This overviews our Key Concepts, discusses how we will be exploring those concepts in your LOI, explains what coming up with an LOI means and how to come up with a good one.
Dr. Kritsonis, Writing for Professional Publication in National Refereed Jour...guestcc1ebaf
Founder of National FORUM Journals – Over 4,000 Professors Published
Dr. Kritsonis is founder of NATIONAL FORUM JOURNALS (since 1983). These publications represent a group of highly respected scholarly academic periodicals. Over 4,000 writers have been published in these refereed, peer-reviewed periodicals. In 1983, he founded the National FORUM of Educational Administration and Supervision – now acclaimed by many as the United States’ leading recognized scholarly academic refereed journal in educational administration, leadership, and supervision.
In 1987, Dr. Kritsonis founded the National FORUM of Applied Educational Research Journal whose aim is to conjoin the efforts of applied educational researchers world-wide with those of practitioners in education. He founded the National FORUM of Teacher Education Journal, National FORUM of Special Education Journal, National FORUM of Multicultural Issues Journal, International Journal of Scholarly Academic Intellectual Diversity, International Journal of Management, Business, and Administration, and the DOCTORAL FORUM – National Journal for Publishing and Mentoring Doctoral Student Research. The DOCTORAL FORUM is the only refereed journal in America committed to publishing doctoral students while they are enrolled in course work in their doctoral programs. In 1997, he established the Online Journal Division of National FORUM Journals that publishes academic scholarly refereed articles daily on the website: www.nationalforum.com. Over 500 professors have published online. In January 2007, Dr. Kritsonis established Focus: On Colleges, Universities, and Schools.
History Camp 2015 - Decoding and Applying Common Core for Public Historians: ...Mark Gardner
In this session, Western Rhode Island Civic Historical Society archivist and American History teacher Mark Kenneth Gardner (@HistoryGardner) will walk everyone through several hands-on exercises designed to familiarize the museum and historical society folks with the vernacular of the Common Core, in particular close reading, lenses, and response to informational text. Using primary source materials not too different than what many public history institutions already have in great abundance, we will learn how “speak the language” and better understand how we can connect to what high school teachers and students are doing in the classrooms. Mark is the archivist at the Western Rhode Island Civic Historical Society (headquartered at the Paine House Museum in Coventry RI) and serves on the board of directors at the Pettaquamscutt Historical Society in Kingston, RI. He also teaches US History and AP US Government and Politics and is state co-coordinator for Rhode Island Model Legislature. He has been teaching high school social studies and history since 1988.
UGPTI communications coordinator Tom Jirik discussed guidelines, issues and concerns related to academic writing at the Fall 2015 orientation for students in the NDSU Transportation and Logistics Program. Enrico Sassi, director of the NDSU Graduate Center for Writers, provided an overview of the center’s services and discussed ways to avoid plagiarism.
Critical Evaluation: Critical Reading and Critical Thinking (web version)Jamie Bisset
1 hour version of 1.5 hour session (cuts out one hands on exercise)
Looks at Critical Evaluation in terms of:
- what is meant by critical reading/thinking
- the ecology of resources
- thinking about your evaluative criteria (what you bring to the table, and what the authors you read have brought to the table)
- Key means of 'evaluating' a text (relevance, authority, objectivity, methodology, presentation and currency).
Dr. Kritsonis, Writing for Professional Publication in National Refereed Jour...guestcc1ebaf
Founder of National FORUM Journals – Over 4,000 Professors Published
Dr. Kritsonis is founder of NATIONAL FORUM JOURNALS (since 1983). These publications represent a group of highly respected scholarly academic periodicals. Over 4,000 writers have been published in these refereed, peer-reviewed periodicals. In 1983, he founded the National FORUM of Educational Administration and Supervision – now acclaimed by many as the United States’ leading recognized scholarly academic refereed journal in educational administration, leadership, and supervision.
In 1987, Dr. Kritsonis founded the National FORUM of Applied Educational Research Journal whose aim is to conjoin the efforts of applied educational researchers world-wide with those of practitioners in education. He founded the National FORUM of Teacher Education Journal, National FORUM of Special Education Journal, National FORUM of Multicultural Issues Journal, International Journal of Scholarly Academic Intellectual Diversity, International Journal of Management, Business, and Administration, and the DOCTORAL FORUM – National Journal for Publishing and Mentoring Doctoral Student Research. The DOCTORAL FORUM is the only refereed journal in America committed to publishing doctoral students while they are enrolled in course work in their doctoral programs. In 1997, he established the Online Journal Division of National FORUM Journals that publishes academic scholarly refereed articles daily on the website: www.nationalforum.com. Over 500 professors have published online. In January 2007, Dr. Kritsonis established Focus: On Colleges, Universities, and Schools.
History Camp 2015 - Decoding and Applying Common Core for Public Historians: ...Mark Gardner
In this session, Western Rhode Island Civic Historical Society archivist and American History teacher Mark Kenneth Gardner (@HistoryGardner) will walk everyone through several hands-on exercises designed to familiarize the museum and historical society folks with the vernacular of the Common Core, in particular close reading, lenses, and response to informational text. Using primary source materials not too different than what many public history institutions already have in great abundance, we will learn how “speak the language” and better understand how we can connect to what high school teachers and students are doing in the classrooms. Mark is the archivist at the Western Rhode Island Civic Historical Society (headquartered at the Paine House Museum in Coventry RI) and serves on the board of directors at the Pettaquamscutt Historical Society in Kingston, RI. He also teaches US History and AP US Government and Politics and is state co-coordinator for Rhode Island Model Legislature. He has been teaching high school social studies and history since 1988.
UGPTI communications coordinator Tom Jirik discussed guidelines, issues and concerns related to academic writing at the Fall 2015 orientation for students in the NDSU Transportation and Logistics Program. Enrico Sassi, director of the NDSU Graduate Center for Writers, provided an overview of the center’s services and discussed ways to avoid plagiarism.
Critical Evaluation: Critical Reading and Critical Thinking (web version)Jamie Bisset
1 hour version of 1.5 hour session (cuts out one hands on exercise)
Looks at Critical Evaluation in terms of:
- what is meant by critical reading/thinking
- the ecology of resources
- thinking about your evaluative criteria (what you bring to the table, and what the authors you read have brought to the table)
- Key means of 'evaluating' a text (relevance, authority, objectivity, methodology, presentation and currency).
This workshop will consider how researchers can support one another to improve their academic writing. Writing groups have clear benefits – when run effectively, their model of peer mentoring can improve your confidence and motivation as a writer, helping you to develop your ideas and original research, and make more effective use of the time spent with your supervisor. They can be a great way of dealing with the pitfalls familiar to many researchers, including writer’s block and procrastination. As an intellectual community, a writing group can also open the way to future research collaborations. After sharing some of the common problems involved in writing research, this workshop will suggest strategies for overcoming them through peer mentoring, and offer practical advice on establishing and maintaining a writing group.
Active ReadingWhy Good Readers Make Better Writers.by An.docxAMMY30
Active Reading
Why Good Readers Make Better Writers.
by Anthony Starros, M.F.A.
1. Strategies for Active Reading
2. The Four Stages of Active Reading
3. Writing a Critique
This Lecture Will be in Three Parts:
Don’t Read Homework Like You Read a Magazine.
Reading for pleasure is often done passively, without the need to organize the
writer's ideas or your responses to those ideas. For college writing, though, it is
your responses to writing that is important.
Passive Reading: reading done without an active, critical mindset.
Active Reading: using techniques to more fully engage with a text.
What a writer means can be interpreted different ways by different people, so
meaning is important because it clarifies the writer’s Main Idea from the General
Topic.
Keep Your Focus on the Meaning
When it comes time to write your essays, it’s your own meaning that’s important.
• Main Idea: the key concept of the topic (meaning, sometimes opinion).
• General Topic: the general subject of a passage (objective, just the facts).
The best way to read actively is to annotate. Annotating is simply writing notes
in the margins of a text as you read.
The Benefits of Annotating:
• Annotations provide a variety of points to keep in mind while looking
for ideas to include in your own essay.
• Annotating will help you locate and interpret the meaning of any text.
• Annotating will save you time since you won’t have to read something
over and over again to understand the author’s meaning.
http://www.csupomona.edu/~crsp/handouts/marking_textbook.html
Here is what annotating looks like:
There is, though, such a thing as bad annotating:
http://homologue.wordpress.com/2008/11/02/flat-stanley-and-utensils/
Helpful Hints for Annotating:
If you've annotated well, you can simply go back and read your notes to help
gather your thoughts on the author's main idea and start formulating meaning.
1. the topic (what is the subject being talked about?)
3. supporting details (evidence or examples used)
2. the main idea (what is the writer’s point about the subject?)
There are key points to look out for in a passage. These 3 key elements to
comprehension are:
4. your responses (Do you agree/disagree? Why?)
Strategies for Active Reading:
1. Always read with a pen or pencil in hand!
2. Use that pencil to annotate
3. Listen to what you're reading -- consider yourself in a dialogue with the author
4. Compare authors' ideas with what you know
5. Question statements made by the author
6. Identify important ideas and respond with your own
7. Look up words you don't know immediately
The Four Stages of Active Reading:
1. prep (access prior knowledge -- what do you know about the subject?)
2. read (annotate)
3. re-read (annotate)
4. review (further develop your own responses from your notes)
Yes, read it twice.
Just like listening to music or watching a movie, the more often you hear
or see it, th.
Whenever you read something and you evaluate claims, seek definitions, judge information, demand proof, and question assumptions, you are thinking critically.
This powerpoint is designed for graduate students interested in starting writing groups, as well as address some of the major issues facing these writers.
Informal WritingInformal or low stakes” writing covers all the .docxdirkrplav
Informal Writing
Informal or “low stakes” writing covers all the writing that falls under the minor commitments on the grading contract. These texts are informal because we won’t be revising them as major projects, and, while we may use them as examples of successful writing techniques, they will not be assessed for the effectiveness of the writing. Instead, I want the focus of these pieces to be reflection, inquiry, and free thought. In other words, when you are writing these, don’t worry about how well you are crafting your sentences; worry about whether you are engaging thoughtfully with the tasks. I want to know what you are thinking, and I want you to focus on what you’re thinking and why. Don’t worry if you jump from one thought to another without transition or if you get sidetracked by an unexpected thought. In short, write freely.
Informal writing might include but is not limited to
· Responses to readings
· In-class writing
· Group work reports
· Quizzes
Not all informal writing will be turned in; often, we write to learn, to discover what we think and know, and it isn’t always necessary for me to read everything. I will read all reading responses and quizzes, but I may not always comment unless I want to ask some thought provoking questions, make some suggestions for how to exceed my expectations, or I want to let you know that you have exceeded my expectations.
Reading Responses
We will have some activity required in response to course readings. Most often, this will be a 1 to 2 page written response that should follow the pattern below. Sometimes, the response will be to use the ideas from the reading to complete some part of a major project.
For most responses, I will ask you to
· Summarize what you believe to be the main point of the reading (it will be helpful for you to think about why I’ve assigned the reading as you try to focus on the author’s primary purpose).
· Explain key terms/concepts about writing emphasized or employed in the reading; I will post these terms in a separate document the week before we discuss the assigned reading.
· Reflect on and respond to the main ideas of the reading. This should be the most substantial part of your response, in which I want you to reflect thoughtfully on what the reading is saying about writing, how that relates to your own experiences, and what you think or feel about those ideas. With the key terms, I will include guiding questions to help you respond, but you should feel free to follow the train of your own thoughts
To get credit for these responses, you need to convince me that you engaged with them thoughtfully. All informal writing is graded on a credit/no credit basis. If I do not feel you have completed the assignment, or that you have engaged sufficiently with the task, I will leave a comment telling you that I cannot give you credit. THAT IS NOT FINAL. You should be a self-advocate in communicating with me if you did in fact do the best you could. Writing is difficul.
Read| The latest issue of The Challenger is here! We are thrilled to announce that our school paper has qualified for the NATIONAL SCHOOLS PRESS CONFERENCE (NSPC) 2024. Thank you for your unwavering support and trust. Dive into the stories that made us stand out!
Model Attribute Check Company Auto PropertyCeline George
In Odoo, the multi-company feature allows you to manage multiple companies within a single Odoo database instance. Each company can have its own configurations while still sharing common resources such as products, customers, and suppliers.
Macroeconomics- Movie Location
This will be used as part of your Personal Professional Portfolio once graded.
Objective:
Prepare a presentation or a paper using research, basic comparative analysis, data organization and application of economic information. You will make an informed assessment of an economic climate outside of the United States to accomplish an entertainment industry objective.
Instructions for Submissions thorugh G- Classroom.pptxJheel Barad
This presentation provides a briefing on how to upload submissions and documents in Google Classroom. It was prepared as part of an orientation for new Sainik School in-service teacher trainees. As a training officer, my goal is to ensure that you are comfortable and proficient with this essential tool for managing assignments and fostering student engagement.
A Strategic Approach: GenAI in EducationPeter Windle
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies such as Generative AI, Image Generators and Large Language Models have had a dramatic impact on teaching, learning and assessment over the past 18 months. The most immediate threat AI posed was to Academic Integrity with Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) focusing their efforts on combating the use of GenAI in assessment. Guidelines were developed for staff and students, policies put in place too. Innovative educators have forged paths in the use of Generative AI for teaching, learning and assessments leading to pockets of transformation springing up across HEIs, often with little or no top-down guidance, support or direction.
This Gasta posits a strategic approach to integrating AI into HEIs to prepare staff, students and the curriculum for an evolving world and workplace. We will highlight the advantages of working with these technologies beyond the realm of teaching, learning and assessment by considering prompt engineering skills, industry impact, curriculum changes, and the need for staff upskilling. In contrast, not engaging strategically with Generative AI poses risks, including falling behind peers, missed opportunities and failing to ensure our graduates remain employable. The rapid evolution of AI technologies necessitates a proactive and strategic approach if we are to remain relevant.
Operation “Blue Star” is the only event in the history of Independent India where the state went into war with its own people. Even after about 40 years it is not clear if it was culmination of states anger over people of the region, a political game of power or start of dictatorial chapter in the democratic setup.
The people of Punjab felt alienated from main stream due to denial of their just demands during a long democratic struggle since independence. As it happen all over the word, it led to militant struggle with great loss of lives of military, police and civilian personnel. Killing of Indira Gandhi and massacre of innocent Sikhs in Delhi and other India cities was also associated with this movement.
How to Make a Field invisible in Odoo 17Celine George
It is possible to hide or invisible some fields in odoo. Commonly using “invisible” attribute in the field definition to invisible the fields. This slide will show how to make a field invisible in odoo 17.
2. Daybook Entry
Try to describe what it “good writing” looks like; compare this to what you
know about your own writing.
Questions to consider—
How do you know when you see good writing? What does it look like? What
features stand out?
What are some skills strong writers have?
What kinds of writing have you done in the past?
What kinds of writing do you find easy? Enjoyable?
What kinds of writing do you find more difficult? Explain.
What have you been told you do well as a writer?
What kinds of things do you struggle with?
3. Daybook Entry
Daybook Prompt: Based on
what you described, which of
these is an example of good
writing? Write about a
paragraph comparing them and
explaining why.
4. Daybook Entry-- Myths about
Academic Writing
Write in your Daybook about 2 myths that resonate with you. When writing, consider why this
jumped out at you. Is it because you have been taught this somewhere? Is it because you know a lot
of people tend to feel this way? Is it because this doesn't seem like much of a myth to you?
Myth 1: The "Paint by Numbers" Myth -- Writing should follow certain learned steps in order to
get a good final draft.
Myth 2: Writers only start when they have everything figured out-- Good writers draft in their
head, so there's no point in writing until I know exactly what I'm going to say and how.
Myth 3: Perfect first drafts -- Good writers create amazing first drafts without the need to revise;
that's what makes them good writers.
Myth 4: Some got it: I don't -- the genius fallacy -- Whether or not you are a good writer is
virtually out of your control. Good writers are predisposed to it.
Myth 5: Good grammar is good writing -- Good writers have good grammar and that is the basis
for what makes writing "good." It makes or breaks the piece.
Myth 6: The 5 Paragraph Essay -- This format defines most essay experiences.
Myth 7: Never use "I"-- Good academic writing should always be objective and formal, so it should
avoid personal experiences and personal pronouns.
6. OVERVIEW
Each skill represents a commonly held value among the
academic community for skills that good writers and
communicators have.
PAY ATTENTION!
A large portion of your grade is based on how well your
portfolio displays your engagement with this skills. THIS
MEANS YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO EXPLAIN, IDENTIFY,
AND DISCUSS THEM USING A WRITERLY VOCABULARY.
7. Rhetorical Knowledge/Awareness
Basically, rhetorical knowledge is being able to understand—
how writing situations (or rhetorical situations) work
what aspects of the situation you have to consider
how to use and adapt various skills effectively in individual situations--
-
rhetorical appeals
audience awareness
multiple modes
genre features
styles
digital tools
...and many others
8. Knowledge of Conventions
We typically know that conventions...
are formal rules & informal guidelines that define genres
determine obvious things like mechanics, usage, spelling, and citation
practices.
We typically don't know that they..
influence content, style, organization, graphics, tone, word choice, and
document design.
are developed over time by the leading readers, writers, and users of a
genre.
shape readers’ and writers’ expectations of correctness or appropriateness
9. Knowledge of Conventions Cont.
Therefore..
Correctness is a myth. What is correct or expected varies depending
on values within that genre. determine obvious things like
mechanics, usage, spelling, and citation practices.
Good writers are adaptable to the expectations and values of
multiple genres.
Having a knowledge of conventions is basically understanding genre
and how to figure out and use the conventions (rules, values,
features, audience expectations...) of a genre.
10. Composing Processes
1. The Writing Process Itself...
various stages in the writing process understanding that processes and
strategies are unique to individuals
understanding that processes are reciprocal
2. Your Writing Process & How You Write...
awareness of your own process -- everything from how you
brainstorm to knowing your own strengths and weaknesses
3. How You Use Other Writing...
interpreting and make choices about feedback received
gleaning ideas from other voices and other texts
11. Critical Reading
What critical reading is not:
mere comprehension or skimming for the gist
offering unfounded opinions, meaning those based solely on personal
experience and/or apart from the current conversation
being critical in only a negative sense without fairly considering
multiple views or valid points made by opposing views.
12. Critical Reading Cont.
What critical reading is: 🔎
Analyzing Evaluating Making Connections
Questioning Synthesizing Seeing Nuance
• Analyzing context, audience, language, genre use, and opinions of texts--
considering what's going on behind it & how it works
• Being able to understand, analyze, and use a wide range of texts and genres
• Reading for & recognizing patterns of organization, strategies, & communication
modes and paying attention to ways these features work for different audiences
and situations.
• Synthesizing multiple texts to make connections & draw conclusions
• Locating and evaluating the credibility and relevance of texts
• Making connections in various ways across a range of texts
• Reading for, recognizing, and evaluating relationships between claims and
evidence.
13. Critical Reading Cont.
Critical Reading is also--
applying these strategies to the work of
your peers-
offering a critical lens to ask questions, offer
ideas, analyze, evaluate, connect, and help push
their ideas forward.
PEER REVIEW!
14. Critical Reflection
Like critical reading, but it refers to your own own work,
thinking, & choices—
FOCUSED ON CRITICALLY EXAMINING, EXPLAINING, AND QUESTIONING
YOUR OWN TEXTS & THINKING
Contextualizing your own work and its relationship/connection to other
pieces of your own work, your own experiences, and other texts
Interpreting feedback and then being able to make and explain your own
revision choices.
Being able to "write to learn" -- to use reflection in a genuine way to
1. analyze your own thinking and decision making
2. to make transferable connections
3. to solidify learning
15. What’s the Point?
This course cannot teach all of you
the specific genre requirements of
each class, major, field, or
situation you will be in. EACH WILL
BE DIFFERENT.
THIS IS NOT A CLASS ABOUT
HOW TO WRITE.
There are no universal genre values
that apply to the same degree in every
situation.
THIS IS A CLASS
ABOUT HOW TO
THINK LIKE A WRITER.
It’s about learning transferable skills, language, and
ways of approaching writing in difference contexts…
...so that no matter the situation, you can know how
to to communicate with language AND with all of the
modes that support it, and you have the writer's
vocabulary to know what questions to ask.
16. Inquiry
WHAT IT IS AND HOW WE WILL USE INQUIRY AND
YOUR LOI TO ENGAGE THESE CONCEPTS
18. Research Paper – well-worn path
General
Pick Topic (maybe write the thesis)
Find sources
(Read sources…maybe)
OR
Go quote-mining
Write paper
19. The Result
Nothing Learned (about both the issue and
about research)
Often Biased Research
Often takes shallow look at the issue
Usually reports what others are saying
rather than adding to the conversation
20. What is Inquiry?
Inquiry is different from research because it encourages…
1) more than a hunt for black and white answers.
2) more than seeking information to support or refute an idea (like a thesis
statement).
3) an outlook that is open and willing to not only question, but follow where
those questions lead (risk-taking).
4) curiosity, a willingness to trust that THERE’S ALWAYS SOMETHING MORE
TO KNOW, and that the more we know, the more fully we can understand
something.
5) room for multiple answers and perspectives, not just one or a pro and a
con or a dichotomous view.
6) leaves room for a path that takes you lots of places but still ending with a
question, probably a different one than you began with.
21. General
“Read” something
Find a source
Read the source
Ask a question
Write somethingRead the source
Read the source
Make something
Ask a different question
Find more sources
Find more sources
Ask more questions
thin
k
think
read
read
22. Why do inquiry
instead?
INQUIRY PROMOTES…
1) learning through active investigation of questions, problems, and
issues, often for which there is no one, single answer.
2) complex learning outcomes such as critical thinking, habits of
independent inquiry, responsibility for one’s own learning and
intellectual growth.
3) opportunities for deeper understanding of an issue by allowing you
too explore the conversation as a whole.
4) evaluation & comparison of different types of sources, discussions
about bias, etc. … rather than cherry picking to build a one-sided
argument with an incomplete & cursory understanding of the issue.
REMEMBER– YOU CAN’T REFUTE WHAT YOU DIDN’T READ.
23. How it Fits Together
• Think about your LOI and your writing regarding that inquiry as a practice
platform for these skills; it is the tool you will use to work on these skills
and develop writerly vocabulary.
• For example, as we explore your LOI, we will explore—
• Research (critical reading)
• How to evaluate sources (critical reading)
• What problems you are having (critical reflection and composing processes)
• Genre types (knowledge of conventions and rhetorical knowledge)
• How to present your research findings to an audience (rhetorical knowledge and
composing processes)
• How to meet academic standards (knowledge of conventions)
25. Good Inquiry- Not a Rabbit from a Hat
1. Good inquiry doesn’t appear out of thin air or a vacuum.
• Topics do that… but we will be focused on issues and
problems that are framed by conversations.
The beginning of real inquiry has a “source” (a news report, an
article, a song, a documentary, a blog) to establish and clarify the
idea--
• Read something
• Watch something
• Listen to something
• Talk about something
2. Good inquiry stems from natural curiosity- from a question
about whether or not something is true, or why so many
people believe something, how something happens…
Abracada
bra…
Inquiry
26. Things to Consider When Developing Your
LOI:
Am I truly interested in this topic? You must be invested and it show in your work.
If you aren’t interested, your audience won’t either.
Is it answerable through research? --Which religion is better? Why do people
prefer this type of music? These are not answerable through research.
Can I explain why the issue matters? This must be meaningful for you and your
audience, something that matters to people and makes a difference.
You should be able to identify who would most benefit and be able to answer the
question, “Why should I care?”
Is it something debatable and/or complex enough? Remember that you don’t want
to be on a fact hunt or merely looking at the issue through an oversimplified,
dualistic view. yes or no, for or against, right or wrong 🚫
27. Things to Consider When Developing
Your LOI:
Is the subject current and relevant? Don’t bore readers with something they
already know everything about.
Can I say something new or contribute something here (academic
writing should say something new)? NO REPORTS!!!
Examples to avoid: abortion, legalizing marijuana, steroids in sports, whether or not
global warming is real… you get the idea.
Issues that have been “over talked about” & “over researched.” If you Googled them,
you’d get 50,000 results, and they’d all say basically the same thing.
Is the subject limited and clear enough in focus? Is there a specific enough
focus to end up with sources that are connected and speak to each other in some key
way? Example of something too big or vague—
What is beauty? (Huh?)
What’s wrong with the public education system? (Get ready for a looooong semester.)
Why do people get tattoos? (They have personal or cultural value & it varies widely…
no one wants a lesson on the global history of tattoos.)
28. Picking an LOI, Not a “Topic”
How are topics, issues, and lines of inquiry different?
1. Topics → used to group issues together
2. Issues → note where conversations about a particular within a topic might
exist
3. Your LOI → describes what you want to understand or find out about or within
a specific issue
General topic → Specific topic/issue → Focus/Interest/Question
Education Standardized Testing How does standardized
impact learning?
Ex. A camera lens: We don’t want to deal with the entire landscape in the photo; we want to zoom in on one
pivotal element in the landscape.
29. Banned List
Abortion
Nature vs. Nurture
Stress and College -- unless you can defend a very probative approach to
the research
Eating Disorders (If these come up in an LOI, that's fine-- but no reports on
different kinds of EDs)
Tattoos in the Workplace
Stem Cell Research
Capital Punishment
The Existence of God
Life After Death
The reality of Witchcraft
Anything Sea World Related (whales/dolphins in captivity)
Anything based off of Making of a Murderer (how reliable/accurate is the
investigation & judicial process)
The Reality of Global Warming
Same-Sex Marriage (other LGBTQ issues are allowed)
Lowering the Drinking Age
Changing the Driving Age
Illegal Immigration
Legalization of Marijuana
Evolution vs. Creationism
Euthanasia
Conspiracy Theories (9/11, Tupac, The Illuminati, etc.)
Gun Control
The Danger of Pit bulls & any other pet restrictions
Comparisons of Religion
Concussions in Football
Drug Use of Any Kind with Regard to Sports
Texting and Driving
Fitness (Health related questions are okay-- but no How-To Guides on
getting in shape PLEASE!)
Student or Professional Athlete Pay
Smoking Bans
Evaluative Comparisons-– Ex. Mac vs. PC
30. Practice
LOI → Should the education
system change?
What’s wrong with this question?
Note: LOI’s aren’t always phrased as questions and might
include a series of questions.