The Assignment

It is difficult to argue to negotiate or mediate with only one mind. Well, maybe not, but this assignment will engage a pair of students to produce an ongoing discourse over the last part of the semester. My intent for incorporating the blog medium is to encourage a fun and interesting approach to argumentative writing that will combine (at least) four of the five course strands from the Learning Record. While there should be collaboration throughout this assignment, all of the posts (writing) will be done individually, thus providing me with the substance to assess your writing skills.

I'm not going to provide an umbrella subject this semester. You are more than welcome to, and encouraged to, look at some of the links on my page. Some of my students from last semester have left their blogs up, so you may look at them for reference. I would like to challenge you to try something new. If your topic is too close to what one of my former students has already mediated/negotiated, then I will ask you to either choose a new topic or tweak your existing topic so that you aren't plagiarizing someone else's ideas.

There are no page length requirements for the posts. You should write as much as you feel you need to in order to argue your side of the argument effectively--likewise for your final mediated/negotiated post. Rambling and verbose passages are not the most effective route. In your final post, I am requiring that you include a works cited/bibliography that includes, but is not limited to, two books (from a library), two scholarly articles, two newspaper articles, and one website (an accredited website). In addition to these requirements, I would like you to include three visuals. These can be images or links to pages with images. IF you have any questions about whether your sources are viable, please ask me. You may consult websites to help jump-start your research, but any information you find on a website (other than the one allowed) needs to be found and documented from a credible source.

Things I will be looking for in your posts:

1. Grammar, punctuation, organization and clarity of ideas/facts, proper MLA documentation, titles, theses statements, evidence, etc.
2. Collaboration between partners
3. Understanding of blogs and internet technologies
4. Quality research
5. EDITING ability
6. Promptness of Posts (pay attention to due dates)
   
7. Cohesiveness of the entire project (part of collaboration)
   

Don't slack off on this assignment. It is designed to provide a unique approach to argumentative writing. I view it as a comprehensive assignment that seeks to demonstrate how much you have learned/improved in your writing, thinking, researching, arguing, etc. It should be a forum for you (and your partner) to demonstrate that you have developed along the five course strands. It is hard to argue for specific improvements in your B2/C2 sections of the LR if you have not made those adjustments in this last assignment. Ask questions if you are confused. Don't wait until the last minute. I want everyone to succeed. I want everyone to improve. Do not slack off on this assignment.