Monday, November 29th

In class, our main focus was preperation for our final portfolfolio. We recieved a very instructional paper, that you will need to ask Professor Joyce for if you missed class. On the paper, it lists the order that your portfolio, save for our project proposal, which we were asked to write in. You will have to include a final memo in to, which is essentially you stating your case for what grade you think you deserve.

Portfolios are Due Dec 10th and must be handed in via hard copy, not electronically. All your papers must be in MLA format and must have you r last name and page number on each age, excluding the first one. Your papers must be double spaced and have 1-inch margins and single spaced headers. The preferred presentation of the portfolio is a 3 ring binder.

For the remainder of the semester, you are allowed to bring yoour laptops to class, as it makes it makes it easier to edit papers. The rest of the semester will consist of workshop/study hall-style class periods.

Homework Due Wednesday, Dec 1: Bring a draft of any major paper to work on conciseness (removing the fluff)

November 10th

In class today we did peer reviewing. Each person in our group read the paraphrase or outline of his paper out laud. The listeners had to ask questions and record the question and answers. We also scheduled for conferences that are going to be held on Monday and Tuesday.
Homework for Friday is to write at least 4 out of 6+ pages of the paper. Everybody needs to bring a copy of the rough draft to class to turn in.

Simin Falsafi

November 8

In class today we discussed our thesis statements in groups. After hearing a peer's thesis we took notes on what we thought their paper would consist of. Then we discussed ways to make their thesis and their paper better. When everyone in the group had their thesis evaluated we then went on to discus what research we had found for our paper.

Homework: Make a detailed outline for your paper or write the introduction and two body paragraphs for your paper. Bring this to class on Wednesday.

In class today we continued to learn about how to write the different sections - Introduction, Body Paragraphs, and Conclusion - of our research papers. Professor Joyce focused solely on the Conclusion today. There are 3 things that a good conclusion should do:

• Stress the importance of the Thesis Statement (Your chance to tell the audience why this argument was made).
• Give the essay a sense of completion.
• Give a final impression on the reader

There are some strategies to accomplish these three things:

• Answer the "so what" question.
• Synthesize do not summarize.
• Redirect your readers.
• Create new meaning.

Examples are as follows:

• Challenge the readers - help them redirect the information and let them know how and where to reapply your argument in their lives.
• Look to the future.
• Posing Questions. (DO NOT pose rhetorical questions. Think of something related to your topic that you did not get a chance to address).

Using these guidelines you can give a definitive and polished conclusion to your research paper. The conclusion is as important as any other part of the paper because it allows you to tie everything together. Remember NEVER say IN CONCLUSION, or FINALLY at the beginning of your conclusion. The reader will know it is the last page so just transition seamlessly into your closing arguments.

Homework for Monday:

• Bring your working thesis statement to class, you can either write it on paper or have it in your head because we will be doing some group work involving it.
  

That was all we did today. Enjoy the weekend!!!

Ameena Syed

Today in class Professor Joyce introduced us to effective ways of analyzing a source before deciding whether or not the source is applicable in a research paper.

First, one must ask these questions:

1. What do you know about the topic before you read about the topic or issue?
2. What can you tell about the source before you read it?

After answering those questions spot read.

• examine the table of contents, index, or glossary
• Read the introduction and conclusion
• Write down observations/ read in a critical manner
• Read the first scentence of each paragraph
• Look for key words and transitions

Next, analyze the organization of the source by using rhetorical analysis and honing in on headings and chapter titles.

Finally, examine points of difficulty.

• points of disagreement
• points of confusion

Prof. Joyce administered a handout in class today and on Monday we will do a deep analysis of the article and will turn in short write F.

Short write F is on JAC page 50 ( answer questions in detailed prose and be analytical)

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

In Class today:
We signed up for conferences. Unlike the previous conferences, these are individual cnferences, as opposed to group conferences. Many sign up times are still available for Tuesday, as most Monday slots are filled up.

Because it was difficult to get all of the classes into the library, we got a tutorial on refining searches via screen shots.
We read Refining Searches in the WVU databases: A Quick Tutorial.
As an example, we did Global Warming, which is one of the 6 topics you may not use. The search brought up 23,501 results. That is way too many. Idealistically, you would like to refine your search so it's down to an amount that you can sit and skim through. She added "Greenland Shark", and it narrowed her search down to 1, which is far too few results. She changed it to "The Effects of Global Warming on Polar Bears." That expanded it to 163 articles. By adding "Breeding" it narrowed the search down to 4 articles.

We also did a Keywords and Synonyms Research Exercise.
It involved extracting keywords from the 3 articles we picked, and then found synonyms for those keywords. Lastly, we found words that were associated with the keywords, but not necessarily synonyms. At the end of the exercise, we had a good amount of words we could use to better search our topics.

The Homework (Due Friday, October 15th)
1. Read the JAC pages 109-116
2.Write a 1 page proposal and bring to class friday.

Monday, October 11, 2010

In class today:

JAC covered all the activities that we did today. First of all,  We started off by brainstorming those two questions that Prof. Joyce provided us. Such as :

1. If you want to change the world, how would you change it? 
2. What process do you have to go about?

Later on, we did more brainstorming according to those questions that were in the JAC on pg 83, and we needed to answer all the questions to give us heads-up for our next major paper.  Finally, on pg 84, Prof. Joyce explained to us the differences between Subjective and Objective. 

• Subjective- judgmental, emotional, and opinionated
• Objective- factual rational, and researched (ex: News Analysis & Editorial) 

Some of the forbidden topics for this assignment are :

1. Global warming
2. Euthanasia
3. lowering the drinking age
4. Legalizing marijuana
5. Mountaintop removal   

Homework due on Wednesday (13th):

1. Read JAC Pg 96- 102
2. Find 3 articles (don't have to be on same topic) and create reader response sheet (JAC Pg 65) for all 3 (Print the form and bring the response of your articles - Double Entry Notes)