Delta State University
SOC 101: Principles of Sociology
Fall Semester 2005
Informal Writing
In this course, you will prepare several informal writing during class. The informal essays have three primary purposes: to help you organize your thoughts on the day's topic before discussion, to reflect on the readings, and to evaluate the discussions. In addition, these assignments provide you with the opportunity to practice and improve your writing skills.
Bring your writing notebook to class and use it for each informal essay. Put the date at the top of each essay.
The instructor will collect your notebooks occasionally and review your writing. The instructor may make comments, and will put a plus, check, or minus on the book. A plus indicates that you have completed all of the essays in a thoughtful manner. A check indicates that you have done a satisfactory job on the essays. A minus indicates that essays are missing or that they do not reflect substantial thought about the material. The evaluation of the informal essays is informal as well. If you come to class and do the informal writing regularly, you can expect to receive a good score at the end of the semester.
Note that the informal essays are meant to be done in class at the time they are assigned. You should not attempt to do informal essays at any other time. You will not be penalized for missing informal writing on days when you have an excused absence. However, if you turn in a notebook with essays from days when you were not in class, you will receive a grade of zero on the assignments for the entire semester.
The informal writing is worth a total of 10 points over the course of the semester.