9 December 2004
7 December 2004
2 December 2004
30 November 2004
23 November 2004
Today's Topic: Research Skills Workshop II
This project is important prepraration for Paper 2.
- Research Skills Homework
Research Skills Workshop I
Research Skills Quiz
Students who get at least a B+ average (3.3) on the above three assignments are excused from attending Research Skills Workshop II (the Tuesday before Thanksgiving Break).
18 November 2004
Today's Topic: Research Skills Quiz
An important part of the Research Project.
Students who get at least a B+ average (3.3) on this quiz and the Research Skills Workshop are excused from attending Research Skills Workshop II.
16 November 2004
15 November 2004
Research Skills Module II (Monday)
1) Find three peer-reviewed academic articles, published within the last five years, that you would feel comfortable quoting in Paper 2 (which must be on money/class and/or gender). It does not matter to me whether the articles are in print or online -- what matters is that they are peer-reviewed articles.
To find these articles, you can use the procedure described in the handout "Academic Journals -- Finding them Online (using EBSCOHost)", or you can ask a librarian to help you find them some other way.
Caution: Google and "findarticles.com" will not help you do this assignment. Publishers of academic articles sell the rights to access their databases. While university libraries do buy these rights, general search engines don't.
Caution: Some academic journals publish letters to the editors or interviews with public figures; even though they appear in journals, and even though they might include references, they probably weren't peer-reviewed, and thus wouldn't fulfill the assignment requirements.
For the upcoming "Research Skills Quiz," I will give you a general topic in class, and you will have to come up with credible academic sources on your own in a limited time frame, so it will be to your benefit to practice this skill now.
For each article, attach
1a) a printout of the database entry for your article
1b) a photocopy or printout of the first page of the article
1c) a photocopy or printout of the first page of references.
2) Find one academic book. A textbook is not academic because it is intended for beginners, not experts. A popular book (such as Michael Moore's Idiot Nation) is intended for the general reader, not the expert. An academic book will typically be published by a unviersity press (Princeton, Oxford, MIT, or smaller, lesser-known universities). Ask a librarian if you aren't sure.
Attach
2a) a photocopy of the title page (which features not just the title of the book, but also the name of the publisher)
2b) the ISBN (a unique ID code, usually found on the back of the title page; something like "0-395-98078-X")
2c) a page inside the book that cites a source (via a footnote or in-text citation)
3) Cross-referencing
Books and Articles published today cite older sources. Look up a source (a book or article) that is cited by one of the four sources you have already found. Attach
3a) a printout of the passage that cites your fifth source, with the citation highlighted.
3b) photocopies/printouts (as described in either 1 or 2 above) for this fifth source
3c) a one-paragraph statement that describes how you found this fifth source.
11 November 2004
Today's Topic: Research Skills Workshop
Research Project Components
RSM (Research Skills Modules I, II, III)
RSW (Research Skills Workshop I, II)
RSQ (Research Skills Quiz)
Note: Students are excused from RSW II if they get at least a 3.3 avearge on the modules and the quiz.
Due Dates
Nov 09 Due: Research Skills Module I
Nov 11: Library Visit.
Nov 15 (Monday, so I have more time to get it back to you): Due RSM II
Nov 18: Due RSM III & Research Skills Quiz
Nov 22 (Monday) Paper 2 first draft
Nov 23 Research Skills Workshop II (for those who did not get at least a 3.3 average on RSM and RSQ
In-class Workshop: Revise awkward use of quotation
The following passage wastes words by first setting up a quotation, then including a long quotation, and then re-stating the content of the quotation.
In the article "Moving to the Public: Weblogs in the Writing Classroom," by Charles Lowe and Terra Williams, it talks about ways that weblogs may be useful in the writing classroom.
Many students today regularly email friends and family, converse via instant message daily, participate in multiplayer online games with people from around the web, and surf Internet sites much as earlier generations read magazines and newspapers. Students see the web as a public, playful place different from the writing spaces they typically work in within the classroom. Recognizing this, some composition teachers now assign individual hypertexts or group hypertext projects such as webzines, hoping to tap into the students’ sense of play and familiarity with online environments in order to stimulate investment in and engagement with their writing.This quote shows that because many students are already comfortable using e-mail and other forms of online communication to keep in touch with friends and family or for entertainment purposes, some instructors see weblogs as ways to get students comfortable writing about serious academic topics, using the online environment that students associate with a more relaxed, social form of communication. What this means is that students who explore their own ideas using a weblog, before they have to commit them to the format of a formal academic paper or even a class discussion, will benefit because the newness and interactivity of the weblog environment makes this pre-writing work seem more like play.
This pattern is very wordy. It also leads to a related problem: devoting a whole paragraph to a single quotation, and then moving on to the next quotation and the next paragraph, like the individual candies in a Pez dispenser.
The following revision drastically reduces the number of words.
Today's electronically literate college students routinely play games and socialize online. According to Lowe and Williams, for these sgudents the web is "a public, playful place different from the writing spaces they typically work in within the classroom." A curriculum that engages a student's "sense of play and familiarity with online environments" may encourage students to invest more time in their writing activities.
In the extra space recovered by the revision, the author could introduce an alternative view. For instance,
Overreliance on technology can be a barrier that actually dampens their enthusiasm.
That then then leads us to the question,
How much technology is appropriate in a college writing classroom?
In the unrevised passage, the author drew so much attention to the fact that he or she was quoting from a source, and kept referring to "this quote" and "what this means". In the end, the author of the unrevised passage seems to be going through the motions -- using a quotation from an outside source simply because it is what he or she is supposed to do in this paper.
The revised passage does not call attention to the fact that the author is quoting a source, and instead focues squarely on the meaning behind the quote.
Update: When I asked everyone to look at today's syllabus page, I must have forgotten that, in a moment of generosity, I had delayed "Research Module II"'s due date until Monday, Nov. 15. My apologies for giving everyone a scare.
If you have not already turned in "Research Module I" (originally due on Nov. 9), you must turn it in along with Research Module II. (They go together -- I will not look at the second module until you have completed the first.)
I encourage everyone to pay close attention to the syllabus, and if you have any questions, please ask for my help.
9 November 2004
Today's Topic: Discuss Readings 2-4 and 2-5
Marcus, "Bridge" and Morgan, "Fly Girls"
Homework:
1) Post two agenda items -- one for each reading.
2) Post at least four comments, on at least four different peer blogs.
3) Bring printouts of your agenda items and your comments.
4) Extra credit: Respond to comments left by your peers. Bring to class a printout of the ensuing discussion.
4 November 2004
Today's Topic: Discuss Readings 2-2 and 2-3
Alger, "Ragged Dick" and Rather, "Trung Dung"
Homework:
1) Post two agenda items -- one for each reading.
2) Post at least four comments, on at least four different peer blogs.
3) Bring printouts of your agenda items and your comments.
4) Extra credit: Respond to comments left by your peers. Bring to class a printout of the ensuing discussion.
2 November 2004
Today's Topic: Discussion of Reading 2-1
Homework:
1) Blog an agenda item for Anyon, "Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work" -- that is, post a blog entry that contains a thought that you're prepared to share with the class in order to maintain a class discussion.
2) Comment on at least two agenda items posted by your peers (you can find them by clicking on names in the roster)
3) Bring to class printouts of your entry and the comments you posted
4) Extra credit: Respond to comments posted by your peers, and bring a printout of the discussion.
28 October 2004
Today's Topic: Research Skills Homework Preview
Your first paper in STW asked you to look only at the assigned readings in the textbook. Several of you chose to look at additional outside sources, as well.
Paper 2 requires everyone to do additional outside research.
Researching for a college paper is a skill that does not come easily. Google will easily lead you to lecuture notes published by college instructors, student papers, newspaper or magazine articles, and activist or commercial web pages (put up by people who want to promote their own viewpoint, and therefore won't be fair to alternative viewpoints).
The exercises in the Research Project are designed to ensure that you have found credible outside sources before you start to write your paper.
In high school, you may have first written a paper advocating the opinion you hold, and then gone online to "find quotes" to support your viewpoint. When you are doing that kind of research, you will tend to ignore completely any quotation that doesn't support what you already believe, or any quote that will make you work to revise the paper you have already written.
The research project assignment is a series of small exercises designed to get you to do research first, before you commit to a first draft.
See Research Project.
26 October 2004
Today's Topic: Harlan Gallery Visit
The Harlan Gallery is located around the back in the basement of the library building.
Your homework is to look at the artwork (and listen to the tour, if there is a tour guide), and to write a brief reflection and a short paper (maximum total 2 pages) that uses specific evidence from the artwork to argue a point.
For instance, if the tour guide says that the artwork represents such-and-such, I don't want you to write down what the tour guide says and use it as a fact. You are welcome to use what the tour guide says as a starting point, but you must use the internal evidence from the artwork to defend your point.
The brief reflection:
Choose at least two separate pieces of work, and list a total of three or four observations that you yourself made about those pieces of work.
The paper:
Use some or all of your observations to write a short paper that states a position about the art you observed, and which uses evidence from the art (not facts or details supplied by the tour guide or the Harlan Gallery website) to defend your claim.
21 October 2004
19 October 2004
14 October 2004
12 October 2004
Today's Topic: Informal Oral Presentations II (12 max)
Rescheduled from Oct 7. (I have a plane to catch the afternoon of the 7th, and wouldn't be able to stay for the whole class period.)
7 October 2004
Today's Topic: Rescheduled: Video
Preparation:
Bring to class a half/page reflection statement (you are welcome to blog it) about the people in your high school who influenced your own tastes in some or all of the following:
popular music
soft drinks
advertising
Turn it in to Brian before the video starts.
After the video is over, spend 10 minutes writing a reaction. Turn that in before you go.
You are welcome to blog about this, if you like.
5 October 2004
Today's Topic: Informal Oral Presentation
1. Your Goals:
1.1 Try out your arguments for Paper 1.
1.2. Gain practice for the Formal Oral Presentation assignment (near the end of the term).
2. Components.
2.1. Attendance (on both days presentations are scheduled).
2.2. A four-minute speech, which defends the thesis you want to make about education, and which quotes passages from at least two sources in the education chapter of Rereading America.
2.3. A one-page reflective statement that compiles all the feedback you received from your peers; that paper should include a bulleted list of specific changes that you made to your thesis and/or argument as a result of your oral presentation assignment.
Grade: To receive a grade for this presentation, submit your one-page response in your Unit I Portfolio (due 12 Oct).
30 September 2004
Today's Topic: Developing a Preliminary Thesis
The effort you put into coming up with a good thesis statement will pay off in the long run.
Make an original argument, that arises from your reading of at least two essays from the education chapter of Rereading America. Your full thesis paragraph should specify the authors and the titles of the essays you plan to examine.
As you develop your thesis, move beyond commonly held, non-controversial opinion ("Education is the key to success"), and make an original argument. Find a specific passage in a specific text that you disagree with; find something that two different authors disagree about, and take a side with one of them; find something that two different authors agree about, and decide which one makes a better case.
Do any of the following thesis statements fit the criteria for a good thesis?
Sample Theses
- John Gatto uses irony to criticize the school system.
If you work hard enough, you can achieve anything you desire.
Malcolm X and the speaker in 'Para Theresa' are similar in several ways.
Michael Moore is a talented filmmaker who uses satirical humor to make his political points.
Ines Hernandez-Avila is a bilingual poet who uses Spanish to represent the interior, private voice of the speaker in "Para Teresa."
Additional Tips
- Make direct, specific reference to your chosen essays in order to defend your argument. If your thesis is so general that you could defend it with just about any essay, or with no essay at all, then it isn't demonstrating your ability to write critically about a text at the collegiate level.
Cut wordiness.
Wordy: "One of the most imortant opportunities you will have in life is the chance to get an education. What you decide will affect you more than almost any other decision you could make. Malcolm X and the speaker in Para Teresa are two examples of people who understood the importance of education, and who made crucial choices that affected their later lives."
Revision: (What is worth saving here, and what is deadwood?)
Focus. If your introduction calls something "One of the most important," then your phrasing suggests you are going to talk about four things -- at least one that is important, at least one that is "more important," and at least one that is "most important". What do you mean by "important"? What are the criteria you use to determine whether something is important? What are the criteria your authors use to determine "importance"? If getting involved in all these details won't help your argument, then the sentence that introduced the term "importance" is filler. Cut it, and get on with your argument.
From other sources:
Early in the reading and writing process, you can keep your mind open -- yet focused -- by posing questions. The thesis that you articulate later in the process will be an answer to the central question you pose. (Hacker 114)
Rather than say, "Advertisers often use sexist ads," tell us something we don't know. Perhaps you could shed new light on an old subject: "Although long criticized for their sexist portrayal of women in TV commercials, the auto industry is just as often guilty of stereotyping men as brainless idiots unable to make a decision." The first statement stimulates "Ho hum," the other "Oh, yeah? I'd like to know more about that." (CSU Writing Center)
Works Cited
Hacker, Dana. A Pocket Style Manual. 4th ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2004.
Colorado State University Writing Center. "Developing a Tentative Thesis." Writing@CSU. 1997-2004. Colorado State University. 30 Sep 2004.
Today's Topic: Paper 1 Writing Workshop
The Paper 1 Writing Workshop is designed to help get you started writing Paper 1. See the page for that assignment for a timeline of related assignments.
1. Read Thesis Statements: What Are They? (I've briefly gone over this material in class.)
2. Read the sample student paper.
In the sample student paper I distributed in class, "Desire to learn not always supported by the educational system"....
- What is the author's
- topicprecise opinionblueprint
3. Bring to class a preliminary thesis for Paper 1.
The paper asks you to cite at least two sources from the education section of Rereading America (including one of the four assigned readings) in order to "defend a thesis about education." (You are welcome to blog your preliminary thesis, or blog the brainstorming that leads up to it.)
4. Prepare for the Informal Oral Presentation (Oct 5 or Oct 7), read this handout: "Oral Presentations." Your goals for this activity are 1) to practice public speaking in preparation for the Formal Oral Presentation and 2) to try out the argument you want to use for Paper 1. (If you are nervous about this assignment, or you have public speaking tips to share, please feel free to post on your own blog or here.)
28 September 2004
23 September 2004
21 September 2004
Today's Topic: Discussion of Reading 1-2 (''The Seven-Lesson Schoolteacher", p. 173)
Post an "agenda item" for this reading on your own weblog. Remember an "agenda item" is something you want to accomplish during the discussion. Simply giving the main point of the reading or making an observation doesn't give anything for you to accomplish during your discussion.
Use the class roster and leave responses to the agenda items left by at least two classmates. (You're welcome to do more than that -- not a bad idea, if you've already missed a class or have turned in a late assignment.)
The idea is for you to come to class already prepared to talk about something. As I said in class, your goal is not to come to a consensus and then stop talking, but rather to keep discussing until you find something that you disagree about. While I don't want you to exaggerate your disagreements, I am interested in getting you to talk about issues that require you to consult the essay we've read.
16 September 2004
Today's Topic: Discussion of Reading 1-1 (''Para Teresa,'' p. 227)
In the space below, post an "agenda item" -- that is, something that you are prepared to discuss in your small groups. You should be prepared to suggest specific passages in the poem that support your claim.
- "Imagery in 'Para Teresa'" is not an agenda item, it's a vague topic.
"Why does the poet sometimes use Spanish?" is an agenda item (so long as you are prepared to offer your own opinion).
"The speaker of the poem pretends she is also a kind of rebel, but she is only rebelling against Teresa."
Post your "agenda item" in the "comments" space some time before class on Sept. 16. Please sign your full name, not a nickname, so that I can be sure to give you the proper credit for your contribution.
(Soon you will have your own weblog, where you will be asked to post your agenda items, and to respond to the agenda items posted by your peers. You'll receive step-by-step instructions, and we'll have time to get to know the weblog software in class.)
Class Roster
Dennis G. Jerz (instructor)
Brian Blasco (mentor)
Mary Bonner
Heather Chicotella
Jason Crighton
Carl Desphy
Tracey Flaherty
Jared Grubor
Amanda Herold
Caroline Jones
Kayla Lukacs
Gregory McGee
Lauren Miles
Ashley Neil
Matthew Nelson
Chinazom Onubogu
Jennifer Sherbo
Jasmine Urgent
Tad Wissel
14 September 2004
Today's Topic: Unit 1: Education (Introduction)
Read the introduction and the "visual portfolio" in the "Education" section of Rereading America. Skim through all the essays in the chapter.
9 September 2004
Today's Topic: Opening Liturgy & Color of Water
Attend the opening liturgy and discuss, with the rest of the freshman class, The Color of Water.
8 September 2004
Free Screening of "Bowling for Columbine"
If you haven't seen Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine," I encourage you to attend one of the free showings. The first was over the Labor Day weekend, but there are two more:
New Media Journalism @ Seton Hill University: Open Screening: Bowling for Columbine
BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE
dir. Michael Moore (2002), 120 mins.
Free Campus Screenings:
Mon. 9/6, Labor Day, 2-4:15pm in AD 308
Fri. 9/10, 3-5:15pm in AD 206
Tues. 9/14, 8:30-10:45am in AD 308
7 September 2004
Today's Topic: Discussion of Education in The Color of Water
Come to class with an agenda item -- a specific issue, arising from the book, that you want the class to talk about as part of our discussion of this text.
Everyone will discuss their agenda items in small groups, and some class members will be called on to share with the entire class the results of their small group discussion.
