Sean Oros Assignments & Activities Archive Activity Description The purpose of this lesson is to provide students a pathway for applying literary analysis skills to modern songs of their own choosing. The rationale for this is twofold: first, it is partially a response to avoiding copied responses from Spark Notes or Lit Notes and the […]
Literary Analysis via Songs Read More »
Laura E. Decker Assignments & Activities Archive Activity Description First-year writers often struggle to take risks on projects, especially as they move from their composition courses to projects within new disciplines and contexts (Robertson et al.). However, taking risks by diving into new discourse communities, as Bartholomae argued, is required to participate effectively in the
Kim Fahle Peck Assignments & Activities Archive Activity Description Kenneth Burke’s famous parlor metaphor presents a picture of academic research as a conversation between ideas and perspectives: Imagine that you enter a parlor. You come late. When you arrive, others have long preceded you, and they are engaged in a heated discussion, a discussion too
Dramatizing the Conversation: Creating Dialogue Scripts to Support Source Synthesis Read More »
Stina Kasik Oakes Assignments & Activities Archive Activity Description What’s a lobster? A second conversation? For years I worked to explain to students how to incorporate purpose, depth, and meaning into their writing with the terms “deeper meaning,” or “story under the story,” or “what the essay is really about.” But these phrases didn’t quite
Lobsters & Second Conversations: Addressing the “So What” in Your Writing Read More »
Kate Warrington, Natasha Kovalyova, and Cindy King Volume 3 Chapter Description This article walks students through how to use critical reading strategies to help them select credible sources for their research papers and helps them understand how critical reading assignments they may have completed earlier in the semester have prepared them for the difficult task
Assessing Source Credibility for Crafting A Well-Informed Argument Read More »
Craig A. Meyer Volume 3 Chapter Description This chapter focuses on incorporating imitation practices into a student’s writing toolbox. By encouraging students to look more rhetorically at writing through imitation, they learn to recognize that language is more dynamic, and they can approach writing tasks with more contemplative thought instead of as a dreaded task.
The Evolution of Imitation: Building Your Style Read More »
Karen Rosenberg Volume 2 Chapter Description As a writing instructor, you want to help students reflect on and refine reading practices that are so crucial to writing and academic success. An examination of the elements of a rhetorical reading strategy—conceptualizing reading as part of an academic conversation, reading actively (and what this looks like), figuring
Reading Games: Strategies for Reading Scholarly Sources Read More »
Mike Bunn Volume 2 Chapter Description Learning to “read like a writer” can be a great benefit to students. As teachers of writing know, a term goes by too quickly, and there is much to cover. This chapter, however, suggests ways students can improve their interaction with text by reading like writers from the start
How to Read like a Writer Read More »
Kevin Cassell Volume 3 Chapter Description Many students tend to think of punctuation as governed by a set of rules. This chapter encourages them to conceive of punctuation as a system of conventions, which includes standard expectations of correct usage—certain “rules”—but applies them within a broader rhetorical context. After distinguishing between punctuation and grammar (the
Punctuation’s Rhetorical Effects Read More »
