Final Papers

Hi. What a bad day to get blanketed in snow. I am sorry I missed our very last class. I have your papers and I am grading them.

For those of you that gave me a self-addressed, stamped envelope, I will send your paper and comments. For those of you that didn't, I can be in my office next Thurs., Dec. 11 from 7:30-8:30 am, HOWEVER PLEASE CONFIRM WITH ME IF YOU"D LIKE TO MEET THEN by emailing me at theycallmejeffrey at gmail dot com. If you would like your paper back with my comments, PLEASE CONFIRM you will meet me at that time (because I don't want to write comments that no one will ever read).

We had a good run. I am emailing my final paper to you on your CCD account (it's 20 pages long!). Hope it helps.

Be good,

Jeff

Final Class--7:45

Hi,

Since all we just turning in papers tomorrow, class will start at 7:45.

NOTE: FINAL PAPERS ARE DUE TOMORROW!

Remember,
8-15 pages.
Typed, Double-spaced
Work's cited page
Turn it in with a Self-addressed, STAMPED envelope so I can send it back to you.

Also, if you didn't turn in your annotated bibliography, please do so tomorrow.

See you at 7:45.

Jeff

Grading Rubric

Your grades will determined based, tentatively, on the following criteria. Please use this blog and the previous posts to help you in your revision.

Requirements :
• Paper is 8-15 pages,
• Typed and double-spaced.
• Normal formatting.
• 12-pt font.
• Source material is cited according to MLA/APA standards.
• A Work’s Cited page is included.

Argument: You take a stand on an issue upon which reasonable people disagree. As Hacker notes, you are not trying to get the last word in, you are not simply trying to win a fight, but to “explain your understanding of the truth about a subject or to propose the best solution available for solving a problem—without being needlessly combative” (67). To do this, as another textbook, Writing: A College Handbook explains, you:
[...] do not simply quote, paraphrase, and summarize. You interpret, question, compare, and judge the statements you cite. You explain why one opinion is sound and another is not, why one fact is relevant and another is not, why one writer is correct and another is mistaken. Your purpose may vary with your topic; you may seek to show why something happened, to recommend a course of action, to solve a problem, or present and defend a particular interpretation of a historical event or a work of art. But whether the topic is space travel or Shakespeare's Hamlet, an argumentative research paper deals actively with the statements it cites. It makes them work together in an argument that you create -- an argument that leads to a conclusion of your own. (Hefferman 495-496)

Organization: Is evident. Attention has been paid to where each paragraph is located in the paper and what each paragraph is doing. Each paragraph, too, is ordered logically so that the reader can easily access your argument. For assistance, please refer to previous blog posts.

Research: You cannot write or argue about a topic you have not developed some expertise in (You don’t take a dentists advice on how to perform brain surgery). To build your expertise, adequate research has been done—both to give you a better understanding of the topic’s background. As the Stanford writing website says, “all decent writing is the product of an involved process, a decent research paper will have behind it, in addition and invisibly, a many-layered research process.”
• You should have and cite 10-20 sources in this paper
• Those sources should consist of expert opinion, coming primarily of journal articles, book chapters, etc. depending on your topic
• If you use a website (and you should only use them in the most extreme cases. Trying to avoid them at all costs) it comes from a credible source, ie. Government agencies and the websites of well known institutions.
• Mostly, you have done enough work in the library to be successful.
• The paper should not rely on telling your audience your opinions, but showing, through evidence and reason, the supporting framework of those opinions/ideas.

Audience: Also, strides have been made to write in a way—through using warrants, academic voice/language, etc—that make it appealing to someone other than you (audience awareness).
• Notably, you have taken into consideration what opponents of your position would say in response.
• The paper is not written is such a manner that it is only persuasive to one that already agrees with your point of view. In other words, it doesn’t rely on bandwagon appeals.
• Academic voice—no you’s or I’s—are used. Instead of “I suggest that the farm bill be reexamined, “you write “Due to the consequences of cheap food on our economy, one can argue that it is time for the Farm Bill to be overturned.”

Insight : The paper shows insight into the topic. The author explores this subject in all its complexity and reveals and examines the nature of that complexity in his/her essay. Such insights should not be implied but revealed and developed through good examples from the texts.

Revision: It is evident that revision has been employed to improve upon previous drafts.

Language: Is free of typos and grammatical errors and reads in such a way that it is clear what you are trying to say.

Benchmark : quality of this work in relation to what I expect you to be able to do in this class at this time on such an assignment.

No Class--Thurs 11/13

No Class on Thurs. 11/13.

Please use this time to work on your peer review. You should have 2-3 essays from your peers. Read them. Make comments in the margins. Write them a letter detailing not your critique of the paper, but your suggestions for how the paper can improve. You are an advocate here, so act like it.
Please make an extra copy of your end comments (the letters you are writing) and give it to me on Tuesday.

Please focus on:
1. Argument. Rhetorical purposes. How is this essay trying to be persuasive. Does it succeed? How can this argument be strengthened? If you didn't agree with the author, what would your points be?

2. Research. Examine a) if there is enough research. If not, the essay will feel superficial and shallow. The points will rely too heavily on one or two sources and will invite the reader to find discount the points the author is making because they will feel like opinion, as opposed to well researched points. IF the author needs to do more research, tell them.

3. Logic and Organization. First, if the paper is all over the place and jumps from point to point you need to let the author know where he can slow down, expand and connect the points of logic for his reader. Often, our first drafts are wild and your job here is to tame it a little. Is the paper organized?

4. Language. Specifically academic voice. Is this essay written for an academic audience. Can it replace "I" and "you" with third-person pronouns "He," She," "One?"

5. Where can the author expand this paper to make it better (and to fit the requirements of this assignment).

Good luck. See you on Tuesday.

Citing

For information about paraphrasing, summarizing and directly quoting your research materials click here and here for paraphrasing andhere for all the rest.

Also, look in your Hacker handbook to ensure you are using the correct format and style in your citations.

Writing Process--Putting It Together

This is a direct quote of a page at:
http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/documents/arguedraft/deductive.cfm

Example

Notice how this paper connects its points

Claim of Paper: Decreasing the average work week to 32 hours would help support family values.

From Body of Paper: Although most of us know that working too much affects family time and thus family structure, we usually assume that this is the case only for people who work 40+ hours a week. Studies of how work-related stress influences family time, however, suggest that too much work, even within what is considered "normal," has detrimental effects on family time. [Topic sentence connects evidence (studies) to the point that 40-hour work weeks have negative affects on families.]

For example, in Smith's 1987 study of 15 average, middle-class families, he describes the undue pressure a 9-5 schedule puts on families. In particular, he notes that this time schedule translates to at least three forms of unnecessary family stress: (1) "rushed" mornings where parents desperately try sticking to a rigid time schedule that gets the children off to school and themselves to work between the hours of 7 and 9; (2) financial pressure of paying babysitters or day care facilities during school holidays and the 2 or 3 hours after school while parents are still at work; (3) overly frantic weekends where, since many businesses close at 5:00, all errands must be done before then. [Note how the author highlights only the parts of the study that influence family pressures.]

The stresses Smith documents are not in families where parents work 60-70 hours a week. The parents working 40 hours a week are secretaries, mechanics, bank employees, etc. The effects on them, he notes, clearly translate to less time spent with family members because of work demands as well as increased pressure when the family is together. [Warrant explaining why proof shows the problem is the 40-hour work week discussed in the initial point made]

Such pressures can't help but influence the quality of time the family spends together, influencing its ability to stay together or to have the type of time most conducive to instilling family values. [Topic sentences which ties point 1 to overall claim of paper] In fact, as psychological studies show, the type of time spent together has a great influence on family cohesiveness. [Transition connecting point 1--effect of 40 hour week on families--to point 2: the influence of time pressures on keeping family together]


Parts and Paragraphs in Your Paper.

Introduction: Introduce your paper, yes. But introduce each new turn in the text, too. You are the guide here. The reader is the wide-eyed follower. Don’t lead them into a Croc nest without first telling them why you are heading there.
Context/Background. It helps, in a lot of situations, to discuss the history of your topic, the various positions held, the posed solutions, the failed plans, etc, as a lead-in to your idea on the matter.
Narration: These are parts of your paper that narrate (tell the story of) certain events or circumstances so that the reader will agree with you. In addition to citing a law, it also helps to narrate what that means (by showing how it is enforced).
Evidence/Proof Paragraphs: This is where you really make your argument.
Counter Arguments and Responses to Counter Arguments: Where you consider and rebut opposing views.
Conclusion. This IN NOT merely restating your thesis. It is drawing conclusions. It is saying, “therefore, then this.” It is expanding the ramifications or consequences of your argument. If what you are saying is right, good thinking, then what. Conclusions are very hard to write. It is that final line that is so often the hardest to pen because, well, it’s the FINAL LINE. However, you also have to conclude each idea in your paper. Use words like “Therefore…,” “Thus…,” “As a result…” “This shows that…” Etc. This reconnects your evidence to your thesis.

Writing Process--Using Warrants

This is a direct quote of a page at:
http:/writing.colostate.edu/guides/index.cfm?guides_active=argument&category1=31m

Presenting Your Evidence

In your paper you must demonstrate why a given piece of evidence supports your thesis, claim or position. You must explain the reasoning process by which they are logically connected. (This is called the Toulmin method where the explanations are referred to as warrants.)

If I walk up to you and scream “Immigrants deserve rights” in your face. I am not arguing, I am probably getting arrested. However, when we stop to define the reasoning behind our statements, and attach those reasons to evidence, we are now in a position where someone might agree with us.

The Colo. State Univ. writing lab website, a leader in web references for writers, states, “First, for each claim that is debatable, or open to question, a reason is offered that supports the claim's validity. A warrant-consisting of a sentence or two-then follows, explaining the reason. Finally, evidence is supplied that supports connecting the reason to a given point or the overall claim of the paper.” Their organization is as follows:

Thesis, Claim or Position: Grading should be optional in non-major courses.

Reason/Point #1: Non-major courses are designed to help students become intelligent, well-rounded citizens. If the goal of such courses is the exploration and acquisition of knowledge, grades only get in the way.

Warrant #1: Rather than learning for the sake of becoming a better person, grades encourage performance for the sake of a better GPA. The focus grading puts on performance undercuts learning opportunities when students choose courses according to what might be easiest rather than what they'd like to know more about. [Introduces why proof is relevant to point]

Evidence: For example, students polled at CSU in a College of Liberal Arts study cite the following reasons for choosing non-major courses:

1. Easy grading (80%)
2. Low quantity of work (60%)
3. What was available (40%)
4. Personality of teacher (30%)
5. Something they were interested in knowing more about (10%)

Similarly, in an interview I conducted with graduating seniors, only two of the 20 people I spoke with found their non-major courses valuable. The other 18 reported that non-major courses were a waste of time for a variety of reasons:

1. I'm never going to do anything with them.
2. I just took whatever wouldn't distract me from my major so I didn't work very hard in them, just studying enough to get an A on the test.
3. Non-major courses are a joke. Everyone I know took the simplest, stupidest, 100-level courses needed to fulfill the requirements. I can't even remember the ones I took now.

Warrant #2: Although not everyone in the interviews or the CLA poll cited grades explicitly as the reason for choosing easy, irrelevant, non-major courses, we can read such reasoning into many of the less explicit references as well. Clearly, students are not choosing courses based on what they can learn from them. Yet they are fairly consistent in their choices: 100-level courses with little work. Although laziness might be seen as the cause of such choices, it is just as likely that choosing according to the amount of work, selecting simple courses, or only studying for the exam are a result of the GPA system. Higher workloads and more complex topics obviously could mean receiving a lower grade; thus, they should be avoided. [Demonstrates how proof leads to point as necessary conclusion.]

Writing Process--Organization-Inductive Method

This is a direct quote from: CSU Writing Center at writing.colostate.edu/guides/index.cfm?guides_active=argument&category1=31
Inductive Reasoning

When an audience completely disagrees with your position convincing them that their reasons for disagreeing are faulty before presenting your own position may be the best strategy.

Introduction: States the issue to be addressed and why it is important.

Body of Argument: Examines positions already proposed and refutes each one, showing why they are inadequate. Typically organized like this.

• Position 1
• Your refutation of position 1
• Position 2
• Your refutation of position 2

Alternatively, all positions might be examined first and then refuted second.

• Position 1
• Position 2
• Your refutation of position 1
• Your refutation of position 2

Conclusion/Position Statement: Once all other positions are shown to be inadequate, conclude with your position as the only logical choice. This is where you argue your point. At the end. Hah. See I told you sometimes you hold off on your thesis until the audience is good and ready to hear it.

When an audience partially disagrees with your position, the best strategy still looks a great deal like when they completely disagree: convincing them that their reasoning is faulty before presenting your own position.

Introduction: States the issue to be addressed and why it is important.

Body of Argument: Examines positions already proposed and refutes each one, showing why they are inadequate. Typically organized like this.

* Position 1
* Your refutation of position 1
* Position 2
* Your refutation of position 2

Alternatively, all positions might be examined first and then refuted second.

* Position 1
* Position 2
* Your refutation of position 1
* Your refutation of position 2

Position Statement: Introduced as the only logical choice after the positions your audience finds most persuasive are shown to be inadequate.

Presentation of Evidence: Supports your position as not only reasonable, but the best one available as well.

Writing Process--Organization-Deductive Method

Deductive Reasoning

The traditional academic argument is deductive, placing the author's position in the introduction and devoting the rest of the argument to presenting the evidence. Unless you are in a field where inductive reasoning is the norm, you can hardly go wrong with this method.

In some cases, all the evidence may be directed at proving the main point; in others, each piece may lead to a sub-point that needs proving before a convincing argument for the main point can be made. Depending on how directly each piece of evidence relates to the position, a deductive argument can be organized in a variety of ways.

* Introduction establishing the context of the argument as well as the author's position.
* Body of Evidence presented, depending on the audience analysis, from most to least, or least to most convincing.
* Conclusion summarizing the argument, presenting a call to action, or suggesting further research.

An argument supporting a ban on logging in rain forests might first need to establish and provide evidence regarding five other environmental premises, each supporting the author's position, regarding the effects of logging. For instance:

• It causes soil erosion
• It affects global warming
• It destroys native species
• It alters water routes and levels
• It destroys indigenous lifestyles

Each premise is a debatable issue in and of itself. Therefore, some measure of the supportive evidence behind each-at least enough to connect them as reasonably evidentiary links-must be given before they can be used to collectively support the author's main position. In these cases, arguments are typically arranged as follows:

• Introduction establishing the context of the argument as well as the author's position.
• Brief Preview outlining each premise, or reason, to be used as evidence supporting the claim.
• Body of Evidence presented, depending on audience analysis, in an order that will make the most sense to the audience.
• Conclusion summarizing the argument and demonstrating how each premise leads logically to the author's position, presents a call to action, or suggests further research.

When opposing arguments are particularly strong and readily accepted, discrediting them point-by-point may be the best strategy for convincing an audience to consider alternative points or support a different position.

• Introduction
• Rebut first opposing argument followed by first counter-argument
• Rebut next opposing arguments, followed by further counter-arguments as you go along
• Conclusion

This is a direct quote of a page at:
http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/documents/arguedraft/deductive.cfm

Writing Process--Organization-Rogerian Method

Writing Strategies Part 2

In a rhetorical, argumentative paper you have to be persuasive, which means you must include and present information to your audience that will encourage your audience to agree with you. This tension—created between an author (you) that wishes to persuade and the audience who must be persuaded—must be at the forefront of what/how you put your argument together. The common ground we (the persuaders and persuaded) share is reason. (Duffin, 1998).

What kinds of examples you include, style of language you use and when and how you get your reader to embrace your reasons are all chief concerns of the argument writer. How do we arrange this information? I’ve said that I don’t believe a concrete outline helps many of us. However, knowing some common rhetorical methods will help and employing a general flow chart will help (1998, Kathy Duffin, The Writing Center at Harvard University, http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~wricntr/documents/Overvu.html).

Building common ground. In the Rogerian method of argumentation. You build the common ground between you readers and yourself, never giving away your thesis until the very end. Tricky, yes. Useful, probably. This was developed by Carl Rogers, a psychologist, and is useful for emotionally charged topics.

The purpose of a Rogerian argument is to find the common ground held by the author and audience regarding an issue or problem. The authors explores the audience’s POV and must present the audience's perspective clearly, accurately, and fairly before asking them to consider an alternative position or solution.

This method downplays emotional appeals is a must for emotionally charged, highly divisive issues and allows for people of good will on different sides of an issue to find, or agree upon, solutions together.

Here’s a sample flow chart (taken from writing.colostate.edu):
Introduction: A problem is presented, typically pointing out how both writer and reader are affected by the problem. Rather than presenting an issue that divides reader and writer, or a thesis that demands agreement the Rogerian argument does not begin with the writer's position at all. The thesis is withheld.
Then: The Audience Perspective. Described as clearly and accurately as possible-typically in neutral language-the author acknowledges their point of view and the circumstances and contexts in which their perspective or position is valid. Done well, the author builds good will and credibility with the audience, a crucial step leading toward potential compromise. Honest, heartfelt sincerity is the key here: if the audience perceives an attempt at manipulation, the Rogerian argument strategy generally backfires. This segment depends, again, on neutral but clear language so that the reader perceives the fair-mindedness of the writer's description.
Then: The author's perspective comes in the next chunk of the argument. For the audience to give it a listen it must be presented in as fair-minded a way as was theirs, in language as equally neutral and clear. To be convincing, besides describing the circumstances or contexts in which the position is valid, it must contain the evidence that supports the claim
Conclusion: The Rogerian essay closes not by asking readers to give up their own positions on the problem but by showing how the reader would benefit from moving toward the writer's position. In other words, the final section of the Rogerian argument lays out possible ways to compromise. (fromwriting.colostate.edu/guides/documents/arguedraft)

Examples of an Annotated Bibliography

Basicially, all I want you to do is list your sources (alphabetically) and tell me, briefly, even in precis format if you like, what the source is about (or "critically appraise the source"). This is my chance to engage with (and grade) the research you've done. If you have been doing your homework, you already have at least six of these annotations completed. You should have 8-20 sources. Please refer to your Hacker handbook for proper citation style.

From: http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill28.htm

The following example uses the APA format for the journal citation. NOTE: APA requires double spacing within citations.

Waite, L. J., Goldschneider, F. K., & Witsberger, C. (1986). Nonfamily living and
the erosion of traditional family orientations among young adults. American Sociological Review, 51, 541-554.

The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that nonfamily living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of nonfamily living.

This example uses the MLA format for the journal citation. NOTE: Standard MLA practice requires double spacing within citations.

Waite, Linda J., Frances Kobrin Goldscheider, and Christina Witsberger. "Nonfamily Living and
the Erosion of Traditional Family Orientations Among Young Adults." American Sociological Review 51 (1986): 541-554.

The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that nonfamily living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of nonfamily living.

The Thesis

Theses are very hard to write

“A thesis is never a question… (‘Why did communism collapse in Eastern Europe?’) is not an argument, and without an argument, a thesis is dead in the water” (1998).

A thesis is never a list. "For political, economic, social and cultural reasons, communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" does a good job of "telegraphing" the reader what to expect in the essay—a section about political reasons, a section about economic reasons, a section about social reasons, and a section about cultural reasons. However, political, economic, social and cultural reasons are pretty much the only possible reasons why communism could collapse. This sentence lacks tension and doesn't advance an argument.

A thesis should never be vague, combative or confrontational. An ineffective thesis would be, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because communism is evil." This is hard to argue (evil from whose perspective? what does evil mean?) and it is likely to mark you as moralistic and judgmental rather than rational and thorough. It also may spark a defensive reaction from readers sympathetic to communism.

An effective thesis has a definable, arguable claim. "While cultural forces contributed to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the disintegration of economies played the key role in driving its decline" is an effective thesis sentence that "telegraphs," so that the reader expects the essay to have a section about cultural forces and another about the disintegration of economies. This thesis makes a definite, arguable claim: that the disintegration of economies played a more important role than cultural forces in defeating communism in Eastern Europe. The reader would react to this statement by thinking, "Perhaps what the author says is true, but I am not convinced. I want to read further to see how the author argues this claim."

Thesis should be as clear and specific as possible. Avoid overused, general terms and abstractions. For example, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because of the ruling elite's inability to address the economic concerns of the people" is more powerful than "Communism collapsed due to societal discontent."

Writing Process Part 1

Writing Strategies: Getting Started

Writing is easy. This is the truth. Anyone with five words at his command can slap together a sentence. It may be a grammarless and guttural burp, but it is writing.

Writing well, however, is hard. Unfortunately, it is made even harder when we stop to consider how hard it really is. When we are scared, when we sit there, pen in hand, and consider Shakespeare. And Hemingway. And Tony Hillerman. When we think about all the stuff of language—tone, voice, syntax and all the decisions we must make regarding how and in what order to take all the words of the English languages and lay them down on a sheet of paper so that they mean something—we hesitate. We over think it. We stall. We see that brilliant shining essay at the end of the rainbow. We see its perfections, its charming smile and bright eyes. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?

Surely, that can’t come from this pukey thing before us, we think. We seize up. We stop. We wait for inspiration that never comes.

Our problem: Most of us don’t want to start with the ugliness. I won’t lie to you. Writing is hard work. It is walking forty miles only find you have forty more to go. It stings. But my friends, if you want to write a good paper, you have to start here, in the trenches of the mud field where the sloppy first drafts grow.

How do we get out of here? Write To Discover.

Myth: The first draft is the best draft.
Reality: This way of thinking will cause you to stall. If you strive too hard for perfection in your first draft, you will no doubt come up short and you won’t get a very good grade. A better strategy is to sit down and get started knowing full well you will come back to fix and redo part of it later. This relieves the pressure of having to be perfect. It also allows you the freedom to go back and improve your thinking and your writing after you’ve had a shot at it once or twice. Writing is exploring. Your first draft is are the first crunchy footfalls and there’s a white out up ahead.

Myth: You have to have a clear organized outline before you sit down to write.
Reality: While some people are into outlines and fill one out before they ever write a word, it is more helpful to most of us to build some kind of plan, a flow chart of sorts, that helps keep us on topic without restricting our exploratory process. Not knowing exactly how you are going to pull it off shouldn’t be a reason to stop writing.

Myth: Write your introduction first, then your body, then your conclusion.
Reality. Many good writers write their introduction last. We might even change the thesis after they have written out the rest of the paper. Often, we write entire sections of the paper independently from others. The place we start might turn out to be paragraph 28 in your final draft. There are no global rules for how to do this. You have to develop your own strategies. I use sticky pads. I compose in my head. I compose freehand. I compose outside the constraints of order, keeping faith in the idea I am hunting. Sometimes it works. Sometimes I have to revise a lot.

Myth: You should write an entire draft in one sitting. Don’t stop until it’s done.
Reality: We usually do better if we break the business of writing into bite-sized chunks. If we come back to the paper often, after a break, we are giving ourselves the opportunity to re-read what we have written, to rewrite and revise it, and rediscover what we are up to. It is a process, remember. Make it one.

Reality: You might not be done with your research. You might be unsure of where to go, how to argue, what your point is, and even what your thesis is. It’s okay. Just start. Once you get going, it gets easier. In the end, it is our writing that guides us. We have to trust in it to show us where we are going. We have to have the courage to follow.



Exercise. Aristotle’s Freewriting. Just write. Don’t stop. Don’t worry.

2.5 minutes: Take your topic and define it. For example, under the general heading of “Definition” are questions like "How does the dictionary define _________?" and "What earlier words did ________ come from?" Ex: “The role of adjunct professors in the state of Colorado” Defined: “Who are they? What do they teach? What’s the history of using adjunct teachers and what is their role today?”

2.5 minutes: Comparison: Take your topic, break it into parts, and compare it. Ask, "From what is ________ different?" and "_________ is most like what?" Divide it into categories; compare its parts “How much we pay adjuncts to teach English. How much to teach at community colleges. How much to teach a private schools. What they teach. How they teach it. Etc.”

3 mins: Relationship, "What causes _________?" and "Why does ________ happen?"

3 mins: Testimony, "What have I heard people say about ________?" and "Are there any laws about ________?"

3 mins: Circumstances, "Is _______ possible or impossible?" and "If ________ starts, what makes it end?" Similarly, what are the good and bad consequences of ________?

Reading for Tuesday Oct. 28th

Read This, by Paolo Freire. From The Pedagogy of the Oppressed published in 1968.

We will talk about this, and GR Chapters nine and 10 on Tuesday.

The Research Process Part 3

The Research Process Part III

Critical Reading and Critical Writing

We are finding sources. They are coming from journals and books, but what now? Oh my, look at all this stuff!

Look, the truth is you have to develop a strategy to effectively analyze your sources in a timely fashion. We are not working on our Post-doc fellowship here, we don’t have five years to do this research, our papers are due in a few weeks and we need to get a move on. To do that, we need to chop this stack of papers in half and make sense of what we have left.

Reading critically is one of the most important aspects of this entire process. In order to write your own analysis of a subject and to add your voice to the larger cultural and academic debate, you have to understand the information before you.

As we grow as readers and writers, we develop our own methods of doing this. However, across these, I think the following advice holds up.
• Read with the intent to understand, to decipher, to make sense of this
• Take breaks
• Read slowly
• Print or make photocopies of articles or book passages and mark them up
• Don’t give up

My advice is to break this practice into two parts: Initial Appraisal of the Text, and Context Analysis.

A. Initial Appraisal: This entails your first approach to the text wherein you discover if it has any value to you and your paper. We start by looking critically at some of the physical characteristics of the text, without delving too deeply into the text. Remember, our job here is to determine usefulness. Start by flipping through the text. Look at:
I. Author: Is this author credible. Will including his words in my paper help my ethos or will it make my paper seem unwontedly slanted or biased (for example, what happens if your papers is full of Rush Limbaugh quotes?)
Does this author have the necessary authority and expertise so that his ideas can serve as evidence in your argument? If no, ditch the article.
II. Date: Is the publication date of this source current enough to meet the demands of your topic? Be reasonable. If I am writing about meatpacking, sure, it won’t hurt to throw in an Upton Sinclair quote from The Jungle, but I can’t rely on that for evidence. I need information that pertains to meat packing plants now. If it’s not timely enough, if it is out-of-date, ditch it.
III. Relevance: Occasionally, I have found a really interesting article that I enjoyed reading and want to use in my paper. The problem, it has nothing to do with my topic. I can either change my topic to fit this in, or ditch it. Quickly analyzing a document’s worth to your own ends takes practice, but remember, in the end doing this saves you time in the long run.

Research III, page 2

So How? My first impressions of a book/article and its material come from browsing. Read the Table of Contents, the Abstract, the introduction, discussion or conclusion. Read any tables or graphs or appendices you find. Look at how the chapters of sections of the text move from beginning to end. Look at the work’s cited. If you see any titles there that might be helpful go find them. Mostly, use this initial analysis to determine if the text before has worthwhile information that will help YOUR argument.

B. Content Analysis: You hooked a nice source, now you have to get it into the boat. To do this, you have to sit down and make some sense of it. Reading complex material can be not unlike reading something in a foreign language that you don’t speak well. Here, read to decipher. To understand. Piece together meaning. Read slowly. Take notes. Look at:
I. Make a Rhet. Precis if the article is argumentative. Look at the Author’s Intentions. Find the thesis of this argument. Analyze the evidence. Examine the author’s purpose.
II. Mark possible passages you may want to use in your paper. Mark them so that you can find them later. Write what it is and why you can use in the margin. Example: “This is a good counter argument to smoking is bad for ducks.”
III. Take notes. Write on sticky notes. Scribble on your articles. You have to organize this information so you can quickly access it later.
IV. Ask yourself, as library.cornell.edu does, if “the work update other sources, substantiate other materials you have read, or add new information? Does it extensively or marginally cover your topic? You should explore enough sources to obtain a variety of viewpoints” (http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref).
V. Contextualize. Dive into text. Separate fact from opinion. Opinion from propaganda. Is the information here well researched? What assumptions does this author rely upon? Is she in line with the others arguments you’ve encountered on this topic? Is she in line with the others, adding to their points, furthering a bit passed over by most. Does this use primary or secondary sources (try to find both)? To do this, you should read everything TWICE.



Mostly, all I can say is this is never an easy process. It gets less painful, however, the more you practice. The good side to this is this process can and should lead to new source material and improved ideas as you go along.

Also, remember that this process is recursive. Reflect on what you are doing often. Fiddle with your topic as need be. Go back and redo. That’s the name of the game.

Revised Syllabus/Schedule

Below is the revised schedule for the remainder of the class. Also, a new points break down. Not much has changed here, there are more points available now (for those that need it).

Here are the points, nothing new:
Story---------------------30 pts
Topic Proposal------------30 pts
Analysis of Controversy--100 pts
Annotated Bibliography---100 pts
Rough Draft-------------- 50 pts
End Comments--------------30 pts
Research Paper-----------300 pts
Homework------------------15 pts a piece
Attendance----------------50 (-5 for each absence, no more than 6 absences allowed)

Styles of Argument/Rhetoric: Satire

First, your analysis paper is due on Tuesday 10/21 and is worth 100 points. Bring it to class, typed and ready to turn in.

Now, we turn our attention to the way people make arguments in our society (in and beyond the Academy).

We start with one of my favorites--satire and other creative modes for making one's point.


Read: Bachelder's "A Soldier Upon A Hard Campaign" From The Believer. Oct. 2004.
Read: "Bush Calls For Panic". From the The Onion, Oct. 15, 2008.
Read: Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron" from the West Valley College website.

And Watch this and this.

The Research Process Part 2

The Research Process Part 2
(General Guidelines For Building a Good Paper)



Focusing Your Topic

By this point you know a lot about what you will be writing about. You’ve done background research—reading about the history of the topics, discovering who some key players are in this debate and mapping out the various positions held in the controversy. Now, you are ready to add your opinion to the larger academic discussion about this topic.

But why?

Failing to focus a topic is a common mistake students make. When the topic is too broad, there is too much to cover, which results in a paper that feels superficial or shallow. If you topics is too narrow—i.e. “what are the psychological effects of 7 am classes on CCD students with brown, well kept hair…” you won’t be able to find enough evidence to support your points.

What does this mean?

Focusing a research topic (or occasionally broadening it) is narrowing your topic (and choosing to focus on specific parts of it) so that you can demonstrate your

Let’s say you like animals. Developing a focus for your paper (and your research) means you start here:
Animals have feelings
And go here:
The use of dogs in the United States Military is useful, but at what cost?

This isn’t necessarily your thesis, but it has narrowed your interests into something you can work with. The point is with the later you have specific research needs; you are working with a specific type of animal in a specific situation—something you can tackle in 10-15 pages.


Note: You will not immediately know what your focus should be. It will come to you, most likely, through trial and error, through reading a lot articles and other literature that you will not ultimately use. Realize, you are shaping your thinking on this topic and as you learn more, your thoughts will change.



Start by defining your terms. How can your terms be broken down?
Example:
War is wrong

Defining the terms:
"War": What type (self-defense, aggressive preemptive strikes, rooted in ideology…)? By whom? What commonalities do you see in the wars you think are wrong?
"Wrong": How so? Results in unnecessary bloodshed? Has a drastic effect on the economy? Fail to foresee and plan for the complexities on the ground?
Focused:
In American history, wars that are rooted in ideology often have dire consequences for the economy.
You can always define again, and again, if need be. Do you see how this is putting the proper restraint on the topic? How you can now find specific examples and evidence to support this idea?



Try focusing on:

A specific location: Colorado’s community colleges have the best students.
Age group: Violence on television begets violence among pre-Kinder kids.
Species: While testing cosmetic products must be done, Chimpanzees should be spared because…
Ethnicity: What are the effects of our current immigration laws on Mexican-American families in the US?

Do Not Merely Restate Terms. War is bad because it’s war. No. Don’t do it.


Most of all, this is the moment to consider your approach to the subject. Are you writing about a specific element of smoking (marketing to children in Third World Countries) or about its more general elements (Smoking is still a big problem among today’s youth). You have to figure out where to go and how to get there.

Test your topic early. The night before a draft is due is a poor time to discover your topic is still too broad. The research process is a recursive one. You will need to come back to your topic time and time again if it isn’t working out. A lot of this is Goldilocks and porridge. You have to try a lot to find what is just right. Remember—Writing takes time.

Research Process Part 1

What is research? Why do we do it? While we all know we need it—for papers, to win arguments, to be better people—how to do it, and where to even start, is often difficult.

The problem is so often we are just told, “do research.” We know there’s a library and some fancy databases, but that doesn’t always help us. For most us, we don’t sit down with a thesis statement ready to go, we just have a vague idea of something we are interested in (which is why we do research to begin with).

The first goal of any researcher is to become familiar with the topic. This means doing background research and building our expertise on the subject. We may not know what we want to write about, but we are interested in food production. Our background research will help define what under the subject of food production we are interested in. The following is more of a guide than a science, but here are some ideas on process:

Step 1:

Find a good, meaty topic. You need something you can sink your teeth into, but this is easier said than done. There are plenty of places to turn for ideas. Check out:
• Speakout.com
• Google, “controversial topics” see what turns up
• Nytimes.com—op eds, et.
• Procon.org
• Dir.yahoo.com/society_and_culture/issues_and_culture
• Where are some places you turn to find topics?


Step 2:
Turn your topic into a question. For example, if you are interested in finding out about food production, pose the question, “What are the effects of food production?” However, just these questions won’t suffice. What are some other questions you need to ask? “What effect do food additives have on nutrition?” “How is food produced and delivered to consumers?” Already, we are spinning our wheels. Depending on your topic, you may need to develop a list of questions you want answered. Just by doing this we are getting into the topic further. As you look around, more questions will pop up.

Develop some questions based on your own topic.

Step 3:

Find background info. Develop your expertise on the topic. You will never write a good paper if you don’t know what you are writing about (just like you will never speak beautifully in Korean if you don’t first learn the Korean language).

Places to go for background info:
• Reference works. Encyclopedias. Online—Wikipedia (keeping in mind it can be biased), encyclopedia.com, etc—or the good old fashioned kind. Dictionaries. Overviews of topics, people, places, events.
• Subject encyclopedias. Ency. on specific subjects. Ie: Ency of Bioethics, Ency. of Sociology, Int. Ency. of Higher Ed.
• Current Issues research. Look in newspapers (nytimes.com), procon.org, yahoo. Etc.
• Heck, google.com. But be weary, just because it’s on the internet doesn’t mean it is any good.

Now what:

You have already done a lot, but you are just starting. Now you should know enough to start focusing your topic. New questions have emerged.

Important—start keeping track of your information. Print it out. Start a word document and paste all your sources in there with a summary of what they are good for. Do what you need to do to help yourself remember this stuff later (to save you time).

Remember:

Research is pealing potatoes, not garnishing a Coq Au Vin. (If you want to see what Coq Au Vin looks like, click here and while you are there, epicurious.com is a good place to figure out what to make for dinner). There are many steps, some will not be productive, some will. But you have to do it or you will suffer later. So get to the computers, go to the library and research!

Writing about the death penalty

This is NOT your reading for next class. But it is interesting. If you are interested in Capital Punishment, check this out.

Also, I just found this on the NYTIMES.COM website. This is a really cool feature--from bloggingheads.com and I will be posting more links in the future.

Read this

Read this, by Roberts Miller. We'll discuss on thurs.

Also, there will be more posts with links as I find them on subjects that might be useful to you.

Schedule Change (revised): Due Date Analysis of Controversy

Assignment: Analysis of the Controversy

Due 10/21
Pts: 100

This a 2-5 page paper that shows you know the field you are writing about and its literature. You will discuss the background of the subject (people started disagreeing about this when....for example, Matthew Shephard’s violent death brought to light the extreme violence many gays are faced with. Since then other topics of gay rights have moved to the forefront of our culture, including gay marriage. In 2004, Massachusetts made it legal to..."

Some points to consider:
* what “events” turned this issue into a controversy in the first place
* who this controversy affects
* how the outcome of the controversy might affect that population
* why it’s important to others (why should anyone else care?)

You will not make an argument here, but summarize what each side of this debate say. AGAIN. YOU ARE NOT PROVING YOUR SIDE OF THE ARGUMENT. YOU MIGHT NOT EVEN HAVE A SIDE YET. This is just a summation of all the preliminary research you have done on a topic. For the various positions/stances in controversy, look at:

* the reasons offered in support of these positions
* the persuasive styles not directly linked to “logical reasons” (appeals to emotion or the author’s credibility, etc. This could be a Pastor making an argument FOR gay marriage and using the bible as his evidence. He has ETHOS.)
* common rhetorical figures (metaphors, metonymies, analogies, etc.) utilized in making the persuasive case
* what’s at stake in upholding this position (who are the winners and losers—including any secret beneficiaries? What will be won or lost? etc.)

You assignment here, to be clear, is to accurately summarize your topic (not your argument) and present a Wikipedia-like discussion of it--broken down into sections that point out its important elements, important scholars working in this area, and what people disagree about in regards to this subject. Map the various positions held, and explain what they stand for.

Also, look and how some of these debates can be focused into topics that you can write about (ie if you are writing about the debate of sex education, you could add a section that explains

You will need to cite your source material. To do so, use your Hacker handbook and follow the instructions for MLA citation style.

What Should I Be Doing...Research!

I didn't have enough time in our shortened class to talk about this much so here are some research strategies that I recommend to all of you.

1. Reread the assignment (hint: it is attached below. You have to click "older posts" until you see it.). See your Hacker handbook for some advice if you don't understand it.

2. Begin some preliminary research. Your goal is to become an expert on the subject you are writing about. Search the databases, yes, but also look for some good general information (magazine articles, wikipedia, yahoo directory, etc) that will give you the background info. on the topic.

3. Do more research (you are going to hear this phrase a lot). Begin to focus your topic. Log on to owl.english.purdue.edu and do a search on research. This will really help. Also, go back to the Hacker, to Ch. 16 & 17 in your Good Reasons book.

More later.

Reminder

Tomorrow's class is in the Enhanced Learning Center in the Library, as announced on the syllabus.

Those of you who turned in proposals will get them back with my comments.

Be ready to do some research on your prospective topic.

Library Class #1

On Thurs. 10/2 we are meeting in the Enhanced Learning Center on the first floor (SW corner) of the Lirbary. Class will begin at 7:30 when the Library opens. This will limit our time together, yes, but should prove fruitful in introducing you the library and giving you some valuable research tools for finding sources for your paper.

In addition, I want you to read GR: Chapters 16 and 17 (they're short) and write a list of topics that are A. interesting to you, B. Arguable, and C. meaty enough that you can find enough material to fill up 15 pages of excellent, polished persuasive writing.

Here, too, are some other materials that will be helpful to you. This, from the Purdue's OWL gives some good advice on understanding your assignment.

Finding a topic that you like, that you can write about and that can fulfill the parameters of the assignment is the first key to your success in this class. Read this, from Kathy Livingston's educational site for help.

If you have questions, email me or ask me in class.

Schedule

Just a reminder. Tomorrow, 9/30, we will finish the movie that we started on Thurs. and discuss the use of ethos, pathos, logos and topics related to the movie. In addition, please have read the Steve Earle article. If you were absent on Thurs. check the previous blog post. The reading handout is in my mailbox at my office. Go get it, read it, and write a story.

Good luck.

Jeff

Reading for Sept. 30th

Hi. Your reading assignment for this weekend is to read this and the handout from Alain De Botton's Consolations Of Philosophy (which you will pick up in class tomorrow).

Instead of a precis, you will write a story. Notice how both of these readings tell the story (life story to an extent) of two different people in order to make a point. Your assignment is to mimic this. Write a story--about a person you know, or don't know, but know a lot about--in order to make a point about life, politics, etc.

Study how each of these stories tells its story, and how dialogue, point of view and character all play a part in that telling. Look at the author's use of pathos. This could evolve into something you use in your researched argument so have at it.

Due: 10/2/08, 2-3 pages.

Homework for Tuesday 9/23

Read: Good Reasons 353-376 (about gay marriage and rights).

Write: A short (1-2 pages) refutation/support of one of the points of view expressed in an article. Be sure to accurately name the article and the author. Practice arguing here. Use good reasons to support your claim--x/y is right/wrong because a,b,c.

Have fun.

Jeff

Just In Case

Here is the Fast Food Nation reading. Schlosser, Eric. "On The Ranch," . Perennial. 2002. Pgs. 133-147.

Tues. 9/16 Viewing

Sorry this is a bit tardy.

Watch the You Tube video, "Mouth Revolution," here. (Click the word here). Think about humor. About what you eat and why and be ready to talk about it. We will revisit food problems several times throughout the semester, so get ready.

Due: Precis of the video and the Schlosser reading

Revision to Thursday's Homework

Hi,

I just noticed there are actually three essays in the assigned reading for class tomorrow. Please read them all, including the ads at the end, but only write a precis of two of them.

Remember to type your homework and turn it in on time. I DON"T ACCEPT LATE WORK!

Reading For Tuesday Sept. 9th

Read this and the Gladwell essay in Good Reasons

Read Why Legalizing Sports Doping Won't Work by Stephen j. Dubner and Joe Lindsay. Note: Click on the title there a few words back and it will take you the article.

Also, if you are interested in this, look at this and this and this.

Rhetorical Precis

The Rhetorical Précis Format
(from OSU’s InterQuest Philosophy 201)

A rhetorical précis is a highly specialized, specific type of summary. It differs from the more general summary in that emphasis is placed upon providing the rhetorical aspects of the work under consideration. Like the summary, the goal is to provide in clear, precise language, the main points of a piece. Essential information within the rhetorical précis includes the writer’s name, the genre and name of the piece, the way in which this information is delivered, the main point, how the point is developed, and the relationship between the writer and audience. This information is presented in four very specific sentences as outlined below.

1) In a single coherent sentence give the following:
-name of the author, title of the work, date in parenthesis;
-a rhetorically accurate verb (such as "assert," "argue," "deny," "refute," "prove,"
disprove," "explain," etc.);
-a that clause containing the major claim (thesis statement) of the work.

2) In a single coherent sentence give an explanation of how the author develops and supports the major claim (thesis statement).

3) In a single coherent sentence give a statement of the author's purpose, followed by an "in order to" phrase.

4) In a single coherent sentence give a description of the intended audience and/or the relationship the author establishes with the audience.

Charles S. Peirce's article, "The Fixation of Belief (1877), asserts that (1) humans have psychological and social mechanisms designed to protect and cement (or "fix") our beliefs (2). Peirce backs this claim up with descriptions of four methods of fixing belief, pointing out the effectiveness and potential weaknesses of each method (3). Peirce's purpose is to point out the ways that people commonly establish their belief systems (4) in order to (5) jolt the awareness of the reader into considering how their own belief system may the product of such methods and to consider what Peirce calls "the method of science" as a progressive alternative to the other three (6). Given the technical language used in the article, Peirce is writing to an well-educated audience with some knowledge of philosophy and history and a willingness to other ways of thinking (7).

(1) That
This common pronoun does a crucial job in the Précis. To remain grammtically sound, we must include the subject (the work and it's author), a predicate (your claim about that work). These must be linked by a rhetorically appropriate verb. Rhetorically appropriate here means that it expresses the action of the author in the work. The that phrase is formed as follows: ....verb that.... Without the that phrase and the associated subject and predicate, you cannot have a well-formed Précis.
subject (the work and it's author and date) verb that predicate (your claim about that work)
"Plato, in Book I of his dialogue The Republic (360 BCE), demonstrates that justice is better than force."
"Sissela Bok, in her book Lying (1979), argues that lies can be justified in some circumstances."
"Imannuel Kant, in his essay The Doctrine of Virtue (1797), asserts that lying is morally wrong under any circumstances."

(2) Thesis
The thesis, or major claim, of the work is statement of the overall and final point that it aims at. It is not easy to identify the thesis of a philosophical work (or novel, for that matter). Still, it is a basic part of philosophical reading to be able to say briefly what the main claim of the work is. Note that this claim may never be stated by the author as such. You may have to interpret and synthesize to draw out a thesis. This work is essential because it is the base of your reading. The thesis statement you attribute to a work is your consise summary of what you understood the author's point to be. You may find it frustrating to put the meaning of a long, complex work into a single sentence. If you simply draw a blank or cannot get the words to come out right, that is a sign that you need to read the work again with the intention of getting the major claim.

(3) Explanation
The task of this sentence is to explain how the thesis, presented in the last sentence, is devloped by the author. The author may give seevarl arguments for a single thesis. Or the author may give a chain of arguments leading up to the thesis. The author may define key concepts related to the thesis. Your job in reading intellectual literature is to identify how the main claim is produced by the work. We take it as a basic standard here that sophisticated literature does not merely make claims, it provides support for them.

(4) Purpose
A statement of the author's purpose in writing this work. What is the writer trying to accomplish here? This statement of purpose is connected to the audience effect by the in order to phrase.

(5) In Order To
This phrase is crucial to the Précis. It directly indicates the effect the author intends to have upon the audience. To produce this sentence, think about what change will occur in the reader if the author's purpose is successful. Authors may write with the purpose to persuade, to refute, to change, even to frighten, anger, or confuse. Determine what you think the author's purpose is and what that purpose is supposed to do to the reader. Note that the purpose may or may not be successful (i.e. it may not have the intended effect).
Author's purpose in order to effect on the reader.

(6) Effect
A statement of the author's intended effect on the reader. This statement of purpose is connected to the audience effect by the in order to phrase. Every author writes to have some effect on the audience (readrs). It may be to make the audience laugh, to cause the audience to question their own beliefs, to persuade them to a point of view, to challenge a belief they are likely to have, etc. This effect is not a report of how the work affects you, but of what you think the author's intended effect is.

(7) Audience
A statement of the author's intended audience and the relationship the author establishes with the audience. The language of a work selects a certain audience and excludes others. Examine the language and references of the work to judge what sort of pre-knowledge the author assumes of the reader.

Examples:

Sheridan Baker, in his essay "Attitudes" (1966), asserts that writers' attitudes toward their subjects, their audiences, and themselves determine to a large extent the quality of their prose. Baker supports this assertion by showing examples of how inappropriate attitudes can make writing unclear, pompous, or boring, concluding that a good writer "will be respectful toward his audience, considerate toward his readers, and somehow amiable toward human failings" (58). His purpose is to make his readers aware of the dangers of negative attitudes in order to help them become better writers. He establishes an informal relationship with his audience of college students who are interested in learning to write "with conviction" (55). From (English 8601 • Dr. William P. Banks)

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., world-renowned civil rights activist and philanthropist, emphasizes in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech “The World House” (1967) that all people, regardless of skin color or ethnic background, are negatively affected by the plague of racism and the decline of spiritualism that results. Dr. King begins his speech with an allusion to a famous author that ends up being the theme for his whole speech; his pre-dominant use of examples of past actions are bolstered by several other testimonies from philosophers, historians, and writers as well as an allusion to a well known story. Dr. King is attempting to make people realize the need to correct their self-destructive behavior in order to force society to take up the morals they had lost as well as alleviate the social tensions of the time period. While Dr. King’s intended audience is obviously the black community as a whole, he also tries to get in touch with anyone prejudiced against, black or not; also included are those of the period that had the power to or wanted to stop the decline of society by ending the hatred cultivated by the differences between people of the world so that world would change to be a superior place. (From Preble’s Literature Lounge)

Research Project Engl. 122-002 Fall 08

Assignment: Documented Argument
Due: Dec. 4

Why write a research paper?

Throughout your academic career, you will be asked to produce substantial source-based arguments. The days of the five-paragraph research paper are over, my friends, and now you will be writing involved academic papers that employ research not merely for the point of informing, but for persuading. To be successful in this endeavor it is important to master the steps of the research process and to develop techniques that you can apply to assignments in other classes. This project, modeled after that taught in the Program in Writing and Rhetoric at Stanford, is intended to introduce you to these processes and strategies.

What exactly do you mean by "Research Paper," anyway?

Unlike a research paper where you just gather, sort, and order a body of information on the subject, much like an encyclopedia entry, according to Diana Hacker in A Writer’s Reference, “College research assignments ask you to pose a question worth exploring, to read widely in search of possible answers, to interpret what you read, to draw conclusions, and to support those conclusions with valid and well-documented evidence” (317). The difference is simple: in a college paper it is not enough to just present a bunch of information, but you, as the author, must use it for your larger rhetorical purposes.

In an argumentative paper, you take a stand on an issue upon which reasonable people disagree. As Hacker notes, you are not trying to get the last word in, you are not simply trying to win a fight, but to “explain your understanding of the truth about a subject or to propose the best solution available for solving a problem—without being needlessly combative” (67). To do this, as another textbook, Writing: A College Handbook explains, you:
[...] do not simply quote, paraphrase, and summarize. You interpret, question, compare, and judge the statements you cite. You explain why one opinion is sound and another is not, why one fact is relevant and another is not, why one writer is correct and another is mistaken. Your purpose may vary with your topic; you may seek to show why something happened, to recommend a course of action, to solve a problem, or present and defend a particular interpretation of a historical event or a work of art. But whether the topic is space travel or Shakespeare's Hamlet, an argumentative research paper deals actively with the statements it cites. It makes them work together in an argument that you create -- an argument that leads to a conclusion of your own. (Hefferman 495-496)
Our goal in this class is to write one of these beasts. To learn all the elements of argumentative research papers and how to put them together into one beautiful thing is what we will study for the remainder of this class. Get ready.

More clearly: You will write a 8-15 page argument (the Documented Argument). Due Dec. 4. Your goal is to support a persuasive thesis with good reasons and credible information found in your research. You will cite your sources and include a Work’s Cited page.

This project is a complicated, partly because you will be required to produce a longer finished product than you may be used to. Mostly, however, this may be your first foray into the practice of using material from primary and secondary sources with your own observations, opinions, original thoughts and analysis. We will spend considerable time discussing how to use your sources, but mostly the key is this: they work to support your points.

This makes it even more complicated because, as the Stanford site says, “all decent writing is the product of an involved process, a decent research paper will have behind it, in addition and invisibly, a many-layered research process.” Our goal is to learn these processes and put them to work.

Project Schedule:

Informal Assignments (15pts): Continuous

Analysis of the Controversy Paper (100pts): Oct. 14
Annotated Bibliography (50 pts): Nov. 11
Peer Review Workshop (20 pts): Nov. 13
Final Draft (300pts): Dec. 4







Credit: www.stanford.edu/~steener/f03/PWR1/research/index.htm

Class Schedule ENGL 122-02 FALL 08

Class Schedule ENGL 122-02 FALL 08

Class Schedule ENGL 122-02 FALL 08

Class Schedule ENGL 122-02 FALL 08

Syllabus Engl 122-002 Fall 08

The Community College of Denver
The Center for Arts & Sciences / Language, Arts & Behavioral Sciences Department
South Classroom 307, (303) 556-2473, fax (303) 556-3851
ENG 122: ENGLISH COMPOSITION II
Teacher: Jeff Becker

COURSE:

Course Title: English Composition I
Course Prefix, Number & Section: ENG 122-002
Crn #: 20173
Credits: 3
Course Description: Expands and refines the objectives of English Composition I. ENG 122 emphasizes critical and logical thinking and reading, problem definition, research strategies, and writing analytical, evaluative, and/or persuasive papers that incorporate research. This course is required for graduation with the AA and AS degrees and provides transfer credit.

Prerequisite(s)/Co-requisites: English 121
Semester and Year: Fall Semester 2008
Meeting Location, Times and Days: SO 236, 7 a.m. to 8:15 a.m., Tuesday and Thursday
OFFICE/OFFICE HOURS: SO 307B/ After Class: 8:15-8:45
Email:jeffrey.becker@ccd.edu


COURSE BUSINESS:

STUDENT OUTCOMES (IE WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW HOW TO DO WHEN WE ARE DONE HERE):
(1) Write unified, coherent and well-developed analytical/argumentative essays.
(2) Write an extended (e.g., 8-12 pages of text) argumentative research paper.
(3) Use a variety of research methods to locate appropriate sources.
(4) Evaluate the credibility and usefulness of researched sources.
(5) Read critically and understand complex source material.
(6) Integrate complex sources into YOUR writing.
(7) Continue to master and apply the writing process.
(8) Write grammatically correct sentences.

Student Code of Conduct and Academic Integrity Admission to the Community College of Denver implies that you agree to respect the rights of others and observe moral and civil laws. Interference with the normal processes of education in the classroom or elsewhere on the campus will be regarded as unacceptable conduct, warranting suspension or dismissal. Complete Student Code of Conduct is at this web site: http://ccd.rightchoice.org/Student_Life/COC.html.
Americans with Disabilities Act Students with a documented disability who need reasonable accommodations to achieve course objectives should notify the instructor and apply for services at the Center for Persons with Disabilities within the first week of classes. More information is available at http://ccd.rightchoice.org/EPAC/disabilities.html.
Grade of Incomplete

Incomplete: An "I" indicates that the course objectives are not yet fulfilled. It is the responsibility of the student to request, if needed, the assignment of an incomplete grade. The instructor's decision to authorize or not authorize an incomplete grade is final. The student must have completed 75% of the class with a C or better, and must complete the rest of the work with the same instructor. Arrangement for the completion of the course must be made with the instructor prior to the assignment of the "I" grade. This agreement must be written on a Contract for Incomplete Grde Form. The instructor may allow up to one full semester for the student to complete missing requirements. "I" grades not changed by the end of the following semester will automatically become failing grades (F).

CCD Critical Skills addressed in this course are: reading, writing, speaking/listening, and valuing diversity.

Reading 3 Identify, analyze and evaluate a variety of readings related to course content.
Writing 3: Compose essays and other written work which reflect the student’s ability to describe, analyze, and evaluate ideas and material related to course content.
Speaking/Listening 3: Summarize and respond to class material presented in the form of oral presentations and class lectures.
Valuing Diversity 3: Identify and summarize alternative viewpoints or approaches to major themes or issues within course content.

Academic Integrity:
Cheating and plagiarism are serious offenses and represent violations of college policy. These violations will not be tolerated and will be dealt with according to the college’s Academic Integrity Procedures. The college defines plagiarism as intentionally or knowingly representing the words or ideas of another as one's own in any academic exercise. The following are considered to be forms of plagiarism:

* Word-for-word copying of another person’s ideas or words
* Interspersing one’s own words within a document while, in essence, copying another’s work.
* Rewriting another’s work, yet still using the original author’s fundamental idea or theory.
* Inventing or counterfeiting sources.
* Submission of another’s work as one’s own.
* Neglecting quotation marks on material that is otherwise acknowledged.

Clear cases of plagiarism will result in a failing (zero) grade on the assignment. In some cases, such a failing grade may result in a lowered or failing grade for the course. In the most serious cases, the instructor may pursue grievance procedures through the Dean of Students to administer a punitive failing grade or other appropriate disciplinary action.

COURSE POLICIES:

Stuff You Should Bring To Class EVERYDAY:
* Yourself and an active desire to learn. Your education is in your hands, it has been, so if think this class is “stupid” or “boring” guess whose job it is to make it otherwise. You have a great deal of intelligence; I will require you to use it.
* A notebook, spiral or otherwise, to chart your brilliance. A folder or binder to keep track of your assignments.
* Textbook: Faigley, Lester and Jack Selzer Good Reasons with Contemporary Arguments. Second Edition. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2004
* Textbook: Hacker, Diana. A Writer’s Reference Fifth Edition. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2003.
* A folder with pockets that you will use throughout the semester when turning in projects.



What I expect of you:
* Attendance. Show up. In this class being present is mandatory. That’s right--mandatory. Missing more than 6 classes with negatively influence your grade. You will lose up to 50 participation points. More than 6 absences will result in a failing grade.

* If your cell phone goes off in class, I will put it in my mouth an swallow it. Seriously.

* Be here now. When you are in class, be there. Don’t think about the pile of bills you have to pay, your ingrown toenails, or your plans for world domination, and buy into what we are doing in class. Take interest. If you hate me, look to the book. If you hate me, hate the book, look for outside help (ie a tutor, the Writing Center, etc). More than anything, in this class I will expect a lot of you both at the homework level, but also in terms of the responsibility I will delegate to you in the classroom. What does this mean? Come to class prepared, do the reading, have opinions, be smart, and be ready to talk and write about anything and everything. Easy enough? We are peers here, so act like it.

* Participate. Class participation is essential to the workings of this class. For this reason, your ability to participate is part of your grade in this class. While it may be difficult for some of us to speak up, discussion will encompass the majority of our class time. It is, then, impossible to have a discussion if you will not speak, so please let us hear what you have to say.

* Be mellow. This classroom is a safe haven for all ideas. There are no rights and wrongs, just opinions. Throughout the class we will discuss topics on which we will not all agree. Respect everyone as an equal, even if you really, really, disagree with what they are saying. That means no punching, no cussing, no belittling/degrading a person’s pov, no yelling, etc. Basically, be cool. We are all unique individuals entitled to our own opinions and beliefs, however, any comments, jokes, actions, remarks, or sounds that denigrate the worth of an individual’s race, creed, culture, ethnic background, sexual preference, and gender are inappropriate and will not be tolerated. In other words, remember the golden rule, and everything will be fine. If you don’t think you can handle this, please drop now.

Don’t be afraid to be yourself. Write beautiful sentences, participate, laugh, cry, be alive, and when you are in this class find something you are interested in and run with it. Your enjoyment/happiness with this class, and all classes, is primarily wrought in your ability to make it your own. Put forth the effort. You are paying for it after all. If you aren’t interested in anything, well, I can’t really help you, that is your responsibility.

Attendance:
Class attendance is required. Since we have only 15 weeks together, every class is important. If you are consistently absent, you gravely jeopardize your success in the course. Please see me if you have problems.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: If you decide not to complete the course, it is your responsibility to officially withdraw from the class roster. If you do not withdraw yourself by the appropriate deadline, you will receive a grade of "F" for the course. Please watch those deadlines!

Late Papers:
Late work will not be accepted unless otherwise approved by me.


WHAT WE WILL DO:

The majority of the class will be dedicated to reading, writing, and writing about what you read. The easiest way to fail this class is to refuse to do your homework. A lack of preparedness is like stepping into the batters box with a golf club in your hand--you might as well have stayed home.

Assignments:
The principal assignment in this class is a documented research paper that will be 8 to 15 pages in length, include a Work’s Cited page, and successfully argue your position on a topic (using research to back up your claims). There will be several assignments that will help build toward this. In addition, we will write summaries of assigned readings and response papers on various topics.

Chapter Summaries, Rhetorical Precis and Response Papers:
A common feature of this course will be summaries, precis and responses. These will be brief (1-2 typed, double-spaced pages) informal opportunities for you to practice the skills you will need for the major assignments in the course. Although these journals are not heavily weighted individually, they are important cumulatively to your final grade and invaluable for the learning they encourage.

Revisions:
All good writing is rewriting. This process of creation, evaluation, and revision is the key to all good writing. Even after you have received a grade on a paper, you may still revise your work again. Depending on the improvement of your work, the revision may not raise your grade at all, or it may raise it substantially. A revision will never lower your grade.

NOTE: Please turn in the original and a revision self-analysis with the revision. This analysis should explain what you have changed in your paper, why you think it is better, and what weaknesses it still has. I cannot accept your revision without these items.

Assignment Format:
All written assignments should be typed. Always double-space. In the upper left-hand or right-hand corner of the first page, write your name, the date, the course and section number, my name, and the assignment (Ie “Ch. 1 summary”). Skip a few lines, write your title, and begin the assignment. Number the pages. Please make a copy for yourself of each assignment.

Course Grading:
Your final grade will be the average of your grade on the following six factors:

Brief Argument...................................100 pts
Annotated Bibliography............................................50 pts
Analysis of the Controversy.............100 pts
Research Paper................................300 pts
Chapter summaries and other homework.….............15 pts. each
Attendance..............................................50(-5 for each absence)

The grading scale is:
A 90-100% Superior mastery or achievement.
B 80-89% Better than average mastery or achievement.
C 70-79% Acceptable mastery or achievement.
D 60-69% Less than acceptable mastery or achievement.
F Below 60% Fails to demonstrate achievement of course objectives.

I understand these rules and regulations.

Signed _______________________________ Date: _______________________