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)  

  

Monday, October 4

Today in class we learned about plagiarism. Prof. Joyce discussed illegal downloading of music as well as other forms of multimedia and how this is considered plagiarism. We discussed the law of copyright. Authors can have a copyright claim on their work for over 80 years. Their children and descendants can claim that work and reap the benefits even after the author has passed. We also talked about creative commons which is when someone takes someone else's work and changes it in some way. There are different levels of creative commons starting with just taking a work and changing it for your personal use all the way up to changing a work and generating money from it. Wikipedia is an example of a creative commons.

The overall message today was don't plagiarize the information in your papers. Here is a list of what must have a citation.

1. quotes and paraphrases

2. fact when not widely known

3. claims that are arguable that isn't your own

4. judgments or opinions

5. photos, charts, graphics, etc.

6. collaborative work

Homework: Continue working on your midterm portfolio including the midterm memo, editorial analysis, and edits to the news analysis. The midterm portfolio is due on Friday. Bring Everything's an Argument to class on Wednesday.

Oct 1

Today we went over the worksheet on MLA citations from last week.

Our homework is to continue work on our editorial analysis and midterm memo.

September 29, 2010

Class was cancelled today. Lindsey's son was sick so wish him well. Also continue to work on your midterm reflections for the portfolio due on the 8th of October. The guidelines fo rthe midterm reflection can be found on page 169 of the JAC. Remember that you can turn in your FFN draft on the 1st for minimal comments, or on the 8th with the portfolio for maximum comments and to recieve your "ghost grade."

In class today we went over our homework assignment (answer all the questions about our partners editorial). Then we went over our midterm memo and a few things that we could put in our memo, although there is nothing specific, there are some useful tips on pages 145 and 169 in the JAC. Finally we got into out peer conference groups, exchanged papers, talked about how we felt about our papers, our strong and weak points, and got out of class about 15 minutes early.


Homework
Complete peer review reading exercise (handout given to us in class)
1. What is the writer's claim or thesis?

• What claim is being asserted?
• What assumptions are being made - and are they acceptable?
• Are important terms satisfactorily defined?

2. What support (evidence) is offered on behalf of the claim?

• Are the examples relevant, and are they convincing?
• Are the statistics relevant, accurate, and complete? Do they allow only the interpretation that is offered in the argument?
• If authorities are cited, are they indeed authorities on this topic, and can they be regarded as impartial?
• Is the logic - deductive and inductive - valid?
• If there is an appeal to ethos, pathos, logos on the writer's behalf - is the appeal acceptable?

3. Does the writer seem to you to be fair? Ask yourself?

• Are counterarguments adequately considered?
• Is there any evidence of dishonesty or of discreditable attempt to manipulate the reader?
• How does the writer establish the image of himeslf or herself that we sense in the essay? What is the writer's tone, and is it appropriate?

Other reminders

• Midterm portfolios are due Friday October 1st
• Editorial analysis final for now is also due Friday October 1st
• There is no class on Monday

Wednesday September 22

TODAY IN CLASS:

A few housekeeping things...

1. We do not have class on Monday due to our conferences for our editorial analysis paper.

2. If you have not yet given your availability for Monday for your conference, email her by tonight!

3. We will be going over our midterm portfolio on Friday, which is going to be due Friday October 1st.

During class we talked about intergrading secondary sources which for our paper we should have at least 2 of them. These sources should provide us with more information on the given topic of your editorial. It should help you see if your editorial topic is positively or negatively argued. These should primarily be longer than your actual editorial.

Lindsey shared with us an outline of how our papers should flow.

Paragraphs:

1.) Should introduce the issue.

2.) Should introduce the editorial, provide a summary, and state your thesis.

3.) Claim should be tied to your thesis. - Editorial is successful or not because______.

A.) Evidence for editorial (Quote, paraphrase, summary) Will need to use Citations!

B.) Analyze evidence to show HOW it does what you say it does.

(This is where your secondary sources will come in)

i.) Evidence from secondary source to support your analysis.

ii.) Analysis of secondary source to show how it supports overall claim.

*ALWAYS END PARAGRAPH WITH YOUR OWN VOICE!*

Some examples of transitionary sentences that can be used to bring in your secondary sources.

- "X" matters/is important because____.

- Although "X" may seem trivial, it is in fact crucial in terms of today's concern over _____.

- Ultimately what is at stake here is _____.

- These findings have important consequences for the broader claim of ____.

- Although "X" may seem of concern only to a small group of _____, it should in fact concern anyone who cares about _____.

We also went over some MLA and a few things to keep in mind, and also received a worksheet:

1.) Make sure your works cited is in alphabetical order by last name, or which ever should come first.

2.) NO website links! *Keep track of the date that you accessed the website to cover you in case it has been edited after you were there.

3.) Examples and help in Easy Writer starting on page 222.

HOMEWORK:

- Continue to work on editorial analysis. Print enough copies for your group for Friday. It should be about 3 to 4 pages long.

- Complete MLA handout to go over in class on Friday.