Since I had to hurry at the very end of class, this is to clarify what you need to have done for class on Thursday.
Read the 3 sources from the example students (go to Blackboard > Informative and Surprising Paper and then look for the documents that say something about being a source).
Writing Process – write up the process that YOU actually use when you have to do a research paper. Include the research and writing parts of your process. Write it in a document and attach it to an email to me. Check the Formatting Handout (see the previous post or the 2020 Info page) for how it should look.
Blog reading comments – register on this blog, wait for me to approve it (within 12hours, if not sooner), make a comment for THIS topic where you talk about the reading. That can be questions you have or insights or a summary or something like these.
Interview Memo – See the handout (also available on the 2020 Info page). Make sure to use the memo formatting we went over in class. Print this out and bring it to class with you.
Problem Posing – Using the list of research topics that was homework for Tuesday, write up some questions about them. For example, if your topic is Gay Adoption, some potential questions are: Should gays be allowed to adopt? Why do gays want to adopt? How would gay adoption affect the adopted children? Are gay couples as good at being parents as hetero couples? You get the idea. Before you do this assignment, check out the Topic Guidelines document to make sure you aren’t treading in shark-infested waters. Print this out and bring it to class with you, along with the topic list. We will definitely use both in class this time.
Those sources where rather interesting. I never thought to cite a source as the entire source. I thought the only good source was the A all the others where what the source was but not the source
Garrett replied on January 13th, 2010:
I did mention in class that the A student used a book for a source, but that I didn’t expect you to read the entire book.
Also, I do not allow books as sources for your papers.
You can go check it out if you want, though, which is why I left in the source information and library call number.
I’m glad that we didn’t have to read the source for stident “A”. I enjoyed the reading for the most part, but i just wish that the author would specified what i ,as a reader shuold focus on.
Garrett replied on January 13th, 2010:
Do you mean the reading of the sources, or from our textbooks?
For the sources, there is not anything to focus on yet – you just need to read the same source that the student read before writing their paper.
For the textbooks – everything is important (isn’t that just like a teacher to say?)!
lawrencebrowning replied on January 14th, 2010:
I was also glad that we didn’t have to read the source for student “A”. But what surprised me was that student “A”, did not submit their Surprising Introduction assignment. I know that I will need all the help I can get and to not turn in something like that would only limit your chances of getting quality help. I do like the peer review for student “A”. I know that its hard sometime to review work done by your friends and I feel that student “A”, was able to receive a productive review and not a review that just says,”Well I like it all keep up the good work!” That kind of review will not help the writer reach an “A”, by the end of the semester. So I think that its important that we all help each other out so that we can all receive A’s!! How does that sound?!
I lol’d at the girl’s thumb hurting from texting too fast
I think the exploration of children raised by gay couples was an interesting read, but multiple times emphasized that it’s sample size was too small to reflect real results. Emotionally I could identify with the kids’ remarks of their feelings about having a different family, elementary school is like that with or without gay parents. I could imagine it is not any easier in their situation. This source appeals to our emotional responses almost exclusively. The numbers at the beginning were repeatedly referred to as a small sociological sample and not a scientific study. It seems like an OK starting point for an informative and surprising paper in my opinion, something with more information would be nice.
holloway66 replied on January 14th, 2010:
Yeah that part was pretty funny. I have seen people like that before. One person I saw actually had blisters from texting.
I like the idea of surprising reversal! I know that when I applied for the job I have they were impressed with my resume, however when I showed up to interview I did not fit their preconceived notion of what I would look like; I’m of course referring to my hair. This also a concept that I use every day, it was never my intent to surprise people with a reversal in their thoughts about me but it works for me. Typically when people don’t know me I get initial responses such as: rastafari, hippie, occasionally even worse on the order of homeless, or criminal. When they talk to me they are surprised to discover that I work a full-time professional day job, that I’m also a full-time student (not such a surprise to people I meet at school), that live rather typically, and that most weeks I volunteer from 4-10 hours.
There are some drawbacks to a surprising reversal because if people skim and don’t take the time to see an idea being presented through to the thesis they can generalize what you are trying to say and stop prematurely. This is another situation that I have to deal with; the premature judgment. I’m mostly alright with it, but I do get tired of people asking me if I can get them marijuana or if I smoke. The answer is no by the way.
AdamCampbell replied on January 14th, 2010:
John, I agree the surprising reversal does seem quite interesting. I like the parallel you gave about your hair and how that gave a surprising reversal to your employers prior conception. I think that is a perfect (and humorous) example of how the strategy applies to real life and can bring life and excitement into one’s writing. The concern about people glazing over the text and missing things especially subtleties is a concern of mine as well. This is the one fear I have of doing the surprising reversal.
holloway66 replied on January 14th, 2010:
Hey I know what you mean when you say people judge you by just what they see. I have been guilty of that in the past. I to like the idea of surprising reversal
How long does the list of topics need to be and am I supposed to write questions for all the topics on the list or multiple questions focused on one topic?
i never really thought about texting having that much impact on things like adolescent development. It makes sense to me that it could easily affect school and sleep habits. I’ve also noticed how texting has affected the way that people in my age group communicate with each other. People don’t like to talk on the phone or visit face to face anymore. texting seems to just be the easier way for anyone to talk.
There is no length requirement for the list of topics or the questions. But, the more you have the better for you.
when using a picture for a topic, cant you use it to explain one aspect of the topic? Then, use words to explain another aspect of the topic?
Garrett replied on January 14th, 2010:
I’m not sure what you mean.
When it comes to the Sources used for the A,B,C students I thought the texting Source was very interesting. Texting had become a very popular thing and like most habbits that are popular, no one really looks at how it will affect them in the long run. For example Smoking most the time when someone starts they are trying to fit in or be cool but at the time are not thinking they could get lung cancer or death later. As I was reading about the effects of texting, like what was mentioned earlier by “austintechhead”, about the girls fingers hurting because she texted so much. It makes since to me, because I know that when people are on computer a lot they start to get pain in the arms and figure. And it would make since that it could happen if you text a lot. Also while I was reading the source it brought back to memory the YouTube video that was a British driving commercial related to texting and driving and how it kills people. In the commercial a group of girls are driving and texting and crash because they were not paying attention and all in the car die but the driving who was texting. I would hate to be her. Has anyone else seen that commercial on YouTube?
S_Mckay replied on January 14th, 2010:
I feel like I’m slower than everyone else. I thought we were supposed to comment on just the readings from our textbooks.
Anyway, Simpsonj, I did see that texting while driving commercial. It was pretty intense. I was surprised by how graphic it was but I think things like that are more effective, especially for young people.
As for the sources, I thought they were very well written and had some interesting information. What stuck out to me was the end of the texting article. What kids really expect is for their parents to be their biggest fan, not playing on their Blackberry’s when they get picked up from ballet practice. Kids still need parents, and I hadn’t really considered texting being an issue for that.
I enjoyed the textbook readings because it gave me some feeling as to some really good brainstorming ideas. I’ve never done the clustering idea (even though I have a similar game on my phone) and I think that may be a really good way for me to narrow down my topic to something that won’t be too broad or overwhelming.
Garrett replied on January 14th, 2010:
You were, but some people are commenting on the sources instead.
austintechhead replied on January 14th, 2010:
I thought you had stated in class that we could comment on either the textbook reading or on the students’ sources, my mistake
holloway66 replied on January 14th, 2010:
Yeah the reading from the textbook gave me some ideas to. I hope that they work out for you cause I hope they work for me
Comment:
Hello everyone,
From the reading assignment I enjoyed many of the parts about note taking and how it can help one to focus on the audience. From the sections about brainstorming I learned the importance of taking into account the fact that the writer is the expert on the subject. He should not overwhelm the reader by giving all exclusions, exceptions, and alternate possibilities. This can be done later after the more foundational items have been set in place. The almost scientific writing process described on pg. 224 of A/B also caught my attention. I liked the setup of setting forth the problem, the method, findings, and the significance. I had never thought about the formal structure. I also liked that the surprising reversal fit into this structure and was seemingly introduced through the interjection of the common view of the subject between the problem and method. One final thought I had on the readings was concerning the idea-generation section on pg. 32-33 of the DK handbook. I have heard of clustering/idea mapping as well as brainstorming being used for academic paper writing but never freewriting. I thought this was strictly the realm of creative/fictional writing but I guess not.
Hello classmates,
I quite enjoyed the reading assignment from the AB Text, it gave me quite a few great ideas on generating and exploring topics, (it also will help with the writing process assignment). What I agree with most is to write a great paper you must choose the topic of that paper in reguards to the audience. I think it is a must to look at the audience the writer is going to speak to before you choose the topic. I also thought the five questions on pg. 224 in the Ab text were very useful in generating ideas.
holloway66 replied on January 14th, 2010:
Yeah I agree with what you said about writing towards a certain audience. I notice I don’t do that enough in my own writings.
I found the reading in both textbooks to be helpful and insightful. On page 220 of the AB textbook I found a paragraph which offers help in writing a questionnaire and interview paper. I also found the DK reading to be a vital source of quick help on the subjects of topic choice and the writing process (both applicable to what we are covering in class and our assignments). I appreciate Mr. Winn actually having us read pages which will help us in our assignments. I have had a few instructors in the past assign reading for the mere fact of reading with no relation to material covered in class.
While reading the sources for the A,B, and C student I agree with the comment ben left concerning the impact technology has on relationships today. The lack of face to face human interaction could be a cause for anti social behavior. However technology has improved our lives in many other aspects. Anyway I found the sources to be interesting in that both forced me to think of my own thoughts and stance on each subject. They also gave me ideas on what I should focus on in my own paper and also what not to incorporate.
I thought the sources were good sources. However I didn’t understand why they included the whole article unless that is something that is required. The A students source was, from what I could tell, the correct way to reference the source. Now that I read all your posts I’m wondering if we all we can use is magazine articles and internet sources. They also only had one source, which I’m a little surprised about. Usually my research papers have multiple sources.
The passages we went over in the book reading was stuff I had actually gone over in English 1010 so it wasn’t new. The exploratory essay is something that helps me a great deal as far as getting my thoughts in order and writing a good paper later on. For me my exploratory essay is something I usually use as a first draft. As far as getting ideas started I rarely have issues with plucking an idea out of the air and running with it. Some good strategies, though.
Garrett replied on January 14th, 2010:
It was required.
You can use peer-reviewed sources (NOT magazines – Journals). NOT internet sources either.
However, I allow these for the first paper if you want. The other three papers cannot use anything but peer-reviewed sources.
The first paper only has one source.
We’ll go over this all in class tonight.
The text book reading was informitive but there was so much to take in i don’t know how much i actually retained…. it was good to read the discription on what an informative/surprising document is suppose to be like because i didn’t really understand from the in class description. I’m still kinda lost thought am I suppose to be writing a rough draft of some topic right now?
Garrett replied on January 14th, 2010:
We’re going to go over this in class tonight – we haven’t talked about it yet.
No rough draft yet. I’ll let you know.
Birchall replied on January 14th, 2010:
I agree. The reading was informative, but I don’t know how much of it I actually absorbed. I’m glad we’ll be going over it in class.
holloway66 replied on January 14th, 2010:
Yeah i agree. When you talk about it in class it seems to help me understand the info more than if I was to just read it
codywg replied on January 14th, 2010:
I’m really glad that I’m not the only one who struggled with absorbing the information that was in our reading, I also am very glad that were going over it in class.
Now that I have read all the comments plus the sources I have so many questions! I can tell the difference between the A, B, and C sources except for the fact that it is clearly stated not to use a book as a source. I would have liked to see an “A” source, but that was not an example I could learn from.
I may be behind the times but what is a peer reviewed source? Basically everything I ever thought was a good source that I have used in previous papers is now unusable. If I am unable to use books, magazines, journals, and internet sources where am I to get a usable source? Am I completely lost? HELP!!!
Garrett replied on January 14th, 2010:
The sources themselves are not A, B, or C – they are the sources for the A, B, or C student.
We’ll go over peer-reviewed sources in a later class. You don’t need to worry about it as much for the first paper.
camille replied on January 14th, 2010:
Yes I understand that. I just wanted to see a usable A student source since we are not allowed to use a book as a source.
As far as reading goes I found the DK Handbook to be the most informative. It seemed like the steps were easy and made sense. I can definitely see using this method helping my research
Child replied on January 14th, 2010:
I agree
As i read the DK Handbook I found out ideas that will help me do my research. I an going to implement these ideas and see if it helps me improve my writing skills.
I’ve always been horrible at recording my actual impressions as I research. I can see how the “double entry” method will help me keep my research focused and fresh in my mind.
When I read about the student who wrote about social networking, I noticed it had a lot in common with all three of the topics I have been considering. I threw out a bunch of ideas and, after connecting and developing them, they all relate to social development.
I take notes in much the way the book recommends except that, by the time I’m done with a source, I’ve tried to link the notes in so many ways that the page looks more like a web than a list.
Other than the occasional comma splices, i seem to have a lot of diffuculties with keeping my thoughts in the same tenses i.e singular-plural, past-present-future. i really liked what the DK handbook said in regards to prooF reading ( Proofread and edit little by little. Don’t wait untill the paper is finished to edit and proofread). i found out that i just want the paper done with when i’m done typing.
Wrong Eample: An irrtiated man slaps a whiny mosquito.
Right Eample: An irritated man slapped a whiny mosquito.
THANKS DK HANDBOOK, YOU’RE THE GREATEST.