GA1.2: Questions About Our Course Syllabus

Please read over the course syllabus and comment on this BLOG POST by listing three SPECIFIC questions that you have about our syllabus. For instance, “Why are we reading x instead of y?”; “What does the term ‘rhetoric’ mean?”; etc. ALSO: Please reply to at least one person’s BLOG post, either by answering his/her question, or by expanding on one of his/her questions.

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15 Responses to GA1.2: Questions About Our Course Syllabus

  1. Min Koo Kim says:

    Why do we have to write a journal if we do not edit it? Why do we do blog?

    • Raisa says:

      I think learning journals are for us to keep us informed that even a lots of us think that we are not good in creative writings and it’s always going to ring a bell in our mind that if one try to write something on their own one can always succeed and that could make us much more better in writing college level papers.

    • “Why do we blog?” This is a great question. I’m going to wait for other people to respond to this before I offer my perspectives on this.

    • Hi Min,
      I think the learning journals will help us to improve our writing. As time passes we will see how we have progress by looking back at our journal.
      I think we blog because this school is a technology college and also because nowadays we are into technology more than we were ten years ago.

  2. Raisa says:

    1. How are the exams going to be held in our hybrid class?
    2. Do we have to bring in our Learning Journals everytime we meet as a class?
    3. Why are we going to read the book”The World’s Greatest Short Stories”?Why short stories? Why not long ones? How is these short stories going to benefit us in practicing college level reading and writing?

    • Raisa, Thanks so much for these questions. We will be taking exams in our in person class sessions. Regarding your second question, you do not need to bring your LJs to every class. Your third question really made me laugh, not because it is a silly question, but because I like how you are playing with words in asking it. Many of the stories in your book are actually quite long ;), so fear not, you will be reading lengthy pieces. Regarding the second part of that question, I must ask you a question: If not short stories, what do you think we should be reading? We will be talking more about the required texts for the course today in class, but if you could at some point post a reply to my question here, I would, of course, appreciate it.

  3. artovsiy says:

    Hi Professor Rogers, Hi class,
    You insist that we ask questions, so don’t mind if I do:
    1) Will we be reading or writing any poetry throughout this course? Also, what type or genre of literature do you prefer?
    2) Do we have to purchase Microsoft Word, or is there a free and easy way to follow the MLA format?
    3) What do you find more important in writing, the use of proper vocabulary or the voice in which you write?
    Thank you. By the way, Professor Rogers, you asked me for my email address so you can send me the Week 2 Assignment and the extra credit paper. It is artovsiy@gmail.com so please email me when you get a chance.

    • artovsiy says:

      Never mind, I just saw the tabs for both. Thank you anyway :)

    • Art,

      Thanks for these questions. I am particularly interested in #3, so I will start there. My first answer is, “voice, of course,” but when I think about the question a bit more, I find myself considering the fact that voice and vocabulary are intricately linked, so a strong voice will necessarily imply a strong and clear vocabulary. My question for you is, how important is this word “proper” to your question? Big, i.e., “five dollar words,” do not make writing good. However, a vocabulary that matches your purpose for writing does. (Sorry if I am starting to sound like Yoda). With regard to your other questions, I love reading poetry, but we will not have the time to read any for our class. However, you are, as always, encouraged to do so for extra credit. In terms of writing poetry, you should explore this as a brainstorming exercise for various writing projects. Also, I hope you will consider taking the Intro to Creative Writing course, which will give you a chance to write poetry as part of the course. Finally, Microsoft Word has nothing to do with MLA format. You can use any word processing program and adhere to MLA format.

  4. RANMA says:

    Hi Professor Rodgers and classmates
    1. Why do we have to use Blackboard and Course blog together?
    2. If the rhetoric questions don’t need to have an answer, what is the point to learn it?

  5. tishimar15 says:

    Hey Prof. Rodgers and my fellow classmates
    Here are my questions based on the course syllabus:

    1. Why do we have to do “weekly” LJ’s,GA’s and RWA’s ?
    2. Why are you unable to receive any assignments or essays via email ?
    3. Why do we have to blog so much?

    • Thanks for these questions. Because this is a writing course, you need to do a lot of writing and a lot of different kinds of writing, which is why you are writing LJs, GAs, and RWAs each week. I can’t accept assignments via e-mail because it is too labor intensive. I usually have anywhere from 100-125 writing students each semester. If all of them were e-mailing me essays, I would spend most of my time just receiving and printing those essays. Have you had problems submitting assignments via Bb? If so, perhaps we could talk about setting up a way to submit assignments via Google Docs.

  6. Hello everyone,
    Here are my three questions about the syllabus:
    1. How many types of genres exits?
    2. Are we going to use any textbook for this course?
    3. The second class session can be on a weekend or will it more preferable to be any day from Monday-Friday?

    • Thanks for these great questions! I particularly like #1, and I certainly wish I could give you a simple answer. Unfortunately, the number of genres in existence depends on the type of genre you are asking about. For example: If you ask how many genres of literature there are, the most common answer is, “three: poetry, drama, fiction.” However, if you ask how many genres of fiction exist, the answer is, potentially thousands since it depends how refined the categories are. You could say there is just one genre of fiction: fiction. However, it is more common to say there are two: literary fiction and genre fiction. Within literary fiction, there are different stylistic genres. I’m sure that by now you get why the question of how many genres exist is a complicated one. The textbooks that we are using for this course are all Open Access and online. If you decided to purchase a print-copy of an English Handbook, that is also a textbook. Regarding your third question, I do not care when you do the work for our course as long as you meet the deadlines for assignments.

  7. Allison Lamm says:

    Hi everyone,
    My questions are:
    1) What is the purpose of the group assignments?
    2) Why do we have to learn how to critique other peoples writings?

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