Monday, July 27 2009

Part One Goals

• Reflection on Synthesis

• Compare and Contrast Logos, Pathos, and Ethos.

• Organizing our work

Part One

Okay, let’s begin today by getting that writing out and turning it over. On the back, I want you to address the following question (10 mins):

How did you go about synthesizing Hertsgaard’s claims and evidence with claims and evidence from D’Souza and one other source? What was your reasoning? How did you uses these various sources, and for what purpose?

Group Discussion (5-7 mins)

Class Discussion(5 mins)

One of the first things you need to do is break the argument down: What are you seeing that might be useful to you, how can you use it, and on what basis can it be compared or contrasted with what you are finding in your other arguments. While it is not necessary that you write a precis for both of these new sources, it is important that you understand the specific role the information you are using plays in its own argument. Let’s consider some examples you pulled from D’Souza.

1) What part of his argument to they relate to (Situation, Issue, or Thesis)

2) Are they an example of Logos, Pathos, or Ethos?

3) Okay — now that we have identified that, would it be MORE or LESS logical to compare and contrast this example with an aspect of Hertsgaard’s argument that represented a SIMILAR part of his argument that stemmed from the SAME kind of argumentation (Logos, Pathos, or Ethos)?

One way to use multiple sources is simply to focus on quotes or evidence from a source in one paragraph, and then, in another paragraph, to focus on information from another source. This is a common way to use sources in high school, but we need to become more sophisticated in our writing.

Within one paragraph, we can compare or contrast the related ideas from two or more arguments. How might we do this? Who thinks they have a good example of this? Remember the three stage process for using quotes, Introduce, Present, and then explain.

Let’s look over our writing for a moment. If we don’t have any paragraphs in which we attempt to compare or contrast the writing of two or more authors, we need to create such a paragraph now. If we already have one,then we need to create another one.

Over the past week, we have created an analysis and evaluation of “The Oblivious Empire,” and we have also synthesized the document with other arguments. This week, we will be tying these various documents together into a single argument, which will be the 3-5 page argument that we are building towards in this unit.

So today we are going to discuss strategies for tying these three documents together. But before we do that, I want you to take some time to journal on this subject on your own. “How can you organize these three documents into one coherent document?” (5 mins)

Group work

Class Discussion

What are goals of each section?

What will we need to add so that this argument is complete

Opening paragraph.

Transitions

Summary

Journal

Class Discussion

Break

Part Two Goals

• Tie Analysis, Evaluation, and Synthesis into an argument.

• Consider the structure of an argument

Part Two

You will need to tie your analysis, evaluation, and synthesis into one 3-5 page argument.

In order to complete this assignment, you needed to think about what an argument is, and how an argument should be laid out. .

So let’s begin today by having you turn over one of those drafts. We are going to be writing for the next ten minutes on the following topic. What is an argument? What is the point of an argument? How did you transform your analysis, evaluation and synthesis into an argument? (10 Mins)

Group Discussion (5-7)

Class Discussion:

What are some basic elements to arguments?

1) Thesis

2) Supporting evidence

3) Good explanation of how your evidence supports your thesis.

Workshop

Step 1: Content Check: Isolate and identify the specific transitions the author uses to move you from his or her analysis to evaluation, and from his or her evaluation to synthesis. If you cannot identify these transitions, or if the transitions need more work to be effective, let the author know.

Mechanics Check: Basic paragraph structure check: Does every paragraph 1) fall between 6-8 sentences, and 2) Contain at least one quote (paragraphs in the synthesis section should have a minimum of two quotes

When you finish reading, write a paragraph on the back that explains what you think the argument is, based on your reading. Is it clear? Can you identify a specific thesis? If so, what is, and can you quote it directly?

Homework:

Draft Argument

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