Summary speech practice
Find a well-known historic speech and evaluate it using the following three questions:
1. What is the author saying? (main idea)
2. How is the author saying it (appeal to logos, pathos, ethos)?
3. What evidence from the text supports what you wrote on #2?
Article summary practice
Find an article from a database of academic journal articles (EBSCO, Pioneer Online, Google Scholar, etc.). Summarize the article by answering the following questions:
Social media analysis
Alchemist quickwrite
Write at least 1/2 a page on the following prompt:
National Geographic analysis
Grab a copy of National Geographic in class (or any other magazine) and answer the following 6 questions for 6 random page-flips. You do NOT have to go really in-depth in your answers or answer every single one of the following questions. This is just practice for future analysis work:
1. What, specifically, is the text about? In other words, what content does it attempt to cover and/or explain? What "type" of text is it? That is, under what discipline or field would you categorize it? What overall purpose does the text serve? For example, is it meant to answer a question, pose a problem, add to research on a given topic, introduce a new idea, summarize someone else's ideas, or some other purpose? How can you tell?
2. Who are the authors of the text? Is any biographical information given about them? What qualifies them to write on this subject? Are the authors "present" in the text through the use of personal pronouns ("I" or "we") or self-reference, or are they never referred to?
3. Where does this text appear? What, from the journal or magazine or from the article itself, can you tell about its anticipated readers? For example, are they well versed in the topic, novices...? What specific details lead you to these conclusions about the audience? What would the reader have to be interested in to read this text? What do the authors seem to expect their readers to do or think based on the argument/information presented in this text? Do you feel you are part of the intended audience of this text? Why or why not?
4. Is the authors' opinion clear or is the information presented as "objective"? Do the authors include and/or critique other viewpoints? Are other viewpoints presented as critique of the authors' viewpoint, so that the authors can refute them, or simply presented? How do the authors position this piece? In other words, does the piece refer to current events, personal experience, and/or a review of research or discussions on the topic to show how this piece "fits into the conversation" about this topic?
5. How great a role do previous research and sources play? When references are used, which ones receive the most discussion? Which ones the least? Why might some references warrant more discussion than others? Are authors or studies ever referred to without formal introductions or explanations? Where? Why do you think the authors refrain from explaining or introducing these sources?
6. What type of proof, if any, is used to defend conclusions or main ideas in the text (e.g., references to other work, interpretations of other work, original research, personal experience, author's opinions, critical analysis, etc.)? Try to name every type of proof that is offered.
Is one type of proof used more often than another or to the exclusion of all others? If so, which one? Why might this type of proof be used more? What type of analysis is the proof subject to, if any? In other words, do the authors simply present something as a fact? Do they argue for a conclusion's validity? Do they analyze a piece of information in a certain way? Do they ever qualify their argument? What kind of proof seems to carry the most weight? What proof is the most authoritative in terms of the audience accepting it without question? The least?
Annotated articles (1 & 2)
1. Find a journal article from an academic resource (academic journal). Print out the article and annotate it.
2. Find an article from a non-academic resource (magazine, newspaper, etc.). Print out the article and annotate it as well.
Essays due in Term 2:
1. Discourse Community essay
2. Summary and Review essay
Find a well-known historic speech and evaluate it using the following three questions:
1. What is the author saying? (main idea)
2. How is the author saying it (appeal to logos, pathos, ethos)?
3. What evidence from the text supports what you wrote on #2?
Article summary practice
Find an article from a database of academic journal articles (EBSCO, Pioneer Online, Google Scholar, etc.). Summarize the article by answering the following questions:
- Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
Social media analysis
- Pick a post that you (or someone else) have made on social media
- Who, specifically, did you hope would see the post?
- In what ways did you want your audience(s) to respond?
- What motivated you to post on that particular site over another, if you have more than one social networking platform?
- Is the post an image, text, or combination? If it’s a combination, what did you hope to accomplish by adding a caption?
- Why did you believe the image/text warranted posting in the first place?
- Is there anyone you hope did NOT see the post?
Alchemist quickwrite
Write at least 1/2 a page on the following prompt:
- King Melchizedek tells the boy that when we are children, “everything is clear and everything is possible,” but as time passes, mysterious forces convince us to abandon our dreams. Do you think this is true? What are the “mysterious forces” that threaten to hold us back as we grow older, if they exist?
National Geographic analysis
Grab a copy of National Geographic in class (or any other magazine) and answer the following 6 questions for 6 random page-flips. You do NOT have to go really in-depth in your answers or answer every single one of the following questions. This is just practice for future analysis work:
1. What, specifically, is the text about? In other words, what content does it attempt to cover and/or explain? What "type" of text is it? That is, under what discipline or field would you categorize it? What overall purpose does the text serve? For example, is it meant to answer a question, pose a problem, add to research on a given topic, introduce a new idea, summarize someone else's ideas, or some other purpose? How can you tell?
2. Who are the authors of the text? Is any biographical information given about them? What qualifies them to write on this subject? Are the authors "present" in the text through the use of personal pronouns ("I" or "we") or self-reference, or are they never referred to?
3. Where does this text appear? What, from the journal or magazine or from the article itself, can you tell about its anticipated readers? For example, are they well versed in the topic, novices...? What specific details lead you to these conclusions about the audience? What would the reader have to be interested in to read this text? What do the authors seem to expect their readers to do or think based on the argument/information presented in this text? Do you feel you are part of the intended audience of this text? Why or why not?
4. Is the authors' opinion clear or is the information presented as "objective"? Do the authors include and/or critique other viewpoints? Are other viewpoints presented as critique of the authors' viewpoint, so that the authors can refute them, or simply presented? How do the authors position this piece? In other words, does the piece refer to current events, personal experience, and/or a review of research or discussions on the topic to show how this piece "fits into the conversation" about this topic?
5. How great a role do previous research and sources play? When references are used, which ones receive the most discussion? Which ones the least? Why might some references warrant more discussion than others? Are authors or studies ever referred to without formal introductions or explanations? Where? Why do you think the authors refrain from explaining or introducing these sources?
6. What type of proof, if any, is used to defend conclusions or main ideas in the text (e.g., references to other work, interpretations of other work, original research, personal experience, author's opinions, critical analysis, etc.)? Try to name every type of proof that is offered.
Is one type of proof used more often than another or to the exclusion of all others? If so, which one? Why might this type of proof be used more? What type of analysis is the proof subject to, if any? In other words, do the authors simply present something as a fact? Do they argue for a conclusion's validity? Do they analyze a piece of information in a certain way? Do they ever qualify their argument? What kind of proof seems to carry the most weight? What proof is the most authoritative in terms of the audience accepting it without question? The least?
Annotated articles (1 & 2)
1. Find a journal article from an academic resource (academic journal). Print out the article and annotate it.
2. Find an article from a non-academic resource (magazine, newspaper, etc.). Print out the article and annotate it as well.
Essays due in Term 2:
1. Discourse Community essay
2. Summary and Review essay