Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Agenda, May 31

Due Now: "The Female Body" by Margaret Atwood
Due Thursday: "Civil Disobedience," by Henry David Thoreau
Due Monday: Bring 50 Essays and Everything's an Argument to class. We'll return them to the library as a group.
  1. Listing in "The Female Body"
  2. Analogies in "The Female Body"
  3. The structure of "The Female Body"
  4. Initial impressions of "Civil Disobedience"

Agenda, May 30


Due Now: Question essay. Pretend it's due now. 
Due Now: "The Female Body" by Margaret Atwood
Due Thursday: "Civil Disobedience," by Henry David Thoreau
  1. Congratulations are in order
  2. Kiva Advisory Board: who needs an Advisory pass?
  3. Discuss "The Female Body" 

Monday, May 28, 2012

Agenda, May 29

Due Now: "The Age of the Essay," by Paul Graham

Due Tomorrow: Question essay. Pretend it's due today. Print it before Office Depot closes.
Due Now: "The Female Body" by Margaret Atwood
Due Thursday: "Civil Disobedience," by Henry David Thoreau

  1. Kiva Advisory Board?
  2. Questions about Questions?
  3. Do y'all even remember "The Age of the Essay"?
  4. Discuss "The Female Body" 

A small cause for concern ...

In the last week, several people asked "How many synthesis paragraphs do we need?" The answer: "I'm not counting synthesis paragraphs; however, you need to make sure your paragraphs are thoroughly developed."

While revising your war essays, many authors added paragraphs to bulk up the content of their papers. One or two writers added synthesis paragraphs, but most writers added purely argumentative paragraphs - very short, purely argumentative paragraphs.

If your paper is filled with four and five sentence paragraphs, you need to develop your ideas more thoroughly. This does not mean you should take two short paragraphs and cram them together, thinking that makes one well developed paragraph. That does mean you should a second example, or a quotation, or an analogy.

I'm sure I'm worrying needlessly, but it's better for you if you hear this Monday morning rather than Tuesday.

Friday, May 25, 2012

One last self check ...

Is your paper a research paper? Are you working independently to find a wide variety of sophisticated, credible sources? Are you establishing those sources clearly and effectively? Are you formatting and punctuating your quotations properly? Are you citing your sources properly? If the answer to these questions is "No," you're looking at a C, at best.

And finally ... part of college level writing is control of conventions. If your papers consistently receive a mountain of checkmarks, be sure to find a good editor.

And finally ... this is my fourth post in forty minutes. Keep scrolling down for useful and interesting info.

Who rocks? We do!

Thanks for your outstanding presentations this morning! I was duly impressed with all your hard work. Every group received votes, and every group received votes from people who were not in their group. Congratulations!

The top three organizations (in alphabetical order) were: Backpack Buddies, Kiva, and The Leukemia and Lymphoma Foundation. The organization with the most votes was ... (drum roll please) ... Kiva!

This creates an exciting challenge for us. We'll need a "Kiva Advisory Council" to figure out who to loan our money to. This council will need to meet soon (perhaps on one of the finals days? Perhaps during advisory on 5/30?). If you'd like to investigate Kiva, you can do so without logging in.

This donation is pretty awesome because it will never go away. The funds from this year's Jar o' Justice will continued to be loaned in perpetuity. Who rocks? We do.

In case you've forgotten how to make a Works Cited page ...


Works Cited

1)    Works are listed alphabetically by the author’s last name.
2)    Work is formatted with a hanging indent.
3)    Works Cited and Bibliography pages are double spaced.
4)    Anything that imports as underlined needs the underline removed and the underlined material converted into italics.
5)    A Bibliography is a list of all texts consulted during the process of research. A Works Cited is a list of all works quoted in the essay. Each entry in a Bibliography or Works Cited is called a “citation.”
6)    If you found it on the web, cite it like a website. If you can’t find an author, begin with the title of the page. If you can’t find a date of posting/update, use n.d.. If you can’t find a publisher, use n.p.. If the site is on the general web, include the link.
7)    When in doubt, visit the CCC Library Research Page at: http://depts.clackamas.edu/library/ResearchGuides.aspx. About two-thirds of the way down the page, they link to “MLA Decoder” and “MLA Examples.” Those are the documents I use to double-check your Works Cited pages.

Post your questions here ...

To save me from answering the same question more than once, please put post your questions here for the enjoyment of all. If you feel like your question only applies to your paper, you may e-mail me directly (but I might send you to the blog if other authors might share your question).

Happy weekend!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Agenda, May 24

Due Now: "The Age of the Essay," by Paul GrahamDue Now: Be prepared to state your question as a question to the class.
Due Friday: Speech o' Justice
Due 5/30: Question essay. Pretend it's due 5/29.
Due Tuesday: "The Female Body" by Margaret Atwood
  1. What's your question?
  2. Questions about Questions?
  3. Questions about Speech?
  4. 5 thoughts about "The Age of the Essay"
  5. Open Disco on "Age"

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Agenda, May 23

Due Wednesday: "The Age of the Essay," by Paul Graham
Due Wednesday: Bring your 50 Essays; we're not quite done with Ericsson.

Due Thursday: Be prepared to state your question as a question to the class.
Due Friday: Speech o' Justice
Due 5/30: Question essay. Pretend it's due 5/29.
  1. Questions about Questions?
  2. Questions about Speech?
  3. Types of Evidence in Ericsson
  4. 5 thoughts about "The Age of the Essay"
  5. Open Disco on "Age"

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Agenda, May 22

Due Wednesday: "The Age of the Essay," by Paul Graham
Due Wednesday: Bring your 50 Essays; we're not quite done with Ericsson.
Due Friday: Speech o' Justice
  1. Questions about Questions?
  2. A note about introductions / Why does it matter?
  3. Let the research commence

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Is my question good enough?

I posted this at 10 pm on Thursday ... on my English 9 blog. Awesome.

The assignment, in a nutshell: Compose a 7 - 10 page synthesis argument in which you propose a possible  answer or answers to a self-generated question. Your essay should draw on a variety of properly cited, credible, college level resources, and include a properly formatted Works Cited page. Powerful introductions, rhetorical flourishes, and compelling conclusions are expected.

If you're not sure if your question is good enough, check out the following questions:

Can you research your question? Will you find evidence from a wide variety of sources?


  • Consider literature, film, music, history, and the arts and sciences as possible sources. Consider databases, websites, and contemporary periodicals, newspapers, and essays as possible sources. Consider people and personal experiences as possible sources. No matter your source, is it credible? Is it college level? Is it sophisticated and complex?

Is your question an argument?

  • If you're just collecting facts about a subject that interests you, then you're simply regurgitating someone else's facts. How can you introduce an element of evaluation into your question? Remember, one type of argument is the argument to explore. Another type of argument is an argument to persuade. A third type of argument is an argument of proposal. There is no such thing as an argument of regurgitation.

Is your question complex? Does it embrace multiple perspectives and points of view? Does it have the potential to have multiple - perhaps contradictory - answers?

  • Many of you were concerned that you wouldn't be able to find answers to your question. Many of the best questions don't have answers; they do, however, have many researchable possibilities.

Is your question genuinely interesting to you? If you don't want to know the answer, why waste your time? If you don't care about your answer, why would your reader?

Agenda, May 21

Due Monday: "The Ways We Lie," by Stephanie Ericsson, in 50 Essays. It's been a long time; remember to read with a pencil in hand.
Tomorrow: The last in class research time
Due Wednesday: "The Age of the Essay," by Paul Graham
Due Friday: Speech o' Justice
  1. Questions about Questions?
  2. Questions about Speech o' Justice?
  3. 15 minutes of writing: How many lies did you tell this weekend? What types of lies were they? Is Ericsson's list exhaustive or did she miss some kinds of lies? OR Tell me about a day in your life without lying.
  4. Open Disco

Agenda, May 18

Due Monday: "The Ways We Lie," by Stephanie Ericsson, in 50 Essays. It's been a long time; remember to read with a pencil in hand.
  1. Library Research. You may divide your time between researching your charity and researching your question as you see fit.

Thursday, May 17, 2012


Speech O’ Justice
Due: Friday, May 25th

The Task:
Working alone or with a group of up to four people, create a presentation in which you encourage your peers to donate the proceeds from Kline’s Jar O’ Justice to a philanthropic organization of your choice. Presentations must be a minimum of three minutes and a maximum of five.

The Details:
Students who are working in a group may either present as a group or elect a representative to deliver the speech. All group members are expected to contribute equally to the presentation; at the time of the presentations all group members will submit a precise, written explanation of their contribution to the group’s efforts. All group members are required to attend the presentation, even those who are not speaking.

Students who are working alone will be graded solely on their presentation and will not be required to submit an explanation of their effort.

The Grade:
Your presentation will be graded on the quality of your argument (have you selected appropriate appeals? have you selected effective diction? have you researched your charity thoroughly enough?) and the quality of the presentation (enthusiastic? confident? well prepared? well delivered?). Winning the vote will not be a factor in your grade.


Agenda, May 17

Due Now: Bring your bibliographies / essay review notes
Due Now: Bring your illogical scripts. 

Due Tomorrow: Walk in the door with a question to research.
Due Monday: "The Ways We Lie," by Stephanie Ericsson, in 50 Essays. It's been a long time; remember to read with a pencil in hand.
  1. The Speech o' Justice
  2. Essays that began with questions. How were they answered?
  3. Narrow questions versus broad questions / Right answers versus wrong answers

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Agenda, May 16

Due Thursday: Bring your bibliographies / essay review notes
Due Thursday: Bring your illogical scripts.
  1. How was it? Feel free to leave a comment below. Don't mention any texts / prompts in the comments, however.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Agenda, May 15

Due Now: Final round of essay reviews.
Do Tonight: Go to bed early.
Do Tomorrow: Eat a good breakfast (I recommend Lucky Charms)
Due Thursday: Bring your bibliographies / essay review notes
  1. Let the reviews commence
  2. That's totally illogical

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Agenda, May 14

Due Now: Second round of essay reviews.
Due Now: War Synthesis revisions; if your score is lower than a B, you owe me at least one new body paragraph. If you don't add it, I won't read it. B papers probably need a paragraph too. Save us both some time and check with me.

Due Wednesday: Nothing much.

  1. Let the reviews commence
  2. That's totally illogical

Friday, May 11, 2012

Agenda, May 11

Due Now:  Common Place #6
Due Now: First round of essay reviews. The best way to take notes would be to print a copy of your Bibliography with a a few inches of white space below each entry.
Due Monday: War Synthesis revisions; if your score is lower than a B, you owe me at least one new body paragraph. If you don't add it, I won't read it. B papers probably need a paragraph too. Save us both some time and check with me.


  1. Let the reviews commence
  2. One last random note / stray papers
  3. Periodic / Cumulative Sentences (if time allows)
  4. One more fallacy video (if time allows)

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Agenda, May 10

Due Now: Chapter 19 in Everything's an Argument (Fallacies in Argument)
Due Friday: Common Place #6

Due Friday: First round of essay reviews. The best way to take notes would be to print a copy of your Bibliography with a a few inches of white space below each entry.
Due Monday: War Synthesis revisions; if your score is lower than a B, you owe me at least one new body paragraph. If you don't add it, I won't read it. B papers probably need a paragraph too. Save us both some time and check with me.


  1. How to get faster / Random notes
  2. Multiple Choice Answers / Discussion
  3. Logical Fallacies Questions
  4. Logical Fallacies Videos

Agenda, May 9

Due Thursday: Chapter 19 in Everything's an Argument (Fallacies in Argument)
Due Friday: Common Place #6

Due Friday: First round of essay reviews. The best way to take notes would be to print a copy of your Bibliography with a a few inches of white space below each entry.
Due Monday: War Synthesis revisions; if your score is lower than a B, you owe me at least one new body paragraph. If you don't add it, I won't read it. B papers probably need a paragraph too. Save us both some time and check with me.

  1. All multiple choice, all the time.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Agenda, May 8

Due Now: Syllogism Practice
Due Thursday: Chapter 19 in Everything's an Argument (Fallacies in Argument)

Due Friday: Common Place #6

Due Friday: First round of essay reviews
Due Monday: War Synthesis revisions; if your score is lower than a B, you owe me at least one new body paragraph. If you don't add it, I won't read it. B papers probably need a paragraph too. Save us both some time and check with me.

Tomorrow: Last whole class multiple choice section.
  1. Even more random notes
  2. What do you need?
  3. Syllogisms
  4. Scoring work

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Agenda, May 7

Due Now: Syllogism Practice
Due Thursday: Chapter 19 in Everything's an Argument (Fallacies in Argument)

Due Friday: Common Place #6
Due Monday: War Synthesis revisions; if your score is lower than a B, you owe me at least one new body paragraph. If you don't add it, I won't read it. B papers probably need a paragraph too. Save us both some time and check with me.

  1. Even more random notes (Why not I?)
  2. The last whole class timed write
  3. What do you need?
  4. Return a bunch of work

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Agenda, May 3

Due  Now: Common Place #5
Due 5/11: Common Place #6
Due Monday: Syllogism Practice
Coming Monday: The Last Practice Timed Write

  1. A Little Logos
  2. A Little Scoring
  3. The Chart

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Agenda, May 2

Due Thursday, 5/3: Common Place #5
  1. Pick your poison
  2. What did you notice?
  3. More random notes
  4. Scoring  rhetorical analysis papers

Agenda, May 1


Due Thursday, 5/3: Common Place #5
  1. Essay Review Due Dates
  2. The Ridiculist Review
  3. Scoring Synth Papers