Discussion #7: Research Questions for Essay #2 You have been reading about perspective and refutation. Now I am asking you to assimilate refutation into your arguments. The purposes of this assignment are many. I want you to practice generating a research question, drafting an initial response to your question that includes a paragraph of refutation, and responding to your peers, which provides them with feedback from their audience as it teaches you how to respond to other writers’ work. The ultimate purpose of this assignment is to help you begin developing Essay #2. There are two parts to this assignment: 1) Write a Research Question, and respond to it (10 points). Identify an interesting idea from any of the class readings from the Week 4: Seeing the Elephant module that you would like to write about for Essay #2. Please explain at the beginning of your posting how your question was inspired by one or more of the readings. Generate a Research Question about an idea contained within the reading or readings. If you don’t know what a Research Question is, please read A Pocket Style Manual (PSM) Section 25 Posing a Research Question (pp. 89-92). The goal is to ask a question that will lead to a debatable position for Essay #2. Answer your own research question in roughly 250 words. Take a position on the question. In other words, your response should have a thesis. See the UNC handouts on thesis statements (Links to an external site.) and arguments (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.to help you construct your response. Be sure to use specific evidence (including quotations) from the reading(s), from your experiences, and from the Internet to back up and illustrate your ideas. Be sure to include a paragraph of refutation in your posting. See the Refutation page for resources and examples. Post your research question and response by clicking the “Respond” button just below the instructions. 2) Respond to (Refute) at least two other student postings (5 points). Respond to two student postings in postings of 125+ words (each). In this posting, I would like you to practice refutation. Summarize the argument made by the author. Concede partially to some aspect of the argument. Then, refute their argument, using at least one outside source to back up and illustrate your position. I want you to treat this assignment as the first step of Essay #2. In effect, you are brainstorming (Links to an external site.) and drafting a short version of your essay. Reading and responding to each other’s postings may help you to consider other perspectives and counterarguments that will help you refine your thesis/position. Make sure that you do the following: Review the Discussion Guidelines for details about how I will evaluate this assignment. Critical Reading
Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes
(https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/about)
To read critically is to read actively. You aren’t just flipping the pages of your
favorite magazine, browsing this, skipping that. Rather, when you read
critically, you engage with the text–asking questions, analyzing the readings
carefully, questioning what you are reading, and, ultimately, evaluating what
you have read. When you evaluate, you make a judgement about the text: Is
this a credible text? Do you accept the ideas contained within?
Please read the following handouts to improve your critical-reading
skills:
UNC’s Reading to Write (https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-andtools/
reading-to-write/) handout
SMC English 1 handbook entry on Annotating/Analyzing/Summarizing
(https://online.smc.edu/courses/28350/files/4162103/download?wrap=1)
(https://online.smc.edu/courses/28350/files/4162103/download?wrap=1)
Reading with Annotations
(https://online.smc.edu/courses/28350/files/4162101/download?wrap=1)
(https://online.smc.edu/courses/28350/files/4162101/download?wrap=1)
Use these techniques when you read in this class and in the future to get more
out of your reading experience. When I read for academic purposes, my goals
are 1) to read quickly and 2) effectively. I don’t want to waste time, and yet I
want to gather as much information as possible out of the experience. These
approaches can help you to do this.
And now that I have you thinking about reading, I want you to read the
following articles that examine reasons why you may not be reading as
effectively as you could:
Wolf, “Skim Reading Is the New Normal. The Effect on Society Is
Profound (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/25/skimreading-
new-normal-maryanne-wolf) .” If you are interested in Wolf’s ideas, I
also encourage you to read Maria Konnikova’s “Being a Better Online
Reader (https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/being-a-betteronline-
reader) .”
Willingham, “How to Get Your Mind to Read
(https://online.smc.edu/courses/28350/files/4162099/download?wrap=1)
(https://online.smc.edu/courses/28350/files/4162099/download?wrap=1) ”
Dynarski, “Laptops Are Great. But Not During a Lecture or a Meeting
(https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/business/laptops-not-during-lecture-ormeeting.
html?_r=0) .” This essay argues against using laptops in the
classroom. While not focusing on reading specifically, Dynarski’s argument
resonates with Wolf’s regarding the effects of digital technology on the way
we process information.
Parks, “The Dying Art of Instruction in the Digital Classroom
(https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/07/31/the-dying-art-of-instruction-in-thedigital-
classroom/?
utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NYR%20Real%20Americans%20Harper%2
0Lee%20Oliver%20Sacks%20Kian%20Tajbakhsh&utm_content=NYR%20Real%2
0Americans%20Harper%20Lee%20Oliver%20Sacks%20Kian%20Tajbakhsh+CID_
170d42922563efcb74ac6210a783fe4c&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_term=The%
20Dying%20Art%20of%20Instruction%20in%20the%20Digital%20Classroom) ”
This essay, like Dynarski’s, does not focus specifically on reading but
speaks to how digital technology affects not only reading but the classroom
environment, even in on-ground classes.