All Done! (pretty much)

Today you're turning in your final paper. Yay!! Plus, because I want to devote lots of time today to working on your multimedia presentation, there will be no more blog entries. I just wanted to post these pictures of adorable little baby animals. Visiting The Daily Puppy, The Daily Kitten, and Cute Overload keeps me smiling during finals. They are irresistible!

Passive v. Active

I know you've become accustomed to starting class with a blog entry, but today we're gonna mix things up just a little bit. Now don't worry. You'll still get to blog, but I've got something specific I'd like for this entry.

Somebody Alert Indiana Farmers!!

Scan through this article and summarize the author's argument. What evidence does he use? Now evaluate him as a source. Is he credible?

FreeWritin'

For the next ten minutes, I want you to just write about anything you want, but I want it to be persuasive. For example, you might write about your spring break and try to tell me why it was the best (or worst) ever. Or you could write about how stressed out you are right now and try to convince me that you are more stressed than me (good luck). Or try to convince me that your favorite movie/tv show/band etc. really is the best.

While you're writing, I want you to be aware of the language you are using. What makes it convincing? Why are you choosing to talk about these particular examples? Write a brief paragraph explaining your choices.

(p.s. This picture is from my own spring break adventures in Cleveland!)

Opinionated

Opinions are often excellent starting points for a paper topic. We all have them, but sometimes we hesitate to share them for whatever reason. Well, here's your chance. Write down at least 5 opinions. I'll get us started:

1. Veronica Mars is the best show on television right now.
2. Purdue doesn't spend enough money on the Liberal Arts.
3. U2 is the most overrated band ever.
   
4. Target is a better store than Wal-mart.
5. Blogs are changing the way the news is reported.

As I mentioned in class on Thursday, we often think that arguments have to be made about social issues. Even though my New Year's Resolution was to keep up with current events better, I still watch The Simpsons rather than the news, and I read blogs rather than CNN. Does that mean I'm screwed when it comes to picking a topic that interests me? No. I can still make an argument about the things that interest me. For instance, if I wanted to write about Veronica Mars, I could perhaps look at television and ratings and find out more information about the ratings system and how it works. This might lead me to a question about whether or not it's effective. While I probably couldn't find scholarly articles on Veronica Mars, there's probably something out there about ratings. For instance, I did a quick search on JSTOR for "television ratings" and came up with a great article from Management Science called "Scheduling of Network Television Programs."

Now that you've stated your opinions, think about how you could turn one of them into a good research topic. What kind of things would you look at? What questions might you ask?

Examining Sources

Take some time to browse through this article, "Evicted from Wikipedia," from Slate and then write a response that discusses the benefits and consequences of using Wikipedia as a source in research papers. Be sure to cite specific examples from the article to support your reasoning.

Exploring the Language of Communities

Take a look at one of the two websites linked below. Read a little bit about them, observe the visual rhetoric of the site, and then answer the following questions.

1. What words or phrases do you see repeated over and over again? Why do you think they would repeat these same ideas?
2. Who is the target audience for the site? (and, of course, why?)
3. How do the images support the text of the site?

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

National Rifle Association (NRA)

(Hint: To get the best overview of the organization, try reading the About, History, or FAQ pages.)