Thursday, October 30, 2014

Thursday, October 30th

What we covered on Thursday, October 30th:  

* Brief freewrite exercise on what topics you like related to civil rights
* Went over the guidelines for the Unit 4 paper
* Went over a synthesis paper and discussed what makes good synthesis  

Homework for Tuesday:   

* Read pages 303 - 307 of the A & B guide (starting with "Synthesis Writing as an Extension of Summary/Strong Response Writing" and including the sample synthesis paper in the text). 

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Tuesday, October 28th

What we covered on Tuesday, October 28th:  

* Briefly discussed and reflected on our visit to the library
* Completed postwrites for Unit 3
* Talk about the Unit 4 paper and about how synthesis means analyzing a variety of sources and finding the connections between them
* Discussed how different types of writing appeal to different audiences (and how audiences react differently to different types of writing: one seeks out poetry and novels for pleasure and not for research, but seeks out articles and papers for research purposes) 
* Had a brief brainstorming session to choose topics for Unit 4 papers (at least one source from the Mercury Reader or approved list of Unit 3 articles must be used, OR you may come to me with a list of five sources by next Thursday to be approved for a different topic) 
* Learned how to access electronic feedback for Unit 2 and future papers. 

Homework for Thursday:   

* Go to the movie review website RottenTomatoes.com and find a movie that you love (or hate). Summarize the movie in 3 - 5 sentences and then quote three different movie reviews (cite with the author's last name, but you do not need to make a works cited page) and synthesize the reviewers' arguments. What did the reviewers agree and disagree on? (To do this effectively, you'll need to write at least 2 paragraphs). 

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Thursday, October 23rd

Reminder: 

1)The Devil's Kitchen Literary Festival is happening this week! For 5 points of extra credit (and just for fun!) attend any of the readings and write a 1-page write-up of how you felt about it.

What we covered on Thursday, October 23rd:  

* Library day! We learned how to effectively use resources from the library.

Homework for Tuesday:  

* READ: The Allyn and Bacon Guide, Concepts 5 - 7, Pages 37-49

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Tuesday October 21st

Announcements: 

1) We will be meeting in Morris Library room 640A next class,  Thursday, October 23rd! We will not meet in ASA as usual, instead meet in Room 640A, which is on the sixth floor of the library. If you need directions, consult the library floor map.
2) The Devil's Kitchen Literary Festival is happening this week! For 5 points of extra credit (and just for fun!) attend any of the readings and write a 1-page write-up of how you felt about it.

What we covered on Tuesday, October 21st:  

* Compared and discussed grades for the model essays
* Completed peer review 

Homework for Thursday:  

* SUBMIT: Your final draft of your Unit 3 paper online to the D2L dropbox
* BRING: Your working folder with these items (remember everything you need is linked to the blog entry it was assigned in) 

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Thursday, October 16th

Announcement: We will be meeting in Morris Library room 640A on Thursday, October 23rd! 

What we covered on Thursday, October 16th:  

* Briefly reviewed how to properly quote and cite in MLA format. The example I gave is linked here, and if you need help with MLA citation, check the OWL at Purdue
* Briefly reviewed the Unit 3 guidelines
* Signed up for articles. If you have not signed up for an article, email me immediately
* Had productive in-class work time for your Unit 3 papers


Homework for Tuesday:  

* READ: Model essays one and two
* WRITE:  Grade each essay as per the rubric and write a justification of the score you gave each category 
* WRITE AND PRINT: The full rough draft of your paper for peer review on Tuesday

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Thursday, October 9th

Announcement: If you would like to choose your own article to summarize and analyze for the Unit 3 paper, email me the article by Monday and so I can read and approve it. 

What we covered on Thursday, October 9th:  

* Learned about summary, paraphrasing, and quoting: 


1)   Summarizing
·      Summarizing References the original source text
·       Condenses the original text to make it shorter (ex: an abstract of a paper can condense an article to a paragraph)
·      Uses your own words, NOT the sources’
2)   Paraphrasing:
·      * References a specific portion of the source text
·      Uses the author’s own words
·      Condenses the source text, but may elaborate on it
·      Must be cited in-text
3)   Quoting
·      References a small, specific portion of the source text
·      Uses the sources’ words exactly (within quotation marks)
·      Must be cited in-text
4)   How to quote things in text: traditional quotes
·      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)?
·      In an essay on urban legends, Jan Harold Brunvand notes that "some individuals make a point of learning every recent rumor or tale . . . and in a short time a lively exchange of details occurs" (78).
5)   Block quotes
·      Quotations longer than four lines of prose are considered “block quotes”
·      Should be indented one inch from the margin (hit tab twice). The don’t have quotation marks

·      they still need to be introduced in your own words, and the citation should still come at the end

* Practiced summary by breaking into groups and summarizing an approved article and then presenting it to the class 


Homework for Thursday: 

* READ: another one of the approved articles and summarize it in 5 -7 sentences

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Tuesday, October 7th

What we covered on Thursday, October 7th:  

* Talked about rhetorical critique vs. idea critique (Rhetorical critique deals more with the rhetorical triangle, logos, ethos, pathos, investigation of audience, investigation of sources used. Usually this is closed form prose about closed form prose. Idea critique usually applies more to open-form prose, like poetry, stories, or plays. In this type of critique, you apply your own personal experience to the ideas in the piece. Mostly, you’re looking to agree or disagree with the ideas and themes expressed in the piece, not a close reading of what the author is doing)
* Completed a freewrite about how you read for pleasure versus when you read for school
* Talked about how reading for pleasure tends to lean toward open-form prose and engages more idea critique than rhetorical critique (i.e. people tend to be more focused on whether or not they agree with the general goals of the piece than on how the piece is written and how the argument is functioning
* Watched Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous I Have a Dream speech and analyzed it rhetorically as a group. 

Homework for Thursday: 

* Summary exercise. WRITE: A 4 - 7 sentence summary of a movie, book, or TV show episode that you like. Be sure to cover all the main points, but make sure your summary only fits into a couple of sentences. 

Friday, October 3, 2014

Thursday, October 2

What we covered on Thursday, October 2nd: 

* Completed postwrites for Unit 2
* Handed in working folders
* Went over the guidelines for the Unit 3 essay
* Discussed the rhetorical triangle and how it can be used 

Homework for Tuesday: 

* READ: 
Rhetorical Critique vs. Idea Critique A&B pp. 104-108 
* READ: Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech