Day 26
W-Th Dec. 5-6 (Week XIII)
Homework
➤ Begin revising final papers
Final drafts due in class W-Th Dec. 12-13 (last day of class)
Important: Save the first draft of your paper with my comments on it. You must hand this in together with your final draft in order to get full credit for this assignment.
Compare my feedback to the feedback you got from your classmates. If we agree on a certain point, that’s probably particularly important. If we disagree, or if you’re not sure what to do, ask your “reviewers” for help — these are three people who have read and thought carefully about your paper, so they can still be a valuable resource for you. (If afterwards you’re still confused, come to my office hours.)
Consider the four suggestions I made in class. These were:
Reread your beginning, considering it from the perspective of a reader of Sixth Tone. What might be confusing? What needs explaining? What does the reader need to know, and what does the reader not need to know? If necessary, rewrite your beginning.
When summarizing Dornyei’s ideas, include only the information the reader needs in order to understand your argument. After reading the summary, before reading the rest of the article, the reader should be able to anticipate what idea or ideas the writer is about to talk about.
Don’t say what you’re going to say — just say it!
Support your claims with evidence or concrete, vivid examples. These can be drawn from your own experience or from the experiences of those you know — but if they come from an outside source (e.g. an article you read online) cite that source.
➤ Brief oral presentation of your ideas
Due M-Tu Dec. 10-11 (next class)
Tell us your argument, orally, in 3-4 minutes. (You must speak for at least 3 minutes and no more than 4. Time yourself.)
The normal rules apply. No powerpoint. Just talk to us.
Use the “final presentation template” I’ve provided here to structure your presentation. You don’t need to use this exact language necessarily, but you must do these four things:
State your position (i.e. your main point) and explain it clearly
Support your point with evidence or examples — I would like to hear every person mention at least one compelling piece of evidence or vivid example.
Raise and answer the most obvious or strongest possible objection to your ideas
Say why it matters — explain what is at stake
Even if you didn’t do all four of these things in your paper, please do them in your presentation.
I recommend you start preparing this soon! Practicing speaking your ideas out loud may actually help you clarify them and could be useful when you are revising your paper.
