Disciplinary Outcomes include developing skills in:

• researching, analyzing, and revising
• critical thinking
• close reading
• detailed observation
• synthesizing multiple perspectives
• entering an academic conversation by integrating original ideas with other scholars' ideas
• communicating an argument in different genres
• using conventions and style appropriate to different rhetorical situations
• responding to the needs of different audiences
• reflecting on knowledge, values, and commitment through a variety of media

Sustainability "Big Ideas" and "Habits of Mind" include understanding and responding to:

• complexities of environmental justice
• cross-cultural perspectives
• the inseparability of social and ecological communities
• the relationships among place, language, knowledge, and power
• the possibility of imagining alternative futures

• Gary Snyder, The World Is Places.
• William Cronon, The Trouble with Wilderness, or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature.
• Evelyn White, Black Women and the Wilderness.
• Louis Owens, The American Indian Wilderness.
• Michel De Certeau, Space and Place, Strategies and Tactics, and Walking in the City.
• Mike Davis, Fortress Los Angeles: The Militarization of Urban Space.
• Jane Jacobs, "The Uses of Sidewalks: Safety." The Death and Life of Great American Cities.
• Ray Oldenburg, The Problem of Place in America.
• David Guterson, Enclosed, Encyclopedic, Endured. One Week at the Mall of America.
• John Fiske, Shopping for Pleasure: Malls, Power, and Resistance.

I taught a similar assignment in a writing class linked to a humanities course titled "Architectural and Cinematic Spaces," team-taught by architecture and film studies faculty.

• a topic proposal;
• a detailed observation of the place;
• a close reading of a textual or visual representation of the place or a similar space;
• an annotated bibliography of outside research; and,
• a short analysis of the place through the lens of a theoretical reading, and (6-9) several drafts. (See the student handout for more details.)

• Schedule of Building Block Assignments week 6 through finals week; and,
• Main Learning Activities:
• Process & Product;
• Proposal;
• Pamphlet;
• Research;
• Choosing a Topic

Schedule of Building Block Assignments (Microsoft Word 47kB Nov2 11)

Possible Project Variations:
*The project could culminate in a website (such as a wiki) instead of a pamphlet (or the pamphlets could have a referring web address to a site that allowed for audience comments).

*A more advanced class could allow for a greater variety creative projects-not just pamphlets but other public installations (signage, artwork, etc).

Evaluation Rubrics

Claim

• Does the writer make a unique and complex arguable claim about the social and/or ecological sustainability of a place, at the outset of the essay, to guide her/his readers?
• Does the writer propose how and why s/he desires to communicate these arguments to the public?
• The significance and the implications of the multi-part claim clear (the "so what")? Does the writer see the complications of the claim and take it to its limits?

Evidence, Analysis, and Academic Conversancy

• Does the writer sufficiently support her/his ideas with specific concrete details and evidence?
• Does the writer fully and logically develop her/his ideas by employing a variety of critical analysis strategies to evaluate evidence?
• Does the writer gather relevant, necessary, and sufficient primary and scholarly research to communicate a certain fluency, expertise, or critical perspective regarding her/his topic?
• Does the writer contextualize her/his site-specific analysis and overall argument by critically engaging with academic concepts regarding place? Does the writer go beyond simply using others' arguments as her/his own?

Audience

• Does the writer successfully communicate to both a scholarly and a professional audience, explaining specialized terms and demonstrating an awareness of the interests that professionals and the public might have invested in this place?

Organization

• Does the writer present her/his ideas in a logical, organized manner with clear transitions between ideas?
• Do the introduction and conclusion function effectively?
• Are the paragraphs cohesive and fully developed, with effective topic sentences?
• Is the topic appropriate in scope for the required proposal length? Too narrow? Too broad?

Style & Conventions

• Does the writer communicate her/his ideas in clear language, improving upon sentence-level difficulties indicated on earlier assignments?
• Does the writer demonstrate sophisticated use of a variety of sentence structures? Do sentence-level errors interfere with the reading and understanding of the text or your view of the writer's credibility?
• Does the writer document her/his ideas appropriately, attributing information-words and ideas-that are not her/his own to appropriate sources, according to MLA Style, with in-text parenthetical references and a Works Cited page?

Revision

• Does the writer respond to instructor commentary and peer reviews? Does the writer resolve differences between her/his intentions and the effects the writing has on particular readers?
• Does the writer make substantial content-based revisions between drafts (such as incorporating new evidence or texts, revising organization, extending analysis, rethinking concepts, or refining claims) rather than simply "editing" the work submitted?
• Does the writer build on skills developed and/or critiqued in the first three papers?

Pamphlet: Evaluative Questions

Argument, Evidence, Analysis

• Does the writer present a unique and complex argument about the social and/or ecological sustainability of a place?
• Are the significance and the implications of the argument clear (the "so what")? Does the writer show her/his audience why they should care about these ideas or even how they might get involved in changing public places?
• Does the writer sufficiently support her/his arguments with specific concrete details and other evidence?
• Does the writer fully and logically develop her/his ideas by employing a variety of critical analysis strategies to evaluate evidence?

Audience

• Does the writer present her/his argument in accessible language appropriate to a diverse public audience?
• Does the writer condense and simplify the argument made in the proposal but still present key concepts regarding place?

Visual Appeal & Layout

• Does the writer incorporate strategic, compelling visual elements that contribute to the argument through ethos, logos, and/or pathos?
• Does the layout lead the reader through ideas logically?
• Does the layout allow for both complexity and clarity?

Documentation

• Does the writer document her/his ideas appropriately, attributing information-words and ideas-that are not her/his own to appropriate sources through Chicago-style footnote or endnote references?

Revision

• Does the writer respond to instructor commentary and peer reviews? Does the writer resolve differences between her/his intentions and the effects the writing has on particular readers?
• Does the writer make substantial content-based revisions between drafts (such as incorporating new evidence or texts, revising organization, extending analysis, rethinking concepts, or refining claims) rather than simply "editing" the work submitted?

• Gary Snyder, The World Is Places.
• William Cronon, The Trouble with Wilderness, or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature.
• Evelyn White, Black Women and the Wilderness.
• Louis Owens, The American Indian Wilderness.
• Michel De Certeau, Space and Place, Strategies and Tactics, and Walking in the City.
• Mike Davis, Fortress Los Angeles: The Militarization of Urban Space.
• Jane Jacobs, "The Uses of Sidewalks: Safety." The Death and Life of Great American Cities.
• Ray Oldenburg, The Problem of Place in America.
• David Guterson, Enclosed, Encyclopedic, Endured. One Week at the Mall of America.
• John Fiske, Shopping for Pleasure: Malls, Power, and Resistance.
• Rosenwasser and Stephen's Writing Analytically.