Introduction

Stop and Think

Before you complete any of the readings for this unit, write down what you believe are the five (5) most important words, terms, phrases, or concepts for writers to remember when writing in college.  Be prepared to revisit and share this information in the unit discussion.

With classmates, you will explore the major concepts of this course through collaborative discussions. Each discussion will have different instructions, requirements, and deadlines — so pay close attention! 

In this unit, our goal is to gather what our class believes about writing, and then analyze those beliefs using the terms and concepts from this week’s reading assignments. In essence, we will first gather our collective “conventional wisdom” about writing, and then “test” that wisdom against the ideas of writing experts. 

ULOs

• Describe your prior knowledge about writing (CLO 1, CLO 4)
• Define academic writing (CLO 1, CLO 4)

Directions

Pair and Share

• By Wednesday, after completing the readings for this unit, answer the following prompt in 100-200 words or so:
  • In the “Stop and Think” section of this unit, you jotted down the five words you believe are most important to remember when writing. Imagine Lennie Irvin, author of “What Is Academic Writing?” was here to respond to your five words. What would he say about your ideas about writing, and why?
  • Pose a question about any of this unit’s readings that you would like the class to discuss.
• Then, by Friday, select one of your classmates’ questions and pose a response.

Summary

• By Sunday, read through all of your classmates’ posts so far, and create a new post that answers these questions:
  • What trends or patterns do you notice in our lists and posts?
  • How our class’s beliefs about writing compare to the beliefs of Irvin?
  • After considering this week’s coursework, what questions do you have about academic writing? What would you like to know more about, investigate, or explore?
  • At this point in the class, how would you define academic writing?