WRA 150: EVOLUTION OF AMERICAN THOUGHT THURSDAY, OCT. 31, 2013

AGENDA  Housekeeping  More on disciplinary literacies  answering questions, tying up loose ends, etc  Watch and discuss “What Makes Us Feel Good About Our Work”  Peer review  Preview of next unit  What’s next

GOALS FOR TODAY  Continue our work with the third paper  Troubleshoot any questions you guys might still be facing  Peer review: come away from class with a clear writing plan and goals for implementation  Get a glimpse of the remix project and how it can work in tandem with your disciplinary literacies paper.

REMINDERS  11/11: Final drafts of Project 3 due by 11:59 pm  Revisions for previous papers are due by 11/15

PAPER 3: PROGRESS SO FAR?  Any outstanding concerns or questions about the papers or what’s expected of you?

JUST TO REITERATE  Different academic disciplines have different ways of presenting and analyzing information, different ways of building knowledge, and different ways of presenting knowledge in written forms.  This paper gives you the opportunity to begin building your own understanding of how writing, reading, (or communication in general if that’s how literacy functions in your field) and researching operate within a discipline of interest to you.  Hopefully the sources you’ve found and the interviews you’ve conducted have helped you begin to characterize the different ways your field shares knowledge to each other and the greater public.

CONT’D  Remember that this paper is supposed to be about rhetorically analyzing the choices writers in your discipline are making.  Characterize the writing/communication/forms of expression in your field and then discuss why these literacy practices are in place.  What values do these literacy practices uphold in your discourse community?  How does this sharing of knowledge change in different publications?  Scholarly vs Trade

RHETORICALLY ANALYZING  Do a RAIDS analysis of the writing you come across.  As yourself:  What did the author need to know to write this piece? (Invention)  Why was this piece published in a scholarly/trade journal? (Delivery)  Who is the intended audience? (Style, arrangement, invention)  What do you think was the author’s reason for writing this piece? (Revision, invention)

RHETORICALLY ANALYZING  Think back to ethos pathos and logos.  Talk about how the sources you find address each of these rhetorical appeals  In what ways do members of your discourse community use or employ pathos? Do they?  Which ones are used the most? Most importantly, be sure to talk about WHY these things are happening in your field. What does this all mean? For example, doctors may use less pathos and more ethos when talking to patients about diagnoses in order to assert their role as an expert and to detach themselves from emotion so as to not impact their patients’ feelings.

 Remember that your purpose in this essay is to give students who are new to the academic discipline/field you have chosen an introduction to the expectations for writing, reading, and researching in that discipline. Ultimately, your paper should help your audience understand the ways that literacies are used to create and communicate knowledge in the discipline/field you choose to explore

WHAT MAKES US FEEL GOOD ABOUT OUR WORK  _us_feel_good_about_our_work.html _us_feel_good_about_our_work.html

WHAT MAKES US FEEL GOOD ABOUT OUR WORK  What did you guys think?  How does this help you think about your paper?  Think about the ways that we assign meaning to our work.  This might be a useful way to frame your papers— how does creating a shared purpose drive our worth? How does this relate to literacy?

PEER REVIEW

 As always, write down three things that you are most concerned with in regard to your papers to help your reviewers give pointed feedback  Get into groups of three. You must read at least two other people’s papers.  Along with the concerns that the author expresses, you must answer these questions…

QUESTIONS TO ANSWER 1. Thinking about the outcomes of this assignment, to what extent is the author addressing these outcomes?  Outcomes: Explaining the field, defining literacy in that field, explaining what values those literacy practices reveal about that field, rhetorically analyzing their sources, successfully incorporating interviews, etc. What suggestions do you have for improvement along these outcomes? 2. What is working well in their paper? 3. What’s not working so well?

SNEAK PEAK OF UNIT 4: THE REMIX  The next unit asks us to look at all of the papers you’ve already written (and are currently writing) and find new rhetorical purposes for them.  So we will discuss what it means to remix, what counts as a remix and how remix fits into the first year writing classroom.  Much like the disciplinary literacies paper, the Remix will be split up into several parts with several deliverables.

DELIVERABLES 1. You will be asked to write a proposal, which you will present to the class 2. Once your proposal is “accepted,” you will create your actual remix project 3. You will present your final remix project to the class 4. You will write a reflection talking about what you gained from making these projects.

MAKING CONNECTIONS  Think about the different ways that your field already expresses itself and presents knowledge  Powerpoints, videos, websites, posters, etc  This might also prepare you for the things you will be asked to produce in the future that aren’t necessarily traditional white papers.

TO SUM UP  Remember that the disciplinary literacies paper is meant to be a field guide for prospective students to your chosen field  That means you can spend some time talking about the field in general, but anchor it in an argument your making about literacy in your field using your research to bolster the claims your making.  Again, think about the things you would like/would have liked to know before entering your field.  Good luck with your papers and feel free to ask any question you might have about it as we move forward.

FOR NEXT CLASS  We will delve deeper into the specifics of the Remix assignment  Read:  TBD