Attn: All Writing Students

This weekend I am reading rough drafts of final papers. To keep track of the papers, I have initiated a status report. Check the status of your paper with the link at left "RD Papers Status."

If for any reason you cannot get into this file, e-mail me and I will copy and paste it and send it to you.

Note: all students writing about universal health care should see this newspaper story at the Washington Post.

Writing 101 What Happened in Class

9:30 a.m. class



Miscellaneous papers and research exams were returned.


We checked in the intros to the argument and persuasion paper and the instructor will review them over the holiday. Students rec'd 3 pts for each item: creative intro, thesis statement, and preview. Each student labeled the other student's introductory items.


Students who want a rough draft reading should email their paper to the instructor by Nov. 30. In the subject line, the student must put: RD101930. These papers will be returned with feedback by Dec. 2. The final paper is due Dec. 4.


We went over a paraphrasing handout.

Writing 102 What Happened in Class

We had numerous poetry presentations today and would have continued but the AV equipment presented problems. Adam, in fact, had to present blues poetry without his Powerpoint. We have approximately 10 presentations remaining.

Students who would like a RD reading of their research paper, should mail it to the instructor at the Comcast address and put "RD102" in the subject line. These must be turned in by Nov. 29 and the instructor will get them back by Dec. 2. Copy and paste your RD into the dialogue box. Do not send as an attachment.

Reminder: Papers are due on Dec 4 and will be returned on Dec. 11. We will have the final notebook check on the last day of class, Dec. 11th.

1402 What Happened in Class

Note: Please note I have added the topic selection table to the links at left.


Wed., Nov. 26

We worked on speech topic selection. Updates are posted at the file in the Links section (left).

The instructor explained an optional extra credit assignment.

We chose speech dates. The instructor assigned speech dates for students who were not in the class today. The dates are:

December 8: Armand, Jen R, Isabel V, and Bobby
December 10: Lucy B, Jamie S, Stephen L, and Antonio S
December 15: Angie L, Katherine D, Nicolette C, and Brian S
December 17: Angelica, Melissa, Mike T, and Priyanka

The instructor then handed out a nonverbal communication field assignment. She showed a video that illustrated the important terms in nonverbal communication. The due date for this assignment is Dec. 15th if the student wants instructor feedback. If the student doesn't request feedback, the due date is Dec. 17.

Note to students who were not in class today: the video and handout with your name on it is on reserve in the Multimedia Room at the library. Go to this office, ask for a copy of the tape which has been put on reserve for Prof. Kipple, and watch the tape. Then take your handout and do the field trip. Please note: you should read the handout and underline the terms before watching the video. Also, one term in this video is not articulated, and that term is "oculesics." The film simply calls it "eye movement."


Monday, Nov. 24:
First Katherine gave her speech on antidepressants. Then the instructor distributed Monroe's Motivated Sequence and we went through it step by step.

After reviewing the outline, we chose persuasive topics. The persuasive topic table will be posted at the left later today.

There is a nonverbal communication assignment that the instructor will be distributing, possibly on Wednesday. In addition, the instructor will go over benefits. Copies of the informative speech evaluations will be handed back on Wednesday.

Assignment: Research your topic. The full-sentence outline is due Dec. 3 Students who were in class today can go ahead with the n/v field trip.

At the next class, the instructor will talk about visuals in .ppt presentations. We will do an exercise in paring down words in presentations. She will show how to find public domain media and the permissible use of stock photos. APA documentation of visuals will also be explained.
Logic (arugment) and emotion (persuasive appeal) will also be covered. Please note that you must bring one study from an academic journal to class on Dec. 1.. Points will be awarded for having the study. It must be from an academic journal.

Persuasive Speech

Topic selection dates: Nov 24 & 26
Topics/student choice entered on table at left

Research dates: Nov. 26-Dec. 2
Bring one research study from an academic journal on Dec. 1

Full-sentence outline date: Dec. 3
Must have "persuasive outline" in the subject line

Presentation dates: Dec. 8, 10, 15, 17
Students and presentation dates will be listed here

Other dates:

Text check-in date: Dec. 17
Class notebook grade date: Dec. 1

5016 What Happened in Class

First we discussed the chapter questions. This was a very lively discussion, with class members telling about various products and alternative means of advertising.

We then discussed the newspaper project. We heard a reading of the newspaper ad and talked about the focus groups. More details on this discussion to be posted here later (it's cold, it's 6 a.m., and my notes are in the car!). We set a date for the Google Adwords project and decided to go with two types of businesses, a pizzeria and a dance studio.

No class this coming Wednesday, and Happy Thanksgiving!



Readings:

Chapter 15, Questions 1, 3
Chapter 16, Questions 5, 10
Chapter 17, Questions 8, 9
Chapter 18, Questions, 5, 6


------------------------

Some articles timely to our discussions in class:

PCMag to Cease Print Publication (NY Times).
This article not only tells about why the publication is discontinuing its print edition, it gives background on other publications that have done so. There are references to what Prof. Lauro talked about in regard to the economics of print and the economics of the web. There is a second article linked in this one that tells even more, "Mourning the Decline of Old Media."

Writing 101 What Happened in Class

Nov.20

In the earlier class, we checked in the research article. This had previously been done for the 2 p.m. class.

The instructor presented an outline for the persuasion paper. Students are to write their rough draft (2 p.m. class) or one-two pages (9:30 class) and bring it next Tuesday. The information is to be arranged independently by the writer, however. Certain conventions must be observed, though, such as the fact that the thesis goes in either the first or second paragraph.

The outline is cut and pasted below.

In the 2 p.m. class, the instructor gave students a handout on paraphrasing and plagiarism. The handout was deemed necessary because of papers that are coming in that are plagiarized.

After we completed the discussion of the paper, we corrected the research exam. Papers were returned to the instructor for recording in the gradebook, but will be returned at the Tuesday class.

Assignments:

Write rough draft or several pages of the argument persuasion paper, depending on which class you are in.

Complete Langan for the check-in.




Nov. 18:

We had the research exam today. It was broken into two parts. Students had to complete citations, so they were allowed to use their handout, class notes, and the Hacker guide. We completed correcting most of the exam, but not all of it. We will finish correcting it on Thursday.

Also on Thursday, we will continue working with the text of Aaron for assistance in writing the argument and persuasion paper.


Assignments:

Langan check in will be next Tuesday , Nov. 25th, and students should have chapters 19-26 completed.
After that, complete Langan chapters 27-32 for the final check-in on December 11.

Schedule for Argument and Persuasion Paper:
Turn in rough draft on Tues., Nov 25
Instructor will return RDs on Tues., Dec. 2
Student makes corrections on Tues and Wed, Dec. 2 & 3
Student turns in final paper on Thurs Dec 4
Instructor reads and corrects from Dec 4 through Dec.10

---------------------

Introduction:

Establish clearly the problem or controversy that your paper will examine.



Summarize the issues.



Define key terminology

Example: Id, superego.

Make concessions on some points of the argument

Example: I can well understand why people want leaves off their lawns. Leaves, when they have turned brown, can be unsightly. We judge our neighbors by how they keep their property.

Use quotations or paraphrases to explore the controversy.



Provide background information.



Write a thesis to establish your position

Body

Develop arguments to defend one side of the subject
Analyze the issues, both pro and con
Give evidence from the sources, including quotations from the scholarship as appropriate

Conclusion
Expand your thesis into a conclusion to demonstrate that your position has been formulated logically through careful analysis and discussion of the issues.

Writing 102 What Happened in Class

Nov. 20:

We had five poetry presentations: Greg, David, Kristian, Philip, and Girolamo. The presentations have all been graded, except for the few that students forgot a paper. The papers will be returned at the next class.


Nov. 18

Today we had three poetry presentations. We will continue with the presentations at our next class.

Assignment, research paper: On Thursday, bring in the intro complete with thesis statement and preview. Have it doublespaced. We will trade with a colleague. Students will receive one point for having a creative intro, a point for the thesis and a point for the preview. Afterward the paper will be handed into the instructor.

1402 Mon-Wed What Happened in Class

Wednesday, Nov. 19

Today Mike , Antonio, Lucy, and Jen did their informative speeches.\

At our next class, Katherine will speak and then we will be through with the informative speeches. The instructor will show students how to do the persuasive speeches and we will also choose topics. Students should look at the persuasive topics at the link at left before coming to class. Be prepared with an alternate choice.

Monday, Nov. 17

Today we had three speeches: Angelica, Armand, and Isabel.

At our next class we have Antonio, Lucy, and Nicolette. If we have time, Jen will speak.

We need to log in the topics for the persuasive speech, so please have your topic selected.

After the speeches, the instructor logged in outlines.

5016 What Happened in Class

The class met with Pat Lauro, the adviser for the newspaper. We learned about the history of the paper, how it is set up and how it works, and the position of the newspaper in the mix of publications available at the Kean campus.

Students turned in their political narratives.

We met in small groups for the newspaper to plan out the details of the newspaper project.

The instructor will choose the two questions from the chapter and post them here.

-----------------

Janice sent along this timely article on Google.

---------------

Text questions:
OK, I know I said two questions but in reviewing this chapter, it all looks so interesting. Ch. 13:
questions 5,6,7. Chapter 14: 3, 9.

What Happened in Class 101

November 13

We worked on the argument and persuasion essay, which is the most heavily weighted paper for the term.

The instructor put a worksheet up on the screen. The purpose was to help students organize for the argument and persuasion essay. As a class, we worked through each point. The worksheet is copied and pasted at the end of this blog entry (way at the bottom).

We looked at student examples intermittently throughout the class period.

Toward the end of the class, the instructor showed students where the electronic databases were at the library's web site. Each student has to find an article from the databases and bring it to the next class.

Students should continue their research and writing on their topic. In addition, they should do another two chapters in Langan.

At our next class session, we will continue working through the worksheet. We will also have the research exam. Bring your internal text citation worksheet and study over your notes from the research lectures.

Note to students with infrastructure topic:

Here is a link that will help. You might argue that this bill be passed.



November 11

We talked about the role of research in higher education and how the frontiers of knowledge are expanded. We also discussed how public libraries differ from academic libraries. There will be an exam on the notes from this class session and the last. You will be asked to do MLA citations, so have your handout on internal text citation with you, as you will be allowed to use it.

Assignment: Read 328-44, 345-49, "The Waste Generation." As you are reading, apply what the text says about persuasion to your persuasive premise (what you are trying to persuade your reader to think or do). A more detailed example will be posted here later.

The test on research is a week from today, Nov 18th.

Note: students in the 2-3:20 class must bring in one academic source from the databases at the library's web page. Two points.

Note: the table with student topics has been updated at 2:35 a.m. Wednesday
The persuasive topics are at the link at left. I changed my mind about putting them in the other document.

---------------------

Argument and persuasion worksheet:

1. Write out your persuasive premise:
What do you want people to do as a result of reading your paper?
(instructor's example) I want people to stop using leaf blowers and instead to chop their own leaves and make compost or mulch out of them. I want them to keep the leaves on their property as food for their plants and trees. I want them to stop using fossil fuels to haul something organic (leaves) around.

2. Argument: (what are my points of reason?)
a) We are running out of fossil fuel and should prioritize our use
b) Fossil fuels emit pollution and NJ has the second highest air pollution in the country, second only to California
c) Mother Nature designed leaves to serve as food for trees, shrubs, and other plants
d) Having heavy trucks and heavy equipment removing leaves increases traffic congestion


Persuasion: (what are my emotional appeals?)
We used to be able to enjoy fall days with our windows in our homes open. Now we have to keep them shut because of the noise
The health of Americans is suffering because we use technology to address nearly every aspect of everyday life
Working together on tasks can give the entire family exercise while enjoying togetherness and a sense of purpose




3. Thesis statement formulation:
Defend or attack a position
Suggest a solution to a problem
Challenge a value or belief

4. Break your central assertion into subclaims:
1.
2.
3.
4.

5. What are the opposing arguments?


How do I dispense with them?






6. Organize the points of the argument into a clear, logical structure that pushes toward my conclusion.

Writing 102 What Happened in Class

Note: some student papers were not handed back today and are on the top of the computer between it and the top of the desk: David M, Jodi Ann, Jessica V (drama paper), Felix C, and Alicia J. If you would like to to pick these papers up on Friday so you have them to work on over the weekend, please do. They are in folders, so keep them neat.

November 13

Today we exchanged papers and we counted transitions that were written into the three points. There was a high of 44 and a low of 4.

In a few instances, the instructor conferred with students who wanted to learn how to make their thesis original. In one case, a student is combining his research with telling his own personal story. In another situation, a student might tie her research to someone whose health is tied to not-so-healthy eating habits. Another option for this student is to do primary research and center her paper around her findings, combining it with the secondary research sources.

All students who wish to qualify for an "A" for this paper should be thinking about how to make the thesis original.

After working with the transitions, we began listening to poetry presentations. We had two presentations on the prose poetry genre. We also had one on chance operations.

We will continue with the presentations at our next class. Students should finish their transitions and begin writing their intro. The intro should include the thesis statement and a preview of what the writer will cover in the paper.

Important (and at the risk of sounding repetitive): to receive a grade higher than a "C," the thesis must have an original point.


November 11

We watched a video clip about punctuation.

The instructor provided a handout on transitions. Adriana shared her transitions sheet with the class, too.

First we worked with a paragraph that needed organization through the use of transitions. On the overhead document cam, we examined how two students worked with the paragraph by using transitions to organize the material.

The assignment is for students to take their three points and add transitions. At the next class, we will spend approximately 10" reading the transitions of others. Students will receive a score for how many they are able to use.

Poetry presentations begin on Thursday. All students whose last name begins A-K should be prepared to deliver their 5-minute presentation on their genre.

Other assignments: Read Lukeman, Ch. 4, on the colon.
Read Ch.10 from Lester. Have your three points next to you when you read. Be sure you have correctly blended in your reference material.

1402 What Happened in Class

Nov. 12

We had three speeches today, Bobby, Melissa, and Jamie.

The instructor alerted students to the persuasive topics that were posted and we agreed that topic selection will be completed by next Wednesday. At that class, we will fill in a table with each person's choice of topic.

Students are not limited to the topics posted by the instructor but if another topic is chosen, it has to have the approval of the instructor.

After the speeches, we did the chapter check-ins. Students who had incomplete chapter outlines must show them to the instructor at Monday's class.

Nov. 10

We listened to three presentations today and the instructor returned the group symposium folders with the grades. In addition, the speakers received their grade for the speech today. All speakers are to bring their evaluation with them, however, as the instructor needs to make copies for an online database.

On Wednesday, our speakers will be Melissa, Bobby, Jamie, and Antonio.

Bring text outlines to the next class. In addition, at the next class the instructor will provide the persuasive assignment sheet and topics for the persuasive speech.

Writing 101 What Happened

November 6

We talked about the elections and students turned in their signed letters from the polls. Some students had pictures of themselves at the polling precinct.

What was due today was three-four paragraphs of definition writing. The topic being defined is pertinent to the student's argumentation/persuasion paper. We checked in definitions and one point was given if students had this completed. The due date for the argument/persuasion paper is December 4.

After checking in the papers, the instructor asked students to refer to their internal text citation handout. We went over the purpose of citation systems and the instructor showed how to do internal citations.

What Happened in Class 5016

NEWSPAPER MARKETING PROJECT • PRINCIPLES OF CORPORATE ADVERTISING

Three groups have been formed to assist in the marketing of the student newspaper:

• Marketing research group, which will conduct a focus group to learn what students think of the newspaper’s content (Allison, Danielle, Gerry, and Janice)
• Media kit group, which will put together demographics, rate card, and sample publication (Kristin, Ilaf)
• Radio/TV/youtube group, which will write a 30-second radio and TV/youtube ad (Egdanis, Olu, Ximena, Nari)


We spent most of our Wednesday, Nov. 5 class laying out the details for The Tower marketing project. Here are the details:

Marketing Research Focus Group

Focus group questions were discussed and written by the students. Kristin finalized the questions and e-mailed them to the instructor. The questions, which still need to be reviewed with The Tower adviser and staff, are:


1. Tell me about what you like to read.


2. Tell me about where you spend your free time on campus.


3. Tell me about the campus newspapers.


4. Introduce The Tower. What do you like? What don’t you like?

The date for the focus group will be December 3, and Allison Edgeley will be the focus group facilitator. We need to speak to the Tower adviser about booking a room appropriate for the focus group. Ximena will check with her department about possibly taping and we will also speak with Media/Film about getting cameras to record the session.

We discussed other audiences for The Tower, such as the graduate students and professors. For reasons of time limitations, we decided to focus on the undergraduate student body.

We will need to recruit approximately 10-12 students for the focus group. An incentive will be that we will serve pizza. Ilaf suggested that we work through the 1402 instructors to give an extra credit for attending the focus group. The instructor will contact Dr. Fitch about this, as he is the 1402 director. The 1402 students are ideal because they are from all disciplines and are not strictly communication students.

Media Kit

The kit will include a page that will not only show the sizes of the ads graphically, but the ads will be ideas for promotions and ad content that would be successful with the Kean student body.

There will be a demographics page that will explain the demographics of the Kean campus.

We hope The Tower office can obtain Kean University folders in which to insert the media kit.

Radio/TV/youtube:

We reviewed the Starbucks election day coffee video, which was posted on youtube. The instructor showed it as an example of a fairly simple-to-produce commercial. Such a commercial can be produced using stills from digital camera shoots and through use of such a program as Windows Moviemaker, which is found on both XP and Vista. In addition, we may incorporate the use of a video camera.

Next week the instructor will present to the class the benefits that are important to customers. Students need to understand the benefits so they can focus their copy on a benefit of importance to the Kean undergraduate students.

Corporate Advertising students will write the copy for the radio spot and we may turn it over to the student radio station staff to produce. The TV commercial could run on the campus’s closed circuit TV network. There is one spot on campus where video is looped and we would like this commercial inserted into that loop.

We have yet to discuss how we will use the video on youtube.

After the organizational work for the newspaper project, we discussed the election results.

Writing 102 What Happened in Class

November 5

Most drama papers were returned.

Students had their explication. The objective of the class was to have students do an outline from their explication and then transfer as key words to the index card. Below you will find the example the instructor did in class. (Unfortunately the yellow highlighting did not show up when cut and pasted.)

In addition, the other information in the presentation is pasted below.

The poetry presentations start next Thursday. Next Tuesday in class, we will do the transitions for the research paper, so be sure to have the three points with you.


(required)
Genre: Show it visually
Explain genre: what the requirements are
When it originated
Some of the major poets from the genre
Tell about yours and why you chose this particular poet
Poet’s background (or bio): should tie in with the poet’s work
Also want to show a picture of the poet
PoemDo a reading of the poem (speaker) or mp3 on Words must be on screen
Tell us what the poem means:
(refer to explication) and decide how to arrange information in the most meaningful way for your audience

DO NOT READ TO THE AUDIENCE
YOU WILL GET AN F IF YOU DO!!!

Key words: words selected from a written ms that remind the speaker of where to go with the speech
Noun verb
30-50 written words on an index card




Here is the example the instructor did in class on Adriana's poem:
Sadness: about an emotion. It’s an ideal poem for someone to read when they are sad so they know they’re not the only person with this feeling.
We don’t think much sadness. It’s not something we talk about. Almost a social taboo.
When emotions are repressed, there are difficulties—stressful, act out
It’s a good thing to discuss this
II.
(Item 2) What happened in the poem: story line or a narrative of what I saw happening. The author is talking about how great his grief is and in every other line, he lets the reader know the why of his grief
Connect the poem to my biography: Poet was married and his wife passed away. She was estranged before that. There regret for losing her. Possibly died of syphyllis.

Summarize:
Today I talked about a poem that had to do with the mega-emotion of grief
I showed you how the poet’s own actions led to his writing of these feelings
This is a story about personal responsibility and how a person undergoes “hell” because of one’s own actions.

To do for next class:
Have three points with you. The instructor will provide a handout with transitions. In addition, we will refer to transitions in Hacker.


-----------------------------------

November 4:

Point 3 of the research paper was returned to students, who are to go through and make corrections and revise. On Thursday, Nov. 6, the instructor will discuss transitions and students will knit together the three points using transitions. This must be done by Nov. 11, and students should bring their work to class where the class will do peer readings. Important: bring a highlighter on November 11 to do this work. If time permits, we will also go over introductions. There will be a handout for introductions.

For this coming class on Nov. 6th, students should have their poet's biographical material and do the explication of the poem. The instructor will show how to transfer the material to a key word outline.

In class, the instructor showed how to use Powerpoint. Dario alerted the class to openoffice.org's program, Impress, which does the same function as Powerpoint.

The instructor discussed semicolon use and showed how Lukeman suggests using them. During the .ppt we did exercises in class and looked at student work on the document cam.

Note: students who had to leave early to vote should go through this presentation and bring their sentence examples to show the instructor.

1402 Mon-Wed What Happened in Class

Nov. 5

Students turned in the remaining papers required for the Group Symposium assignment.

Today we worked with SurveyMonkey in learning how to construct a survey for purposes of a
primary source. Each student opened an account and did a survey with three questions. We also answered Priyanka's survey, which is for her informative speech.

In addition, we read an article from The Atlantic on communication and the campaign.

Next Tuesday informative speeches start.

We will check book outlines after the speeches at the next class.

Note: here is an online status sheet for student feedback on the informative speech outlines.
It will be updated periodically, as outlines are reviewed.



http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=K3wnaaOaPsMq3KW4pCxLsw_3d_3d

------------

We told a ghost story or two in honor of Halloween. After that, we had our final group symposium, which was about the lack of support for people in American society.

After the group, the instructor talked about primary and secondary sources. We may have a chance to work with primary sources at our next class.

Please bring your outlines to class so they can be checked in. Also, the reaction to speeches should be brought to class so the final grade for the symposium can be issued. The DVD recording must be made available to the instructor either on disk or uploaded to the internet.

Speakers for next week:

November 10:
Stephen
Angie
Priyanka
Jen R.

November 12:
Melissa
Antonia
Bobby
Jamie

Voting on Tuesday: Free Starbucks Coffee

Many students are planning to vote on Tuesday, so I thought everyone would like to know Starbucks is offering a free coffee for voters. Youtube video about it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2J8KJDsqqY