UW COM 481 For Writing Credit

COM 481 is not normally offered for writing credit. However, for students who receive permission to take writing credit for the course, the general approach I take is to keep assignments as much in line with the regular pace of the class, enhanced with more writing work and feedback. The objectives of the course are much the same, with an enhancement for writing skill building:

I will consider the course with a writing enhancement as a complete success if every writing credit student is able to do all of these things at the end of the quarter:


 * Write and speak fluently about the rules and norms of the Wikipedia community and demonstrate this fluency through successful contributions to Wikipedia.
 * Articulate, recall, compare, and give examples of key theories that seek to explain why some online communities grow and attract participants while others do not.
 * Demonstrate an ability to critically apply the theories from the course to the evaluation of a real online community of your choice.
 * Engage with the course material and compellingly present your own ideas and reflections in substantive writing and orally.
 * Develop your written ideas iteratively in response to feedback, refining your professional writing style in order to present evidence coherently and offer proposed courses of action persuasively.

Low-Stakes Writing

 * Weekly case-based writing
 * Short assignments

High-Stakes Writing

 * Advance draft / outline
 * Revise and resubmit final paper

March 28 (Thursday): Motivation (Part I), Yelp
Before class, turn in a written version of your responses to the questions in the reading note. Single sentence responses are okay (ungraded).