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The Difference in Formats

Although the two formats cover the same concepts, they differ in approach.  In the email format, students email finished essays to instructors and receive detailed critiques of those essays.  Assignments in this format can be individualized to address a particular student's needs; thus, the assignments may vary by instructor and from student to student.   The web-based format is an interactive, process-oriented course featuring frequent peer discussions of readings and writings in an online, asynchronous workshop.  The majority of assignments apply the strategies of classical rhetoric (narration, definition, argument, persuasion, and so forth) to the interdisciplinary field of cultural studies, which is concerned with the production of meaning in society.  Students read essays by authors including Susan Orlean, Joan Didion, and Anne Lamott as well as more traditional writings about argument by Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren. Integral to both formats is a substantial metacognitive dialogue with the instructor about writing.

Sample Assignment

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