RHET 1101

As of now, the length requirement of our final paper is 8 pages. I thought I remembered Maggie saying someting about the paper could be between 6-10 pages depending on how long it takes to write a good argumentive paper. I think that this should be the case for the final paper. I'm not sure about the rest of you, but it is very hard for me to write a paper when I'm worried about length. If my paper comes short of the required length, I find myself rambling on in order to fill up space. If the paper is too long, I am forced to cut out important content.

Posted by Jeffrey Wiesner at 9:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I completely understand where you are coming from! We read off two different topic claims over and over but how am I supposed to know what claims they could be missing? If I haven't researched the topic, I won't know what else they could and should be researching for. It seems the claims assignment was just to get our ideas and rebuttals down on paper so we can continue on the next process which is the working draft. I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving break...we are almost done!

Posted by Courtney Miller at 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

While I think peer review can be a very helpful thing when I'm writing a paper, I don't feel that it helps me at all when all I have are my claims. I wasn't entirely sure what was wanted as far as the claims, so how am I supposed to critique someone elses when they are writing on a totally different topic than me? Unless I researched that topic myself, how am I to know that those aren't the best claims to be made? I just don't feel that I have anything useful to say about a topic I know nothing about.

Posted by Amy Gallenberger at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Ok, so maybe I missed something in the brief description of the extra credit assignment. Is the assignment not to evaluate the rhetorical appeal or claims presented in a documentary of our choice? Given that this description holds true, I see no reason why we couldn't evaluate a "mocumentary" or any other media that presents sufficient claims and/or rhetorical appeal to fill two pages worth of evaluation. I honestly think that I could write two pages about the rhetorical context of the implicit arguments of political and societal sidenotes made in one episode of The Simpsons. Correct me if I'm wrong, I've only ever seen one full episode of that t.v. show.

Posted by Collin Benkler at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I think the claims assignment is not a bad idea. I think we are learning how to form our paper and process we need to take in writing a ten page paper rather then cramming the day before it is due. I like how Maggie has set individual due dates for specific tasks making sure we are on track with our paper. The claims assignment should help you form your argument by what type of claims you are going to make within the paper relating to your main topic and thesis. Although you may not have an exact thesis or an exact argument after doing the claims assignment you should be able to form one large argument from your claims.

Posted by Sam Hager at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I think the claims assignment is not a bad idea. I think we are learning how to form our paper and process we need to take in writing a ten page paper rather then cramming the day before it is due. I like how Maggie has set individual due dates for specific tasks making sure we are on track with our paper. The claims assignment should help you form your argument by what type of claims you are going to make within the paper relating to your main topic and thesis. Although you may not have an exact thesis or an exact argument after doing the claims assignment you should be able to form one large argument from your claims.

Posted by Sam Hager at 11:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I know its way to late to be posting this, but how exactly are we supposed to be writing these claims and are they getting graded? I have outlined it so it states the claim used and thats about it. any ideas or help you guys have or can give me please write it! Thanks - Alex

Posted by Alex Rahmlow at 11:02 PM | Permalink

The claims part of this final paper seems to be a waste of time. Like somebody previously said in the blog by now everybody knows what their claims are going to be. Maybe we should've had our claims ready when we had our one-on-one appointments early in this whole process.

Posted by Jacob Kartak at 5:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I am also terrifyed of having to put together an eight page paper that will have an enormous impact on my grade. I'm not so sure I am a good writer under pressure. It does seem like we have slowly been building up to the final product but I guess I never realized how fast it was coming up

Posted by Jacob Kartak at 5:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Is anyone else a little freaked by the fact that our final paper is due in two weeks? I know that this process has helped us to slowly develop our paper into a concise finished product, but hasn't the same process also almost put the paper on a pedestal that scares the hell out of you?

Posted by Nate Benz at 4:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Lately, I think our class has really become comfortable with each other and everyone now has the ability to express their ideas verbally instead of just in a blog. This is a great thing because ideas being exchanged and debated freely is really what we came to college for. Sure you can learn things by memorizing facts in a textbook, but discussion, debate, rebuttal is where you can synthesize what you learn into life.

Posted by Nate Benz at 4:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I like the idea of the working draft for our final paper. I know I will use this opportunity to write essentially another rough draft and get even more feedback towards my final product. It will help in the long run because the more times you look at your paper, the more flaws you see and you can fix them. This forces you to do that.

Posted by Nate Benz at 4:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I think that the claims part of this part is a waste of time. I think we all know by now what we intend our paper to be concerning, and writing this down and having someone review it just seems redundant. What can you really say to someone's claims while peer reviewing it? Your ideas are bad?

Posted by Nate Benz at 4:06 PM | Permalink

Ok to answer your question about "sound as smart as possible" I would have to say yes. Although I can only say this in reguard to about 6 papers and reading a few of my friends. But it is a different style of writing. If you have any other questions about studying abroad in Australia I am here, about location? school choice? Program to travel with? Just let me knnow, Im more than willing to help!

Posted by Courtney Miller at 5:37 PM | Permalink

Ok to answer your question about "sound as smart as possible" I would have to say yes. Although I can only say this in reguard to about 6 papers and reading a few of my friends. But it is a different style of writing. If you have any other questions about studying abroad in Australia I am here, about location? school choice? Program to travel with? Just let me knnow, Im more than willing to help!

Posted by Courtney Miller at 5:37 PM | Permalink

I know we went through that exercise in class about how to distinguish between scholarly and non-scholarly books, but when my roommate recently asked me how she might be able to tell, I wasn't able to give her much advice. I basically told her that she could find hints from the type of source (publisher, author), the use of language (ex: personal narratives not likely to show up in scholarly literature), and the usage of pictures and color in the book she was looking at. Any other hints to help her out???

Posted by Elyse Beck at 3:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I am an avid gamer, mainly chess though. I do still enjoy video games however. Mainly strategy, but I do like to unwind with a mindless first person shooter. Last night, I watched a CNBC special on video games, the history of the techonology and the wars within the industry. Sony blew the gamecube away with the PS2, but I don't know if it was actually a superior system, it definitely had better marketing. My favorite series of all time is the legend of zelda, so I picked up a cube late in the game to play windwaker....

Nintendo though might have a chance to regain dominance in the market. While PS2 was about 100 bucks more than gamecube, most gamers bought PS2 because of the titles that had committed to Sony. As nintendo was painted as a kiddy brand. However, now, with the Wii only $250, and the PS3 $600, I just can't see how the PS3 can stay competitive. To me, it would certainly not be worth 350 bucks to stay "brand loyal."

Posted by Michael Fellman at 1:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Last semester I studied abroad in Sydney, Australia, I had the best time! If you have the means of studying abroad, DO IT!! Studying at a different school was challenging because I had to comepletely adjust to a different learning style. Writing a paper there compared to at the U is at two opposite ends of the spectrum. Here you can use "I" in a paper, and you for sure can't use "I" in a paper over there. The point was to try to sound as smart as possible, compared to here when its about getting to the point in a clear and consise manner. Anyway, writing styles can vary, I believe it's just about finding the one that works best for you. Have a great Thanksgiving everyone, safe travels!

Posted by Courtney Miller at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Now that Play Station 2 and XBOX have become obselete, I am getting to the point where I would like to buy a new system. I have always been a Sony fan, but now Ps3 will be very expensive. I decided to do a pro-con list

Ps3:
Pro: Sony, Easy Controller, Great Graphics
Con: Expensive, Limited systems available

XBOX360:
Pro: HD, Great Graphics
Con: Big Chunky Controller

Nintendo Wii: I dont know much about.

If anyone wants to help me come up with reasons to buy one, or just want to chime in on video games system world. RESPOND!

Posted by Mark Divine at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)

Well for the the 2nd posting today, I would like to talk about this assignment. As much as I hate the length and how short of a time we have to do it, it could be extremely useful! Lets be serious, we will have probably done all the research needed for the final paper we need to write by now. We are not all the way done, but about 80% there. The literature review could easily be a template for the introduction paragraphs for the final paper. So as much as this assignment is killing us, it will hopefully be amazingly helpful.

Posted by Sherief Elabbady at 8:27 PM | Permalink

Well for the the 2nd posting today, I would like to talk about this assignment. As much as I hate the length and how short of a time we have to do it, it could be extremely useful! Lets be serious, we will have probably done all the research needed for the final paper we need to write by now. We are not all the way done, but about 80% there. The literature review could easily be a template for the introduction paragraphs for the final paper. So as much as this assignment is killing us, it will hopefully be amazingly helpful.

Posted by Sherief Elabbady at 8:27 PM | Permalink

Well for the the 2nd posting today, I would like to talk about this assignment. As much as I hate the length and how short of a time we have to do it, it could be extremely useful! Lets be serious, we will have probably done all the research needed for the final paper we need to write by now. We are not all the way done, but about 80% there. The literature review could easily be a template for the introduction paragraphs for the final paper. So as much as this assignment is killing us, it will hopefully be amazingly helpful.

Posted by Sherief Elabbady at 8:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)

I was not surprised with how the quzes turned out for our class. I did bad. The reason a lot of people did bad is because the quizes are not worth that much, and there was too much to look over. I read the sections, but it obviously forgot a lot fo the material. When I sat down to study, I saw how much we had to look over and gave up instantly. I was also under the impression that we would get a week notification in advance, which was not the case with this quiz. As a regular college student, I worked all weekend and simply did not have the time to read over all of those chapters again.

Posted by Sherief Elabbady at 8:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

When I was searching for sources yesterday I was wondering if sources we find and access online count as online sources if they are manuscripts of a speech or presentation that someone has given. Many of the sources that I was able to find on the indexes are of this sort and this is very convenient if they don't count as online sources because they are much easier to access via the internet than books or journals that I would have to hunt down in the libraries. This was just a thought that occurred to me while I was searching and decided that it would be safer not to assume anything as far as citation and all that fun stuff goes.

Posted by Gil Wenzel at 7:03 AM | Permalink

How exactly do you start a literature review? I looked at all those websites that Maggie sent us and they make sense with what you need to include in the literature review, but I have no idea how to start it. None of the websites had any examples so I'm lost. How has anyone else started their literature review???

Posted by Jennifer Nomura at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

When we were told in class that we were going to have a quiz on Tuesday, I was very suprised. I thought that we were going to do one or the other, quizzes or vacation. I think that it is a little hard to study for a quiz thats only 10 points, when there are pages and pages of information that the quiz might be on. When ever we have quizzes I never know what to look over, I just make sure that I have read the pages that were suppose to be read and take the quiz. I also thinks that it makes it tougher since we dont go through a little summary of the chapters that we will be quizzed on. I know thats porbably high school, but i'm so used to having everything told to me, but I am happy thats its only worth one percent of our grade.

Posted by Salma Bagha at 9:13 PM | Permalink

I thought we spent last Tuesday's classtime perfectly. The time we took to make sure everyone was finding scholarly sources was beneficial. Going into last Tuesday I was having a lot of trouble find sources but between Maggie walking around and other classmates I found all the sources I needed

Posted by Jacob Kartak at 9:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Oh dear, another blog, and I don't know what to say, besides the fact that I'm SO overwhelmed with the thought of writing this paper. Organic farming vs industrial farming.. ugh. Don't get me wrong, I am extremely interested in the topic, that is not the downfall of the paper by any means, however, I am dreading the process of finding sources with good supporting evidence for the points I would like to make. I think part of my problem has been my researching technique. I research with a specific point in mind and that probably hinders me from finding other valuable support. I like this paper though, I really do. Organic farming is interesting and inspiring and the more I learn about industrial farming, the more I want to cry and lock everyone away into small communites with little farms and little houses and little local markets. This world is getting too big for itself! At least in my little opinion..

Posted by Gwendolyn Ruehle at 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

While reading from the writer's reference text I find myself being bored silly. After only about a half page I ready to pull out a lighter and start a small fire with my book, and I am sure these thoughts will only become more tempting once we get to more seasonable temperatures. I also find, after forcing myself through the readings, the content actually affects how I write. The material that I had been forcing myself to read is actually beneficial to how I structure my sentences and my entire paper.

Posted by Matthew Lowrey at 7:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Hey, I can't seem to get into the website that gives us examples of annotated bibliographies and literature reviews. I am wondering if anyone else has had similar problems?? Also, regarging the Literature Review, are we supposed to summerize what WE will be covering, or is it the SUBJECT we are researching's themes, patterns, and views?

Posted by Alex Rahmlow at 1:02 PM | Permalink

I understand the point of doing the bibliography and support it. The one thing I do not understand is the purpose of the literature review. I understand what the idealized reason for creating it is; "to synthesize research on a single topic and to inform the audience of patterns or themes in research on that topic." I feel that this is more like a mini-paper. It has an intro and a conclusion and it guides readers through the state of the topic. That is essentially what we are going to do in ten pages later. Maybe it is because I am sick that I think this I don’t know?

Posted by Matthew Josephson at 4:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

When I was reviewing (this weekend) for the Quiz on November 7th, I realized that some of the stuff that we needed to know (STAR, Citing), were things that we had to read about starting a month ago. We haven't really reviewed or discussed them since the discussion in class. I really wish that maybe when we talked about the chapters and pages for the quiz, that we did a brief rundown. Although I reviewed, I still think it will be tough to remember exactly what is needed to do well on this. Also, as a class we decided on "Vacation", meaning that the quiz became an utter shock because normally this class had been a democracy with a leader, but now became an autocracy. My guess is that the scores on this quiz will be lower than the past.

Posted by Mark Divine at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I've known what an annotated bibliography is for a couple years now and I still haven't figured out why the annotations are necessary. If someone wants to know more about a source I used they can go read about it themselves because I just got done writing a big paper and there is no sense in making me write more. If it matters that much to them they can do a little work!

Posted by Gabe Chase at 8:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I dont know about the rest of you, but I am having a problem trying to find 7 more scholarly journals. I am doing my paper on Nuclear Weapons in North Korea and I think that it is too recent of an issue to find a lot of scholarly journals on the topic. There are some out there, but they all date back to a few years ago. Since North Korea has declared itself a nuclear country, there have been no scholarly journals that I have found. Is anyone else having problems trying to find scholarly journals on your topic?

Posted by Jeffrey Wiesner at 7:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

So, as all of you may have noticed recently, there is a new internet explorer out there. Since everyone pretty much uses the internet and mainly internet explorer I am assuming, how do you guys like it so far? Personally, I think it is much better than the older version and the features are alot better and its about time they came out with a newer one!

Posted by fishx087 at 6:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

In one of my classes this week, I learned that 67% of marriages fail. What does that say about our society? Are we doomed for failure even before we start. If your parents are already divorced you have a higher precentage of getting divorced than children that didn't go through a divorce. I know this is depressing but I thought it was interesting at the same time. Have a good week everyone!

Posted by Courtney Miller at 11:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

So.... In class Maggie said something that was absolutely hilarious and I felt the need to share it with you guys in the other class--and to remind and make my class chuckle. Yesterday we were discussing the differend types of arguments in chapter 10, I can't think the name off the top of my head--the argument was "abortion is like murder," so whatever you'd consider that... (sorry! someone specify? I'm too caught up in this example!)... after the presentation of this type of argument, Maggie said... "Oh here! I have a really great example that I like to think of for this kind of argument! 'Abortion is like murder,' hmmm... Well, let's say you have a big bucket of DEATH *draws a bucket labeled "death" on the white board* and you want to decide what should go in the bucket...."

It's sad because I can't remember which argument this was for, but I remember this example so well.

So then she continues to talk about whether abortion is considered murder or similarly, if a DWI resulting in a manslaughter is considered murder--based on the intent behind it... explaining how, either way, the outcome is death....

then the question became, does it still get chucked in the "bucket of death" even if it's manslaughter or even like assisted suicide? or are there separate buckets labeled manslaughter and suicide? even though they all end in death and really COULD go go in the bucket of death....

Interesting example. I guess you had to be there, but it was ridiculously funny!
It's nice to have a teacher that falls in the "sense of humor" bucket. :)

Posted by Mollie Thompson at 8:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ok so for the final paper now that we have our topic/issue selected, do we have to take a stand on that issue? At first I thought that you could just present both sides of the topic and let your readers pick a side on their own and you don't have to pick one personall, but after the peer review it seems like other people think that you do have to pick a side. I could pick a side if I have to about the topic, but I really could go either way and I would just rather not pick one. I just want my audience to pick for themselves a side of the issue.

Posted by Jennifer Nomura at 5:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I think that the prospectus was actually a little harder than it seemed because you had to make sure that you followed all the guidelines. While we were peer reviewing it in class I learned that you had to make sure that you identified the audience and make sure that your outline followed the steps to make sure that it was geared toward you audeince. I also found out that we had to make sure that our topic was narrow, but not too narrow. When we first stared this I thought we were just giong to pick a topic and start writing about it having on that one thing that we were looking for about the topic. I also found that it wasn't al that easy finding scholarly sources for me. There were some sources that I found that sounded like they would be scholarly.

Posted by Salma Bagha at 4:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)