Due Dates: These papers are due prior to the beginning of class on 9/17, 9/24, 10/15, 10/22, 11/19, 11/26, 12/3, 12/10
Throughout the semester, you will complete Micro-response papers on our readings. These are very short papers (300 words) in which you will do two things: 1) Summarize the reading; 2) Present a brief analysis of the text that considers what it has to do with composition.
Summary (200 words)
Your summary should explain what the reading says. Given that you'll be summarizing some fairly long readings in only 200 words, you'll need to decide what the most important ideas of the chapter are and what ideas can be left out. These summaries should be written in your own words, and they should make very minimal use of direct quotations from the text. Since you only have 200 words, you don't have much space for quotations. The idea here is to show that you understand what was said in the chapter and that you are able to put the chapter's key arguments in your own words.
What does this have to do with composition? (100 words)
This course is about considering the similarities and differences between composition (writing words) and computer programming (writing code). As we read, we will be considering what discussions of computation have to do with written composition. So, in this section of the Micro-response papers you'll be tasked with writing 100 words that speculate as to what our readings about computer programming have to do with writing.
The most difficult part of these papers will be saying what you want to say within the 300 word limit. This is part of the assignment. These assignments are designed so that you will have to make difficult decisions about what does or does not belong in the paper. This means that you should plan on writing multiple drafts of these papers and considering carefully how you make use of your 300 words.
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