PHYS 280 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Required Essay 4, Overview 

n.b. Spring 2020 update: Students are no longer required to submit paper copies following Spring Break. All submissions will be online only.

Choose between one of the following prompts on which to write a 1.25-1.5 page report (which conforms to the the Phys 280 Style and Format Guide):

Option A:

You are an intelligence analyst for the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). Your group brings together analysts and specialists from the CIA, the FBI, the DoD, and other federal agencies. With the personnel changes arising from the transition between two presidential administrations, you are in charge of writing and disseminating a brief report explaining the Center’s accepted definition of terrorism, the differences in types of terrorism, and the possible avenues for terrorists to acquire nuclear-explosive materials or nuclear weapons. This report will serve as an introductory document to facilitate a more productive discussion of concerns about nuclear terrorism.

Option B:

You are a writer for Scientific American, and your editor has assigned you to provide a brief report on some of the key aspects of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), more commonly known as the Iran Nuclear Deal. This report should serve as a high quality summary of the major points of the agreement, both in terms of Iran’s commitments in regards to proliferation as well as the promised responses of the other actors involved.

Your choice should be made during the March 21 writing lab. Unlike the previous required essays, no further guidance will be given on how to structure RE4 at this time. The goal of RE4v0 will be to create these guidelines.

Content Learning Goals:

  1. Learn about terrorism and especially the threat of nuclear terrorism
  2. Learn about the JCPOA, both the specifics of the agreement and commitments of the parties involved

Writing Learning Goals:

  1. Develop your ability to identify tasks needed before writing
  2. Recognize the value of the prewriting stage of writing
  3. Develop your genre awareness (Option A asks for a different genre than Option B)
  4. Recognize the value of peer review, especially when reviewing different documents
  5. Learn course content through your own writing and reviewing the writing of others

Required Essay 4, Prewriting Task List (RE4v0)

Produce a draft before your TBD Writing Lab and finalize it in the WL. Electronic submission due at the end of Writing Lab.

In real technical writing, we are often not given more direction than something akin to the prompts above. RE4v0 is meant to help you identify the tasks that you will need to complete before you begin drafting as well as the important writing elements (like style choices). For RE4v0, write 2-3 bullet points that describe important aspects of each of the following categories:

This should be done with your chosen option (above) in mind. Notice that these categories are the same categories that were in the grading rubrics for RE1, RE2, and RE3. The purpose of RE4v0 is not only to develop the skills needed for prewriting but also to enable the creation of the RE4 grading rubric. Here is a template for RE4v0 that we encourage you to use.

To facilitate this prewriting task list, identify the following…

For option A:

For option B:

RE4v0 is worth 5% of your RE4v1 grade.

In the writing lab on March 28, you will finalize work on your rubric suggestions, discussing with your classmates the assessment rubric for your chosen prompt. After receiving your suggestions (submitted as RE4v0), the course staff will compile key aspects discussed into a formal, collective rubric for each essay option. This rubric will be sent out to you by our class meeting time on Tuesday 3/29; it will also be uploaded to the RE4v1 prompt (below). You will use the rubric to guide your first draft (RE4v1) and your peer response.

Here is the rubric suggestion submission template that you will use.

 

Required Essay 4, First Version (RE4v1)

Electronic submission due Wednesday Mar. 30 at 10pm

In your March 21 writing lab you should have chosen between the two above options. Please contact your writing lab TA if you have forgotten which option you chose. 

The grading rubric that will be used for option A (terrorism) can be found here. The grading rubric that will be used for option B (Iran nuclear deal) can be found here.

Guidlines

Writer's Memo

Professional writers often ask for feedback on their written products from their peers. This feedback is most productive when one requests comments on specific points or sections. 

In addition to RE4v1, please submit a writer's memo. This writer's memo should point your peer respone partner to two sections of the rubric you expect to be dinged hardest on and ask for feedback to improve in those specific areas. It will facilitate the peer review (see below) component of RE4. Please see the Phys 280 Style and Format Guide for additional instructions on the formatting of the writer's memo.

Your submission must include:

  1. Your RE4v1
  2. Your writer's memo for RE4v1

**submission must be in one file**

Required Essay 4, Peer Review of RE4v1

Electronic submission due Sunday Mar. 30 at 10pm

This assignment has a peer review component. You will be asked to review a peer's RE4v1 by using the linked grading rubrics (Option A and Option B). Make sure to use the rubric for the correct option. It is not necessary to fill in the range column, but please fill in each comment box. Please review the writer's memo of your partner and give extra feedback for the two sections they highlighted. Your partner will be assigned via email after you submit RE4v1, and you will discuss your review with your partner in the Apr. 4 writing lab. 

In the email containg your peer review partner there will also be instructions for finding their RE4v1 submission. Also you will be asked to email your peer review to your partner at the end of your Apr. 8 writing lab.

Peer review is 10% of your RE4v1 grade (the points will be added after the Apr. 4 writing labs).

Required Essay 4, Second Version (RE4v2)

Electronic submission due Wednesday Apr. 13 at 10pm

For RE4v2 you will revise your RE4v1 essay. This revision should address all the comments of your TA and peer review partner. Your RE4v2 will be graded by your writing lab TA, who will use these rubrics for option A and option B (different from the RE4v1 rubrics above). 

Writer's Memo

In addition to your RE4v2 essay please submit a brief statement (5-10 sentences) that describes how you incorporated your TA and peer review partner's feedback and, if appropriate, explains why you did not incorporate any feedback that you chose to ignore. This will allow the TAs, and yourselves, to better understand why certain feedback was incorporated and why other suggestions may not have been. Self-reflection on feedback is a useful tool in professional technical writing to justify your thought process to the reviewers. 

Please see the Phys 280 Style and Format Guide for additional instructions on the formatting of the writer's memo.

Your electronic submission must include:

  1. Your RE4v2
  2. Your writer's memo for RE4v2

 **submission must be in one file**

Your paper submission must include:

  1. Your RE4v2
  2. Your writer's memo for RE4v2
  3. Your graded RE4v1 with the writer's memo for RE4v1