ENG 101:
Effective Writing I
Fall 2008
Keeping a
Writer's Notebook
You will want to start keeping a "notebook" of reading response and analysis, writer's exercises, and reflections related to this class throughout the semester. You can keep classroom activities, notes on reading, returned quizzes, drafts, peer responses, etc. in a 3-ring binder or in a folder. I'll look at this as part of your Midterm Portfolio and Final Portfolio and will evaluate it on the basis of class participation and effort.
The notebook will serve the following purposes in our class:
This will be one of the ways through which I check on your reading.
The books and articles we use in this class and PDP will also be your writing textbooks. This means that you will learn things about writing from reading them—how to say things more clearly, perhaps, or how to establish your authority as a writer, or how to vary sentence length and paragraph length to keep your reader interested. Classroom activities, as recorded in your notebook, will help you use these readings as your "writing textbooks."
This record of classroom learning will help you write reflective cover essays for your Midterm Portfolio and Final Portfolio, which will serve as the basis of your grade for the course.
Some of these activities involve explaining, some exploring, others analyzing--the tasks your writing for PDP involves. The synthesizing will come in the form of writing your formal essays over the course of the semester—and those essays will all include elements of explaining, exploring, and analyzing as well.
Your notebook will serve as a record of your individual reading, writing, and thinking experiences over the semester. You will find it useful, too, when you are asked to reflect on your growth and development for PDP.
Updated by Dr. Trupe Sept. 25, 2008