Writing 20 - Cora Agatucci
Basic Writing I


WR 20 Assignments (1) - Fall 2001
for CRN #40561, Tues.-Thurs. 11:00 am - 12:15 pm, Jefferson 101 (Cora Agatucci)
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See Fall 2001 WR 20
Course Plan for Deadlines
Short Cuts:  Week #1; Week #2; Week #3; Week #4

Paragraph #2: Go to Paragraph #2 (Narration)
URL: http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/wr20/p2narration.htm

Sentence Analysis Review handouts:  Go to Sentence Analysis Review
URL: http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/wr20/sentenceanalysis.htm
URL: 
Weeks #5 - #10:  Go to WR 20 Assignments (2)
URL: http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/wr20/assignment2.htm


Week #1
See Fall 2001 WR 20 Course Plan for Deadlines


Paragraph #1 Topic Choices (as agreed upon in class on Tues., 9/18/01)
Directions: Choose one of these topics for In-Class Diagnostic Paragraph #1:

Diagnostic Paragraph #1 will be written in class (30 min.) on Thurs., 9/20/01.
Bring your written preparation to class
(recommended: try out Ch. 2 "prewriting" strategies).

See also Week #2: In-Class Diagnostic Paragraph #1 Evaluation Checklist


Week #2
See Fall 2001 WR 20 Course Plan for Deadlines


Writer's Profile #1 (Survey of Writing Skills & Goals)
Directions:  Read the following WR 20 Course Competency statements, and do the following:

Paragraph Writing Skills

___Competency 1: Be able to produce stand-alone paragraphs with a topic sentence and supporting details.
Comments:

___Competency 2: Be able to maintain focus and coherence for stand-alone paragraphs of at least 200 words.
Comments:

___Competency 3: Be able to distinguish between general support and specific evidence and to apply the distinction to one’s writing.
Comments:

Sentence Editing & Correction Skills

___Competency 4: Be able to produce paragraphs containing a variety of sentence lengths and structures, including some complex sentences.
Comments:

___Competency 5: Be able to edit one’s own writing to avoid most major sentence errors.
Comments:

___Competency 6: Be able to edit one’s own writing to avoid capitalization, spelling and confused word errors.
Comments:

___Competency 7: Be able to edit one’s own writing for generally accurate use of commas, semi-colons, apostrophes, and pronouns.
Comments:

The Writing Process

___Competency 8: Understand the principles of the writing process in its basic form: generating ideas [prewriting], organizing ideas, drafting [composing], revising and editing.
Comments:

Writer's Workshops

___Competency 9: Be able to assist other writers with accurate analysis of focus, coherence, and specific development, at the paragraph level.
Comments:

List here any other course learning goals of your own:

Top of this page

Ch. 3 Exercise (& to ensure that you get full credits on this & future Exercises, please review Directions at top of WR 20 Course Plan!)
Directions:
Read Odyssey Ch. 3: "Composing: Creating a Draft" and then do the following exercises in Ch. 3:

Ch. 17 Exercise
Directions:
Read Odyssey Ch. 17: "The Sentence" and then do the following exercises in Ch. 17:

Extra Credit Option:  Make an extra double-spaced copy of (Revised) Paragraph #1, and for each sentence in your paragraph, do the following:

Looking ahead . . .

FRAGMENTS (Ch. 18)
If Cora marked any sentences in your Paragraph #1 a “FRAG,”
 the sentence(s) may lack a verb, a subject, or both.  

COMMA SPLICES & RUN-ON SENTENCES (Ch. 20)
If Cora marked any sentences in your Paragraph #1 a “CS” or “RS,”
you can expect to find at least two complete subject-verb combinations in that sentence.  


In-Class Diagnostic Paragraph #1  Evaluation Checklist 
Worth: 2 P.C.  – Evaluated Credit / No Credit and critiqued by Cora using this checklist.

The Writing Process:  WR 20 Competency # 8

____a. Understand the Assignment:  Paragraph is written on one of these assigned topic choices: 1. People Watching; 2. Why are you here in college?; 3. Your first tattoo or piercing; 4. Scariest Moment; 5. Your favorite place
____b. Written Preparation (Pre-Writing) for In-Class Diagnostic Paragraph #1?
____c. Topic Scope is limited well enough so that it could be adequately addressed in a stand-alone paragraph of 100-200 words.

Evaluation Guide:  Check Plus = Very Good; Check  = Satisfactory; Check Minus = Weak

Paragraph Writing Skills:  WR 20 Competencies # 1, 2, & 3

___A. Topic Sentence & Paragraph Unity (Odyssey Ch. 3)
(1)   Paragraph makes a central point, expressed in a clear, specific, well-placed topic sentence.  Title is relevant to the main idea of the paragraph.
(2)
   Paragraph content is unified or controlled by the topic sentence: the writer sticks to the focusing point; everything else in the paragraph supports and develops the topic sentence;  writer does not stray from the topic or the topic sentence idea.

___B. Supporting Development (Odyssey Ch. 3)
(1)
   Paragraph body offers both general support and specific evidence (details) to support the topic sentence and develop (clarify, explain, illustrate) the writer’s points fully enough so that (uninformed) general readers can understand.
(2)
   Specific evidence (supporting details, examples) is well selected and relevant to the point(s), clear and vivid enough to “show” readers what the writer means.

___C. Organization and Coherence (Clarity, Transitions) - (Odyssey Ch. 3)
(1)   Order or arrangement of ideas is logical, effective & easy to follow.
(2)   Coherence is created & maintained through clear expression (word choice, sentence structure) and use of strong transitions (which point out relationships and move the reader smoothly and logically from idea to idea).

___D.  This paragraph is “Reader-Centered” writing.  (Odyssey Ch. 3)

Sentence Editing & Correction Skills:  WR 20 Competencies # 4, 5, 6, & 7
See “Sentence Skill Locator” on inside back cover of Odyssey for Editing Symbols.

___E.  Style & Grammatical Correctness.  Words are chosen effectively; Sentences use subordination, coordination, variety effectively.  Paragraph has been edited effectively to avoid most grammatical errors.  In particular, these Major Sentence Errors are avoided: (1) Fragments (frag – Ch. 18), (2) Comma Splices (cs – Ch. 20), and (3) Run-on Sentences (rs – Ch. 20).

Revised Paragraph #1 (to be graded) - Worth 10% of course grade.  Directions were given in class when In-Class Diagnostic Paragraph #1 was returned and discussed.  Revised Paragraph #1 will be graded on Criteria A - D stated above in Evaluation Checklist for In-Class Diagnostic Paragraph #1.  Grammatical errors will be included in the grading only if they hurt the coherence and clarity (see Criterion C above) of your written expression.


Week #3
See Fall 2001 WR 20 Course Plan for Deadlines


Chs. 18 & 19 Exercises

SUGGESTION: If you don’t want to tear out Odyssey pages or copy out exercises on a separate piece of paper in order to hand them in for credit, try zeroxing Odyssey pages of assigned exercises, then doing the exercises on the zeroxed pages.  

Directions: Read Odyssey Ch. 18: "Fragments" and Ch. 19 "Subordination and Coordination," pp. 261-264, then do the following exercises:

Follow-Up Editing Exercise: FRAGMENTS.
When Revised Paragraph #1 is graded and returned to you, look to see whether Cora marked any of your sentences a “FRAG."  Then use what you’ve learned to analyze why your sentence is a fragment, and try to correct your fragment(s).  

Ch. 5 Exercise
Directions:
Read Odyssey Ch. 5: “Narration” and do the following:

Review the “Narrative Paragraph Checklist” (p. 91) and re-read the following Ch. 5 example narration paragraphs:

Choose two of the above narrative examples, then answer all 5 questions in the “Narrative Paragraph Checklist” (p. 91) for those two narrative paragraphs.  

Go to Paragraph #2 (Narration)
URL: http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/wr20/p2narration.htm


Week #4
See Fall 2001 WR 20 Course Plan for Deadlines


Go to  Paragraph #2 (Narration)
URL: http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/wr20/p2narration.htm

Writer's Profile #2 

I.  Self-Assessment of Paragraph Writing Skills: Review Cora’s assessment of Paragraph #1.  Then respond to the following:

A.  Questions:  Write here any questions you have about Cora’s comments, Evaluation checklist, and/or grading:

 

B.  Identify the type(s) of paragraph development you used in Paragraph #1 (see Odyssey Chs. 5-12)

 

C.  Strengths: Identify one-to-three of the strongest aspects of your Paragraph #1:

1.

 

2.

 

3.

 

D.  Weaknesses:.  Identify one-to-three of the weaker aspects of Paragraph #1 that you want to target for improvement:

1.

 

2.

 

3.

 

II. Preparation for Week #4 In-Class Sentence Analysis Exercise:  Make a clean copy of Paragraph #1—DOUBLE SPACED!!—and bring to class with this completed Writer’s Profile #2.


Sentence Analysis Review: Part I & Practice Ex.; Part II & Practice Ex., & Part  III handouts(to be distributed in class on Tues., 10/9/01)

Go to Sentence Analysis Review, Parts I, II, & III -  Online Handouts
URL: http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/wr20/p2narration.htm

Go to Chs. 20 & 19 Exercise (to be assigned in-class on Thurs., 10/11/01)

Go to WR 20 Assignments (2) for Week #5
URL: http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/wr20/assignment2.htm

Punctuating Common Sentence Patterns handout & Practice Exercise (to be distributed in class on Thurs., 10/11/01)

Go to WR 20 Assignments (2) for Week #5
URL: http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/wr20/assignment2.htm


Weeks #5 - #10 - Go to WR 20 Assignments (2) 
URL: http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/wr20/p2narration.htm
See Fall 2001 WR 20 Course Plan for Deadlines


Cora's Fall 2001 WR 20 Syllabus | Course Plan |
Assignments are being webposted after they are discussed in class.
WR 20 Course Home Page

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URL of this webpage: http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/wr20/assignments.htm
Last updated: 12 August 2002


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Humanities Department, Central Oregon Community College
I welcome comments: cagatucci@cocc.edu
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