WRT 105: Invention Portfolio

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Fall 2007
TR 7-8:20 | UC118
Section U002 | No. 22430


Reflective Cover Letter

For class on Thursday, December 6 , write a cover letter to your portfolio that accounts for the following.

Begin the letter with "Dear Derek"

1. In one sentence, tell me the argument you are making.
2. Is there anything you would like me to know about your final project (i.e., how it came together, extenuating circumstances that affected your writing of it)?
3. Explain how your essay advances its argument. How does the digital piece do this differently?
4. Are you satisfied that your portfolio represents your best work with respect to the inventive pieces of writing we did throughout this unit?

Before turning in your portfolio with this letter at the beginning of it, I would like you to do the following:

1. Draw a single line vertically in the margin next to the paragraph you think demonstrates your best work.
2. Draw a double line vertically in the margin next to the paragraph you think demonstrates a place where you think your project still needs more work.


Project Three Planning Statement

For class on Thursday, November 8 , write a one-page memo that accounts for the following.

Begin the memo with lines beginning TO:, FROM:, RE:, and DATE: (i.e., format this like a conventional business memo).

1. In one paragraph, explain the focus of your project and the shapes it will take. One shape will be the conventional written argument; the other shape will be a specific digital remake. Include specific, detailed intentions for both pieces.
2. In fewer than three sentences, explain the central claim or proposition of your project.
3. List the forms of evidence you will draw upon (at least two formal sources are required).
4. Fill in the following schedule with concrete goals for which pieces of the project you will have completed by particular dates. Every date shown here should have some tangible piece of the project identified with it. Include the completed calendar on the memo.

Week of Nov. 12-16
Tu.13
Th.15

Week of Nov. 19-23
Tu.20 Bring a three-page draft of your essay
Th.22 Fall Break - No Classes

Week of Nov. 26-30
Tu.27
Th.29

Week of Dec. 3-7
Tu.4
Th.6 Project III Due


Reflective Cover Letter

For class on Thursday, October 18 , write a cover letter to your portfolio that accounts for the following.

Begin the letter with "Dear Derek"

1. In one sentence, tell me what your essay is about.
2. Is there anything you would like me to know about your essay (i.e., how it came together, extenuating circumstances that affected your writing of it)?
3. Explain how your essay demonstrates spatial analysis and articulates one or more specific claims.
4. Is there anything, specifically, you would like me to comment on as I respond to your work in the days ahead?
5. Are you satisfied that your portfolio represents your best work with respect to the inventive pieces of writing we did throughout this unit?

Before turning in your portfolio with this letter at the beginning of it, I would like you to do the following:

1. Draw a single line vertically in the margin next to the paragraph you think demonstrates your best work.
2. Draw a double line vertically in the margin next to the paragraph you think demonstrates a place where you think your project still needs more work.

 


Reflective Cover Letter

In class on Thursday, September 13, write a cover letter to your portfolio that accounts for the following.

Begin the letter with "Dear Derek"

1. In one sentence, tell me what your essay is about.
2. Is there anything you would like me to know about your essay (i.e., how it came together, extenuating circumstances that affected your writing of it)?
3. Of the three terms that anchor this unit--experts, community, and university--which of the three does your essay deal with the most? The least?
4. Is there anything, specifically, you would like me to comment on as I respond to your work in the days ahead?
5. Are you satisfied that your portfolio represents your best work with respect to the inventive pieces of writing we did throughout this unit?

Before turning in your portfolio with this letter at the beginning of it, I would like you to do the following:

1. Draw a single line vertically in the margin next to the paragraph you think demonstrates your best work.
2. Draw a double line vertically in the margin next to the paragraph you think demonstrates a place where you think your project still needs more work.

 


Summary of Cantor Address

For Tuesday, September 4, write a two-paragraph summary of Nancy Cantor's address, "Multiculturalism, Universalism, and the Twenty-first Century Academy."


List of "Little Gems" from Mountains Beyond Mountains

For Thursday, August 30, bring to class a list of five "little gems" from Mountains Beyond Mountains. Include a brief note about why you selected the quotation for your list.

  1. "A Wall Street of medicine surrounded you: the campus of Harvard Medical School and the Countway Medical Library, Children's Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Brigham. The buildings look imposing packed together, and even awesome when you let yourself imagine what's going on inside" (9). I like the way the first sentence makes it seem like there is a lot going on with the buildings themselves. The second statement is believable because it adds the interior dimension of the buildings to complicate matters even further.
  2. "Beyond mountains there are mountains" (36). This is the proverb used in the book's title. What does it mean?
  3. "He did other nerdy things, like telling her the Latin names of trees and shrubs" (70). Farmer is fascinated with aspects of the world. He is not afraid to be viewed as nerdy. He seems to embrace it. Later he says that he isn't a nerd but rather "an action kind of guy" (79).
  4. "There was a family friend from Burkina Faso, who told me he was homesick, and I was reminded of something Farmer had said, that PIH headquarters wasn't Boston or even Haiti but wherever PIH-ers happened to be. He had build a web of acquaintances as large as any major politician's" (214). This suggests a shift from the idea of community to the idea of network. I find this to be a productive shift for the way it emphasizes connection rather than common location.
  5. "'An H of G' was short for 'a hermeneutics of generosity,' which he had defined once for me in an e-mail: 'I have a hermeneutic of generosity for you because I know you're a good guy. Therefore I will interpret what you say and do in a favorable light'" (215). The idea of a 'believing game' is similar to H of G: it encourages a willingness to believe before doubting.

Contact Information
Derek Mueller
Office: HBC 002
Fall '07 office hours: Thur., 8:20-9:20 p.m. (after class)
Phone: (315) 443-1785
dmueller@syr.edu
http://writing.syr.edu/~dmueller/