Language Matters
Writing Assignments
For all writing assignments you will use academic English: complete and well crafted sentences, terminology from linguistics, well chosen vocabulary, and perfect spelling. Although you will submit your work electronically for the most part, we expect you to use Word or a comparable word processing system so that you can carefully edit your work. Meeting with a tutor in the Writing Center is an excellent way to hone your skills. Show the tutor your assignment and ask explicitly for help in sentence and paragraph construction. Remember that it is your responsibility to find a tutor that understands your needs. It may take several visits before you find a tutor who can help you. Make regular appointments.
For all Assignments, put your name, the type of assignment, and the date in the top left-hand corner. Please use single spacing. Print using both sides of the paper.
Due Mondays-Linguistic Analysis: The format will be a 1-2 page paper with 3 sections. Methodology, Findings, Discussion. Put these titles in bold type. Under Methodology, provide a 1-2 sentence explanation of where you found your data including the URL if appropriate so that your faculty can click on the link. Under Findings, explain what you found and then list the specific linguistic elements in a chart or list. Remember that context is crucial, so include that information as well. This section will be detailed. Under Discussion, in 2-3 sentences indicate in what ways your findings relate to the program lectures, workshops, and readings. More detail will be provided for each of the 8 assignments. You will write these in Word and then submit them to our Moodle site (Student Work).
Due Tuesdays-Seminar Response: For Seminar you will write a one page response with three sections: Thesis, Evidence, Counterargument. Under Thesis you will write the exact sentence you have found which seems to best encapsulate the author's major argument, and you will cite it by providing the page number. Under Evidence you will summarize 2-3 major points the author provides in support of the thesis. You must give enough information so that it is clear that you have read and grappled with the ideas. Under Counterargument you will write a few sentences giving your own reasons why the author's argument may not be the best one. You can critique the thesis, the evidence, and/or the assumptions, and you should work on developing a point of view as a budding linguist where possible. You will bring this paper to seminar and exchange it with one other person as a way of beginning our discussions. You will then submit this paper to your seminar leader.
Due Wednesdays-Synthesis essays: For Synthesis Workshops you will bring two essays. One will be a one-page persuasive essay based on a form of argumentation from our text They Say, I Say. Your essay will be in support of a thesis and will synthesize ideas from at least two "texts" (lectures, workshops, reading, analysis) from our program. Each week you will use the templates from a chapter in They Say, I Say beginning with chapter 1 and continuing to chapter 10. We will skip chapter 9. You will bring 3 copies for the workshop.
The other essay will be no more than half a page, and will respond to a question which asks you to find links between our lectures, workshops, and readings. You will bring one copy of this essay. Faculty comments will focus on your developing ability to create these links.
In the workshop you will spend the first hour in small groups of 6 reading your persuasive one-page essays to each other in peer review. Your group members will suggest changes. You will then revise this paper and submit it to your peer-review group on our Moodle site (Student Work) by 5pm. You must comment on all other papers by group members by 9pm. You will submit your best persuasive essay to your faculty in week 9.
The second, short essay will be the basis of your discussion in the second hour in your small groups. You will take notes on your discussion on the same page as this essay to indicate the ways in which your perspective opens or changes. We will have a general all-program discussion of your syntheses in the last half hour of the workshop. You will submit these essays to your seminar leader at the end of the workshop.
Final Project: The last week of the quarter you will submit a 3-4 page final paper and give a short presentation of your work. There are two types of projects: 1) You may choose one of your linguistic analyses and rework it using more data; or 2) you may write a research paper. In both cases you must do library research using databases, the catalogue, and Summit (the interlibrary loan section of the library catalogue). All journals should be peer-reviewed. The assignments for this project follow: Thursday, Week 6: a paragraph giving your topic and why it is interesting to you; Week 8: a 2-3 page working draft of your project; Week 10: paper and presentation due. You will use APA for citing sources and listing references. The sections will vary depending on the type of project you choose, and you can work with your faculty on it. All of these assignments will be submitted in Word to your faculty on the Moodle site.
Final Gender and Language Exam: You will receive this exam on Monday, Week 9, and submit your responses electronically in short essays by midnight Wednesday of that same week. If you have come prepared for each workshop and contributed to workshops, you will not find this exam difficult.
Program Portfolio: You will submit copies of all of your assignments listed here in a small, 3 ring binder. It is due Wednesday, Week 10. You will receive a handout which will be the first page of this portfolio and which will lay out your portfolio's organization.