Journaling Assignment

Going forward, use Google docs and create a file called “Journal EN1250” so you can add journal entries one after the other and so I can add comments to your file.

(Reverse numerical order: 4, 3, 2, 1, or the most recent journal entry first)

Your journal is a writing space to reflect upon and explore course readings, content discussed in class, and more. The intention of this journaling assignment is to help you reflect and further your thinking as you address issues in academic writing with the intention of connecting them to your lived experiences as an emergent writer and contributing member of our society.

Reflection is an attribute of professional practice. Indeed, we do not learn and develop from experience as much as we learn from reflecting on that experience. In this context, reflection is the process of constructing meaning by thinking about and interpreting the significance of lived experience. Journal writing or maintaining an online weblog (Blog) is critical to the development of reflective practice. It is a tool for documenting experience and for transforming ideas and assumptions about writing, reading and researching into personal understanding and professional knowledge.

By creating a journal, you can identify issues and activities that are of concern to you as an emerging writer and formulate and communicate your thoughts and ideas to yourself and to others. Further, journals afford an opportunity and a means to describe, feel, express, analyze and question your experiences, beliefs, and ideas as a writer.

Journal Entry Four | Rhetorical Analysis

Rhetorical analysis is a significant element of writing a research paper, our third writing project. Working with our readings and descriptions from the Little Seagull, perform a rhetorical analysis of Emma Barnes’ essay, “The Fast and Fashionable: How your closet contributes to a global crisis.” It is a brief essay written by a composition student that includes a broad appeal. (500 words).

Readings | 

*(The Barnes essay is available through our password protected bibliography).

Rhetorical Analysis |

  • Thesis
  • Summary of the text
  • Who Cares (Based on They Say / I Say. Chapter 8: So What? Who Cares? Saying why it Matters. pp. 112-122).
  • So What (Based on They Say / I Say. Chapter 8: So What? Who Cares? Saying why it Matters. pp. 112-122).
  • Significance of context (or what conversation is Barnes’ essay a part of)?
  • Interpretation /reasoned judgement
  • Textual evidence to support your conclusions
  • Conclusions

Journal Entry Three

Getting into today’s Reading | Graff and Birkenstein. 2024. Chapter 5, “And Yet: Distinguishing What You Say from What They Say.” 74-83. Journal entry 3 involves Exercise 1, pp. 81-82.

Journal entry Two

Discussion of the Reading | Working alone or with a partner, address the following questions 1-2 and 4. Post to your journal as entry two: They say moves and summarizing. (~ 250 words. Due in class on Thursday)

  1. Exercise one at the conclusion of chapter one | Graff and Birkenstein. 2024. Chapter 1, “They Say: Starting With What Others Are Saying.” They Say / I Say. p. 28-29.
  2. Based on your reading of Graff and Birkenstein. 2024. Chapter 1, “They Say: Starting With What Others Are Saying,” what are some of the “they say” moves that Gee and Zhang make to introduce the voices of those they are in conversation with?
  3. Drawing on the Little Seagull, Key Elements of an Argument, and Graff and Birkenstein, Ch 2, The Art of Summarizing,” summarize Gee and Zhang’s argument about thinking with generative AI? Where applicable, include their claim or position, reasons, evidence, emotional appeals, tone, and counterarguments.

Journal entry One

Tuesday January 21 | Journaling => The Moves that Matter: Entering the conversation => They Say / I Say in your. For Tuesday, please discuss the moves you use to enter the conversation. As you are reading the introductory chapter and as you are interacting with people in the world, reflect on and write about the strategies, implicit and/or explicit, that you use to enter into conversations with others. (+/- 250 words).