Seeing Both Sides of an Argument

It's important to be able to see both sides of an issue, even if you cannot imagine sympathizing with your opposition's viewpoint. This may be easier or harder based on how you feel about an issue. It’s relatively easy to understand someone’s position if you are dispassionate about an issue, but take a topic you are passionate about and it gets exponentially harder. Yet it’s important to understand both sides of an issue for conflict resolution or to support your position more effectively.

• Using a conflict from your own life, state your position on an argument you have with someone.
• Then, list three of the best points you have that support why your position is correct or valid.
• Next, think of three points your opposition would make on why he is right in the matter.
• Last, refute your opposition’s points.

You will likely need to brainstorm for this assignment!

Transitional Words & Phrases

• First, using the transitional words and phrases handout, add at least 4 transitional words and phrases to the following paragraph and repost:

One reason people lie is to achieve personal power. Achieving personal power is helpful for someone who pretends to be more confident than he really is. One of my friends threw a party at his house last month. He asked me to come to his party and bring a date. I didn’t have a girlfriend. One of my other friends, who had a date to go to the party with, asked me about my date. I didn’t want to be embarrassed, so I claimed that I had a lot of work to do. I said I could easily find a date even better than his if I wanted to. I also told him that his date was ugly. I achieved power to help me feel confident. I embarrassed my friend and his date. This lie helped me at the time, since then it has made me look down on myself.

• Next, also using the handout, write one paragraph on the topic of your choice of at least 6 sentences that incorperates 4 transitional phrases and/or words and post online.
• Last, when you are finished, look at your essay and incorperate some of these phrases and words into it in preparation for draft 3 to make your ideas flow more smoothly into each other.

Some suggestions for your paragraph topics:

• Registering for classes
• Getting to school in the morning
• Any "how to" instructions: ex: How to ask for a date or How to ask for a raise

Caveat: Using first, next and last should be avoided for this assignment. Also, please do not take any "shortcuts" such as modifying existing writing unless it is your own as this will not have the same impact upon your writing skills.

Exemplification Essay PowerPoint Pres

View this presentation on Exemplification Essays to refresh yourself on our discussion from last week.

Topic Sentences & Paragraphs

Write 3 paragraphs about the classmate you interview. Be sure there is a topic sentence for each paragraph and supporting details that support the topic sentence.

When writing a paragraph about a person, the topic sentence includes the person's name, and the idea is the concept communicated about the person. For example, fill in any one of the blanks below and create different topic sentence that may be used in a paragraph describing a person.

John Smith enjoys ________________________________
John Smith hates _________________________________
John Smith loves __________________________________
John Smith works _________________________________
John Smith plays _________________________________
John Smith makes ________________________________
John Smith builds _________________________________
John Smith expects _______________________________
John Smith provides _______________________________

Write a summarizing topic sentence for each of three paragraphs of your choice. In the sentence, state the classmates' full name and describe the singular focused idea that the paragraph will develop. Then, draft a paragraph using the supporting details below:

Supporting Details

The supporting details are the remaining sentences of the paragraph, after the topic sentence. There are usually between 7 to 10 sentences that explain and develop the main idea or topic.
Some techniques used to develop a paragraph and provide supporting details include:

• Using examples and illustrations,
• Citing data (facts, statistics, evidence, details, and others),
• Examining testimony (what other people say such as quotes and paraphrases),
• Using an anecdote or story,
• Defining terms in the paragraph,
• Comparing and contrasting two ideas or items,
• Evaluating causes and reasons,
• Examining effects and consequences,
• Analyzing the topic,
• Offering a chronology of an event (time segments).

Weak vs Strong Thesis Statements

Weak vs Strong Thesis statements: Presentation

Taken from this PDF: Thesis Exercise

30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself

30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself

Take a look-- we can all make positive changes, right?

Thesis Statements

View this presentation on Writing a Thesis Statement. Draft and post three of your own thesis statements based on the notes we made during our brainstorming session on Monday.

Note: The examples you will be viewing are based on literature, but the essence of technique remains the same. 

Intros and Conclusions

Using the topics in exercise 3 on page 12 in your text, write two different introductory paragraphs, each one featuring a different method (Definition, Quotation, Personal Narrative, Question, Staccato, Hypothetical Scenario, Historical Background). 

Remember, your introductory paragraphs should also contain a thesis statement.

When you are finished with your introductions, select two different types of conclusions and draft paragraphs for them as well. Publish your work online when you are done.

Paragraphs should be 4-6 sentence long. Feel free to use the internet for research. For additional examples, please see chapter 1 in your textbook. 

DNA Tells Students They Aren't Who They Thought

Answer the following questions based on the reading, NY Times Article:  DNA Tells Students They Aren't Who They Thought in 4-6 sentences and then respond to one of your peers for a total of 6 posts.

1. Pick out one quote that was significant to you. Explain it and why it was significant.
2. What biases did you have, for or against the subject, while reading this text? When did you become aware of it and did it hinder your evaluating the text in an objective way?
3. What ideas were you unfamiliar with from the text and how did you approach that information?
4. Pose one question you have about the text. 
5. Attempt to answer someone else's question.
6. Respond to another student's ideas-- agree, disagree, or add to what they have written in some way. Do not merely restate or parrot their statement. As always, be respectful and academic.

NY Times Article:  DNA Tells Students They Aren't Who They Thought

Welcome note

Dear students:

Welcome to Spring 2012. We will be using our blog as a forum for written communication and as resource for course-related information. You will find information such as a general outline of what is taking place in class/what will be due in the upcoming weeks, PDFs and links of select handouts and extra materials of interest to you, as well as the course syllabus should you lose it. Please check this site frequently, as it is updated regularly. 

I recommend the following:

• A Gmail account to make it easier for you to interact with and sign on to our blog, which is powered by Google. 
• That you save your log in and password somewhere accessible so you are not delayed when assignments are given if you forget your information. 
• That you "follow" the blog. It will make it easier for you to find the link.
• That you write the web address accurately in your notebook for use at home. (Note: http:// without the "www") 
• That you copy, cut and paste information from Word into the comment field of our blog just in case there is a problem. (Students have sometimes run into glitches and lost their carefully thought out responses. Don't let this happen to you!) 
• That you read your comments for coherence, spelling and logic, making sure it applies to the questions asked. 

Wishing all you a successful semester,
Angela Ferrante

Directions: Read this first

Here is how this will work: I will get the online discussion started by positing a consideration, offering an opinion, or posing a set of questions based on an article.

We'll keep the language professional and academic, as is the case for your homework and in-class assignments. As for a minimum response, let's begin with an "oversized" paragraph of 5-7 sentences per response per individual.

Be sure you are answering the question fully and completely.

Remember to:

• Proofread your work before you hit that "Publish" button.
• Create at the appropriate number comments (each between 5-7 sentences)—to me and to your peers.
• Keep the language professional, academic, and on-point.
• Sign your full name at the bottom of each response you make.
• Choose a screen name that is appropriate and allows you and your work to be easily identified by everyone in class. You want credit for your work! I suggest your full name, first name/last initial, or first initial/last name.
• Comment within the appropriate post.

*Tip- you may find it helpful to work in Word so that you can spell check your response and as a precautionary measure against losing your response should something "happen" during the publishing process.

Reminders:

• Do not use IM language (e.g., ";-)," "4", "lol," "brb," etc.)--this is a college-level discussion, not a private conversation. 
• Do not use slang; Again, this is a college environment where people use professional and academic language. 
• Do not state an opinion without stating why you think/feel the way you do.
• Do not re-phrase someone's comment or just agree with him in order to have something to say--"Think before you type" means exactly that. 
• Do a self-check for potentially offensive ideas or language. 

This is what a typical student comment should look like:

Response to Alba: So in other words you're saying that people who are not beautiful have no opportunity in life to succeed because of the way we judge them. I think that is wrong. Children are very sensitive and they can sense when adults make fun of them or treat them differently because of their look. Those children are the same people, that when the grow up, they also become ugly from inside, as a result of the way they were treated when they were child. That is still one of the biggest taboo that we have, judge someone for their look, before we even give them a chance to talk.-- Yuleina Mac Donald

Lastly, the ideas presented in your responses should be your own, or you should be adding something new to the discussion. Hopefully, this weblog will grow as your skills grow and this will also serve to put a new spin on an old "tried and true" method of collegiate discussion.

Participation on this blog counts as an assignment. Inappropriate, rude, or offensive language is unacceptable and will be removed from our blog. Three such offenses during the semester will result in questionable comments being submitted on paper to me, a NC for each offense, and could also result in failure for the course.

Comments that do not meet the minimum requirements will be deleted.

Introductions

To make sure you get off to a good start, begin by posting an introductory paragraph about yourself. This should be about 5-7 sentences.

Yes, we may have done or will do personal introductions. This is just to make sure that you've gotten an account and understand the basics of posting online. As always, be sure to read the directions and welcome before you begin.

AF