Thursday, August 27, 2015

Week 7








 

The man who has forgotten to be thankful has fallen asleep in life.”   
                                                                                           –Robert Louis Stevenson


 It is week seven.   Today you have due the finals of the narrative, and time to work on the final drafts of the short research piece begun last week.  We have just five weeks to completion of the quarter.  Thus far you have been assigned a total of 3 essays, including rough drafts and the final drafts; these include the summary/response (1), the autobiographical narrative (2), and the short research essay with an image focus (#3).

The field report (4) is coming due soon, as will be a short research project (5), and lastly, the in-class final (6).  The in-class final is to be done in class week 10, not at home.  The field reports are due week 9. 



Essay 5 :  Short research report with MLA Works Cited list:  in 500 words or more report on a topic or issue with contemporary relevance about which you can find timely, authoritative primary and secondary source material, as in recently published news, scientific reports or articles, reviews, books,  films or photos, etcetera.  Title the piece and double-space the lines.  Include in-text references to source material and a Works Cited list arranged in alphabetical order.

Your thesis should be clear early in the paper and provide you a means of knowing what material to include and what not.  Ask yourself : Does this source or material contribute to "proving" or elaborating my point? If so, include it; if not, don't.  Know your purpose and the direction you want to take readers by final draft.  Initial stages may feel like so much groping in the dark and that's fine, but by the end you should have learned where you want to go and what you want to say in certain terms.



Research Topics (only suggested)

1.  Environment, nature, conservation issues (think climate change, habitat loss, pollution, species "news", green trends).

2.   Technology  New Products. An individual, corporation, or industry to watch, making a difference, positive or negative, like say Tesla, started by Elon Musk.

3.  The economy/ best ways to stretch a dollar, money management.

4.  Diet, nutrition, health.

5..  Great food ideas/new trends in culinary arts and/ or agricultural practice/ the legal marijuana business.

6.  New media/new opportunities:  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

7.  Culture review: fashion, film, art, celebrity life, sports (Kentucky Derby! FIFA bribery scandal!)

8.  LGBT and the Bruce Jenner/Caitlyn Jenner story and cover/ women's reproductive rights/ marriage and family today/ you-name-it.

Popular News and Editorial Sites: You are certainly not limited to the following sources, but they should provide ample means to do the work assigned.

npr.org

slate.com

huffingtonpost.com

truthdig.com

salon.com

theguardian.com

bloomberg.com

democracynow.org

nasa.gov

nytimes.com



I will look at whatever work you have in progress, time permitting.  

Again,  week 10 a  final essay of 400-500 words will assess key composition skills, including grammatical sentences, unified and well-developed paragraphs, support for your thesis, and sound use of references and direct quotation, if called for.  You will have a set of topics to choose from and perhaps a required reading.  The Internet may thus be a source of content.  This final must be done in class.

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