English 102 is a continuation of English 101. Assignments in this course will be designed to help you focus upon a theme, develop a thesis, organize ideas, control tone, and express ideas in clearly communicated language. Students will learn formal argumentation techniques and terminology. In addition, you will learn how to conduct research on selected topics, incorporate researched material into your papers, and properly cite and document your ideas. In this class, we will take a special focus on "identifying, evaluating, and integrating secondary source reference materials into your academic writing." We will focus on a critical examination of the Internet (and specifically: Wikipedia) in academic research and writing. You will have several smaller writing assignments throughout the semester, and your final essay will be a substantive discussion and argument, including citation of external sources, about whether or not online sources like Wikipedia are in fact appropriate for research in higher education.

This is a short (5 week) summer session, and this course is entirely online. You will see the entire Wikipedia-related calendar laid out before you, but I will cover related materials in one-week increments. This Wikipedia assignment will begin actively in Week 2 of this term (the week of June 10), and will end at the end of Week 4 (the end of the week of June 24). Please keep in mind that some Wikipedia assignments will be completed on this site, and some things you will submit to me through SIUE Blackboard.