1. Politics/punditry/social media seminar 1.In your opinion, what are the effects of politicians being able to spread their message and brand via the internet and social media? Draw upon your politician exploration and/or the “Facebook/Politics” article for specific evidence. 2.In your opinion, what are the effects of the rise of punditry? Draw upon your pundit exploration for specific evidence. 3.In your opinion, what are the effects of the combination of punditry and social media? Draw upon your pundit exploration for specific evidence. 4.How do you think social media impacts politics? What are the pros and cons? Draw upon your annotations of the “Facebook/Politics” article as well as your own opinions and observations. 5.How do you think politics has changed over the years? How much of the change can be attributed to punditry? Social media? Both? Other factors?

2. Opinion articles: Op-ed vs. editorial vs. blog Op-ed: originally short for "opposite the editorial page“; an article published by a publication that expresses the opinions of a named author, but one not usually affiliated with the publication's editorial board. Op-eds are different from both editorials (opinion pieces submitted by editorial board members) and letters to the editor (opinion pieces submitted by readers). Editorial: opinion piece submitted collectively by the editorial board of a publication; no one specific is named as the writer Blog: discussion or informational site published on the internet that consists of discrete entries (posts) typically displayed in reverse chronological order (the most recent post appears first). Blogs used to be run by single individuals and were about a specific subject, but more recently, "multi-author blogs" (MABs) have developed, with posts written by large numbers of authors and professionally edited. MABs from newspapers, other media outlets, universities, think tanks, advocacy groups, and similar institutions account for an increasing quantity of blog traffic.

3. Comparing different opinion article text types Similarities: express opinions; can vary in credibility depending on the author/publication; can reach a wide audience via the internet How are they different? (discuss specific examples of features/conventions) What are the effects of the differing features and conventions in terms of credibility? Enjoyability? Personal preference?

4. Essential Unit Topics/Terminology Language Technology Social media Visual language/visual literacy Visual syntax/visual semantics/semiotics Objectivity vs. subjectivity Bias/propaganda Punditry Ideology Mass media/communication Rhetorical appeals Rhetorical strategies Public speaking strategies Historical politics vs. modern politics Partisanship/party affiliation Audience/purpose Context Genre Persona Message Satire