Calendar

SES # TOPICS KEY DATES
1

Introduction: Symbolic Encounters

In class: Writing exercise

 
2

At Odds with Nature

Writing: Introductory exercise

In class: Questioning your sources; finding a motive

 
3 Birds: Nature's Emissaries  
4

Writing: Warm-up exercise 1.1

In class: Developing a thesis. Using MLA in-text citations

 
5 In class: Workshop on introductions Draft Essay 1 due
6

Farms, Lawns, and Gardens: Cultivating Nature

In-class: Workshop on drafts

Organizing your thoughts; structuring your essay

 
7 Farms (cont.) Revised Essay 1 due
8 In class: Framing an argument  
9 In class: The rhetoric of argument  
10

In class: Paragraphs and transitions

Exercise: Re-assembling an essay

 
11 In class: The Rules of Engagement: Using sources & developing evidence  
12

Dams: Reconstructing Nature

Water for a Dry Land

Writing: Warm-up exercise 2.1

 
13

The Romance of the River

Writing: Warm-up exercise 2.2

In class: Exploring two texts. Creating a conceptual framework

 
14

Landscapes Lost and Found

In class: Exploring the past in a narrative essay

Draft Essay 2 due
15

Writing: Comments on partners' essays

In class: Workshop Essay 2

Creating coherent essays: Introductions and conclusions

 
16 Wolves: Confronting wildness Revised Essay 2 due
17 In class: Asking good questions and finding good sources  
18 In class: Exploring a new perspective and preserving your own  
19

Writing: Warm-up exercise 3.1

In class: Oral presentations of individual readings

Evaluating and citing secondary sources

 
20

Writing: Identify critical source(s) that you plan to read

In class: Additional oral presentations of individual readings

 
21

Writing: Warm-up exercise 3.2

In class: Additional oral presentations of individual readings

Using and misusing sources

Avoiding plagiarism; preserving your voice

 
22 Writing: Prospectus  
23

Discuss final revision process

Compare draft & published versions of two poems (one by Robert Frost and one by Walt Whitman)

Draft Essay 3 due
24

In class: Workshop Essay 3

Managing complexity; achieving coherence

 
25

Writing: Ongoing revision of Essay 3

In class: Workshop on revised introductions

Essay 3 revised introductions due
26 In class: Favorite passages from required or supplementary readings Revised Essay 3 due