Just a Reminder

Final paper and journals (unless otherwise handed in) as well as reflection paper (8pm class only) MUST be emailed to jcostal@geh.nj.k12us.com by Wednesday, 11:59 p.m.

Thanks for a great semester. Keep writing.

Rhetoric & Comp Only -- Reflective Essay Sample Links fixed

Reflective Essay Sample

December 4, 2013

Class will be short tonight. Our primary objectives:

1. hand back and discuss Lit Analysis papers: PERVASIVE ISSUES:
                            1. Insufficient evidence
                            2. Not enough specific support or reference to                                          document based data
                                                                                  3. Still mechanical and sentence issues (THOUGH                                                                                           THERE HAS BEEN SO MUCH                                                                                                                 IMPROVEMENT IN THIS AREA -- thank you                                                                                         : ))) for your hardwork....but--two words:                                                                                                     WRITING CENTER
2. Some pervasive issues from Family Conferences: A. Abstract/APA format resources, B. Direct               Quotations revisit, C. Son of Citation Machine

3. Take final questions about any outstanding work

4. Collect all hard copy work. Tonight is the final night to turn in revisions.

*Please send all work as attachments, not in the body of an email. Please send journals in one e-mail, not 10 different e-mails.

December 2, 2013 UPDATE -- ALL CLASSES!

Costal's Family Conferences will meet around the corner from our classroom in E226e. This will give us a comfortable, quiet space to work on the papers. Thank you.

Class #23: Family Conference

FAMILY CONFERENCE SCHEDULE:  All conferences will meet in Room 210...on the second floor of the Stockton library. If the 8 o'clock class shows up to use my room, we will move around the corner from that room into one of the study rooms in that hallway between the Holocaust Center and room 201. 

6:30: Chris, Kenny, Roshni

6:45: Alli, Frank, Nicole

7:00: Arsene, Brandon, Marisa

7:15: Courtlyn, Nhat, Stan

7:30: Mark, Lance, Alyssa, Ricky & Jaimie

7:45: Brianna, Taylor, Kelly, Nick

8pm: Zach, Aaliyah, Chris, Sal

8:15pm: Nasya, Jayson, Sarah, Steve

8:30: Maddi, Melissa, JT & Shawn

8:45: Francesco, Victoria, John

Class #22: Rounding Third: PLEASE BRING YOUR FAMILY'S BOTTOM LINE STATEMENT

Housekeeping: Return papers, Assignment Q & A, IDEA Reminder

Activity: Preparation for Research Proposal: Please help each member of your family with the following:

1. A debatable research question
2. Appropriate sources (at least three...with citations, so I know you are on the right path)

Some of you may need only highlight this on your Literature Review...some may need to actually go out and find these parameters. But the entire family is responsible for getting each member approved with these concepts. Basically, I am FORCING you to work together and attempting to DRAG you through proper preparation for this paper. It will be quick and easy for some, difficult for others, but I do not want anyone confused on this process.

If time...Bottom Line presentation and Cross Examination!

Class #21: Presentations and Class Schedule

PLEASE DON'T FORGET ABOUT IDEA FORMS. 

Tonight we will have presentations of last week's assignments and a quick, extra credit scavenger hunt. 

AFTER...we review the remaining classes:

Major Deadlines: 

Final Paper Proposal (Due Monday, December 2nd. Final Paper, Journals & Reflection paper (Rhet & Comp only) due on a rolling basis by 11:59 pm on Wednesday, December 11th. 

Electronic delivery is acceptable for all but the FINAL PAPER PROPOSAL or REFLECTIVE ESSAY (RHET & COMP ONLY)

Any paper can be resubmitted for points...including the lit analysis...which you will have Monday (but the catch is that ALL previous drafts must be included...MUST be submitted as a hard copy ON or BEFORE December 9th. 

Journal #9: Please write a reflection on your first semester at Stockton. What are some of the biggest lessons you learned? How have you grown? What will you do differently next semester?

Class #20: Actividad de familia parte dos!

By Wednesday, the blog will contain an outline of the remainder of the course. Expectations, due dates, deadlines and remaining course outline. 

CLASS: Lit Review share-around and question grab bag!

Family Activity
Ok, now that you have your research done. Get with your families and structure a quick, one-page-typed, basic argument that either proves or disproves your claim. The structure of the argument should be:


INTERESTING, ANECDOTAL INTRO

EVIDENCE ONE

CONCLUSION

EVIDENCE TWO

CONCLUSION

BOTTOM LINE STATEMENT

The example.

FOR WEDNESDAY: The Family "Bottom Line" Paper: Please print your paper and provide each family (and me) with a copy of your work including bibliography (so four to six copies). Be prepared to briefly present and defend your findings.

Class #19: Actividades de la Familia

Class Activity One: 

Ok, now that you have your research done. Get with your families and structure a quick, one-page-typed, basic argument that either proves or disproves your claim. The structure of the argument should be:

INTERESTING, ANECDOTAL INTRO

EVIDENCE ONE

CONCLUSION

EVIDENCE TWO

CONCLUSION

BOTTOM LINE STATEMENT

The example.

You have half of an hour.

Class Activity Two: 

1. Conduct a share around with your writer(s) of choice. Each member of your family should read each other's writers. The point of this will be to gain exposure to the interests and philosophies of your fellow family members. (15 minutes)

Lit Review Notes: 

Lit Review vs. Annotated Bibliography

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=2232600

2. Using the writer lit review as inspiration, the job of your family will be to brainstorm topics into opinions and eventually refine a common topic that can lead to a viable research question for your final paper. (15 minutes and then a class-wide discussion).

LITERATURE REVIEW SYNTHESIS PAGE--DUE MONDAY

Notes from Essay 5 for Everyone

Potential lectures/activities for coming classes: 

-- Direct Quotations: They must be proportionate. They must be relevant. They must be well-worded the way they are, because otherwise, they would be a summation (NOTE: A written guide to paraphrasing techniques is provided on the blog)

-- Web site credibility

-- Formatting long quotations in Hacker -- look it up!

-- Logic and Argumentation, Going from Premise to Conclusion

-- Understanding Appeal Types to Strengthen Argumentation

-- Pronoun Errors Rampant!

Rhetoric and Composition LAST CLASS PREP

Because I want to maximize our time focusing on strengthening your papers, I will be CANCELING the WRITTEN TEST originally scheduled for Wednesday. Instead, be ready to ask your final paper questions.

Rhetoric & Composition, Class #23, Monday, April 29, 2013: GUIDE TO THE END

As we slide into home base for the semester, here is a general outline for the remaining classes (please know that a lot more information will be forthcoming on these assignments, so stay tuned...do not bombard me with pre-emptive questions):

TODAY: Essay #6 DUE

Family Activity: Evaluating Document Quality

Research Lecture #1

Tonight's Assignments:


READ: Hacker section on research, Research Help Readings A, #1 & #2 (on the blog from different
sources)

WATCH/WRITE: 
1. Watch the video linked below and write a reaction as Journal #7. Do you agree or disagree with the filmmakers' argument about the identity of today's young woman? Support your answers with specific examples.


Miss Representation 8 min. Trailer 8/23/11 from Miss Representation on Vimeo.


****Please do not forget to fill out the course evaluation. Link is posted. You will need your Z number. 

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24th: Research Questions from Twitter & Research Lecture #2

MONDAY, APRIL 29th: Research Proposals and Annotated Bibliographies due

Family Meetings!

WEDNESDAY, MAY 1st: LAST CLASS MEETING! Journals & Final Papers due (if submitted in hard copy with envelope or e-mail for graded analysis)

Condensed Written Final (Active Reading and Annotation Notes)

Research Questions from Twitter & Research Lecture #3

DIGITAL COPIES OF FINAL & JOURNALS (these will NOT receive a written grade analysis, but if there is a problem, you can always e-mail me to discuss or even meet over Summer or in the Fall) DUE by 11:59 pm on Monday, May 6th.

VERY IMPORTANT! Please be sure to complete!

Please be sure to complete the Stockton-sanctioned IDEA evaluation for this course any time before May 6th. Here is the link. Thank you. The course info is below:

Costal, Joseph
RHETORIC AND COMPOSITION
GEN 1120 004
MW 1535
Survey Dates: 04/22/2013 - 05/06/2013

Research Help Reading A: Guide to Paraphrasing

A paraphrase is...

• your own rendition of essential information and ideas expressed by someone else, presented in a new form.

• one legitimate way (when accompanied by accurate documentation) to borrow from a source.

• a more detailed restatement than a summary, which focuses concisely on a single main idea.

Paraphrasing is a valuable skill because...

• it is better than quoting information from an undistinguished passage.

• it helps you control the temptation to quote too much.

• the mental process required for successful paraphrasing helps you to grasp the full meaning of the original.


6 Steps to Effective Paraphrasing

1. Reread the original passage until you understand its full meaning.

2. Set the original aside, and write your paraphrase on a note card.

Rhetoric and Composition, Class #22, Wednesday, April 17, 2013

EXEMPLIFICATION ESSAYS DUE MONDAY! Also, please bring the annotation you made for the oil spill article from last week.

Rhetoric and Composition Class #21, Monday, April 15, 2013

Wildness & Busyness!  Get outside! 

FOR WEDNESDAY: 

1. Draft of the exemplification paper.

2. Rewrites for Osprey paper

3. Apply the questions of evaluating "Quality of Rhetoric" to the oil spill article from the Ocean City Gazette. Make sure your ideas are written down -- NOT just in your head.

Rhetoric and Composition Class #19 (and now #20): Wednesday, April 10, 2013

***NOTE: So...I was involved in an emergency situation yesterday. Sorry that it impacted our class. You DO NOT need to write this essay. We will regroup on Monday. In the meantime, please read and annotate this article. Add it to your arsenal. These articles we have been working on will find relevance toward the end of the course. Hope all are well. 

Also, those of you with Twitter, check out #costalstock for another, related, Slate article. 

WRITE: Essay 5:  Definition using Exemplification (minimum of three pages) - (Due Monday)

Choose an abstract term to define through exemplification. Your definition should prove a point about the concept.

Remember our examples from class: WILDNESS -- wildness is closer to home than we expect. 

BUSYNESS -- Busyness is self-imposed and driven by self-importance. People aren't truly as busy as they think. 

Remember that you will be graded on the quality and use of your examples. Be specific to provide clarity about something abstract or general.

An exemplification essay (or illustrative essay) uses examples to show, explain, or prove an overall point (an argument usually established in the essay thesis).

Again...remember examples from class: 

"(People) are busy because of their own ambition or drive or anxiety, because they are addicted to busyness and dread what they may have to face in its absence." -- Tim Kreider (NY Times) 

"While wilderness might be untrammeled land along the Alaskan coast, wildness can happen anywhere — in the jungle or your backyard. And it's not just a place; it's a feeling. It rises up when you least expect it." -- David Gessner (nature writer)

Rhetoric and Composition Class #18: Monday, April 8th, 2013

We are preparing for the creation of an EXEMPLIFICATION paper. In my quest to to eliminate a textbook for this course, I am a slave to free resources. Here is a pretty good presentation provided by a professor and loaded onto Google for public educational use. It is valid and credible, and I suspect you may even find it more useful than a more traditional reading. It is more example-driven and less, well, "prose-y," so please read, annotate, review, but also be prepared to let me know if the learning it provides rivals that of a traditional text with a chapter on EXEMPLIFICATION. 

Please note: we will NOT be doing, obviously, the paper outlined by this professor. DO NOT WRITE THAT PAPER! MY paper will be assigned on WEDNESDAY! 

Please bring "This I Believe..." papers to class on Wednesday.

Rhetoric & Composition: Class #17: Monday, April 1

ASSIGNMENT: Final draft of "This I Believe" due Monday, April 8th.

Also, read and annotate the following articles...be prepared to discuss and respond to the pieces in writing. One is from Salon. The other is from Newsweek.

My inappropriate relationship

My inappropriate relationship

Rhetoric & Composition: Class #16: Monday, March 25, 2013

PLEASE NOTE...CLASS WILL BE CANCELED ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27. CLASS WILL MEET ON MONDAY, APRIL 1st...NO FOOLIN'!

ASSIGNMENTS: WRITE: This I Believe essay, as per instructions, due Monday, April 1. 

READ/ANNOTATE: The Slate article that appears as a separate post. Be prepared to discuss. 

“One of the lessons of life is we have to take care of each other, and we have to try to help people and we have to do what’s right.… And there were precious few people that night that were doing what was right.”—Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, discussing the rape trial and conviction of two Steubenville high school football players.

Rhetoric & Composition Class #15, Wednesday, March 20th

http://thisibelieve.org/essay/24636/

http://thisibelieve.org/essay/36740/

http://thisibelieve.org/essay/8560/

FAMILY ASSIGNMENT: 

1. Break into sub-groups of your family. In other words, divide your family in half (approx 2 - 3 members each).

2. Pass around Essay #3. Each person in the family should read each other's papers. (approx 10 mins)

3. As a mini-family, choose the best paper.

4. As a mini-family, discuss and annotate the paper in order to point out what the author did to make it so good. Please put some time into this...really identify the parts of the paper that most stand our or have the greatest rhetorical impact. (approx 10 mins).

Rhetoric & Composition, Class # 14, Monday, March 18th

**So sorry, gang...forgot link to SI article, so do not sweat it.

Class Outline: 
Annotation Check (5)

Essay 2 notes (5)

Rhetorical devices & TIB p. 26 (15)

Introduction writing notes/discussion & This I Believe p. 224 (Introduction reading & family assignment) (20)

Sex on College Campuses (25)

Fact & Opinion discussion (end)

Rhetoric and Composition, Class #12, Monday, March 4th

Assignment: Optional re-write of Formal Essay #1.

On Wednesday, we will return to reading notes, work in families and gear up for a Formal Essay #3 writing this weekend.

Rhetoric & Composition Class #10, Monday, February 25, 2013

It's the last week of winter! (I go by the calendar...sue me!)

This will be a week of Hacker motivated quizzes...to be forewarned is to be fore-armed. To be fore-armed is to be two arms too many! Ba da dum! I'm here all week. Tip your waitresses!

Class Schedule: 1. A fun little class activity masquerading as a quiz.

2. More lecture on Rhetorical Reading & Studying Text

Assignments: Pay special attention to the "Parrallelism" section of Clarity in Hack (p. 116 - 119).

If you think you need to brush up...consider the portion of Hacker beginning on page 291.

Rhetoric & Composition, Class # 9: Wednesday, February 20, 2013

The Backwards Peer Edit

1. Find a partner and sit so both can read from a single paper.

A Message from the Writing Center

Attached, please find some notes from the director of the Stockton Writing Center, Pam Cross. Pam has this advice for all students looking to utilize this very valuable resource.

The Writing Center is open in J-105 weekdays 9:00 – 6:00 (until 4:00 p.m. on Fridays). We also have a partnership with Residential Life and have tutors available Sunday through Thursday evenings from 7:00 – 9:00 in the TRLC.

1) Students should work with tutors early in the process. It’s much easier to help a student construct a good paper than try to fix a faulty one. Students should visit the Writing Center for help getting started or to get help understanding an assignment or for help with their organization.

Rhetoric & Composition Class #7: Wednesday, February 13, 2013

READ: Mortimer Adler's "How to Mark a Book." Then, well, mark it...oh the irony!

WRITE: Your submission of your narrative (Formal essay #1) should contain three drafts. The latest one should be on top. The middle one (at least) should be marked up. They should all be fastened to one another.

Rhetoric & Composition Class #6: Monday, February 11, 2013

READ: 

1. Read this hand-out on strong verb substitutions from the University of North Carolina writing department.

2. Do a second reading of the O'Connor short story. This time...please compile a list of quotations that have particular resonate with you. Please also print a copy of the story to have with you in class on Wednesday.

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