ENG 153: Introduction to Women Authors

Summer 2013 Collaborative Writing Project Description Purposes: To practice and reflect upon the reading and writing process in order to understand how reading and writing work together To prepare students for the curation project To build a space of collaboration, keeping in mind that writing is not a solitary activity To create a database of ideas, summaries and questions that will be useful after the semester is over To practice the skills that are important to literary study To prepare students for web discussion

Structure of Project: Students will be divided into groups of four (exact number within groups may vary, depending on the final class count). You will work with the same group throughout the semester. These groups will decide upon a group name and will label their documents with this name throughout the semester. You will be able to communicate with your group members on D2L, but have the option to communicate through any other method as well. Communication will be very important, so I (your instructor) suggest that you decide as a group how this will happen on the day you know your groups. Most of the group work will take place on a Google document. Before the class starts, you will be assigned to a Google doc. You will then collaborate on guidelines and expectations as a group. I will post examples from past classes on the Wordpress site. This will be the groups contract for work distribution, but it will probably change throughout the semester as you begin to feel more comfortable with the assignment and need to change work distribution and structure as the semester progresses. Changes to the contract should take place with group consensus and clear communication between all group members. Each change should be documented in the contract so that I can keep track of them. If problems arise, please bring them to my attention as soon as possible. I will take these agreements into consideration when assigning a final grade for the project. Access to the document: Editing rights will be open to only group members and the instructor. After the first entry is completed, I will open up viewing-only access to the rest of the class. That way, everyone in the class can see what everyone else is doing and can get ideas for her/his own groups document. I will give feedback throughout the semester and will keep up with the document before each class. Components of the Project:

The groups Google document, including: Group contract and entries for each class/text. All entries will be contained in a SINGLE Google doc. One individual reflection paper, to be handed in digitally on the day they are due. A more detailed description of this assignment will appear in a separate document.

Grading of the Project: This project is worth 35% of your final grade for the class. The grade will not be calculated until the end of the semester, so each entry will not be individually graded. Rather, the project will be holistically graded, and I will take into consideration your groups contract and your individual reflections/evaluations. I have the ability to track each group members contributions to the docum ent, so your final grade will be based both on individual effort and the groups final document. Since I wont grade individual entries, you can feel free to add or revise your groups work at any time throughout the semester. However, you are expected to have a completed entry before each web conference. I will check throughout the duration of the modules to make sure you have something up. Make sure you keep up with the document each week; it will be a good idea to have this document open whenever you are reading. Components of Each Entry: At the beginning of each entry, your group should include the module number for which you are writing the entry and the name of each text that is included in the entry. Each entry should include all the texts that are listed on the syllabus for that day of class. You can split up this work between group members if you want. The following is a loose structure for each entry. All of these components should be present in the entry, but how you want to do each one is entirely up to your group. You can change how you do these throughout the semester, documenting each change in the contract. Summary: Summarize the text that youve read for the module. The goal: to understand each text and to make a document that you can use after the semester is over. Try to be concise but thorough. Keywords/Themes: Come up with several keywords or themes that bring out something important in the text. Then, define the keyword using evidence from the text. You should try to relate your keywords to the course theme and to the questions this course is asking. What does each particular novel say about an idea or theme that is different from the other novels? Does this novel revise an idea from a past novel, or does it make you think differently about an idea? Does it answer a question youve had? Discussion Questions: Each group member should come up with a discussion question and should contribute to a preliminary discussion about each other

group members discussion question. You should think about what is at stake in asking these questions: why are they important? If you dont think theyre all that important, ask a different question. Textual evidence will come in handy here to introduce the context for the question youre asking and to make sure your reader understands why youre asking that question in the first place and how it relates to the text that were reading. Look at the questions in the course description for some foundational questions you can adapt more specifically to the text. The whatever else section: Think of this section as a catch-all for group brainstorming about the text, what you think is important, what youre still confused about, or anything else. What you put here is entirely up to your group.

What makes a good discussion question?

There shouldnt be one obvious answer.

can be open-ended isnt leading (doesnt suggest that you already have an answer for the question)

Has a lead-in
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Can start with a quote or page number Gives context for the audience so that they know why youre asking the question

Isnt a yes/no question Something should be at stake in the answer of the question
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Should reveal something that would affect our larger reading of the text

Should be arguable
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can be open-ended and might have more than one answer/opposing answers

Think about depth vs. breath

Does the question address a minute detail that might not be important in the grand scheme of things, or does it address an issue that affects the text as a whole? How does your question find a balance between depth and breadth?

something is at stake, but it still uses textual evidence/detail to ask/answer the question

You ask it because you think something is important and youre not quite sure how you want to answer it, so you want to get feedback from your peers
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This isnt necessary, but its a good route

Style of Writing: This document is meant to be informal and experimental. It is a place for you to try on new ideas before each web conference and especially before your curation project. Experiment with ideas that dont work and ideas that do. Dont worry too much about grammar. The work doesnt have to be perfect or feel like a finished product. It is totally okay if your ideas do not quite work out the way you want them to. Thats why you can revise the document throughout the semester. If it doesnt work the way you want it to the first time, keep working at it and revising it as you go. Return to old ideas in new entries. You can try on a bunch of new ideas every week, or you can keep revising a small number of ideas throughout the course of the semester. If something really interests you, keep working on it! If something doesnt, try something new. For this project, you dont need to produce something perfect every week; I just want to see that you are making an effort at this experimentation and are showing curiosity and an enterprising spirit and that youre keeping up with the document and collaborating with your group. Aside from the style of writing, textual evidence is extremely important for this assignment. You should use the text as a sort of proof for whatever you want to say. You can use textual evidence in any section, but make sure that its there. You can also use the whatever-else section to type out passages that you think are important.