First, read James Richardson's "Aphorisms & Ten-Second Essays" in Brief Encounters. An aphorism is a concise statement of a truth, and the most effective aphorisms are the ones that avoid cliche and reveal both a personal and universal truth.
For this post, write a series of five aphorisms and/or concise "ten-second" essays about what makes life meaningful to you or how you find (or make) meaning in your life (or, conversely, fail to do so). Be sure to avoid cliches!
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Spring 2017, Post #14
First, in Brief Encounters, read Sven Birkerts "One Long Sentence," a one-sentence essay that narrates a travel experience.
Then, write a one-sentence essay exploring an experience that typifies your life. Again, be deliberate as to which rhetorical modes you will use, and again, compose this first in a Word program and then copy-and-paste here. This one-sentence essay should be at least 200 words, and pay attention to your commas and semi-colons, which will help you keep this from being a run-on sentence. You might even take this to the Writing Resource Center for a final edit before submitting.
Then, write a one-sentence essay exploring an experience that typifies your life. Again, be deliberate as to which rhetorical modes you will use, and again, compose this first in a Word program and then copy-and-paste here. This one-sentence essay should be at least 200 words, and pay attention to your commas and semi-colons, which will help you keep this from being a run-on sentence. You might even take this to the Writing Resource Center for a final edit before submitting.
Spring 2017, Post #13
First, read Anika Fajardo's "What Didn't Happen" in Brief Encounters. In this essay, Fajardo explores how her life would be different if her parents had not divorced and she had not moved from Columbia to the U.S. with her mother.
Then, write a three-paragraph mini-essay exploring how your life would be different if one aspect from your childhood were to be changed. Be deliberate as to which of the nine rhetorical modes you will use in these three paragraphs (definition, description, narration, argument, exemplification, compare/contrast, cause/effect, division/classification, process analysis). Each paragraph must be at least 80 words, so write your paragraphs first in a Word program (which will count the words for you), and then copy and paste those paragraphs here.
Then, write a three-paragraph mini-essay exploring how your life would be different if one aspect from your childhood were to be changed. Be deliberate as to which of the nine rhetorical modes you will use in these three paragraphs (definition, description, narration, argument, exemplification, compare/contrast, cause/effect, division/classification, process analysis). Each paragraph must be at least 80 words, so write your paragraphs first in a Word program (which will count the words for you), and then copy and paste those paragraphs here.
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Spring 2017, Post #12
For this blog post, first read Harrison Candelaria Fletcher's "White" (62) and Jericho Parms's "Red" (144) in Brief Encounters: A Collection of Contemporary Nonfiction. In "Red," Parms uses color to explore perception, focus, and connectivity while Fletcher uses color to frame and structure memory and experience.
Then choose a color, and walk through your home or apartment making a list of every thing (important or insignificant) you have that is that color. Then, reflect on what this color means to you (in terms of association, emotion, and memory).
Then choose a color, and walk through your home or apartment making a list of every thing (important or insignificant) you have that is that color. Then, reflect on what this color means to you (in terms of association, emotion, and memory).
Friday, March 10, 2017
Spring 2017, Post #11
After completing the "PeerMark" assignment through Turnitin.com, use this blog post to answer two questions:
1. What were the general strengths and weaknesses of your classmates' essays?
2. After reviewing three of your classmates' essays, what changes do you intend to make to your essay? Why?
1. What were the general strengths and weaknesses of your classmates' essays?
2. After reviewing three of your classmates' essays, what changes do you intend to make to your essay? Why?
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Spring 2017, Post #10
As you're writing your essay, keep in mind that this is an academic analysis and not an annotated bibliography. In other words, your paragraphs should not revolve around your sources (paragraph 1 summarizing source 1, for example); instead, your paragraphs should revolve around your ideas, and you will use your sources where they are relevant to your ideas. This means that some paragraphs may not use sources at all whereas other paragraphs may use as many as four sources (if all four sources are exploring a similar, specific point).
Furthermore, one hallmark of advanced writing is the effectiveness with which one uses another person's words and ideas. There are three ways to accomplish this: summary, paraphrase, and direct quote. To summarize or paraphrase means to keep the author's ideas but to reconstruct them in your own language, syntax, and voice (while giving attribution to the original author, of course). To directly quote a source is to keep the author's ideas and words (if the language is vivid enough to be worth keeping). However, when using a direct quote, writers should avoid free-standing quotes (also known as dropped, floating, or cut-and-pasted quotes). A free-standing quote is a quote that a writer uses without introduction or integration, and it will disrupt the writer's own tone and flow.
There are three ways of introducing quotes to prevent them from being free-standing.
1. Use a simple introductory phrase, like "According to" or "So-and-so argues." This method emphasizes the author, so a writer would use this when he or she wants to emphasize the person as an expert or someone offering testimony.
Here's an example.
According to Siegfried Kracauer, "While time is not part of the photograph like the smile or the chignon, the photograph itself, so it seems to them, is a representation of time" (424).
2. Write your own sentence, then use a quote (introduced with a colon) that functions as evidence or demonstration of your sentence's ideas. Be sure your sentence is a complete sentence; otherwise, the sentence becomes a fragment. This method works most effectively for using source material as evidence for the writer's own claims.
Here's an example.
In certain ways, a photograph functions as a more reliable witness than our own memory: "Memory encompasses neither the entire spatial appearance nor the entire temporal course of an event. Compared to photography memory's records are full of gaps" (Kracauer 425).
3. Instead of introducing the entire quote, integrate pieces (words, phrases, or clauses) into the context of the writer's own syntax. This method works best to synthesize ideas and to create a smooth flow.
Here's an example.
When we reduce our experience of the world to collecting photographs, we become guilty of the "warehousing of nature" (Kracauer 435) and loved ones in dusty albums as forgotten souvenirs.
Your assignment:
A. Find three quotes from your sources that you will use in your essay.
B. Introduce those quotes and/or incorporate them into a sentence of your own that you will use in your essay. Make sure you cite the author and page number (and year if you're using APA). I have no preference as to which citation format you use as long as you are using it correctly.
C. Post those three sentences to the blog.
Furthermore, one hallmark of advanced writing is the effectiveness with which one uses another person's words and ideas. There are three ways to accomplish this: summary, paraphrase, and direct quote. To summarize or paraphrase means to keep the author's ideas but to reconstruct them in your own language, syntax, and voice (while giving attribution to the original author, of course). To directly quote a source is to keep the author's ideas and words (if the language is vivid enough to be worth keeping). However, when using a direct quote, writers should avoid free-standing quotes (also known as dropped, floating, or cut-and-pasted quotes). A free-standing quote is a quote that a writer uses without introduction or integration, and it will disrupt the writer's own tone and flow.
There are three ways of introducing quotes to prevent them from being free-standing.
1. Use a simple introductory phrase, like "According to" or "So-and-so argues." This method emphasizes the author, so a writer would use this when he or she wants to emphasize the person as an expert or someone offering testimony.
Here's an example.
According to Siegfried Kracauer, "While time is not part of the photograph like the smile or the chignon, the photograph itself, so it seems to them, is a representation of time" (424).
2. Write your own sentence, then use a quote (introduced with a colon) that functions as evidence or demonstration of your sentence's ideas. Be sure your sentence is a complete sentence; otherwise, the sentence becomes a fragment. This method works most effectively for using source material as evidence for the writer's own claims.
Here's an example.
In certain ways, a photograph functions as a more reliable witness than our own memory: "Memory encompasses neither the entire spatial appearance nor the entire temporal course of an event. Compared to photography memory's records are full of gaps" (Kracauer 425).
3. Instead of introducing the entire quote, integrate pieces (words, phrases, or clauses) into the context of the writer's own syntax. This method works best to synthesize ideas and to create a smooth flow.
Here's an example.
When we reduce our experience of the world to collecting photographs, we become guilty of the "warehousing of nature" (Kracauer 435) and loved ones in dusty albums as forgotten souvenirs.
Your assignment:
A. Find three quotes from your sources that you will use in your essay.
B. Introduce those quotes and/or incorporate them into a sentence of your own that you will use in your essay. Make sure you cite the author and page number (and year if you're using APA). I have no preference as to which citation format you use as long as you are using it correctly.
C. Post those three sentences to the blog.
Friday, March 3, 2017
Spring 207, Post #9
For previous blog posts, you analyzed how Victoria Finlay utilizes rhetorical modes in her book Color. For this blog, you need to choose which rhetorical modes you will use in your own essay and explain how you will use them. For example, if you choose compare/contrast and you are writing from the discipline of psychology, you could compare and contrast the effects of two different colors on a person's emotions (a blue room versus a yellow room, for example). Here are the nine rhetorical modes again (in no particular order):
Description
Definition
Exemplification
Narration
Division/Classification
Cause/Effect
Compare/Contrast
Process Analysis
Argument
In terms of how to use these rhetorical modes, you could use them as the focus for individual paragraphs (i.e., in the first body paragraph, I will use definition; in the second body paragraph I will use cause/effect) or as sections of the essay (in the first few paragraphs I will analyze the process of how this happens).
You do not need to use all nine rhetorical modes to be successful, but you do need to use effectively the ones you choose. For the purposes of this blog response, brainstorm how you could use at least four of the nine rhetorical modes in your academic analysis.
Description
Definition
Exemplification
Narration
Division/Classification
Cause/Effect
Compare/Contrast
Process Analysis
Argument
In terms of how to use these rhetorical modes, you could use them as the focus for individual paragraphs (i.e., in the first body paragraph, I will use definition; in the second body paragraph I will use cause/effect) or as sections of the essay (in the first few paragraphs I will analyze the process of how this happens).
You do not need to use all nine rhetorical modes to be successful, but you do need to use effectively the ones you choose. For the purposes of this blog response, brainstorm how you could use at least four of the nine rhetorical modes in your academic analysis.
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