Lesson Materials: 1. PPT on Analyzing, Synthesizing, and Writing
Additional Resources for Review: 1. Video of Substitute Teacher Pronouncing Names; 2. Synthesizing and Remixing Worksheet; 3. Reporting Verbs; 4. Sample Emails; 5. Podcast on Corporate Social Responsibility; 6. CRAP Test Video; 7. Academic Vocabulary; 8. Creating a Survey with Google Forms
Lesson Objectives: 1. Identify a strong research topic; 2. Practice identifying relevant reliable research; 3. Develop a connection between academic writing and the familiar concept of synthesizing in music and research; 4. Identify sources to summarize and synthesize; practice synthesizing using action verbs; 5. Understand and practice conducting thorough rhetorical analyses
Connection to Major Paper/Project: Receive support for your endeavors to identify a meaningful issue, gather relevant information for your research, and make sense of the information to solve the issue.
Connection to Course Goals: This lesson will assist you in learning to use appropriate linguistic conventions when analyzing information, combining ideas from various sources to express your own perspectives, learn to identify and/or practice identifying tropes, audience, and purpose.
Day One Activities:
- Introduce New Assignment: 1. Read the assignment sheet silently. Prepare questions about what you may not understand, what might seem scary, anxiety-provoking, or too much work. 2. Speak with each other and help each other understand the assignment, answer questions, and feel better about the assignment. 3. Discuss as a class any remaining questions or anxieties about the assignment.
- Activity on Understanding Sample Assignment Scenario: Complete this activity using this handout as a class, and understand one’s role as a student in the sample rhetorical situation.
- Reflective Annotated Bibliography Handout: Read the reflective annotated bibliography guide, make notes of any questions, work with a partner to answer them, and finally discuss as a class to address any remaining questions.
- List of Topic Choices: Share your topics with the class one at a time and provide feedback.
- Library Research for Finding Sources: Use the library site to begin finding relevant sources.
- Put APA references for each of the sources that you identified. You will be asked to briefly explain your choice of sources in terms of reliability and relevance.
Day Two Activities:
- Establish a collaborative code of engagement and keep it in the shared drive
- Rhetorical Situations: Use the OWL slides in the above PPT to go over important aspects of a rhetorical situation.
- Rhetorical Analysis Handout: Read the handout and the handout, putting together a full rhetorical analysis of the article and addressing all the elements in the handout.
- For the remainder of the class, take time to work on your papers, identifying more sources, emailing professors to set up interviews, reading, summarizing, organizing layout, asking and answering questions, etc.
Day Three Activities:
- PPT Lecture: Assisted with the PPT in the lesson materials above, we will go over key concepts that are essential to understanding how to analyze and synthesize information. You will see an example that synthesizes various sources, and examples of action verbs along with how to use them. We will define the important skill of synthesis and discuss how a DJs music mix is considered a synthesis. We will review the PowerPoint segment that combines the discussion of synthesizing and remixing using quotes and concepts from this interview. Take time to discuss the connection between music remixing and synthesizing in academic writing. Only open the following answer key after formulating your own answers: Answer Key.
- Preparing for an Interview: Read this article on interviewing and write a short update on your search for a professor to interview for your primary research RefAnnBib entry.
- Think, pair, share: Take time to begin your research and brainstorming for your paper. You are encouraged to ask questions of your classmates and/or the professor.