Writing Assignments

English Composition I

There are numerous opportunities to improve your writing in this course. The most important are
the writing projects that require multiple submissions--drafts, revisions, peer evaluations, and
self-evaluations. Plus, every week there are discussion topics in the forums to which you can
contribute informally. Reading the work of others and providing feedback is considered every bit
as important as writing itself in this course. Please take a moment to read more about the writing
assignments, how feedback works, and review the learning goals of the writing projects.

What are the different types of writing assignments and where do I post them?

 Writing Projects: There are four different writing assignments for the course and they
determine a large part of your final grade. The first is a Foundational Writing Project that
all students are required to submit and respond to during the first two weeks of the
course. The remaining three writing projects assignments have both draft and final
versions. Each of these assignments lasts two weeks—the first week you will write a
draft and provide written feedback to colleagues. During the second week, you must
revise your project and give a score and feedback to other students.
 Self-Reflection Quizzes: Following each of the three writing projects, you'll be asked to
reflect on your progress as a writer. There is also a final self-reflection at the end of the
course to think more globally about the development of your writing skills
 Forum Discussions: Throughout the course there are several activities that are designed
to help you with your formal writing assignments and to help you think through the
writing process. Although there is no grade associated with these assignments, they are
an integral part of the work of this course and are very strongly recommended. These
activities will have designated threads or sub-forums in the weekly forums.

How will feedback work in this course?

Your writing projects will be assured feedback because they are to be posted which is an official
peer assessment tool from Coursera. Those of you unfamiliar with this aspect of the platform will
see that once an essay is posted, the system assigns every person’s essay to other specific
students in the class, who then respond to that particular essay.

There are other smaller writing assignments that take place in the Forums. We depend on you as
a community to try to comment on others' work. Please note that these assignments are designed
to prepare you for the writing projects, so they are worth completing even if you don't get
immediate feedback. Our work in this course depends on the exchange of ideas and the
cooperative effort of each member of the class. Reading and responding to others’ work helps
you become a stronger writer.

Successful writers regularly discuss their ongoing projects with other writers and readers. We
have arranged the opportunity for you to do this through peer response, but we also encourage
you to post drafts in the forums or seek out other students to talk about your projects outside
Coursera (Google Hangsouts, Skype, etc.) Student writing should be treated with respect and
generosity, even as we offer strategies for revision.

Foundational Writing Project: Reading Critically 

How do we become experts? You will prepare a brief foundational writing exercise designed to
help you build central skills for the course. I will ask you to write a critical review of an article
about expertise. Specifically, we will focus on how to:

 read critically;
 summarize, question, analyze, and evaluate written text;
 engage with the work of others;
 understand the stages of the writing process;
 workshop writing;
 incorporate reader feedback;
 integrate quotes/evidence; and
 cite the work of others.

Project One: Visual Analysis

What can we learn about your topic from a visual image? What arguments do visual images
make? I will ask you to select a visual image related to a chosen area of inquiry/topic and then
analyze that image in order to make an argument about your topic. Specifically, we will continue
to work with the elements we learned from writing a critical review, as well as build on them by
focusing on how to:

 summarize, questions, analyze, and evaluate visual texts;

 argue and support a position;
 use evidence;
 respond toward revision;
 achieve cohesion;
 develop paragraph unity;
 revise; and
 edit.

Project Two: Case Study

What questions or arguments can a case study reveal about your topic? I will ask you to research
a particular person, event, entity, or concept in your selected topic and, drawing on multiple
resources, make an argument about your topic thorough that case study. We'll also be working
together to collaboratively crowdsource a bibliography of potential resources. Specifically, we
will continue to work with the elements we learned in the Foundational Writing Project and
Analyzing a Visual Image, as well as build on them by focusing on how to:

 conduct research;
 write an extended argument;
 develop an intertextual conversation;
 understand popular sources and scholarly sources;
 create effective introductions; and
  write strong conclusions.

Project Three: Writing an Op-Ed

What do you think people need to know about your selected topic? In this third and final project,
we will turn to a more public form of writing as I ask you to write an op-ed (opposite the
editorial page) about your selected topic for a publication of your choosing (you do not actually
have to submit it to that publication). Specifically, we will continue to work with the elements
we learned in through the last three writing assignments, as well as build on them by focusing on
how to:

 write for publics;

 write concisely;
 edit and proofread thoroughly;
 decide whether to use active or passive voice; and
 transfer writing skills to new writing contexts.

Keeping a Writing Portfolio

I strongly recommend that you create a portfolio of your writing for this course. Include in it
copies of your writing projects (drafts and final versions), self-reflections, feedback you have
received, and a sampling of your comments to other writers and your discussion-forum
contributions. This material will provide evidence of your accomplishments and help you grow
as a writer. It will also serve as an archive of your work since your work may not continue to be
available through Coursera after the course ends. To set up a portfolio, consider using an online
space such as Google Docs or Dropbox in case you should ever want to share your portfolio
more easily with others. Many employers tell us that they are looking for people with good
writing skills and your portfolio may help distinguish your job application from that of others. In
addition, although completion of our course does not provide college credit, many universities
are prepared to evaluate your portfolio to see if provides evidence that you have met the goals of
their composition 1 course. If it does, you may receive some college credit or advanced
placement.