Monday, October 1, 2012

Notes from October 1

Hello All,

Per your request, here are the notes from Monday...


The Introduction to Your Critique

1.       Hook: Make the reader want to read your essay; grab his/her attention!

a.       Ask a question, use a quote, provide a statistic, use a relevant rhetorical mode.

b.      Your hook should be interesting, catchy, original, and consistent with tone and topic.

2.       Provide background/context/topic: introduce the main ideas/topics/subjects.

a.       Technology, older drivers, The New York Times editorials, the specific author/title of your article.

3.       Your thesis: While (the author) successfully (one strength—A--), he or she fails to (weakness one—B--) and (weakness two—C--).

Your Body Paragraphs

The strength: define A. Explain the difference between an effective/ineffective A.Explain why A is a necessary component of a well-written argument/article.Demonstrate how the article uses A.  Use quotes as your evidence: use the three ways of introducing/incorporating quotes. 1. Simple introductory phrase; 2. Independent clause: quote; 3. Incorporating pieces/phrases of the original into your own sentence.
 
Define B. Explain the difference between an effective/ineffective B.Explain why B is a necessary component of a well-written argument/article.Demonstrate how the article uses B.  Use quotes as your evidence.

Define C. Explain the difference between an effective/ineffective C.Explain why C is a necessary component of a well-written argument/article.Demonstrate how the article uses C.  Use quotes as your evidence

Conclusion
Refer back to the topic.
Restate your thesis.
Provide an effective closing (to parallel the hook).

                Question, quote, prediction, call to action, answer, anecdote,

The typed rough draft is due Wednesday.  The critique needs to be around two pages.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Critique

Hello All,

For your critique analysis (which we will discuss in class), read the four responses to "2020: A Lot of Old People on the Roads" from The New York Times.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Post #1

Hello All,

For this first post, write a precis of Michael Roth's editorial "Learning as Freedom."

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Fall 2012

Hello All,

Your first blog assignment is to create your blog and then send me your blog's URL (web address) so that I can make a master list of all student blogs.  We'll discuss this in more detail on the first day of class.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Poems!

Hello All,

For this post, find a poem about the road that you like, and briefly explain why you like it.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Newspaper Articles

"Road death toll soars in poorest countries: More children killed by traffic than by diseases Campaigners call for UN target to reduce carnage." by Randeep Ramesh (from LexisNexis) discusses how more schoolchildren in Africa are killed by traffic than by infectious diseases; Ramesh describes what is causing these deaths as well as various proposals to try to decrease the numbers. The article "Roadside health centre will treat, inform truckers" (from LexisNexis) describes the high percentage of truckers in South Africa who have AIDS and discusses various proposals to try to decrease those numbers as well as the future spread of the HIV virus among those who travel the highways. In the article "On India's Roads, Cargo and a Deadly Passenger" (from nytimes.com), Amy Waldman describes the spread of HIV/AIDS from truckers and prostitues along the highways in India. Waldman gives individual examples (pathos) of those afflicted as well as an overview of the social context in which roads and highways are allowing the disease to spread.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

For Friday's Class

Hello All,

For Friday, read the selections from "Does College Make You Smarter" and post a brief response to your blog: what do you think?  Does college make students smarter?

Take care,

m woodman