Reminder: Costal Class is canceled today, November 30, 2016.

Class #21: Monday& Wednesday, November 30, 2016: The Final Paper Prompt

Final Essay #6: 

Gender/Sex Issues. We have experienced & read a variety of gender issues (from sex to inequality) this semester.  We read several articles on redefining sexual predation in our own communities. We read one devastating piece of fiction about violence toward women. We read about a woman who gets her family killed through her own visions of matriarchy. We heard celebrity women join forces to defend women in media. We have viewed a call to arms against objectification. We have read fiction that tackles marriage, online dating, abortion and statutory rape. Most prominently, we have read about revolutionary legislation on college campuses to curb victimization of women. We have seen this legislation wind its way to the Garden State.

I have shared my belief that yours is a generation experiencing some degradation in terms of gender or sexual roles. Women are overly valued aesthetically but undervalued as leaders, professionals and artists. Women are succeeding ten times more than men in academia, but they still play second-fiddle to men in the world's most powerful professional positions.

CLASS #21: Monday & Wednesday, November 30, 2016: FAMILY CONFERENCE REQUIREMENTS

PHASE ONE OF FINAL PAPER DUE @ Family Conference, Wednesday, December 7, 2016

(final paper and portfolio due at 11:59pm, Monday, December 12th) 

Come to class next week with the following prepared:

Conference Assignment: Please have the following information ready for submission during our conferences. All components must be typed and professionally presented:

1. Working Outline
2. Working Thesis
3. Annotated Bibliography 

1. The working outline is a very important first step that serves as a guide for your entire paper. Follow any form you feel most comfortable with (See Hacker for a variety of outlining methods if confused). The outline should give me an idea of how you plan your paper…point by point at least…example by example if you wish. There should be a bullet-ed component for each paragraph. Keep in mind that this is the mode by which you will also present your research. Remember that good development "systematically fulfills the reader's expectation."

Class #20: Monday, November 21, 2016

In-Class:

Robert Hayden "Those Winter Sundays"

Class #20: Something to ponder as you write Skube paper & Assignments

The entire multibillion-dollar, 2,000-campus American college system—with its armies of salaried professors, administrators, librarians, bursars, secretaries, admissions officers, alumni liaisons, development-office workers, coaches, groundskeepers, janitors, maintenance workers, psychologists, nurses, trainers, technology-support staffers, residence-life personnel, cafeteria workers, diversity-compliance officers, the whole shebang—depends overwhelmingly for its very existence on one resource: an ever-renewing supply of fee-paying undergraduates. It could never attract hundreds of thousands of them each year—many of them woefully unprepared for the experience, a staggering number (some 40 percent) destined never to get a degree, more than 60 percent of them saddled with student loans that they very well may carry with them to their deathbeds—if the experience were not accurately marketed as a blast. They show up on campus lugging enormous Bed Bath & Beyond bags crammed with “essentials,” and with new laptop computers, on which they will surf Facebook and Tumblr while some coot down at the lectern bangs on about Maslow’s hierarchy and tries to make his PowerPoint slides appear right side up. Many of these consumer goods have been purchased with money from the very student loans that will haunt them for so long, but no matter: it’s college; any cost can be justified. The kids arrive eager to hurl themselves upon the pasta bars and the climbing walls, to splash into the 12-person Jacuzzis and lounge around the outdoor fire pits, all of which have been constructed in a blatant effort to woo them away from competitors. They swipe prepaid cards in dormitory vending machines to acquire whatever tanning wipes or earbuds or condoms or lube or energy drinks the occasion seems to require. And every moment of the experience is sweetened by the general understanding that with each kegger and rager, each lazy afternoon spent snoozing on the quad (a forgotten highlighter slowly drying out on the open pages of Introduction to Economics, a Coke Zero sweating beside it), they are actively engaged in the most significant act of self-improvement available to an American young person: college!

Class #19: Family Writing Project Continues

Costal's IDEA form. 

The link to the Google Doc for our project here.

Don't forget, no class next Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Informal Writing #8: Another NY Times debate. I am interested in your approach for this. After reading the arguments presented, choose a side to defend. Write a thesis. Defend it using evidence from the article and at least one piece of evidence from another source.

I am interested in ways your approach to this has changed, so be ready to discuss that Monday (or at least be asked repeatedly and ignore me).

Family Essay due complete on Monday. 

First draft of Formal #5 due tonight. 

Class #18: Monday, November 14, 2016: ASSIGNMENT: Skube Persuasion Letter ROUGH DRAFT

For Wednesday, come to class with a digital rough draft of this paper (at least two pages and at least two sources). 

DO: 

Read Michael Skube article...grab it here!

Formal Writing Essay #5: PERSUASION LETTER: Michael Skube provides his e-mail on the bottom of his scathing rebuke of today's college student. Write a letter to him either agreeing or disagreeing with his thesis.

Either way, make sure you back up your claim with specific evidence from not only his text, but also at least two other sources. At least one source must be ACADEMIC, PEER REVIEWED.

Here are some additional sources. The first from Philadelphia magazine about Temple University's admission requirements. 

The other from the Philadelphia Inquirer is a bit closer to home.

Use any of these sources that interest you, but you must find at least two additional sources on your own (at least one must be

Class #18: Monday, November 14, 2016: READING ASSIGNMENT: Writing for a Hostile Audience

READING: Writing for a Hostile Audience:

Consider some words of wisdom by reading the following excerpt (courtesy of The Writing Process by Steven D. Krause, with edits and modifications by yours truly)

Whenever you are trying to develop a clearer understanding of your writing, think about the kinds of audiences who may disagree with you. Think about the opposition and alternatives to your main idea or thesis because these are what a hostile audience might think about while reading your work.

Sometimes, potential readers are hostile to a particular working thesis because of ideals, values, or affiliations they hold. These values may be at odds with the point being advocated. For example, people who identify themselves as being “pro-choice” on the issue of abortion would certainly be hostile to an argument for laws that restrict access to abortions; people who identify themselves as being “pro-life” on the issue of abortion would certainly be hostile to an argument for laws that provide access to abortion.

At other times, audiences are hostile to an argument because of more crass and transparent reasons. For example, the pharmaceutical industry disagrees with the premise of the working thesis “Drug companies should not be allowed to advertise prescription drugs on TV” because they stand to lose billions of dollars in sales. Advertising companies and television broadcasters would also be against this working thesis because they too would lose money. You can probably easily imagine some potentially hostile audience members who have similarly selfish reasons to oppose your point of view.


Since crass or transparent reasons may be more easily defended, a writer may address such opposition directly, while working around other, more salient arguments.

Good writers use a combination of evidence and claims to support a controversial arguments (See "Rhetorical Triangle" handout from class).

Class #17: Wednesday, November 9, 2016: IN-CLASS CLASS IN B11 TONIGHT!!!!

The Anchor literature: As we have done before, let's begin with some opinion from the NY Times. 
(10 minutes) 

Family Concept Challenge: Research/Thesis


1. We will begin with consensus. Can Trump be a good president of the United States? A great president? Was last night as bad as it feels to some Americans? Is America about to be great again? Your family will need to fight this out. Come to agreement however you see fit, just do it. (10 mins)

2. Your family will develop a well-written, argumentative and specific thesis (strive to use subordination for a more nuanced effect) that reflects the agreed-upon stance on last night's election. You will submit to Google Docs on the document I shared last time (10 mins)

3. Your family will find ONE solid source to back your thesis. Place an APA style citation for it on the doc. (15 mins)

4. You will take the class through the levels of credibility for your source. (all six, all family members must speak during the presentation).

Class #16: Monday, November 7, 2016: CLASS

"No ideas but in things."

The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams

Objective Correlative: The person, place or thing that carries the emotional burden of a piece of art.

Found in all art; a special relevance in non-fiction writing.  

Informal Writing #7: You were given two essays in class. Using one or both, do the following: Identify the objective correlative. How does the author use it effectively? Consider the emotion that it might be standing in for. How might the objective correlative be "taking the burden?" How does it add to the richness of the prose? How does it heighten the writing.

The essays (hard copies given in class): The Wig by Brady Udall & The Sock by Lydia Davis

Class #15: Assignment for Monday

We did peer editing and discussed the papers in class. The class agreed upon the following due dates (kinda):

FE #3 revisions are cut off Friday, November 4th at 11:59pm

FE#4 first draft is due on Sunday, November 6th at 4:15pm

Class #15: Wednesday, November 2, 2016: ASSIGNMENT

 Informal Essay 6#: Using the David Wright, Furman University article on rhetorical appeals (I gave you a hard copy a few weeks back, but if you do not remember, grab it here), consider these three popular infomercials. Consider how these commercials manipulate viewers by combining the use of appeals. Now, you will find your own example of these appeals at play in the media of your choice (anything---visual, written, social). In one typed page, discuss how dissecting your medium using these appeals helps you understand the rhetoric. Use at least one direct example from your medium and try to properly cite it (APA style, use Hacker).

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Costal's Rhet Comp Class in B11 (regularly scheduled room) tomorrow night!!!