Street mural that reads: See the bigger picture. Make a better world, Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.

Agenda: Week 7

Week 7:  Developing Research Topics and Questions

Class Info

  • Dates: Wednesday, 3/12, Monday, 3/17
  • Meeting Info: Meeting Info: 11:30am-12:45pm in room N521

Objectives

  • To read op-ed/opinion essays and find additional mentor texts
  • To propose topics and plans for Project 2
  • To consider research techniques and begin researching.

For Wednesday, 3/12

Reading

Writing

  • Work on the Project 2 Proposal

In Class Wednesday, 3/12

  • NYT video op-ed: “Greta Thunberg Has Given Up on Politicians”
    • reactions?
    • What is Thunberg’s argument?
    • How does Thunberg support her argument?
    • What is effective/less effective in her opinion piece?
    • What does the multimodal aspect do for her argument?
  • What is an Op Ed or an opinion essay?
  • Reading op-ed/opinion essays, including “What We Are Not Teaching Boys About Being Human” by Ruth Whippman What are the features of the op-ed/opinion essay genre?
  • Working towards Project 2 proposals:
    • what topic are you considering? freewrite about your topic or topics for 5 minutes. Share them in our Discussion on Opinion Topics
    • Offer feedback to classmates.
  • Next class: Presentations of proposals

For Monday, 3/17

Reading

Writing

  • Before the start of class on 3/17, add a comment to our Project 2 Proposal post to share your proposal, which will answer the following questions:
    • what topic are you interested in writing about?
    • what is the thesis or argument for your opinion essay?
    • within the suggested audiences, which are you aiming to reach?
    • what information will you need to support your opinion? what research will help you get that information?
  • Start researching your topic and share your ideas and results in our research discussion.

In Class Monday, 3/17

  • Read one of our opinion essay readings.
    • Where do they do the things we said opinion essays do?
    • What’s different?
    • What is the argument?
    • How is it successful?
    • Who is the audience?
  • Thinking about our topics: freewrite everything you know about your topic and other thoughts you have about your topic, including why you want to write about it.
    • if you wrote your freewrite electronically, please add it as a comment on this post or in our Project 2 Brainstorm discussion (I’ll add the link asap).
  • Research in opinion essays
    • How do our mentor texts use research? for example, in “What We Are Not Teaching Boys About Being Human”: data (book sales); quote from an expert (professor of psychology/author of a relevant book); refers to relevant professional organization; lived experience research of reading books with her children
    • how much of the opinion essay is the author’s opinion? how much is fact? how much research does it involve?
  • Student opinion essays
    • “Trapped in an Elevator, CUNY’s Lack of Funding Was No Longer Funny to Me” by Dana Kaldy (Hunter College) 
    • “Menstrual Products Should Be Available in Bathrooms” by Lauren Hakimi (Hunter College) 
    • “Police on Campus Offer Stress Rather than Safety” by Charon Fitzgerald (Queens College) 
    • Questions for groups to answer based on the student opinion essay:
    • What strategies do the opinion essay authors uses that you think is effective? What you like about each of those strategies? 
      • author’s own experiences–described or really detailed
      • interview other students and share/quote from their experiences in the interviews
      • language used can make it entertaining
    • How do these student opinion essays appeal to students?
      • validates readers’ experiences by reading that someone else experienced it
      • connection because of the same environment, community
      • makes us ask: do we feel the same way?
      • students can relate–expand the group of people experiencing this
    • What else could the author have done to strengthen their piece?   
      • use a high-profile example
    • What kind of evidence is given to help prove the point? What kind of evidence would enhance these opinion essays? Evidence can be in the form of, for example …
      • Statistics
      • News
      • Reports from credible organizations
      • Expert quotes
      • Scholarship
      • History
      • First-hand experience
      • Anecdotes (informal stories you’ve witnessed or heard)
    • What could this author have researched to make their piece stronger? What search terms? Where would you search? What can you find with a quick search?
      • Police on campus, violence, article from Harvard Crimson student newspaper
      • research that says the same thing the author does can amplify or emphasize it, isn’t just redundant
      • look at CUNY infrastructure; where does the budget go?
      • use hyperlinks–connects readers to research more directly
      • what’s the situation in other schools
    • What is another argument that the author could have made with the same points or supports?
  • What kind of research do you need to do? Start researching your topic and share your ideas and results in our research discussion.
    • Reading/Writing resource: “Sort Fact from Fiction with Lateral Reading” (Stanford History Education Group). If you like this video, you might also want to watch “How to Use Wikipedia Wisely” from the same group.
    • What search terms can you use for your research? What feedback does your group have for you to get you started researching?
    • What sources are you finding? Look for a discussion post asking you to share these on our OpenLab site before our next class.
  • Continue researching for Project 2

Photo Credit

“Art and Activism for Climate Action” by Fabrice Florin via Flickr under the license CC BY-SA 2.0 Deed.

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