Assignment:

Composition notebook

English 4057/5057 Writing: Theory and Teaching

Spring 2011, ETSU

Kevin O'Donnell, Instructor

- Worth 10% of the final grade.

I. The Assignment

This semester, you will fill a 100 page composition notebook with writing--including a 10-page table of contents in the front, plus 90 pages' worth of entries. I'll pass out the notebooks on the first day of class. I want to use the notebooks this semester as a way of highlighting writing technologies. It will also serve a practical function. You'll take notes and do in-class writing activities in the notebook.

II. What Goes in Your Notebook?

The short answer is: any writing at all. That could include notes from this class and other classes, workplace or professional notes, travel notes, personal observations--anything. You may also draw pictures, maps, diagrams, tables of information, etc.

We will do numerous writing activities in the notebook, in class. I'll also give you out-of-class notebook assignments that are related to your graded essays. In addition, you may choose to write first drafts of essays in your notebook--if you are comfortable writing your drafts long hand. (If you prefer writing a first-draft with a computer, however, then by all means use a computer. There will be plenty of other material that you can fill your notebook with.) I also recommend--but do not require--that you purchase a book compiled by Sherry Ellis which is entitled Now Write! Nonfiction. That book is chock full of excellent nonfiction writing exercises which you can use to feed into your larger writing projects.

III. Grading

The completed notebook is worth 10% of the grade. However, I will never collect your notebook. Indeed, I will never even look in it. You control all access to the notebook; it is generally considered rude to look in someone else's notebook. Instead of looking in your notebook, I will grade it by collecting the following, 3 times, during the course of the semester: a xerox copy of your updated notebook table of contents, plus a copy of one sample entry. (See course calendar for due dates.)

IV. Criteria for Table of Contents and Sample Entry

At the beginning of the semester, you will set aside the first 10 pages of your notebook, to be used for a table of contents. As you use the notebook over time, you will periodically update the t.o.c. For each entry in your notebook, you will include the following, in your t.o.c.:

- date and day of the week

- page number(s)

- generous, descriptive, specific title, for the entry in question

- approximate word count

I will grade the t.o.c., first of all, on A) how complete it is. I will also evaluate B) the quality of the entry titles. In addition, I will grade the sample entry, on A) how complete the page headings are, and B) how substantial, interesting, adventurous, meaningful the entry itself is.