1. Billie J. Jones School of Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication

2.  Course Description:  This course emphasizes the process of constructing a focused, logical, coherent, well-supported thesis, or point of view.... Students are prepared to use reading and writing in their personal, academic, and civic lives.

3. Two Course Objectives:  Develop and support a relevant, informed, argumentative thesis, or point of view, that is appropriate for its audience, purpose, and occasion (rhetorical knowledge). [ACRL Standard 4]  Analyze and evaluate information to identify its argumentative, credible, and ethical elements; students should also be able to reflect on civic responsibility as it relates to written discourse (critical thinking, reading, and writing). [ACRL Standard 3]

5.  differentiate among types of sources—news, professional, academic.  analyze and evaluate these sources.  compile information from a variety of credible sources.  uses information to make decisions and  recommend warranted civic action.

6.  Clarified evaluation criteria  Added a component to the assignment that provides students an opportunity to search for sources [ACRL Standard 2] and create another information product (blog page)

7. Weekly Blog Participation on Panel Topic Each group will create/facilitate one week’s discussion on the class blog. Using your panel topic as the subject, you will need to create a blog page, which will need to include the following:  Brief introduction to the topic  Three sources from at least two different media (e.g. video, article, image) ▪ One source needs to come from a popular source (e.g. CNN.com, Time) ▪ One source needs to come from a professional organization (e.g. USDA, Psychology Today) ▪ One source needs to come from a scholarly publication (e.g. JAMA, ▪ For a refresher on the differences between these sources, check out the chart at http://www.libraries.psu.edu/instruction/infolit/andyou/mod3/types.htm. http://www.libraries.psu.edu/instruction/infolit/andyou/mod3/types.htm  Writing prompt for discussion Your group’s page will be evaluated on the effectiveness of sources chosen, and the complexity of thought evidenced (and prompted) in the writing prompt. Remember: There are a number of examples already on the blog from the previous weeks, but I encourage you try something new!