Tara Bowen's Notes for English 335: Week 2 (Third Week of Class)

(W.E.B. Dubois)

Dear Class,

Welcome to another heavy reading week, with several writing assignments serving as a garnish!

Reflecting on Week 1:

Last week was our first "typical" week of class, with three lessons, some discussion boards, and plenty of reading. The class is laid out like a face-to-face class that meets three times (or sometimes twice) a week, and there is plenty to do for each lesson in a week, including reading, listening to brief lectures, posting on discussion boards, and sometimes working on small papers. I hope you are figuring out a system that keeps you organized and able to keep up with the pace of the class.
I was excited to read your insights in the various discussion boards and meet with several of you live. One thing a student pointed out during the week is that the assignment guidelines for the first essay you will write for our class don't specify a page length. The paper should be 5 pages long (not including your Works Cited page), but I don't mind if you go onto a sixth page. I'd like you to work hard to make your essay between 5-6 pages. Your draft is due for peer review at the end of Week 4.

Looking Forward to Week 2:

I believe the readings this week have literary and historic value. They may take you several hours to get through, so plan for that.
Shelly and Jordan will host our Questions for Your Classmates: Week 2 discussion board. (A few students have not signed up to lead discussions on the Student Moderators List. Please sign up now if you have not yet done so.)
Our class meeting will be on Thursday, Jan 21st, at 6:30 pm, MT.
You have three small writing assignments this week, all of which you will post in discussion boards. Please do not post them as attachments. My computers takes a long time to load documents, and I'd prefer to see the assignments when I click on them in the gradebook.
You don't need to use perfect MLA formatting in these discussion boards--no headings, double spacing, or Works Cited pages are necessary. However, please use in-text citations for paraphrased and quotes material like this (34). Also, be sure to review the English 335 Rubric, What is Academic Writing, and Verb Tense for Analysis of Literature and History handouts attachments below to help you craft your best work.
Keep in mind. . . when you submit your two major essays in our class, you'll need to use careful MLA formatting (including headers, double spacing, page numbers, serif 12 pt. font, etc.) You may review MLA formatting guidelines here. Here is a picture of an essay formatted using MLA: