TIOR #1

TIOR writing assignments are due before midnight the night before the first class of the week - so generally by midnight on Sunday, except in weeks in which university holidays fall on Mondays, like this week. You must complete the TIOR assignment in weeks 2 and 3, and then after that each grade range requires a certain number of TIOR points, as explained on the syllabus, so you can follow your own plan about which weeks to submit in order to reach the grade range that is your goal for this class.

The acronym TIOR stands for the four sentences that will make up every TIOR writing assignment: They say, I say, they might Object, but i Reply… You may not use more than four sentences in your TIOR, and you should not cheat by writing overly long or difficult sentences that are difficult to read. If you cannot express your thought in a readable and digestible sentence, then simplify your thought until you can. Your first sentence must introduce some thought or idea from one of the readings for the week with which you are going to disagree. Your second sentence must articulate a respect in which you disagree with this thought and why. Your third sentence must consider a way that the author could reply to you (ideally, that they have not already replied in the reading). And your fourth and final sentence must give your reply to their objection.

For example, in response to this writing assignment, I might write the following TIOR:

In his writing assignment, “TIOR #1”, Professor Schroeder says that we can follow our own plan about which weeks to submit TIORs in order to reach the grade that is our goal for the class. But I don’t think that this is fair because it gives us too much freedom to make costly mistakes - for example if I want to get an A but decide to wait for the final week to submit my last TIOR that I need I might get sick that week and then I wouldn’t be able to get an A after all. Professor Schroeder might respond that it was my choice to wait until the last minute, and so it is my responsibility and not his. But I would reply that I wouldn’t mind submitting TIORs every week so long as Professor Schroeder told us we have to.

Every TIOR is evaluated as either “satisfactory”, “unsatisfactory”, or “exceptional”. Exceptional TIORs will be rare but earn double points. Unsatisfactory TIORs count for zero points, but are helpful feedback for you to submit satisfactory TIORs in future weeks. Make sure to submit your TIOR through the TurnItIn link on the course Blackboard site.