Write-Up 1 & 2 Scores

Here is a spreadsheet of your scores on Write-Ups 1 and 2, as they stand now:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ap9oU02C12STdEtmYWxLODllclJiNmN4Y1h3MEFEaEE#gid=0.

(Please note: If you don't see a score for any of your write-ups in this spreadsheet, and you did submit write-ups, please contact me as soon as possible.)

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(Update, 3/1/2014: I have just finished correcting a mistake in this spreadsheet. The current scores should be correct and up-to-date.)

Reminders for Next Week

For next week ...

-- Go on reading in Better. Please read the next chapter, "Piecework," p. 112-129.

-- Remember that your Essay 2 first draft (label: "Essay 2 Draft 1") is due on your group blog by 11:59 PM Thursday night, 3/6/2014.

-- And don't forget that I'll be absent on Thursday, 3/6/2014. We won't meet in class that day. But please check the course site. I'll be posting a graded online assignment for you to do.

Sample Summary-and-Response Essays

We talked about the difference between informal and formal writing. This difference is important in taking an article write-up and developing it into a summary-and-response essay. So let's take a look at some examples, to illustrate what you might need to do in your own work.

Here's a former student's article write up:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B59oU02C12STVGNyZWExMGZXaXM/edit.

Now here's this student's summary-and-response essay, based on the same article:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B59oU02C12STaS0yZ1hJel8xamc/edit.

Take a moment to read through these two sample assignments. What do you notice with regards to the differences between them? What has this student done to her informal article write-up to make it into a formal summary-and-response essay? What has this student done well here? And what has she done not-so-well? What lessons can we learn from this student's efforts?

Now, here's another student's summary-and-response essay, based on a different article:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B59oU02C12STNjhqamZaWWZ2M2M/edit.

Take a moment to look at this summary-and-response essay, too. What do you think makes this essay work? Does it seem to be successful in appealing to a possible audience? What does this essay do well in appealing to an audience? What does this essay do not-so-well? What can you learn from this student's work about making your own summary-and-response essay convincing?

Reading Quiz: "What Doctors Owe"

On your own, please take out a sheet of paper, put your name and "Reading Quiz" on top, then open the link below and follow the directions inside (Notice: It might be smart to have a copy of Atul Gawande's book, Better, next to you as you work on this quiz):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iOM8Qr4VTj2s7yStiCq4qkJBuZxhA7uaw1Q9lgYTRVM/edit.

Classwork: Analysis of an Argumentative Essay

Together with on or two other classmates, make your own analysis of the following article from The Seattle Times:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B59oU02C12STeHJ5c0NLYVItYjQ/edit.

Here's a link to the worksheet that I would like you to use in analyzing the above article:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B59oU02C12STM2FLeTQ2QVg1Ylk/edit.

Argument Basics: Writing for an Audience & the Three Rhetorical Appeals

What's the difference between writing for yourself and writing for an audience? Why is writing for yourself often called "informal" and writing for others often called "formal"? What's are some basic differences between formal and informal writing? These are the basic differences between our article write-ups (which are supposed to be informal) and a summary-and-response essay (which is supposed to be formal).

The question of appealing to an audience, arguing in ways that interest people, move people, convince people, has troubled speakers and writers since the beginning of civilization. Eventually, philosophers started to develop theories regarding how to answer this question effectively. One such philosopher, Aristotle, broke down appealing to an audience into three categories, The Three Rhetorical Appeals:

-- Logos -- appealing to an audience based on the audience's logic and basic reasoning

-- Pathos -- appealing to an audience based on the audience's emotions

-- Ethos --  appealing to an audience based on their values and beliefs, their ethics

Notice: The key in appealing to an audience is looking at an argument form their perspective, not yours. Consider this comparison: Every audience wants you, the writers and speakers, to think like them, or at least to try to relate to them; but not every audience wants you to "be yourself." So remember, when writing for an audience, focus on the audience's perspective. Trust me; this is a simple but challenging idea.

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Here's an exercise to try to think through the basic ideas of appealing to an audience:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Zlkm9inXBdtxNvL-exVOwuZRRNCFFiIJeIUZzXH4z8Y/edit.
(And here's the same document in a Word file, just in case the link above doesn't work for you:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B59oU02C12STWlhzQ2ZvdnB1dlk/edit.)

Essay 2: Summary-and-Response Essay

Here's the link to your Essay 2: Summary-and-Response Essay assignment (p. 1) and rubric (p. 2):
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B59oU02C12STMFR6QVdEN3RhMHc/edit.

Quick Reminders for Next Week

Just to remind you of the readings and homework for next week:

-- Readings: Next week, I'd like for us to return to Atul Gawande's chapter, "What Doctors Owe," on pages 84-111 of Better, so if you hadn't read this chapter for last week, please read it for this week. And if you have read it, feel free either to reread the chapter, read ahead to the next chapter (which will be due next week), or take a break from reading Gawande's book.

-- Homework: Don't forget that your first two article write-ups are due by 11:59 PM next Thursday night. To remind you, the process of doing a write-up is simple. First, you find an article related to your topic, then you read it, then you put together an informal 500-word summary-and-response essay that summarizes the main idea and important support points of the article, then goes on to present and explain your own responses to this article's points. Next, do the same for another article. For more about article write-ups, refer to the label, "article write-ups," on this site.

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(And here's a special note about gathering articles: Since you'll be pooling six articles together in a longer research paper at the end of the semester, it might be wise to gather articles that help you build up a complete discussion. Consider, for example, what might happen if all you find are several short news reports. In this case, your final research paper might appear very thin, with many important connections missing. And consider what might happen if you just use informative articles. In this case, your essay will have no argument, just facts; it will be hard to see why your points matter. But then, consider what might happen if you use only scientific journal articles. In that case, your final research paper might be difficult to manage, with basic explanations and relatable examples missing. So try to go for a balance of different types of articles and different depths of content. Of course, for your write-ups, you can use any articles you want. But it's always smart to plan ahead.)

Sample Article Write-Ups

Remember that article write-up exercise from class? Well, here is one former student's attempt to put together an article write-up in response to the article we read:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B59oU02C12STSkpidDFjcXB4c0E/edit.
Take a moment and look through this write-up. What is this student doing well? What is this student doing not-so-well? What can you learn from this student?

Now here's a write-up for an article that I haven't provided for you:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B59oU02C12STTDlQSTBXa0VYRnM/edit.
Likewise here, can you see what this student is doing well or not-so-well? Can you see what you might learn from the way this student has put together this write-up?

Finally, please don't forget: Article write-ups are casual writing assignments. Like critiques, they are not meant to be perfect. In fact, they're not even meant to be well-argued or thoroughly consistent, the way critiques should be. Write-ups are simply one step in the research process. The idea is merely to start to organize your thoughts about articles you've found in your research, one-by-one. Believe me: Once you've done this, it's much easier to put together more complicated, more formal research essays.

Practice Article Write-Up

Here's a link to an article from The New York Times about a health- and healthcare-related related topic:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B59oU02C12STaTFmNjU5VmpaRVE/edit.
Take the time to read this article on your own and to make notes to help you follow the writer's discussion and her supporting details.

Now here's a link to a handout that breaks down how to plan and put together a basic research write-up for any article:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B59oU02C12STS25zRGo2cV9HRFU/edit.
(Please note: You may want to refer back to this handout when you work on your own individual research write-ups. Notice the label on the right, "article write-ups." This label will get you back to this blog post and to other blog posts that contain useful information about research write-ups.)

Okay, now get together with one other classmate or two and start to put together a joint research write-up, in basic summary-and-response format. Once you're done, or once the period is over, please turn in what you have.

Reminder: Essay 1 Final Copy is Due...

This is just to remind you: Your Essay 1 final copy is due either before 11:59 PM tonight (if submitted by email) or before 5:30 PM tomorrow (if submitted by hard copy). Please do not submit your Essay 1 final copy through your group blogs. Group blogs are only for blog posts, drafts, critiques, and comments. After this deadline, even if it's just one minute, your Essay is officially late.

Please consult the course syllabus for other required submission guidelines.

Our First Research Assignments: Write-Ups

Every teacher wishes for a class that goes on forever; that way, the students have time to learn everything the teacher knows. Unfortunately, that's not the case for us. We're moving on from our first pieces of writing, and we're getting started with research. Of course, there are important questions to consider: What is research? How do I make research both easy to do and effective in proving my point? We'll try to get to these questions as we go. For now, let's go step-by-step.

Notice: Your first steps in doing research have already started. You might not have chosen a topic, but you've written about topics you're considering, and you've looked at what other people wrote in the same vein. You might not have found articles you trust and want to work with, but you've found some good ones that could at least be good enough.

Also, be aware: Your first two research assignments, your first two research write-ups, are due next week, by 11:59 PM Thursday, 2/27/2014.

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Let's get started thinking about research by looking at how research assignments are organized in this course. First, here's a handout that explains the motivation and grading behind our research write-ups:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B59oU02C12STWWpBR084ZTdWckk/edit.

Now let's take a look at how research assignments fit together in this whole semester, especially how write-ups lead to your more important major research essays:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B59oU02C12STSnh0ampzc0NiQ2M/edit.

Do you have a good basic idea of how we'll do organize our research this semester?

Special Announcement Regarding Three Upcoming Thursdays: March 6, 20, and 27

Please note: I've updated some information on our course schedule. (To get to our course schedule, follow the "syllabus" label on the right side-bar of this page, open the syllabus, and scroll down to the week-by-week breakdown.) You'll notice these updates in red. Hopefully, they should be pretty clear.

Now, to explain: What happened was I ended up with several obligations on my hands that I couldn't pass off to someone else, and as a result, I won't be able to make it to Alexandria on those days. I apologize for the sudden change in plan.

The bottom line is this: We won't meet on three different Thursdays in March: The 6th, the 20th, and the 27th. Instead, I'll provide some material here, on our course site, for us to work on.

Again, I apologize. As always, if you've got questions -- or, in this case, if you've got suggestions for a better solution -- please email me.

Quick Notes for Next Week

Please remember:

-- On Tuesday, 2/18/2014, we're meeting in the library -- yes, again! (If school is cancelled, though, this meeting will not take place.)

--  More importantly, your final copy of Essay 1 is due by the start of class on Thursday, 2/20/2014. (And yes, if school is cancelled, your essay will still be due. Right now, I am not changing anything about the submission procedure. However, if there will be more snow in the forecast, I might extend email submission deadlines until 11:59 PM Thursday night.)

One more thing:

-- Please continue reading in Atul Gawande's book, Better. For next week, read the next chapter, "What Doctors Owe," p. 84-111.

Can't find someone's editing draft? No problem!

Please note: A few of you haven't posted your editing drafts. If you still plan to do so, go ahead, but you won't get credit for doing so. Remember that your classmates have been assigned to leave some grammar comments on your editing drafts. So you can still get grammar comments, even if you post your editing draft late.

Now, those of you whose critique parters haven't posted an editing draft, or at least not on-time, be aware: You are welcome to make grammar comments on anyone else's editing draft! All you need to do to get credit for the grammar comments due tonight is to leave grammar comments on two students' editing drafts, one grammar comment for each.

My advice: Be only as generous as you can be. You can't wait forever. At the end of the day, you've got your own work to do, and I will give you credit for doing it.

Classwork: Better, p. 73-83, 2/13/2014

Here are the classwork questions about the chapter, "Naked," in Atul Gawande's book, Better, that I intended for us to work on today:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SJtjsFbjJ8UnJDtwQ9UiTmVAVXt-t5bUZjJhXvcPyvY/edit.

Please note: You are not required to post your answers to these questions on the group blog. Simply look over them and consider to yourself how you might answer them. For some actual work-from-home class work, please look at the blog post right below this one.

Getting Started with Research

We're going to be spending much of this semester working on different research-based writing assignments. The first research-based assignments coming up will be two casual write-ups in response to two health-related articles that you find online.

But before you think about research-related writing, it might be useful if we talk about choosing your research topics. Just as a note: If you decide on one research topic to work on this whole semester, or even several research topics that are closely-related, you'll make your work for the rest of the semester easier and more efficient, especially as you gather material toward your final research paper.

Here's a link to a handout about choosing research topics:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B59oU02C12STZUVjLUhNaXR3UzQ/edit.
This handout contains a mix of advice both from me and from professors I've learned from. Let's read through it and talk about what we can make of it.

Next, here's a link to a handout that accompanied a library resource presentation from a few years ago:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B59oU02C12STcWZkUUViUXZhSGs/edit.
This handout contains links for well-known health-related institutions and the resources they make available to doctors, scientists, and any other interested readers. On your own computer, try to open some of these links and see where they can lead you in starting to research the topic(s) you're considering for this semester.

***And here's a casual blog post assignment: In a new blog post on your group blog, please write a paragraph about your attempts to find information on the sources in the above handout. Compare your results to what you found on Tuesday using the library databases (or any previous experience you've had using a school library and its online databases). Even if these sources seem useless to you, please write about that and explain why you think they were useless.

Finally, here's a link to a former student essay -- a personal narrative, not a research essay:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B59oU02C12STZ0dGM20xV2h6SU0/edit.
If we'll have time, we'll read through this essay; if not, please take a look at this essay on your own. Can you see what topics the student who wrote this essay might be interested in writing about? Can you start to think about how this student might start to search for related articles on these topics?

Classes Cancelled Thursday, 2/13/2014

This is just to repeat the official message from www.nvcc.edu: Classes are cancelled for Thursday, 2/13/2014.

But don't forget that you still have assignments due on your group blog. To see the deadlines of these assignments, scroll down to the post right below this one.

Also, be aware: I intend to post some other assignments to make up for our missed class time. I'll post more about that tomorrow.

Reminder: This Week's Deadlines

This is just to remind you:

1) The second draft of your Essay 1, what I'm calling your "editing draft," is due on your group blog, posted as a link to a Google Drive document, by 11:59 PM Thursday night. (To repeat: I will score this draft based on the differences I notice from your first draft, so be 100% sure you're working on a new file with this draft.

2) Your comments in response to another student's research topics blog post is also due by 11:59 PM Thursday night. (You may respond to whomever you like, but if you're feeling generous, look for someone who hasn't received a response yet.)

And lastly...

3) Your grammar comments, in response to your critique partners' second drafts, their editing drafts, are due by 11:59 PM Friday night -- a day after the second drafts are due. (You're only required to make one grammar comment for each critique partner. And please restrict yourself to just one or two editing suggestions or grammar errors. If you notice that an issue repeats in different places, point out just one of those places, then say that this issue repeats in the essay.)

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(Just a note: These deadlines will stand even if school is cancelled on Thursday. If you're worried you might miss the deadline because of the snow, I suggest you try to submit your draft early. Maybe you should even submit it by this evening, before the snow starts, just to be sure.)

Reminder: Editing Drafts and Grammar Comments

To remind you, your next draft of Essay 1 is due this coming Thursday, by 11:59 PM, on your group blog. This draft will be posted in the same way as your previous draft. Just save it on Google Drive, then share it, then post a link on your group blog, with the label, "Essay 1 Draft 2" or "Essay 1 Editing Draft." (Let's decide in class about what label we'll use.)

To start, please make absolutely sure that you save this next draft of your essay in a different file from your first draft. I've said this a number of times in class. Again, please save your new draft in a separate file and work on it there. This is important because I'll be scoring this new draft, your "editing draft," based on the revisions you've made from your first essay. So I need to be able to see both versions of your essay to give your work a fair assessment.

Once you've made sure to separate your new draft from your old one, work on just the new draft. My advice is this: Try to make deep revisions. Don't be afraid to make bad changes; that's just how the writing process works. Also, be aware: If you've saved your first draft separately, you can always go back to that draft and recover something you've changed in your later draft. In other words, if you've planned effectively and saved your different drafts separately, your work is never lost.

Lastly, don't forget to go back to your critique partners' essays (their first drafts), and collect some sentences that you think have grammar issues in them. Copy down one sentence from each critique partner's draft, and be sure you copy it down exactly. Then bring the two sentences you end up with to class on Thursday. We've talked about making revisions, now we'll move toward editing, which is all about spotting and correcting minor errors like grammar, spelling, and so on. We'll talk a little bit about grammar and grammar comments in class on Thursday.

Essay 1 Draft 1 & Critiques Report

As many of you requested, here's a spreadsheet detailing your (very simple) scores on your Essay 1 draft and your two critiques:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ap9oU02C12STdHVwMlUxNHc1VjQtN3U5enpDMUdhT0E#gid=0.

Be aware: In grading your critiques I was mostly very forgiving -- but only in some cases. I gave many of your critiques a score of 3/3 simply because they gave a reasonable amount of feedback. Those critiques I gave a score of 2/3 were insufficient, but they still made some helpful comments. And those critiques to which I gave no score (meaning, a blank), these have either not been posted or were not in acceptable form to receive a grade.

Next time we do critiques (for draft 1 of Essay 2), I'll be more harsh in my grading.

If you have any questions or are confused about the spreadsheet, please email me.

Week 4 Homework (For Thursday): More Reading & also Gathering Grammar Sentences

For next week, please read the next chapter in Better: "Naked," p. 73-83.

Also, for next week, please look back at your two critique partners' first drafts. For each partner's draft, copy down one sentence (and make sure you copy it exactly) that you believe contains a grammar error. You don't necessarily have to know what this grammar error is, and you don't necessarily need to know how to correct the error. I just need one sentence from each partner's essay. So, next class, each of you will come in with two sentences that contain grammar errors. We'll work on these in class this coming Tuesday.

And again: Don't forget that we're meeting in the lobby of the library (which, conveniently enough, is right under our computer lab!) on Tuesday, 2/11/2014, at 5:30 PM. Please try to be on-time. I will be taking roll.

Quick Reminder: Meeting in the Library on Tuesday

Don't forget: On Tuesday, 2/11/2014, we're meeting in the lobby of the library. We'll have a library resource presentation from one of our helpful, skilled librarians.

Classwork: Better, p. 51-69

Here's the link to your Better groupwork for this week:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19HWDgo0v9bZ2RwJcJTFK8sPnIt_Q7ndP8PJ_LPM-ccI/edit.

Sample Critiques

Remember that critique-writing classwork we did last time? Well, here's a sample critique that another former student wrote in response to the essay you critiqued last time:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B59oU02C12STMDBQUmhjLWloMkk/edit.

And here's another sample critique, for an essay we've never read in class:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B59oU02C12STRVlKT0laLW53Tzg/edit.

Take a look at each of these critiques. Then decide: What are these critiques doing effectively? And what are they doing not-so-effectively? What lessons can you learn from these critiques that you can use in structuring your own critique better?

More Detail about Critiques, and a Group Activity

Still thinking about how to organize your critiques for your assigned classmates? First of all, don't get stressed. Remember that critiques are supposed to be open, honest, and casual. Well, they're less casual than blog posts, because you're trying to help your classmates put together a more effective essay. So, for instance, good basic structure helps a lot. But you're not required to have such a thorough plan, or such a deep thesis, or such careful arguments for your critiques.

Here is a handout, and a group activity, that gives a more detailed picture of how you might structure a critique: 

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B59oU02C12STT1lLSmZQNGwtRGc/edit.

Here's a personal narrative, written by a former student, that does a lot of things right but also has a number of issues that need attention:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B59oU02C12STS3RVQnJFdlVlTjQ/edit.

And here are your basic directions for today:

To start, get together with your group, look over the handout above, and assign who will do what (your call). Then, on your own, read the attached essay carefully and make your own notes. Then get back together with your group and start to put together a direct, personal, and honest critique of this student's essay. Address your critique to this student. If necessary, convince him or her what's really going on in the essay, what parts of the essay might need attention, what kind of attention each part needs, and why the issues that you see need to be addressed in the way you suggest.

(Note: Be aware that I've given all of my blog posts that help you to write your own critiques the label, "critiques." Please make use of this label as the semester progresses to get back to this old -- but important -- critique-writing advice.)

Don't post your critiques yet!

Just as a reminder: We'll talk more about critiques next week, and that's also when I'll explain where and how to post your critiques. Meanwhile, save your critiques with you, in separate Google Drive documents or something. To be sure, bring your critiques with you to class, if you've started working on them. But please hold on posting them for now.

How to Post a Link in Blogger

For those of you who either need to be reminded or are still a bit confused, here's a link that explains how to insert links in a Blogger blog post: https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/41379?hl=en.