10/2 - In Class Lab - Rhetorical Analysis of an "A" Paper

Things that strike us immediately about the “Transportation” Paper:

·         Design

o   Use of images

o   Bold sub-titles

o   Transparent imagery (back ground of main paper)

o   Use of graphs

o   Use of tables

·         Genre

o   Very clear that it was a research paper

·         Sources

o   Clear work cited page

o   Page numbers are not listed in the parenthetical within the text

o   He puts the period before the parenthesis when cited sources.  Period goes after citation.
 

“Transportation Paper” vrs. “Conscription Paper”

	Conscription	Transportation
Own Work?	2	4
3,000 words?	4	4
Correct grammar….?	2 – Multiple mistakes	4
Correct work cited…?	3 – Incorrectly employed	3 – Due to incorrect citations within paper (use of period incorrect)
Argue thesis well?	3 – Had conflicting economy points	4 – Use of graphs, images, tables helped to argue and illustrate thesis
Logical Case?	3 - Due to bad transitions	4 – Use of graphs, images, tables helped to argue and illustrate thesis
10 Work Cited?	2 – No peer reviewed articles	4

Chapter 6 | Managing Information & Taking Notes

I found this chapter to be extremely helpful.  I think too often we forget to "set" ourselves up for success.  By being methodical and deliberate in how we go about taking our notes and tracking our resources, which is the main focus of the chapter, we will find our path to a successful paper filled with ease and focus.  Headaches such as "where did that come from?", "what was that one thing that one person said?" or potentially even accidently plagiarizing a source will be avoided.  It's a little along the lines of the old adage "measure twice, cut once." 

Some of the main points Bedford makes is the importance of deciding how you will go about saving your information.  Will you be downloading articles into a file on your computer?  Copying and pasting urls and browsers into a email and sending it to yourself?  Or perhaps the old fashion way of printing out or photocopying your sources, which is likely going to be my method.  I’m a kinesthetic learner, I do my best when I have an opportunity to interact hands on with what I’m learning.  The simple act of highlighting, and taking notes in margins, helps me keep engaged and process what it is I’m reading. 

My only grip with how Bedford presents the information in this chapter is that I feel too many options within each potential category for note taking or tracking are offered/ touched on.  I know that we live in a world where there is not just one by many apps and technology tools for everything, but when initially introducing a concept (such as tracking notes via a mobile device) and then offering multiple options for how to do that, the reader can feel very daunted.  So much so that I likely will not even try mobile apps and again stick to the old fashion way.  In fact, I plan on using an "expanded" annotated bibliography, where I will site my source in MLA format, give a brief summary of the piece, as well as reference any notes or quotes I think will be useful.  This will allow me to keep track of my and works cited in the same place. 

9/30 - In Class Lab - Reviewing Sample Research Paper

Reinstating Compulsory Conscription

Carol Rivers

Word Count: 4455

Overall Grade:  B

I feel the writer accomplishes her thesis of "compulsory conscription needs reinstating" pretty well. She using rational appeal through historical events and statistics, and then emotional appeal through personal experience and heartstrings tugging quotes, such as the closing quote by Ronald Reagan.  However in the 4th and 5th paragraphs I think she misses an opportunity to defend her thesis. Paragraph 4 expresses how reinstating the draft will be expensive and thus bad for the economy, while paragraph 5 stats how reinstatement will create jobs and thus be good for the economy. As a reader I become confused which point of view "outweighs" the other, and I begin to doubt her thesis. A simple sentence or two arguing and stating why the benefits of job creation to the economy, due to draft implementation, outweighs the cost would have supported her thesis and kept her point of view clear and strong.

 

In the fifth to last paragraph of the document, the author is writing in first person, and giving her own personal opinion about the information. The paper is fairly grammatically correct and the author has a good understanding about tenses. The author does, however has slightly stunted transition

The author clearly shows where she found her point and also uses clear signal phrases so you can tell the paper is not plagiarized. The sources are sufficient and it is clear that the author researched her paper.

The author of the paper has well over the minimum amount of citations with 19 works cited. Though well cited, many of the sources do not qualify as scholarly.