Slides for Day 19 in EWRT 1A

1. CREM EWRT 1A
Day 19
The End.

2. How to get an automatic “D” on this paper.
 No Works Cited page = automatic D.
 Your Works Cited page must:
 Have “Works Cited” centered at the
top.
 Be double-spaced.
 Be in alphabetical order by the first
major word in each source entry.
 Use hanging indents: the first line is
NOT indented and every subsequent line
is.

3. Things that will lower your paper grade
(if you don’t do them right).
Citing Book/Article Titles
 Article titles should be in quotes,
not italics. Each major word should
be capitalized.
 Ex.: “Three Solutions to Climate
Change.”
 Book titles should be in italics, not
quotes. Each major word should be
capitalized.
 Ex.: Hope in the Dark.
Integrating Quotations
 See next slide.

4. Integrating quotes from non-fiction
 Before the quote, you need to state
the author’s full name.
 You should include the title of the
book and you should summarize the
book in a few words.
 Ex.: Rebecca Solnit’s book Hope in
the Dark offers a guide to political
action for discouraged activists or
people who want to make change.
 You will need to provide context for
the quote. Books are long and each
chapter talks about many different
things.
 Ex.: In Hope in the Dark, Rebecca
Solnit offers a guide for keeping hope
alive in a dark world. As an example,
she discusses her own interactions
with ranchers when she was an
environmental activist in Nevada.
According to Solnit…
 Before the quote, you need to state
the author’s full name.
 You do NOT need to include the title
of the article, but if you don’t, you
should summarize the article in a
few words.
 Ex.: Mario Lopez, in an article about
the effects of rising sea levels on
Florida, says that...
 You may also need to provide
context for the quote. What
specifically is the author talking
about? How did they come to this
conclusion?
 Ex.: Jane Chen interviewed multiple
high school teachers for an article
about bullying. She claims that most
teachers…
IF IT’S A BOOK IF IT’S AN ARTICLE
ALL OF THIS
NEEDS TO
HAPPEN BEFORE
THE ACTUAL
QUOTE!

5. How to include a COUNTERARGUMENT
against your solution
 Step 1. Identify it as an objection that someone might have.
 Ex.: “Someone might object that my solution is too expensive.”
 Ex.: “Some might say that my solution won’t fully solve the problem.”
 Step 2. RESPOND to it in one of three ways.
 Acknowledge: “I can understand this objection. It’s true that my solution costs a
lot of money. But it’s worth it to solve this problem."
 Accommodate: “It’s true that my solution could be very expensive. But if it can be
made cheaper if we [some alteration to the solution to make it cheaper].”
 Refute: “This objection is wrong. My solution is actually not expensive at all.”

6. How to include Alternative Solution(s)
 Step 1: Explicitly identify this as an alternative solution.
 “Another possible solution to this problem would be…”
 “Many people might prefer another approach to solving this problem, which would
be...”
 Step 2: Describe the alternative solution in a bit of detail and explain how it
would solve the problem.
 Step 3: Explain why YOUR solution is better AND/OR this alternative solution
is FLAWED.

7. Paper 4: Don’t Forget!
 Your thesis statement is a statement of your solution. This should not happen
until you’ve fully discussed and explained your problem.
 This may mean your thesis statement does not appear until late on Page 2.
 You need to propose and respond to at least one COUNTERARGUMENT.
 You need to describe and respond to at least one ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION.
 You need at least 3 outside sources.
 You need an accurate, well-formatted Works Cited page. (Otherwise, you get
a D.)

8. Possible Outline for your Essay:
I. Presentation of the problem (This is likely multiple paragraphs).
A. Its existence
B. Its seriousness
C. Its causes
D. Consequences of failing to solve the problem
II. Description of the proposed solution (Your thesis)
III. Reasons and support for the solution (This is likely multiple
paragraphs).
A. How or why will your solution solve the problem
B. How or why it is possible
IV. List of steps for implementing the solution
V. Counterargument
A. Acknowledgment of objection(s)
B. Accommodation or refutation of objection(s)
VI. Consideration of alternative solution(s) and its/their disadvantages.
VII.Conclusion
A. Restatement of the proposed solution and its advantages
B. A warning about the failure to solve the problem
C. A call to action
Your own outline might
be slightly different.
Even so, you will almost
certainly need all of
these components in
your paper.
So, RIGHT NOW, label
each paragraph in your
draft. Show your reader
where every one of these
components appears.
(Not every component
here will have its own
paragraph, but most
should.)
Essay #4 is due via
Canvas on Tuesday,
March 27, by 5 PM
(tomorrow).

9. Peer Review Activity
Complete this activity for 5 participation points.
Read one classmate’s full draft.
On a separate sheet of paper, answer the following questions (in your own words).
1. What is the problem that this paper wants to address?
2. Why (according to the author) is this a serious problem?
3. What are the causes of the problem? List them.
4. What are the consequences of the problem? List them.
5. What ONE SENTENCE is the author’s thesis statement?
Does the thesis appear after they have fully described and explained the problem? (It should.)
6. Describe the author’s solution in your own words.
7. According to the author, why is this solution possible?
8. According to the author, what are the steps to implementing the solution? Does the author say WHO will
implement each step?
9. Find one COUNTERARGUMENT. What is the objection? How does the author respond?
10.Find one ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION. What is it? Is it a serious or real solution? Why does the author prefer
their own solution?
11.Are there at least three quotations from three different sources? Does the author introduce each
quotation with enough background and context about the author and the article? Where could they say
more?

10. End-of-quarter timeline
 Paper 4 final draft is due on Canvas
tomorrow (Tuesday) by 5 PM.
 In the next day or so, I will send
out an email that explains the final
participation points and grades.
 I hope to have the final grades
finished by Friday.
 Goodbye (for now!)
 (Preview of EWRT 2 for those of
you who are continuing on…)

11. CREM EWRT 2
Lies, Fake News, and Misleading Statistics:
Survival Strategies for Living in a “Post-Truth” World
Many educators (myself included) are increasingly concerned
about how the internet and American political culture are
making it difficult for all of us to make sense of the world in
any way that is actually “true.” In the face of these
challenges, we must continue to value the ideas of facts and
truth—and the processes that we use to arrive at them.

12. “Alternative Facts”

13. Viral “news” and social media

14. Our civilization is defined in part by the disciplines — science, law, journalism —
that have developed systematic methods to arrive at the truth. Citizenship
brings with it the obligation to engage in a similar process. Good citizens test
assumptions, question leaders, argue details, research claims.
Investigate. Read. Write. Listen. Speak. Think. Be wary of those who disparage
the investigators, the readers, the writers, the listeners, the speakers and the
thinkers. Be suspicious of those who confuse reality with reality TV, and those
who repeat falsehoods while insisting, against all evidence, that they are true.
To defend freedom, demand fact.
(“Why Trump Lies,” Los Angeles Times, Apr 3, 2017)

15. What do you need for this course?
 Daniel J. Levitin, Weaponized Lies: How to Think Critically in the Post-
Truth Era (available at the De Anza Bookstore).
 An online subscription to the New York Times (free through De Anza).
 I expect all of us to share a commitment to two fundamental values:
 A commitment to facts and the well-established social processes (critical
thinking and logic, responsible journalism, the scientific method, statistical
reasoning) that allow us to determine, recognize, and agree on facts. This is
not my personal preference; rather, these are the values that colleges and
universities are founded on.
 A commitment that every member of this class is a full member of our
community, that they should be shown respect and dignity, and that
everyone in the classroom deserves to be treated in the way that you
yourself would want to be treated.

16. Types of Assignments
 You’ll write your own fake news
article!
 You’ll collect data on a topic of
your choice and then do statistical
analyses of it (shared assignment
with Amanda’s class).
 You’ll learn how to write a
research paper.