audience, and purpose of the piece.
    • one or two sentences evaluating the usefulness of each source.
    • An important and useful quotation from your source.
  • A concluding statement (a paragraph) reflecting on what you have learned about your topic and who would benefit from this information and how.

Note: Below–after “How will this be graded” I have included a template for your annotated bibliography. This is to show you how to organize and format your annotated bibliography.

How will this be graded?

  • Your annotated bibliography should be at least 1000 words.
  • Your annotated bibliography should be on time.
  • Your annotated bibliography should have all the components listed above and be formatted in the way indicated by the template below.
  • You should proofread.

The template for this assignment begins on the next page.

Your Name Here

Prof. Garcia

ENG 1101

Date Here

Research Question: Insert your research question here in place of this red text. Then make the text black/automatic when you are done.

Introduction:

In place of this blue text, insert your Opening statement saying what you expected to find before you began your research—this should be about at least a paragraph. Make sure to return the text to black/automatic.

Insert your first source here in place of all this black text and make sure your citation is in MLA style and alphabetized by author’s last name. Notice that the first line of a citation is all the way to the left and other lines of the citation are indented.

In place of this green text, you should insert your summary. In your summary you should make sure to mention the genre, audience, and purpose of the piece. Also, make sure to return your text to black/automatic.

In place of this purple text, you should insert your evaluation of the source and return the text to black/automatic.

In place of this orange text, insert an important or useful quotation from your source and return the text to black/automatic.

Insert your second source here in place of all this black text and make sure your citation is in MLA style and alphabetized by author’s last name. Notice that the first line of a citation is all the way to the left and other lines of the citation are indented.

In place of this green text, you should insert your summary. In your summary you should make sure to mention the genre, audience, and purpose of the piece. Also, make sure to return your text to black/automatic.

In place of this purple text, you should insert your evaluation of the source and return the text to black/automatic.

In place of this orange text, insert an important or useful quotation from your source and return the text to black/automatic.

Insert your third source here in place of all this black text and make sure your citation is in MLA style and alphabetized by author’s last name. Notice that the first line of a citation is all the way to the left and other lines of the citation are indented.

In place of this green text, you should insert your summary. In your summary you should make sure to mention the genre, audience, and purpose of the piece. Also, make sure to return your text to black/automatic.

In place of this purple text, you should insert your evaluation of the source and return the text to black/automatic.

In place of this orange text, insert an important or useful quotation from your source and return the text to black/automatic.

Conclusions:

In place of this blue text, insert your concluding statement saying what you learned about your topic, who you think would benefit from this information, and why and how they would benefit from this information—this should be about a paragraph. Make sure to return the text to black/automatic.

 

Unit 3: Genre

Prof. Garcia

ENG 1101

Spring 2020

Unit 3: Writing in a Genre Assignment

Due: ?/?/20

Assignment

Think about the research you conducted for your annotated bibliography and decide which audience you think would benefit from this information, why they would benefit, and what would be the best way to convey this information to them. You have already started to do some of this thinking in the conclusion of your annotated bibliography, but now you need to pick a specific group with whom to share your research, come up with a plan for how you will share the information you found, and write the proposed document for your intended audience.

Note: This is a two-part assignment.

Part One: Reflection and Genre Analysis

Write a 2-3-page reflection on how to best use the information you gathered and the knowledge you gained with your annotated bibliography.

In your reflection address the following:

  • Who do you think would benefit from this information? Why?
  • Tell me about your one specific audience—a brief description so I understand who they are, why you chose them, and how this research relates to them.
  • Explain why you chose this audience. Give 2-3 well-developed reasons why you think this information is useful for this particular audience. Also, explain what you want to accomplish for this audience. In other words, are you trying to inform them, persuade them, and/or something else?
  • How do you think it would be best to reach this audience in a way that accomplishes what you want to have happen by sharing the information with this group? In other words, what genre would you choose for reaching this audience?

(Examples of genres you might consider are: news report, pamphlet, article in a particular kind of magazine or newspaper, YouTube video, podcast, song lyrics, speech, Wikipedia entry, letter to a particular political figure—these are just examples but the point is to pick a genre that would reach and appeal to your audience).

  • Why would this be your choice of genre for this group?
  • Tell me about this genre. Find three examples of your genre, step back and look them over carefully. Then, answer the following questions based on what you see as common among all three pieces:
    • Where is your genre found? What kind of place/publication?
    • Who creates/authors this type of work? For what audience?
    • Why does this genre appeal to your chosen audience? Or why do you think it does?
    • What is the purpose of this genre? (to Persuade, to Entertain, or to Inform, something else?) Note that there might be more than one purpose to your genre. For example, some types of musicians or poets work to inform through their work but that does not make their music any less entertaining.
    • Finally, what do you see as the main elements or features of this genre, including the length, tone, format, organization, desired effect on the audience, and other key features? Make a list and describe each element in a few sentences.

Part II: Writing in a genre

Now take your research and draft a document for your chosen community in the genre you have chosen and analyzed.

Use the work you did in the reflective writing and the understanding you developed about the genre to write your piece.

Your goal is to share your research and share it with your chosen community to accomplish your desired goal, which you identified in your reflection.

Note: There is no particular word count for this portion of the assignment as the length will be determined by the genre you chose to work in.

How will this be graded?

  • Length: Your reflection and genre analysis should be at least 1000 words.
  • Careful and thorough thinking:
    • Your reflection should have all the components listed above
    • Your genre analysis should be accurate and detailed.
    • Your genre should make sense for the audience you have chosen to address.
  • Genre Execution:
    • The genre piece you produce should be similar to other pieces in the genre you chose to work with.
    • The genre piece accomplishes your goal (to inform, persuade, something else—whatever you said in your reflective piece.)
  • Repurposing: The genre piece you produce should use the research from your annotated bibliography and be related to your research question.
  • Timeliness: Your project should be on time.
  • Proofreading: You should proofread for clarity.

Genre Awareness Low-Stakes Homework

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I might have students do a post like the one below.

For todays post, you are going to find and analyze an example of a genre, or  kind of text,  with which you frequently engage.  Make sure to think about texts broadly::

“In academic terms, a text is anything that conveys a set of meanings to the person who examines it. You might have thought that texts were limited to written materials, such as books, magazines, newspapers, and ‘zines (an informal term for magazine that refers especially to fanzines and webzines). Those items are indeed texts—but so are movies, paintings, television shows, songs, political cartoons, online materials, advertisements, maps, works of art, and even rooms full of people. If we can look at something, explore it, find layers of meaning in it, and draw information and conclusions from it, we’re looking at a text. (https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/wrd/chapter/what-is-a-text/)

For your homework, post an example of the kind of text you have chosen. Then below the example, answer the following questions about your text:

  1. Why do you personally use these kinds of text?
  2. What kind of people seek out these kinds of text?  Why? (Here you might think about age group, interests, profession or professional aspirations, etc.)
  3. What do you see as the main elements of this kind of text, including the length, tone, format, organization, and other key features? Make a list.
  4. Where is this kind of text found? How is it made available for consumption?

Literacy Narrative: Ruth Garcia

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Prof. Ruth Garcia

English 1101, Semester

Unit 1: Literacy Narrative Writing Assignment (850-word minimum)

Due: xx/xx/xx

Assignment

In class we have read, discussed, and analyzed Sandra Cisneros’ “Only Daughter,” Malcolm X’s “Learning to Read,” and Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue.” In these narratives, the writers discuss their experiences with education in connection to elements of their identity; or, they discuss events that have shaped the kinds of readers and writers they are.

Now, for this assignment you will use these writers as models and write an education narrative of your own. What is a particular event that affected how you viewed or experienced education? Alternatively, what is a particular event that illustrates how an element of your identity affected your educational experience?

In developing your narrative, and regardless of which question you choose, you should reflect on your experience and the significance of your story. As you write, you should also keep in mind Mike Bunn’s “How to Read Like a Writer” and think about your purpose and audience as these will help you makes decisions about your content, style, and tone.

You will be graded on:

  • Your ability to develop an overall point/significance for your narrative.
  • Concrete, significant detail (are you painting us a picture?)
  • Focused event (did you focus on one event or connected, series of events?)
  • The thoughtfulness of your reflections (is there a point?)
  • The carefulness of your proofreading and organization You should be able to explain the choices you made.
  • Word count: At least 850 words!
  • Whether or not it’s on time