Agenda: Week 9

Week 9: Drafting Project 2

Class Info

• Dates: Wednesday, 3/20, Monday, 3/25
• Meeting Info: Meeting Info: 11:30am-12:45pm in room N522 OUR NEW ROOM!

Objectives

• To read op-ed/opinion essays as writers
• To continue drafting Project 2
• To continue researching.
• To consider employing ethos, pathos, and logos as appeals to connect with an audience
• To continue reading Nella Larsen’s Passing

For Wednesday, 3/26

Reading

• Research for Project 2: read several resources that you can consider referring to in your opinion essay.
• Reading/Writing resource: “Handout: Quoting Others (Purdue OWL).
• Reading/Writing resource: “The Quote Sandwich” (Washoe School District).
• Reading/Writing resource: “MLA Sample Works Cited Page (Purdue OWL).

Writing

• Continue drafting Project 2
• Share your sources as a comment in our discussion about Project 2 research.

In Class Wednesday, 3/26

• How do we convince or persuade someone? Look at Passing, pages 123-131. How does Irene convince Clare of the details of the event she’s planning, and how does Clare convince Irene to let her come? Look at the following passages and choose one to write about–and use the terms ethos, logos, and pathos if that’s helpful to you:
  • bottom of 123 “She hung up” to the bottom of 125
  • bottom of 125 to bottom of 127
  • 128-top of 131 “She gave in”
  • top of 131 “She gave in” to last full paragraph on 131.
• apart vs a part
  • what words did we not understand before that we now understand?
• Reviewing the features of the opinion essay for our drafts
  • opinion: start building it from the beginning, but it might not be stated directly
  • thesis statement: might not come at the beginning, might not be as direct as in more formal writing
  • call to action
  • counterpoint
  • audience/venue
  • ethos, logos, pathos
  • evidence/support
• where do we find these features in the op-eds we’ve read?
  • where do we find these three appeals in New York Times op-ed “TV’s Battle of the Binge: Why the Wait Can Be Worth It” by James Poniewozik? What about in the Indiana Daily Student op-ed “OPINION: Weekly episodes are better than binge watching” by Olivia Franklin?
• check-in about topics
• What research can we do to learn more about our topics?
  • spend 5 minutes researching part of your topic
  • what do you find?
  • how does it help you develop your opinion essay?
• from topic to thesis statement
• Drafting proposals–please bring your most complete draft possible for Monday, 4/1

For Monday, 3/31

No classes for Eid Al-Fitr. Eid Mubarak for all who observe the holiday!

For Wednesday, 4/2

Reading

• drafts of Project 2
• Research for Project 2

Writing

• take notes and annotate while researching
• draft/revise Project 2. If you share your draft with me, I can give you feedback!

In Class Wednesday, 4/2

• Freewrite: Choose any of these questions or a mix of them to reflect on your work for Project 2:
  • where are you with Project 2? What questions do you have? What are you feeling good about? What do you need to understand better? What will help you finish–and finish well–this week?
  • Thinking about whether to keep it to City Tech or expand to CUNY
  • Bibliography: what do we need to do? At the bottom of your opinion essay, add your sources and for each, add a few sentences explaining what it is and how you used it.
  • Use linking or, if need be, parenthetical citations to let your reader know what source you’re referring to when you support your claim with evidence.
  • find a balance between using sources for support and still getting your own voice in the opinion essay. This is hard when you’re finding lots of good sources!
  • Finishing a draft: have a draft by today, Wednesday, 4/2. Submit the final draft by Friday, 4/4.
  • It’s National Poetry Month! Let’s write a poem. Choose a word or phrase from your freewrite to add to our crowdsourced poem.
• 20 minutes: research, including City Tech website, other CUNY school websites, call to action: what do you want to see change, and find evidence to support that
• Self/Peer Review: answer these questions about your opinion essay and about your partner’s:
  • What are examples of ethos, pathos, and logos in your opinion essays?
  • What are examples of evidence in your opinion essays?
  • Which topics are we interested in reading?
  • Which calls to action would motivate us to action?
• Resource:
  • Writing resource for opinion essays: “Tips for Aspiring Op-Ed Writers” by Bret Stephens 
• Incorporating sources
  • Reading/Writing resource: “Handout: Quoting Others (Purdue OWL).
  • Reading/Writing resource: “The Quote Sandwich” (Washoe School District).
  • Reading/Writing resource: “MLA Sample Works Cited Page (Purdue OWL).
• Reviewing more mentor texts:

Photo Credit

“‘A Journey of Fun Exploration’ Dragon Street Art by lionrab2it in Taipei” by midnightbreakfastcafe via Flickr under the license CC BY 2.0.