Class Notes for November 25

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I picked up the page 311 Practice 2 homework assignment. We had some time in class and a week to fix up some proper citations from a reference list.

I also referred students to the ScienceDaily web site, where many science news stories include the properly formatted APA and MLA references on the page at the end of the news story. This story would be cited in a blog with a hyperlink (like I just did) but would be cited in a formal paper as

University of Utah (2009, November 24). Is global warming unstoppable?. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 25, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­
/releases/2009/11/091123083704.htm

in APA format, or

University of Utah. "Is Global Warming Unstoppable?." ScienceDaily 24 November 2009. 25 November 2009 http://www.sciencedaily.com­
/releases/2009/11/091123083704.htm.

for the MLA format. (One mistake: It's not indented properly on this blog.)

I reminded students that the content of Chapters 8, 13, 14, and 15 will not be discussed in class, but they can review the contents independently, paying special attention to the review pages on pages 227 for adverbial clauses, page 141 for paraphrase and summaries, page 261 for participial phrases, and page 247 for adjective clauses. The exercises in the chapter (or similar exercises) could become quiz material.

I handed out a sample mindmap and outline for a problem-solution speech which I delivered to students in a speaking class as a model. I never wrote the script for the speech, but just used the outline to guide my mind as I speak. However, the form of it is the same as the written form. I ask whether a problem solution paper is a kind of argumentative essay, and I conclude that it probably is, since I am arguing a point of view, or a course of action. However, I did not spend much time discussing another point of view in my problem-solution outline. You may consider that a weak point, but problem-solution usually focuses just on the problem and the proposed solution more than an argumentative essay would, since it has to deal with the other point of view.

I am accepting revised versions of the first research paper. If you turn it in as a complete folder, I can re-evaluate it and give it a new (higher!) score.

We went through the beginnings of Chapter 9 in order to know more about the argumentative essay. We are up to page 145, and we previewed the chapter. I assigned students to create a mind-map (diagram) of their ideas for the argumentative essay as a first step and homework.