So, we’re at the end of Unit 1! Congratulate yourself for the work you’ve accomplished (or will accomplish very soon)!

Some business:

Remember you need to send your Peer Review Partner(s) and me a copy of your speech or letter by 11:59 PM on Friday, 9/25. (Including me in the email means you get 50 points towards your Writing grade in this class!)

You must review your partner’s Peer Review Worksheet and email a copy to both them and me by 11:59 PM on Sunday, 9/27.

Finally, you must post your final draft to this website by 11:59 PM on Tuesday, 9/29, and you MUST follow the directions on posting, which can be found in the Course Profile, titled “ENG1121 How to Upload Unit 1 Writing Assignment.”

NOTE: I will not evaluate a post that isn’t uploaded correctly!

Time for Reflection

Other than your U1 Writing Assignment, I want you to do some reflecting on what you’ve worked on so far this semester. The details are on the Agenda for Week 6, but the main gist is: What worked, what didn’t work, and what would you do differently if you had more time?

You might wonder why you need to worry about this, right? And I get it. You just want to move on to the next thing, get that done, and then move on again, graduate, get rich, and move on from there.

But one of the overall goals for this course is for you to reflect on yourself as a writer (and as a human being). Writing isn’t a skill that you get all at once and then it’s over. Writing, like all things human, evolves over time. As you grow as a person, your ideas and writing will change. And it’s good to take a moment and think:

  • What worked? Why did it work?
  • What didn’t work? Why didn’t it work?
  • What would I do if I could work a little longer or even start over with what I know now?

Plus, I’m going to ask you to write a Final Reflection at the end of this semester, so it’ll be helpful for you to have these small writing assignments to look back on when that far-off day comes.

There is method to my madness!

On to Unit 2: Inquiry-Based Research (Annotated Bibliography)

What, exactly, is Inquiry-Based Research?

First, go to this five-minute YouTube video. Its audience is for teachers, but I think it sums it up nicely for students as well!

We’re going to use Level 4 as our model for this assignment. (The only way you’ll know what Level 4 is about, is if you watch the video!)

The first thing we’re going to do is do some reading, listening, reading some more, and writing about what we just read. Be sure to check out our Agenda for Week 6; there are a lot of details.