entering the conversation (week 2 2017)
TRANSCRIPT
Today’s agenda
• Briefly review important lessons from the “Subtext” video for this class.
• Highlight some of your answers to the open-ended questions from the class survey.
• Go over homework (grammar of introductions)
• Look at a few online tools.• First writing assignment.
“What does it mean to be a critical writer?”
• It means to be able to come back to one's own text and understand the needs for rewriting and editing, and to predict and understand how the text is most likely to be perceived from the reader's point of view.
• To be able to analyze your own writing from a somewhat neutral point of view in order to deduce how others will read it.
• A clear presentation of your arguments/conclusion + being able to recognize your own limitations.
• I had never heard of it before, but I would guess it means to be aware of the limitations of the written text, and take into account the different possible interpretations the readers might have.
• to be a critical writer is to be open to new evidence and new ideas to your subject. It is to be critical in relation to the references that are being used (not only accepting them as the truth, or denying all of it). It is to show arguments based on other writers but also taking into account your own thoughts about it.
Highlights from Survey – The Introduction
• “I believe the introduction, being the first contact of the reader with the … essay, sets the expectations and prepares the reader to follow the line of reasoning contained in the essay.”
• “I would actually put introduction and title as 1st. I believe that they create an expectation in the reader and inform the reader how the text is going to work.”
Homework: Grammar of introductions
• Compare answers.• A matter of “correct” or a question of
“choice”?
Discuss
• Does money bring happiness?
Your First Writing Sample1. In a Word document, write a short answer (150 – 300 words) to
this prompt: “Money does not bring happiness.” Do you agree with this statement?
2. Go to writeandimprove.com and type in this Workbook invitation: 3GCRQF8Z
3. Paste in your text, and check your level.4. In a new tab, go to paperrater.com and select “Use now free.” 5. Paste in your text again, and then “Get Report.”6. Send report to me via Teacher Code 482FF.7. DISCUSS: Are you satisfied with the analyses provided? Are these
tools useful at all? What underlying criteria/assumptions are there behind these tools?
We will pick this theme up again next week...
“What characterizes a good academic essay?”
• An essay written with a clear purpose and strong premises.• A neat, objective style that doesn't "lose" the reader as it goes is for
sure a good start. The essay should be well-connected, coherent and lead the reader forward […].
• A good academic essay should be as clear, straight to the point, and informative as possible…
• An essay in which all the sections are coherent…• A good academic essay must be primarily clear…• […] It is clear and follows a clear "path".• A good academic essay has a clear, logical argumentation…
A real example
• Consider the discussed criteria around what constitutes an effective introduction, and good academic writing in general. To what extent does the sample essay meet those criteria? Read and discuss.
Some “Subtext” insights• Lev (the writer) has a specific “agenda” in mind
before he begins writing.• The whole process of writing involves him trying
to maximize the effect of his discourse to achieve that agenda.
• The writing process is “dialogic”: in dialogue with himself, in dialogue with the intended reader.
• Lev is (painfully) aware that word choice is of paramount importance; the right choice of words can mean the difference between his “goal” and flat-out rejection.
What is the first thing you should have before you start writing?
• “You have to be aware what is your purpose with the text, what you want people to understand when they read it.”
What is the first thing you should have before you start writing?
• “You have to be aware what is your purpose with the text, what you want people to understand when they read it.”
“POSITION”
From the book They Say/I Say (Ch. 1)
• “(T)o give writing the most important thing of all – namely, a point – a writer needs to indicate clearly not only what his or her thesis is, but also what larger conversation that thesis is responding to.” (p. 20)
• “Therefore, when it comes to constructing an argument (whether orally or in writing) [...] remember that you are entering a conversation and therefore need to start with ‘what others are saying’...” (ibid.)
Homework for Monday (20/03)• Read Chapter 1 (“They Say”) from the book “They Say/I Say”