#explainingaconcept

Before Spring Break, we worked on two distinct workshops. We worked on strategies for defining. We looked back at your reading in Chapter 16; and we listened to a portion of the Code Switch podcast, “Hold UP! Time For An Explanatory Comma,” discussing different ways to think about audience in connection with definitions and explanations. (If you have not listened to the podcast, please do. The link is on our tumblr page.) We also talked about organization structures for your essay in this Explanatory genre.

What to do now? Well, your job over the break was to draft to at least 3 pages. We are workshopping tomorrow. Remember to bring 4 copies of your draft.

While you draft, this digital journal should help you to think about using that research you’ve been doing.

When considering how to use a source to support your own writing, argument, or in this case explaining, it is important not only to consider the source and what part of that source you might use (always with citations and due credit), but it’s also important to consider how you may use the source. Will you paraphrase the author or authors? Would it be a better idea to summarize? Or is a short direct quote in order?

By now, you all should have read Chapter 23 in our SM Guide, “Using Information from Sources to Support Your Claims.” For this DJP, I would like you to return to that chapter, review it. Turn to one of the sources you’ve chosen for your Concept Assignment. You will practice these 3 different ways to use sources in your own writing - paraphrasing, summarizing, and directly quoting.

We, generally, summarize when we hope to use the main idea or the main findings of an entire article or study. We, generally, paraphrase when the language in the writing is not particularly striking but the main idea is. When paraphrasing you must take the ideas, theories, or concepts from the author, but not their words. Paraphrasing can be a tough skill to get right. When paraphrasing, you shouldn’t just simply copy and paste the section of someone else’s writing into your own paper and change just a few words here and there. You should rather read the work, then turn to your own work and explain their ideas, theories, and/or concepts in your own words, always being certain to give credit to that other author or authors by citing their work.

When directly quoting, you should only choose a small portion of the author or authors words. We tend to directly quote too much of another’s work. Is it a sentence of statistics? If so, you may not need to quote them but paraphrase. Are you quoting an entire paragraph? More often than not, an entire paragraph or even 3 sentences can be too much to directly quote. Be particular.

So for your DJP #9, I would like you to do the following:

Refer to one of the sources you are already using to support your ideas in your Concept Assignment. Find one area you feel supports your writing well.

Using chapters 23 and 24, practice directly quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing the same ideas, section, or concepts. When you directly quote, I challenge you to use no more than 10 words of direct quote.

Use the sentence making strategies in Chapter 23 AND use Chapter 24 to help you to use proper MLA formatting. Also, at the base of your DJP, write in the citation for the source you are paraphrasing, summarizing, and directly quoting. Use Chapter 24 and the Purdue OWL (linked in our BBoard) to help you to practice this skill. tumblr will not let you insert a hanging indent, so don’t worry about that part of it. But, you can italicize. Try to get it formatted correctly. Practice, practice.

Before Spring Break, we worked on two distinct workshops. We worked on strategies for defining. We looked back at your reading in Chapter 16; and we listened to a portion of the Code Switch podcast, “Hold UP! Time For An Explanatory Comma,” discussing different ways to think about audience in connection with definitions and explanations. (If you have not listened to the podcast, please do. The link is on our tumblr page.) We also talked about organization structures for your essay in this Explanatory genre.

What to do now? Well, your job over the break was to draft to at least 3 pages. We are workshopping tomorrow. Remember to bring 4 copies of your draft.

While you draft, this digital journal should help you to think about using that research you’ve been doing.

When considering how to use a source to support your own writing, argument, or in this case explaining, it is important not only to consider the source and what part of that source you might use (always with citations and due credit), but it’s also important to consider how you may use the source. Will you paraphrase the author or authors? Would it be a better idea to summarize? Or is a short direct quote in order?

By now, you all should have read Chapter 23 in our SM Guide, “Using Information from Sources to Support Your Claims.” For this DJP, I would like you to return to that chapter, review it. Turn to one of the sources you’ve chosen for your Concept Assignment. You will practice these 3 different ways to use sources in your own writing - paraphrasing, summarizing, and directly quoting.

We, generally, summarize when we hope to use the main idea or the main findings of an entire article or study. We, generally, paraphrase when the language in the writing is not particularly striking but the main idea is. When paraphrasing you must take the ideas, theories, or concepts from the author, but not their words. Paraphrasing can be a tough skill to get right. When paraphrasing, you shouldn’t just simply copy and paste the section of someone else’s writing into your own paper and change just a few words here and there. You should rather read the work, then turn to your own work and explain their ideas, theories, and/or concepts in your own words, always being certain to give credit to that other author or authors by citing their work.

When directly quoting, you should only choose a small portion of the author or authors words. We tend to directly quote too much of another’s work. Is it a sentence of statistics? If so, you may not need to quote them but paraphrase. Are you quoting an entire paragraph? More often than not, an entire paragraph or even 3 sentences can be too much to directly quote. Be particular.

So for your DJP #9, I would like you to do the following:

Refer to one of the sources you are already using to support your ideas in your Concept Assignment. Find one area you feel supports your writing well.

Using chapters 23 and 24, practice directly quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing the same ideas, section, or concepts. When you directly quote, I challenge you to use no more than 10 words of direct quote.

Use the sentence making strategies in Chapter 23 AND use Chapter 24 to help you to use proper MLA formatting. Also, at the base of your DJP, write in the citation for the source you are paraphrasing, summarizing, and directly quoting. Use Chapter 24 and the Purdue OWL (linked in our BBoard) to help you to practice this skill. tumblr will not let you insert a hanging indent, so don’t worry about that part of it. But, you can italicize. Try to get it formatted correctly. Practice, practice.

DJP #7 was about focusing your writing about your concepts. This digital journal is about considering explanatory strategies. While deciding how you will offer an explanation to your reader, you should consider credibility (ethos) and tone. What does the concept you have chosen call for? What tone would your audience expect you to use when explaining the concept you have chosen? Is it a very serious concept? Is it not? Tone matters.

With regard to ethos and credibility: Is the concept you have chosen quite technical? If so, this will affect your audiences expectations with regard to your sources. So, how do you explain your concept AND/OR the misconception you may see to a general audience? What strategies work well for your chosen concept, which do you think would not work well.

In this digital journal post, we will explore a few explanatory strategies you will plan to use in your concept essay.

On page 155 of SM Guide (at the bottom of the page), the authors suggest to us that it may be helpful to consider the following questions: (these are possible explanatory strategies)

How would you define it?  (”It” here is the concept.)

What examples would help your readers understand it? (”It” here is the concept.)

How is it similar to or different from other related concepts? (”It” here is the concept.)

How does it happen or get done? (”It” here is the concept.)

*Note that the pages that follow in the chapter give you lots to think about explanatory chapters. Chapter 16 is full of explanatory strategies (or strategies for defining).

For this DJP (which is due by Thursday at 9:30AM), you will write a response to at least two of these questions. I’m asking you to do meta-composing here - thinking and writing about what you will plan to write.

Choose the 2 questions above that you feel most connect with your concept.

Explain HOW you will respond to the thought in your paper with regard to your concept. For example: if I were answering “How would you define it?,” I would consider what tone and what sources I need to use in order to define the concept itself. A simple dictionary definition only gets us so far. We are beyond that now. So, how will you define it?

Write at least 1 paragraph for each, 2 paragraphs in total (at least).

DJP #7 was about focusing your writing about your concepts. This digital journal is about considering explanatory strategies. While deciding how you will offer an explanation to your reader, you should consider credibility (ethos) and tone. What does the concept you have chosen call for? What tone would your audience expect you to use when explaining the concept you have chosen? Is it a very serious concept? Is it not? Tone matters.

With regard to ethos and credibility: Is the concept you have chosen quite technical? If so, this will affect your audiences expectations with regard to your sources. So, how do you explain your concept AND/OR the misconception you may see to a general audience? What strategies work well for your chosen concept, which do you think would not work well. 

In this digital journal post, we will explore a few explanatory strategies you will plan to use in your concept essay.

On page 155 of SM Guide (at the bottom of the page), the authors suggest to us that it may be helpful to consider the following questions: (these are possible explanatory strategies)

How would you define it?  (”It” here is the concept.)

What examples would help your readers understand it? (”It” here is the concept.)

How is it similar to or different from other related concepts? (”It” here is the concept.)

How does it happen or get done? (”It” here is the concept.)

*Note that the pages that follow in the chapter give you lots to think about explanatory chapters. Chapter 16 is full of explanatory strategies (or strategies for defining).

For this DJP (which is due by Thursday at 9:30AM), you will write a response to at least two of these questions. I’m asking you to do meta-composing here - thinking and writing about what you will plan to write.

Choose the 2 questions above that you feel most connect with your concept.

Explain HOW you will respond to the thought in your paper with regard to your concept. For example: if I were answering “How would you define it?,” I would consider what tone and what sources I need to use in order to define the concept itself. A simple dictionary definition only gets us so far. We are beyond that now. So, how will you define it?

Write at least 1 paragraph for each, 2 paragraphs in total (at least).

On Thursday we talked more about concepts; we learned strategies that would help you to research and hone in on your concept; and we began to talk about strategies for drafting your essays. This digital journal builds upon that list of goals. It is meant to push your drafting forward.

During class, we did watch the TED Talk I was going to assign, Adam Savage talking about the concept of cosplay. We are going to listen to a podcast during class on Tuesday. Also during Tuesday’s class I will introduce your team assignment. So, be sure that you are prepared to consider your concept, have done some research to understand that concept, and have done some thinking about your audience. To that end, here is your prompt for DJP #7:

Your calendar asks you to refer to pages 151-155 of SM Guide to help you to draft. Use it. On page 153, you will find a box with a title highlighted in blue: “What makes the concept interesting to me and my readers?” In it, you will see that the box is divided into 3 sections of questions to help you to draft. I want you to choose 1 question from each of those sections. You will answer them in your DJP entry. Notice that the 2nd section is about audience.

DJP #7

In your digital journal post, please respond to a single question from each section of the box on page 153. That should be 3 questions in total, one on your concept, one considering your audience, and that helps you to explain why this writing matters.

In your post, use 1 of the sentence strategies from Chapter 16, “Defining.” See especially page 568. These strategies are meant to be an aid to your building your toolbox of writing strategies. Choose one that seems to lend itself to defining your concept, and bend it to your concept. (You will probably use this to respond to the question you chose for the 1st section on Page 153.) Bold the sentence in your post.

Because of the nature of your task, you ought to respond with at least 3 full paragraphs.

On Thursday we talked more about concepts; we learned strategies that would help you to research and hone in on your concept; and we began to talk about strategies for drafting your essays. This digital journal builds upon that list of goals. It is meant to push your drafting forward.

During class, we did watch the TED Talk I was going to assign, Adam Savage talking about the concept of cosplay. We are going to listen to a podcast during class on Tuesday. Also during Tuesday’s class I will introduce your team assignment. So, be sure that you are prepared to consider your concept, have done some research to understand that concept, and have done some thinking about your audience. To that end, here is your prompt for DJP #7:

Your calendar asks you to refer to pages 151-155 of SM Guide to help you to draft. Use it. On page 153, you will find a box with a title highlighted in blue: “What makes the concept interesting to me and my readers?” In it, you will see that the box is divided into 3 sections of questions to help you to draft. I want you to choose 1 question from each of those sections. You will answer them in your DJP entry. Notice that the 2nd section is about audience. 

DJP #7

In your digital journal post, please respond to a single question from each section of the box on page 153. That should be 3 questions in total, one on your concept, one considering your audience, and that helps you to explain why this writing matters.

In your post, use 1 of the sentence strategies from Chapter 16, “Defining.” See especially page 568. These strategies are meant to be an aid to your building your toolbox of writing strategies. Choose one that seems to lend itself to defining your concept, and bend it to your concept. (You will probably use this to respond to the question you chose for the 1st section on Page 153.) Bold the sentence in your post. 

Because of the nature of your task, you ought to respond with at least 3 full paragraphs.