Writing and Thinking (Fall 2005)

Today, we’ll:

1) Give and receive feedback on your handouts.

2) Discuss the qualities of good visuals.

Visuals should:

• Be easy to understand from a distance.
• Follow the “Rule of Seven” for text: No more than seven words per line; no more than seven lines per visual.
• Clearly describe or illustrate a concept to the reader.
• Not undermine the tone of your presentation.
• Use the principles of contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity.

3) Discuss and demonstrate speaking strategies for oral presentations.

4) Review the order of presentations for next week.

Monday, December 5

Megan, Steve, Ryan, Kimberly, Corey, Vanessa

Wednesday, December 7

Chelsey, Lauren, Melissa, Stephanie, Meghan

Friday, December 9

Gabrielle, Mike, Charron, Nicole, Joanna

5) Conduct course evaluations.

Assignment for Next Class

Oral presentations begin. Please remember to bring enough handouts for the class and instructor (16), and to e-mail a copy of your visuals to the instructor.

Today, we’ll:

1) Review the principles related to oral presentations that we talked about on Monday.

• Situation: consider the time and place of where you are giving the speech.
• Purpose: this refers to the goal the speaker hopes to achieve with his or her speech.
• Audience: consider the people to whom the speech is directed.
• Method: which methods will best accomplish the purpose.

2) Review your outlines and give and receive feedback.

Exchange outlines with a partner.

Have your partner read your outline and write down:

• places where they need more information
• questions or counter-arguments that they can think of
• their opinion on whether you can discuss all of this content in 5 minutes

3) Discuss the purpose and content of handouts.

Why make a handout?

“Handouts enable the audience to

• Concentrate on the ideas without having to take notes
• Capture any non-verbal data accurately
• Personalize the presentation with notes of their own ideas
• Hear, see and apply the presentation
• Increase their speed of comprehension
• Retain new ideas longer
• Apply the information to specific tasks
• Find the information when they need it at a later date”

What content can go on a handout?

• Your name
• The date
• Outline of key points, concepts, or ideas
• Charts, graphs, diagrams, illustrations, or visuals
• Ways the audience can take action
• Contact information
• List of sources or references

How do I make a useful handout? (From “Why and How to Avoid Trashy Handouts”)

• Plan your handout as you plan your presentation. Keep main ideas, metaphors and summary information in the presentation. Add details, complexity, explanations and applications in the handout.
• Make them aesthetically pleasing and practical.
• Design to support the purpose of your presentation and the audience.
• Avoid rehashing your presentation verbatim, with the exception of testifying before a government agency or presenting a scientific paper, when you do want to make available an exact transcript of your remarks.

4) Make a list of the content that you will put on your handouts.

5) Discuss ways to organize and present information on handouts.

• Organize information into sections based on content.
• Use headings to signal the beginnings of sections.
• Put white space between headings and body text.
• Use lists to organize related content.
• Use only one or two fonts.
• Make sure that images don’t overlap with text.
• Make sure images or visuals are clearly labeled and captioned.

Monday, November 28

Today you’ll turn in your proposals. Then we’ll talk about the guidelines for the oral presentation assignment and go over what one does with an oral presentation. You’ll then work on outlining your oral presentations.

Assignments For Next Class

Read pp. 646-651 in Call to Write
Outline presentation; bring outline to class

Wednesday, November 30

Today you’ll sign up to do your oral presentations. We’ll discuss creating handouts and other types of presentation materials.

Assignments For Next Class

Read pp 603-610 in Call to Write
Three copies of handouts due in class

Friday, December 2

Today you’ll give and receive feedback on your handouts. We’ll then discuss visuals and PowerPoint presentations.

Assignment For Next Class

Oral presentations begin on Monday. Be sure you know when you have signed up.

Today, we’ll:

1) Finish up any peer review activities that you started on Friday.

2) Receive commented versions of your drafts from the instructor.

3) Answer any questions you might have about preparing the final draft.

Assignment for Next Class

Final version of your draft is due on MONDAY NOVEMBER 28.

Please include peer review sheets and comments with your drafts.

The final draft is due that Monday for everyone. Even if you weren’t in class on Friday or Monday or even if the instructor never read your first draft, the final draft is still due on Monday the 28th. If you have an emergency or other serious circumstances, please e-mail the instructor as soon as possible.

Today, we’ll:

1) Go over the weekly agenda.

2) Take five minutes to do last-minute editing on your papers.

3) Turn in your papers.

4) Go over the guidelines for the oral presentation assignment.

5) Discuss the components of an oral presentation.

What contexts (academic, workplace, and personal) require you to give oral presentations? How would the presentations differ based on their context?

Oral presentations can be thought about by using the SPAM method:

• Situation: consider the time and place of where you are giving the speech.
• Purpose: this refers to the goal the speaker hopes to achieve with his or her speech.
• Audience: consider the people to whom the speech is directed.
• Method: which methods will best accomplish the purpose.

6) Work on an activity where you assess the situation for your presentation.

7) Discuss the parts of a presentation.

• Introduction: get the audience’s attention
• Body: present your proposal, your solution, and your rebuttal
• Conclusion tell your audience how they can help solve the problem)

What examples will make the best case? How can you visually, orally, and kinesthetically present the information to your audience?

Work on outlining your presentations.

Assignment for Next Class

Read pp. 646-651 in Call to Write
Outline presentation; bring outline to class

As part of this project, you’ve defined and described a local problem, proposed a specific and concrete solution, and responded to arguments against your problem and solution. For the last component of this project, you’ll produce an oral presentation that will include supporting visuals (such as a PowerPoint presentation) and handouts that allows you to speak to others about your problem and solution and convince them to support your solution. You’ll then give your presentation to the class during the last week of classes.

Specifics

Your oral presentation should:

• Be no more than five minutes long.
• Present your problem, solution, and rebuttal.
• Make reference to research where appropriate.
• Include appropriate rhetorical appeals.
• Use persuasive tone, gestures, and body language appropriate for this type of presentation.
• Include visuals appropriate to your presentation and your audience (such as a PowerPoint presentation or transparencies).
• Include a handout for your audience that summarizes your main points.
• Include answers to questions from the audience (if there is time).

After time in class discussing and working on various aspects of the oral presentation, you’ll give your presentation to the class during our final week of classes and turn in a copy of your visuals and handout to the instructor after you are done.

Grading Criteria

Your presentation will be graded on:

• The quality of the problem, solution, rebuttal, and information presented in your speaking, visuals, and handout.
• Your use of evidence and appeals in your speaking, visuals, and handout.
• The quality of tone, body language, delivery, and audience interaction.
• The quality of your visuals and handout and the attention and care that you pay to document design.

Each component of the project (speaking, visuals, and handout) will be worth a third of the project’s grade. You can earn a total of 150 points (out of 500 points total for the project) for the presentation.

Due Dates

You will sign up in class to present on December 5, 7, or 9. Your handouts and visuals should be turned in on that day.

Today, we’ll:

1) Review guidelines for peer review.

2) Practice peer review with a sample paper.

3) Give and receive feedback on your drafts.

Please complete argument structures and peer review sheets for two of your group members. Turn your peer review sheets in with your final draft.

4) Turn your drafts into the instructor for comments.

The instructor will give back comments in class on Monday.

Assignment for Next Class

Complete peer review sheets.

Today, we’ll:

1) Discuss how other people’s ideas are used in an academic paper.

What does research do in an argumentative paper?

• Use facts to support and develop their claims.
• Create or borrow metaphors, analogies, or other lines of argument based on ideas about what is good or necessary.

Theh ideas of others require introduction and attribution; they can’t stand on their own. This rule especially applies to quotations.

How can you work the ideas of others into your work?

• Create attributive tags to introduce information and provide context.
• Use verbs to convey a sense of information and ideas (observes, argues, claims, believes, says, offers).
• Give a careful attribution of the source and its origin.
• Offer an interpretation of the facts before and after the idea is presented.
• Use a question to interrogate the information.
• Relate the information to the paper’s purpose – how is this information supporting your claims?

2) Practice working other people’s ideas into paragraphs and sentences.

3) Review principles for creating a works cited list.

• Figure out what type of source you’re citing.
• Look up the sample citation for that type of source.
• Format the information you have about your source to look exactly like the model.
• Make sure that you have inserted proper punctuation.

How do you cite surveys and interviews that you conducted?

• Interviews: Person you interviewed. Personal interview. Date of the interview.
  Smith, John. Personal interview. 29 Oct. 2005.
• Surveys: Your name. “Survey Title.” Niagara University, 2005.
  Doe, Jane. “Dorm Life Survey.” Niagara University, 2005.

4) Verify the citations on your works cited list.

Assignment for Next Class

First draft due: bring three copies.

Today, we’ll:

1) Go over the weekly agenda.

2) Discuss the parts of an argumentative paper.

Classical argument structure:

• exordium (rousing or attention-getting introduction)
• narration (facts or necessary background)
• partition (thesis statement)
• confirmation (development of argument and examples)
• refutation (rebuttal)
• peroration (stirring conclusion)

3) Complete a classical argument structure for your argumentative paper.

4) Discuss rebuttals and how to create them.

A good rebuttal should:

• honestly explain the claims against your argument
• addresses these claims them by:
  • showing how they do not apply
  • showing how your claim could be qualified to address the challenges.

• does not make attacks on the other side
• uses rhetorical appeals judiciously and fairly to assert your case.

5) Play the “Doubting Game.”

Sometimes it can be difficult to come up with claims against yours. A way to do that is to get someone to play the “Doubting Game” with you.

6) Use the doubting game’s results to create a rebuttal for your arguments.

Please fill in in the claim and reasons structure, using one of the ideas that you were just provided.

Give a different partner yourr rebuttal and have the person answer the questions.

Assignment for Next Class

Read pp. 377-379 in The Call to Write.
Bring a copy of your works cited to class on Wednesday.

Monday, November 14

Today we’ll discuss planning strategies for creating a draft, including how arguments can be organized. We’ll also work on clarifying problems and solutions and creating clear thesis statements. Finally, we’ll ask consider rebuttals to your arguments

Assignments For Next Class

Read pp. 377-379 in The Call to Write.
Bring a copy of your works cited to class on Wednesday.

Wednesday, November 16

Today we’ll discuss incorporating research and appeals into a proposal and review your works cited lists.

Assignments For Next Class

FIRST DRAFT DUE; bring three copies.

Friday, November 18

Today we’ll practice conducting peer review and then you’ll work on giving and receiving feedback on your drafts.

Assignment For Next Class

Complete peer review sheets.

Today, we’ll:

1) Go over the changed schedule for the rest of the semester.

2) Proofread your letters and turn them in.

3) Go over the research proposal guidelines.

4) Review the context for writing and the components of an argument.

Context for Writing

• Purpose: Why?
• Audience: Who?
• Genre: What?
  • Parts or Components
  • Tone/Style
  • “Rules” for what kinds of writing are appropriate

Parts of An Argument

• Claim
• Reasons
• Evidence
• Warrant

5) Analyze some sample proposals and discuss their features and their arguments.

In your groups, please read the proposal and answer the questions about it. You will be asked to put the claim and reasons from each proposal on the board and to talk about the features of this proposal with the class.

6) Consider what you need to do to write your proposal.

Assignment for Next Class

Read pp. 369-375 in Call to Write
E-mail a draft of your thesis statement to the instructor (ekarper@niagara.edu).

This project has asked you to identify a local problem and propose a feasible solution. So far, you’ve done local and contextual research and written a letter to a specific person, group, or media outlet that could reach your audience.

Now, you’ll take your research and your understanding of your problem and solution and use them to develop a longer proposal. A proposal is an academic paper that presents your problem and solution, counters rebuttals to your argument, and above all attempts to convince your audience that they should implement your solution.

Specifics

Your proposal should:

• Contain an introduction, body paragraphs, a conclusion, and a works cited list.
• Set out your problem, convince your audience that it is a real issue, and propose your solution.
• Contain a clear thesis statement that presents your claim about your problem and solution and the reasons that support your claim.
• Support your claim and develop your reasons by presenting credible evidence from local and contextual sources.
• Include a rebuttal for possible arguments against your solution.
• Attribute your research using MLA format. This means that you will use parenthetical citations in your text to attribute sources, and that you will create a Works Cited list at the end of your paper that lists all of the sources that you have cited in the paper.

You will produce two drafts of your proposal. Final drafts that are the same as your first draft will get lower grades than papers that show evidence of revision and editing.

Formatting Guidelines

Your proposal should:

• Be 4-6 pages in a double-spaced 12-point serif font
• Contain a heading on the first page of the paper with your name, your section of Writing 100 (C), the name of the assignment (Investigating a Local Issue), and the date.
• Contain a title centered below the heading that is not underlined nor in quotation marks.
• Contain page numbers in the upper right hand corner of each page except the first.
• Contain a works cited list formatted in MLA style.

Proposals that do not follow these formatting guidelines will receive lower grades.

Grading Criteria

This paper will be graded on how well it:

• Presents and develops a claim and reasons by using appropriate evidence.
• Responds to counter-arguments.
• Shows evidence of revision.
• Uses research and attributes it correctly.
• Pays attention to formatting guidelines.
• Uses standard written English.

You can earn a total of 150 points (out of 500 points total for the project) for the proposal.

Due Dates

First Draft Due: November 18
Final Draft Due: November 28

Today, we’ll:

1) Give you time to finish peer review in your groups.

2) Discuss common problems in creating arguments in letters.

• “Studies have shown…”
  Which studies? Who conducted them? Why should I trust them?
• “I’ve personally experienced…”
  The plural of anecdote is not data. How do you make a letter more than just your personal complaints? How can your complaints be an example of a larger problem?
• “What can you do?” How could people help? What specific actions could they take?

3) Discuss dividing sentences into units of meaning and punctuating them appropriately.

Units of meaning can include:

• single words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions)
• phrases (a phrase has no subject or no action)
• clauses (a clause has a subject and an action)

A sentence is comprised of various units of meaning. Units of meaning are often separated with punctuation in order to help the reader understand how they are connected.

4) Practice dividing sentences and using punctuation to convey meaning.

5) Discuss rules for using punctuation to convey meaning.

Punctuation can:

• Set off introductory elements from the rest of a sentence.
  After winning the championship, the team was ecstatic.
• Distinguish non-essential information from essential information.
  George Washington, who was the nation’s first president, did not actually chop down a cherry tree.
• Separate items in a list.
  I planted shade, evergreen, and flowering trees, short, tall, and medium shrubs, and red yellow, and white roses.
• Separate two separate clauses and indicate their relationship.
  It was a hot, windy day, but I still spent the afternoon working in the garden. Alisson didn’t feel well; however, she came to school anyway.
• Connect elements together or show that elements are separate.
  Monica was very disappointed in her performance; nevertheless, she was a gracious loser.
• Make meaning clear to the reader.
  “I’d like to thank my parents, Ayn Rand and God.”

6) Practice using the rules for dividing and punctuating sentences to convey meaning.

7) Work on editing your letters for punctuation.

Assignment for Next Class

Final draft of letter is due.

Monday, November 7

Today you’ll work on giving and receiving feedback on the first drafts of your persuasive letters.

Assignment For Next Class

Finish peer review (if not completed in class). Bring a copy of your letter to class on Wednesday.

Wednesday, November 9

Today we’ll review the arguments in your letters and work on revising and editing them for clarity and correctness.

Assignments For Next Class

FINAL DRAFT OF LETTER DUE.

Friday, November 11

Today we’ll introduce the research proposal assignment. We’ll work on formulating the arguments that will be a part of your proposals and analyzing some examples of research proposals to learn more about the genre.

Assignment For Next Class

Read pp. 369-375 in the Call To Write. E-mail a draft of your thesis statement to the instructor (ekarper@niagara.edu).

Monday, October 31

Today you’ll turn in your research assignments. We’ll discuss the guidelines for the persuasive letter project, analyze some model letters, and discuss possible audiences for your letters.

Assignment For Next Class

1. Read pp. 109-111, 116-119 in Call to Write
2. Do “Addressing Your Reader” exercise on p. 136; bring to class.

Wednesday, November 2

Today we’ll discuss the audience for your letters and how to construct persuasive appeals. We’ll also review how letters should be formatted and presented.

Assignments For Next Class

1. Read pp. 138-140 in Call to Write and use the information to help you write a draft of your letter.
2. Bring THREE COPIES of a draft of your letter to class on Monday.

Friday, November 4

NO CLASS: INSTRUCTOR AT CONFERENCE.

Please use the class time to work on your letters. The instructor will be available by email if you have questions.

Assignment For Next Class

Bring THREE COPIES of a draft of your letter to class on Monday.

Today, we’ll:

1) Go over the weekly agenda.

2) Review principles related to creating persuasive letters.

A perusasive letter appeals to a specific person or group by showing that it understands an audience’s:

• Relationship
• Credibility and Authority
• Attitude
• Knowledge
• Values and Beliefs

A persuasive letter contains an argument. An argument contains:

• Claim
• Reasons
• Evidence (Facts and Appeals)
• Warrant
• Rebuttal

A perusasive letter uses appeals to support an argument that will convince a specific audience. Depending on the audience and the argument, these appeals could be:

• Logos (fact-based)
• Ethos (character-based)
• Pathos (emotion-based)

A persuasive letter contains these parts:

• Your address
• Their address
• Salutation
• Opening
• Body
• Closing
• Signature

3) Work in groups to give and receive feedback on your persuasive letters.

In your groups, please:

• Fill out an argument structure for each letter. Identify the claim, reasons, evidence, and warrants.
• Complete a peer review sheet for each writer’s letter.
• Turn in the completed peer review sheets and argument structures with the final draft of your letter on Friday.

Assignment for Next Class

Finish peer review (if not completed in class). Bring a copy of your letter to class on Wednesday.

Today, we’ll:

1) Discuss different methods for audience analysis.

When we think about persuading people, we need to think about two things: who our audience is and what their expectations are, and how we can best appeal to them in order to convince them.

Who Is My Reader?

• Relationship
• Credibility and Authority
• Attitude
• Knowledge
• Values and Beliefs

How Do I Best Appeal to My Reader?

In our own writing we will want to consider the various types of readers we may be trying to convince and persuade. In many arguments, the people whose mind you want to change, or actions you want to affect, are the very people it will be hardest to convince; therefore, you have to consider your appeal carefully.

• Logos (fact-based)
• Ethos (character-based)
• Pathos (emotion-based)

How much emphasis you place on the logic of your argument (logos), your own reputation and expertise as the writer/speaker (ethos), and the types of emotional appeals that might help to make your case, or harm your case (pathos), can only be considered fully when you have your audience in mind.

2) Do some audience analysis exercises to help you think about your relationship with your reader and how you can best appeal to your reader.

3) Discuss the parts of a letter.

• Your address
• Their address
• Salutation
• Opening
• Body
• Closing
• Signature

4) Outline what information and ideas you will put in each part of your letter.

Assignment for Next Class

Read pp. 138-140 in Call to Write and use the information to help you write a draft of your letter.

Bring THREE COPIES of a draft of your letter to class on Monday.

Monday, October 24

Today we’ll review and practice using the argument terms that we covered in class on Friday. Then we’ll go over the research guidelines for your new topics and talk about research strategies for investigating a local issue. Finally, you’ll generate research questions for your new topics and consider your research needs.

Assignments For Next Class

1. Read pp. 522-532 in Call to Write.
2. Develop sample interview questions and/or sample survey questions; bring a copy to class on Wednesday.

Wednesday, October 26

Today we’ll discuss and practice using your interview and survey questions. Then we’ll talk about the types of document-based research that you might need to do for your project, and work to generate keywords that will help you conduct this research.

Assignments For Next Class

Work on local issue research; bring copies of sample sources (articles, Web pages, books, etc) to class on Friday.

Revise your interview or survey questions; make arrangements to conduct your survey or interview before November 9.

Friday, October 28

Today we’ll examine some of your sources and discuss their credibility and authority, as well as considering how they could be used in your argument. Finally, we’ll review MLA format and how to construct a bibliography.

Assignments For Next Class

Local issue research assignments due at the beginning of class.

Researching Your Issue

After determining a local problem and a possible solution, you’ll need to conduct some research to help you put the problem in context and also to understand what can be done. You will use the research you acquire in this stage in your letter, proposal, and oral presentation and you will be expected to cite this research appropriately using MLA format.

For this project, you’ll conduct two types of research: local and contextual.

Local research involves collecting information from within the community itself in order to identify and describe your issue and propose a good solution. This might involve conducting interviews and surveys, collecting documents from the community, or doing archival research in local newspapers or other sources. Local research will involve talking to people and collecting documents from within your community. You will need to either conduct an interview or create a survey for your project and use this information in your projects.

Contextual research involves collecting information from other contexts in order to your local issue more context and to help you propose a good solution. This might involve researching similar situations or issues to yours in order to compare and contrast situations, generating ideas for solutions, or researching different aspects of possible solutions. Contextual research will involve conducting research on the Web or in the library.

Assignments

Interview/Survey Questions

In order to understand your local issue, you will need to discover what people think, feel, and believe about the topic. As part of this, you will either conduct an interview or conduct a survey. (Or, you can do both if you feel that both would be helpful.)

You will turn in a list of your interview or survey questions before you conduct the interview or survey so that the instructor can grade them and also give you feedback.

On October 31, you will turn in a document which contains:

• A paragraph describing your problem and possible solution.
• A paragraph describing the person (or people) you will interview or describing the group of people that you will survey and why their opinions are important and relevant.
• Your interview or survey questions. If you are creating a survey, please include the answer choices if appropriate.

This assignment is due on October 31 and will be worth 50 points.

List of Sources

In class, we’ll discuss and examine possible library and Web sources that could help you understand your problem, provide solutions, and understand the context for your writing. We’ll also practice formatting sources in MLA style.

You will turn in a list of possible sources for grading and feedback. This list should:

• contain a paragraph which describes your problem and possible solution.
• contain a paragraph which describes how these sources could help you to learn more about your problem, solution, or provide evidence to help persuade your audience.
• contain a works cited list of at least five sources formatted using MLA format. (This would be the same format that you used to create the works cited list for your last paper.) If you need help with MLA format, please see Appendix A of the Curious Researcher.

This assignment is due on October 31 and will be worth 50 points.

Grading Criteria

You can earn a total of 100 points (out of 500 points total for the project) for the research activities that you do in this component.

Your interview and survey questions will be graded on how appropriate they are for your topic and on how well-developed they are.

Your list of sources will be graded on its depth and breadth of possible research and on your correct use of MLA format to present types of sources.

Grading rubrics will be provided with each assignment to help you understand your grade.

Today, we’ll:

1) Go over the weekly agenda.

2) Collect your research assignments.

3) Go over the guidelines for the letter assignment.

4) Review terms related to constructing arguments.

Parts of an Argument

• Claim: The idea, opinion, or statement that the author is attempting to prove. In a problem/solution situation, this would be a description of the problem and the proposed solution.
  
  
• Reasons: The categories of evidence that support the claim. In a problem/solution situation, this would be why the solution will solve the problem, why the solution is the best possible solution, and why the solution should be implemented.
  
  
• Evidence: The facts, statistics, opinions, expert testimony, and/or logical, ethical, and emotional appeals that develop and explain the reasons. In a problem/solution situation, this would include both information that you gain from research, people’s opinions, and various appeals to the audience that might compare the situation to other situations, attempt to make the audience have strong feelings about the topic, or attempt to draw logical conclusions.
  
  
• Warrant: The assumptions or ideas about how society should work that a reader has to to understand and accept in order to understand the argument and see it as valid. In a problem/solution essay, this would be the assumptions that people have to hold about the problem, solution, and context for the problem.
  
  
• Rebuttal:The response to any claims, reasons, and evidence that are against your argument. In a problem/solution essay, this would be any competing solutions and any opposition to implementing your solution.

Types of Appeals

• Logos: fact-based appeals (”A new parking lot would cost X dollars. We have more than X dollars in the part of the budget appropriated for campus improvement. Thus, we could afford to spend X dollars on a parking lot.”
• Ethos: character-based appeals (”As a student, you can trust that I represent your viewpoint on this issue.”)
• Pathos: emotion based appeals (”Picture the students who have to walk across campus in the snow, howling winds and sub-zero temperatures chilling them on their walk to class… What can be done to help these students?”)

5) Build a working argument for your projects.

6) Analyze and discuss sample letters and discuss their arguments.

Assignment for Next Class

1. Read pp. 109-111, 116-119 in Call to Write
2. Do “Addressing Your Reader” exercise on p. 136; bring to class.