4-26-2021 Lesson Plan

Research Project (10-15 min)

Okay, so two people turned in the Reflective Annotated Bibliography. I know part of that is on me as the prompt was only in a previous learning module and I forgot to upload it to Blackboard. Still–no one spoke up to ask more about this! Please tell me when you are not sure about what I am asking to do!

We got 4 weeks to go. Because of the confusion about the Reflective Annotated Bibliography, we can make that extra credit.

Draft of Research Project is due May 3. Rhetorical Analysis was due a few weeks ago. At this point, your number one objective is, above all else, to turn in these two papers by May 24.

How are we going to get there?

First: please review our textbook readings on research (see course schedule from March 22 and on) previous lessons, and Learning Modules in our research unit.

Here are the previous lessons and learning modules on research writing:

3-22-2021 Lesson Plan – ENG 2100: Writing I, Spring 2021 (cuny.edu)

Learning Module 7 Landing Page – ENG 2100: Writing I, Spring 2021 (cuny.edu)

4-5-2020 Lesson Plan – ENG 2100: Writing I, Spring 2021 (cuny.edu)

4-12-2021 Lesson Plan – ENG 2100: Writing I, Spring 2021 (cuny.edu)

Learning Module 8 Landing Page – ENG 2100: Writing I, Spring 2021 (cuny.edu)

4-19-2021 Lesson Plan – ENG 2100: Writing I, Spring 2021 (cuny.edu)

 

Let’s talk about some ideas:

-scheduling (see Writing Schedule Activity from earlier in semester)

-coming up with plans (see Writing Session Plan activity from earlier in the semester)

-coming to small group meetings with me (I’m here if you want!)

-getting your writing groups back together (see if you all want to do that to help with accountability)

-writing anxiety tips:

-writing center for 50 minute online sessions, written/video feedback, online writing workshops: Baruch College Writing Center (mywconline.com)

 

Okay, so let’s do two more things today to help with the research paper.

 

 

Signal Words and Phrases (15-20 min)

There is a useful list of signal words in our textbook on page 175 of our textbook. Here is another good list: Signal Verbs – Center for Academic Success – University of Illinois Springfield – UIS

This is another good one: Signal-Verbs-and-Phrases.pdf (blinn.edu)

What words could we use here and why?

  1. Welch SIGNAL WORD that there is an even greater political imperative to delivery at the end of the 20th century…
  2. SIGNAL PHRASE Welch, “The elimination of memory and delivery in the majority of student writing textbooks constitutes the removal of student-written language from the larger public arena” (p. 145).
  3. Trimbur SIGNAL WORD that “neglecting delivery has led writing teachers to equate the activity of composing with writing itself and to miss altogether the complex delivery systems through which writing circulates” (pp. 189–190).
  4. A more recent piece of scholarship by Dànielle Nicole DeVoss and James Porter (2006) SIGNAL PHRASE issues of ethics, file sharing, and delivery.
  5. In “Why Napster Matters to Writing,” the authors SIGNAL PHRASE to changes in the means of distribution: “The new digital ethic is characterized by drastic changes in delivery, and reminds us of the power of delivery” (p. 36).
  6. DeVoss and Porter SIGNAL WORD their discussion of electronic delivery with a heuristic of what might constitute a rubric for considering digital delivery and distribution.
  7. Recent work by Doug Eyman (2007) in Digital Rhetoric: Ecologies and Economies of Circulation also SIGNAL WORD methodological considerations for doing rhetorical research.
  8. Nancy Welch (2005) SIGNAL PHRASE similar to Eyman’s for both delivery and economics.
  9. In “Living Room Rhetoric: Teaching Writing in a Post-Publicity Era,” Welch SIGNAL WORD a seminar she taught while the second U.S.-Iraqi war began in the spring of 2003
  10. We introduce this concept first as a conceptual tool useful for thinking about complex strategies of rhetorical delivery, and later as one practical for classroom discussions (an analytic) focused on the recomposition of writing as part of what Daniel Kimmage and Kathleen Ridolfo (2007) SIGNAL WORD “the amplification effect.”

It is going to feel weird at first, but these words and phrases just do what all writing does: they help meaningfully connect ideas together. The difference is that you have to be thoughtful about connecting your ideas and the ideas of others by using quotation, paraphrase, and (sometimes) summary.

 

 

Thesis and Synthesis of Research (30-45 min)

As a way to think about writing your research writing project, use Qasim’s piece as a model to help you think through the following in your group:

  1. Developing a direct thesis that has a claim an explanation of a general way of arguing for that claim.
  2. Using each paragraph as a way to talk back to (and support) that thesis in different ways.

I want you to label each paragraph of the Qasim essay with what the central topic is for that paragraph. In your group, think about these questions:

  • What is this paragraph about? What is the central topic here?
  • What is the paragraph’s goal for persuasion? What does it want the reader to think? What’s your best guess here?
  • What is the paragraph’s goal for moving the piece forward? How does it help the text “make sense” in the current order of paragraphs that the paragraphs are ordered in?

In the Google Doc, find your group and the numbered list from 1-12. Each number corresponds to a paragraph corresponding to its order in the essay. Label each paragraph and write each of your labels corresponding to that number.

After deliberating labels, talk with your group about the following:

Focus on the thesis of the paper rather than focus on the organization of the paper as effective or ineffective. What I want you to do after you list the labels is to think through how each paragraph talks back to the thesis in specific ways that supports that thesis.

Something that can be hard to do in a research paper is to make sure you don’t drift too much into the research in such a way that prevents you from letting the research you are doing serve your argument. You don’t want to just summarize what the research says, you want to utilize all of it to tie back to the argument you are making.

So, in your group, spend some time identifying how each paragraph responds to the thesis. And, think about how the thesis may have been developed well in such a way that makes it easier to synthesize research in order to support the thesis.

Finally, think about your initial choice to what stood out to you most about the paper and whether that has any relevance to what you thought were particularly strong paragraphs that talked back to the thesis.

 

 

Surveys (5 min)

Baruch’s Healthy Minds Survey launched on April 8th. Survey results will allow Baruch to expand and improve mental health and suicide prevention efforts on campus, and it’s important that we hear from our Weissman student community. The survey is completely anonymous and your name will not be linked to your responses. Please participate in the survey before it closes on May 5th and make your voice heard! Look out for emails from the Office of Student Affairs for your unique survey registration link. See the attached flyer for more information.

 

You should have also received a survey about the First-Year Writing Program. Please fill that out, as well! That will help us get more information on changes going forward for future students.

 

Next Time

-Please do Learning Module 9 this week. It will help you with getting your research project done.

-Your research project draft is due May 3.

-Please keep working on other stuff you might be behind on as you can.

-Next week we will talk more about how we will shift things a bit for the last couple weeks.