MSE1 (and Beyond) Topics

By , January 27, 2010 8:56 am

I’m not terribly interested in assigning topics to you; when that happens, you suffer, I suffer, and most crucially, the writing suffers. But that doesn’t mean I can’t help you locate a suitable topic for MSE1 (or MSE2, or the RE). To that end, here’s a rough list of suggestions that will hopefully help you choose a worthwhile topic:

Controversy:
Choose a topic that’s being debated in print. That is, a reliable topic is one you can research extensively, and about which there are a lot of published opinions already out there. Your essay can then “weigh in” on this spectrum of opinion instead trying to generate a debate when there really is none. “Controversial” doesn’t have to mean it’s a hot-button topic likely to get people emotional (abortion rights, gun control, and the death penalty come to mind), but instead is a topic where it’ll be easy for you to enter into the ongoing cultural conversation.

Timely:
Closely related to controversy, a timely topic will more often than not be one that’s been in the news lately. I suggest going over to Google News and clicking around to see what newspapers, journals, and reputable websites have been writing about. I’m a news junkie, so if you’d like some help in locating a timely topic, I’m only an email or Skype session away.

Interesting (to you):
Don’t choose an unattractive-to-you topic because you think I’ll be interested in it, or worse yet, because you think I’ll agree with you. It’s my job to help you with your writing and I promise to do so on any and all topics, no matter how far from my own opinions and life experiences they may be. I’ve been at this teaching writing thing for more than a couple years, and I’m more than able to ignore my personal perspective and focus on improving your writing. Choose a topic because you want to write about it; the end result will be an essay you’ll care about, and that’s always preferable.

Unique (to you):
There are plenty of tried-and-true topics out there (like the drinking age, female body image, violent children and video games/movies/TV shows/ the internet, eating disorders, and so on), and those topics are okay by me, but I’d really like to challenge you to choose a topic that you’re especially suited to contribute to. Think about you and what makes you you–there’s a good topic to be found with enough introspection.

Your Major?
While you absolutely will not try to turn an old paper from a class in your major, you can still use the knowledge you’re acquiring in your intended field of vocation in GSW 1120. (You’d probably be able to find some super-credible sources in the process that may come in handy in other classes.) What’s going on in your major that you’d like to write about?

Categories:
Maybe you’re feeling a little burned out in your major; fine. I get that. Perhaps the following categories are worth exploring for your MSEs and RE:

Areas for Topic Exploration:
Arts,
Media Studies,
Pop Culture,
Social & Behavioral Sciences,
Technology/Online Identities,
Business,
Economics,
Environment/Science,
Consumer Culture,
Corporate Culture,
Crime and Punishment,
Family & Relationships,
Politics,
Education,
Spirituality,
Rights/Freedoms,
The American Dream

and a whole slew of others I’m not thinking of at the moment. I can give you further guidance on focused topics within these categories, but for now I’m being a little vague on purpose. If you investigate an issue on your own, your topic choice will be more organic, and that’s always a good thing.

Some topics I’d prefer you to avoid if it’s at all possible:

Sports (I love ’em, but non-ESPN research can be hard),
Abortion/Reproductive Rights,
Capital Punishment,
Gun Control,
Immigration, and
The Welfare State

for starters.

You’re due to test your MSE1 topic on the “Testing Topics: MSE1” discussion board forum by Thursday night (Feb. 4th), so you’ve got more than a week to contemplate a topic. I suggest, additionally, that if you’re really on fire to write on a certain subject that you “save” that topic for the Researched Essay, when the point values are their highest.

And of course I’m available by email and Skype to help you refine your topic.

Good luck!

Screenr on Week 3 and MLA (and CoD:))

By , January 25, 2010 9:05 am

Workshop Parameters

By , January 21, 2010 10:36 am

Whether online or in person, a writing workshop is only as successful as its participants. I’m not expecting you to be an expert at it this first time out, but I am expecting you to actively help your classmates construct awesome Critiques. The goal here is to give the person you’re workshopping with some praise and some suggestions for improvement.

Be respectful, but be honest.

Broad parameters for our workshop:

Point out and/or correct any grammar/mechanics/word choice issues that you encounter, but don’t make those issues all you focus on.

Try to engage the essay you read on an idea level, instead.

Look for context in the intro:
—author/publication/issue background info

Look for the qualities of a good summary:
—objective
—present tense

Look for areas of expansion:
—are there enough support mechanisms/evidence in each body paragraph?
—is there ample analysis of support mechanisms? Could there be more?

Look for areas of cohesion:
—are there helpful transitions at the ends and beginnings of paragraphs?

Make at least three comments per page (all grammar comments count as one).

Make an end note (complete with “Dear _____,”) that summarizes your impressions (both good and not so good) and offers constructive, honest, respectful ways to turn this RD into a awesome FD.

I’d also suggest keeping a piece of paper out and jotting down any ideas you can “steal” from the RD’s you read. 🙂

Maybe listen to some writing music from the very old, very awesome Dinosaur, Jr.

Screenr on Workshopping, Commenting, and Writing Suggestions.

By , January 20, 2010 10:53 am

Screenr on Week 2, Criteria, Thesis Statements, and Body Paragraphs

By , January 19, 2010 9:34 am

Critique Screenr

By , January 13, 2010 11:01 am

Critique Articles

By , January 13, 2010 8:40 am

Below are links to five articles that can serve as the subject of your Critique essay. You may also find an article on your own to critique, so long as it’s at least 700 words and originates in a print medium (scholarly journals, newspapers, magazines are my strong preferences–email me for help in locating other articles).

The longer an article you choose, the more options you’ll have for criteria when you construct your Rough Draft (RD). In other words, if you choose an article that’s overly short, you’ll actually be making this assignment harder than it needs to be.

Ideally, the subject of the article you’re critiquing would be a jumping-off point for your MSE1, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be.

I tried to find articles that might be germane to your interests/lives, but since we’re still getting to know each other, I could be way, way off, so feel free to look around for an article of your own to critique. Just be sure you get approval from me on your article before you begin summarizing/drafting.

Email me a link to any outside article you’d like to critique.

Otherwise, check these ones out, and happy reading!

(Note: WordPress hasn’t been the most cooperative blogging site lately, so if these links don’t work, let me know.)

Making College Relevant, a New York Times article.

Students Covering Bigger Share of Costs of College, also from the New York Times.

SOCIAL NETWORKING USAGE AND GRADES AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS, an article (in .pdf form) about Facebook and grades.

In Defense of the Liberal Arts, from Newsweek.

Call Me!, an article from Time magazine about Skype/videophones.

Critique Introduction

By , January 13, 2010 8:21 am

Instead of just jumping into your summary, I’d like you to provide a broader introduction to the article you’ve chosen to critique. The purpose of any good introduction (for a Critique essay and just about any other) is to provide readers with a sense of context, eventually narrowing a broad topic into the specific something your essay is about. Imagine an inverted pyramid, getting narrower and narrower as you approach the bottom.

Though the logistics of what your intros should do will evolve this semester, for the Critique, you’ll want to consider including the following in your intro (I’m being intentionally vague here because I’d like to see what you come up with):

Background information about the issue your article addresses. Are there historical trends, court cases, national opinions, etc., that place your article’s issue into a specific context?

Author information, if applicable. It’s wise of you to look into (i.e. Google) the author of your article and share with readers any previous work or expertise that makes him/her especially situated to write on the article’s issue.

Publication information. Where was your article published originally? When? Where can it be located now?

Personal connection. What made you choose the article you’ve chosen? Do you have any rooting interest in the issue the article addresses?

Your introduction, if properly constructed, can pique your reader’s interest in not only the article itself, but in your evaluation of the article. Your Critique will be, ultimately, one of a whole big stack of Critiques I have to read, so if practicality is your thing, consider writing an intro I’ll be interested in reading.

Feel free to email me any drafts of your intro you compose over the weekend and beyond. I’d be happy to give you feedback!

Summary Writing

By , January 13, 2010 8:12 am

Before reading this post, please feel free to consult SEQ pp. 3-23 for additional instruction on how to construct a summary.
The ability to summarize, to distill large arguments and ideas into a manageable size, is an essential academic skill. (Maybe you’ve done annotations, which are fancy summaries.) To that end, one requirement for your Critique essay will be a succinct yet effective summary of the article you’ve chosen. Some things to keep in mind as you summarize:

Don’t get into too much detail in your summary. Save the more detailed components as support mechanisms for your criteria paragraphs (which we’ll cover next week). Try to limit your summary to no more than 300ish words.

Article titles are in “Quotes,” and publications are underlined or italicized (not both.)

Explain the author’s purpose–what was s/he hoping to accomplish with this article? To inform? To express? To persuade?

Describe the main points of the article–don’t get hung up on little stuff.

Write your summary in the present tense (“writes” and not “wrote”). See your essay as a living thing.

Be objective. No opinions. The rest of the essay is for your judgments, but not the summary.

Try to use at least one quote from the article itself–give your audience a sense of the author’s style.

In your summary, don’t over-emphasize a particular feature of the article if it’s the focus of one of your criteria. For instance, if you are going to praise your article’s smooth organization, don’t dwell on it in your summary, because then by the time I read your organization paragraph, its “thunder” will have been stolen.

Chat Transcript #1

By , January 12, 2010 1:35 pm

Below is a transcript of a chat I had during my virtual office hours with your peer, Travis. He asked many questions some of you may interested in knowing the answers to, so I’m posting it. If you have any questions or concerns about assignments, class, etc., I urge you to take advantage of my office hours, to initiate an email conversation, or to set up a Skype conference. Hope you’re having a good day, and check back here tomorrow for information about the Critique essay.

+++++++++

Travis Harbauer: Good afternoon 
Steve Edgehouse: Hey Travis. How’s Tuesday treating you?
Travis Harbauer: Good, had the day off from Perrysburg. I am in the process of finishing my first week assignments at BG.
Travis Harbauer: How is your afternoon?
Steve Edgehouse: Good to hear. You seem like the sort to get ahead. My day’s off to a good start. Just got to my office and am getting ready to teach my traditional sections of 1120. 
Travis Harbauer: How many traditional sections do you have? 
Steve Edgehouse: Two. I teach an overload in the Fall, typically, so I’m only contracted to teach 9 credit hours in the Spring.
Travis Harbauer: Good to hear, makes your schedule easier in the Spring.
Steve Edgehouse: It’s pretty intense in the Fall, but worth it. 
Travis Harbauer: I like the idea of using Skype and this virtual chat. It has worked well in my previous classes. 
Steve Edgehouse: Me too. I’m eager to employ all these conferencing tools, especially the Web 2.0 stuff. Can’t wait for essays to start rolling in. 
Travis Harbauer: For our final researched essay, what is the typical page length requirement?
Travis Harbauer: I’m just trying to get a better idea of this course. 
Steve Edgehouse: Good question. I typicall have a “bare minimum” page length for students who aren’t interested in getting an A, so it’ll be around 6. The better, more motivated students will want to shoot for more like 8-14. These numbers are tentative for now though, until I get a sense of what the class is capable of. I really believe in flexibility as an instructor… 
Travis Harbauer: That’s good to hear. The longest paper I have authored has only been around 5-6 pages. I know I’m capable of more and am ready for the challenge. 
Travis Harbauer: It was a relief to read we will be using MLA instead of APA. I had heard college was mostly APA.
Steve Edgehouse: Then you’ll get it. I’m here to push you to your fullest potential as a writer. The more confidence you have in your own abilities, the better.
Steve Edgehouse: College is more APA (and truth be told, I prefer it myself), but at the end of the day, most citation styles are similar in that it’s all about being able to retrieve the right answer from handbooks and/or online. 
Travis Harbauer: Now this is my first GSW class. I was able to test right into this course. Is there anything I need to know about?
Travis Harbauer: I’m not sure if there is anything critical from GSW 1110/1100 that I should know.
Steve Edgehouse: Not just yet. Your portfolio will be evaluated by another 1120 instructor at semester’s end, but if you manage a B or better, that won’t be much of a hurdle.
Travis Harbauer: Do a lot of students typically receive an A in your online version of GSW 1120?
Steve Edgehouse: Critical? I wouldn’t say so. So long as you understand that each essay will be argumentative/persuasive in nature, and will need to be adequately supported by outside sources that you actively synthesize, you’ll be fine. 
Travis Harbauer: Yes, I am used to all of that from English courses at Perrysburg. 
Steve Edgehouse: To be honest, no. I believe A = excellent, and I hold pretty fast to that rule. A lot of students sacrifice A’s when they don’t attend to their sentences. Typos, misspelled or misused words, and MLA struggles can make an otherwise A essay a B. Or a B essay a C. You catch my drift… 
Travis Harbauer: I understand. It’s my goal to maintain my 4.0 so far and I’ll do my best to maintain it.
Steve Edgehouse: The fact that you’re actively seeking out this information and the fact that you seem really responsible for your own learning suggests to me that you’re more than capable of that goal, Travis.

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