Share, Collaborate, Engage
This lesson/handout is designed to help students begin to navigate the UAF library’s sources for research. The library has a great tutorial online and in this lesson, students use that tutorial to actually begin their own research. Go to the Library Information Literacy Tutorial. Watch the videos and take the self-check tests. Go to …
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Contributed by Kendell Newman Sadiik, 2015 Home This is my class website for my 211: Digital Literature and Storytelling. It was a really successful course and I think others should teach it! I also kept a running list of resources for teachers, which you can find here: https://diglit.community.uaf.edu/teaching-resources/ I used this website as well …
Finding Yourself in Maps In the northern hemisphere, maps of the world are always shown with north on top. We take this projection as a given. However, as a planet floating in the middle of the universe, this is only one possible representation. What does this representation value? How is that shown? What does …
Context Place is often thought of in physical, geographical terms, but the physical body is a place as well. It is a place you inhabit, and it is a place that is mappable, both in terms of science and geography, and ideologic mapping (e.g. mapping someone’s gender, sexuality, etc.). The physical body is a place …
Context In Alaska, I once had a tourist complain to me that “You guys give crazy directions, like ‘turn right at the boulder.’ Don’t you guys have maps?” This tourist was from Southern California, like me, where Thomas Guides and Freeway directions are an indispensable part of life. But here, because of the vastness, because …
The places that we inhabit throughout our lives shape who we become. The nature of these significant locations that mark passages of our lives can vary in form. They can range from the expanse of a city to the rough floor of a tree house. Even our bodies are a place of sorts. We became …
This syllabus employs creative visual formatting, and so we’ve attached it as a PDF rather than translate it here. Click below to view. Sample Syllabus: Ragan Syllabus 213
Section 1: What is the philosophy behind or importance of having an intentional, well-written syllabus that accurately reflects the instructor and the course? Section 2: Required components of the syllabus (Syllabus Checklist from the UAF Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee) Section 3: Other necessary or suggested components of the syllabus Section 4: Hot tips from current …
This is an exercise that I did with my class to talk about style and learn more about writing effective descriptions. First, I split the class up into groups and gave each group a paragraph to work with from one of the essays we had recently read and discussed. They had to look …
Groups: You will be assigned to a group by the instructor.You will not be able to change groups. Your group is your “home” in this course. You will work in groups frequently. 10% of your final mark is based on your work in your group and will be evaluated by fellow group members. One half …
English 213x- NORTH AMERICA: CONNECTING HUMANS AND LANDSCAPES Course Description: This course is an exploration of the natural and cultural landscape of North America for students who wish to study the continent we live on from a variety of perspectives. We will examine writings that combine cultural, environmental and historical views of different people, issues …
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You are free to choose a notebook of any kind for your journal, however, please keep the notebook exclusive of coursework from other classes. In class we will discuss various pieces of literature as well as approaches to academic writing about the literature. The journal assignment is intended to be a place for …
Is there a clearly stated purpose/objective? Are there effective transitions? How is this idea related to my thesis? How is this idea related to the ideas that come before and after it? Are the introduction and conclusion focused on the main point of the essay? As a reader, can you easily follow the writer’s flow …
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A reflective essay is one that collects your thoughts on a subject — writing the essay is just a way of thinking back on what you learned. This should be a very personal piece of writing: it is more about you and what you learned. It should highlight the problems you faced, how you feel …
As a reviewer, your role is now, in part, an editor and an assistant writer. You want to think about the piece of writing as if you do not know where it is coming from, so think of it as an artifact. As you look at the artifact, think about how it stands on …
During one the pro-development workshops this year, we talked about student assessment and portfolios. This is something I have been experimenting with in my class, as part of their final project. I thought it might be helpful to post what I’ve been doing and why as just one possible (work-in-progress) way of approaching this. …
Research Wikis (300 Points) Research plan post (10 points) due: Thursday 3/31/11 on blog Research paper prospectus (40 points) due: 4/5/11 and 4/7/11 in conferences Rough draft (50 points) due: Thursday, 4/14/11, in class for peer review session Final draft (200 points) due: Tuesday, 4/26/11 in class (turn in all drafts, research plan, …
Learning to recognize, consider, and research Different Rhetorical Situations and Audiences Context activity: recognizing that a conversation is going on For the first unit, we read six authors with varying stances on a particular theme. Students read a pair of authors for each class period, with opposing viewpoints on a particular issue within the theme. …
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Group 1: Discuss the author’s attitude toward the subject or theme. Explain what type of essay it is – argumentative, persuasive, exploratory, narrative, or otherwise. Define what the subject or theme of the essay is. * Try to sum up the subject/theme in one word or one sentence. Cite specific sentences or paragraphs where …
This assignment can be a nice way of practicing “good research.” Students are required to look critically at the research and presentation of a documentary, and will hopefully incorporate those lessons into their own research writing. THE COVE — CRITICAL REVIEW PURPOSE: To provide a critical review of the documentary, “The Cove.’ INSTRUCTIONS: Watch …
The first step in evaluating a source is determining the authority of the author who produced the material. To determine authority, you’ll want to evaluate the trustworthiness (credentials, education, experience, etc.) of the author. To determine credibility, ask these questions: Is the author formally educated in the subject? Does the author work for a university …
This activity encourages students to begin the synthesis process before they choose a research topic, so that they don’t choose something too limiting. This activity in particular helps students synthesize things they’re interested in. Research Paper Topic Generation Game Activity #1 Your research will be most interesting to you when it is connected to …
For this library visit we will be scouring the library for sources that you can use in your essay. For this assignment you need to provide (at least) 1 source from each category: Book, Scholarly Journal, Popular Journal, & Website. Once you find the source, either print it out (scholarly journal) or bring the physical …
(this is designed for two class periods) Research interviews! I required my students to interview “an expert’ for their synthesis/research projects. In addition to actually doing the interview, this required them to identify what sort of expertise was needed for their projects, reach out to the interviewee, and create appropriate interview questions — all important …
Yeah, but is it scholarly? And should I care? Yes, you should care! If you’re going to write a paper on a topic, and you’re seeking out other people’s opinions and research, don’t you want to find the most accurate research out there? Why bother reading something if you can’t be sure it’s accurate, …
Print Ad Analysis For this exercise, I like to bring in some goofy or bizarre advertisement or PSA For the last few semesters, I have used a PSA from PETA that I found at this URL: https://www.mediapeta.com/peta/Images/Main/Sections/MediaCenter/PrintAds/DiegoLunaHR.pdf Here is a citation: “Diego Luna: Safe Sex.” PETA.org. PETA. n.d. Web. 20 Jun. 2011. I like using …
(Like Reindeer Games, But Bloodier and Less Festive) A serum has been invented which has the power to turn everyone on the earth into a vampire. All of earth’s inhabitants have elected to take the serum, thereby effectively changing 100% of the human race into vampire-kind. The Pope, your grandparents, your former swim coach. Synthetic …
Bringing the Sentence Workshop (Macro in the Micro) To a New Extreme I used this for my unit on Analysis. It took about 15 minutes. This can be done with student produced sentences, or sentences between texts you wish to compare. For my exercise, I chose Deborah Tannen’s “There is No Unmarked Woman” and Lennard …
Kookabura 1 Jerry Kookabura Jody Hassel English III x F03 I February 2013 MLA Style Paper Format At the top right of every page should be your last name and the page number. At the top left of the first page should be your name, followed by my name, followed by …
Agree/Disagree What part of the essay’s main point do you agree or disagree with? Why do you feel the author is right or wrong in her/his opinions? e.g., “Although the author makes strong points, I do not think the essay is entirely accurate and, in fact, disagree that X is true based on my personal …
A topic sentence is the sentence that conveys a central position of a paragraph. Like a topic sentence, a thesis statement is a sentence that conveys your central position for a multi-paragraph essay. Argumentative/Persuasive thesis statements must contain an arguable claim. Statements of fact are not argumentative thesis statements. An argumentative/persuasive thesis statement must be …
Each group gets a thesis statement and topic sentences provided. The thesis statements will all be on the same topic, but differing in their position. Each group will be given the same topic sentences. Groups will be asked to choose topic sentences that they think support their thesis statement, and put them in an order …
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