Academic and professional writing are not solitary activities. We dialogue with the writing of fellow students, professors, published authors, critics, and other experts. We pull apart texts and repurpose them to suit our needs. We alter our voice to reach a variety of audiences. We seek approval and, often, a grade. This interaction is much like what happens with writing on the Internet—through blogs, forwarded e-mails, MySpace, e-Bay, and even spam—making the Internet a perfect place to practice prewriting. The writing is casual and the response is in real time. Rather than keeping a traditional journal for this class, we will be writing an exploratory class blog.
Two weekly directed topics will be posted every Sunday by 9pm. You will respond to both topics by 9pm the following Sunday.
Your responses should be approximately one page long. If you need to gauge page length, type your response first in a word processing program (such as Word) and then copy and paste. Your page should be posted as a comment in response to the topic rather than as a separate post on the front page.
Do not worry about spelling or grammar. I will not be grading based on content, simply on completion of each entry.
You will be responsible for keeping copies of each of your responses, either saved to a disk, your hard drive, or printed pages. If there is a question as to whether an entry has been completed, you will be responsible for providing a copy. You will use the ideas generated in these entries for future papers. You also want to save the writing of fellow students that is especially pertinent or insightful to cite as a source for your papers.
Be aware that your writing will be visible to both your classmates and the entire Internet community; use caution when writing personal stories or giving out information about yourself.
You will not be reminded of entry due dates in class, so you must remember to check the website every week. If you have trouble accessing the site, please contact me via phone or e-mail immediately.
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This blog should be more than just a journal, but a place to use writing to communicate. Feel free to post items on the front page that may be of interest to your classmates, such as on-campus events, interesting articles, or even requests for help with schoolwork. (I reserve the right to remove any items I deem inappropriate.)
