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Sunday, November 18, 2012

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Rhet & Comp, Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Assignments: Write final, formal draft of Essay #4. Use discussion and class activities to lead your revision efforts.

Log on to the Stockton database and take a closer look at the videos for Academic Search Complete and Lexis Nexis.

Now...watch the attached documentary. The politics and social movement is one thing, and I, for one, think it's pretty freaking cool, but....please respond to it as Journal # 10 from the perspective of what this documentary says about our class' work about credibility, sources, academic reading and strong research.

This free, youtube version (hell yea!) has a mini-doc before the actual movie starts, please skip it, by scrubbing up to 9:12 on the video.



Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Hurricane Sandy announcement for Costal's students

I have mentioned this in a few different places, but since I know it takes a few times, I will say it again.

If you have any hardships resulting from the recent extreme weather that impede participation in any of my courses, please reach out to me as soon as possible via e-mail. Just e-mail me, and I will give you my cell if you want to talk.

Hang in and hope all is well.

R & C, Wednesday, November 6, 2012 - NOW CANCELED FOR 6PM

Dear 6pm Class: Miss you guys! Haven't seen you in so long. But sitting here in K wing with Nicole and Nick and Mark...and the conditions are getting worse and worse. Can't risk your safety. Need to cancel class for tonight. Be safe. Go home. 

Below please find an assignment that we would've spent time discussing. Do the best you can with it. Please use this weekend to get some of it done as time will be of the essence when we get back on track. But if you get confused...I understand...just do your best and we'll discuss it Monday. 

I hope you are well. Campus was a ghost town today, and several of my other students have not been back on campus since Sandy. If you have been affected by the storm in a meaningful way, please reach out to me, so I know. 

--Costal

The tenets of Evaluating Quality are outlined below. .

EVALUATING QUALITY:
1.  Are opinions adequately supported? Choose at least one opinion from the text and show how the author supports it. 

2.  Are facts verifiable? Provide a stated fact from the article and explain how (if at all) the author verifies the fact. 

3. Is the material out-dated or timely? Provide example(s).

4. Is the author credible? Why? How does she prove it?

5. Are sources cited? If so, which ones and how?

6. Is the reasoning logical? Is the text free of fallacies and obvious propaganda?

Choose one of the two attached articles. Read them. Annotate and hold them up to the tenets of EQ as discussed in class. Put some time and thought into applying the concepts. Be prepared to discuss these concepts in class on Monday.

Then as Formal Essay #4, write a rebuttal or agreement to the concepts (or one concept) discussed in the article. Be sure to consider the EQ ideas when either attacking or reinforcing the your point. Be sure to develop your own thesis based on either agreement or disagreement with the author. Be sure to incorporate at least one other source into your writing. Cite and attribute that source.

The first article is an interesting indictment of the American male's diet of football.
Read it here.

The second is an article from The Guardian about teens and their technology.

Friday, November 2, 2012

R & C, Monday, Wednesday & Monday: October 24 - November 5th

Well gang, needless to say, it has been an eventful week for us all. I hope this message finds everyone well -- healthy and coping. With the college closed most of last week and the barrier islands in disarray, we need to regroup.

However, there will be no class on Monday, November 5th. 

Despite this, there are some things we will need to catch up on. The following journals should be completed before our next class together on Wednesday, November 7th. 

First, check out this news from NPR: Take that Michael Skube!

New York Times blogger Constance Hale writes an interesting defense of verbage. Read and write Journal #7 about verbs. Respond to the piece thematically, maybe find some Google-searched verbs of your own. If at a loss, talk about the power of verbs in your young lives. I think we, as a society, do not generally put enough into the power and plausibility of verbs, then again, maybe I'm a dork. 

Read This I Believe essays on pages 38 & 59. Choose one and analyze on the all three levels of academic reading. This writing assignment should be Journal #8.