Friday, October 26, 2007
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Blog 14: Dinner Party, A Classic Question
Imagine the perfect dinner party. You can invite five guests, living or dead. Who would you invite and why? What would you eat? What would you talk about?
DUE Sunday, October 21
DUE Sunday, October 21
Blog 13: Interview Reflection
The question is simple enough: What did you learn from your interview?
DUE Sunday, October 21
DUE Sunday, October 21
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Fall Break, The Blog, & You
With Fall Break upon us, you only have on blog entry to do for the coming week.
Have a great break!
Have a great break!
Blog 12: It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's . . . You
If you could be a superhero with any superpower, which ability would you want and why?
DUE Sunday, October 14
DUE Sunday, October 14
Friday, October 5, 2007
You Can Teach An Old Professor New Tricks!
One of the things I love most about teaching is that I am just as much a student as you are. Something new I learned today:
For those of you who haven't completed your interviews yet and are doing them in person, you can go to
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
and download recording software. Most of your laptops, unless you're working with the smallest Tangents, have a microphone, or you can buy a microphone at the bookstore for $14 if you're interested. It'll save you from having to hunt down an old-school tape recorder or (perish the thought) take notes during your interview. Might also be useful for those of you who dream of becoming the next American Idol.
Have a great weekend!
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Blog 11: Minimum Rage
What should the national minimum wage be? Should we even have a national minimum wage? How do you calculate a "living wage"? What are the implications for businesses if the minimum wage is raised? What do you predict would happen to the economy? Why do you think Congress has been so reluctant to raise minimum wage?
DUE Sunday, October 7
DUE Sunday, October 7
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Rhetorical Analysis
Using the techniques discussed in class and in your Brief Guide, you will develop a rhetorical analysis comparing an article from a popular periodical to an article from a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal.
First, find an article in a popular magazine related to your field of study or potential career. For example, business students might use Business Week, engineering students might use Popular Mechanics, pre-med students might choose Men’s Health or Self, etc. (Think towards periodicals available in a large bookstore.) Your task will be easier if you choose the popular article first.
The second step is to find an article on the same topic in a scholarly peer-reviewed journal. Use the databases and the peer-reviewed limiter, remembering how to differentiate a scholarly source.
Compare the rhetorical techniques used in both articles. Some questions to consider:
-To whom is the text addressed?
-What is the author’s purpose for writing the piece?
-Are the author’s word choice and language appropriate for her audience?
-Describe the author’s sentence structure. How well does it work for her rhetorical situation?
-What arguments or assertions does the author make?
-What kinds of evidence does the author provide (logos, pathos, ethos, anecdotal, facts and stats, etc.)? Are her choices of evidence best serving her audience?
-What do the visual cues of each article tell us? What do the graphic details look like? Are there charts or graphs? Photos, drawings, or schematics? Why might these elements have been used?
These are not all the potential questions to be considered, and you should not feel the need to respond to all of these questions. For more possibilities, refer to your Brief Guide, The Everyday Writer, and the sheet of questions handed out in class.
The analysis should be 3-4 pages, typed, double-spaced in MLA format. Include a Works Cited page listing the two articles (not included in your page count) and attach a copy of the first page of both articles to the back of your submitted draft.
DUE Monday, October 8
First, find an article in a popular magazine related to your field of study or potential career. For example, business students might use Business Week, engineering students might use Popular Mechanics, pre-med students might choose Men’s Health or Self, etc. (Think towards periodicals available in a large bookstore.) Your task will be easier if you choose the popular article first.
The second step is to find an article on the same topic in a scholarly peer-reviewed journal. Use the databases and the peer-reviewed limiter, remembering how to differentiate a scholarly source.
Compare the rhetorical techniques used in both articles. Some questions to consider:
-To whom is the text addressed?
-What is the author’s purpose for writing the piece?
-Are the author’s word choice and language appropriate for her audience?
-Describe the author’s sentence structure. How well does it work for her rhetorical situation?
-What arguments or assertions does the author make?
-What kinds of evidence does the author provide (logos, pathos, ethos, anecdotal, facts and stats, etc.)? Are her choices of evidence best serving her audience?
-What do the visual cues of each article tell us? What do the graphic details look like? Are there charts or graphs? Photos, drawings, or schematics? Why might these elements have been used?
These are not all the potential questions to be considered, and you should not feel the need to respond to all of these questions. For more possibilities, refer to your Brief Guide, The Everyday Writer, and the sheet of questions handed out in class.
The analysis should be 3-4 pages, typed, double-spaced in MLA format. Include a Works Cited page listing the two articles (not included in your page count) and attach a copy of the first page of both articles to the back of your submitted draft.
DUE Monday, October 8
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Blog 9: Channeling Queneau
Raymond Queneau was a French author who wrote Exercises in Style, a book in which he approached the same short story in 99 different ways: a haiku, telegram, prognostication, interjections, etc. There are myriad ways to convey the same information to different groups of people.
In order to study how authors make the rhetorical choices they do, I want you to write two short notes. Imagine today is a nice day and you don't feel like going to class. (Of course, you would never do such a thing in real life!) You must write a note to your professor explaining why you couldn't make it to class and another note to your best friend explaining what you did with your day.
How did your voice change from one note to the other? What language did you use for each? Were your explanations different? If so, why? Why do we change how we communicate with different groups of people?
DUE Sunday, September 30
In order to study how authors make the rhetorical choices they do, I want you to write two short notes. Imagine today is a nice day and you don't feel like going to class. (Of course, you would never do such a thing in real life!) You must write a note to your professor explaining why you couldn't make it to class and another note to your best friend explaining what you did with your day.
How did your voice change from one note to the other? What language did you use for each? Were your explanations different? If so, why? Why do we change how we communicate with different groups of people?
DUE Sunday, September 30
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