Portfolio Grading Assignment

The following seven posts correspond to the seven graded portfolios at the link provided.  Respond to four of the seven by March 8th following the directions we discussed in class.

Paper Graded A-

ENGL 101 Portfolios

Provide a substantive comment about why the paper matches the grade given.  Use the ENGL 101 Portfolio Rubric as a basis for your comments.   

Paper Graded B+

ENGL 101 Portfolios 

Provide a substantive comment about why the paper matches the grade given.  Use the ENGL 101 Portfolio Rubric as a basis for your comments.   

Paper Graded B-

ENGL 101 Portfolios

Provide a substantive comment about why the paper matches the grade given.  Use the ENGL 101 Portfolio Rubric as a basis for your comments.   

Paper Graded C+

ENGL 101 Portfolios 
Provide a substantive comment about why the paper matches the grade given.  Use the ENGL 101 Portfolio Rubric as a basis for your comments.   

Paper Graded C

ENGL 101 Portfolios

Provide a substantive comment about why the paper matches the grade given.  Use the ENGL 101 Portfolio Rubric as a basis for your comments.   

Paper Graded C-

ENGL 101 Portfolios 
Provide a substantive comment about why the paper matches the grade given.  Use the ENGL 101 Portfolio Rubric as a basis for your comments.   

Paper Graded D+

English 101 Portfolios

Provide a substantive comment about why the paper matches the grade given.  Use the ENGL 101 Portfolio Rubric as a basis for your comments.   

Rhetorical Analysis

This week we will be working on rhetorical analysis.  The following ten links have material which should provide you with amply opportunity to try out your rhetorical skills of analysis.  Each student is required to comment on four different posts (2 by TH, 2 more by next TU).  All the video material is on youtube so if you are having difficulty viewing the videos or prefer to watch them in full screen format the title should match a youtube search with the same text.

Comments should be rhetorically substantive (versus opinion) and respond in some way to the threaded discussion (once it begins).  Remember, respect is fundamental.  Have fun!

#1 Strong Bad English Paper

#2 WSU Rwanda Commercial

#3 1992 Totally Hair Barbie

#4 Babies Official Trailer

#5 National Geographic

If you are not familiar, these are claimed to be photos of the same woman, taken years apart.  You can consider them independently or in conversation with each other.

#6 Kicked Him in the Penith

#7 Clintons

#8 Malcolm X

discuss the images independently and/or in relationship to each other

#9 The Simpsons: Banksy

#10 Old Spice: The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

Two Student Summaries

Summary is tricky and sometimes the lines between summary and commentary are blurred (intentionally or unintentionally).  Both summary and commentary are important tools in your writing toolbox, but it is good to know the difference as you make rhetorically strategic choices in your writing.  

A few strong summaries from classmates:

Section three of “Argument as Emergence, Rhetoric as Love,” goes into further detail regarding the clashing of narratives.  Corder describes a few of the different reactions people have when faced with a different way of thinking – a different narrative.  One of the choices he discusses is ignoring other narratives – pretending they do not exist.  A second choice he discusses is to learn to change our own narrative; Corder goes on to say that this is a rare occurrence.  He describes the option of arguing with newly encountered narratives as well as the option to let one’s own narrative fall apart.  Corder ends this section questioning how people can change their narrative.

At the beginning of the seventh section of “Argument as Emergence, Rhetoric As Love,” Jim Corder asks again how people can move past the seeming hopelessness of “steadfast” or stalemated arguments.  He then lists a series of situations in which there are two opposing views that may cause a rift between their respective holders.  He answers the previous question by saying that before we argue, we should learn to love and respect each other, to open up to one another, and here he states that argument is emergence.

Examples from your work

Here are some out-of-context excerpts from your Corder responses that I think are solid representations in each of the following categories: active voice, personal voice, summary, paraphrase, quote incorporation, and assessment/synthesis.

Clear, Active-Voice:

Yet the so-called “others” are feeling the exact same way.

The author used the example of the relationship of a client and therapist.

Another idea is the limitation of speech and writing in describing our past experiences.

Personal voice:

My favorite part was when he mentioned Rogers, and talked about the therapist-client relationship.  Normal people aren’t always completely unbiased and empathetic.

Summary:

The respect one person has for the other in the argument will often in return gain the same respect back from their opposing debater.  The author ensures readers that this is the recipe for efficient rhetoric: keeping the logic of the argument flowing steadily without incursion of reckless emotion.

Paraphrase (these all probably should have had citations):

Rhetoric is the technique of using language to communicate effectively and persuasively.

As human beings we only have the capacity to use one word at a time.

Also, the reading tells us that evidence and reasoning are only valid if they can relate to the listener’s narrative.

He believes that a feeling of threat can block means of communication.

This supports Rogerian rhetoric, which states that rhetoric, not only matters to the speaker but also the audience. 

Incorporating quotes:

If a person wants to learn what the opposing side has to say then they must “refrain from evaluating and instead listen with understanding” (should have added the citation).

Corder compares this to a Humanistic approach to therapy, in which the therapist practices “unconditional positive regard” toward the client (should have added a citation).

Analysis, Assessment, Synthesis:

This method of repetition, constantly reiterating his ideas throughout the text, may subconsciously enforce Corder’s whole idea – the need to rethink “argument” in order to make a more loving space for dialogue.

This reading took a sort of metaphorical look at the lives and interactions of people.

He includes himself in every aspect of his writings using the word “we” appealing to the pathos of the readers.

Plagiarism

Today we are going to talk briefly about plagiarism- not the stole-it-or-bought-it kind, but the gee-I-didn’t-know kind. 

One major issue with plagiarism is the confusion regarding common knowledge.  There is no real agreement on what common knowledge really means, so it is always best to err on the side of citation.  If you found it somewhere, say where.  For instance, I found this handy little chart here: http://library.csusm.edu/plagiarism/howtocredit/ but they mostly lifted their information from the Purdue OWL, which they tell you up front. 

When to give credit
(adapted from Avoiding Plagiarism by Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab)

Need to cite when	No need to cite when
referring to someone else’s ideas, opinions, or theories, such as by paraphrasing copying exact words reprinting or copying graphical elements such as diagrams, illustrations, maps, charts, and pictures using ideas from others given in conversation, interviews, correspondence (letters or email) or heard during lectures, speeches, and from media such as television and radio	using ideas, opinions, or theories that are genuinely original with you writing up your own experiment results including your own artwork or other original creation recording anecdotes about other people, in which those people remain anonymous using common knowledge according to accepted criteria

word+remedy . . . so it begins

Hi, Class.  To get us started thinking about what is communicated in the symbols around us, let me share a few of the rhetorical choices I made in setting up this space.

LAYOUT:
- I wanted the class blog to be friendly, so I chose warm colors.
- But I also wanted it to be serious so I opted out of "cute" or comic templates.

TEXT:
- The theme "word+remedy" is consistent with the title of the course on the syllabus.  This repetition is intended to reinforce the simplicity and centrality of rhetoric to the course (in-class and in the Angel work space, I explain that the title comes from I. A. Richards' definition of rhetoric as "miscommunication and its remedy").
- The course title of this+that also implies the fluid, evolutionary process of writing which we will embrace through the drafting process. 
- Lastly, the "+" sign is a nod to the influence/evolution of writing in digital spaces.  Throughout the semester we will discuss, and maybe even argue, about what academic composing should look like and what "counts" in the Academy. 

IMAGE:
- This is a piece of a photo I took in Ethiopia  of a young man headed to market with a bundle of chat on his head.  In the original photo the yellow and red bags set against the green chat reflect the Ethiopian flag.
- But chat is a narcotic leaf with complicated social and political implications on a national scale.  The picture speaks to me of the tough choices farmers with hungry children make.
- Because I couldn't fit the whole photo in the blog header I cropped it so that it becomes even more anonymous and universal, eliminating most of the face of the young man and all of the background.

So, we are off.  As you come across rhetorically significant images or videos in the next few weeks, bookmark them for use in class later.  Looking forward to your thoughts.