Workshop Research Draft (40 min)
Read the draft I am passing out.
Consider the following as you read:
- what is most compelling or interesting about this essay? Why?
- what is the function of each paragraph? What does it do and contribute to the main argument?
- what was the best use of a source or sources in the paper? where was it and why did you like it?
Documentation Style Refinement and Quoting Conventions (20 min)
A few weeks ago, we talked about the purpose of documentation styles. They help direct readers to where you got your sources (reference page or works cited page) and reflect where in your writing you are using information from those sources (in-text citation).
Unfortunately, a lot of learning about documentation style is looking up and applying different rules for that style. But there are some general guidelines that can help you:
- Think about grammar. A citation for MLA or APA is in parentheses. When you normally use parentheses, are they inside or outside of the ending punctuation of a sentence?
- Look for example sentences and look at them often. What goes inside the citation? Author name? Year? Page numbers? How are any of these formatted? What if there is missing information (e.g., author name) for the source?
- You definitely need a reference page or works cited page at the end. This is the primary way someone can find the sources you cite.
- There are more general guidelines for things like page numbers, titles, where and how your name is formatted (and other information) on the first page, etc.
Resources to use but there are many good ones out there (find your documentation style and look for information and examples):
- https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/documentation/
- https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/avoiding_plagiarism/guide_overview%20.html
Some other things to keep in mind.
Which of the following sentences do you like better?:
- As Kim (2024, p. 3) stated, “A recent study demonstrates that consistent social media usage over the past four years has increased depression among middle and high school students. Dr. Anne Marie Albano, co-clinical director of the Youth Anxiety Center at New York Presbyterian states, ‘When an individual is not healthily engaging in the world…and instead increase their online presence, this can exacerbate their feelings of alienation, hopelessness, isolation, anxiety, and depression’.”
- As Kim (2024, p. 3) points to, drawing from the work of Anne Marie Albano, pre-teens and teenagers can become more depressed when they focus less on in-person socializing and more on online socializing.
The best thing, though, is to just go to the original source if the part from the current source is not adding enough that is original for your purposes as a writer. Why?
How could you go to the original source? How would you do that?
Another consideration for quoting and paraphrasing:
Consider readability and make sure your reader knows who the source is.
- You might write the title of the source, but is it really long? Could you just briefly, instead, say what the source is about? And could you include the author so readers can associate the source with a specific person?
- Tell us who the author is. It helps with interpreting why we should listen to them.
End of Semester Course Evaluations (15-20 min)
You get these for all of your classes, usually in an email. You can also access it here: Student Course and Faculty Evaluations – Enrollment Management (cuny.edu) (click on “Log in” in middle of page and use your Baruch username and password).
What do these actually do? How are they most valuable?
Let’s start with a wider contextual information that helps see flaws in this system of evaluation.
Here are some sources:
Here is a great bibliography of all research on bias in student evaluation surveys: Overview of bias in student evaluations – Google Docs (approximately 200 studies showing biases in student evaluation surveys)
And here is a popular source that sums up much of this research, especially one study that attempted to create ideal conditions in which these measures still end up being flawed: Study: Student evaluations of teaching are deeply flawed (insidehighered.com)
I offer none of this to say that *YOU* specifically are biased, but, rather, there is a lot of evidence for systematic bias (much of which may be unconscious) that tends to rate White and cisgender male instructors much higher than non-White and other gendered instructors, independent of teaching performance or course design.
All this said, these evaluation surveys are still commonly used across the U.S. and at Baruch.
Imperfect as they are, they are still used to evaluate instructors by administrators (i.e., management, bosses).
Imperfect as they are, they still communicate something and can be used by job seekers (or asked to be provided by employers) when applying for jobs or promotion.
Imperfect as they are, they can still give instructors some valuable information that might confirm or complicate intuitions instructors have about how the class went (and how to adjust for next time).
So, I would say to do the following when filling out these surveys for *ALL* of your courses:
- Do not rush through them. If you want to give a lower score, for instance, be sure you have thought it through and genuinely feel that way. Think about your rating, count to 10 in your head, and then think through your rating again before giving the rating. Since these evaluations can have an effect on evaluation decisions (e.g., tenure, promotion, hiring/firing/laying off), be sure you are assigning scores you believe in and are filling it in thoughtfully. Try as best you can to take a breath and check in with yourself on where your criticism–good or bad–is coming from in terms of concrete and specific examples of the instructor’s approach to teaching and its impact on your learning.
- In open-ended portion, offer constructive criticism. If you did like something, explain what you liked. If you did not like something, explain why and do so in a way that is helpful toward revision of the course. Finally, if you do have something to offer that you did not like, try to think of something you did like, too. (this helps! it can confirm some things that are working which is just as valuable as saying something about what is not working).
Okay, so with that out of the way, let’s take about 10 minutes in class to complete the survey. I’ll need a volunteer to come grab me when the class is finished completing the survey.
What is Writing for? (10 min)
Before you write your journal entry on for Wednesday (the last one!) and before you get working on your final reflection, I want you to really think about the different kinds of writing we did this term. What made it different? Why does that matter? And, finally, what is writing for?
So, what writing did we do?:
- Literacy narrative: storytelling, personal (no other sources), descriptively,
- Reading responses: writing centered in response to the reading
- Journal entries: personal experiences, reflective,
- Rhetorical analysis: argumentative, analysis of a piece of writing/image/rhetoric
- Peer review feedback: evaluating writing, more personal than rhet analysis, trying to be helpful
- Research paper: using other sources to help make argument,
- Annotations: impressions or questions as you read, more in the moment
- In-class essay on paper: about tech that influenced you, was timed
- Google doc group activities
- Private writing in class before sharing in discussion
What purposes are such writing used for?
- Reading comprehension: rhetorical analysis, reading responses, annotations, peer review
- To make arguments: rhetorical analysis, research paper
- Learning: research paper, literacy narrative, journals,
Next Time (5 min)
-Complete your 10 minutes of private writing for the week in your composition book. What is writing for? What does it do for you? List all the things you use writing for in your life. Try to be exhaustive. Of the things you listed, where does writing these journal entries fall in? If it doesn’t fit into that list, add a new list item where writing in this journal would fit in. What kind of writing is doing these journal entries and how can it be helpful? Was this journal helpful for you? (it’s okay if it wasn’t!). Before answering, re-read all of your journal entries (really! Do it!). Try to be generous here if it wasn’t helpful (I’m not reading these so this isn’t about my feelings! More about not being too dismissive too quickly, before you had time to think it through). If not helpful to you after thinking about it, explain why. If it was helpful, try to be specific—in what ways? Finally, think more about what writing is for, for you, and how it can help you in your life.
-Work on Research Revision (due Dec 18)
-Work on Final Reflection (due Dec 18)
-Work on any Grade Boosts (due Dec 18)
-Want to speak with: Deona, Fernando, Kareem