Start:
Welcome to Weblogging the New World! Weblogs have become more and more prominent and important in recent years. CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, and other media stations are turning to weblogs for eyewitness accounts, personal responses, on-site reportage, immediate coverage of events, and many other kinds of information. Weblogs are no longer merely personal; at times, they are a civic responsibility. This class will take a journalistic approach to weblogging. We will strive for accuracy and flair. We will acknowledge the importance of judging events (writing subjectively), but we will strive for factual observation (writing objectively). Along the way, we will explore the difference between evaluation and description.

You:
This class is going to make the virtual world a richer place! You will learn how to detail, decorate, and describe the real world with language that is all your own. Once posted to your weblog, it will communicate to someone exactly what you are seeing, thinking, and feeling. Weblogging, however, raises some interesting questions. What does it mean to share such private things with the world? Can we really produce a virtual identity that captures who we are? Do we tell stories differently if we know the world is watching (reading)? How is weblogging different from what other authors do? We are going to figure these and other things out in this class. You will keep a paper journal that only you will read and a virtual journal that everyone in the class (and whoever else stumbles upon it) will read. On your own, you will make weekly, secret entries into your private journals about things that happen to you over the summer. Online, you will create a web journal and develop a journalistic voice that you will use to think through how storytelling changes when it is broadcasted to to the world.

Location:
Both sessions will take place in Room 1

Lab:
The class will have mini-laboratory explorations of various literary concepts where you will be asked to work in a group of peers to complete a task (please see assignments). This part of the class will allow us to do interactive stuff that will really help with your writing. In order for the lab sessions to work, you will need to be willing and ready to work with your peers. Please take full advantage of this opportunity to learn from others in your community.
Things to remember:

1. Designate a notetaker and always make sure everyone has a say.
2. Lab is an opportunity to brainstorm and get more done. It is imperative that the group stay on task.
3. Some people are sensitive about their writing, so all criticism must be kind and constructive.

Assignments:
Register on livejournal.com.

Journal Entries:
#1 Please Describe Yourself
Journal Entry #1

#2 Please Describe Someone Else
Journal Entry #2

#3 Weblogging the Place
Journal Entry #3

#4 Weblogging the Event

#5 Compilation Station

Books: I will be distributing selected short readings. They will also be posted on the class website.

Us: In order for this class to work, you will need to come to class having done the reading and writing and prepared to discuss it. Do not shy away from discussion because you are struggling through a concept or because you are unsure about some writing. Speak up, ask questions, and get involved in making your writing happen.
Also, this class will ask you to work in a group with peers on short in-class assignments. You will also do peer work on your peer's writing. You are depending on your peers' comments as much as they depend on yours, so please be considerate and ample when giving writing advice.

Schedule:

Click on the links for Lecture Notes, Journal Prompts, and Grammar Presentations
Please consult Purdue's Online Writing Lab's Copyright Policy
before using any materials on this site for commercial purposes.

Thurs. July 7
Introduction
Review Syllabus
Classwork: Evaluative vs. Descriptive Words
Day 1

Journal Entry# 1: Please Describe Yourself
Journal Entry #1

Please read the following for next Tuesday:
"Notes On Punctuation"

Tue. July 12
Classwork: Workshop on Political and Gendered Terms
Peer Review of JE 1
Day 2

Journal Entry# 2: Please Describe Someone Else
Journal Entry #2
Reread: Viggo's Introduction

Please Bring Your Pocket Dictionaries On Thursday

Thur. July 14
Classwork: Workshop on Vocabulary (Diction) and Paraphrasing
Group Work on Paraphrasing
Peer Review of JE 2
Day 3

Journal Entry# 3: Weblogging the Place
Journal Entry #3

Tue. July 19
Classwork: Workshop JE's 2 & 3
Day 4

Thur. July 21

Classwork: Workshop on Vocabulary (Diction) and Paraphrase for Pith and Clarity
Peer Review of Event Notes
Day 5

Journal Entry# 4: Weblogging the Event
Journal Entry #4

Tue. July 26

Thur. July 28

Tue. Aug. 2