Week of 8/15

Big news this week is (of course): final papers are due Tuesday 8/16 at the beginning of class. Tuesday, we'll do an in-class workshop for presentations and Wednesday and Thursday will be the presentations themselves. I'll have a few more things to say (and link to), but for now check out this guide to body language from INC magazine (via the Lifehacker website) and this more general how-to from Lifehacker itself. The latter is focused on talks that use slides (such as Powerpoint/Keynote), but the basic ideas of simplicity, storytelling, and clarity are true for almost anything.

On Presentations

Here's Carmine Gallo's written summary (in Businessweek) of his video I showed today on presentation tips.

Here's the order:

Wednesday: Isa, Diana, Gissell, Miriam, Hong, Kai, Alicia, Julissa, (time permitting) Luvasia

Thursday: Asha, Brieanna, Kaydee-Ann, Mimi, Ching Ching, Arieanna

For those of you using video clips, try downloading them with Keepvid.com or a similar video capture site and saving on a USB key. That way, you don't have to worry about slow playback. As a back-up, post the link to your blog, so you can pull it up quickly without showing the entire class your e-mail inbox.

[Edited Tuesday 8/16, 4:50 PM]

For Monday, 8/18

Remember that a draft of your final paper is due. Please bring both a printed copy and a digital copy on your USB drive with you. Also make sure you have a printed copy of your "Works Cited" page for us to check. (I also strongly suggest that you have an updated back-up either saved in your e-mail or that you use an online file service such as Dropbox for storage.) Please also read the section in the back of the Pocket Style Manual on proofreading and bring the book with you.

For those who missed class, I also gave out details on the presentation for your final projects which will be on the last 2 days of class. See the assignments section of the site for details (scroll down on the page for it). Enjoy the weekend!

For Thursday, 8/10

First, thanks to Daisy Dominguez (ddominguez[AT]ccny.cuny.edu) for the library session today. Stop by at the reference desk if you get stuck looking for sources.

For tomorrow (Thursday), please read "The Anatomy of an Essay" in the SEEK coursepack. Also read the 2 reviews of the latest Harry Potter film that I gave out. You can also find them here and here. Think about the structure of how they're written. How do they start? How do they end? What details of the film does each writer cover to make his point?

Also bring your coursepack (for the essay anatomy piece) and the Pocket style Manual, since we'll be continuing to work on the MLA format. Finally, continue working on your final paper.

For Wednesday, 8/10

Read pages 107-121 on the MLA format in Hacker’s Pocket Style Manual. It's short, but detailed, so you'll have to read it slowly and carefully. Also take a look at the CCNY library website, specifically the sections “Research Resources by Subject” and “Articles via Databases”.

Finally, continue working on your final paper: you'll have a draft due on Monday. What you should do today/tomorrow is type up some of what we covered today in class and figure out what else you need. Bring specific questions about articles/books you need to find for the librarian tomorrow.

Remember to bring your copy of the Pocket Style Manual with you tomorrow. You'll need it if we have time after the library session is over.

For Tuesday, August 9

Hopefully today's library trip gave you a few new sources or things to think about for your topics. For tomorrow, first please catch up on the existing work if you're behind: specifically posting your intended topic to your blog and the 2 reviews or articles about it. Also write a summary of 2 reviews (see the previous post) and turn it in if you haven't done so yet. If you're all caught up, then post the titles of the books/articles you found on the trip to the library today on your blog and post a short (2 paragraph) reflection on what you found/learned on today's trip to your blog.

For tomorrow, Read pages 104-105 (Forming/Supporting a thesis) in Hacker's Pocket Style Manual (the small, spiral-bound book) and bring it to class. Also think about your topic and be ready to do a short writing/formatting exercise about it in class.

Lastly, watch this short Youtube video on using EBSCO, which is one of the more helpful library databases for finding full text articles.

(The video is from a different college, but it's the same EBSCO you can get from CUNY/NY Public.) You can find EBSCO here via the NYPL website. If you're at a CUNY or NYPL branch, you can just search for articles without logging in. From home, you'll need your library account # and password.

if you owe library fines, here's the link to the NYPL's amnesty program Carol Small mentioned today that gives you credit for reading this summer. Just hope you don't run into the Library Cop! Just kidding: the last video's only for fun.

For Monday, August 8

Post 2-3 different reviews of your research topic on your blog if you haven’t done so already. (You can just post links.) If you’re still trying to make a final decision on a topic, Then post one review for each option you’re looking at. If it's a topic that doesn't have reviews, then find 2-3 articles or commentaries and post them. Reminder: these should be from newspapers/mags/ books and not random blogs or unknown websites.

Write a 2-page summary of the reviews you’ve found. Specifically what you should write about are the following: where are the reviews from and who wrote them? What parts of your subject does each one analyze? What conclusions does each review come to? Do they agree on or disagree with each other? Bring a printed copy of your summary with you to class to hand in. It should be typed and double spaced. (Note: if you've got more than one topic, then simply do a 1-page summary of a review for each of the 2 possibilities you like best.)

Read The chapter on “Research” (pp. 92-102) and the “Supporting Your Thesis” and “Organizing your Evidence”/ “Using Sources” (104-106) sections in Diana Hacker’s Pocket Style Manual. Read pp. 98-102 and p. 106 slowly and carefully.

Read the Wikipedia entry for your proposed project(s). Print it/them out and bring it/them to class.

For Thursday, 8/3

Tomorrow's assignment is to read the Roland Barthes essay I handed out today called "The Kitchen of Meaning" (also available here if you lose yours/missed class/ or whatever). Write a response to it on your blog of at least 2 paragraphs and be ready to discuss it tomorrow in class. You should read it at least 2-3 times, make notes, look up unfamiliar words, and underline points to ask about/things you don't fully understand. A few questions to guide your thinking are the following: what does Barthes mean by "reading" and is it reading in the same sense we usually think of the term? What types of "texts" is he talking about? Also, please look up your proposed paper topic(s) on Wikipedia, print out at least one of them, and bring it with you to class. We're going to do something with that. Finally, begin thinking about your proposed topic using some of the tools of analysis we covered today in class. (See the full presentation here on Scribd.)

For Wednesday 8/2

Please watch Michael Wesch's short Youtube video called "the Machine is Us/ing Us" and post a short response to it on your blog. You'll need to watch it a few times, but it's short. Use the "Six Habits of mind" for critical thinking (page 1 of your coursepack) and "Notes toward a personal response" (page 2 of the coursepack to guide you. Your response should be at least 2 paragraphs. Note that you can also re-post videos/etc as part of your response to Wesch. (There are a few video and other responses online.) Wesch also explains some of the thinking behind his video here. (Whoever uploaded it got his name wrong--should be Wesch, not Walsh--but it's him.) You'll have to ignore the crowd in the second video. What is he saying about writing and the web? How will web 2.0 technology change how we think, feel, and interact with each other? Is he right? Wrong? How do tech changes affect the way we write and communicate? Why? Don't forget to also post the location of your closest public library branch and CUNY library branch to your blog. (Try inserting a link, such as I do on this site: it'll act like a bookmark and make it easy for you to find in the future if you do.) Also post ideas for your final project. If you haven't decided on one yet, that's fine: you can post more than one for now. Finally, if you're getting stuck with Blogger, try typing questions into Google for help.

Lastly, please e-mail me the URL for your blog at: hewilliams[AT]ccny[dot]cuny[dot]edu. I'll link all of them to this site when I get the info.

[Edited 8/2, 5:45 PM to correct typos. We all make mistakes--HW]

Welcome to 2011's summer session 2!

Watch this space for updates and daily assignments. For tomorrow (Tuesday), please do the assigned readings in the SEEK coursepack: “What Corporate America Can’t Build: A Sentence”; “Ground Rules: How to Read to Annotate a Text”; and “How to Mark a Book .Also see the "CCNY Resources" and "Computer and Library Resources" sections on this site. Finally, a reminder to begin choosing a topic for the final assignment and get a NYPL library card if you don't have one (or yours has expired). Note: get the card in person, NOT online since it can take a while for them to mail you the card. By the way, if you owe library fines, check out NYPL's summer reading program that gives you credit for reading. See you tomorrow!

For Monday, July 25th

First thing: Great job on the presentations on Thursday! You set a high bar for the second set of students. We'll have the last set of presentations on Monday: Arslan, Assidiqal, Mandee, Anita, Nana, Adnan, Joseph, and Alex

Second: We’re nearly at the end of the course , and, as you make final preparations for the exam,[Edited Sat 7/23: there is no final exam for this class] I think it’s a good time to think about some broader issues as you all begin your college careers. The focus of the course has been on critical thinking, reading and writing, but the general idea has been what it takes to read and write successfully on the college level and beyond.

The closing assignment is to write a letter reflecting on 1) what you think you learned in this class, how you think you’re progressed as a writer, and how your interpretive skills have developed; and 2) your process of writing and researching the final paper. What did you learn? How was it?

This is due (obviously) Monday. Papers should be 2 pages typed in 12-point Times font, double spaced, stapled, with your name in the top left corner.

Also think about things that you are anxious or unsure of, as far as college goes. We’ll have a general discussion about these issues, and you can ask Yakeen and myself whatever you want about survival at City College.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

For Wednesday 7/13

Please read the sections in the coursepack on Emmett Till and James baldwin. Specifically, page 26 "Some History of Emmett Till" and pages 27-28 "Notes for Blues". Also read the handouts I gave out in class: Michele Wallace's "Notes for Blues" and James Baldwin's "Black English". Write down any questions you have about that or the bell hooks video from last night. Finally, think about your paper in terms of the our talk in class about analyzing context of works and identify how 3 different contexts relate to what you're researching and post them to your blog. Note: I'll ask you about them in class tomorrow also. Finally, as a reminder, we'll have a guest speaker tomorrow: Kazembe Balagun, so please be on time and bring questions for him! See you all tomorrow!

Prof. Williams

Monday 7/11/11

For tomorrow, please watch the following videos: bell hooks "On Cultural Criticism and transformation", part 1, part 2, part 3. Also continue working on your paper and look for sources that relate to one or more contexts related to your topic.

For Monday, July 11th

Please read the Roland Barthes essay I handed out titled "The Kitchen of Meaning", which is also available as a PDF. Again, using the "six habits of mind" and "notes toward a critical response" (coursepack pages 1-2), write at least a 2 paragraph response to Barthes and post it on your blog. Also continue working on your final project (the assignment sheet is now on the "assignments" page if you can't find it). Find and post at least 3 reviews or related articles on your intended subject if you haven't done so already and write and post a summary of one of them on your blog. (Note: one of the articles you find can be an interview or something besides a review, as long as it's related to what you're doing.) Next Monday and Tuesday we'll be doing more work on the final project in class, so you'll need to have a pretty good idea of what you want to do and at least have it narrowed down to a couple of options.

For Thursday 7/7

Please watch Michael Wesch's short Youtube video called "the Machine is Us/ing Us" and post a short response to it on your blog. (By the way, you don't need to actually listen to the video: there's just music in the background.) Use the "Six Habits of mind" for critical thinking (page 1 of your coursepack) and "Notes toward a personal response" (page 2 of the coursepack to guide you. Your response should be at least a paragraph. Note that you can also re-post videos/etc as part of your response to Wesch. Don't forget to also post the location of your closest public library branch and CUNY library branch to your blog. If you're getting stuck with Tumblr, try typing questions into Google for help. Don't forget to e-mail me the URL for your Tumblr blog and cc Yakeen on the e-mail. See the syllabus for our e-mails.