And Now the Grading Begins

And now the grading begins:

I'd like to start giving grades on the blog. The process is a rather tedious one. I will look at each blog-entry request and notice two matters:

1. whether you have actually posted an entry and

2. how much thought you have put into it.

The former is far more important. If you have not posted one or more entries, you'd better get it/ them on the blog by Monday, April 23.

The thought and work you have put into your entries is also, but less, important. I expect, hope, and pray I'll be giving a lot of A's here, but don't count on one if you have not completed all the entries.

Your Greatest Strength as a Writer

Your last blog entry:

Describe your greatest strength as a writer. Don't forget to downshift. You might want to give examples from your writing in this class or others.

Also, reflect on how you can build on that strength. In other words, how can you use that strength to develop other skills you are weak in.

Please attempt to post this entry by 6 PM on Tuesday.

By the time of your conference on Wednesday, blog a copy of your research-project worksheet (see below). You may do it here or as an entry under "Research Project" (below). Also, please bring a hardcopy of the worksheet to conference.

Response to Graff and Birkenstein

By Friday, April 6, blog a paragraph responding to Graff and Birkenstein's lecture. If you didn't attend (ahem), then you'll have to interview a class member and get his or her reaction. To show my good faith on this blog assignment, I am blogging my own paragraph below:

I agree fundamentally with their general thesis. Effective writing is all about "argument" and "joining the conversation." Their book gives writers the "moves" they need to do so. However, what the lecture made me realize was that their general thesis is nothing new. Argument had been the fundament of academic writing since Aristotle. What is effective in their book is their identification of the templates and phrasings that typical academic writers use to engage in such writing activities. Also, to some degree, they were not talking to their audience. Referring to "your students" in the third person was unintentionally demeaning to both the students, who made up the vast majority of the audience, and the few writing instructors who were present. Good writers don't refer to their main audience in the third person. Also, writing teachers at Ohio Wesleyan haven't used the "five-paragraph essay" for a decade or more. Implying that we use outmoded techniques suggests that Graff and Birkenstein didn't evaluate that part of their audience very well. After all, we invited them to OWU because many of us are using their book. We must agree with their basic principles or we wouldn't have done so.

Your greatest weakness as a writer

By next Wednesday, April 4, post a paragraph on your greatest weakness as a writer. Don't worry about exposing yourself in public. To show you my good will on this topic, I will expose my greatest weakness: I write too much. My first drafts are scatterbrained, 2,000-word attempts to produce 650 words of prose. I spends hours/ days trying to cut down and refine the mess into something that resembles a persuasive and powerful essay. I'm never sure whether all that labor is successful.

So what's your weakness? Procrastination? Bad grammar? Ineffective use of secondary sources as evidence? Weak vocabulary? Ineffective academic tone?

BTW, in case you think this assignment is too negative in its tone, the next blog assignment will be to identify your greatest strength as a writer.

I've been writing seriously for 40 years. I am still unsatisfied with the results. How about you?

Research Project Paragraph

By Wednesday, March 28, post a paragraph describing the topic of your research project for ENG 105. The paragraph doesn't have to be anything fancy. Chose a topic and try to limit it to something about which you can write 1,500 - 2,000 words. Be as specific as you can, but note that at this stage, you can't be very specific.

Research Project

Research Project

Length: 5-6 pages (about 1,500 words)

Due dates: see syllabus

Discuss a technologically based disaster or problem, giving a history of the event or a discussion of its causes. Analyze its implications for life on the planet and possible steps for preventing its occurrence in the future.

By the due date listed on the syllabus, complete and hand in a copy of the worksheet below.

Use at least five sources from at least three of the categories of sources (internet, books, newspapers, journals, magazines, and other reference works). Choose sources carefully to reflect the best, most reliable, and most recent information on the topic.

Narrow your topic, especially when the listed topic is a general problem rather than a specific disaster.

Create an argumentative thesis. Include at least one paragraph of refutation. Use evidence from the sources to support your arguments. Don’t over quote. No more than 20% of your essay should be direct quotation. Remember that quotation and paraphrase should be acknowledged with parenthetical citations in the text. Include a “Works Cited” page that lists all the sources cited in the text of your essay.

The following are some suggestions, but you shouldn’t feel limited to them:

The Hindenburg disaster

Three-Mile Island

Chernobyl

Love Canal

The Challenger or Columbia accident

The Exxon oil spill

The New York garbage barge

The Ferald nuclear power plant

The year 2000 computer problem

The Nimitz Freeway disaster

The energy crisis

The Amazon rain forest

International terrorism via Internet

The ozone layer

Global warming

Acid rain

Toxic waste

Dioxin

Land fills

Genetic engineering

Electronic money laundering

Recombinant DNA technology

Biological/chemical weapons

Internet identity theft

Infrastructure failure (some aspect of it)

Nuclear power along the earthquake belt or some other specific problem with nuclear power)

Computer viruses/ spyware/ Trojan horses

Thalidomide babies

The spread of thermonuclear weapons among smaller nations

Cyber bullying

Music piracy (or some other form of piracy)

Criminality on the internet (narrow the focus to, for example, trafficking in slavery, identity theft, prostitution, child pornography, etc.)

Research Project Worksheet

Name:

Topic of your research paper:

Research questions:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Temporary thesis:

Key words:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Scratch outline:

Sources:

1.

2.

3.

4.

Draft of WA#2 (Fast Food)

Here's a spot to blog the draft of WA#2. Depending on the length, you might have to split it into two posts.

Don't forget to bring a copy with you to your conference time.

Conferences, BTW, are in my Sturges office (313).

Fast-Food Summary

Write a summary of the thesis and main supporting arguments of the essay you are responding to. Keep it clean and simple. Include the author's name and the title of the essay. Leave out the supporting detail. You can discuss the details in the paragraphs that follow if you need to.

Post your paragraph by Thursday at 5 PM.

Fast-Food Assignment

Length: 750+ words

Due Dates: See syllabus (3/9
7 as a draft and 3/14 for a grade)

1. Pick one of the two essays on pp. 151-161 of TSIS and argue in favor of (confirmation) or against (refutation) its premise/ thesis. However, you should try as best you can to develop your own thesis, your own unique perspective, about the topic. Note that whatever you do, you will have to respond to arguments in the other essay.

2. In the first paragraph, develop your perspective as a response to the source. You might want to mention the author’s name and the title of the essay in paragraph one.

3. In paragraph two, summarize the source’s thesis and main supporting ideas. Note: You have already written such a summary paragraph, so you should know what you're doing

4. In subsequent paragraphs, confirm or refute the source’s thesis and main supporting ideas in separate paragraphs. Let the summary paragraph guide the organization of these “body” paragraphs.

5. As you write those paragraphs, think in terms of the paragraph “moves” we discussed in class. In any given paragraph, are you discussing the effect(s), positive or negative, of the source’s general thesis/ proposal? Are you confirming its general argument/ thesis in a way that the writer did not? Are you confirming one of its supporting arguments/ sub-points? Are you refuting the general premise/ thesis? Are you refuting one of its supporting arguments/ sub-points? Are you responding to one of its counter arguments? (Are you refuting its refutation? Doesn’t writing a response essay get durned complicated?) Each paragraph is an argumentative move and therefore requires a specific argumentative pattern.

6. Provide evidence for the source’s point of view in the form of SHORT quotation and paraphrase. You want to sound objective and even-handed here even if you disagree.

7. You may use any or all of the sources in the rest if the TSIS section. Cite the sources informally in the text.

8. Include a concluding paragraph, but in an essay this short, you should not be summarizing your essay or the sources ideas. We will discuss approaches to introductions and conclusions in class.

Post some notes here by Tuesday at 5 PM.

Coherence and Transition

Write one paragraph on the issue of who is to blame on the health issues associated with fast food. Don't write the whole essay -- just one paragraph. You'll need to narrow the focus to just one of the issues raised in the first two essays in TSIS.

Pay particular attention to your argument's structure and flow, what we will call "coherence" in class. Also, indicate the structure of that argument using the various methods of transition we will discuss in class on Wednesday.

Please post by Thursday at 5 PM to allow all of us to check out your writing and make useful comments in class.

Fast Food

By Tuesday 2.22.2012, blog a set of discussion notes for the essays on 153 - 161 of TSIS. Please don't think in terms of paragraphs here. A list of points that the essays cover and the points you wish to discuss or want to make will be sufficient. Frankly, I'm hoping that forcing you to brainstorm a few points will make for better and more universal class discussion. On Wednesday 2.23.2012, I expect everyone will have something to say about the issues raised in the essays.

Your next assignment will be a three-page research exercise on the fast-food issue using all the essays in the TSIS unit (pp. 151 - 210). You can help yourself and others by helping to define the issues on Wednesday.

PA#10 -- Refutation of Refutation

Look over the torture essay and find one of B & G's points of refutation and respond to it. They spend considerable time and space responding to objections to their very controversial thesis, so you should have no problem finding a refutation to refute.

A typical downshifted paragraph could (but might not) look like the following:

the idea that B & G are responding to,

their response to that idea (perhaps including a quotation),

some explanation and development of their response (if necessary),

your response to their refutation,

some explanation of your point of view (if necessary), and then

evidence and detail to support your point of view.

Note that any of the above points might take more than one sentence, but try to show a little self control in the early sentences of the paragraph

The last point will certainly take more than one sentence, so plan the points that come before wisely. You don't want to write a whole essay here -- just one paragraph in what could be a longer essay.

Don't forget to provide transitions that clearly indicate when you are representing B & G's ideas and when you are providing your own.

Still, try to write the paragraph in the third person. Every reader will know that you are writing the essay. Concentrate on the ideas, not yourself. Remember, you are trying to persuade the reader that a certain IDEA is true or false.

Also, limit the focus to a single, narrowly defined idea. Imagine that you will be writing other paragraphs in a longer essay.

Please post the paragraph by Sunday at 5 PM. I know you have a paragraph portfolio due on Monday, but you should have been working on that project for weeks.

PA#9 -- Refutation

Now take one of the ideas in the two essays and refute it. Remember, you're trying to refute just one of the ideas. Don't try to write the whole essay here -- just one of its paragraphs.

A typical downshift might look like the following: An objective statement of the author's idea (perhaps including a short quotation), an objective explanation of that idea, a statement of your idea in response, an explanation of your idea in response, and evidence and detail that supports your idea in response.

Above all, watch your tone. Don't characterize the author's idea. Refute it with facts and evidence.

Blog your response by Thursday at 5 PM. We'll talk about your paragraphs in class on Friday.

BTW, in response to requests by several members of the class who have been ill, I'm postponing the due date of the paragraph portfolio until Monday. If you haven't posted previous paragraph assignments, GET THEM POSTED. You may also include this assignment in your portfolio if you wish.

PA# 8 -- Confirmation

Find something to agree with in the two essays mentioned below. You may not agree, but do so anyway. You might agree with the writer's main point (thesis) or you might agree with one of the supporting arguments.

If you agree with the main premise, find an argument that the writer DOESN'T use to support his/ her premise. (That step in particularly easy if you do the Singleton essay.) State and develop that argument. Your downshift might look like the following: State the author's main idea, develop it, state your supporting argument, and then develop with details you may have culled from research on the Internet.

If you agree with a supporting argument, note that the writer(s) don't do an adequate job of providing evidence and supporting detail. Do that job for him/ them. Your downshift might look like the following: State the author's supporting argument, develop it, and then give supporting evidence and detail that the author does not provide.

Note: The paragraph should not simply summarize. You are trying to develop the writers' arguments, not repeat them. Repeat only as much as you need to to get to your own supporting detail.

I realize you may disagree with both essays. Force yourself to find evidence for its position anyway. We're learning to argue (in the best sense of the word). Sometimes, you will write academic essays that state a thesis contrary to your own position. Successful essays go with the best evidence available.

Please post the paragraph by Tuesday at 5 PM.

PA#7 -- They Say (Redux)

For Monday read the two essays on pp. 192 - 94 and pp. 196 - 200 in WFS. Write a careful ONE PARAGRAPH summary of one of them, and come prepared to discuss the essays in class on Monday and Wednesday. We'll discuss the "grades" essay on Monday and the " torture" essay on Wednesday. The writers have distinct points of view. Be prepared in the class discussion to agree or disagree.

You can't cover everything in one paragraph. Assume that you will be able to discuss the details of the writer's arguments and examples in further paragraphs. This paragraph is only a "They Say" exercise. For now, simply state the writer's main point and the main arguments that he/ she/ they use to advance those arguments. The paragraph is harder than it seems. You'll have to ferret out the writers' main arguments, no easy task. Thus, get an early start.

Post your summary paragraph by Sunday at 5 PM to give everyone, including me, a chance to look at them. Also, bring a hard copy of your paragraph to class on Monday.

PA#6 --Ain't So/ Is Not (Refutation)

Once again, identify one of the characteristics that Roz Chast describes in the cartoon on p. 282 of TSIS, preferably a different characteristic than you did in PA#5. This time, disagree with her, provide some evidence that your claim about the cartoon is true, state your point of disagreement, explain your point of view, and provide some evidence that your POV is true In that order).

Try not to repeat yourself from previous PA's. Imagine that you are writing an essay on the cartoon. The paragraph is just one of several.

In addition, try to work in some informal language. Don't be afraid to use texting abbreviations, but don't overdo it. The idea here is to achieve a moment or two of the informality in Chapter 9 of TSIS, but remember that you are still doing academic writing. You're looking for the prof to chuckle a bit and (maybe) forget that s/he is reading a big stack of essays at 3 AM.

Try to limit yourself to a single element of the cartoon and a single point of refutation, but develop each point completely. DOWNSHIFT.

"Git this thang" posted by Sunday at 5 PM, and try to look over other students' paragraphs before class on Monday.

PA#5: "As a result" (Cause and effect paragraph)

Again, identify one of the characteristics that Roz Chast describes in the cartoon on p. 282. This time, agree with her and then describe one effect or consequence of that characteristic.

Don't forget that you'll have to provide some evidence for both your claim about Chast's POV and each consequence you choose to write about. Don't try to write a whole essay. Concentrate on a single point and its effect(s). Develop each point completely and DOWNSHIFT.

Please post the paragraph by Thursday at 5PM so that we can discuss some of them in class.

Wiki Topic

As soon as possible, post a paragraph describing your group's wiki topic and how you have divided up the labor. Be as concrete and specific as you can on both fronts. Make sure that you have identified your group in the paragraph. Post your paragraph by Tuesday at 5 PM.

Sometime Tuesday evening, look at the paragraphs submitted by the other members of your group. Have you reached a consensus about the topic and the division of labor?

Don't worry about grammar, usage, and punctuation. This assignment is not a PA. I've designed it to make sure that you're all on the same page as far as the wiki is concerned.

They Say -- I Say #4 (Refutation)

PA#4 -- They Say, I Say (Refutation)

Look again at the cartoon on p. 282. Identify ONE claim that it seems to be making about your generation.

In a topic sentence, state that claim and exactly how you disagree with it. Then, show with examples and details that the cartoon makes that claim.

Then, disagree with one specific argument against the cartoonists original claim.

Finally, provide evidence -- as specific as you can find from your own life -- that the claim is not true.

You are being asked to write a classic refutation paragraph. Downshift. Get very specific.

Post a draft of the paragraph ASAP, but no later than 5 PM on Tuesday night.

Feel free to use any of the templates in Chapters 4 and 5 of TSIS.

PA#3: Definition/ Division Paragraph

PA#3: Definition/ Division Paragraph

You will be meeting with a class member on Monday, January 23, to write a descriptive paragraph about that class member. Interview each other. Try to find an important characteristic of that person and write a paragraph about her or him and it.

Post that paragraph ASAP -- as soon as you can get to a computer and keyboard it in -- but certainly by Friday, 1/27/2012 at 5 PM, so we can talk about it in class.

Important: You cannot possibly capture the entire person in one paragraph. As I hope you learned from the previous assignment, you must think of the paragraph you are writing as part of a whole essay. Isolate one defining characteristic and write a paragraph about it. Think about that one characteristic as part of a larger essay about the person, but don't try to write the entire essay. Write about that one characteristic that might be part of the larger essay.

We'll talk in class about how to organize the paragraph. However, please note that you'll be looking for a defining characteristic for the topic sentence, and you'll be isolating a PARALLEL set of sub-characteristics that subdivide and develop the main characteristic.

Paragraph #2

Post PA #2 below as soon as possible, but certainly by Wednesday at 5 PM.

Notes for PA #2 -- They Say

For Monday, I've asked you to read the Preface and Chapter 1 of TSIS. Please do so, and read the book to class. You'll be reading about the basic "They Say" paragraph.

In the meantime, take a careful look at the cartoon on p. 282 of TSIS. Blog a set of notes (not a paragraph analyzing what you think the cartoon says. Look carefully at details in the cartoon and note the ones that support your point of view.

Blog your notes below by Sunday at 5 PM, and bring a hard copy of your notes to class on Monday so that you can write the paragraph in class.

Paragraph #1 -- Basic Downshifting

We'll actually write the paragraph in class on Wednesday, January 18, so you need only bring detailed notes to class. In the meantime, observe your environment. Look around. Take some notes.

Define and describe a problem here at Ohio Wesleyan. Start with a topic sentence that defines the problem. Then describe the problem in more detail in subsequent sentences. Finally, give a detailed example of the problem. Use the details to illuminate the description above.

Write a well developed paragraph that follows the basic downshifting pattern we will discuss in class. Sometime over the weekend, post your paragraph to the blog as a "comment" to this assignment. Also, BRING THE PARAGRAPH TO CLASS on Friday so we can spend some time in class editing it.

We will follow that basic pattern on all the paragraphs you write during the first weeks on the semester:

Day 1: Draft the paragraph. Blog it ASAP.

Next class day: Edit the previous paragraph and draft a the next one.