(click on course title to register)
Note: Due to the advanced nature of the feedback, only 16 students are admitted to the course.
Note: Due to the advanced nature of the feedback, only 16 students are admitted to the course.
Class dates: Wednesdays, October 1 to December 10,
2014. No class Nov. 26.
Total classes: 10
Starting time: 11:30 am Eastern (10:30 Central; 9:30
Mountain; 8:30 Pacific)
Duration: 1 hour
Prerequisite: Simplified Writing for High School or equivalent.
Suggested grade level: 10th to 12th grade.
Suggested high school credit: ¾ semester Writing
Fee: $230 for all 10 classes.
Instructor: Sharon Hamric-Weis, JD
Course description: This course will cover advanced
research and writing methods for argumentative research writing, how to craft
an advanced research paper, and understanding style guides (APA, CMS/Turabian,
MLA, AP). A bibliography and research paper will be written during the course.
Course outline:
Class
1: What is research writing? Terms and methods.
Class
2: Advanced research methods: Using libraries and the Internet.
Class
3: Style guides and citations.
Class
4: Creating a bibliography.
Class
5: Creating your outline and thesis: advanced methods.
Class
6: Prewriting: styles and completeness.
Class
7: Outline with rough cut proofs.
Class
8: The rough draft.
Class
9: Revising and editing.
Class
10: Final drafts.
Course materials: Word 2007 or later version. eBooks:
1) Simplified Research Writing by EB Conroy; and 2) Simplified
Writing 101: Top Secrets for College Success by EB Conroy. Available from www.amazon.com (download the Kindle app for free to
easily read on your computer, tablet, or mobile device).
Homework: Students will have weekly writing assignments and direct
feedback from the instructor, with an estimated four to five hours per week for
homework (outside of class time) that includes researching, reading, writing,
and responding to feedback.
About the Instructor
Sharon
Hamric-Weis received her undergraduate degree in Secondary English Education
from the California University of Pennsylvania and taught both middle and high
schools courses at the Palm Beach County School system. During her last year of
teaching, Mrs. Hamric-Weis converted to the Catholic Church and was confirmed.
Upon her acceptance to the Dickinson School of Law, she and her husband then
relocated to her home state of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Hamric-Weis practiced law as
Assistant Counsel for the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole and has
been published in the Dickinson Journal of International Law, as well as
working as a decision writer for the Pennsylvania Board of Workers’
Compensation. After working in law, Mrs. Hamric-Weis left her employment to
raise her children and homeschool for several years before returning to work as
a paraprofessional teaching and caring for a student with multiple
disabilities. She is happy to be homeschooling her three children and teaching
the advanced writing courses for Homeschool Connections.
About the Course Designer
Professor Brown Conroy has been teaching writing for 17 years, including teaching
students in private colleges, universities, and online. She was an online
professor of writing and research for Patrick Henry College (six years) and
taught writing, leadership and management, and health and wellness for
Cornerstone University’s Professional and Graduate Studies Division (seven
years). Professor Brown Conroy is an author of several non-fiction books,
including Simplified Writing 101: Top
Secrets for College Success and Twenty
Secrets to Success with Your Child; designs online courses (including an AP
English Language and Composition course for PHC Preparatory Academy online);
and speaks at conferences on education and learning, reading, and writing. She
has a BS and MA from Western Michigan University (WMU) and is currently
completing an MFA in Creative Writing at Western Colorado State University
(WCSU) with a double concentration in Creative Writing, Genre Fiction and
Screenwriting. A member of the Society of Children’s Book Authors and
Illustrators, she is also a fiction writing coach for high school and
college students; has judged writing contests; and has been a freelance
professional writer in marketing/web writing and ghostwriting for twenty years.
Professor Brown Conroy authored True
North Reading: The Complete Mastery Reading and Spelling Program – a
five-level multisensory learn-to-read program for children ages 2 to
sixteen, and teaches an international online LIVE reading program at
www.readwitherin.com. Mrs. Brown Conroy, who has been homeschooling for 29
years, lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan and homeschools four of her 13
children who still live at home.