HW for Friday, 5/6: Portfolio

1. Friday is Portfolio hand in.

• Two revised essays, with the Portfolio Checklist filled out

• I will place your final in the folder

• On the left side, graded versions of Essays 1, 2, and 3, with all of my comments

2. Also on Friday, we will discuss the optional  1-on-1 conferences.

• Walk ins, no appointments
• Monday, 5/9: 11:00am-12:50pm (I have scheduled  individual conferences with my 002 class  that start at 1pm

Preparing for Monday

1. Write your outline in class on Friday, using your Outlining Questions handout.

2. Type or write out one page of notes, but do no have pre-written paragraphs unless you want an automatic 0 for the exam.

3. Monday: bring in outline and the one page of notes, typed or written, to help you write essay. NO PRE-EXAM DAY written paragraphs (automatic 0, if done).

• You will hand in notes and essay progress on Monday after 45 minutes.

3. Wednesday: You will be given back your notes and progress. Finish second half of essay in remaining 40 minutes.

-----
Other questions help you study and brainstorm content for the essay (whether a topic point, reason, or example):

• What is one thing that you do or try to do every day to make yourself feel good?
• What are other things you do to improve yourself? What could you do if you don't think about daily self-improvement (besides thinking about improving!)? 
• Why is writing hard for you, and what are two or three actions you take or can take to make your writing improve?
• Where do you see is the biggest area for you to improve as a scholar?
• Do you think it is more important to be practical or to be a dreamer and why?
• What do you think will make you happy in your life? How do you expect to attain that?
• What are your hobbies and how do you think they help you in your life?
• What is your biggest prejudice, and how do you think you will overcome that prejudice? What can you do and what can others do?
• What is your best advice for listening even when you don't want to listen?

Self Reflection Final Essay Basic Structure

Problem, Struggle, Epiphany, Resolution: These stages are generic and, within a larger memoir...

Structure of the Personal Narrative Essay

How should you structure your personal narrative essay. Adair Lara, who has written countless personal essays and taught creative writing, and who is the author of the bestselling text, ”Naked, Drunk, and Writing”, suggests that the structure of a personal narrative essay or memoir essay include the following:


Problem, Struggle, Epiphany, Resolution: These stages are generic and, within a larger memoir

Problem Your goal is to describe an educational problem (including a life problem that gets in the way of education) in vivid details. 

• What is a significant writing/educational/personal problem that has impacted your learning?

• What is one educational assignment/project that illustrates your problem?

Struggle This problem creates conflict, which can be external (the outside world) and internal (within your mind or psyche) obstacles or setbacks

• How did the problem create conflict with the educational assignment? What were the SPECIFIC struggles (including your worries and actions) with the assignment?

Epiphany Your problem and struggle results in an epiphany or flood of new understanding. The epiphany transforms your story from merely an anecdote to a personal narrative that has significant meaning to you, and shared meaning with others.

• What do you realize about the problem and about yourself: about what you want, about what you have, about what abilities and skills you have, about goals, about your personality...........that will allow you to work through the problem?

• What knowledge of “the writing process” or as a scholar have you learned since that moment that you COULD NOW APPLY to your working through that specific problem? (Here is your sense of reflection, this second half of essay)

Resolution: Like a New Year’s resolution, you are not done. You are not perfect. You will likely relapse. What is your process for overcoming relapses?

• What steps are you taking as a scholar to make sure that problem does not come back to haunt you in the future?

• What are some things you’ve since learned about through your education that you are taking to solving similar problems? 

How Will You Work On Transferring Knowledge?

I want us to read some passages from a The Chronicle of Higher Education series article called "Why Don't They Apply What They've Learned," Part 1 and Part 2, and then respond to the questions I've posed under each excerpt:

"Ambrose and her co-authors point to two reasons for the failure-to-transfer that all of us see sometimes in our students. First, they might tie whatever knowledge or skill we are teaching too closely to the context in which they learned it. Thus, students can write innovative opening paragraphs in my freshman-composition course, but in their other classes they continue to rely on the same strategies they learned in high school. Second, the inability to transfer a skill or information to a novel context might indicate shallow levels of learning. If students are capable of solving problems, writing essays, or answering questions according to some formula they have learned, they might not have grasped the underlying principles of our course content. Without that deeper knowledge of what lies beneath the formula, they can't pick up what they are learning and put it back down in an unrelated context."  [from Part 1]

• How have we, this semester, tried to gain "deeper knowledge of what lies beneath the formula"?

• How do you think you will take the "far transfer" writing and thinking we have don't this semester to your future? 

• Can you give me a few examples?

...

"For example, one pattern he found among highly successful college students was the willingness to embrace and learn from failure. The comedian and talk show host Stephen Colbert, one of Bain's more famous subjects, describes how improvisational theater taught him to see the value of failure—to learn from the experience and then move beyond it. "You haven't done it before," Colbert says, speaking about how he learned to embrace failed first-time learning efforts, "how could you possibly get it perfectly right?"

• One of our core messages: failure is part of growth. 
• How do you deal with failure--what are some of the things you do when you fail at things?
• How may you change how you deal with failure going forward, starting this summer?

But the pattern that struck me most forcefully in Bain's subjects related to the subject of far transfer. The very first story he tells in the book, after his introductory chapter, describes a student who entered college with four major questions he wanted to answer—deep, profound questions, the kind that it would take a lifetime of learning to understand, much less answer. The first of them was "Why does anything exist?"; the last was "What's the nature of intelligence?"

That student, unsurprisingly, "took a deep approach to learning, asking in every field why and how, and trying to connect everything together." His own words describe a thinking skill—building theoretical models—that he learned and then transferred to multiple disciplines: "You could build models in math," he said to Bain, "but you could also do it in music, in business, and in engineering." 

Transfer occurred for that student because he was seeking answers to his own questions. Every learning experience he had was automatically filtered through the lens of the big questions he wanted to explore, and the habit of seeing across courses and disciplines led him to the kind of connected educational experience that we want for our students.

Bain heard something similar from Colbert, who "took control of his education and began to decide what areas he would explore when he was 10 years old." Bain heard the same thing from an investigative journalist who would earn his fame working with students to help overturn death-penalty convictions, and whose big college questions "centered around justice and how to maintain it and create it." He heard it from a doctor who "chose every course at Boston University with one goal in mind: getting into medical school and becoming a physician." And not just pre-med courses: "She majored in social psychology because she thought it would help her become a better physician."

Those students transferred knowledge and skills from course to course because they brought their own questions and interests to their college experience. Whatever they might have been asked to learn in any one course, they sought to understand how everything they learned connected to their overarching questions and interests. They were able to see how a problem-solving skill learned in one class could help them in another, or how a piece of knowledge from one course connected to another, because they oriented themselves toward some larger question, challenge, or problem. That orientation encouraged them to transfer learning across contexts, to make connections, and to see the bigger picture." [from Part 2]

• What types of questions do you have for your own education? Come up with two, for now.
• How will you try to connect what you learned in our course to other courses?
• Have you already used ideas and texts used in here to discuss work in your other courses?

HW for 4/25: Strategies and Elements of Scholarly Argument

Argumentative essays are one common mode. One thing I have discussed with you is that analysis essays involve argument, too.

Your essay thesis statements and topic sentences--your main ideas--should all hold a position on the larger subject being written about.

• Read through your thesis and topic sentences. 

• Are your ideas based on the prompt subject matter?  Do your words connect to the prompt in any explicit manner? We hope they do! 

• Do you do more than state an obvious truth or basic fact in your thesis and topic sentences?...

• Does your points risk "taking a side"? 

• Would a college scholar find your ideas to be well-inferred* "opinions"--or, educated "guesses"?  (*infer: to deduce or conclude based on evidence and solid reasoning rather than on from explicit statements)

Below Are Common Elements of A Scholarly Argument (Think of Anytime You Use Sources)

·     Tactful, Courteous Language: 

·      Avoid large, sweeping statements (Everyone, Nobody, All, . . .)

·      Avoid boxing in you, your readership, or those with differing viewpoints into overly general teams/categories.

·      Avoid personal attacks (ad hominem) or bold judgments of anyone you are speaking about! However, one might consider a persuasive way of describing the action of a person/group in regards to TONE

·     Point Out Common Ground: if there is something within the larger argument that you agree with, it is effective to make reader see your open-mindedness.  Discussing in your argument where you agree with others will logically be followed by your contrasting interpretation of what sides agree upon.

·     Acknowledge Differing Viewpoints: start with the different viewpoint and use a change in direction transitional word/phrase (however, while, although, in contrast, …) and then go into your viewpoint.

·      You may also start with the proper transitional phrase and differing viewpoint, insert the comma at the end of that point, and then go into your viewpoint

·     Make Reader Aware of the Merits of Differing Viewpoint: beyond just stating different views, adding some of the positives of that other view will enable you to compare and contrast the positives of the other side with the positives of your side! 

·     Rebut Differing Viewpoints (even published critics/authorities): Many large issues have common arguments made for either side. After acknowledging a differing view, make arguments for why the view is less valid than your own.

Precision and Concision Decisions

Our jobs as writers is to be as close to the exact idea we mean as we can and to state what we mean as clearly and as formally as is required.

Your challenge as a writer is to make the language as simple as it can be, while also making the words chosen as effective in providing a clear and powerful message.

For example, there is a difference between "He cut her" and "He sliced her stomach open." Which is more effective in giving the reader a clear image?


Rules for Writers already gives some pretty valid and thorough advice, so let's just go through those suggestions, and ask any questions along the way:


1. Look for and cut any redundant word or phrases (156).

2. Look for a cluster of words in which you repeat a phrase. Sometimes, it is helpful to replace the repetition with a synonym or synonymous phrase (example 2, 157), and sometimes it is good to look for a way to cut down the sentence structure by eliminating words and/or punctuation (example 1, 157).

3. The implied phrases are a big issue, especially those "I..." phrases that show up in 3rd person analysis. Yes, you are the writer, so your "I..." is in each sentence you write on the subject. Cut these filler phrases that distract from the true subject.

4. Make a simpler sentence structure. Look for overly conjugated verb phrases (had been sleeping=slept; had thought long and hard=pondered) and replace them with either the simple present/past or with a stronger verb. (Remember that verb list we reviewed? Use it!)

5. Always look for phrases and words to cut away from phrases. Read the sentence over and over without those words, and cut the ones that don't screw up the clarity (159).


Standard Academic Language:

1. Avoid jargon in non-specialized course essays.

2. Avoid pretentious words and phrases that have a replacement phrase. If she died, she died. You don't have to fill the page with "She went to a better place" or "Her soul flew off to that heavenly light" or sometime that distracts from the point of the essay.

• Don't get overly creative with single sentences and single phrases. Think of the PURPOSE of your essay. Unless you are writing a piece of narrative or are exemplifying something that a character/person might say: AVOID mellifluous prose!

3. Avoid slang phrases, dialects, regionalisms, and any cliches. We know what they generally mean, or we don't. Either way, such language is not meant for most academic essays--especially when analyzing academic and nationally prestigious authors' works.

4. Avoid sexist language or sexist perspectives. Look for places in which you find yourself assuming gender roles--and try not to use those words. Instead, use the subject itself, perhaps with an appropriate adjective, to avoid monotony.

• Smith postulates
• The postal worker
• John Gardner's The Art of Fiction

HW for 4/22

Read the following. Again, bring your printed essays to Friday's class to work on them.

Editing

Here are some common areas where students need to grammatically improve:

1. Run-ons: both fused sentences and comma splices. Review the blog post from this week and Rules for Writer for techniques and examples.

2. Fixing pronoun references and pronoun agreement issues, including replacing confusing or weak usages with synonymous, more accurate word choice.

3. Test all sentences for subject-verb agreement issues.

4. Verb tense shifts and mood shifts. Get rid of them! See pages 136-138 in Rules for Writers for help!

5. Work on subordination of ideas, using run-on techniques discussed earlier this term. Look for places in essays where two ideas exist back-to-back, and this is where you will want to spend time considering and trying out subordination (and coordination, if necessary).

• See pages141-145 in Rules for Writers for how to do so, and pages 146-152 for considerations when to subordinate and when not to...

Revision

Here are major content areas where an essay may need improvement in the writer showing authority and supporting ideas. To strengthen authority, look at:

1. Your illustrations of ideas.  Do they fit the point? Are they specific enough, descriptive, and more than one sentence when needed?

• Are they placed effectively within paragraphs as hooks in intros or as supporting examples in PRE formed body paragraphs?  

• Are they appropriate examples for the prompt's purpose and point of view? 

• Do you have enough examples to support a larger point? Is one enough? Try to use 2-3 quotes per body paragraph for rough estimate of having adequate support.

2. Context for subject matter. 

• Do you give enough background on your subject that you can use or do address in essay? 

• Do you spell out who people are or what things or places are? 

• Do you give a framework of important factor, or do you assume too much? 

• Think more about individual qualities that your subject has in relation to the essay prompt. Try and match what you say about your essay subject to the essay questions or requirements given to you on the handout.

• Look at any pre-writing questioning and other exercises done or suggested, too, for help in what context your essay may need.

Working on Context With Modifiers and Placement

Read over the following, and use to help you revise Portfolio Essays for stronger contextual detail, more effective use of descriptive language in main idea sentences.

1. Start simple:  S-V-O

• T.S. shows his spirituality through his emotions

2. Then, to make more thoughtful, ask questions to help yourself better describe your subject and object:

• Who is he as a character--normally? What is most important about them to highlight for claim?
• What does "through his emotions" mean? When and how do emotions show?

3.  Expand the subject anew

• The constantly-thinking T.S.
• or….  T.S., who is obsessed with facts,  

4. Expand the object

• shows his spirituality through his desire for there to be an afterlife and his frustration of not knowing what happens in death.

New topic sentence:
T.S., who is obsessed with facts, shows his spirituality through his desire for there to be an afterlife and his frustration of not knowing what happens in death.

• See how one shows more thought to the reader; the second shows a clearer point. Plus, now one can brainstorm clearer examples to fit that point because one has given him or herself a focus...

• Now, the example paragraph has other questions to answer to support that clear claim

• Why do desire and frustration make sense for a person who loves facts?  (reasoning)

• Where does he show desire for an afterlife? (example)

• Where does he show frustration with not knowing? (example)

 A writer always needs to work on how we discuss our subject(s) in our introductions.

• You need to show more variety in the sentence that introduces text. 

• Too many of you are getting robotic as writers, and no wonder your confessing to writing being more difficult. For Essay 3, therefore, you are not allowed to use the same sentences over and over that too many of you have used to open up the first two essays. 

• Give new framing summary sentences. What is your larger topic on? Contextualize, or frame, your subject text based on that prompt. [This is part of your transition from the hook to introduction of text and essay subtopics.]

• For instance, if your essay is on secret societies, frame your subject in terms of what your essay has to do with secret societies. If your essay prompt ask you a question about evil in society, frame your text around the content in it that directly or indirectly deals with that question.

• Be original, and do not rely on the cliche template of  "In x by y, Z verbs... " ( In the novel The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet by Reif Larsen, T.S. is a boy who makes maps.) You are unoriginal in your writing, and math is not this mathematic, where each of us is simply trying to find the same sentence equation that will work for all of us. Be original, use grammar rules to make up your own voice.

• Sentence variety includes using DEP clauses and transitional phrases that illustrate to your reader that you are more than plugging in transitions, etc. Be creative.

• Your essay title. There were three essays titled "Spirituality and Faith" and one that was "Faith and Spirituality." Again, right off the bat, when you ignore your title as a writer, you have shown a lack of individual thought and individual voice. You must work towards originality in your pursuit of being a writer whose work sticks out from your peer scholars. Good titles may do one [or some] of the following:

• What is your thesis? Borrow the idea, or key words, and use to frame essay.
• What are your main examples? Reference, or allude to, those places you support points.
• Frame the essay by foreshadowing subtopics.

• Frame your subject in regards to the text.  You may even name your subject(s) in the title.
• T.S. Spivet: Man-child of Science and Faith
• Spivet's Maps Uncover Our Way Of Life
• The Evolution of Man and Planet--The Maps of T.S. Spivet

HW for 4/20

1. Download the Portfolio Revision and Editing Handout

2. Again, come with Essay 1 and 2 on USB or e-mail to work on one to two editing or revision issues with essays. 

• Bring Rules for Writers

3. Read the lecture below:

Precision and Concision Decisions

Our jobs as writers is to be as close to the exact idea we mean as we can and to state what we mean as clearly and as formally as is required.

Your challenge as a writer is to make the language as simple as it can be, while also making the words chosen as effective in providing a clear and powerful message.

For example, there is a difference between "He cut her" and "He sliced her stomach open." Which is more effective in giving the reader a clear image?


Rules for Writers already gives some pretty valid and thorough advice, so let's just go through those suggestions, and ask any questions along the way:


1. Look for and cut any redundant word or phrases (156).

2. Look for a cluster of words in which you repeat a phrase. Sometimes, it is helpful to replace the repetition with a synonym or synonymous phrase (example 2, 157), and sometimes it is good to look for a way to cut down the sentence structure by eliminating words and/or punctuation (example 1, 157).

3. The implied phrases are a big issue, especially those "I..." phrases that show up in 3rd person analysis. Yes, you are the writer, so your "I..." is in each sentence you write on the subject. Cut these filler phrases that distract from the true subject.

4. Make a simpler sentence structure. Look for overly conjugated verb phrases (had been sleeping=slept; had thought long and hard=pondered) and replace them with either the simple present/past or with a stronger verb. (Remember that verb list we reviewed? Use it!)

5. Always look for phrases and words to cut away from phrases. Read the sentence over and over without those words, and cut the ones that don't screw up the clarity (159).


Standard Academic Language:

1. Avoid jargon in non-specialized course essays.

2. Avoid pretentious words and phrases that have a replacement phrase. If she died, she died. You don't have to fill the page with "She went to a better place" or "Her soul flew off to that heavenly light" or sometime that distracts from the point of the essay.

• Don't get overly creative with single sentences and single phrases. Think of the PURPOSE of your essay. Unless you are writing a piece of narrative or are exemplifying something that a character/person might say: AVOID mellifluous prose!

3. Avoid slang phrases, dialects, regionalisms, and any cliches. We know what they generally mean, or we don't. Either way, such language is not meant for most academic essays--especially when analyzing academic and nationally prestigious authors' works.

4. Avoid sexist language or sexist perspectives. Look for places in which you find yourself assuming gender roles--and try not to use those words. Instead, use the subject itself, perhaps with an appropriate adjective, to avoid monotony.

• Smith postulates
• The postal worker
• John Gardner's The Art of Fiction

Editing: Run-ons

Dependent Clause

• Incomplete thought: may or may not have a subject and verb, but the idea implies that there is more to come.

• Example 1:  Having eaten.  

• Who ate? What have they eaten? What did eating do?

• Example 2:  At the store. 

• Yes???? This specific example is a prepositional phrase with no context, or subject or verb!

Independent clause

• Complete thought/sentence: has both the subject and verb. Most often, there is also a predicate = verb + object/how subject is modified

• Example: We went to the store. Bourdain is sarcastic. Spivet speaks like a genius.

Run-ons

1. Comma Splices (marked on essays as CS or CS/RO): combine two sentences with only a comma=error.
2. Run-ons/ Fused Sentences (marked on essays as RO or FS or both): two sentences without a conjunction or punctuation=error

• Therefore, run-ons have either incorrect or lack of punctuation for two or more independent clauses.

• To fix, you need to use one of the five methods below to make the two (or more) sentences coordinate with each other or to make one be subordinate

• Each method includes at least a punctuation mark that indicates an end to a complete thought:

1. period  (  .   ) or exclamation point or question mark ( ! or ? )
2. or semi-colon (   ;   )  (only an 'end' when placed after the first sentence when combining multiple sentences)
3. or use the  comma and a conjunction rule (  , + FANBOYS)

• Which method depends on how you want the multiple sentences to coordinate or subordinate. In other words, each methods shows a different relationship between the two sentences!  Let's look at the five methods to see what I mean...

Before fixing, Identify Run-ons

• Mark each of your current end punctuations in your draft with a bar:  | 

• Diagram the first subject (s), verb (v) ... this is the idea of your sentence, right!

• Underline the basic subject, if you haven't...
• Circle the verb that goes with it, if you haven't...
• Box in modifiers

• Read for the mind pause: mark where your brain understands a complete thought/idea.

• Read out loud for the breath pause: mark where you hear an idea sound finished.

• Neither of the above methods will be usually be enough, so you will have to:

• First, look at your extra long sentences and your sentences that have commas in them (because chances are you may have a comma splice!)

• Then, identify where the sentences seems to restart: when the sentence repeats or changes subject from the beginning of the sentence, draw a straight line ( | ) before the restart.

• Besides looking for repeat parts of speech, look for:

• a completely separate "action" is happening...
• a new idea is started...

Five Methods For Fixing Run-ons (Fused and Comma Splices)

• Make Separate Sentences: an easy fix (20c, p.192), find where the two sentences are fused or spliced and place period (or ? or !) between the two clauses. Capitalize the subject of the second sentence.

• Example comma splice: Why should we spend money on expensive space exploration, we have enough underfunded programs here on Earth.   

• Fix: Why should we spend money on expensive space exploration? We have enough underfunded programs here on Earth.   

• Use a comma and a coordinating conjunction: another easy fix (20a, p. 191), find where the second sentence starts and add the comma with the right FANBOYS conjunction.  [Of course, if you have a comma splice, you just need to add the right conjunction after the comma.]

• Example comma splice: Some lesson plans include exercises, completing them should not be the focus of all class periods.

• Fix: Some lesson plans include exercises, but completing them should not be the focus of all class periods.

• Use a semi-colon to connect two complete thoughts: also very easy (20b, p.191), the function/purpose of a semi-colon is to join two independent clauses/complete sentences. 

• Rules for Writers suggest, as well, that you can use a colon or a dash. Warning: make sure you know the function of both (191-192) before you consider using either. 

• Colons are good to use when introducing a quote (192).

• Example fused sentence: Tragedy depicts the individual confronted with the fact of death comedy depicts the adaptability of human society.

• Fix: Tragedy depicts the individual confronted with the fact of death; comedy depicts the adaptability of human society.

• Use a semi-colon, followed by a conjunctive adverb (a type of transitional word or phrase): (20b, 191), more difficult to pull off, though really good to emphasize a relationship between two sentences that are being combined. 

• conjunctive adverb: conjunctive is like conjunction--it means to join, just like a highway junction is the connection of two different routes!

• They are words that imply further action, or a furthering of the idea, such as "thereafter" and "moreover" and "however"

• Example fused sentence:  We ran the race hard we ran to win.

• Fix:   We ran the race hard; moreover, we ran to win. 

• Turn one of the sentences into the subordinate to the other: the most difficult grammatically (20d, p.192) for one still getting the hang of sentence structure, but can be worth it for sake of showing a clearer relationship between two ideas.

• One of the independent clauses is turned into a dependent clause by adding a subordinating conjunction to the beginning of the original clause. 

• Example: We went out to a fancy restaurant for dinner; we were disappointed.  (How boring is this grammatically correct sentence!?!) 

• Subordinating one to the other: Although we went out to a fancy restaurant for dinner, we were disappointed. (Edits make this one sentence where one idea takes importance because of the subordinate conjunction.)

HW for 4/18

Essay 3 is due: three complete pages (down to the bottom) minimum, cited, double-spaced, and a Work Cited page that is not included in page count.

Also, have your Essay 1 and 2 most recent drafts on a USB or in an e-mail so that you can start Portfolio revisions off on the best foot possible. We have two weeks of regular class meetings left (six classes) before you take the final over the last week of class.

Work Cited pages

At the end of your essay you provide a thorough Work Cited page (or Bibliography) of sources used. The in-text citations parenthetical for each source should match its end citation's first work. For instance, if you cite (Lockwood, 43), then your end citation for the poem is going to start with the author's last name:

Lockwood, Patricia. "Rape Joke." The Awl. Mark Bibbins, ed. 25 July, 2013. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.


1. Have source out and available for you to look at. Identify the author(s)/text

• Look at source--your article could have more than two or three authors, so follow from there.

2. Identify the type of source (to find template). Make it simple on yourself: # of authors plus type of source is the starting point for writing an end citation.

• periodical
• audio/visual
• reference
• etc.

3. Write the end citations! Use something like Purdue's OWL MLA citation guide (they update there list, while some have old information. 

4. Alphabetize all sources by authors' last names, or by the first letter in end citation.

HW for 4/13

• Friday, we want to cover Work Cited pages. Review Rules for Writers handbook on MLA Work Cited pages. 

• Essay 3 will be due on Monday, 4/18. 

Thinking About Conclusions for Essay 3

• Perhaps you can use the conclusion to frame a few ideas about the key terms being used

• Example, for "Masters of Love": how universal is the need for generosity in successful relationships? Or, where and when is generosity (of time, of self) not enough? Or, what outside factors aren't discussed that would be ripe for studying further?  

• Or, be quirky thoughtful: These authors have only given you one position, one view, one study, of their topic. What would you like them to do next? What other studies would you like to see done on the subject?

• You're trying to end your essay in a way that keeps people thinking--but you don't want them questioning whether you have really thought about your own ideas that much. You want the conclusion paragraph(s) to illustrate that you have really thought about larger impact of your ideas. Reflection of ideas becomes key. Reflection of those ideas out in the world becomes key. 

For Wed., 4/13

Dear Students,

For personal reasons, I will not be able to teach on Monday. Your work is below, both a short lecture point and the homework for Wednesday. We will continue to write the Essay 3 draft in class on Wednesday, as it will explain more down below.

The Monday lesson that was going to appear on the blog while I did conferences is pretty much a summary of review of what we've been discussing:

Primary v. Secondary

Not to confuse you, but in ENGL 102 these terms are more likely to be used to discuss the texts you use to write your essays, especially your research essays. You may be familiar with these terms.

• the Borough of Manhattan Community College has a nice chart distinguishing between each.

• Primary source: a text in which you are the original writer (and research), making original arguments/analysis

• your essays and the original points you make

• Secondary source:  a text written by another author in which they make their own analysis claims on subjects (including other texts)

• the articles we are using for Unit 3 are all secondary sources.  

• Your essay includes both:

• Your thesis and topic sentences are making primary claims about points made in secondary sources

• Your evidence and examples includes both your own primary evidence and secondary source evidence.

Drafting Body Paragraphs:

Use Transitional Words/Phrases: whereas, yet, on the other hand, however, nevertheless, on the contrary, by comparison, compared to, although, conversely, meanwhile, after all, in contrast, while, similarly, equally, accordingly, therefore, consequently, granting that, if, even if, providing that, as a result, circumstantially, to put it briefly, both, one, each of, 

1. Start off your paragraph with a topic sentence (revise from your outline?) with one of the transitional words from above (or one not on the list) AND:

• Include mention of the original article
• Include your focal new subject culture/relationship
• Use Analytical verb
• Make a major comparison or contrast (connection) between the two USING and/or including:
• key terminology from original article
• cultural norm/belief between the two

2. Set up your development of the topic sentence's analytical connection by following it up with at least one clear organizational (structural) reasoning sentence:

• Your second sentence should overtly order the reasons, using transitional words/phrases/clauses that make the rest of the paragraph specific:

• Use a transitional phrase!  (There are...; Three reasons..., and more)
• The number/level of importance of reasons and examples?
• What are similarities or differences between cultures/relationships?
• What are other character traits that are relevant to consider...
• Why is this particular topic sentence's claim most important?

3. Supporting Evidence:  What is a behavior in new subject culture/relationship that connects to the original text....illustrate and explain similarity?

4.  More Supporting Evidence?: ...


HW for Wednesday, 4/11:

• Post one of your body paragraphs, following the template above (as well as the lectures). 

• Show good citation mechanics and overall grammar.

• Have a topic sentence that clearly, explicitly states texts/sources (your primary source and the secondary source).

• Have example evidence from both your primary source (your culture) and the secondary source (culture analyzed by the author of your cited text)

HW for 4/6: Essay 3 Introductions

Working on Introductions:

• Save to USB/e-mail, and bring to class. Bring a printed version to hand in (for credit for attendance for Wednesday's class).

• WORK TO MAKE YOUR INTRODUCTION ABOUT HALF A PAGE AT MOST...(which is hard to tell when handwriting, but important to consider as you transport this in-class draft to a computer screen!!!).

1. What is your hook? Try to limit yourself to two-ish sentences that connect to the main cause/effect point from article and your own subject.

2. Name your **** article. Name the author. Describe what the article is about. Again, try to do so in two-ish sentences.

• Introduce a key term or two, if helpful.

3. Name your original culture/relationship that you bring to the writing table. Borrow language from your description of the article's subject culture/relationship to describe this other culture

• Use a transitional phrase (or sentence) to bridge ideas of article to this new culture/relationship.
• Use terminology from the article to contextualize your culture/relationship

4. Make at least two claims (subtopics that refer to body paragraphs) about how the main conclusions within your article can be used to understand something (you define more clearly) about your original culture/example.

5.  The thesis: what is the biggest idea from the article that helps you (and your reader) see the connection between texts?

• Use a DEP clause that helps coordinate or subordinate the article's main idea about its subject culture/relationship.

Critical Thinking: Understanding Cause/Effect in Article

What are the main inferences and conclusions of the author?

• indigenization of rap around the world, including adaptation to "local cultural patterns" (559)
• code switching in rap for political identity (660)
• use of regional language as code-switching used to resist majority/larger culture (661)
• Galician rap tends to use mostly Spanish as "core language" (663), yet DKTE uses all Galician language  (664)
• ...

What type of culture/environment/artists may these same inferences and conclusions be applied to?

• Poets...use of colloquialisms, code-switching, regional dialects, etc. for political purposes...

• Eduardo Corral, as one example; or, our new Poet Laureate of United States: Juan Felipe Herrera

• Who else....? Your turn!

Dios Ke Te Crew: sampling

How is this music similar to American hip hop and rap?

Reading tip: as many of you already do, use the internet to look up subjects that may be unfamiliar to you that you are reading, whether it is a new author, musician, or other media.


  

HW for 4/4 (with a graded hand in)

1. Read “If We Only Speak Our Language by the Fireside, It Won’t Survive”: The Cultural and Linguistic Indigenization of Hip Hop in Galicia" by Veronica Loureiro-Rodriguez and be ready to discuss the article/ask questions (especially if you want to use this article.


2.  For 10 points: bring in specialized outline for Essay 3 (template at the bottom). I will collect,  so it must be typed and printed (I will not accept handwritten copies, nor is this a Blackboard post):   

Essay 3 prompt: 

What are ways we can apply the knowledge of the cause and effects [claims made by the author] in one of the articles from this lesson to larger humanity? 

In other words, how may the knowledge gained in your chosen article [look at the author's conclusions for their inferences and questions] benefit our understanding of how people communicate in cultures and relationships outside of those in the study? 

Here is the content, and below it is the template:

• A drafted thesis and 2-3 body paragraph topic sentences for Essay 3 prompt:

• Use analysis verbs from Bloom's Taxonomy of verbs (there are better website lists/that have more verbs) as the verb in each of your sentences.

• A three sentence summary of your chosen article in the introduction:

• Choose among:

1. "Masters of Love" from The Atlantic
2. "“Wicked” women in contemporary pop culture: “bad” language and gender in Weeds, Nurse Jackie, and Saving Grace" by Monica Bednarek
3. "Latino/a Youth Intentions to Smoke Cigarettes: Exploring the Roles of Culture and Gender" by Elma Lorenzo-Blanco
4. “If We Only Speak Our Language by the Fireside, It Won’t Survive”: The Cultural and Linguistic Indigenization of Hip Hop in Galicia" by Veronica Loureiro-Rodriguez

• A list of at least five (5) quotes from your chosen article that feel will be relevant to your essay to support your claims

Use this outline template (copy and paste it into a Word file) to organize the content:

I.  Introduction paragraph:

A. Summary of article:
B. Thesis sentence:  

II. Body Paragraphs

A. Topic sentence 1:

B. Topic sentence 2:

C. Topic sentence 3:

Quotes from article, with pages in ( ), to use in my essay:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5. 

Crafting a summary, using paragraph to cite

1. Paraphrase this implication:

" Collectivistic values were linked with more social disapproval of smoking which in turn was linked with lower intentions to smoke. School- or family-based smoking prevention programs for Latino/a youth could foster collectivistic values and promote messages about the harmful effects of smoking on interpersonal relationships"  (page ___). 

Paraphrase: ....






2. Use these rhetorical strategies to then help you craft a four sentence summery, which includes in count, the paraphrase of the above:

1. Key words (define):  You won't need all of these in the brief summary, but these are words that show up in the article that will also, likely, show up in most essays that use the article for own purposes....

• Acculturation; collectivistic; individualistic; TRA; gendered norms; Latino/a identity; US 

2. Conclusions, including questions for further study: When you summarize an article that is on another author's analysis/study of some kind, one easy strategy for your summary is to include a review of their conclusions

• What does the author hypothesize has a cause and effect relationship? What cause leads to what possible effects, according to them?

3. Basic info: author; title; study and study's time; methodology.   Even though I list this third, we know that a good summary will start with the contextualizing of the source.

• Where do you go to get this info? Look at the abstract! 

4. All rhetorical strategies reviewed this term, including sentence-level attention to strong verbs: 

• Use verbs that represent purpose and actions of the author, like: 

• posits; argues; correlates; concludes; hypothesizes; investigates; ...

• To create easy coherence and transitions, ALL sentences should start with author name (or relevant synonym) or author's subject studied 

HW for 4/1

Read "Latino/a Youth Intentions to Smoke Cigarettes: Exploring the Roles of Culture and Gender" on Unit 3 of Blackboard.

• What are other immigration groups upon which ideas in the article may be relevant? 
• What are 3-5 key terms used in the essay that you can use to connect other sample cultures/groups?
• Record 2-3 important quotes that help you understand the article.
• What are the paper's conclusions?

Practicing Synthesis and Critical Thinking

Essay 3 main prompt:

What are ways we can apply the knowledge of the cause and effects in one of the articles from this lesson to larger humanity? In other words, how may the knowledge gained in your chosen article benefit our understanding of how people communicate in cultures and relationships outside of those in the study?

Word Bank

whereas, but, yet, on the other hand, however, nevertheless, on the contrary, by comparison, compared to, although, conversely, meanwhile, after all, in contrast

Charting Similarities  (Extracting points by lining up similar evidence)

• What is another type of character that may have the same types of issues to study in terms of cultural representation?

• Who are example characters who fit this type of character?

"Wicked" Women	Your Example Illustration Culture/Relationship	Connective point
"Cameron (2006: 8) argues that: “It is less threatening for the female voice to be heard in public if the setting, subject matter and form of speech is ‘profane’ – considered by the community to be trivial, or vulgar, or in conflict with its ‘real’ values” (447)"
"There is no overt moralizing in these shows, whether about bad language use or other behavior" (447)
"It may well be a conscious strategy of scriptwriters with the aim of making us care and engage, and ultimately of ensuring that we keep watching. The possible exception to this is Saving" (448)

Critical Thinking about "Wicked Women"

"There is an epistemological problem here: as each woman is presented as a complex character it is difficult to tell which character traits the audience is set up to disapprove of and what counts as “bad” behavior."

So, what do we do with some of the authorial conclusions? Let's start with "questioning" as a pre-writing strategy: Socrates asks, 

• What should we ask if we were to figure out cause and effect of "wicked" women representations?

HW for 3/30

Read from Unit 3 on Blackboard, Monika Bednarek's "'Wicked' women in contemporary pop culture: 'bad' language and gender in Weeds, Nurse Jackie, and Saving Grace."

• What key terminology exists in the essay? (Write down and seek definitions to vocabulary.)

• For starters, "cultural representation" and "cultural constructs of gender" are to early words.  Plus, "dominant gender norms and ideologies" from later. 

Critical Thinking and Pre-writing

      Critical Thinking Question from Reading: what are the four ways of responding, and how does knowing which is the kindest response style help us understand where else such knowledge can be pertinent in other types of life?

o   Exercise in “far transfer”: draft a scenario in which we can apply the four ways of responding to another type of relationship (not marriage).

1.     Who is the relationship between?

2.     What is the scenario news given by one of the people?

3.     What are example reactions of each type of response?

1. What are similarities that you can define/classify between a marital relationship and the one you chose to create responses for?

• Purpose
• Benefits/gains
• role of communication
• hierarchy / positions of authority
• cultural value / cultural beliefs
• importance of kindness
• psychological considerations
• ...

2. To further connections, what terminology from original source can you apply to your comparison relationship? 

• Masters and disasters
• "kindness as a muscle" 
• kindness as a learned trait
• bids
• "joy-killing"

HW for 3/28 (with added note on Midterm grades)

***Midterm grades were due to the administration today, so I had to have them sent in prior to grading Essay 2. For a handful of students, not doing Blackboard assignments and/or attendance issues caused your grades to drop. For the last month and a half of class, please make sure to do all homework assignments and turn in work, or it will continue to impact final grades.***

Read The Atlantic article, "Masters of Love" by Emily Esfahani Smith,  for the start of Unit 3 readings.

Critical Thinking Question based on this first article for the unit:

What are the actions (causes) and results (effects) for Masters that can be used to predict marital success?

Critical Reading and Thinking:

 Review and record some of the what the author analyzes about kindness and its role in a successful marriage? Basic Critical Reading Skills Used:

o   Look for organizational words used

o   Look for transitional words/phrases/sentences, and other relationship words

o   Look at paragraph breaks