Final Exam Reminder

Well, it's the end of the semester. So don't forget: Our final exam is this coming Monday, 5/4, from 1:30pm to 3:20pm, at our usual classroom. Since it's final exam week, there shouldn't be any conflicts with your other classes. So please make sure you're there and ready.

If you know you definitely can't make it, let me know ASAP, and I'll have you make up the exam on your own time. Just be aware: By the time Tuesday rolls around, I will not allow any more make-up exams, and if you miss our final, I'll simply calculate your final grade without it.

Course Evaluations

Folks,

The end of the semester is fast approaching, so don't forget those last few deadlines. Your Essay 3 second draft packet is due Monday, 4/27, by the start of class. Then, your revised Essays 1 and 2 are due by the end of class on Wednesday, 4/29 (meaning, before 3:20pm -- no later than that).

Now, since this course is close to ending, that means it's time for course evaluations. So let me give you instructions for evaluating your experience in this course.

-- First, go to this web address: http://nveval.com.

-- After you go to the above address, log in with your 7-digit numeric NOVA Student ID. Then you'll be prompted to select your name from a randomized list, just to verify.

-- Once you're logged in, answer out the survey as fully as you can. It should take about 5-10 minutes to complete the whole evaluation survey.

-- If you experience any problems along the way, send an email to info@iotasolutions.com, and they should be able to help you.

-- Lastly, please make sure to complete this evaluation soon. You won't be able to do a course evaluation after May 4th.

Thank you all. Both the department and I appreciate any feedback from you.

-- ib

Week 6 Homework

Let me remind you again that your Essay 3 second draft packet is due next Monday, 4/27, by the start of class. Also, all revisions of Essays 1 and 2 are due by the end of class on Wednesday, 4/29. I plan to be strict on these deadlines, so please be timely and organized.

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Now, as for reading homework, I'll let you take a week off. Instead of giving you articles to read ahead of time, I'll provide you readings to work with in class. Please be aware: I might still throw a pop quiz about previous course materials, but I will certainly not quiz you on material that I present to you on the very same day.

This is your time to finish those last assignments. And if you're behind, let me know as soon as possible; we should develop a plan to try to get you quickly back on track.

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If you have any questions or concerns, please email me.

Update: We'll Meet in AA-416 on Wednesday, 4/22 (and Monday, 4/27)

Please note: We will be meeting in room AA-416, a room with a computer lab, on Wednesday, 4/22, and on Monday, 4/27. Those of you who have laptops that you like to work on, please bring them with you. We are going to dedicate part of our class period to independent work on your essays. I'll be sure to update you with more information this Wednesday. But for now, be sure to work on the assignments listed in the blog post right below this one.

Reminder: Your Essay 3 First Draft and Critique Are Due This Week

This is just to remind you of a few things:

1) Your Essay 3 first draft is due this Monday, 4/20, by the start of class. Please be sure to have as complete a draft as you can. If you're not completely sure what you're doing, try to plow through, even if you might end up doing something awkwardly or incorrectly. To remind you, a finished bad draft is better than an unfinished brilliant one.

2) Your critique in response to a classmate's Essay 3 first draft is due this Wednesday, 4/22, by the start of class. In your critique, please be sure to organize your ideas into several paragraphs, looking at several sections of your partner's essay, taking care to consider several issues in it separately. Be aware: A number of you are losing a lot of points by simply writing insufficient critiques.

And be aware of a couple more things for the near future:

Your Essay 3 second draft packet will be due one class early -- on Monday, 4/27, by the start of class (not Wednesday, as we've done before). Wednesday, 4/29, is the last chance to submit revisions for Essays 1 and 2 -- by the end of class, 3:20pm, and no later than that. Seriously, I will not accept an Essay 3 as on-time if it's submitted after we start class on Monday, and I will not accept a revision of Essays 1 or 2 at all if it's submitted after 3:20pm on Monday.

If you have questions or concerns, please email me.

Week 5 Homework

So we're into our very last essay assignment, Essay 3, an argumentative research paper. For this assignment, I'm using the term "argumentative" in the classic sense: You choose a topic that you want to argue about, and you use specific evidence to support your argument. Still, keep in mind that even an essay like this benefits from deep, detailed discussions of your sources -- with extensive quoted passages carefully framed in an effective "Source Sandwich," and maybe even a consideration of how the authors of these passages are trying to appeal to their readers.

With all of that in mind, make sure you get started working on your Essay 3 first draft soon. This first draft is due next week, on Monday, 4/20, by the start of class.

And, as usual, your first draft is followed by a critique. Your Essay 3 critique, in response to another classmate's first draft, is due on Wednesday, 4/22, by the start of class. Regarding this critique, I realize that some of your classmates might be writing a reasonably long essay, which might leave you wondering, "Do I have to describe and criticize absolutely everything here? Wouldn't that make my critique too long?" My answer is this: No, you don't have to describe everything, but you do have to describe your partner's full argument back to them. And you don't have to go paragraph-by-paragraph, either. In fact, it might be most effective if you choose only 3-4 of the most important places in your partner's essay and discuss each of those on their own, and leave the rest for your partner to discover on their own.

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Now, let me also give you some reading homework:

First, please read the following article, "How Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s immigrant path explains his guilty verdict," by Asra Q. Nomani, published in The Washington Post on April 8, 2015:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-dzhokhar-tsarnaevs-immigrant-path-explains-his-guilty-verdict/2015/04/08/8a182054-da37-11e4-8103-fa84725dbf9d_story.html.

Next, please read the following article, "The Abuse of Satire," by Gary Trudeau, published in The Atlantic on April 11, 2015:
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/04/the-abuse-of-satire/390312/.

And lastly, please read the following article, "Are Americans Really Champions of Racial Equality?" by Maribel Morey, published in The Atlantic on April 12, 2015:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/are-americans-champions-of-racial-equality/389826/.

-- As you read these articles, consider closely, first, what kind of articles they are. Each of them is quite different from the others in their form and style. Next, consider what the authors are talking about the might be similar. Can you see what kind of overall argument might be formed from joining these three articles in one ongoing discussion?

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And that's it for this week. As always, if you have questions or concerns, be sure to email me right away.

Reminder: Essay 2 Second Draft Packet Due Wednesday, 4/15

This is just to remind you: Your complete Essay 2 second draft packet is due this Wednesday, 4/15, by the start of class. I realize that I've made some exceptions for Essay 1 second drafts, but this time I will make no exceptions. If your complete packet isn't in my possession, with all the materials stapled and in order, by the time I start class on Wednesday, then your essay is late. So please be sure to be on time in your submission.

Here's another piece of advice: Your midterm contains some clues for you to put a better Essay 2 together. You should be receiving your midterms back today, Monday, 4/13. And since the assignment for the midterm exam is similar in many ways to the assignment for Essay 2, then some of the comments I've made on your midterm can be applied to Essay 2. Of course, the midterm requires you to talk about just one article, and Essay 2 requires you to compare two articles, but in both the midterm and Essay 2, you need to talk about how the authors argue, how they appeal to their readers, and why that matters in the end. So can you see how to take the lessons you learn from your midterm in order to produce a better Essay 2 second draft?

(Also, please note: The assignment and prompt for Essay 3 appear in the blog post right below this one.)