Portfolio and Rhetorical Analysis

Portfolio Details

Second Semester

Your portfolio will include at least 3 additional final drafts (including your researched persuasion argument and rhetorical analysis essay) to show evidence of your continued use of first semester skills and new learning of the following criteria:

• Successful understanding and use of claims, reasons, and qualifiers
• Various modes to include research, persuasion, cause/effect, and rhetorical analysis
• Use of evidence to convince, including well-used and documented secondary AND primary research
• Effective and correct use of a visual in a written argument
• Variety of purpose and audience throughout the year
• Correct MLA works cited page—at 100%
• Multiple drafts with revision based on feedback
• Stylistic maturity
• Growth as a writer over the course of the year
• Growth as a reader over the course of the year

To receive an A, you must also show evidence of your own helpful feedback as a peer responder and publish one piece of writing for the appropriate audience.

So here are some more details to help you achieve that:

1. Your research paper likely covers many of these.  If your "final draft" didn't successfully achieve all of these research components (i.e. perfect works cited page), revise it so it does.  There are comments on your final draft in Turnitin that tell you where you have problems.  Revise it and include a better copy of it in your final portfolio.
2. Your rhetorical analysis will also help meet several of the criteria above.  For instance, comparing it with your Nabokov paper from first semester or even your Fast Food paper from first quarter may be a good way to show your growth as a reader (and potentially as a writer).
3. To get credit for publishing a piece, you need to get something you wrote this year to its intended audience.  Your research paper works well for this because you spent a lot of time on it and have a clear audience--and probably an argument you actually want people to hear.  To get credit for it, your teacher needs to "see" your submission.  If you're going to email it to your audience (i.e. Mrs. Stone for The Indian, the Record Herald, a legislator, etc.), just copy your teacher on the email.  If you're going to mail it in paper form, bring it in with an addressed envelope (open, please) and your teacher will even mail it for you.  If there is some other way you need to submit or publish your argument that doesn't fit one of these options, see your teacher for how to do it in a way you can get credit for.
4. You currently have TWO more pieces to write.  The Google Calendar is updated to show what we are doing for the rest of year, including lab days.  There are a few of them BUT you will ALL need to be doing work OUTSIDE of class.  This is a college class and your credit will go on your college transcript FOREVER.  This is not a time to lazy.  You have basically ONE MONTH to complete your portfolio.  Here are your deadlines:

• Start your rhetorical analysis NOW--we're giving you reading/planning days this week so USE them.
• Lab time during class:  All Wednesdays PLUS April 14 and April 28
• Optional draft due April 11 by midnight.  If you want INDIVIDUAL feedback from your teacher, you need to submit a draft to Turnitin on this day.  It can be whatever piece you like and you don't HAVE to turn one in.  We will read and give feedback on anyone's paper that is turned in BY April 12.  NO LATE SUBMISSIONS!
• Silent reading table on April 22--bring a PRINT COPY of both new pieces to class with you.
• Completed portfolio due April 28 by midnight.

Rhetorical Analysis Details

One of your 2nd semester portfolio pieces is a rhetorical analysis of your non-fiction independent reading book.  Hopefully you have completed (or at least made significant progress in) a book that you found a clear argument in.  Your job now is to write an essay in which you achieve TWO objectives.

Objectives:

• Demonstrate effective critical reading skills
• Demonstrate college-ready writing

Grading:

A   Successfully achieves all objectives
A-  Successfully achieves all objectives but some minor errors
B   Successfully achieves one objective but has some major problems with the other
C   Does not achieve the objectives; unsuccessful, unacceptable attempt

So how do you make sure you achieve both of those objectives? 

Evidence of your Critical Reading:
Identify argument, purpose, and audience
Analyze rhetorical devices and major modes used
Analyze appeals
Pinpoint BOTH strengths and weaknesses in the argument
Explain an "educated" conclusion of the argument--your opinion of whether the strengths outweigh the weaknesses or vice versa

Evidence of College-Ready Writing:
Lots of detail and evidence to back up your claims (all of them)
Correct MLA parenthetical citations
Clear organization that is easy to follow
Academic purpose and tone BUT with some appropriate personality, voice, and engaging writing
Clean mechanics

March 26 Journal Prompts

1.  Consider the answer to one (or several) of the following “Why?” questions.  (Or answer a “burning question” of your own.)

• Why do we still hear about Lindsay Lohan?
• Why do girls like to show off their underwear?
• Why do people listen to Dr. Phil?
• Why the interest in vampires and zombies?
• Why is Instagram/SnapChat/Twitter so popular?
• Why can’t we live without our cell phones?
• Why are guys so obsessed with body humor and video games?

2.  Consider what the future holds.  What will the world be like when you are old?  Consider what these various aspects of life might be like:

• Sports
• Pollution
• Food/Clothing
• Military
• Drugs/Medicine
• Housing
• Entertainment
• Technology
• Education
• Government
• Careers/Jobs
• Economy/Money
• Crime
• Hobbies
• Transportation
• Population
• Relationships/Dating
• Religion

Journaling Mar. 12

Do this today or later, but do it.  Choose one of the following journal prompts and write about a page in your journal as a potential starter for your last portfolio piece:

1.  Bucket List
What do you want to do before you kick the bucket?  Make a list--brainstorm all of the things you'd like to do, places you'd like to visit, sights you'd like to see before you die.  Once you have your list, choose one that particularly gets you excited and spend some time writing about why this particular item is meaningful.

2.  How to Survive _______
Consider the survival advice you could give:  how to survive IHS, how to survive football two-a-days, how to survive working at A&W, how to survive a younger brother, etc.  Pick something you could help people survive and spend some time writing out that advice for a particular audience.

Sound and the Fury Resources

Here are the slides I used in class yesterday.  If you missed class, DEFINITELY look these over PLUS get notes from a reliable friend in case there were other things you need to write down.  If you were in class, these are posted here as a helpful resource and reminder.

Link to the Google Doc

3rd Qtr Exam

First, the essay on Thursday:

Reading time on Tuesday--15 minutes to read the prompt and source material and then plan out your essay.  You can highlight evidence you want to use and outline in as much detail as you have time for.

On Thursday you'll write the essay in the period.

How to prepare?  Read your first synthesis essay.  Use the scoring guide to determine how you did on it.  Figure out what you need to do to improve on that score for this essay, both in planning and in writing.


Second, the "traditional test" on Friday:

Short answer and multiple choice questions over what we've studied this quarter--visual arguments (you'll actually analyze one), research and sources in arguments, and critical reading (an AP passage and questions following).

Also, you'll cite two sources in a correctly formatted works cited page.  You'll get to use a packet printed out directly from the Purdue OWL that will have all of the information you need to cite the sources provided.

How to prepare?  Review your notes in your journal regarding sources, visual arguments, and works cited.  Read the chapters (Chapter 15 & 18) from this quarter if you didn't read them originally or didn't take good notes.  Go back and look at your practice works cited from the beginning of the quarter or the works cited page you turned in on your D2 to get an idea of the kinds of mistakes you have made and want to avoid.

Final Draft Checklist

Based on our readings of your D2s (and a bit of experience with these papers in general), here is a polishing checklist we STRONGLY urge you to walk through with your paper.  Not everything will apply to every paper but it is definitely worth the time to double-check you're meeting all of the requirements of the assignment AND avoiding these common mistakes.  NOTE:  You should only do this AFTER you've addressed the comments for revision on your D2.

1.  If you have an MLA heading/format, is it appropriate for you to have it?  If you're writing a business letter, magazine article, letter to the editor, etc., the answer is NO.  If it's appropriate for you to have one, is it done correctly?

2.  Do you have a title that informs your piece?  Is it capitalized correctly? Does it add interest to your piece?  Remember, in the real world of writing, if someone thinks the title sounds interesting, they'll read it.  If it looks like something they're not interested in (or it turns them off rather than appealing to them), they won't.  Your FIRST goal is to get your intended audience to actually READ your piece...all the way through.

3.  For each visual you've included in your essay, be sure it has:

• label
• caption (that actually tells your reader what to notice or look at--it's not just a title)
• citation (unless you actually created it) that correctly points back to the full citation on your works cited page
• text (that's actually talking about the image) wrapped around the image
• located within the text margins of your paper

4.  If you interviewed someone, be sure you introduce them by name AND credentials that matter:  probably by descriptors of their expertise--definitely not by their relationship to you (i.e. your mom)

5.  If you conducted a survey, be sure to explain:

• how many people were surveyed
• what ages/classes/groups were involved
• anything else that will vouch for the reliability of your results (i.e. how they were chosen--should be randomly)

6.  If you conducted an experiment or observation, be sure to explain how it was conducted, what you did to set controls, when it happened, how long, etc.  Remember that YOU have to provide the ethos for your research.  If you don't give enough information about how the results were gathered, your audience will likely not consider the results credible.

7.  Consider your ethos, logos, and pathos.  Your research could act as any of these three, but specifically, the quality of your sources and information is a huge part of your ethos and probably the information you found in your research is a large portion of your logos.  Do NOT forget about pathos.  This is persuasion.  You will NOT get people to change their behavior or physically get off of their butt and do something unless you make it personal, unless you make them actually care.  Many of you are missing the emotion.  Logic is great and you need it, but it will not be enough to make your persuasion effective.

8.  There are rules for using numbers in written arguments.  Wherever you used numbers in your essay, be sure you followed these basic guidelines:

• Write out numbers you can spell in a word or two; use numerals for larger numbers that would be more complex to spell out or read.
• Numbers in a series and comparable statistics should be consistent
• Always write out a number that begins a sentence.
• Use a combination of written numbers and numerals when it is needed for clarity.  For example, two 6-year-olds is easier to read than 2 6-year-olds or two six-year-olds.

9.  Make sure your works cited page is on its own page (just insert a page break) and that all of your citations are on it and formatted correctly.  This is a HUGE part of your grade and there is NO EXCUSE not to do it well.  You have a solid resource (Purdue OWL), plenty of instruction and opportunity to ask questions of your teacher, AND you got feedback on your WC when you turned in your D2.

10.  Definitely go back to the original blogpost detailing the objectives and requirements of the assignment.  Read through the whole thing to be sure you have done everything you need to.

Grading of the quality of your final draft:
    A   Successfully achieves all of the objectives
    A-  Successfully achieves all of the objectives with some minor problems
    B   Successfully achieves most objectives; missing something or major problems
    C   Unsuccessful or unacceptable attempt

In addition, a portion of your grade will be for the process you went through to get to your final product and the writing growth demonstrated in that process.  To get full credit for the process portion you need:

• Proposal accepted
• All drafts turned in on time
• Completed peer and self reviews
• Revisions based on feedback
• Critical reflection as last page of your final draft (after the works cited).  Like your definition paper, it should be at least a page reflection on your perspective of the writing process:  How did it go?  What did you struggle with?  What was easy?  What are the strengths in your writing skills to date?  What areas still need improvement?  Are there any things you need to explain to your teacher in order for her to clearly understand how hard you worked or how much improvement you made that may not be demonstrated by either the quality of the end result or the process requirements listed above?

11.  Double-check your word count!!!  Remember that your works cited and critical reflection don't count but everything else does.  Highlight your paper from the top to where you end the argument to see your word count.  If it's not 500-750 words, you have work to do.  If you're under the minimum, you likely need more details, evidence, and explanation.  If you're over the maximum, there are three great ways to be more concise (do them in order for maximum results as they cut fewer words as you go):

• Get rid of anything that is not helping your argument.  If everything is helping but you're way over, kick out your weakest point.
• Get rid of any repetition of ideas, sentences, or even words.  Reorganize your argument so that you can more efficiently move from one point to another without having to repeat things you've already said.
• Combine and condense sentences so you can say the exact same thing in fewer words.  I'll give you an example:  He hit a ground ball toward third base.  It was a single.  He slid into first base.  He beat the throw by a split second.  25 words.  Now this:  He hit the ground ball toward third--a single.  He slid into first, beating the throw by a split second.  20 words.  Says the same thing...only better.  Even more concise:  He hit a single toward third.  Sliding, he beat the throw by a split second.  15 words.  The second version keeps all of the details while the third sacrifices a few.  You have to be strategic when you sacrifice details since they often matter for either style, content, or both.  Sacrifice where you can only if you have to.

12.  Obviously read through your final draft several times before submitting it to be sure that it makes sense, uses correct punctuation and grammar, and generally makes sense.  The BEST way to check for these things is to read the whole piece OUT LOUD to yourself.  You'll be amazed the things your eyes/brain will skip over when you read it silently that you'll catch when you have to actually say every word.

When you are positive that your final draft demonstrates your BEST WORK, submit it to Turnitin.

New Text Notifications Video

Look what I did at professional development today: I added a new tab to our blog. Look above this post to see the tab labeled "Text Notifications" and watch the video to figure out how to set up your Google Calendar texts.