I just came across this wonderful link to stories of a few Katrina survivors via National Public Radio’s Story Core project, and I had to share!

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Here are some of the extra thesis statement templates that you created in class on Wednesday, April 9:

7. It is often suggested that _____ can be resolved by either _____________ or ______________. However, no one really seems to suggest that __________ may be an acceptable or even better solution to a problem. The reason this may be helpful is that it mediates the extreme differences between ______ and ________ and takes the pros from each one and reduces the cons.

7. Both blank and blank provide different viewpoints about blank.  Although these opinions differ, ideas drawn from each can provide a solution with more benefits and fewer drawbacks.

7. Middleground between __________ and _____________ may seem impossible given that they find themselves on opposite ends of the same issue. However if each side is taken into consideration, the solutions offered by all parties can be mixed and channeled to make a better version of what there is now.

9.We universally agree that ____________ is immoral, but why is that when we see ______________ we tend to look the other way, or “carry” on with our lives. Furthermore, why isn’t there widespread dissonance on ___________?

9. It is commonly understood that ________________, however, we should all know that __________.

10. When trying to understand _________, you have to take ______________ into consideration because ________.

10.  To get a full understanding of ________ , it is of the utmost importance to ______.

11. Although ______ and _______ have been major issues, we can address these issues by _________ and _________

11. Given the prevalence of  ___________, future instances can be addressed by __________.

11. While ________ and _______ claim ___________, there seems to be a greater solution to __________, which is  ____________.

6. Although we have known about _________ for quite some time, further research on the subject can help us understand ____________.

For those of you who are considering doing the Project, here are a number  of past “Project Proposals” for you to peruse.  These are also great to look at if you are considering the project at all. You might get some good project ideas from these!  Project  Ideas

Again, for the project, you will have to write a detailed statement explaining your work. Here are two sample student project statements. Note that #1 has my comments on it, to illustrate what would have made the statement much stronger.

Sample Project Statement 1

Sample Project Statement 2

And finally, here are two of the sample Argument essays we looked at in class this week:

Student Sample Essay 1

Student Sample Essay 2

We will be working with this very question during this final week of research.  Of course, your sources must meet the guidelines in the Final Project Assignment sheets.  But there are also many more things to consider that will help you to narrow these sources down.

First, we will want to be researching and reading rhetorically as we finish up. Now that you are savvy about your topic,  you should have a sense of who you really want to use, or who will be credible or interesting to use, in your own conversation. We’ll review rhetorical concepts in class, and you will read about them in Ballenger.

Second, you will probably want to see what previous students have done.  Some have gone a bit outside of the requirements, but given their individual needs, I’ve approved  what might be slightly above the 4-source-limit or might draw from class readings. Here are some examples:

In the latter weeks of the semester, you will direct your research toward creating either a traditional academic argument essay OR the creation of an object that represents an argument or issue you’ve learned about.  For the essay option (assignment, rubric), you will write an argument essay, drawing on a small number of sources, in which you develop a position on a topic or an issue that you have been continuously researching/learning about, and build a case for understanding or action. The essay is not a research report; it is a researched, academic argument and it will require you to take an explicit position in relation to your topic, to analyze and complicate your topic, and to engage in conversation with a small number of other writers/thinkers—not to simply report a huge collection of data or facts.

For the project option (assignment, rubric), you will develop an object that reflects or responds to the course theme in a particular way—you will want your object to educate or make an argument of some kind. Your object must have practical use for an audience that you specify. You are encouraged to be very creative and innovative as you invent your object.  This project will require a written statement, which will account for your design choices, the sources you used in your research, and a justification of what issues/arguments your object defines.

During the unit we will:

1. Learn about the genre of the researched argument
2. Continue “exploratory” and secondary research about our topics
3. Learn about conducting, analyzing, and writing about primary research
4. Narrow down our research question into a specific, localized topic of investigation
5. Develop claims FROM the research itself, or the research process, for our arguments
6. Workshop our writing-in-progress and projects-in-progress collaboratively
7. Work with rhetorical appeals and imaginary audiences as we invent our arguments and our objects

It will be important, as a starting point for your Argument Essay/Project, to develop a research plan, narrow your topic, and devote a lot of effort to your initial research.  You will also want to continually revisit your topic and see how ongoing exploratory research can help you narrow down your investigative focus.  For the project, it is important to start thinking about what you might like to create, and jot down ideas as you have them.  You can discuss preliminary ideas for the project with me at any time.

The Symposium

Bruce Ballenger states in The Curious Researcher: “The purpose of research writing is not simply to show readers what you know.  It is an effort to extend a conversation about a topic that is ongoing, a conversation that includes voices of people who have already spoken, often in different contexts and perhaps never together” (16).  Your audience for this project is, in part, your colleagues in this class and I.  Your work will be held accountable by us. Like most academic communities, we are community of learners who are becoming knowledgeable about these issues, and developing our own opinions about them. Now, it’s time to develop a narrowed, focused, “expert” position on a relevant topic about disaster politics that you can confidently and genuinely present to us.

 As you are finalizing your papers, our class will hold a symposium (over the course of a few class meetings) where you will share your work-in-progress with everyone else.  This will be a way to close our discussion of our subject matter and to workshop our hypotheses. Please anticipate this event—it’s listed on the calendar.

After weeks of messing around with the behind-the-scenes of my Expressions site, I can finally display all of your blog posts on this homepage.  If you look to your right, you’ll see a new section called “WRT 205 Student Blogs.” This is a running update of all of your most recent posts! Of course I’ve limited the number of posts that actually show up, but each time one of you posts to your blog, it will show up a little while later on this list.

There are some great advantages to this. The best one is that now you guys can see each others’ blog posts, gather ideas from each other, and compare your work.  It might even instill a little competition between you–let’s see who can come up with a catchy post title so others will want to click on their post and read it! One other advantage is that you now will have a concrete public audience–each other.

There is at least one disadvantage that I can think of; if you post your work late, everyone will know.  I hope you’ll be a humble audience and not judge each other for that, though. At least it’s an extra incentive to post your work on time.

I hope that this is one way we can make our digital presence more public, more open, and more conversational.

Hi all! Here is a copy of the paragraph that we workshopped today in class. Remember that this works well with the Forwarding Sources Rhetorically handout that I mentioned in class. Thanks again, Kyle, for your generousity and willingness to be a 'guinea pig'!

I have just posted the Synthesis Essay requirements to the calendar, and they are also attached here: Synthesis Essay. I will distribute printed copies next week.

Welcome to my WordPress blog–our main site for WRT 205.  Please browse the links above for the Syllabus, Course Description, and Calendar.  The Calendar includes links to download your assignments. You will find other helpful links to the right. I will post weekly (and sometimes daily) updates to this blog throughout the semester. Bookmark this site and check in often! You can subscribe to the blog via email (see bottom right *Follow button), or add my blog to your RSS reader.

Here is our semester at a glance; this illustrates the trajectory of our course.  It should help you to envision the next 14 weeks and to imagine how your portfolio will take shape over the semester.