Homework before class on Monday, March 3

Due date change: Your research proposal and completed bibliography is due (on your blog) right before your conference with me during conference week.

Read:  EA Chapter 12, Proposals

Write: A proposal for your research paper. Use what you read in Chapter 12 of EA to decide what to include and how to format it. If you still have questions once you're done, add them into the end. 

You will peer review them on Monday, and I will help you out with them so you can revise them, since they are due on your blog at the time of your conference with me. I don't care about the length, but I do care how completely you have thought through your paper. I'm guessing a page or two double spaced is how much room it will take to record all the details of your plan to write your research paper.

Your proposal should be something of a map another person could use to research with you, so it needs to be detailed. Where is the research conversation now? How will you find out? (What specific journals, etc will you look in to find out, etc.)

Homework due prior to class 2/28

Your research paper is going to be constructed in answer to a research question.

Write two or three very specific research questions that you might want to use to build your paper around.

Post them to your blog.

During class time on Friday, you will pick one of those as your final research project question and start building your annotated bibliography based on that question.


In case I don't have a story for you, think of one you might want to tell...just because we need Story Friday!

Regarding Class Monday (2-23)

Don't forget to bring your textual rhetorical analysis to class tomorrow. Either post it to your blog or bring it in some other form.

I'm flying in tomorrow right before class, so in the off chance I'm late, please be the awesome team you are, get into groups and start reading and talking about each other's papers--just like you've done in the past. Barring HORRIBLE roads though, I'll be there on time.

Note that I've changed what we're working on next week, so if you were stressing out over presentations because you saw them on the course schedule, don't--they're gone! But don't worry, they'll be back after Spring Break.

See you soon!

Homework due Before Class Wednesday, 2-19-14

Change in due dates on textual rhetorical analysis!!!!

Full draft, due for peer review in class on Monday, Feb 24th. This is a LOT of time, so I expect your assignment to be complete--as good as you can get it! Ready to turn in--except you have this added benefit of your peers seeing what they catch that might make it better. Take it to the Writing Center before that if you want--that helps.

Final Draft, due on  your blog before class time Wednesday, Feb 26th.



HOMEWORK

Action:

1) Choose an article to rhetorically analyze

2) Post the whole thing to your blog before class on Wednesday


   Criteria:

• The article must have something to do with your field. 

• As you think about your research paper later in this class, try to pick something that you can use in your paper.

• It can be any genre from instructions to a long series of emails trying to sort out a problem (they have to be actual emails, don't make them up), to children's stories trying to get kids involved in your field--or anything else!

In Class on Wednesday:

   

•       Talk with your peers about what rhetorical frame you are going to use to analyze the article            
• See below--remember our discussion in class. Look up "Rhetoric" in your book if you need help. Remember page 127-128. Listen to the author before you dig into  trying to explain the point of what they're saying, why they needed to say it, and what they were trying to accomplish with it.  You don't have to use every rhetorical frame--if you have enough material to do it, go deeply into something narrow. Find stuff the rest of us wouldn't see from just reading the article. Research outside the article to find out more about its context. 

•       Talk about what structure you might use to write your analysis

•        Start writing your textual rhetorical analysis assignment! yes in class. Unless your sub has something else for you to do. :-)

• Refer to the textual rhetorical analysis assignment posted on this blog. The prompt is meant to help you know what to look for, and what to write.

NOTE: 

Rhetoric is hard, I love discussing it! Feel free to email me questions--or better yet, post them on our "Let's Talk!" page so we can all join in the fun!

Think of the following as frames through which to see deeper into the text you are analyzing. The top one, as you recall, is what many people use to talk about rhetoric, in addition to ethos, pathos, and logos. The second one is a more modern take on rhetoric--or, if you look closely, just another way to state the first list.

Traditional Rhetorical Canon

·     Invention

·     Arrangement

·     Style

·     Memory

·     Delivery

All Writing Is:

·     Motivated

·     Situated

·     Contingent

·     Interactive

·     Epistemic 

Post-Vicodin Narrations to help your current assignment

Hey y'all. How are you doing with your visual rhetorical analysis? I felt SO BAD for not being able to be in class today, because I felt like you all needed that time to help each other out, and that you might be frustrated with this assignment. I had some good ideas to help you.

Before I go on, full disclosure: I took a vicodin a few minutes ago, so before it hits, I wanted to touch base with you. I'm guessing the effects of it will be obvious if I write too long...

I was laying on a hospital bed today at 2:30, telling a friend how I needed to be there in class with you guys, and what we wre supposed to talk about today. She stopped me and said, "Ummm, dear, you're waiting to find out if you're going to have an unexpected major surgery and you're worried about your students???"

Well, ummm DUH! Because you all try hard for me, and if I can't be there to give you what you need, I'm not being there for you and that's not okay with me.

Without going all TMI, the good news is I'm going to live...as far as we know. The bad news is I might end up with a major surgery in the next week to a month that will keep me out of the classroom for a week or two. During that time you might have to teach another teacher how to have fun, to cuss, to sit on the desk. :-D   I don't know anything for sure, except that I look forward to finishing our class together. You might have a sub as early as Friday, but I won't know anything until tomorrow. If you do, just roll with the changes, know they are temporary, and that even if I have to be recovering for a bit, I'll still be available online and be grading your papers. Okay?

SUGGESTIONS FOR HOW TO WRITE YOUR VISUAL RHETORICAL ANALYSIS

For those of you who want more structure, think about this:

You can think of what you write about your visual as a report. Its parts would be: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion.

The logic of the written part of the visual rhet analysis is that you need to tell us what methods you used to analyze your visual. There are many ways you can do that. It can be fun! For example, you could look at the visual and divide it into major components. WHat are they? There are tons!

Color could be one. What does color mean in your profession? In our culture at large? Like red, its a warning, right? How is red used well or badly in your visual? What about green? Others?

Shapes could be another one.

Styles could be another--like way back in the good ol' days, the dude who first started using data displays created them using watercolors because watercolors were esteemed in that culture as high class and totally legit. What can you find in your visual that is like that? We'd call that "borrowing ethos." Does the visual incorporate something that is already respected in your field, to cause people to see it and instantly add credibility? (like the ISU logo--wherever you see it you know this is a university-backed thing so it's to be trusted, right?)

What about genres? Does your visual look like a cartoon? why? What audience would that appeal to? Why is that important? Does it have to be funny content? Will people take ideas seriously if they are displayed as cartoons?

What other pieces of genres can you find in your visual? Show it to us. Describe it. Tell us what it means.

the bottom line is that you are reporting on your findings. Hear that? It's important! Not reporting on the piece itself like the reports you used to write in high school, but reporting to us your process of analysis, your findings, the methods of how you came to those conclusions. Don't fear being wrong. Just use your ability to do rhetorical analysis!


Alright, I'm fading here. And no i"m nog toing to re-read and fix stuff, because I'll make it worse now that the medicine is working. Yep, your teacher does bad writing too. Shitty first drafts, people, they are okay. Work on yours more. We'll talk about them in class on Friday, before we tell stories, of course!

Have a good evening. I really hope to see you in class Friday. Teaching you all makes my day, it really does.

Homework for 2-12 (Visual analysis)

For Wednesday's class, please have a draft of your visual rhetorical analysis done and in class with you (on your blog or in some other form--either way is fine). We're going peer review them, answer your questions, bitch about length requirements ;-), and make sure the calendar is visible!!

Chapter 14 (Visual arguments) in Everything's an Argument is a great help for this assignment. Read through it.

NOTE: Please remember that the assignment asks you to pick a visual related to your field--hopefully something you can use in your final research paper. You are welcome to use the visual you chose for yesterday's homework, but if it is not related to your field somehow, please pick one that is. Feel free to email me with questions.

You all are doing great with this. Try not to stress out over the grade, just keep doing what you've been doing. Allow yourself the space to think--you can perfect the writing after Wednesday. Right now just go with that gut!

Assignment #2: Visual Rhetorical Analysis

Peer review: Wed, 2-12

DUE on blog: Sunday, 2-16, by midnight.

 (3-4 pages, double-spaced)

Parameters and Purpose

Keeping our class’s main question in mind (how is writing/communication done in your chosen field or discipline?), you will find a piece of a visual rhetoric related to your field and analyze it in a 3-4 page essay.

The purpose of this assignment is to explain how the visual and written elements work together to promote its intended message. This means adequately describing the visual artifact and explaining its context. Keep in mind that the audience for this rhetorical analysis is your teacher and classmates who may not have the same knowledge level of your field as you do. The paper should also discuss who the artifact’s intended audience is and how effective its argument is. Since you are using an outside source to compose this paper, you are required to have an MLA-style works cited section.

Evaluation Criteria for the Essay

At a minimum, your paper needs to satisfy these criteria. However, the grade is based not just on whether a feature is present or not, but on how well it has been integrated into your paper. The visual rhetorical analysis should:

·                      orient the reader by identifying the source, its date, the target audience, and purpose

·                      contain a clear thesis supported by specific, concrete details

·                      provide sufficient description of and insightful comments about the visual argument

·                      use and cite secondary sources appropriately

·                      integrate text and visuals effectively

·                      avoid errors that distract reader's attention 

______________________________________

Homework For Monday, 2-10-14

Sorry about the delay in homework assignment. Because we got all distracted by storytelling that had ummm everything to do with writing...I had to re-think what I wanted you to do!

Next up WAS textual analysis, but I switched it up, based on my perception that visual analysis will be something you do more naturally than textual analysis. This coming week we will work on visual analysis. See the Calendar for updated due dates.

Your next assignment is a visual rhetorical analysis (Assignment 2), and the visual you choose for Monday's in-class work will be  the visual you use for your analysis, so choose thoughtfully. Hopefully this piece will also be usable in your future research paper. (So ask yourself if this piece will help you say what you might want to say in your research.)


HOMEWORK DUE BEFORE CLASSTIME MONDAY:

• Find one example of visual communication in your field and post it to your blog. (If it's not electronic you could take a picture of it and post it to your blog.)
•  Write what meaning you think the author is trying to convey, who the audience is, and the exact, small details that give you these impressions. Remember to let your gut instinct lead you, then find and write down evidence that supports it.
• "Read"  (Look at?)  EA “Apples to Oranges” 679-690 
• Be prepared to talk in class about why it might be an example of bad visual communication 

I'm going to bring in some other visuals for us to analyse. Should be a fun day--as it always is with y'all!

Homework Due 2-7-14

Look through the things you've written on your blog so far. Pick out two things that you want to explore further in discussion. (Ideas/thoughts/problems/conundrums/confusions/things you want to know more about/jump on the desk and yell about, etc)

You don't have to write about them, but make notes to yourself if you need to so that you're ready to talk about them in class! Can't wait to hear more from you!!!

Homework Due Wednesday, Feb 5

BRING: Your textbook Everything is an Argument

Homework

            Reading:

·         EA Chapter 6: “Rhetorical Analysis”

·         ISU Student Guide pgs. 76-80

            Writing: On your blog, write the equivalent of 1 double-spaced page telling about one time that you used rhetorical analysis, even though you probably didn't realize what you were doing.

          I expect these to be great, lively examples that we will pull up on our laptops and look at in class, so have fun with them!

           Some of you have asked for more creative space. This is your chance. Write me a short story---as long as you include the elements that make it obvious to any reader that you were analyzing rhetorically. 

          Others of you detest creative writing. I'm okay with that. You  may write your situation in an analytical way, if it suits you better. It could read like a police or some other report. List the persons involved, their positions or relation to each other, then describe what happened, what you did, and why. Remember this bit of advice my fire chief gave me when I was a new EMT: you will get called to court to testify at some point, about your actions. If what you did isn't on the paper, it didn't happen. Make it concise and impossible to misunderstand, but put in the important details--the ones that will save your tail later.

Thanks for your lively participation today, everyone. It was great! If rhetoric every threatens to overwhelm you, remember the paper fight in class, and how every one of you displayed wonderful knowledge of how to rhetorically analyze. Even for those points about me that weren't quite accurate, the basis for them was sound.