backReturn to Unit One: MWF

MWF
Unit One, Day 8 - Friday, September 8

What they'll do today in class:

Connection to course goals: Establishing the criteria emphasizes how the context in which they'll write sets forth expectations for the text they'll produce (they can't just come up with any criteria - the criteria are somewhat determined by the context).

INTRODUCTION: Devise a brief introduction that explains what they'll be doing today in class and why.

  1. Put the steps of "Evaluating" up on board. With these steps on the board, you can refer back to the expectations we've already discussed - summary - and then point out that we're now moving on to the next step - defining criteria.
  2. Establish criteria for essay 2 by analyzing the audience and considering their own in-class experiences.
  3. (5 min)

  4. Discuss their WTLs to generate a class list of possible criteria for evaluating the essays for the sociology professor. Make sure to have someone keep a list of the criteria students generate so you can type it up for the next class period. Some possible criteria:
  5. - Leave this list on the board because they will use it for the WTL in #4 below.

    - Keep in mind, here, that many of these could produce either a "use the essay" or a "don't use the essay" thesis. For example, if the evidence is strong, it might be useful to help students understand important themes or ideas the professor wants to convey. However, if the evidence is strong but tends to dominate the essay, it might cause the reader to lost interest and thus be less effective. In short, be sure to emphasize that the criteria can probably be used in a variety of ways to meet the overall context of their Essay 2 assignment, they will just need to clearly establish their criteria.

    (15 min)

    Transition: We've now generated a list of various possibilities for criteria you might use in evaluating the essays for our second writing assignment. Let's now take a look at the types of response from the PHG and consider how these different types of response might be useful starting points for responding the context of Essay 2.

  6. Introduce the types of response - list on the board
  7. (5 min)

  8. WTL: How might each of these fit with the criteria we came up with on Tuesday?
  9. (5 min)

  10. Discuss their WTLs.
  11. In short, try to show how the context for Essay 2 certainly requires some sort of analysis, but the other types of response can also be incorporated as well. For example, they might be able to use an agree/disagree response to show how an essay elicits an energetic response from a reader. Perhaps an essay is so controversial that it would make readers especially emotional about the issue, and thus they would want to talk about the essay. Thus, the agree/disagree response could show how the essay would make an effective discussion generator, which could be a goal of the sociology professor.

    (10 min)

    Transition: We've talked a lot about this general list of criteria and how the types of response might used in evaluating that criteria. In writing your actual essay, though, one of your tasks will be "personalizing" that list to fit your purpose for the essay. That is, it would be too much to try to evaluate an essay in terms of all of the possible criterion we've generated, so based on which essay you choose and how you want the professor to view that essay you'll have to decide which of those criterion are the most important and relevant to your purpose. To that end, let's start to focus in on a specific type of response -- analysis -- to a specific criterion -- evidence.

  12. Have students discuss what would be effective evidence in preparation for analyzing Molloy's evidence on Monday.
  13. (5-10 min)

    IF TIME...

    Transition: Monday we'll be using this list to analyze the effectiveness of the evidence in the Molloy essay, your reading assignment. You might consider these characteristics as you read the essay. Another important part of analyzing evidence is considering the rhetorical context in which an essay was written and the expectations these authors would have faced in terms of evidence. Let's take a few minutes to prepare for our analysis of Molloy by analyzing the original context for his text.

  14. Analyze Molloy's context.

    - What type of book is this excerpt from?

    - What would Molloy's purpose be in writing this text?

    - Who would his audience be?

    - Given the audience and purpose, what might you expect in terms of evidence?

    (5-10 min)

  15. Conclusion

    Assignment:

    Read:

    RC Molloy, "Dress for Success" 227-232

    Write:

    A one paragraph academic summary of the Molloy essay.