ENGL135 Advanced Composition
Week 1 Assignment
This week you will focus on planning your evaluation essay. To prepare, I recommend the following steps:
Read through the writing assignment.
Learn more about how evaluation essays are written by posting to the Week 1 Live Lesson discussion
Brainstorm at least two TED Talks you might want to write about in the Week 1 Getting Started discussion and settled on one.
To start planning in detail, download Evaluation Essay Planning SheetPreview the document (hyperlinked here or in the Weeks 1 and 2 Evaluation Essay folder under the FILES Tab).
Save the file as Your Last Name Evaluation Essay Planning Sheet.
Complete the sheet and submit it by Sunday at midnight Mountain Time.
Name Date Week 1
Evaluation Essay Planning Sheet
This assignment is intended to help you plan your Evaluation Essay (due Week 2). It is based on the following prompt:
Evaluation Essay
Browse the ted.com website and select a TED Talk that presents a persuasive argument on a debatable issue. Be sure to record the title, date, speaker information, and URL for your selected TED Talk.
In a 3- to 4-page essay, analyze how the speaker created his/her argument. Discuss the speaker’s topic, purpose, target audience, and style. Analyze thoroughly the kind of persuasive strategies the speaker used as well as the kind of evidence he/she presented.
Enter your answers in the dialog boxes provided.Even though this planning sheet is not a formal essay assignment, please note that proper spelling, grammar, and sentence structure are required.
What TED Talk have you chosen to analyze for your essay?
Title
Speaker
Date
URL
Summarizing theTalk(2 – 3 bullet points)
1. Before you can begin your analysis, you need to tell your readers what your speaker said as objectively as you can. Identify 2 - 3 key points from your source.
2. How familiar will your own audience (your professor and classmates) be with your speaker’s topic? Should you include background information on the topic? If so, search the internet for an informative article that will provide background information. Post the URL here.
Identifying the Target Audience(1 – 3 sentences each)
3. Who is the audience for your speaker’s talk? To whom are they explicitly or implicitly addressing their message? If we say the speaker is in a debate about their claims, who arethey debating?
4. What is the speaker’s purpose in giving their talk? What dothey hope the audience will learn or do as a result of listening to their talk?
5. What kind of style did the speaker use in giving their talk? For example, did they use humor? Did they use visual elements in the background? Did they move around the stage a lot? How did they capture your attention at the beginning? How did they bring the talk to an end? Etc.
Applying Your Analytic Tool (1-2bullet points each)
6. Every analysis needs an analytic tool. For this essay, use Aristotle’s list of persuasive strategies (ethos, logos, pathos, telos, andkairos). Which strategies did your speaker use? Identify the strategy and give an example of how they used it in their talk.
Strategy Details from My TED Talk
Logos(reasoning)
Pathos(emotion)
Ethos(character)
Telos(attitude)
Kairos(right timing)
7. Closely related to the persuasive appeals your speakers used is kind of evidence they provided. What kind of evidence does the speaker use to support their claims (personal experience, scientific studies, statistics, expert opinions, analogies, etc.)? Identify the strategy and give an example of how he/she used it in his/her talk.
Strategy Evidence from My TED Talk
Logos(facts, scientific studies, statistics, analogies, etc.)
Pathos(stories, pictures, etc.)
Ethos(reference to credentials, personal experience, etc.)
Defining Your Purpose and Thesis (1-3 sentences each)
8. Your overall purpose for writing this essay is to evaluate the effectiveness of a TED Talk by analyzing and“reverse engineering” it. What is your tentative thesis?
Your thesis is likely to be some version of this sentence:
In _____, _____ gave a TED Talk that effectively used Aristotle’s persuasive appeals of _____ to achieve his/her purpose of ______.
In _____, _____ gave a TED Talk that effectively used Aristotle’s persuasive appeals of _____ to achieve his/her purpose of ______.
ENGL135 Advanced Composition
Week 2 Assignment
WEEK 2 WRITING ASSIGNMENT: SUBMIT YOUR EVALUATION ESSAY HERE BY SUNDAY
To draft, revise, edit, format and submit your Evaluation Essay, I recommend the following steps:
Review the Evaluation Essay assignment, chapter 11 of your text and student sample essays:
Evaluation Essay Student Sample FOODPreview the document
Evaluation Essay Student Sample LISTENING Preview the document
Read carefully the feedback you got from your group mates in the Week 2 discussion and me on your Evaluation Essay Planning Sheet (see the Week 1 Writing Assignment link in the gradebook).
Download APA Student Paper TemplatePreview the document and save it as Your Last Name Evaluation Essay. Draft your evaluation essay starting on p. 2. Include a Reference page with your TED Talk source and any source materials you used in your essay. Update the cover page with your name, title, etc. Update your page 2 title.
If you need help with your reference list, please see the APA 7 Reference List,Preview the document Slide 16.
Submit your Evaluation Essay to this link by Sunday at midnight Mountain time.
The Full Title of the Essay in Title Case (Centered and Bold)
Student Name
DeVry University
Class
Professor
Submission Date
Your Full Essay Title (Centered and Bold)
Start your essay here. In the body of your paper, the first line of each paragraph is indented .5 inches. All parts of your essay should be double-spaced.
You can choose from a variety of fonts—such as Times New Roman 12-point font, Calibri 11-point font, or Arial 11-point font. However, whichever font you choose, you must use it consistently throughout your paper (including the cover sheet, the reference page, and the page numbers).
Reference / References
Alphabetize your reference list.
Be sure that you list all of the sources you cited in your paper. Likewise, cite all of the source you list here. There must be a one-to-one exact match between your citations/author tags and reference list entries.
If you have only one entry in your reference list, then the title should be singular. If you have more than one entry, the title should be plural.
Reference entries should use hanging paragraph formatting. That is, the first line should start at the left margin. Subsequent lines are indented .5 inches.
Start your reference list at the top of the next page after the end of your paper.
ENGL135 Advanced Composition
Week 3 Assignment
COURSE PROJECT RESEARCH LOG
Name Date Week 3
ENGL 135 Course Project Research Log
This assignment is intended to help you track your research for your course project essay(due Week 6, with intermediate assignments each week). It is based on the following prompt:
Problem-Solution Course Project Essay
Write a 5-page problem-solution essay in which you recommend a solution to a social problem that your family, your community, and/or your profession is facing. Choose a topic that is meaningful to you; I must approve all topics
In your essay, you should give any needed background information on the problem (the scope of the problem, the causes of the problem, the consequences of the problem, etc.) and then recommend what you think is a feasible solution. In general, you will recommend 1 – 2 solutions that you read about in your research, but if you come up with your own solution, you can write about that too. Where appropriate, explain why current solutions are inadequate and why new solutions should be enacted. Incorporate at least one visual element in your paper to enhance your ideas.
Your thesis will likely be a version of this sentence: _______ is a problem; we should do ______ to solve it.
Because your topic is meaningful to you, you will no doubt be able to contribute personal experience and insights to your essay, but your essay will rely mainly on researched material. Plan to find at least five credible sources for your research. At least two of those sources must come from the DeVry Library databases, and two must come from the Internet.
This research log is intended to help you take the next steps once you identify a topic. These steps include identifying what you know now and what you need to research as well as finding sources that are relevant to your topic and credible.
What topic have you chosen to research and comment on? (1-3 sentences)
Define your topic and explain why you are interested in this topic.
For example:
• I want to write about how music streaming services are impacting musicians. I play in a band, and I know that musicians are having a tough time making a living in 2018.
What do you know about the topic now?(2-4 extended bullet points)
Explain what you currently know about the topic. This will help you determine what you already know and what you may need to research.
For example:
• Because of mobile devices and music streaming services, people listen to music more than ever these days.
• But musicians hardly make any money on royalties for their songs. Only superstars came make a living from streaming their music.
Which credible sources have you found to help you learn more about your topic? (1-2 sentences each)
Find at least five sources that can help you understand the issue, both the problem and some possible solutions that others have tried.
Source 1—Library Source
What is the reference information for your source?
Title
Author
Year
Publication Information
EbscoHost Permalink or ProQuest URL
APA Cite
Why is this source a credible source (on your issue)?
Explain why the author or publishing organization is credible and how this source relates to your topic.
Source 2—Library Source
What is the reference information for your source?
Title
Author
Year
Publication Information
EbscoHost Permalink or ProQuest URL
APA Cite
Why is this source a credible source (on your issue)?
Explain why the author or publishing organization is credible and how this source relates to your topic.
Source 3—Internet Source
What is the reference information for your source?
Title
Author
Year
Publication Information
URL
Why is this source a credible source (on your issue)?
Explain why the author or publishing organization is credible and how this source relates to your topic.
Source 4—Internet Source
What is the reference information for your source?
Title
Author
Year
Publication Information
URL
Why is this source a credible source (on your issue)?
Explain why the author or publishing organization is credible and how this source relates to your topic.
Source 5—Your Choice
What is the reference information for your source?
Title
Author
Year
Publication Source
URL (if internet source)OR EbscoHost Permalink or ProQuest URL(if library source)
APA Cite(if library source)
Why is this source a credible source (on your issue)?
Explain why the author or publishing organization is credible and how this source relates to your topic.
Source 6—Extra
What is the reference information for your source?
Title
Author
Year
Publication Source
URL (if internet source)OR EbscoHost Permalink or ProQuest URL (if library source)
APA Cite(if library source)
Why is this source a credible source (on your issue)?
Explain why the author or publishing organization is credible and how this source relates to your topic.
ENGL135 Advanced Composition
Week 4 Assignment
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
This week you will focus on reading your sources, extracting “nuggets of information” from them to assemble into a working outline, and creating an annotated bibliography. To prepare, I recommend the following steps:
Read through the writing assignment and the following student sample annotated bibliographies:
Week 4 Annotated Bibliography Student Sample MUSIC BUSINESSPreview the document
Week 4 Annotated Bibliography Student Sample TRAFFICPreview the document
Learn more about what annotated bibliographies are and how they are formatting by posting to the Week 4 Live Lesson discussion
To start summarizing your sources and determining how you will use them in your problem-solution essay, download Annotated Bibliography TemplatePreview the document (hyperlinked here or in the Week 3 - 7 folder / Week 4 subfolder under the FILES Tab). Save the file as Your Last Name Annotated Bibliography.
Your annotated bibliography will include an introduction, the reference citations for the sources you gathered in Week 3, and an annotation for each source (summary + evaluation). The purpose of an annotated bibliography is to determine the appropriateness of the sources to the argument you are developing for your course project.
The format of an annotated bibliography is an introductory paragraph followed by an alphabetized list of sources with two paragraphs of annotation after each source (approximately 100 - 200 words). The first paragraph gives a brief summary of the source and the second paragraph explains why the source is helping to your project.
Remember that you must have at least five (5) sources; at least two (2) must be from library databases.
To create your annotated bibliography, you must first create a reference list in APA 7. For advice about how to format your reference list entries, please see the following slide decks (hyperlinked here or available in the APA File folder under the FILES tab):
APA 7 Formatting the Reference ListPreview the document
APA 7 Reference List EntriesPreview the document
First, gather the APA citations you downloaded for your library sources in your Week 3 research log. Using the appropriate APA 7 Reference List Entries slide deck “formulas,” proofread the citations carefully for accuracy.
Then, create the entries for your internet sources in your Week 3 research log. You may create them by hand or generate them with a citation generator. Once generated, proofread them carefully.
Alphabetize your sources and add your annotations.
Complete the annotated bibliography and submit it by Sunday at midnight Mountain Time.
ENGL135 Advanced Composition
Week 5 Assignment
COURSE PROJECT ESSAY DRAFT
The Full Title of the Essay in Title Case (Centered and Bold)
Student Name
DeVry University
Class
Professor
Submission Date
Your Full Essay Title (Centered and Bold)
Start your essay here. In the body of your paper, the first line of each paragraph is indented .5 inches. All parts of your essay should be double-spaced.
You can choose from a variety of fonts—such as Times New Roman 12-point font, Calibri 11-point font, or Arial 11-point font. However, whichever font you choose, you must use it consistently throughout your paper (including the cover sheet, the reference page, and the page numbers).
Reference / References
Alphabetize your reference list.
Be sure that you list all of the sources you cited in your paper. Likewise, cite all of the source you list here. There must be a one-to-one exact match between your citations/author tags and reference list entries.
If you have only one entry in your reference list, then the title should be singular. If you have more than one entry, the title should be plural.
Reference entries should use hanging paragraph formatting. That is, the first line should start at the left margin. Subsequent lines are indented .5 inches.
Start your reference list at the top of the next page after the end of your paper.
ENGL135 Advanced Composition
Week 6 Assignment
FINAL COURSE PROJECT ESSAY
This week you will focus on revising your problem-solution course project essay, using feedback me in the gradebook. You will also incorporate one or more visual elements into your essay. To prepare, I recommend the following steps:
Re-read the writing assignment and the following student sample essay:
Problem-Solution Essay Student Sample MUSIC BUSINESSPreview the document
Problem-Solution Essay Student Sample TRAFFICPreview the document
Learn more about how to smoothly and effectively incorporate visual elements into your writing, by participating in the Week 6 Live Lesson discussion.
Practice selecting, placing, labeling, citing and reference listing in the Week 6 Getting Started discussion.
To revise your course project essay, download your essay with my comments (see the grade book for the appropriate file and SAVE the file AS Your Last Name Course Project Essay Final Draft.
Submit your draft for Tutor Feedback. Based on the feedback you received from your tutor, revise, edit, and polish your essay. Review the rubric for this assignment below to ensure that you have met the assignment goals.
Submit your Course Project Essay to this link by Sunday at midnight Mountain time.
ENGL135 Advanced Composition
Week 7 Assignment
COURSE PROJECT NARRATED SLIDE DECK
This week you will focus on “translating” your course project essay into a business-style slide deck and narrating it.
The slide deck should consist of 8-10 slides, accompanied by an audio recording of 5-7 minutes in length. Create your slides as if they were going to be read (we call this a business-style slide deck), so your audience can choose to read your slides or listen to your audio, depending on how much time they have. Business-style slide decks have these features:
They use full sentences so the audience can understand the message even if they do not listen to the narration.
They use bullets, indented lists, and white space to indicate main ideas and supporting details.
They are easy to understand.
They use visual elements primarily to provide evidence and enhance ideas (rather than to fill space or give the slides visual appeal).
For more information on business-style slide decks, see Week 7 Creating a Business Style Slide Deck.Preview the document
Typical Slide Deck Outline
Title slide with title of project, your name, and the name of the class
Introduction/Overview slide that previews the main points you will discuss
Several body slides that develop your main points
Description of the problem
Recommended solution(s)
Conclusion slide that sums up and brings your project to closure
References slide(s) that list(s) your sources
To prepare, I recommend the following steps:
Read through the writing assignment and the following student sample essay:
Course Project Slide Deck Student Sample MUSIC BUSINESSPreview the document
Course Project Slide Deck Student Sample TRAFFICPreview the document
Learn more about how to create a business-style slide deck by participating in the Live Lesson discussion.
Download DeVry University Slide Deck Student TemplatePreview the document. Save the template as Your Last Name Course Project Narrated Slide Deck. Update the cover slide with your name and the title of your project. Create a References slide and copy and paste a corrected reference list. Use bullets to create hanging paragraphs.
NOTE: You may choose a custom design for your slide deck, but in keeping with the spirit of business-style slide decks, the design should be minimal and the background should be white.
Use the feedback you got from your classmates and from me in the Getting Started discussion to create a slide deck version of your essay. Do not simply copy and paste big chunks of your paper onto a slide. Rather, make an effort to express your ideas succinctly in the form of bullets and indented bullets. See my advice in Week 7 “Translating” Your Course Project into a Slide DeckPreview the document slide deck.
Once you have revised and polished the content of your slide deck, prepare to narrate it. See Week 7 Narrating Your Course Project Slide DeckPreview the document and Week 7 Recording an Audio Slide DeckPreview the document slide decks for advice.
Submit your Course Project Narrated Slide Deck to this link by Sunday at midnight Mountain time.
If you have questions, contact me. Please identify yourself in your message.
ENGL135 Advanced Composition
Week 8 Assignment
CAREER CONNECTION REFLECTION
Congratulations! You did it! You made it safely to the end of your journey in Advanced Composition! DeVry University strongly believes that every class you take helps you to learn something of value in achieving your career goals. In this course, you worked on improving your skills in the following areas:
analyzing and reading critically,
researching,
writing,
presenting,
working together to give and receive feedback, and
using technology.
For our last graded assignment, you will write about how these skills will help you achieve your career goals.
To prepare, I recommend the following steps:
Read through the writing assignment.
Download APA 7 Student Paper TemplatePreview the document. Save the template as Your Last Name Career Connection Reflection. Update the cover page with your name and the title of your reflection.
As you draft, try to address each of the six skills identified above and/or in the writing assignment and give specific examples. Your reflection should be about 500 words.
When you are ready, submit your Course Project Narrated Slide Deck to this link by Saturday (12/19) at midnight Mountain time.
ENGL135 Advanced Composition
Week 1 Discussion
DQ1 IDENTIFYING YOUR EVALUATION CRITERIA AND CHOOSING A TED TALK
This discussion explores two key ideas for this week:
Evaluating and the need to identify your criteria / tool of evaluation
Brainstorming a topic for your evaluation essay
Let’s look at each of these topics in your discussion posts this week.
For your BY WEDNESDAY post, read the contextual material and follow the directions below. Post by Wednesday for 2 post-by-Wednesday points and 6 points for quality and timing.
A common writing assignment in college classes asks students to evaluate something—a document, a case, a situation, etc. The first step in this process is analysis, or breaking the object under scrutiny down into its constituent parts. The second step is to evaluate it.
DQ2 REVERSE ENGINEERING” A TED TALK EVALUATION ESSAY
You will get full credit for this discussion if you…
attend this week’s live lesson stream and participate fully in the discussions and activities
OR
watch the live stream recording and make at least one post, addressing the prompt below.
Documents hyperlinked below can also be found
in the Weeks 1 and 2 Evaluation Folder under the FILES Tab.
ENGL135 Advanced Composition
Week 2 Discussion
DQ1 TAKING NOTES AND DRAFTING THE INTRODUCTION TO YOUR EVALUATION ESSAY
This discussion explores two key ideas for this week:
Taking good notes so you can easily provide evidence for your claims
Writing an effective introduction to your evaluation essay
Let’s look at each of these topics in your discussion posts this week.
For your BY WEDNESDAY post, read the contextual material and follow the directions below. Post by Wednesday for 2 post-by-Wednesday points and 6 points for quality and timing.
According to your textbook, to write an effective evaluation essayPreview the document, you must, among other things,
Make a claim about your overall assessment of your TED Talk
DQ2 “REVERSE ENGINEERING” THE INTRODUCTION AND CONCLUSION TO AN EVALUATION ESSAY
You will get full credit for this discussion if you…
attend this week’s live lesson stream and participate fully in the discussions and activities
OR
watch the live stream recording and make at least one post, addressing the prompt below.
Documents hyperlinked below can also be found
in the Weeks 1 and 2 Evaluation Folder under the FILES Tab.
ENGL135 Advanced Composition
Week 3 Discussion
DQ1 EXPLORING RESEARCH AND CHOOSING A COURSE PROJECT TOPIC
This discussion explores two key ideas for this week:
Exploring the purpose of research
Brainstorming a topic for your course project problem-solution essay
Let’s look at each of these topics in your discussion posts this week.
DQ2 “REVERSE ENGINEERING” A PROBLEM-SOLUTION ESSAY
You will get full credit for this discussion if you…
attend this week’s live lesson stream and participate fully in the discussions and activities
OR
watch the live stream recording and make at least one post, addressing the prompt below.
Documents hyperlinked below can also be found in the following folders under the FILES Tab:
Weeks 3 -7 Course Project Folder
ENGL135 Advanced Composition
Week 4 Discussion
DQ1 CREATING A WORKING OUTLINE
This discussion explores two key ideas for this week:
Preparing your sources for writing and creating a working outline
Creating an annotated bibliography
Let’s look at preparing your sources for writing and creating a working outline in this discussion post this week.
POST 1
DQ2 “REVERSE ENGINEERING” AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
NOTE: You will get full credit for this discussion if you…
attend this week’s live lesson stream and participate fully in the discussions and activities
OR
watch the live stream recording and make at least one post, addressing the prompt below.
Documents hyperlinked below can also be found in these folders under the FILES Tab:
Weeks 3 -7 Course Project Folder / Week 4 subfolder
ENGL135 Advanced Composition
Week 5 Discussion
DQ1 INCORPORATING SOURCE MATERIAL INTO YOUR WRITING
Documents hyperlinked below can also be found in the following folders under the FILES Tab:
Weeks 3 -7 Course Project Folder / Week 5 subfolder
APA 7 Documents
This discussion reviews a key concept that you likely learned in previous English classes, including ENGL 112: how to incorporate source material into your writing to support your ideas.
DQ2 REVERSE ENGINEERING” A PARAGRAPH WITH SOURCE MATERIAL
You will get full credit for this discussion if you…
watch the live stream recording and make at least one post, addressing the prompt below.
Because of the Thanksgiving Holiday, there is not formal Live Lesson for Week 5. ALL students will participate in this discussion in writing.
Documents hyperlinked below can also be found in these folders under the FILES Tab:
Weeks 3 -7 Course Project Folder / Week 5 subfolder
APA 7 Documents
ENGL135 Advanced Composition
Week 6 Discussion
DQ1 USING VISUAL ELEMENTS TO ENHANCE YOUR IDEAS
Documents hyperlinked below can also be found in these folders under the FILES Tab:
Weeks 3 -7 Course Project Folder / Week 6 subfolder
APA 7 Documents
Visual elements are powerful tools in getting your ideas across. That is why I am asking you to include visual elements in your essay and narrated slide deck.
You can develop your own visuals. Chapter 15 of your textbook (esp. pp. 437-439) explains briefly how to construct meaningful ones. If you insert these into your essay, you should create a label for your visual element, but you do not have to cite it because it is your own work.
However, it is more likely that you will insert a visual element that you got from another source. Because you must give credit where credit is due, you must cite your visual, both in your essay itself and in your reference list (as you would for any other source).
DQ2 “REVERSE ENGINEERING” A VISUAL ELEMENT
You will get full credit for this discussion if you…
attend this week’s live lesson stream and participate fully in the discussions and activities
OR
watch the live stream recording and make at least one post, addressing the prompt below.
Documents hyperlinked below can also be found
in the Weeks 3 -7 Course Project Folder or in the APA 7 Folder under the FILES Tab.
ENGL135 Advanced Composition
Week 7 Discussion
DQ1 “TRANSLATING” YOUR ESSAY INTO A BUSINESS-STYLE SLIDE DECK
Documents hyperlinked below can also be found in these folders under the FILES Tab:
Weeks 3 -7 Course Project Folder / Week 7 subfolder
Your writing assignment is this week is to “translate” your course project essay into a business-style slide deck and narrate it. This discussion introduces you to business-style slide decks (BSSDs).
DQ2 “REVERSE ENGINEERING” A BUSINESS-STYLE SLIDE DECK
NOTE: You will get full credit for this discussion if you…
attend this week’s live class stream and participate fully in the discussions and activities
OR
watch the Live Lesson recording and make at least one post, addressing the prompt below.