Click on the links below for course assignments and information.

Syllabus (includes contact information, course requirements, and homework assignments with due dates)

First-Day In-Class Writing topic and reading: Excerpt from "You want Fries with That?" by Michael Pollan

How to Write a Vocabulary Log (instructions and example in MS Word Document format)

Reading for Wednesday, October 1: Excerpt from "Unhappy Meals" by Michael Pollan

Reading for Wednesday, October 1: Excerpt from "Hunting Whales in West L.A." by Susan Salter Reynolds

Group project and writing topic instructions for the week of October 1-6

Reading for Wednesday, October 8: Excerpt from "To Die For" by Adam Platt

Reading for Wednesday, October 8: Excerpt 2 from "Unhappy Meals" by Michael Pollan

Paper Format (Lab orientation, Friday, October 3)

Document: "Love at First Bite" (Lab orientation, Friday, October 3)

Document: How to write your weekly Reflective Revising Log (Lab orientation, Friday, October 3)

Reading for Wednesday, October 15: "Dirt Poor: Haiti Has Lost Its Soil and the Means to Feed Itself," by Joel K. Bourne, Jr.

Reading for Wednesday, October 15: "The US Role in Haiti's Food Riots"

Reading for Wednesday, October 15: "Stuffed and Starved"

Reading for Wednesday, October 22: "Our Good Earth: The Future Rests on the Soil Beneath Our Feet," By Charles C. Mann

Reading for Wednesday, October 22: "A Women's Declaration to the G8: Support Real Solutions to the Global Food Crisis"

Lab tutorial for Friday, October 17: Internet Tricks for Great Vocabulary

Lab tutorial for Friday, October 17: How to Link Your Edits to a Reflective Revising Log in One Document

Writing topic for the week of October 17-23

Self-guided tutorial for October 24, 2008

Bonus tutorial problems for October 24, 2008

Reading for October 31, 2008: McCain and Obama and their Energy Policies

Midterm In-Class Writing Topic for October 31. Good luck!

Reading for Wednesday, November 5: The Tyranny of Oil by Antonia Juhasz

Reading for Wednesday, November 12: "Disaster Capitalists Reap Profits," By Naomi Klein

Writing Topic for the week of November 5-11

Reading 1 for Wednesday, November 19: Arianna Huffington, "Who Killed the Electric Car?"

Reading 2 for Wednesday, November 19: David Welch, "Electric Carmaker Tesla Downshifts: Funding Gaps Have Put Some of the Silicon Valley Carmaker's Plans on Hold"

Reading 3 for Wednesday, November 19: Paul Horrell, "Getting In Gear: 2009 Tesla Roadster"

Reading 4 for Wednesday, November 19: Gregg Easterbrook, "Some Convenient Truths"

Guidelines for your final presentations

How to prepare your final portfolio

The self-evaluation essay

Topic for the final writing exercise