Blog Post 12: "QRGs: the Genre"

Quick Reference Guides, the genre

Source: https://pixabay.com/en/forum-question-answer-quiz-icon-27450/

      








What is a Quick Reference Guide????

1.  Read Rules for Writers Chapter 50, “Principles of Document Design” (pages 402-409)

2. Peruse five (5) different examples of Quick Reference Guides (QRGs) linked below:

Examples of Quick Reference Guides

1. http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/stemcells/quickref/
2. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/10/14/the-only-guide-to-gamergate-you-will-ever-need-to-read/
3. http://www.vox.com/2015/7/10/8924517/puerto-rico-bankrupt-debt
4. http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/02/sochi-olympics-opening-ceremony-explained/357847/
5. http://www.vox.com/2015/7/20/9001639/bernie-sanders-black-lives-matter

3. Title your blog post “QRGs: the Genre” and provide concise but detailed answers to the following questions; refer to details from the above examples during your discussion:

1. What do the conventions of this genre - the Quick Reference Guide - seem to be? [Remember, convention in this context meaning “a custom or a way of acting or doing things that is widely accepted and followed”]
2. How are those conventions defined by the author’s formatting and design choices?
3. What does the purpose of these QRGs seem to be?
4. Who is the intended audience for these different QRGs? Are they all intended for similar audiences? Or different? How & why?
5. How do the QRGs use imagery or visuals? Why do you think they use them in this way?

Blog Post 11: "Cluster of ______ Controversy"

BLOG POST 11:"Cluster of [fill in the blank] Controversy"

1. Read Student’s Guide Section 3.4 “Invention” (pages 43-8)

What techniques do you use to generate ideas, and to clarify your ideas for writing? 

Source: https://pixabay.com/en/brainstorming-think-road-sign-413156/

One such technique is called a "mindmap" or "cluster." Refer to #6 on Student’s Guide page 45 for a quick definition and visual example of clustering.

2. There are quite a few tools out there to help you create clusters of ideas. Create a cluster/mindmap of your controversy using something like Coggle, Google Drawing (part of Google Drive), Mind42, Popplet, Twine, Wisemapping, or XMind. [Or any other tool of your choice if you already have one you like].

Adapt the information you provided in previous blog posts about your controversy into a cluster. You should include in your cluster:

• Key groups involved in the controversy.
• Major speakers/writers in those groups.
• Where these speakers/writers are making Public Speech Acts (in what kinds of media?).
• What kinds of things these groups are saying publicly about the controversy.
• The values and ideology of each group.

3. Title your blog post “Cluster of [fill in name] Controversy” and write 2-to-3 detailed sentences in which you explain what you did in your cluster. Then either embed your cluster directly into the blog post or provide us with a working hyperlink to your cluster (NOTE: if your link doesn’t work or the page it directs us to is blocked from public view, I will not be able to assign you full credit for this exercise).

4. Read/Reply/Reflect to “Cluster of [various] Controversy”

Use the Blog Directory for your course section to find two classmates without comments or replies on their “Cluster of [various] Controversy” post.

Read their post and then leave a reply engaging with the text. What did you think of the platform they used to create their cluster/mindmap if it was different from your own (remember, there were 7 listed options, plus other possibilities your peers might have explored)? If it was the same, what are your thoughts on how they used the same tool?

Go back to your own “Cluster of [various] Controversy” post. Go into editing mode and at the bottom of the post, leave a reflection about what you learned from your classmates. Be specific about how viewing and reading these other clusters/mindmaps informs your thoughts and feelings about your own. Also, reflect on what the benefits are, if any, of using these kinds of tools in the planning stages of a writing project. Is this a meaningful step in the process? Or not? Why?

Be sure to also list who you replied to and provide hyperlinks to each individual’s “Cluster of [various] Controversy” post (NOTE: if these links aren’t included or don’t work or if the page it directs us to is blocked from public view, I will not be able to assign you full credit for this exercise).

Blog 10: Draft #2 Annotated Bibliography in _______ Style

1. Blog Post 10: Find four more sources and add on to your Annotated Bibliography

Public discourse is also occurring in a variety of new media that we have not examined: podcasts, videos, discussion boards, blogs, interviews (think AMAs on Reddit).

Source: https://pixabay.com/en/word-cloud-words-tag-cloud-679940/

Using assorted search tools to locate 4 more sources for your project. I’d like you to search for more sources in the following locations only:

• the National Public Radio [NPR] website
• Youtube
• Reddit
• Tumblr
• Wordpress
• the LexisNexis Academic database
• the New York Times online
• the Wall Street Journal online
• Slate
• National Review
• Huffington Post
• The Weekly Standard

These 4 new sources can be from any assorted variety of genres: articles, interviews, videos, social media posts, radio interviews or podcasts, discussion board threads, etc.

2. Copy your old annotations from Blog Post 9 into your new post (Blog Post 10), and add Annotated Bibliography entries for the 4 new sources correctly formatted in your citation style. Be sure to correct any mistakes in the citations you gathered formerly. You should have at least 10 annotated sources total.

Use the style guide for your discipline’s citation style as guides for formatting the bibliographic citations. 

1. If you have not yet found a citation style guide for your discipline, try this link: http://www.library.arizona.edu/search/reference/citation-subj.html
2. Try this free on-line formatter for citations: http://easybib.com/

And again, use the “Tips & Strategies” Box on Student’s Guide page 112 as a guide. Every annotation you write should include concise but detailed information about the items listed:

1. The purpose of the article
2. The methods used (only if applicable)
3. Describe major observations/findings/results
4. Forecast future use

Blog Post 9 - Read/Revise/Reflect

Read/Reply/Reflect to Blog Post 9: "Annotated Bibliography Draft 1”

Source: https://pixabay.com/en/student-typing-keyboard-text-woman-849822/

Use the Blog Directory for your course section to find two classmates without comments or replies on their “Annotated Bibliography Draft 1” post. NOTE: If you can, try to find one peer blog post that’s written using the same citation style as your own and one peer blog post that’s written using a totally different citation style.

REPLY: If the student’s Annotated Bibliography is in MLA style, then refer to the example on Student’s Guide pages 111-3. For all other citation styles, then click on the working link to the example of an annotated bibliography in that discipline’s citation style at the bottom of the author’s post. Leave a concise but detailed comment on each student’s blog post in which you compare and contrast the official example they used and the Annotated Bibliography they authored. Are they formatted exactly the same? Do they look as close to identical as possible, in terms of layout and formatting? Are the bibliographic citations done correctly? Are the annotations giving all the information asked for in  “Tips & Strategies Box” on Student’s Guide page 112? What formatting problems or missing information do you notice here?

REFLECT: Go back to your own “Annotated Bibliography Draft 1” post. Go into editing mode and at the bottom of the post, leave a reflection about what you learned by examining your classmates' work. Be specific about what reading these other posts made you realize or reflect upon in your own work. Were you able to locate another peer who was writing in the same citation style as yourself? If so, what did that show you about your own work? If not, what are your thoughts and feelings about that? Were you able to examine the work of peers writing in a totally different citation style? If so, what did that make you realize about what citation styles do and why they might matter (or not seem to matter)? How does the practice of writers using particular citation styles for specific disciplines strike you?

Be sure to also list who you replied to and provide working hyperlinks to each individual’s “Annotated Bibliography Draft 1” post (NOTE: if these links aren’t included or don’t work or if the page it directs us to is blocked from public view, I will not be able to assign you full credit for this exercise).

Office Hours canceled today Wednesday Sept 9; new office hours starting next week

Dear Students,

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/torley/3964023790/

I apologize for having to cancel today's office hours at short notice. Please email me for an alternate time if you want to meet this week.

Starting next week, my office hours will change to Wednesday mornings from 9:30-11:00 AM or by appointment.

Wednesday: of Blog Posts, Online Journals, and examples of the QRG

Today in class, we discussed:

Source:Pixabay.com

• The grading rubric for blog posts
• The role of blogging in your course grade

• The ongoing evolution of scholarly discourse from print journal to online
• An example of the internet genre, the Quick Reference Guide

Blog Post Grading Rubric; gradebook on d2l

The gradebook is now up on d2l and I will be catching up on posting grades this week. As we discussed in class, here is the grading rubric for your blog posts. I will be giving you a weekly grade on your blog posts that is an average of your posts for the week.

Observations on this rubric:

1. Notice that fulfilling the basic requirements of the blog post earns you 3 points. In order to get up to 5, you need to put some thought and effort into the posts and comments, and pay attention to grammar and spelling. 
2. I don't expect every post to be at a level five, but if you are capable of excellent writing and brilliant flashes of insight, let me see it on occasion: otherwise, when you turn in your brilliant paper, I may not believe you wrote it! ;)
3. Seriously, you get out of the blog posts what you put into them. And if your vocabulary/writing voice/style/prowess on a major assignment is quite different from the potential you show on your blog, I may question whether you wrote it. The blog posts are thus for your own protection so to speak, as well as my information. Obviously you will put more time and care into the larger assignments, but let me see your best thinking/writing now and then on your blog as well. 

Controversy over scholarly publishing in leading science journals

The first issue of Nature, Nov 4 1869. Source:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nature_cover,_November_4,_1869.jpg 

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/09/nobel-winner-boycott-science-journals?CMP=share_btn_tw

This came across my Facebook newsfeed today, but notice that the article was actually published in theguardian.com on Monday November 9, 2013. The story is about about Nobel Prize winner Randy Schekman's decision to stop publishing in the leading journals in his field:

Leading academic journals are distorting the scientific process and represent a "tyranny" that must be broken, according to a Nobel prize winner who has declared a boycott on the publications.

Randy Schekman, a US biologist who won the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine this year and receives his prize in Stockholm on Tuesday, said his lab would no longer send research papers to the top-tier journals, Nature, Cell and Science.

Schekman said pressure to publish in "luxury" journals encouraged researchers to cut corners and pursue trendy fields of science instead of doing more important work. The problem was exacerbated, he said, by editors who were not active scientists but professionals who favoured studies that were likely to make a splash...

Click the link above for the rest of the article, which includes the fact that he has started his own online free journal: 

Schekman is the editor of eLife, an online journal set up by the Wellcome Trust. Articles submitted to the journal – a competitor to Nature, Cell and Science – are discussed by reviewers who are working scientists and accepted if all agree. The papers are free for anyone to read.

Recall that we discussed this trend in the first week of class. Once reason that I am having you research different venues for making arguments is that scholarly discourse worldwide is in the midst of great flux.

Welcome to Week Three!

Welcome to Week Three of our journey together through English 109H! 

Source: pixabay.com/en/compass-navigation-map-direction-390054/

It's a short week, but we have a lot to cover. 

Some of you are still behind on your blog posts; remember that they are preparation for your first major project which is due at the end of Week 5: The Controversy Analysis, which will take the form of a Quick Reference Guide. The blog posts are important, (although they technically only count towards 10% of your final grade) because they:

1. keep you engaged with the course content and with each other 
2. keep you on track in your research 
3. give you skills the larger assignments require 
4. get you in the habit of writing frequently 

==>>MOST IMPORTANTLY: they function as your drafts for your larger projects. Recall that I will not accept the larger projects that DO count significantly for your grade unless I have seen drafts of your work (review the course policies on your syllabus). 

1. If you don’t do the assignments (in this case blog posts) at all, you get a zero on them, and since you won’t have proof of your research process, I will not accept your Controversy Analysis when it is due. 
2. Recall the late policy from the syllabus: there is a 5% reduction in grade for every 24 hours an assignment (including a blog post) is late. 

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This week in class, we will be looking at examples of what the Quick Reference Guide could look like, and analyzing the requirements of the genre. We will also be working on library research skills.

Week’s reading from textbooks:

1. Read Student’s Guide Section 3.4 “Invention” (pages 43-8) 
2. Read Rules for Writers Chapter 50 “Principles of Document Design” (pages 402-409) 
3. Read Student’s Guide Section 5.4 “Quotation: The Source’s Words” (pages 85-90) and review your citation style's guide for formatting in-text citations in your discipline's citation style 
4. Read Student’s Guide Section 3.5 “Drafting” (pages 49-58)

Week’s reading/learning online:

Discipline-specific library resources

1. Review your discipline’s citation style guide (i.e., MLA, APA, etc.) for formatting in-text citations in your discipline's citation style. If you have not yet found a citation style guide for your discipline, try this link: http://www.library.arizona.edu/search/reference/citation-subj.html
2. If you are having trouble knowing where to look for articles and information in your discipline, try this link: http://new.library.arizona.edu/research/subject
3. Try this free on-line formatter for citations: http://easybib.com/

Complete the following library online tutorials:

1. Searching the Library catalog: http://www.library.arizona.edu/applications/quickHelp/tutorial/searching-the-ua-library-catalog
2. How to search effectively: http://www.library.arizona.edu/tutorials/how_to_search_effectively/
3. Play with the Assignment Scheduler, to see if you are on-track with your research. This is a very useful tool for all your research papers in all your classes!!

This week’s blog posts:

1. Read/Reply/Reflect to Blog 9: “Annotated Bibliography draft 1” 
2. Blog Post 10: “Draft #2 Annotated Biblography in _______ Style” 
3. Blog Post 11: “Cluster/mindmap of [fill in your topic] Controversy” 
4. Read/Reply/Reflect on Blog 11 
5. Blog Post 12: “QRGs, the Genre”

Specific prompts for each blog will follow in separate posts.