Update: Answers for the practise exam. Note that your answers might vary and still be correct. I know a few of you rephrased sentence structure and word choice. That's fine too. If you'd like to e-mail me your correction to be double-checked, please do send it along.
We'll spend most of today's class working on our research assignments, focussing on strong academic analysis and evaluation for the annotated bibliographies.
Today, as noted in our last class, we'll have time to complete the assignment from Tuesday (the "potty-mouth" annotation) and post it to the blog or hand in a hard copy.
What to include: Summary:
Write 2-3 sentences about Smith’s essay. Analysis:
Where is the author’s position/thesis statement? Write it in your own words.
Where are Smith’s reasons? Find them and number them.
What kind of evidence does Smith use as support for his position?
How does Smith arrange these reasons (what is the logic)? Write 1-2 sentences about the rationale you think Smith uses to choose and arrange the reasons.
Does Smith consider alternative views or opposing perspectives? Write a sentence about the effectiveness (or not!) of the placement. Ethos/Evaluation:
How reliable is the author?
Who is he?
Would you trust his view?
Is Smith well informed? How do you know?
Does Smith tell how he is connected to the issue?
We'll then spend the remainder of the class working on our research assignments, focussing on strong academic analysis and evaluation for the annotated bibliographies.
*****Homework*****
For Tuesday (24th of November) please reach Chapter 22 in Handbook for Writers.
Outline:
Pre-Reading Activity
Short Video
Read “Potty-Mouthed and Proud of It” (413)
Group Work
Homework
*****Homework*****
Bring all texts, articles, laptops, dictionaries to next class (Thursday 19th November) to help you work on your Research Assignment
Post “Potty-Mouthed” Dictionary Entry to the class blog BEFORE Thursday 9:30am (one entry per group, note all group members).
Please add your thesis statement as a comment to this blog post. Remember, your thesis statement should pertain to your public discussion topic. If you'd like to choose a different topic, please let me know before you craft your thesis statement.
Since your thesis statements are drawn from your public discussion topics I'm asking you to imagine writing an "argumentative" essay. This type of essay usually:
"makes a claim about a topic and justifies this claim with specific evidence. The claim could be an opinion, a policy proposal, an evaluation, a cause-and-effect statement, or an interpretation. The goal of the argumentative paper is to convince the audience that the claim is true based on the evidence provided."
*****Example Thesis Statement*****
Example of an argumentative thesis statement:
High school graduates should be required to take a year off to pursue community service projects before entering college in order to increase their maturity and global awareness.
Read more about writing thesis statements at OWL and here and here.
Here is some interesting information on the "myths about thesis statements."
Details: In a one page analysis of your group’s topic and debate you will have four sections:
·Debate Resolution
·Background
·Arguments (both pro and con)
·Works Cited (follow MLA style and include all YouTube videos as well)
NOTE: Each member of the group must hand in their own analysis but the group may collaborate during the writing stage.
SAMPLE Public Discussion Analysis
Resolution: Resolved, that handguns should not be protected under the provisions of the Second
Amendment.
Background: The United States has the most liberal gun ownership policy in the world and the highest crime rates in the world also. The National Rifle Association has for years had a vice grip on lawmakers when even the slightest hint of a handgun control bill is introduced into Congress. One of their typical arguments is that unlimited handgun possession is a guaranteed right protected by the Second Amendment. The time has come for the Supreme Court to decide the issue once and for all: is the wording of the amendment made under conditions existing in the late 1770s when militias were part of our national defense applicable to the late 1990s when people are afraid for their lives because every petty thief or robber could easily be carrying a handgun? When South Carolina passed a law that regulated the sale of handguns experimentally for a three year period, there was 28% reduction in the number of homicides committed with handguns. The time has come for the courts to recognize that there have been abuses promulgated by the Second Amendment and that it is time for us to care more about protecting our personal lives than protecting an outmoded wording within the Second Amendment. It's time to keep to the intent of the Founding Fathers and change the wording accordingly.
Arguments: The Second Amendment should not apply to handguns—especially firearms used for illegal purposes. Because handguns are so easily concealed, they do not have any reasonable relationship to the preservation of the efficiency of a "well-regulated militia." In the Supreme Court case UnitedStates V.
Cruisckshank, it was determined that the Second Amendment only applied to the "bearing of arms for a
lawful purpose."
Interpreting the Second Amendment to apply to personally-owned handguns tends to validate the use of handguns for a variety of inappropriate behaviors. "Deadly at No Cost," in Timereports that 40% of handgun deaths were suicides, 26% were accidental deaths and that 10% were felony related (24). Over three-quarters of the remaining handgun killings were related to guns that were originally bought to protect a family but became weapons of destruction. Additionally, 65% of all homicides in the U.S. are "crimes of passion" in which the victim knows his or her killer; this is hardly an argument for a "well-regulated militia" (25).
With total protection of gun ownership afforded by the Second Amendment, it is impossible to keep guns out of the hands of the undesirable. Most provisions of the Brady Law dealing with registration have been disallowed by the courts. People with criminal records or a history of mental instability can still purchase lethal weapons. "Ready, Aim, Fire at our Youth," describes how handguns make it onto high school, junior high school and even elementary school campuses as the black market for guns caters to youth (40).
Works Cited:
South Carolina Law Review, 1975: 45. Print.
"Deadly at No Cost," Time Magazine, February 3, 1992: 24-25. Print
Today the remaining groups shall present their topics and debate for the class.
Your public discussion analysis assignment is added to the blog for you to peruse. Please hand it in on Tuesday before we begin our library session. Remember to come straight to the library for our research session which will help with the research assignment due on the 1st of December. We will be meeting in the Instruction Lab (it is room 347).
Note: Your thesis statement is due on Thursday by 11:00am (as a comment on next Thursday's blog post). Remember, this is the thesis statement based on your public discussion topic. You will have the class period as a research session to work on your thesis statements. This work can be done in the library.
Topic: Public Discussion Topic or Own Choice (but please discuss with me)
Particulars: Choose 4-6 “academic” resources that are highly relevant to your topic. Give full reference information for each source and thoroughly explain why each resource is appropriate and relevant to your topic. Additionally, include how each resource was found (include keywords used in any Google searching). Each annotated entry should contain three critical writing tasks: summary (an overview of the main points), analysis (logic and effectiveness of the argument) and evaluation (ethos, reliability of the author and argument).
Purpose: Learn basic methodologies of research, learn how to locate and evaluate information, learn how to find appropriate resources
Length: Each annotation should consist of at least one fully-formed paragraph with complete reference information in MLA style. Total length should be 2.5-4.5 pages.
DUE: 1st December 2009
EXAMPLE ANNOTATION
Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. New York:
Anchor Books, 1995.
Lamott's book offers honest advice on the nature of a writing life, complete with its insecurities and failures. Taking a humorous approach to the realities of being a writer, the chapters in Lamott's book are wry and anecdotal and offer advice on everything from plot development to jealousy, from perfectionism to struggling with one's own internal critic. In the process, Lamott includes writing exercises designed to be both productive and fun.
Lamott offers sane advice for those struggling with the anxieties of writing, but her main project seems to be offering the reader a reality check regarding writing, publishing, and struggling with one's own imperfect humanity in the process. Rather than a practical handbook to producing and/or publishing, this text is indispensable because of its honest perspective, its down-to-earth humor, and its encouraging approach.
Chapters in this text could easily be included in the curriculum for a writing class. Several of the chapters in Part 1 address the writing process and would serve to generate discussion on students' own drafting and revising processes. Some of the writing exercises would also be appropriate for generating classroom writing exercises. Students should find Lamott's style both engaging and enjoyable.
Notice the indentation of all the text except for the first line of the reference?
Basic Steps to Follow:
Look for a title
So, if that’s the title, what might you read about in the selection?
Read the first sentence
Read the last sentence: highlight similar words, that’s (usually) the main idea of the paragraph
That’s also (usually) the topic of the paragraph/selection
*****HOMEWORK*****
Read 9J-K (190-194) in Handbook for Writers
For participation, add either of your summary paragraphs (“Japan” or “Little Bear”) to the Lecture 14 blog post (this one).
If you'd like to read more about the summary process, have a look at these handouts.
Here is an sample essay and how one might summarise it.
Everyone who presented on Tuesday did an excellent job. Each group not only clearly explained information, but incorporated questions and quizzes to faciliate understanding. Kudos to Brandy, Andrea and Maikki who created a fun game. A special thank you to David for his musical interludes during "English Feud."
Thanks too to the class for participating in each presentation and noticing groups' typographical errors (those abhorrent apostrophes!).
Today each group will present their section of Chapter 23 (pronouns).
NOTE: The MLA quiz will be next class (Thursday). Come prepared for the short quiz (multiple choice). You will need to know how to reference texts (books, journals and web pages) and also be aware of how to properly quote to avoid plagiarism. Re-read the "Avoiding Plagiarism" article here.
Don't forget to hand in your essays. Essays should be stapled and follow appropriate MLA format.
Remember too, for your essays, I have requested that you each do a cover page rather than include your title etc... in the top left margin of your first page. Please do, however, include your surname and page number in the top right header of each page.
MLA Review (note, follow the link in the side-bar to more MLA formatting information)
In-Text Citations
Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263). Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263). Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263).
Both citations in the examples above, (263) and (Wordsworth 263), tell readers that the information in the sentence can be located on page 263 of a work by an author named Wordsworth. If readers want more information about this source, they can turn to the Works Cited page, where, under the name of Wordsworth, they would find the following information:
To indicate short quotations (fewer than four typed lines of prose or three lines of verse) in your text, enclose the quotation within double quotation marks. Provide the author and specific page citation (in the case of verse, provide line numbers) in the text, and include a complete reference on the Works Cited page. Punctuation marks such as periods, commas, and semicolons should appear after the parenthetical citation. Question marks and exclamation points should appear within the quotation marks if they are a part of the quoted passage but after the parenthetical citation if they are a part of your text. For example:
According to some, dreams express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184), though others disagree.
According to Foulkes's study, dreams may express "profound aspects of personality" (184).
Is it possible that dreams may express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184)?
Mark breaks in short quotations of verse with a slash, /, at the end of each line of verse: (a space should precede and follow the slash)
Cullen concludes, "Of all the things that happened there / That's all I remember" (11-12).
Long Quotations
For quotations that are four or more lines of verse or prose: place quotations in a free-standing block of text and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, with the entire quote indented one inch from the left margin; maintain double-spacing. Only indent the first line of the quotation by a half inch if you are citing multiple paragraphs. Your parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark. When quoting verse, maintain original line breaks. (You should maintain double-spacing throughout your essay.)
For example:
Nelly Dean treats Heathcliff poorly and dehumanizes him throughout her narration:
They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room, and I had no more sense, so, I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it would be gone on the morrow. By chance, or else attracted by hearing his voice, it crept to Mr. Earnshaw's door, and there he found it on quitting his chamber. Inquiries were made as to how it got there; I was obliged to confess, and in recompense for my cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the house. (Bronte 78)
Here is a sample student paper. Note the information in the top left header is what should appear on your cover page. Remember, interesting titles will grab your reader's attention.
Today's Lesson Outline:
Pre-Writing Activity
Group Work
Group Teachings
Homework
For the pre-writing activity we'll do a basic review of pronouns. Following the review, students will have the opportunity to write a short piece using pronouns and strong sentence structure (remember active verbs and adjectives). Please remember to hand this exercise in so that I may post it to the class blog.
Group Presentations on Chapter 23: Pronouns
Group 1: 23 a, b, c
Tyson, Jason, Kyla, Michelle
Group 2: 23 d, e, f
Elise, Crysta, Tyler, Jina, Melissa V.
Group 3: 23 g, h, i
Christopher, Brandy, Maikki, Andrea
Group 4: 23 j, k, l, m
Kaytlynn, Jaron, Linda, David Rees
Group 5: 23 n, o, p
Colin, Marie, Laura, David Renderos
Group 6: 23 q, r, s
Glenn, Amanda, Aleisha, Mellissa W.
Objective: Become Experts of your Information
Assignment: Teach the Class your Sections
Teaching Methods: Presentation, Question Answer, Practise, Assessment of Understanding (quiz, task, activity etc...) Length: 10 minutes Group: Everyone in the group must participate both in the background preparation and in the teaching
Due: Tuesday 20th October
Remember you can bring in handouts for the class. Also, you can bring in a memory stick if you're using PowerPoint and we can plug it into the main computer. Remember too, it is fine to use other resources such as a YouTube video, to help illustrate your subject.
Review Argument Basics
Choose Public Discussion Groups (4 per group)
Choose Public Discussion Topics
If Time Permits, Opportunity to Work on Public Discussions
Controversial?
Examples of Controversial Topics
What makes that topic controversial?
What do the terms pro and con mean?
Note, today we are debating issues as practise to our formal (graded) public discussions which will be presented on 3-5 November.
By the end of today's class:
Groups of 4 chosen and members noted
Each group to choose debate topic
DEBATE TOPICS AND GROUPS
Group 1 Members:
Brandy H.
Laura P.
Andrea M.
Michelle H.
Jaron N.
Group 1 Topic: Racism: Does it Still Exist?
Group 2 Members:
Crysta H.
Amanda V.
Melissa V.
Mellissa W.
Group 2 Topic: Capital Punishment
Group 3 Members:
Ty M.
Tyson B.
Dave R.
Glen T.
Group 3 Topic: Farmers' Hours? Why Do We Still Conform?
Group 4 Members:
Jina K.
Kaytlynn M.
Kyla H.
Christopher E.
Aleisha V.
Group 4 Topic: Genetic Engineering Animals
NOTE: Those of you who were not in today's class, please see below for your group. You can choose your topic and let me know in our next class (Thursday 15th of October).
Group 5 Members:
Elise H.
Maikki M.
David Renderos
Tracy T.
Linda W.
Group 5 Topic: Same Sex Adoption
Group 6 Members:
Colin P.
Marie Scarlett
Michelle T.
Jason C.
Group 6 Topic:
NB: The image of the two debaters is from Debate Video Blog here.
Today, as promised, the class will receive their draft expository essays back. We shall spend the lesson time reviewing the function of an expository essay and revising your essays.
The homework for next Tuesday:
Think of issues worth debating (for our public discussions)
Review readings: page 125-127 , Reader’s Choice
Read 167-177, 249-360 and 334-345 in Reader’s Choice
For the final segment of Thursday's class, students were asked to create a persuasive poster to support Alex Boyd's view in "In Defense of Graffiti." The assignment requirements included:
Find a “literary” work (poem, essay, novella, film, graphic novel) that employs your three rhetorical devices. You might want to find three separate works, each employing ONE of the devices. Include the example and reference your source(s) (follow MLA style)
Find a “literary” work (poem, essay, novella, film, graphic novel) that employs your three rhetorical devices. You might want to find three separate works, each employing ONE of the devices. Include the example and reference your source(s) (follow MLA style)
Today we'll be working on our expository essay drafts which will be due at the start of next class (Tuesday). We'll also have a chance to read a draft essay and mark it in a way similar to how I'll mark your essays.
The outline for today is as follows:
Sample Expository Essay Marking
Work on Essay Draft
Homework
That means we'll:
Read the sample essay
Mark it according to:
the assignment guidelines
general expository essay technique (handout)
parts of speech and sentence structure (Chapter 21 in Handbook for Writers)
***HOMEWORK***
Read Chapter 3 in Reader’s Choice (this will help with your essay)
Read Chapter 10 in Handbook for Writers (especially important if you’re including any references in your essay)
DUE: Before start of October 1st Class
