Peer Review

This week's blog posts are based on your feedback and the rankings your peers provide on your feedback. Please use the checklist located on Angel in the Assignment #3 folder to provide comments to your peers and make sure to get everything turned in by 11:50 p.m. November 2. Also, remember that your final essay is due November 9 by 11:50 p.m.

Free Friday

Instead of a blog post today, spend a little extra time on going over the essays from your group members. Remember, your peer editing is due Monday.

Persuasive Essay Summary

For your blog post today, I want you to provide a brief summary of your persuasive essay. What is your thesis? What are your main arguments? What are your counter-arguments? If you've written a strong thesis statement and topic sentences, this should be a fairly easy post. If your essay is still pretty rough, this post will help you clarify the points you are trying to make.

Freebie

No blog post for today since your rough drafts are due at 11:50 p.m.

Research, Research, Research

For today's blog post, I want you to just provide an MLA-formatted list of the resources you are using for your persuasive essay. This is a pretty easy post for the day AND it helps you prepare your works cited page for your essay.

Style

Read Section II in The Elements of Style, "An Approach to Style (With a List of Reminders)" (pages 66-85). Just as exciting as the last ones, right?

OK, so which of these are helpful tips? Which ones make you say to yourself, "I never thought of that before, but it really just makes sense," like you should have known it all along? Which parts seem counterintuitive to you—the ones that go against what you think about writing? How will they help you in revising your paper (due Monday, btw).

Effective Argument, Continued

Since "Letter From a Birmingham Jail" is kind of long, and I want you to really pay attention to it, and since you're all busy on your first drafts, we'll just say that Friday's blog topic is your blog topic for today, too. You don't need to do two separate blogs for it. Just make sure you do the one. Cool?

Effective Argument

Read Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" in your yellow Seagull Reader book. It's kind of a lengthy one, but it's a good read, I promise. Go ahead—I'll wait.

Done? Ok, now that you've read it, I want you to do some analytical thinking. Who's he addressing? What is he addressing? What is the tone he's using to address these people? Taking all that together—audience, purpose, tone, context—what in it is effective? What's ineffective? Where does he utilize logical fallacies (they're in there, I promise) and where does he make sound logical arguments? How does he balance the ethos, pathos and logos parts of his argument?

And, perhaps most importantly, how can you utilize any of this in your paper?

Logical Fallacies

Find the file on Angel about Logical Fallacies. Read all those and get yourself familiar. They're pretty handy to know. Now, I want you to pick out three of them and come up with an example to fit each of them. I also want you to explain how each is an example of that particular fallacy. Make me believe you.

Topic!

OK, so some have already gotten started on this and emailed me, but what I want you to do for your blog post today is to pick a potential topic to write about. Remember that there will be research involved in this, so try picking something that makes it a little easier. Then, I want you to discuss your position, explore some of the reasons you'll be using to support your stance, and delve into what you know about the topic. Consider this kind of an exploratory thing.

A couple things to remember about picking a topic:

1. Your topic needs to be something in which there are a range of options. Things like raising/lowering the age to do X, legalizing/criminalizing X, or why you should/shouldn't do X are NOT within the boundaries of the paper's requirements. Some examples of topics students have done in the past include why horses make the best pets, why the Lakers are the team with the best chance to win the NBA championship (and they were right), why Honda/Subaru/Ford are the best car to buy, why acupuncture is the best choice for pain relief, etc. Make sense? All of those have a RANGE of options, not just a two-side, black/white thing. You know, like 99.99% of any arguments you'll actually have to make in real life, unless you become a talking head on a news station or talk radio. And if that's the case, then all hope is lost for you anyway.


2. Remember that there will be research involved in this, so try picking something that makes it a little easier.


3. Some topics fall into "No, duh" territory. These are ones that are not necessarily fact, but that are kind of universally accepted—things like why it's best to visit the dentist every six months, or why it's best to get eight hours of sleep. These aren't acceptable topics, either, because there's really nothing to argue. In colloquial terms, it's "preaching to the choir." Those two examples don't really satisfy that first requirement, either, so there's that, too.

Let me know if you have any questions.

And before you ask, the following topics are an automatic no. Don't even bother:

• Abortion (either side)
  
• Immigration (either side)
  
• Pot (legalizing it or making punishments worse)
  
• Lowering/Raising the drinking age
  
• Death penalty (either side)
  
• Universal healthcare (either side)

Get creative. If the topic you picked is an issue that even remotely looks like one of these, figure out a new one.

When Your Opinion Matters

So, since we're working on the persuasive paper and working on argumentative skills, today I want you to tell me about a time when you had to make a case for something and your opinion was important. Did people end up listening to you? Were you successful? Are there times when you look back and think "Man, I should've said something different instead"—like I do all the time?

Muddiest Point

Today, we'll do an exercise called "Muddiest Point." Read the assignment sheet for the persuasive paper and write a blog post about the "muddiest point" for you—the part of the assignment you understand least or are having the most trouble with. Which part could be a little clearer? How would you change the assignment (aside from making it shorter/easier) to make it help you better?

Conversely, what's the easiest part to understand? What's got you going down the street, high-fiving everyone you pass because you're just that good?

Finishing up the Personal Narrative

You will not have any blog posts this week because I want you to work on revising your personal narrative and getting it turned in by 5 p.m. Friday, September 30. However, you will receive blog points this week based on your participation in the peer review process.

When you turn in your final draft, please make sure you include the following items for an easy 5 points on your final grade:

• Your rough draft (make sure it is 4-5 FULL pages and is in MLA format)
• Your peer-edited rough drafts including the comments from your group members
• Your self-assessment sheet

Have a great week, and please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about the essay.

Freebie

Since your peer editing responses are due today, you will not need to write a blog post.

One More Personal Narrative - Notaro

Read Laurie Notaro's "A Morsel from the Garden of Eden," located in the Lessons folder under Resources on Angel.

Now, write a blog post where you answer the same questions you looked at for Monday's post.

• Does the writer provide an introduction that grabs the reader’s attention?
• Does the writer focus on significant events in his or her life rather than trying to narrate his or her entire life’s story?
• Do the descriptions of the characters or important objects in the memoirs include sensory details that help readers to visualize, hear, smell or feel them?
• Has the writer quoted speech or dialogue so as to reveal some important aspect of a character’s personality?
• Does the writer narrate or describe events in a way that allows readers to connect them to experiences or relationships in their own lives?
• Has the writer explained the significance of the people, events, places, or objects in shaping who he or she has become? Does this explanation make sense in relation to the events, people, places, and things described throughout the memoir?
• Does the writer provide a conclusion that reinforces the point of the story?

Another Personal Narrative - White

Read E.B. White's "Once More to the Lake," on pg. 369 in your yellow Seagull Reader book.

Now, write a blog post where you answer the same questions you looked at for Monday's post.

• Does the writer provide an introduction that grabs the reader’s attention?
• Does the writer focus on significant events in his or her life rather than trying to narrate his or her entire life’s story?
• Do the descriptions of the characters or important objects in the memoirs include sensory details that help readers to visualize, hear, smell or feel them?
• Has the writer quoted speech or dialogue so as to reveal some important aspect of a character’s personality?
• Does the writer narrate or describe events in a way that allows readers to connect them to experiences or relationships in their own lives?
• Has the writer explained the significance of the people, events, places, or objects in shaping who he or she has become? Does this explanation make sense in relation to the events, people, places, and things described throughout the memoir?
• Does the writer provide a conclusion that reinforces the point of the story?

Freebie!

No post today since your personal narrative draft is due.

Diving into Personal Narratives - Sedaris

Read David Sedaris's "Me Talk Pretty One day," on pg. 285 in your yellow Seagull Reader book.

Now, write a blog post where you investigate the following questions.

• Does the writer provide an introduction that grabs the reader’s attention?
• Does the writer focus on significant events in his or her life rather than trying to narrate his or her entire life’s story?
• Do the descriptions of the characters or important objects in the memoirs include sensory details that help readers to visualize, hear, smell or feel them?
• Has the writer quoted speech or dialogue so as to reveal some important aspect of a character’s personality?
• Does the writer narrate or describe events in a way that allows readers to connect them to experiences or relationships in their own lives?
• Has the writer explained the significance of the people, events, places, or objects in shaping who he or she has become? Does this explanation make sense in relation to the events, people, places, and things described throughout the memoir?
• Does the writer provide a conclusion that reinforces the point of the story?

Sentence Variety

Read through the paragraph about Sam that I've included at the end of this blog post. Using the "Sentence Variety" handout available on Angel (under Lessons/Resources), rewrite the paragraph using a variety of sentence types. Do not change the actual words in the paragraph, just revise the sentences to give the paragraph life and rhythm.

Sam got in her car. She drove to the mall. She went to the shoe store. She bought a pair of boots. She bought a shoeshine kit. Sam went to the food court. She bought a burrito. The burrito had onions and peppers on it. Sam ate the burrito. Sam saw a cute boy. He was at the pretzel stand. The boy looked at Sam. Sam blushed. The boy walked over to Sam. Sam said hi. The boy wrinkled up his nose. Sam was confused. Sam said hi again. The boy gagged. The boy walked away. Sam was shocked. Sam realized she had bad breath. Sam ran to the bathroom. Sam cried. She put on her new boots. She shined her new boots. Sam walked out of the bathroom. Sam was confident. Sam found the boy. Sam told him he needed manners. Sam kicked him. She used her new boots. The boy fell to the ground. Sam walked away. Sam walked out of the mall.

Mechanics

Today, in preparation for our next paper, we'll concentrate a little more on the mechanics of writing a paper. I know you're excited about this, right?

Read Section II in The Elements of Style, "Elementary Principles of Composition" (pages 15-33). Riveting, isn't it?

Now, for your blog post today, I want you to write about which of these principles is the one you have most trouble with, and which one is the one you're strongest at. How, in your revision process, can you make sure to get better at your weak point?