CM107 OverviewCM107 Overview

Cecelia MunzenmaierKaplan University

Course HousekeepingCourse Housekeeping Instructor

– Cecelia– Mun - zen - MAI -er– German for money maker

Contact– Email: several times a day– Voicemail: once a day– Program cell: 515-727-2100

x6921

Course GoalsCourse Goals Construct logical arguments Develop strategies for effective problem

solving Conduct research to support assertions

made in personal, academic, and professional situations

Articulate what constitutes effective communication in personal, professional and diverse contexts

Demonstrate effective listening strategies

Course HousekeepingCourse Housekeeping One 8 - 10 page paper

– With at least 5 sources(including 2 academic sources)

– Credited in a list of references– See KU Handbook, p. 136

Course HousekeepingCourse HousekeepingAssignments build

U1 Writing

U3 Con-troversies

U6RoughDraft

U8 Final Draft

U9 Share

U4 Plan

25 points

225 points

U7 PeerEdit

100 pts.

100 pts.

150 pts.

85 pts.

225 pts.

50 pts.

Pace yourselfPace yourself

Report progressto a writing buddyor supervisor

Produce 9 times as many pages

• Write when theyfeel like it

•Produce 17 pagesvs. 157for steadytortoises

Research says…Research says…

Boice compared three groups of writers in a 1989 experiment. One group wrote as little as possible. Another wrote whenever they felt like it. The third group was to write every day. If their writing goals were not, they had to write a check to a cause they detested. Those who wrote every day produced 4 times as many polished pages as “spontaneous” writers. If they reported progress to Boice, their output was 9 times greater.

Pacing tipsPacing tips

• Keep a regular schedule• Write often for a short time

• 15 minutes can be effective• 30 minutes (Boice)• 1 hour is maximum for many• 2 hours (Silvia)

• Don’t let writing become so fatiguingthat you don’t feel like coming back. (Boice, 1960)

Course HousekeepingCourse HousekeepingAssignments build

U1 Writing

U3 Con-troversies

U6RoughDraft

U8 Final Draft

U9 Share

U4 Plan

25 points

225 points

U7 PeerEdit

100 pts.

100 pts.

150 pts.

85 pts.

225 pts.

50 pts.

Is this good writing?Is this good writing?

Is this good writing?Is this good writing?

• Raskin donated her drafts to show her writing process.

The Westing Game manuscript. (n.d.) Retrieved July 28, 2010, from University of Wisconsin, Cooperative Children’s Book

Center website: http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/authors/raskin/intro.htm

RealityReality

You have to get the bulk of it down, and then You have to get the bulk of it down, and then you start to refine it. You have to put down you start to refine it. You have to put down less-than-marvelous material just to keep less-than-marvelous material just to keep going, whatever you think the end is going to going, whatever you think the end is going to be, which may be something else altogether be, which may be something else altogether by the time you get there.by the time you get there.

— —Larry Gelbart,Larry Gelbart, M.A.S.HM.A.S.H writer writer

Writing takes effortWriting takes effort

In studies of writers, which variable made the biggest difference in quality?

Whether they knew what they wanted to say

Whether they believed they were good writers

How much they liked to write How much they revised How much they revised

Course HousekeepingCourse Housekeeping Directions and models are on KU-ACE Rubrics, or grading criteria, are in your syllabus Supplemental resources are available at

http://word-crafter.net/CompII

Read CommentsRead Comments

Revision makes a differenceRevision makes a differenceGrades follow an inverted Bell Curve.Grades follow an inverted Bell Curve. mostly Cs Ds and Fs Bs and Asmostly Cs Ds and Fs Bs and As

Normal Bell Curve Comp I Curve

Ds and Fs As and Bs Cs

Back Up Your WorkBack Up Your Work

Thumb driveEmail to yourself as attachmentDownload from dropbox

Double-clickDouble-clickattachment iconattachment icon

Corollaries to Murphy’s LawCorollaries to Murphy’s Law

A device is most likely to fail when – it stores the only copy of your paper– recreating the paper will take maximum

effort and time you don’t have– the paper is worth hundreds of points

Attendance mattersAttendance mattersI support:

Source: Mintzes, J. J., & Leonard, W. H. (2006). Handbook of College Teaching. Arlington, VA: NSTA Press.

Weight of evidenceWeight of evidenceI support:

Source: Hamming, R. (2006). You and your research. Available at http://paulgraham.com/hamming.html

Given two people of approximately the same ability and one person who works ten percent more than the other, the latter will more than twice outproduce the former. The more you know, the more you learn; the more you learn, the more you can do; the more you can do, the more the opportunity…. opportunity…. Given two people with exactly the same ability, the one person who manages day in and day out to get in one more hour of thinking will be tremendously more productive over a lifetime.

Is this Comp I all over again?Is this Comp I all over again?

Comp I Informative paper Step-by-step 3-5 pages 4 sources;

1 scholarly

Comp II Persuasive paper Step-by-step 8-10 pages 5 sources;

2 scholarly Counterargument?

(yes, but)

What can you add?What can you add?

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Critical/originalthinking

You have greater choice of topics.You can

– agree– disagree– apply– compare/contrast– evaluate strengths/

weaknesses

You’ll develop persuasive skillsYou’ll develop persuasive skills Is personal Expresses feelings

and ideas Can bring healing

and/or clarity Allows people to

experiment with making beautiful language

Is objective (not just true for one person)

Expresses an opinionbacked by evidence

Explores ideas critically

Aims to be clear and formal

Anticipates readers’ questions and objections

Personal Personal Informed Informed Are multi-taskers more efficient?

Personal experience +

Informed Opinion:

Experience +Evidence

=Conversation

Meyer

Poldrack

Rubenstein

Research on multitaskingResearch on multitasking

Informed opinionInformed opinion

In academic writing, your opinion is only as good as your evidence.Personal Experience Community of Experts

Parents: Home movies show no autism symptoms before vaccination

Doctors detected signs of autism in the movies.

Schwetter: These dinosaur bones smell.

Huh? DNA was recovered.

Rhetorical triangleRhetorical triangle

rhetoric: the art of composing effective discourse (exchange of ideas, conversation)

WRITER AUDIENCE

PURPOSE

ArgumentArgument

argument: in speech and writing, an assertion made about a topic that is supported by at least one reason (claim + evidence)

WRITER AUDIENCE

PURPOSE:ARGUMENT

Developing an argumentDeveloping an argument Choose an arguable topic. Read about pros/cons. Take a position. Anticipate objections. Make your case.

– State your claims (pros).– Counterargue (show why cons are wrong)– Provide evidence.

Work the writing processWork the writing process

Get ideasGet them downRevise themPolish/publish

Kuhlthau’s Model of ResearchKuhlthau’s Model of Research

Stage Task Feelings

Initiation contemplating the task uncertainty and possible topics

Selection selecting a topic optimism

Exploration encountering inconsistency confusion and incompatibility

Formulation forming a focused clarityperspective

Collection gathering/documenting confidence

Presentation connecting and extending satisfaction or disappointment

Anxiety does not mean failureAnxiety does not mean failure

5 Stages of Accomplishment:5 Stages of Accomplishment:

DenialDenial I can’t do it!I can’t do it!

Maybe I can do it!Maybe I can do it!

There’s no way I can do it!There’s no way I can do it!

AAAAARGH! What if I can’t do it!AAAAARGH! What if I can’t do it!

I did it. Let’s party!I did it. Let’s party!

UncertaintyUncertainty

ResistanceResistance

PanicPanic

AcceptanceAcceptance

How to SucceedHow to Succeed Be here Find a topic you like Follow the rubrics for each assignment Read feedback Keep up with assignments Ask questions early Revise Back up your work Avoid the “Comp is hard” trap

It is the hardest thing in the world to frighten a mongoose, because he is eaten up from nose to tail with curiosity. The motto of all the mongoose family is “Run and find out,” and Rikki-tikki was a true mongoose.

—Rudyard Kipling“Rikki-tikki-tavi”The Jungle Book

What’s a good topic?What’s a good topic? Something you care about

– Enough to be interested– Not so much you can’t be objective

Something that’s researchable– Time limits– Available information– Objective information

Something you’re comfortable sharing Something that’s arguable Something that can contribute new

insights

How do I know?How do I know? In a study by Carol Dweck, 4th-graders

“were given unsolvable problems followed by solvable ones. Once the ‘helpless students’ failed, their strategies deteriorated down to _____ grade level; whereas, the "mastery-oriented students" stayed at 4th grade level despite failures. They rolled up their sleeves and worked harder. The crucial element was whether the student saw the failure as having to do with ability or effort.”

Directions: Rate these errors as1. Status-marking (outrageous)2. Mechanical mistakes (serious)3. Noticeable (annoying)

1. The teacher said I done a good job on the editing test.

2. We can get extra help in the ASC, but I don’t need none of that.

3. Although some people do. (fragment)4. Me and my friends write our papers the night

before they’re due.5. As far as i’m concerned, losing a little sleep is no

big deal.

1. The teacher said I done a good job on the editing test. (wrong verb tense)

2. We can get extra help in the ASC, but I don’t need none of that. (double negative)

3. Although some people do what? (fragment)4. Me and my friends write our papers the night before

they’re due. (object used as subject)5. As far as i’m concerned, losing a little sleep is no big

deal. (capitalization)

CorrectionsHairston’s respondents considered all of these errorsto be status-marking, or outrageous.

6. My friend Shan, always does at least a rough draft and a revised draft.

7. I’m trying to decide whether to go into criminal justice, study business management, or paralegal.

8. Any one of these programs are a good choice. 9. If I do good in my classes, my chances of getting

a good job will increase. 10. Our textbook is heavy, so I am glad to sit it down

when I get to class.

Directions: Rate these errors as1. Status-marking (outrageous)2. Mechanical mistakes (serious)3. Noticeable (annoying)

6. My friend Shan, always does at least a rough draft and a revised draft. (appositive)

7. I’m trying to decide whether to go into criminal justice, study business management, or paralegal. (parallelism)

8. Any one of these programs are a good choice for me. (subject-verb agreement)

9. If I do good in my classes, my chances of getting a good job will increase. (adverb, not adj.)

10. Our textbook is heavy, so I am glad to sit it down when I get to class. (sit vs. set)

CorrectionsHairston’s respondents considered these errorsto be serious.

Women tend to be more irritated than men.

Do you believe Hairston?Hairston, M. (1981). Not all errors are created equal:

Nonacademic readers in the professions respond to lapses in usage. College English, 43, 794-806.

Kantz, M., & Yates, R. (1994). Whose judgments? A survey of faculty responses to common and highly irritating writing errors. Retrieved July 19, 2006, from http://www.ateg.org/conferences/c5/kantz.htm

Usage matters: A comparative study of judgments of English usage errors. (1999, June 7). Retrieved July 19, 2006, from English department Web site, California Polytechnic State University: http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba/390/survey/390.RESULTS.html

Yonkers, V. (2009, February 13). Teaching business writing. Message posted to http://connecting2theworld.blogspot.com/2009/02/teaching-business-writing.html

Linguistics students replicated the study; results confirmed.

Beason (2001) found that business professionals perceived writers as hasty, careless, uncaring, or uninformed if the reader identified multiple errors

Myth:Myth:

There is one right way to write.

MythMyth If I think I’m a bad writer, I can’t pass If I think I’m a bad writer, I can’t pass

this course.this course.

The Wizard of OzThe Wizard of Oz

The diploma doesn’t make you smarter.

It’s the work you do to get the diploma.

Course GoalsCourse GoalsCompose original materials

in standard American EnglishUse appropriate documentation

as requiredIllustrate the steps in the writing

processApply knowledge of communication

to chosen profession