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Reading Responses

For information on Naming What We Know concepts, click here!

​Guidelines for Reading Responses (RRs) 

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  • An effective RR will be between one and two pages, single-spaced. You will use the memo genre, which allows headings and emphasizes clarity and conciseness.  Some of your RRs may be longer as you engage more with the readings. 

  • Some of your RRs may be longer as you engage more with the readings. When one RR covers more than one reading, you will obviously need more than one page. 

  • Your audience for all Reading Responses will be Professor Flores, even though your classmates and other instructors and librarians may read these too. 

  • Your purpose for writing these Reading Responses is to demonstrate the following: 

    • you have read (or viewed) the assignments carefully, by selecting what you think are the more important ideas or concepts from each reading and explaining why you think it is important;

    • you are making connections among the specific readings for each week with the readings you have done in previous weeks in the course; 

    • you compare the more important concept or ideas in the reading with your previous experiences, using examples from your past experiences to illustrate your explanations; and you explore how the ideas in the readings might apply to your current work (other than this course) as a student and/or your future work as a student or professional or citizen. 

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For the Memo template, click go to our Blackboard!  You may use the Phrasebank to help tie concepts together.

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Reading Responses will be due on Sundays by 11:59 pm (by the end of the day). These will be on your running document for Reading Responses. 

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Each entry must contain the following: 

  • Entry number, date, and reading(s)

  • Memo template

  • Textual evidence with quotations and page numbers

  • Easy to understand examples

  • Demonstrate connections across the readings

    • how do the readings from that week connect or support each other?​

    • how do they argue against each other?

  • Needs to be in paragraph form

  • For each assigned reading, depending on the source of the reading, pick one of the questions below and respond to that prompt. 

    • Copy and paste the prompt and write your response underneath. ​​​

Naming what we know

As you read the short essays in NWWK, each one describes a writing concept that we think is essential for your success as a college writer and beyond. Each of these concepts will be "troublesome." In other words these concepts challenge you to change the way you think about writing (and as a result, the way you use writing).

For each of the NWWK readings, you will compose a response that achieves the following purposes (choose one or more or craft your own that relate to student SLOs?):

  • Explain this concept to seniors at your high school alma mater. They would want to know, in language they understand, how this concept is different from what they currently know / believe about writing. And they will understand your explanation if you connect it to examples of writing that might be relevant for them or that you know they have done or are doing.

  • Is it obvious? Or is it new information? If it's obvious, offer examples from your past experiences with writing to show that you already understood this. If it's not obvious, use examples from your past experiences to show how you had the "opposite" or different understanding of writing.

  • Identify the sentence or sentences in the reading that you think best explain the concept. In other words, what part or parts of the reading helped you understand the concept?

  • What part or parts of the reading were not clear, and why? How / why did they confuse you?

  • What would you believe about writing if the concept were not true or accurate? Offer an example.

  • Considering your ongoing self-assessment as a learner, what kind of evidence would you need to provide to show that you have passed over this threshold?

  • How does this concept change / transform / expand your knowledge about writing, the ways you think about using writing? Offer one or more "before" and "after" examples.

  • How does this concept connect with previous concepts and expand what you know about writing. How does this reading change or add to your understanding of previous concepts.

  • How does this concept relate to "What Do Writers Do?" or to our Key Terms or Habits of Mind?

Framework for Information Literacy

​Select statements from the list below.   Offer your candid self-assessment of your ability to do these tasks. If you think you can do this, offer an example to demonstrate your competence:​​

  • Based on the excerpts from "Introduction and Definition" for the Framework for Information Literacy, why do you think we are emphasizing "Information Literacy" concepts in this course? How will becoming information literate contribute to your future? Offer an example or two. How much of these few paragraphs is new information to you? 

  • How is ________________ an example of a threshold concept (see Meyer, Land, Baillie's explanation in the "Introduction")? 

  • How or why is this concept new to you? Confusing to you? Or common knowledge to you? 

  • Consider "Knowledge Practices" associated with this concept. Which one(s) describe what you know or know how to do now? Offer evidence/examples.

  • Consider "Dispositions" associated with this concept. Which ones are similar to or same as Habits of Mind? How do any of them describe you now? 

  • Why is this concept relevant to or important for your success in the future?

Reading Response #1​  (due 1/20)

  • Naming What We Know

    • Preface​

    • pg.2

    • Metaconcept

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Reading Response #2​  (due 1/27)

  • Naming What We Know​

    • TC 1.0

  • Framework for Information Literacy

    • Introduction​

Reading Response #3​  (due 2/3)

  • Naming What We Know

    • 2.0

  • "Genre in the Wild" 

    • "What is a Genre?"​

    • "How do people learn about genres in a particular setting?"

Reading Response #4​  (due 2/10)

  • Naming What We Know

    • 3.0

  • Framework for Information Literacy 

    • "Authority is Constructed and Contextual"​

Reading Response #5​  (due 2/17)

  • Naming What We Know

    • 4.0

  • Framework for Information Literacy 

    • "Searching as Strategic Exploration"​

Reading Response #6​  (due 2/24)

  • Naming What We Know

    • 5.4

    • 3.1

  • Framework for Information Literacy 

    • "Research as Inquiry"​

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