Assignment Paper

part 1

200 points possible:

In A Different Mirror, read the following chapters:

Chapter Six – The Flight from Ireland
Chapter Seven – The War Against Mexico
Chapter Eight – From China to Gold Mountain
Select one of these chapters and do additional research to complete the following exercise:

100 points: Write a 2-page informal (double spaced) exploratory journal in which you present the additional information you’ve discovered in your research.

100 points: Write a 1-page analysis of how this particular immigrant group has integrated well to become an integral part of the American “melting pot” of today. How has this group had an impact on American culture today? What are some of their characteristics as a cultural group?

part 2

Go to the last two pages (67-68) of Chapter 4 in Allyn & Bacon and complete the Brief Writing Project “Two Contrasting Descriptions of the Same Scene.” Submit here as Text or File Upload.

See the Student Example on page 68 for an example of how to complete this assignment.

part 3

Become familiar with concepts 4.2 and 4.3 in Chapter 4 of Allyn & Bacon (A&B) and complete the exercises below.

Concept 4.2: In Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing (A&B), become familiar with Concept 4.2 “Messages persuade through appeals to logos, ethos, and pathos” starting on page 59. Complete the following exercise to apply this concept.

Exercise: (30 points)

Go to the article we read in Chapter 6 (A&B page 85) titled “The Epidemic of Facelessness” and identify how logos, pathos, and ethos are used to persuade the reader about Stephen Marche’s ideas. For 10 points each, identify three quotes, one quote for each of these appeals and explain how the appeal works to persuade.

Concept 4.3: In Allyn & Bacon (A&B), become familiar with Concept 4.3 “Messages persuade through a writer’s style and voice” on page 61. Complete the following two exercises, which are also shown in the Concept 4.3 section of A&B.

Exercise #1 (This exercise is also shown in A&B and recopied here) (40 points possible):

The style you adopt depends on your genre, audience, and purpose. Consider, for example, the style differences in two articles about the animated sitcom South Park. The first passage comes from an academic journal in which the author analyzes how race is portrayed in South Park. The second passage is from a popular magazine, where the author argues that despite South Park’s vulgarity, the sitcom has a redeeming social value.

Passage From Scholarly Journal

In these cartoons, multiplicity encodes a set of nonwhite identities to be appropriated and commodified by whiteness. In the cartoon world, obscene humor and satire mediate this commodification. The whiteness that appropriates typically does so by virtue of its mobile positioning between and through imagined boundaries contrarily shown as impassible to black characters or agents marked as black. Let me briefly turn to an appropriately confusing example of such a character in South Park’s scatological hero extraordinaire, Eric Cartman . . . . Eric Cartman’s yen for breaking into Black English and interactions with black identities also fashion him an appropriator. However, Cartman’s voice and persona may be seen as only an avatar, one layer of textual identity for creator Trey Parker, who may be regarded in one sense as a “blackvoice” performer.(continued) —Michael A. Chaney, “Representations of Race and Place in Static Shock, King of the Hill, and South Park”

Passage From a Popular Blog

You can work overtime to protect your children’s sweetness and innocence, or you can launch your pre-teens on the road to early cynicism by encouraging them to watch South Park. Consider the lessons that South Park teaches to its four protagonists, sensitive Kyle, A-student Stan, silent (and always one-step-away-from-death) Kenny, and obnoxious Cartman: Your teachers aren’t very smart, and they come into the classroom with their own warped agendas. Your parents, and adults in general, are ignorant, pretentious, or downright moronic. The people running your country (and every other country) are power hungry, insane, and at least a little perverted. The people you consider your closest friends may not be friends at all, but simply a group of individuals with whom you are placed in an involuntary social net, whether a classroom, a town, or an office. While it’s easy to be offended by South Park’s bitter and biting satire of American (and world) culture, there’s no denying the elements of truth at its core. Education is inherently political; many adults are no more mature than most children; politicians, by virtue of their chosen profession, are by definition flawed (often desperately flawed) individuals. As the show’s creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, prove in every episode, the most embittered cynics are the most disappointed idealists. —Gareth Loken, Teach Your Children Well

Complete the FOR WRITING AND DISCUSSION: Analyzing Differences in Style:

(10 points each) Analyze the style differences of these two samples above.

How would you describe differences in the length and complexity of sentences, in the level of vocabulary, and in the degree of formality?
How do the differences in style create different voices, personas, and tones?
Based on clues from style and genre, who is the intended audience of each piece? What is the writer’s purpose? How does each writer hope to surprise the intended audience with something new, challenging, or valuable?
How are the differences in content and style influenced by differences in purpose, audience, and genre?
Exercise #2 (this exercise is also shown in A&B): (40 points possible)

FOR WRITING AND DISCUSSION: Choosing Details for Different Levels on the Ladder of Abstraction

The following exercise will help you appreciate how details can be chosen at different levels of abstraction to serve different purposes and audiences. Invent details at appropriate positions on the ladder of abstraction for each of the following point sentences. (10 points for each)

Yesterday’s game was a major disappointment. You are writing an e-mail message to a friend who is a fan (of baseball, football, basketball, another sport) and missed the game; use mid-level details to explain what was disappointing.
Although the game stank, there were some great moments. Switch to low-on-the-ladder specific details to describe one of these “great moments.”
Advertising in women’s fashion magazines creates a distorted and unhealthy view of beauty. You are writing an analysis for a college course on popular culture; use high-to-mid-level details to give a one-paragraph overview of several ways these ads create an unhealthy view of beauty.
One recent ad, in particular, conveys an especially destructive message about beauty. Choose a particular ad and describe it with low-on-the-ladder, very specific details.

part 4

Review Chapter 13 in Allyn & Bacon to improve your writing skills.

For 25 points each, complete the following 4 exercises to apply Skill 13.1 through 13.4.

Skill 13.1: in your own words, explain why this skill is important. Provide an example to illustrate this skill.
Skill 13.2 EXERCISE FOR NUTSHELLING YOUR ARGUMENT: based on either your essay #1 or essay #2, complete the following nutshell for one of your essays.
What puzzle or problem initiated your thinking about X?
Template: Many people think X, but I am going to argue Y.
Before reading my paper, my readers will think X: . But after reading my paper, my readers will think Y: .
The purpose of my paper is: .
My paper addresses the following question: .
My one-sentence summary answer to this question is this [my thesis statement]: .
A tentative title for my paper is: .
Skill 13.3 Start and end with the “big picture” through effective titles, introductions, and conclusions
Using your essay #2, rewrite your title, introduction paragraph, and conclusion paragraph to demonstrate how this skill works.
Skill 13.4 Create effective topic sentences for paragraphs
Using your essay #2, select one body paragraph and respond to the following questions about it:
Does my paragraph have a topic sentence near the beginning?
If so, does my topic sentence accurately forecast what the paragraph says?
Does my topic sentence link to my thesis statement or to a higher-order point that my paragraph develops?
Does my paragraph have enough details to develop and support my topic sentence?

part 5

Chapter 10 Writing a Classical Argument will provide you with the information for Essay #3, our last formal essay in English 1. This essay is due July 30.
Read the chapter to gain a deeper understanding of the “big picture” of what’s expected in Essay #3.
More Chapter 10 assignments will be included in Week Five.
Complete the following exercise and add your responses to the DIscussions section.
100 points: Complete the For Writing and Discussion exercise on page 195. Share your responses in Discussions and add a text reply here that you’ve completed it. Here’s the exercise:
Exploring the Starling Case Individual Task:
Explain why you think the family’s act was or was not ethical. We initially framed this issue as an after-the-fact yes/no question: Is the family guilty of cruelty to animals? But we can also frame it as an open-ended, before-the-fact question: “What should the family do about the starlings in the attic?” Suppose you are a family member discussing the starlings at dinner, prior to the decision to fix the vent screen. Make a list of your family’s other options and try to determine whether one of these options would have been better than fixing the vent screen. Why?
In the Discussions section, share your individual responses to these questions and then respond to at least two students with your comments to their thoughts. Was fixing the screen an instance of cruelty to animals? What other alternatives, if any, might have been ethically preferable? If class discussion caused some students’ views to evolve or change, how did those views change and why?
Be sure to add “Completed in Discussion” to your response here. You do not need to add your responses to the questions in both the Assignments and Discussions.