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Homework

Page history last edited by Chris Werry 8 years, 11 months ago


 

Homework for Wednesday April 29

In class today students signed up for conferences. If you have not already done so, email me to get a conference time. The list of times is here.

Email if you need to meet another time.

 

There will be no class Wednesday 29 and Monday May 04. I will meet with students individually to discuss paper 3 and your draft for paper 4.


You need to come to the conference with a draft of paper 4 (please also post to your blog).

 

The handouts for today were "Guidelines for paper 4," a rubric, and templates from They Say/I Say which you can use to help 
structure your argument.
 

 

 

 

Homework for Monday April 27

Take a serious crack at putting together some key elements of the draft. These are:

 

1. An introduction - can be a revision of the introduction for paper 3, but should do more to set up the argument you will make.

2. A body section that takes a shot at presenting your argument. This should include your claims and reasons, any evidence, examples or support you can find to support your position,
and it should include two quotations from outside sources. It should also describe how your You may include qualifiers (clarification - what you are *not* saying, the degree of confidence you 
have, etc.) and a rebuttal (possible objections, and your counterargument).

Don't worry if this is a "drafty draft." It can be rough. But tty to get as much of this done so we have material to work with and discuss.

 

Come to class with a copy of your draft, and post to your blog.

 

 

Homework for Monday April 20

There is modest homework for next class. Do a search for 3 texts you can use in paper 4 to support your position. 

Document the process of finding the sources (it doesn't matter how you do this - if you used a google search don't be shy in saying so). Describe the search terms you used,
how many results you received, how far you looked (first page?), the results you found, etc.

Post this to your blog. We'll talk a bit on Monday about how students typically search  and what some alternatives are.

 

Also - please bring a laptop to class if you can, so we can try a few  things in class

 

 

 

Homework for Wednesday March 25

Read the following texts, which are in this file as a pdf

  •  James Fallows  “Is There Anything to Do About 'Civility'? List of readers’ suggestions.
  • Thiago Alves Pinto, ‘GamerGate’ and Gendered Hate Speech
  •  Natasha Lomas. “#Gamergate Shows Tech Needs Far Better Algorithms.”TechCrunch, Oct 18, 2014. 
  •  Thompson, Clive. Pages 77-81 of the book Smarter Than You Think, Penguin Press, 2013. 


The texts present a series of "solutions" to the problem of online incivility. In your post,
1. summarize the main solutions presented
2. describe a few that seem promising, and 
3. state why you think they could work, or present your own solutions.

 

 

 

Homework for Monday March 23

Read the following texts, available as one combined file:

 

  • Stafford, Andrew. “Who Are These Haters That Poison the Well of Our Discourse”
  • Wilson, Jason. “Beware attempts to suppress conflict on the internet.”
  • Zhuo, “Where Anonymity Breeds Contempt.” New York Times, November 20, 2010.
  • Boyd, Dana. “‘Real Names’ Policies are an Abuse of Power.”
  • Tim Adams, “How the Internet Created an Age of Rage” 
  • Clayton, Cornell. “Understanding the ‘Civility Crisis.’”

 

After reading these texts answer the following questions:

  1.  What are some of the main differences in the way these texts define the problem?
  2. What are some of the main differences in their claims about what causes the problem?
  3.  What are some of the main differences in their claims about what should be done to solve the problem?

 

Reading Responses should be 300-350 words, roughly a little more than a page and a half, although longer responses are welcome. Responses are due on your blog and also as a printed hardcopy in class on the day scheduled.  

 

 

 

Homework for Monday March 02

Read Roberts Miller's "Democracy, Demagoguery, and Critical Rhetoric" (p. 64 - 75 in the reader). .

  1. Give a definition of the following terms using her article: Demagoguery, Scapegoating, Polarization, "Simple Solutions," Victimization, Ingroup/Outgroup Thinking.
  2. According to RM, why is persuasion that relies on strategies like scapegoating, polarization etc. a problem?
  3. Pick one fallacy described by RM, and explain why she thinks this fallacy violates "standards of good public discourse?"
  4. Describe how/to what extent an element in LaPierre’s text conforms to one characteristic of demagogic discourse.  
  5. Describe how/to what extent an element of LaPierre’s text resembles one of the fallacies described by RM.  

 

Homework for Wednesday Feb 25

Read pages 28 - 35 of the reader, and LaPierre's speech (59-62 in the reader)

  1. What are three of LaPierre's main claims? 
  2. What are two strategies he uses to persuade his audience? 
  3. What are some of the strengths of LaPierre's argument (consider the rhetorical situation)?
  4. What potential weaknesses can you identify (identify two that occur to you on your own, and two that come from using the criteria provided in the reader).
  5. In class I gave you a handout with a very short excerpt from Wallace's famous "segregation" speech. Circle examples of polarization, demonization, scapegoating and motivism.  

 

 

Homework for Wednesday Feb 11

  • Compose a full introduction. Use the handout from class describing how to structure your introduction. (You may also want to look
    at the summary of main claims in Abu-Lughod we discussed in class in order to distill Abu-Lughod's overall argument.)
  • Compose the "comparative analysis" part of the body (again, see the assignment handout).  This is where you analyze two different rhetorical
    strategies that occur in each text (for a total of four) and 
    substantiate (by analyzing quotations) that they are the strategy in question. Evaluate
    how well these strategies work given the rhetorical situation (audience, 
    context, purpose). I suggest you focus on strategies that you can find in
    both texts and that can be easily compared. For example, you could examine ethos in both texts, 
    how rebuttals are used in each text, how
    analogies are crafted, or 
    definitions presented.  

 

Homework for Monday Feb 09

Compose a post to your blog focused on the following:

 

INTRODUCTION (~1 page)

Introduce the two authors and the rhetorical situation. That is, a) introduce the topic and b) give an overview of who the authors are, the context, their audience and their overall argument (in a nutshell) 

  

BODY (~1-2 pages) 

- Describe two of the main claims made by each author, and the evidence used to support each claim. Use a quotation from the text to support your account of each claim and piece of evidence. 

- Discuss one significant difference or point of contrast between the two authors. You can focus on a difference in the way they advance a claim, build ethos, deal with rebuttals, or use a strategy.

 

This homework will help you build some key elements of assignment one. of complete sentences and thoughtful analysis.

 

 

 

Homework for Wednesday Feb 04

  • Read Abu-Logodh's "The Muslim Woman" and  a) provide a brief summary of her main points, and b) your reaction to one of these points. 
  • What kind of audience is AL writing for? How do you know? 
  • What genre is she writing in? What makes you think this? 
  • In the first paragraph she uses the word “we” many times. Who is this “we”?  How does AL’s use of “us” and “them” contrast with the way Haydar invites us to think about the relationship between young Muslims like herself, and other Americans? 
  • What are some differences you notice between AL and Haydar? 

 

 

Homework for Monday Feb 02

For Monday please describe one strategy Haydar uses that you deem successful/persuasive, and one strategy you feel
is less successful. Briefly explain why you think the strategy is 
un/successful. 

 

Then, read the first 6 pages of Abu-Logodh's "The Muslim Woman" (pages 50 - 56) and  a) provide a brief summary of her main points, and b) your reaction to one of these points.

 

 

Homework for Wednesday January 28

  1. Read Haydar's "Veiled Intentions" (it's in the course reader, and also here).
  2. Search for information on the rhetorical situation (date of publication, context, the press, the editor of the collection, who Haydar is, etc.) List the steps you took to find this information (if a google search, list the keywords you entered, and where/what you found).
  3. Describe Haydar's main claims and the main forms of evidence she provides
  4. Discuss two strategies she employs, and discuss some specific strengths and weaknesses of these strategies 

 

 

Homework for Monday January 26

  1. Create a blog page that you will use for some of the writing done in this class. You can use any blog platform, but these are popular: http://wordpress.com/http://www.blogger.com and https://www.tumblr.com/ 
    (see
    http://tinyurl.com/nduyys6 for why you might find Tumblr useful) Copy and paste the address into a document, print this out and bring it to class. 
  2. Write a response to the following questions. Print them out and bring to class, and also post them to your blog.
    What is your prospective major?  What do you plan to do when you graduate? Describe a couple of interests or experiences that help describe who you are. What writing activities do you engage in outside of school (blogging, tweeting, journaling, etc.)?  What do you write about and how often do you do it? How do you feel about yourself as a writer?   
  3. Read this short text by Kristof, "Do We Have the Courage to Stop This?" Compose a one-page response to the questions below. Print them out and bring to class, and also post them to your blog.
    What do you think are Kristof's main claims? 
    List the main types of evidence you saw in the text. 
    Identify a strategy Kristof uses to persuade his audience (see the reader). Do you think this is effective? Why/why not?
  4. Read Haydar's "Veiled Intentions" (it's in the course reader, and also here). Bring this to class and be prepared to discuss the text and say what you think are its main claims. 
  5. Be on the lookout for an email inviting you to join the class wiki (may need to check your spam folder). When you receive this email, accept the invitation. Follow the link and directions to join (use your email as the username and create a password for yourself.) 

 

 

 

 

 

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