What's New this Week?
A weekly update of our class work.

Update Letters from Previous Weeks
Here you can read the What's New? letters from previous weeks.

WebBoard
How we plan to use WebBoard.

WebBoard directions.
How to set up and sign onto WebBoard.

UNIT 1
Getting Started
An outline of the writing process. See also these related pages:

• Lab 1: Learning the Basics of Manipulating Text and Images
  Our first lab to help us learn to move text and images from one application (a web browser) to another (a word processor).

UNIT 2
Modes of Discourse
This file contains some of the figures and explanatory notes to our early discussions of reading, writing, and argument.

• Lab 2: Searching the Web for Information
  An exercise associated with our first writing assignment.
• Essay 1: Summary and Review

• Lab 3: The Three Appeals
  This lab will help you learn about and identify the different appeals that a writer can use.
• Self-test for Exam 1

UNIT 4
The Functions of an Introduction
An exploration of the different gambits writers use at the opening of a piece.

• Lab 4: Citing Sources on the WWW
  A discussion and exercise in citing material drawn from the web.
• Essay 2: Comparison and Contrast
  Comparing your ideas about reading and education to Birkerts'.

• Lab 5: Supporting the Essay
  Our chance to look into the use of detail in composition.
• Essay 3: Description
  Describing the future, as you see it.

• Self-test for Exam 2

UNIT 7
Coherence in Writing
A discussion of the two features that make written language coherent — paragraph unity and sentence cohesion.

• Lab 6: An Exercise in Paragraph Unity
  An exercise associated with the Coherence in Writing page to learn more about the idea of paragraph unity.
• Essay 4: Analysis
  Analyzing how text and image influence the reader.

• Lab 7: An Exercise in Coherence
  An exercise associated with the Coherence in Writing page to learn more about sentence cohesion.
• Essay 5: Definition
  Defining the very notion of literacy itself.

UNIT 9
Nominalization and Passive Voice
A discussion of the two stylistic features that often make written language difficult for any reader.
Sentence Variety and Style
An illustration of some of the many options available to any writer, and a discussion of two sentence patterns that have proven very effective at helping the writer emphasize the significant part of the message.

• Lab 8: Sentence Structure and Style
  A series of exercises associated with the Sentence Euphony, Nominalization and Passive Voice, and Sentence Variety and Style pages.
• Essay 6: Argumentation
  What is the future of books, of literacy, of education as we know it?

Some advice about using balance and emphasis to help a writer highlight the main idea in a sentence and sustain the longer, complex sentence without sacrificing readability.

• Self-test for Exam 3

Keyword Index
An index to the HyperTextBook by keywords.

C.O.D. Online