The Paula Jean Example
Paula Jean, we’re just hours away from the end of the semester and I don’t see much in your Annotated Bibliography, an essential component of your Portfolio. While you’re working to finish it, let me remind you something I said several times in class and in the Lecture posts about Bibliographic notes.
Your claims here need to be just as specific
as they are in every other argument.
YOUR VAGUE FIRST DRAFT STATEMENT SO FAR:
HOW I USED IT:
I used this article for background information to form my own opinion and to use it as evidence within my research position paper. It really helped me prove my point on unconscious forces and how things that are said around you can effect your performance and actions.
We want to understand what your “own opinion” is, and how it was useful as “evidence.” We want to know what “point it proved” about unconscious forces, and how things we hear can “affect our performance,” but you need to tell us, PJ.
HOW IT WOULD LOOK IF I KNEW WHAT YOU MEANT:
HOW I USED IT:
Reading this article convinced me that human beings will respond to a set of stimuli as they are expected to respond whenever those expectations are explicit, and particularly when they are reminded of those expectations in advance. The author’s research demonstrated clearly that subjects in an experiment (especially when they don’t know they’re test subjects) will live up to expectations that conform to society’s prejudices. Conversely, their performance on tasks thought to be outside their capabilities will suffer because they unwittingly conspire to prove the prejudices correct.
If that’s what you learned from Bartlett (unlikely since I just invented it out of my head), then SAY what you learned from Bartlett.
_____________________________
Visual Riddles as Metaphor
Perspective changes everything. In the following riddles, how we look at the images changes what we see. Your Definition Argument is your chance to frame the way your readers see the component terms of your premise.
Define Fairness.
Does “fairness” mean giving everyone 1) the same amount, or 2) what they have earned, or 3) what they need, or 4) what they deserve, or 5) whatever it would take to make everyone equal?
Or does it mean something else? In your paper, it means what you say it means. For 1000 words, you are the Boss of the Language.
Spots Turn Green or Disappear
If you follow the light grey spot around the circle for 30 seconds to one minute, you will notice that the other spots will eventually turn green.
But if you stare at the cross in the middle for the exact same time, the spots around the circle will disappear.
Named after Paul Troxler, the Swiss physician and philosopher found that the brain ignores visual scenes that don’t change.
Lines Curve when you Look Away
What if . . . all the lines are actually curved, but you can focus your readers’ attention on just the portion of your topic that you can render as logical, predictable, right-angle intersections? It won’t be easy to keep their eyes from wandering. Omit needless words.
Clockwise? Counterclockwise? Neither. Either.
If the image moves clockwise (raised foot moves from right to left), force it to move counterclockwise, and vice versa. You can do both by changing your perspective on what you’re seeing. But remember, it’s not moving at all. It’s just a series of still images shown in sequence that our brains interpret as motion. We’re hard-wired to impose meaning wherever we look. Good essays help us recognize the connections between data points.
_____________________________
Best Ever Elevator Instructions
Your classmate Crabs has posted a work of genius.
_____________________________
Definitional/Categorical Unit
A Model Essay
- Link to Your Professor’s Model Definition Essay, “Political Paralysis”
- The argument is categorical.
- It provides an answer to the question, “Does polio belong to the category of eradicable diseases?”
In-Class Exercise
- During my presentation of “Political Paralysis,” leave a Reply to indicate whether or not the illustration helps you understand the purpose of the Definition/Categorical argument.
_____________________________
Definition Workshop
Let’s lay out the parameters for:
A Protected Class that Deserves Special Consideration
The Premise:
This class is “Presence Required,” but some students will be excused from having to attend in person. As authors of a Definition/Categorical argument, we’re in charge of establishing what characteristics qualify students as members of the “protected class.”
- What types of students will be automatically excused?
- What characteristics do those students share?
- Do the qualifying students belong to any particular category(ies)?
- Analyze the results
- What underlying values support our conclusions about who should and who should not be excused from class?
- Notice that we have considered very specific cases, and evaluated them to find underlying similarities or categories.
- Moving from the specific to the general, we find ourselves making moral or ethical claims about fairness that expose our basic social beliefs.
- Can we find the solution that responds to our shared values?
_____________________________
The Professional Version
- The “Protected Class” Model
- The editors of the New York Times defines a crucial constitutional term: protected class that deserves heightened scrutiny.
- Includes a brief In-Class or Take-Home Exercise
- In class today, leave a comment on the Protected Class post.
Counterintuitive Fall 2024 
Class Notes – phoenixxxx23
-everything is not what it seems if you pay attention to it and look closely. It is all about the focus.
-Proposal 5 should be a useful assignment to go back to; the thoughts and ideas should be clear and usable in the research paper itself
–You are in charge of what everything is: fairness, truth. YOU present your own perspective not dictionary definition.
–Do not let !anything! distract your reader from your point
-Dive into the argument and make sure IT IS argument
–Do not start with a rhetorical question!
-Should we? Can we? Will we? – tough ethical questions
-Momentum is everything
-Polio is not smallpox: obvious, defenless, stable
-Definition argument tells you what polio is not, not what it is.
I agree that THIS Definition Argument is about what polio ISN’T. But that’s not meant to be taken as a rule, just an example of one type of Definition/Categorical Argument.
Good Notes. Very much to the point.
3/3
10/09/24
What Happened:
What I Got:
What I still have Questions about:
I wonder if you could tell me even now the significance of your note: Massive Gs.
3/3
Class Notes – Softball1321
—In case you had time to think about this phrasing, let me warn you about “By . . . ” openings, Softball. They create an expectation that you have to fulfill. You must tell the reader, in this case, who looked and what were the consequences of looking. You have two choices for this sort of introductory strategy:
You can see how different they are. In your version, we have no idea which one you mean.
“While . . . ” openings can create similar confusion. You probably mean:
A more reliable way to get to your point is to start with the Subject of the Idea:
Grade 3/3
class notes:
How i intend to use it:Proposal
I don’t understand why you’re advising yourself not to “talk about” your opinions in your Proposal+5.
Regarding Rhetorical Questions, I advise against them (prohibit them for sloppy users) because they invite your reader to boldly answer with what will often be the “wrong” answer. Your objective should be to keep them from silently insisting on their own objections.
If your RQ is clever and well-crafted, and if you ANSWER IT IMMEDIATELY, you can earn yourself a Rhetorical Question Permit.
3/3
Class Notes 10.9.24
Annotated Bibliography
-The bibliography is a longer culmination of proposals that’ll be used in your portfolio.
-Going into your Proposal +5, try to change it from reading it, to converting it to your future material to supplement your writing.
Fairness
-What is fairness? If it’s about being just, having justice, equality of amount, etc, we should redirect this to how it relates to writing. Regardless of how someone else can interpret it, your statement is absolute (in your writing).
-A definition of a word is useless in your opus, don’t let your audience be distracted from what YOU are trying to instill in them.
Categorical Assignment
-A model is shown, what is strong about about the model:
Your first two bullets sound completely contradictory, which I understand based on the example you were presented. I meant to dissuade you from quoting a “dictionary definition” of a term like polio. The argument presented in Political Paralysis is that Polio does not belong to the same category Smallpox does: Eradicable Diseases. The argument is definitional/categorical, but it manages to be so without bothering to define polio as a blanket term.
Grade 3/3
Class notes- figure8clementine
-the human brain is able to ignore certain aspects of what we see just to fully be able to focus on what we’re trying to focus on.
-we as people are hardwired to find meaning in things and see what we believe we’re seeing
-the proposal plus five is a very big and important part of the annotated bibliography
-fairness is something the writer needs to decide what the meaning is on the research paper we’re writing
-in class discussion on the politcal-weaponization of polio and using rhetorical questions correctly in a way that intrigues the audience to want to read further.
-people were able to completely eradicate smallpox with a lot of money and resources. The same could be done with polio but people do not want to continue to put in that effort when the numbers have already dwindled down to 100 cases a year globally. Many current polio cases are breaking out in Gaza, where war and famine are issues that take priority and concentration over somehow trying to find a solution to polio in the midst of that.
Even so, second doses of Polio Vaccine were administered to kids in Gaza yesterday. The worry always is that a small outbreak in concentration camp-like conditions will explode into a full epidemic.
—More specifically, it WILL BECOME the Annotated Bibliography with a name change once all your sources are gathered there and annotated.
—Well, not in every paper. But if Fairness is part of your argument, then, yes, you must go on the record with a clear declaration of what fairness means, to you, in the context of your 1000 words.
Grade 3/3
Notes:10/09
I don’t know about you, but I didn’t mean to mandate “giving everyone the same amount” as the only definition of Fairness.
Grade 3/3
Regarding Rhetorical Questions, I advise against them (prohibit them for sloppy users) because they invite your reader to boldly answer with what will often be the “wrong” answer. Your objective should be to keep them from silently insisting on their own objections.
If your RQ is clever and well-crafted, and if you ANSWER IT IMMEDIATELY, you can earn yourself a Rhetorical Question Permit.
Thanks for asking a question in your Notes, Unicorn. It helps me to know what I’ve been unclear about.
Grade 4/3
Class Notes: 10/09/24
-In the disappearing dots illusion the main idea for it in a writing stand point is that we should show readers what we want them to see and distract them from everything else, but our truth/thesis.
-While building the plus15, make sure to include details in the “How I Intend to Use It” section. Do not just write that it to formed “your opinion”, explain what the opinion is.
-Don’t wait to finish assignments, work on it throughout the semester, especially portfolio assignments.
-What is fairness? It all depends on the perspective it is coming from. In our writing, we are in charge of what everything is. We determine what is “fair”, we determine the meaning we have and choose what the audience will pick as the definition.
-Make sure there is an argument in our Definition/Categorical argument. Do not just give definitions on what something is.
-Starting with a rhetorical question is an awful idea in argumentative essays, unless we are the professor who has a license and understand how to use them. We don’t.
-A definition argument tells us more than what a specific thing is. This is how we make an actual argument in the writing. If we just explain definition for definition what something is, we will not make it anywhere in the text. The audience would not agree with our side, which is our purpose of this writing.
In-Class Exercise:
This illustration did help me to understand the purpose of the Definition/Categorical argument because it allowed me to see an example of what this really is. It showed me that just writing definitions does not make the cut for this type of assignment. There should be connections and an argument in the writing so that the audience can agree with me.
I like that your Notes get at the “learning objectives” rather than simply describing what happened, Taco.
Regarding Rhetorical Questions, I advise against them (prohibit them for sloppy users) because they invite your reader to boldly answer with what will often be the “wrong” answer. Your objective should be to keep them from silently insisting on their own objections.
If your RQ is clever and well-crafted, and if you ANSWER IT IMMEDIATELY, you can earn yourself a Rhetorical Question Permit.
Grade 4/3
10/9/2024 Class Notes
Political Paralysis
– Dive right into the argument
– DO NOT start with a rhetorical question
This is a definition essay because the essay sheds light on the hardships of the polio disease, and describes what it can be like and how severe and scary the disease really is.
The clearest statement of this thesis is that polio and smallpox are different diseases that need different types of treatments for them to be killed off. We also know that smallpox has already been removed.
One main difference is that smallpox is said to be completely gone from the earth while polio is not. The other difference between these two diseases is that polio is harder to detect compared to smallpox. Poilo does show obvious symptoms and can easily get mistaken for other diseases. Smallpox however, is visible since we get spots all over the body.
In- Class Exercise
I hope when you craft your 3000 words you will remember the power of an image to illustrate your argument. I encourage the use of charts, photos, infographics.
Grade 4/3
10/9
Your Notes are like a collection of takeaways. No filler.
4/3
Class notes 10/9- iloveme5
I imagine your personal reflections here would help a future you put yourself back into the classroom where you had these thoughts. AND I imagine that’s what makes them effective notes for you. Plus, they make your notes more entertaining for their only other reader, me.
Thanks.
4/3
10/09
Visual Riddles: Pt 2
Paula Jean Example
Define Fairness / Model Essay
Beautiful and thoughtful.
But I disagree:
Not so. Their specific characteristics can differ, and provide a basis for comparison, without reference to their overall nature.
HOME in on one viewpoint; you’ll have a new perspective.
To HONE is to sharpen like a blade. You can HONE your perspective.
To HOME IN ON is to treat the center of an area as the target.
There is no such action as HONING IN.
4/3
Mongoose Notes – 10/9/2024
This is my kind of poetry:
4/3
Notes 10/9/24
The Notes sound reasonable but not always comprehensible to me. I hope they mean more to you.
3/3
Notes
10/9/24
Visual Riddle
-Focus on how information is presented, force readers into a perception by presenting certain information carefully controlled.
-Careful understanding if you can focus recipients information
Best Elevator Instructions
–manages to resolve ambiguity without having to mention there is one, tell me bear instructions i need to follow, attention focused on the middle.
-reference “Crabs” post for assistance if you’re confused. Since his post is spectacular.
Paula Jean Example
-+5 evolves into portfolio
-update sources you add along the way
-if you do well, “how i intend to use it” to “how I used it”
-”opinion” “evidence” vague wording. Be specific. Those phrases kinda remind me of “it” and how we don’t know what IT is! Spell it out, concisely.
-The ano-bib is kinda like writing your essay, explaining a quote. Specific.
-practice in thinking of my source and easy reference.
-In a way that links our thinking to our source.
What is fair?
–categorical argument what are the circumstances?
-Define the circumstances
-start outside work to inside
Definitional/Categorical Unit
-If i don’t know why i care, i don’t care.
-“Does polio belong to the category of eradicable diseases?”, use this when writing to keep yourself on track. Not polio specifically but the implication of the question. Is my topic fitting into __ category?
-thought we could have eradicated polio, because we did it with smallpox. Is this a categorical argument yet?
-Under what conditions?
-We think they are similar enough that the analogy will hold.
-We think polio is similar to smallpox so that the same conditions will be met. They’re under the same category.
-Looking to accomplish, decide whether the analogy between smallpox and polio to argue by analogy, they belong to the same category, conditions are similar enough. Under this question they are analogous.
-What are the conditions?
-smallpox eradication, polio not: different characteristics. Define those and see if they fit under the same category.
-definition argument that says what something ISN’T
I love following along with the flow of your thinking, 1512. Plus, you responded to the Definition—davidbdale post.
4/3
Class Notes – 10/9/24
Perspective is everything. Putting your reader in a position to see the things you want them to see is what a good persuasive argument is. Keeping your reader focused is essential to this. If the reader can let their ideas wander then they will not be as focused on your specific idea and will then be less likely to flip their position in the way you want them to.
Bibliographic entries need to be specific.
A categorical definition argument is based on the circumstance not the term itself. There is no reason to have your argument wander and be diluted by trying to define your argument in every situation. Focus on your argument in your situation. Nothing else matters and will only serve to weaken your argument.
Arguments are always conditional. Define your conditions or run the risk of having your argument be weakened by points you were never trying to make.
Terse but packed with meaning.
4/3
Class notes 10/9:
Paula Jean: Add sources as you find them and include how they were used, include opinion, these can be copied and pasted into the paper.
Visual riddles as metaphors: Readers can read same information and come to different conclusions; sequence of information can affect how readers perceive it, leave out information that is irrelevant to claim you are making.
Best Ever Elevator Instructions: If ask for feedback after graded must include questions about what kind of improvement needs to be improved. Make changes in original post. After making changes put back into feedback please and add a reply describing what you changed.
Definitional/Categorical Unit: define the meaning of things in the perspective of the paper, arguing by analogy
Assignments:
Definition/Categorical Argument 10/15
Good enough.
3/3
Class notes:
Very nice.
I suspect 4s out of 3 are in your future.
3/3
10/09
I wouldn’t say:
This is an Definition Essay BECAUSE (although it doesn’t give an exact argument) IT DISCUSSES THE EFFECTS of Polio and the CONSEQUENCES . . .
THAT would make it a CAUSAL argument.
But, in this case, CONTRASTING IT with smallpox . . .
. . . is a CATEGORICAL argument that serves the author well.
3/3
Class Notes – ChickenNugget
Your Notes manage to be both specific-sounding and vague at the same time, ChickenNugget. If that sounds like an inaccurate or unfair criticism, please Reply back. You may write any way you wish, but this imprecise style does not grade well. I’d be happy to provide specific examples of how to improve these paragraphs.
3/3
Dots as a metaphor. You know they are there, but they somehow seem to fade away. This is another metaphor for writing. When we write, we are to focus the readers attention to a specific area in order to achieve a change in perspective.
Grid optical illusion. We can only see what we look at, everything on peripheral vision is just hints. Just to be a nerd in the spotlight for a moment, I have been introduced to this concept many times, and each time it was said that our minds are able to fill in the blanks of our peripheral vision however this “fill-in” is not necessarily accurate. It has been said that many ghost stories have been attributed to where one thinks they see a person (in peripheral) and when they turn to get a better look the visage or silhouette has disappeared. For our purposes however, this is once again a metaphor for our writings. This is perhaps to say that the audience will be fine filling in the “world” outside of our focus area, or perhaps that even if something does not match our peripheral, we are so used to it that we are willing to forgive the inconsistencies while focusing on what we are being told to focus on.
Annotated bibliography. Annotated bibliography is your portfolio 5+ but stronger, faster, and smarter! “We have the technology!” I’m kidding but there is some truth to it. Or annotated bibliography will be including material from our portfolio 5+. We are to update “the how i intend to use it”, to “how i actually used it”. Oh boy, yea… So, I get how these two things fit together but me and the robot part of my brain literally extracted the quotes from the articles as a warrant for further legal search and seizers of evidence inside this academic papers’ premises. I mean I guess I could still just say in my annotated bibliography what quotes and charts I ended up using, and if that matches what I originally was investigating. Time will tell.
Also of note, we are not “00-agents” (God Save the Queen!) and as such we do not drive Astin Martins nor have license to… use rhetorical questions. Yes, it was used in the polio example’s opening line, however we are to refrain from trying to use rhetorical question in our work as a precedent of past “bad ones” has made it apparent most do not know how to use rhetorical questions “rightly”.
On using a referential. Please be aware that using referential language (1.) makes you sound like a politician and (2.) can come off as too vague to be acceptable for our paper. “This article was so instrumental for to proving my point that was talked about.” What in tarnation was actually said? What was the point you were trying to make specifically? We should be specific and spell it out our ideas; make assertions. “The book I mentioned earlier: Why Cats Eat, demonstrates exactly why domestic house cats would eat humans if we genetically altered them to grow trice the size of humans.”
Another note to point out. There is no better time to turn the source material we are using than now into our annotated bibliography. That way we don’t have to go back to it later when our mind is fuzzy, and we are reflecting and asking ourselves “What was the thing I took from this source? Was it— no wait, that was different article, right?” Do it while we are using it is the moral of this story–er, note I mean. Explain in the annotated bibliography what I used from each source. The annotated bibliography is what you took from your sources. What ideas you took.
What is fairness? Fairness means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Equity, equality, a handicap, a bonus, potential, outcome, to new a few interpretations that come to mind. For our purposes, none of that matters! Concentrate on the meaning of a word that you need it to mean in your 1000 words paper. Do not bother with the dictionary for literal definition.
Elevator instructions. We looked at the genius of what elevator instructions could be, something to the effect of a set of instructions that when followed do not need every detail filled out, as they are implicitly completed by following the instructions. I can assure whoever is reading this that if you decide to take a programming class this concept will not likely be optional.
The definitional categorical unit. Do not start with the boring definition stuff. Dive into the argument. You need readers to even look at your work in the first place. You need to get eyes on you ( edu-entertainment comes to mind).
A reader needs to have a reason to get hooked or want to read more. Anyone can look up the definition of polio. You want to define if “polio eradicate-bility” is “do-able”. In other words, can we eliminate Polio or not? Do not start with a rhetorical question.
If I was going to choose an opener for a segment on polio, I would either describe vividly (perhaps even using horror subtext) or show pictures of the massive intimidating iron-lung being used to help someone with polio. I think that the “shock” or “wtf” factor of encountering the iron-lung for the first time would immediately get the audiences’ attention, and the he audiences’ sympathy consecutively after.
You definition may not just an academic exercise. It may also be an ethical one where you have to deal with ethical dilemmas. Oh good! I can fill in my 3,000 words faster if I “have to” add any ethical insights.
Word count will not be your problem, Bagels&Coffee. 🙂
By all means use illustrations to kick-start your argument and facilitate understanding.
Your own Elevator Instructions brilliantly deployed single instructions to effect multiple outcomes.
4/3
Class Notes- 10/9
-Visual Riddle: shows how we perceive things with our brains and sight this can be a example of how we convince readers of clear truth of what we are trying to prove
Good enough.
3/3
Class Notes 10/09
Good, practical advice, PinkDuck.
3/3
Class Notes 10/09
Political Paralysis
Very nice, Waffles.
4/3
Another case of the visual riddle just like the previous class about how this relates to writing. This time its about the writers and the readers where how the writers job is to focus on the main point of the topic at hand so that the readers solely focus on what it is shown than what it is around them. It is the way we look at that changes our perspective.
For the annotated bibliography, you got to tell the readers in flesh details of what the source is about. If you know what you learn from the source then say what you learn in full detail so that way it can help you remember which source is which in case you forget in the future.
It is possible to define what the word fairness is but it depends on the context that defines what fairness really means. It could be an ethical/moral claim of what fairness really is.
It is not recommended to start a rhetorical question at the start of a definitive paragraph.
Class Exercise: Political Paralyzis
It took a while to understand what polios is because I haven’t heard that word for ages, and it didn’t registered in todays lecture when we were looking at the definitive paragraph. It was hard to picture what polio looks like just by text alone, but the illustration did helped me. If there was a section that describes what does polio looked like for example like a deform human anatomy due to paralysis then I would grasp what it would look like. On the other hand, I liked the phrase in the paragraph about how polio is less deadly, but sneakier when comparing and contrasting small pox.
That’s a great point about the value of a graphic for polio, GamersPet, and it should be a reminder for everyone that the inclusion of images (charts, photos, infographics) is encouraged.
4/3
Notes- The way things appear can be a matter of perspective. The mind can play tricks on you to make you think reality is one thing rather than another. Writing can be the same way. An author can influence or manipulate the way you view something by selectively focusing on one aspect of the whole picture. In general, don’t start off an essay or piece of writing with a rhetorical question unless you know how to handle it.
Solid.
3/3
Well to the point of Perceptive for the spinning circle its talks about focus if you do one action you well see one thing if you do the other you will see another. In writing change to a different preceptive can change the view on the story.
The grid one is just tripy it an illusion of something that you don’t see which are connections between the roads. Maybe in good writing you can see a connection point from earlier used later down the line.
I believe that the author does a great job of back their claim that polio is and diseases that can be eliminated. Using Smallpox vaccination as it immunizes 100% wiping it then linking it to polio whether not cut from the same cloth it under go nearly identical path of mass vaccination efforts.
SmallPox and Polio being are different Smallpox is a very visual disease which make it easy to detect. While Polio can go undercover then get you.
I can’t tell from your discussion whether you think polio can be eradicated or not (nor whether you think the author thinks so).
3/3
10/9
We begin with a couple of visual illusions,
We then begin talking about the definition of what Fairness refers to when writing a hypothesis with so many citing and using so much info.What is the idea of fairness when making your own claim among the usage of other sources.
Starting an argument effectively is crucial, as distractions can divert the reader’s attention from your main point.
Very nice Notes, KFury. Particularly this gem:
4/3
Class Notes 10/9
Beautiful takeaways.
4/3