Thesis and Reasons

Directions: rewrite your thesis and reasons and post them. You must have 3-4 reasons to support your thesis. The reasons should reflect the workshopped thesis. If you were not present for the workshop, then post the best version of your thesis and reasons that you have.

The format should look something like this:

Thesis: Gloria Anzaldua uses stories in "Beyond Traditional Notions of Identity" in order to persuade her audience. In places, however, the stories might confuse the audience.

Reason One: Anzaldua's stories allow her to emotionally connect with her audience.
Reason Two: Anzaldua's stories provide personal experience to show her audience that she has experience with the issues she discusses throughout her essay.
Reason Three: Anzaldua's stories, while useful pathos and ethos, are not presented in a logical manner.
Reason Four: Anzaldua's stories also seem to veer off topic in places.

For those who have their thesis workshop on June 30^th, your blog is due before class on July 2^nd; for those who have their thesis workshop on July 2^nd, your blog is due before 5pm on Friday, July 4^th.

Reply to Classmate: Offer a suggestion to a classmate on how to improve the reasons. For instance, one or more of the reasons might seem to have nothing to do with the thesis. If you are confused by the relevancy of one or more of the reasons, then ask questions in order to allow your classmate to invent his/her own solutions to the problem. Reply due 5pm on Sunday, July 6th.

Rhetorical Appeals

Directions: Identify the following (you may have to do some research; make sure you cite correctly, and created a works cited page below all of your answers)

Part One: Read once and answer the questions before moving on to part two.

S - what is Swift writing about?
O - why is Swift writing this?
A - who is Swift writing this for?
P - is Swift trying to give information or persuade? What does he wish to persuade the audience of?

Part Two: Read again and answer the following questions:

How does Swift use ethos, logos and pathos to convince his audience? How does he use logical fallacies for the purposes of satire? Are there fallacies in his reasoning, given the time period in which he is writing? Is his tongue-in-cheek approach too extreme? Why or why not?

(Due before class on June 25th)

Reply to classmate: Ask a question about Part Two in order to get more information about where your classmate is coming from in his/her argument. Pick a classmate who has no replies under his/her response.

(Due by Friday, 5pm, June 27th)

Reply back for extra credit (5 points): answer the question your classmate asked.

(Due by Sunday, 5pm, June 29th)

Taking Stock

Directions: think about the semester so far. Think about writing the summary and paraphrase and the paper you just wrote. Answer the following two questions:

1. What one aspect of the class do you think helped you the most?
2. What is one thing you wish you knew more about (what would help you with your next few papers?)?

Keep your response to 200 words or less. You can put your response in list form or in paragraph form. Make sure that you really think about your answers. Let me help to make your semester more meaningful to you. Due before class on Wednesday, June 18th.

Response to a classmate (only one): Ask your classmate a question that you think will help to explain his/her answer better. Due by Sunday, June 22nd, by 5pm.

Introduction, Thesis and Conclusion

Directions: (remember that you will not have the skills to respond to this blog until after class on Monday, June 9th)

Part One:

Identify the following elements of the article by Hunter S. Thompson, "Security." You can respond to the questions in list or paragraph form.

1. The Introduction: what does he use to capture your attention? Are there words? Phrases? What kind of hook does he rely on?

2. Thesis: what is his main argument/thesis? How well do you think that he expresses his main argument? How well do you think he supports his main argument? Does he only have one argument?

3. The Conclusion: Does his conclusion effectively close out his argument? Does he introduce new arguments in his conclusion? 

(Be brief in your responses)

Part Two:

Re-write "Security" by paraphrasing Thompson's words. Make his work more academic by eliminating the questions and making statements. Re-write his conclusion so that it wraps up his work, rather than starting a new argument. (Keep to 200 words)

(Due before class on Wednesday, June 11th)

Reply to classmate: offer your classmates one suggestion on how they might improve their rewrites. Please refrain from offering compliments, unless you also offer assistance. You are the audience for this blog, and your classmates need to know how to appeal to you. What could your classmates have done to convince you better?

Be sure to reply to two of your classmates; be respectful and tactful; re-read your response before submitting (edit for grammar and spelling); and stick to the titanium rule: treat others the way you believe they would like to be treated; some of us have thicker skins than others.

(Both replies due before 5pm on Sunday, June 15th)