Think-Write Assignments are meant to stimulate your ideas and help push you towards the bigger essays. If you didn't have these smaller building blocks, you'd be tasked with coming up with 5 pages from scratch, without having any practice in shaping your thoughts. Remember, we need to see the Tetris-like building blocks in order to build towards the bigger, more extensive final paper. I cannot say which Think-Writes are easier than the other. Figure out which one appeals to you most.

You should post up your Think-Writes on the GoogleClassroom site.

Suggested Length of any Think-Write: 1 page, double-spaced. You are trying to write really effective PIE paragraphs (POINT-INFORMATION-EXPLANATION) (20 HW points) Good PIE paragraphs always tend to have the following:

1. Clear topic sentence and strong verb, showing the point of your claim. (P)

2. Evidence, often in a quoted or picture-based method. (I)

3. Analysis of the evidence. (I-analysis)

4. Contextual analysis (E)

5. Synthesis and wrapup, possibly linking to the next idea.

A. Format: Mini-essay-based format, using strong PIE-centric paragraphs; papers with external MLA or APA-citations that demonstrate outside source credibility will receive bonuses. Making the extra-effort to conduct your own independent research into the subject material will equally receive incentive / bonus points. (borrowing books, supplemental materials, etc.)

B. Feedback: Think-Writes are not worth major points; they affect your grade as PW (Performance Work). If you desire written feedback on grammar and content, you must A) upload the Think-Write onto the blog as usual; + B) print out a hard copy and double-space it, then turn it in directly to me. Getting feedback on your think-writes is optional and is driven by YOU.

Today's topics: Quoting and evidence gathering

GRADING CRITERIA FOR ANY THINK WRITE: (5 points per category)

1. Purpose: The written piece has a coherent sense of purpose, e.g. a controlling thesis statement, that legitimizes the entire cohesiveness of the content.

2. Audience Appeal: Either via textual evidence that has been analyzed or visual evidence that has been analyzed, the written piece engages the audience's sensibilities and appeals to these sensibilities. Perhaps description or other forms of appealing evidence have been added.

3. Structure and Dynamics: Structuring devices and overall clarity make the written piece smooth and easy to comprehend.

4. Overall Effort: The written work depicts a range from passable to extra-ordinary effort, and avoids a general and telling bare minimum of effort simply to get the blogpost done / the written work wasn't written 10 minutes before class.

This is K.C.C.'s discussion about plagiarism:

PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism includes but is not limited to submitting any document, to satisfy an academic
requirement, that has been copied in whole or part from another individual’s work without
identifying that individual; neglecting to identify as a quotation a documented idea that has not
been assimilated into the student’s language and style, or paraphrasing a passage so closely that
the reader is mislead as to the source; submitting the same written or oral material in more than
one course without obtaining authorization from the instructors involved; or in the dry-lab
setting, which includes (a) obtaining and using experimental data from other students without the
express consent of the instructor, (b) utilizing experimental data and laboratory write-ups from
other sections of the course or from previous terms during which the course was conducted, and
(c) fabricating data to fit the expected results, (d) dictation papers to or copying from others.

Course policy is as follows: for the first infraction, you get an "F" and no revision for the paper; the second incidence results in an "F" grade for the course.

NOTE: FROM NOW UNTIL THE END OF THE SEMESTER, every essay that employs some form of documentation (uses quotes) must be submitted with the following items:
A. PRINTED COPY OF RESOURCE with QUOTE (highlighted);
B. A WORKS CITED ENTRY: you do not need to make another page for this, but make sure that formatting is CORRECT. For confirmation of correct WORKS CITED FORM, see Bullock, 233-270.
1. REMEMBER, your WORKS CITED NEEDS TO BE ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED, by AUTHOR.

2. BE CAREFUL ABOUT FORMATTING. Remember to indent the other lines after the first one.

3. MOST OF YOU ARE PROBABLY WONDERING HOW TO CITE INTERNET SOURCES, especially, EBSCO HOST ones. Here is a sample:
(NAME, "TITLE," SOURCE, PUBLISHING DATE, ACCESS DATE, WEB HOST, WEB ADDRESS)

 
(the first line is indented 5 spaces, while every subsequent line is indented 10 spaces)

Copyright 2008 Davin K. Kubota. All Rights Reserved.