Reading 

 

The reading load in this course is light. You are generally not assigned more than 25 pages in a week. However, this is designed to do two things. 1) Give you ample time to do ALL the reading and to read closely, and 2) Help to ensure you can draw on the readings effectively in your final project. 

 

Annotations: 

For four of our 30 class meetings, I will ask you to annotate and turn in one of the readings assigned that day. Annotating means highlighting, writing questions or notes in the margins, looking up and defining new words, using post-it notes and any other tools that help you learn and remember as you read actively. The goal here is to help you read closely and really understand the detail of what the author is saying and doing. We will annotate a text together in class in our first week so that everyone understands how this works, and printed copies of these readings will be provided in class ahead of time.

 

Analyses: 

In addition, each assigned annotated reading will also require a short analysis in which you will focus on different parts of persuasive writing: key concepts, arguments, evidence, and ideology. These analyses will help you familiarize yourself with academic approaches to different parts of persuasive writing, preparing you to do the same work in your own final project. We will discuss the substance of each of these in class and look at examples together before they are due. In terms of length I’d like you to write enough to cover the topic, probably about 2-4 pages, but please don’t think of these as long, research-style projects.

 

1. Defining concepts - Due 8/30

   • Read: Ann Swidler 

2. Critiquing claims and arguments - Due 9/20

3. • Read: Lucie White

4. Examining evidence - Due 10/11

   • Read: Sherene Razack or Daniel Bell

5. Exploring Ideology - Due 11/1

   • Kristin Luker 

 

You can see the rubric for the annotated reading assignments here. 

 

Writing 

This course is designed to help you excel as a writer. To that end, the writing assignments are intended to build on one another such that you are able to write a clear, well-argued persuasive essay by the end of the semester. Your work will be revised over the course of the semester. Revising means re-working, improving and tightening your ideas and the way you approach expressing them. This will be the main focus of our work. You will also, however, edit your work. Editing means being attentive to form, structure and professionalism (such as appropriate citations.) This is not a grammar class, but we will work to ensure that the form your writing takes elevates and makes accessible your ideas.

 

Free write - due 9/4/18

Please write about two pages on a time in your life when you were aware of a “tool” not being in your cultural “kit,” (as Swidler would say.) What happened? How did you respond?

 

 

Persuasive Project 

All other writing assignments will help you build towards a final persuasive project. Everyone will prepare a final written project by the end of the semester, which will be published online in our class Medium Series. You will choose one of the cross-cutting themes of the class (race, gender, literature, immigration or popular culture) and draw on the readings assigned to write persuasively on a law-related topic of your choosing. By persuasive I mean you need to take a position on the theme and topic you choose and through your project convince your audience of your view. 

 

• Project format

  • The written length of the project is 3,000 words, but *if your project is well-served with an interactive image, map, digital poster, Google Drawing, or a YouTube video that you create, those contributions can count for up to 800 words. This balance will vary by project. We will discuss this individually as your projects take shape.

 

• Assignment 1: Topic & outline - Due 9/27/18

  • 1 page explaining the topic you have chosen, which law or legal ideas are relevant, and how your topic intersects with a theme from the class

  • 1 page explaining any images/maps/videos/ media you are using and why

  • 1 page outlining your plan for approaching the project. On which texts will you draw (list at least 5)? Which examples will you use? What evidence will support your position? Submit on paper or use a mind-mapping tool for the outline.

 

• Assignment 2: Introduction & argument - Due 10/23/18

  • Please write an introductory paragraph (~300 words) which clearly states your topic and tells your reader what you’re going to persuade them about. You’ll also write a first draft of your argument (~600 words). Tell us what evidence you have to support your view and how you’ll convince your reader.

 

• Assignment 3: Draft of final project - Due 11/13/18

  • Regardless of the format of your final project you must have a draft of at least 1500 words and accompanying digital/visual/oral aspects. You must also have a list of at least ten sources.

 

• Assignment 4: TED Talk-style presentation. - In class on 11/27 & 11/29

  • Everyone will present their project in-class during our last two class meetings. You will have 7 minutes to present your work in an engaging and thought-provoking way; don’t worry it is enough time! See these examples for inspiration.

 

• Assignment 5: Final project published on Medium by 12/4