Discussion English
Week 1 Discussion Forum
This week’s DF covers the following module and materials. Use them to answer the questions below:
The documentary film AltheaLinks to an external site.
Reading Module 1
Basic Principles of Academic Writing
Types of Rhetorical Modes
Steps of Writing a Paper
Prewriting Techniques
Building Your Paper
Quoting and Paraphrasing
Reading Module 2
The Importance of Wording
Word Choice
Tone
Diction
Essay 1 assignment
IMPORTANT: You must answer ALL questions for credit. THERE IS NO PARTIAL CREDIT! Where indicated, write at least 250 words. Post the word counts for all of your answers.
1. Write a brief analysis of Althea, including its thesis (primary claim/main idea). (Write at least 250 words.)
2. What makes writingacademic? How does academic writing differ from non-academic, casual writing? (Write at least 250 words.)
3. Which method of persuasion (pathos, ethos, logos) does Althea use primarily? Is this method impactful? Why or why not? Might another method work better? (Write at least 250 words.)
4. As described in the Steps of Writing a Paper and Prewriting Techniques sections, in answer to this question, perform either a brainstorming or freewriting session for Essay 1.
5. Based on your brainstorming or freewriting session, outline Essay 1 as described in Steps of Writing a Paper.
6. Essay 1 requires you to compare and contrast two subjects. Though it is not an argument or persuasive essay, modes of persuasion still apply because you want your writing to be engaging and worthwhile. Which mode of persuasion, ethos, pathos, or logos, will you primarily use in Essay 1? Why? You can use your outline from question 5 to pull examples of this mode of persuasion.
For the sake of demonstration, let’s say I am going to write a narrative essay about the time my dog escaped while my friend was watching her and how technology helped me find her. The moment I was reunited with my dog would be significant. From my outline, I pull that I am planning to spend an entire paragraph on that reunion. I am specifically going to describe how dirty my dog’s face was, and how much her eyes had changed, indicating lack of care. This would be an example of pathos, an attempt to elicit emotion from my audience.
7. Write your thesis from the perspective of each of the three modes of persuasion. Going back to my example in question 6, here is my thesis, three ways. See if you can tell which is which (then scroll to the bottom to see if you got them right):
A) As an early adapter of smartphone technology, I well know the pitfalls of spending too much time scrolling and staring at a screen, but it was my so-called addiction that prevented me from losing my dog.
B) It took a photograph of my poodle, her white face crusted with rusty tears, to show me that the true value of staying connected is being able to save someone you love.
C) Though nomophobia, fear of being without a cell phone, gets a bad rap, it worked to my advantage the day my dog almost ended up on a missing poster.
8. The “Grabbing the Reader’s Attention” section of Building Your Paper lists seven strategies for opening a paper. Keeping your thesis and primary mode of persuasion in mind, write seven introductory sentences for your paper; that’s one for each of the seven strategies. Please go in order and label them so that it’s obvious which strategy you’re using. (You will choose one of these opening sentences for question 9.)
9. Take one of your opening sentences from question 8 and one of your thesis statements from question 7 — the thesis that best fits your primary mode of persuasion — and write an introductory paragraph. Use the concept-funnel structure mentioned in Building Your Paper. (Write at least 250 words.)
10. What is the difference between quoting, paraphrasing, and citation? When should you apply each one?
11. Paraphrase this passage from Roger Ebert’s 1972 review of The Godfather:
The remarkable thing about Mario Puzo’s novel was the way it seemed to be told from the inside out; he didnt give us a world of international intrigue, but a private club as constricted as the seventh grade. Everybody knew everybody else and had a pretty shrewd hunch what they were up to.
The movie (based on a script labored over for some time by Puzo and then finally given form, I suspect, by director Francis Ford Coppola) gets the same feel. We tend to identify with Don Corleones family not because we dig gang wars, but because we have been with them from the beginning, watching them wait for battle while sitting at the kitchen table and eating chow mein out of paper cartons.
The Godfather himself is not even the central character in the drama. That position goes to the youngest, brightest son, Michael, who understands the nature of his fathers position while revising his old-fashioned ways. The Godfathers role in the family enterprise is described by his name; he stands outside the next generation which will carry on and, hopefully, angle the family into legitimate enterprises.
Paraphrase this passage from Ta-Nehisi Coats’s “The Case for Reparations”:
Clyde Ross was a smart child. His teacher thought he should attend a more challenging school. There was very little support for educating black people in Mississippi. But Julius Rosenwald, a part owner of Sears, Roebuck, had begun an ambitious effort to build schools for black children throughout the South. Rosss teacher believed he should attend the local Rosenwald school. It was too far for Ross to walk and get back in time to work in the fields. Local white children had a school bus. Clyde Ross did not, and thus lost the chance to better his education.
Then, when Ross was 10 years old, a group of white men demanded his only childhood possessionthe horse with the red coat. You cant have this horse. We want it, one of the white men said. They gave Rosss father $17.
I did everything for that horse, Ross told me. Everything. And they took him. Put him on the racetrack. I never did know what happened to him after that, but I know they didnt bring him back. So thats just one of my losses.
12. For Essay 1, you are required to incorporate 3 direct quotes from Althea. On this note, do the following exercises based on the “Introducing a Quotation” and “Formatting and Punctuating Quotations” sections of Quoting and Paraphrasing:
A) Work with the following excerpt. It is from The Washington Post newspaper:
Caines spent much of his life stockpiling his paychecks of up to $700 a week to buy a home. Now, the 72-year-old worries that the Category 5 storms that took his roof also blew him and an entire generation of Virgin Islanders out of the middle class.
Quote the excerpt using a signal phrase.
Quote the excerpt by introducing it with a brief explanation. Use your imagination since you haven’t read the whole article. Make up an explanation that sounds suitable.
Quote the excerpt with a formal introduction.
B) Work with the following excerpt from the same Washington Post article:
“I’m now going to die in debt,” said Cains, who expects repairs to his home will cost $100,000, far exceeding his savings or expected insurance payout. “It feels like hell,” he said. “I didn’t get the help I needed, and now I’m out here suffering.”
Quote the excerpt with an omission, and indicate that omission with an ellipsis mark.
Quote the excerpt and use brackets to either clarify meaning, change verb tense, or explain a word.
C) Quote the following excerpt as a two-paragraph long quotation:
On St. John, where million-dollar villas cling to hillsides overlooking teal ocean waters and coral reefs, business owners estimated that overall revenue is down as much as 70 percent this winter. But second-home owners are returning to high-end restaurants for lobster dinners and $100 bottles of wine. For Livio Leoni, who owns Da Livio Italian Restaurant in Cruz Bay on St. John, the major lingering post-storm inconvenience is that the island’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection office has not reopened. Without it, he said, he cannot import the cheese, cured meats, and bottles of wine bearing his family name directly from Italy. He instead would have to take a 25-minute ferry ride to St. Thomas to pick up those goods. Meanwhile, 25 miles away in Coral Bay, roofs and walls remain crumbled alongside roads. Some residents in this port town, known for sailors and a bohemian culture, sleep in tents on their front porch or in vehicles. A few hundred yards from the bay, Pearlette Lawrence was sweeping the front porch of the house where she had lived with her husband. The house has no roof, and the couple has been living in a shelter, but they return each day to cook meals and hand-wash clothes. Before the hurricanes, Lawrence had worked as a live-in maid and healthcare aid for an elderly woman who owned the house, earning $900 a month. The homeowner died shortly after the storm, the couple said.
13. One of the things student writers often struggle with is maintaining an academic tone. What elements convey tone? How might tone differ in an argument essay versus a narrative essay?
14. Read the introductory paragraph you wrote for question 9. Look for imprecise, general language. Revise that language to be more specific, being careful to keep the balance mentioned in “Word Choice.” (Write at least 250 words.)
15. Let’s be clear: It is not appropriate to write an academic essay in 1st person (unless you’re writing a personal narrative essay, which you are not). Academic essays require a 3rd person perspective. As a reminder:
1st person = subject is I/we
2nd person = subject is you
3rd person = subject is anything else, examples — dog, table, Mary, Jana, Shawn, sky, pencil, it, etc.
Changing from 1st person to 3rd person:
I believe that we should come together and push the government for better legislation while we can.
Everyone must come together and push the government for better legislation while they can.
Now, for practice, write a paragraph in 1st person. Then rewrite it in 3rd person. The topic of the paragraph doesn’t matter. (Write at least 250 words.)
16. Write 5 sentences using gender-specific language. Rewrite those sentences using gender-neutral language.
17. Write 5 sentences in the passive voice. Rewrite those sentences using the active voice.
Pay attention: Questions 1 – 3, 9, 14, and 15 require at least 250 words each. The rest have no word-count requirement. Again, always post word counts for all answers.
This is the link to Althea documentary…i will provide login
http://docuseek2.com.libaccess.hccs.edu/cart/product/882
Basic Principles of Academic Writing
Academic writing presents thoroughly investigated ideas to an informed audience.
Learning Objectives
Contrast academic and popular writing
Key Takeaways
Key Points
Academic writing makes a claim or an argument, and uses a combination of evidence (details and facts ) and clear explanations of logical reasoning to support that claim in order to persuade the reader.
Good academic writing is concise; rather than using flowery language and overly complex sentence structures, which can distract from an argument, writers should use the simplest language possible to let their ideas shine through.
Academic writing usually uses objective language, which allows writers to convince the reader that their argument is true, rather than just subjective opinions.
A good academic writer is able to see both sides of the argument, or claim, and counter it with supporting evidence.
Key Terms
analysis: A critical examination by the writer which draws connections (or notes disconnections) between points of evidence.
counter-arguments: Ideas and evidence which refute or oppose the original claim.
claim: An assertion, used as the basis for an academic piece of writing, that must be proven with evidence.
academic writing: Writing that is published or presented to a specialized audience in order to inform, persuade, demonstrate, explore, or achieve some other specific purpose.
genre: A category or type of writing, usually in reference to different academic disciplines.
Academic writing is a broad term that covers a wide variety of genres across disciplines. While its features will vary, academic (or scholarly) writing in general tries to maintain a professional tone while defending a specific position or idea.
There are many different approaches to academic research, since each discipline has its own conventions that dictate what kinds of texts and evidence are permissible. Scholarly writing typically takes an objective tone, even though it argues in favor of a specific position or stance. Academic writing can reach a broader audience through more informal venues, such as journalism and public speaking.
Overarching Principles of Academic Writing
Academic writing comes in many forms and can cover a wide range of subject matter; however, successful writing will demonstrate certain conventions, no matter what is being written about.
The Thesis Statement: Making and Supporting a Claim
Strong academic writing takes a stance on the topic it is coveringit tries to convince the reader of a certain perspective or claim. This claim is known as the thesis statement. The majority of an academic paper will be spent using facts and details to prove to the reader that the claim is true. How this is done depends on the discipline: in the sciences, a research paper will present an original experiment and data to support the claim; in a literature class, an essay will cite quotations from a text that weave into the larger argument. Regardless of discipline, the overarching goal of most academic writing is to persuade the reader to agree with the claim.
Concision
Concision is the art of using the fewest words possible to convey an idea. Some students mistakenly think that longer words and more complicated sentence structures make their writing better or more sophisticated. In reality, the longer and more complicated a sentence gets, the harder it is for a reader to interpret that sentence and stay engaged with your argument. For example, if you find yourself using a phrase like due to the fact that, you can simplify your wording and make your sentence more powerful by saying because instead. Similarly, say now or currently rather than at this point in time. Unnecessarily complicated wording distracts your reader from your argument; simpler sentence structures let your ideas shine through.
Objectivity
Most academic writing uses objective language. That is, rather than presenting the argument as the writers opinion (I believe that, I think this means), it tries to convince the reader that the argument isnecessarily truebased on the supporting facts: this evidence reveals that
Breaking the Rules
There are countless examples of respected scholarly pieces that bend these principlesfor instance, the reader response school of literary criticism abandons the objective stance altogether. However, you have to know the rules before you can break them successfully.
Think of a chef putting chili powder in hot chocolate, a delicious but unexpected bending of a rule: typically, desserts are not spicy. In order to successfully break that rule, the chef first had to understand all the flavors at work in both ingredients, and make the choice knowing that it would improve the recipe. Its only a good idea to break these rules and principles if there is a specific, good reason to do so. Therefore, if you plan to dispense with one of the conventions of academic writing, it is a good idea to make sure your instructor approves of your stylistic choice.
Building Academic Writing Skills
Academic work is an excellent way to develop strong research and writing skills. Try to use your undergraduate assignments to build your reading comprehension, critical and creative thinking, research and analytical skills. Having a specific, real audience will help you engage more directly with the reader and adapt to the conventions of writing in any given genre.
The original Dallas Public Library: Across many academic disciplines, research is often required for writing assignments.
Developing Your Voice as a Writer
Develop and showcase your unique voice while adhering to the rules of writing content and style.
Learning Objectives
Differentiate between voice and style
Key Takeaways
Key Points
While academic writing stresses formal conventions, opportunities exist to experiment with a wide range of styles and voices.
A more casual writing style might include contractions, humor, exclamations, and/or familiar vocabulary. Others writings may include clause-heavy sentences, esoteric terminology, and formal language. Still others favor analogies, idioms, metaphors, and colorful imagery.
Authorial voice is a characteristic of a writers distinctive style. It is an important element of academic writing, fiction, and nonfiction.
Voice is developed over time and through experience.
Key Terms
format: The arrangement of images, titles, headers, content, and other formal elements of writing within a work.
style: An authors unique method of putting together words, phrases, sentences, analogies, metaphors, idioms, and expressions.
voice: The distinct personality that comes through in a writers work which may convey the authors attitude and character. It may represent the characteristic speech and thought patterns of the writer.
Youve probably heard that one quality found in good writing is voice. Voice refers to elements of the author s tone, phrasing, and style that are recognizably unique to her or him. A distinctive, persuasive voice will successfully engage your audience without it, your writing risks losing your reader despite your top notch research or how well you adhered to sound writing practices. Yes, academic writing has rules about format, style, and objectivity that you must follow, but these will not rescue boring, impersonal prose. Whatever you choose to write about, be certain to develop an authorial voice!
Having a unique voice does not translate into having a radically different style from others. In academic writing, voice boils down to seemingly insignificant small habits and personal preferences. But they matter! If each student in your class was told to explain a complex concept, not one would do it in the same way. Each would use different language and syntax to say the same basic thing. Over time, each student would continue to make similar choices in language and syntax, and readers would eventually associate those choices with particular writers each student would have developed an authorial voice.
Keep in mind that voice is not something you can automatically create. It may be tempting to use unusual syntax or fancy vocabulary hoping to make your writing stand out. Be forewarned that would not be your genuine style. There is no quick way to create a recognizable voice, as it can only be developed over time. The key to developing your voice is to keep writing and to think about what specific types of writing excite you. Pay attention to how you say things what words you use, what sorts of phrases and sentence structures you favor, even what kind of punctuation appears in your work frequently. These are the choices that will eventually become markers of your authorial voice.
Individual style at the Ohio Renaissance Festival: Much like the people shown above dressed in different costumes, every writer has a distinct style. You should maintain the distinctive elements of your voice and style in the academic context. Even when youre outside your comfortable, everyday environment, you can still find ways to express your unique style.
Getting Help Meeting College Writing Expectations
Your college can provide several resources to help you through the process of planning and drafting an academic paper.
Learning Objectives
Give examples of places to find campus resources for writing
Key Takeaways
Key Points
The conventions of academic writing can be confusing at first, but there is no need to struggle alone.
Colleges provide students with a variety of resources and advisers to help students adjust to writing at the collegiate level. Take advantage of whatever resources your college offers.
Taking advantage of these resources has the added benefit of pushing you to begin the process early so you will have enough time to write and revise several drafts.
Key Terms
workshop: A gathering of students who share brainstorming, research, drafting, revision, and editing tips by reading and responding to each others papers. This can be done virtually, as well as face to face.
drafting: The process of beginning to write and revise a paper, with the understanding that no one else will see it.
The typical student enters college with a wealth of experience writing five- paragraph essays, book reports, and lab reports. Even the best students, however, need to make big adjustments to learn the conventions of academic writing. College-level writing obeys different rules, and learning them will help you hone your writing skills. Think of it as ascending another step up the writing ladder.
Many students feel intimidated asking for help with academic writing; after all, its something youve been doing your entire life in school. However, theres no need to feel like its a sign of your lack of ability; on the contrary, many of the strongest student writers regularly get help and support with their writing (thats why theyre so strong). College instructors are very familiar with the ups and downs of writing, and most universities have support systems in place to help students learn how to write for an academic audience. The following sections discuss common on-campus writing services, what to expect from them, and how they can help you.
Kings College, Cambridge: College writing can seem daunting at first, but there are methods to help you master it.
Writing Mentors
Learning to write for an academic audience is challenging, but universities offer various resources to guide students through the process. Most instructors will be happy to meet with you during office hours to discuss guidelines for writing about their particular discipline. If you have any doubts about research methods, paper structure, writing style, etc., address these uncertainties with the instructor before you hand in your paper, rather than waiting to see the critiques they write in the margins afterward. You are not bothering your instructor by showing up for office hours; theyll be glad to see you.
Learning by Example
Many students like to learn by example, and find it very helpful to read other students academic writing. Some universities publish outstanding student essays. Some professors keep copies of student papers, and they may be willing to show you examples of writing that meets their expectations. Genuine student papers are universally better models to follow than any of the sample essays on the Internet.
Student-Led Workshops
Some courses encourage students to share their research and writing with each other, and even offer workshops where students can present their own writing and offer constructive comments to their classmates. Independent paper-writing workshops provide a space for peers with varying interests, work styles, and areas of expertise to brainstorm. If you want to improve your writing, organizing a workshop session with your classmates is a great strategy. In high school, students submit their work in multiple stages, from the thesis statement to the outline to a draft of the paper; finally, after receiving feedback on each preliminary piece, they submit a completed project. This format teaches students how to divide writing assignments into smaller tasks and schedule these tasks over an extended period of time, instead of scrambling through the entire process right before the deadline. Some college courses build this kind of writing schedule into major assignments. Even if your course does not, you can master the skill of breaking large assignments down into smaller projects instead of leaving an unmanageable amount of work until the last minute. Academic writing can, at times, feel overwhelming. You can waste a great deal of time staring at a blank screen or a troublesome paragraph, when it would be more productive to move on to drafting other parts of your paper. When you return to the problem section a few hours later (or, even better, the next day), the solution may be obvious.
Writing in drafts makes academic work more manageable. Drafting gets your ideas onto paper, which gives you more to work with than the perfectionists daunting blank screen. You can always return later to fix the problems that bother you.
Scheduling the Stages of Your Writing Process
Time management, not talent, has been the secret to a lot of great writing through the ages. Not even a great writer can produce a masterpiece the night before its due. Breaking a large writing task into smaller pieces will not only save your sanity, but will also result in a more thoughtful, polished final draft.
Sample schedule:
Monday: Visit your instructors office hours to discuss ideas, sources, and structure for the essay.
Tuesday: Do research at the library from 5:00 to 9:00, taking detailed notes and planning how each piece of research will fit into your paper.
Wednesday: Do research at the library from 2:00 to 6:00, take detailed notes, and give yourself permission to write an imperfect draft.
Thursday: Begin a first draft of the essay.
Friday: Continue expanding/editing the first draft.
Saturday: Look again at the draft and continue to make changes/additions/deletions.
Sunday: Write a final draft. Print out your paper for proofreading (its worth it).
Monday: Dont look at the essay. However, if there are any remaining questions, go to your instructors office hours.
Tuesday: Revise, edit and proofread the essay one more time. Relax while everyone else in your class is panicking.
Wednesday morning: Give the essay a final read and proofread, and print it out.
Wednesday afternoon: Turn in your essay.
Emailing Your Instructor
Example Email
Subject: Composition II: Office hours on Tuesday
Dear/Hello Professor [Last name],
I have a few questions about the next essay assignment for Composition II. Would it be convenient to discuss them during your office hours on Tuesday? Let me know if there is a specific time when I should stop by, or if we can meet over online chat. Thank you for your help with these assignments.
Many thanks,
[First name] [Last name]
Comp II, Section 12345
Tips for Emailing Your Instructor
Be polite: Address your professor formally, using the title Professor with their last name. Depending on how formal your professor seems, use the salutation Dear, or a more informal Hello or Hi. Dont drop the salutation altogether, though.
Be concise. Instructors are busy people, and although they are typically more than happy to help you, do them the favor of getting to your point quickly. Sign off with your first and last name, the course number, and the class time. This will make it easy for your professor to identify you.
Do not ever ask, When will you return our papers? If you MUST ask, make it specific and realistic (e.g., Will we get our papers back by the end of next week?).
Discussing Writing in Class
Class discussion is an essential part of the feedback and revision process, since it provides a space for students to communicate differing views.
Learning Objectives
Identify techniques for discussing writing in class effectively
Key Takeaways
Key Points
The goal of classroom discussion is not only to promote comprehension of a shared text, but also to encourage students to listen to, understand, and exchange their assessments of a text.
As a learning method, classroom discussions are generally more fun and interactive than simply listening to a teacher lecture or taking a written test.
Class discussions encourage learning through active participation, comprehension, and listening. They help students to think, solve problems, listen to others, and analyze the ideas of other students, all while backing up their own thoughts with evidence from past class teachings.
Incorporating perspectives and ideas from class discussion into your paper allows you to strengthen connections between course concepts and demonstrate your engagement in what others have to say.
Workshops can provide you with valuable feedback from your peers about how to improve your paper, and also teach you to be a more careful and critical reader of your own and others work.
Key Terms
workshop: A discussion in which people can give one another feedback on each others writing.
Classroom Discussions
Classroom discussion isnt simply a way of gaining points; its an essential part of learning, comprehending, and sharing knowledge. Class discussion is often used together with other forms of assessment to calculate your grade, even if there are no points expressly awarded. Together with lectures and individual study, discussing course readings and materials with your peers and the instructor can open up new insights that are impossible to achieve on your own. In order to get the most out of class discussion, the instructor and all students should engage in an actual conversation, not simply question -and-answer.
Classroom discussion: This class discussion is engaging.
As a learning method, classroom discussions are generally more fun and interactive than simply listening to a teacher lecture or doing written work. When presenting a question to a class of students, teachers open up the classroom discussion to different ideas, opinions, and questions, and can mediate while students come up with their own conclusions. Class discussions encourage learning through active participation, comprehension, and listening. They help students to think, solve problems, listen to others, and analyze the ideas of other students, all while backing up their own thoughts with evidence from past class teachings. Discussions also encourage the practice of informal oral communication, which is a much-needed skill later in life.
When participating in a class discussion, the following strategies are effective:
Try to stay on topic. Outside references are often good for context, but remember that the focus here is on learning.
Try to use relevant vocabulary from the lesson to confirm your understanding of new concepts and demonstrate your authority.
Try to build upon the ideas of others; listen and respond as much as you speak.
Always be respectful to others, especially if someone in the discussion offers an opinion that differs from your own.
Try to provide constructive criticism to others regarding their thoughts, comments, or work: I think youre on the right track here, but this point doesnt seem to be supported with direct evidence.
Dont get too worked up if you disagree with the instructor or another student. A strong emotional response is good, since it indicates youre engaged with the topic, but always keep a calm demeanor to show your classmates your ability to work in this setting without getting angry or flustered.
Writing Workshops
A workshop is a special kind of classroom discussion in which students discuss each others work. The advice given above on class discussions also applies when you and your peers are given time in class (or in a group study session, in the writing center, etc.) to workshop drafts of each others papers. A writing workshop is an excellent way to get suggestions from peers that help you improve your paper, since fellow students may be able to offer a perspective your instructor cannot. Constructive, focused workshop critiquing also allows you to become a more critical reader and writer. Here are some questions that might be helpful for class discussions about student writing:
What is the author saying in this text?
Use three words to describe the tone and style the author uses in his/her argument. Is this the best tone and style to achieve the authors purpose?
Where does the author present rhetoric that is based on emotion? On facts? Which of these seem to be most prevalent in the argument?
Why does the author think this argument matters? Have they convinced you that it matters? How might the so what factor be raised?
What special terminology does (or should) the author use?
How does this text relate to other things that have been read in this class?
Give the author two positive comments, and three suggestions for improvement in the next draft. Types of Rhetorical Modes
Argumentation and Persuasion
Argumentation and persuasion are rhetorical modes used
