When you build a home, you need a good foundation. The building blocks and boards are place on the framework, then some modern conveniences are integrated such as plumbing, electricity, and gas, then a nice finish is applied to make it pretty on the outside.
When you write a paper you need a good foundation too, good spelling and grammar skills are essential, too many errors in this department distract from the message that you are trying to convey. A strong vocabulary is required to do the necessary research, to understand what the ‘experts’ are saying, and to be able to express exactly what you want to say fluently.
Your building blocks and boards are your sentences, then paragraphs. The sentences should vary in length, so as not to become mundane, thus keeping the reader’s attention and cognitive thought process flowing. They can be fast, short, and exciting. They can be long, thorough and in great detail. According to VanDam (2008), “It is important to think of your reader and structure your paragraphs accordingly. Look at how they appear on the page. Paragraph lengths should invite the readers in, neither seeming too daunting to read through nor appearing incomplete (p.45).” Each paragraph adds tone to your writer’s voice and should have rhythm appropriate with the topic.
A paragraph helps organize your thoughts and each point that you would like to bring out is the topic sentence for that paragraph, supported by the other sentences in the paragraph offering details, emphasizing certain aspects or points of view. There should be a purpose and relationship to the topic sentence, it can be an introduction to the topic sentence, offer subtopic explanations, wrap up the thought as a conclusion, or a transition to the next paragraph. Paragraphs break up massive amounts of information into easy to follow logical thought patterns, allow stopping points for the reader to ponder your message, and cascade or buildup the thesis statement in some way
Your paper’s framework is the outline and notes you made during your research. You mount your paragraphs on the framework and fill it with supplemental information using citing from those with authority you found during your research. . The plumbing, electricity, and gas of the paragraph are the quotes that you use, interlaced into the framework. This establishes reader trust that you know what you are talking about , that you have done your research, and may help to convince them, if that is the purpose of your paper, of the truth of the message that you are writing about
Finally the finish is the layout of the paper, does it look good? In APA format specific guidelines must be followed in order for your paper to be accepted and to receive a good grade if it is a requirement of the course. The writer must do research to insure that they are following those guidelines and use the writing center as peer review and criticism about their papers. Getting back to basics with each paper that you write should be part of your own proofreading technique, details down to each sentence should be considered during the rough draft stages, and detailed paragraph analysis during the final drafts should be implemented.
Reference
VanDame, K. PhD. Kaplan Handbook for Writers 2nd Editon. 2008. United States. Cengage Learning.
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a wood, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. - Robert Frost
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Commonly Used Logical Fallacies
The KU Writer’s handbook states (p. 64), “…even logical reasoning can result in incorrect conclusions. These are called logical fallacies.” We are discussing these patterns in seminar this week, Unit 3, and I thought that it would be a good topic to write about parallel to the course.
Have you ever seen a magic show or an illusionist, they use some of these fallacies and sleight of hand tricks to deceive the viewer and call it “magic.” Our own minds can often be predictable, we draw conclusions and are misdirected. The same can happen with statistics, certain peer groups, in mob psychology, and in our own arguments in support of those things that our hearts believe to be true. Awareness of these fallacies makes us wiser consumers, businesspersons, readers, and writers. On occasion, depending upon our audience, we might even elect to use these techniques to persuade a weaker mind into a proposal that a more knowledgeable person would never consider, they are often used by parents to control their offspring and I think that’s where the trouble begins, we had parents that used these upon us during our childhood and the logic is passed on this way from generation to generation.
These are the names of some examples according to the KU writers guide (pp.64-65)
The Anecdotal Fallacy or False Analogy (True Statement + True Statement= False conclusion)
False Cause, Mistaking Time for Cause and Effect , Post Hoe (a True Past Event + a Present Condition=False assumption)
False Authority, Appeal to Authority (Using the reference of a valid authority to sustain a statement of one without authority)
Slippery Slope (False conclusions derived from a series events that could or could not happen as a result of the preceding event in a chain reaction or domino effect)
Either/Or Dilemmas (Misleading or misdirection, leaving only one option for the audience as the result of an event, there are always other options they could take, but they are presented with only one)
Circular Reasoning or Begging the Question (supporting the same false conclusion through assumption by stating it again in a different way, or assumption that something is the truth)
Ad Hominem (Where a conclusion is based on a prejudice (against/favorable) of a person and not really on the statement or facts at all, but upon the person (good or bad))
Some other forms of Logical Fallacy mention in "The Curious Writer" by Bruce Ballenger and during this week's seminar are:
Hasty Generalizations (A judgement about something or someone or first impression which was not allowed sufficent time to make a true judgement about it)
Straw Man (Side tracking, ignoring or misrepresenting the actual position of the opponent. Making it easier to knock down with a logical argument)
Appealing to Popularity (because something is popular in the polls it must be good or true)
So, what is an appropriate way of presenting evidence? I'll write about that in my very next post.
References
VanDame, K. PhD. Kaplan Handbook for Writers 2nd Editon. 2008. United States. Cengage Learning.
Ballenger B. The Curious Writer 2nd Edition. 2009. New York. Pearson Education Inc.
Have you ever seen a magic show or an illusionist, they use some of these fallacies and sleight of hand tricks to deceive the viewer and call it “magic.” Our own minds can often be predictable, we draw conclusions and are misdirected. The same can happen with statistics, certain peer groups, in mob psychology, and in our own arguments in support of those things that our hearts believe to be true. Awareness of these fallacies makes us wiser consumers, businesspersons, readers, and writers. On occasion, depending upon our audience, we might even elect to use these techniques to persuade a weaker mind into a proposal that a more knowledgeable person would never consider, they are often used by parents to control their offspring and I think that’s where the trouble begins, we had parents that used these upon us during our childhood and the logic is passed on this way from generation to generation.
These are the names of some examples according to the KU writers guide (pp.64-65)
The Anecdotal Fallacy or False Analogy (True Statement + True Statement= False conclusion)
False Cause, Mistaking Time for Cause and Effect , Post Hoe (a True Past Event + a Present Condition=False assumption)
False Authority, Appeal to Authority (Using the reference of a valid authority to sustain a statement of one without authority)
Slippery Slope (False conclusions derived from a series events that could or could not happen as a result of the preceding event in a chain reaction or domino effect)
Either/Or Dilemmas (Misleading or misdirection, leaving only one option for the audience as the result of an event, there are always other options they could take, but they are presented with only one)
Circular Reasoning or Begging the Question (supporting the same false conclusion through assumption by stating it again in a different way, or assumption that something is the truth)
Ad Hominem (Where a conclusion is based on a prejudice (against/favorable) of a person and not really on the statement or facts at all, but upon the person (good or bad))
Some other forms of Logical Fallacy mention in "The Curious Writer" by Bruce Ballenger and during this week's seminar are:
Hasty Generalizations (A judgement about something or someone or first impression which was not allowed sufficent time to make a true judgement about it)
Straw Man (Side tracking, ignoring or misrepresenting the actual position of the opponent. Making it easier to knock down with a logical argument)
Appealing to Popularity (because something is popular in the polls it must be good or true)
So, what is an appropriate way of presenting evidence? I'll write about that in my very next post.
References
VanDame, K. PhD. Kaplan Handbook for Writers 2nd Editon. 2008. United States. Cengage Learning.
Ballenger B. The Curious Writer 2nd Edition. 2009. New York. Pearson Education Inc.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Selection of a Thesis Statement
We didn’t write a scientific research paper in my other writing classes. We wrote personal essays, reviews, proposals, arguments, and critical essays. When I was working in the ER we were required to write a report on a subject selected from a list of subjects that the charge nurse wanted to discuss that month in the group meetings. I specifically remember one that was a scientific research paper on the process of blood clotting and the use of anticoagulants that I had selected and was asked to do a presentation of because she thought I had done a very good job on it. I was nervous because several of the doctors had come to see the presentation. I guess that I must have impressed them and received a commendation letter from the base commander a few weeks later.
Ok, so one of the reading assignments this week was to read the section 5b “Writing a Thesis Statement “(p. 41-44.) It was enlightening to me and I thought I’d write about the process in my blog this week. For the project there are very specific instructions to follow about placement of the thesis statement, but not really how to derive one for your topic, this reading assignment covered it pretty well, answered all of my questions.
The reading assignment explained, “A thesis statement is one or two sentences that explains a paper’s argument, focus, or purpose. It is usually found in the paper’s introduction.” We were told in seminar to put ours as the last sentence of the introduction. The first step of formulating a good thesis statement was to do research on the topic and take a few notes from them about subtopics that interested me, and if I used direct quotes to be sure to get the citing information and record it in my notes so that I wouldn’t have to go back and re-read the paper, a time saving tip I thought was going to be very useful for doing this project.
The second step was called “Brain Storming” where I should analyze those notes to get a few ideas about subtopics and specifc aspects of the topic to generate some more notes about what other things I had left to do for research and try to formulate a few possible thesis questions from them in the third step.
The reading assignment stated, “To generate a research question, all you need to do is complete this sentence: I want to know why/how/what …” about this topic. Then from here, in order to formulate my research paper’s thesis statement, was to answer that question. Sounds pretty simple to me, but I’ll see how simple that is sometime later this week because the thesis statement is due!
Reference
VanDam, K. PhD. The KU Handbook for Writers. 2007. United States of America. Cengage Learning.
Ok, so one of the reading assignments this week was to read the section 5b “Writing a Thesis Statement “(p. 41-44.) It was enlightening to me and I thought I’d write about the process in my blog this week. For the project there are very specific instructions to follow about placement of the thesis statement, but not really how to derive one for your topic, this reading assignment covered it pretty well, answered all of my questions.
The reading assignment explained, “A thesis statement is one or two sentences that explains a paper’s argument, focus, or purpose. It is usually found in the paper’s introduction.” We were told in seminar to put ours as the last sentence of the introduction. The first step of formulating a good thesis statement was to do research on the topic and take a few notes from them about subtopics that interested me, and if I used direct quotes to be sure to get the citing information and record it in my notes so that I wouldn’t have to go back and re-read the paper, a time saving tip I thought was going to be very useful for doing this project.
The second step was called “Brain Storming” where I should analyze those notes to get a few ideas about subtopics and specifc aspects of the topic to generate some more notes about what other things I had left to do for research and try to formulate a few possible thesis questions from them in the third step.
The reading assignment stated, “To generate a research question, all you need to do is complete this sentence: I want to know why/how/what …” about this topic. Then from here, in order to formulate my research paper’s thesis statement, was to answer that question. Sounds pretty simple to me, but I’ll see how simple that is sometime later this week because the thesis statement is due!
Reference
VanDam, K. PhD. The KU Handbook for Writers. 2007. United States of America. Cengage Learning.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
It’s Fun to Get Stuff in the Mail
I obtained two more reference books that I thought would be useful for this class and useful in my writing process today in the mail.
Bryson. B. 2008. Bryson’s Dictionary for Writers and Editors. Broadway Books. New York
Hendrickson R. 2008. Encylopedia of Word and Phrase Origins 4th Edition. Checkmark Books. New York
I’ve only browsed through them for about ten minutes each, and find them to be quite interesting tools that I can reference should the need occur. I found phrase origins from “the almighty dollar” by Washington Irving first published in his sketch “The Creole Village” in 1836 to “tooth and nail” being the Latin equivalent phrase of “toto corpora atque omibus ungulis”- with all the body and every nail and the French phrase, “bec et ungles”- beak and talons, all meaning the same thing , to fight with tooth and nails, biting and scratching, with weapons, with all the powers at one’s command. These will be good sources of information for me when writing different types of papers for school. Don’t you wish you had one! My wife did, so now I have a carrot to wave in front of her to start writing again, she’s retired and needs things to do to keep her busy and out of trouble to fill up the time left over from retirement. Retire- comes from the French term 'retirer' meaning to draw back, to draw out, endure and unfortunately partially from a derivative of Martyr, possibly because martyrs were often drawn out of "the rack" almost beyond the limits of human endurance.Yeeech.
Wasn't that an interesting tidbit of knowledge? This is going to be fun.
Bryson. B. 2008. Bryson’s Dictionary for Writers and Editors. Broadway Books. New York
Hendrickson R. 2008. Encylopedia of Word and Phrase Origins 4th Edition. Checkmark Books. New York
I’ve only browsed through them for about ten minutes each, and find them to be quite interesting tools that I can reference should the need occur. I found phrase origins from “the almighty dollar” by Washington Irving first published in his sketch “The Creole Village” in 1836 to “tooth and nail” being the Latin equivalent phrase of “toto corpora atque omibus ungulis”- with all the body and every nail and the French phrase, “bec et ungles”- beak and talons, all meaning the same thing , to fight with tooth and nails, biting and scratching, with weapons, with all the powers at one’s command. These will be good sources of information for me when writing different types of papers for school. Don’t you wish you had one! My wife did, so now I have a carrot to wave in front of her to start writing again, she’s retired and needs things to do to keep her busy and out of trouble to fill up the time left over from retirement. Retire- comes from the French term 'retirer' meaning to draw back, to draw out, endure and unfortunately partially from a derivative of Martyr, possibly because martyrs were often drawn out of "the rack" almost beyond the limits of human endurance.Yeeech.
Wasn't that an interesting tidbit of knowledge? This is going to be fun.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Topic Selection Process
“A good way to come up with a topic is to think about your own personal and/or career interests and then see how they might fit with your topic” - Academic and Professional Sources and How to Find Them Unit 2 resources In the Extra! Extra! tab.
I used this suggestion to determine what I might use as topic for the scientific research paper (Health Care Professional) 1- Advances of Emergency Room Equipment and Techniques Over the Last Forty Years 2- Legal and Ethical Issues in the Civilian Healthcare Market as Opposed to Military Health Care Policies 3- Future Developments in the Proposed National Healthcare Plan 4- How The Human Genome Project has Affected Health Care Insurance Provided by Employers 5-Herbal Medicine, Acupuncture, Homeopathic, and Chiropractic Alternatives to Medical Care 6- Star Wars, Star Trek and Other Sci-Fiction Adventures and Their Influence on Modern Medicine Advancements 7- Medicare and Healthcare, What is the Difference?
I had to narrow it down for two topics within the next week, what questions could I ask myself in order to determine which ones I should choose? I decided to place them all on post-its and put them into my Merlin’s wizard’s hat, randomly remove two and those would be the ones that I’d use. On my first roll of the dice I selected two which I decided I wouldn’t like to write about after all, the second attempt one was inappropriate for the assignment and the other was completely ridiculous, the third attempt was also unsuccessful, so was the fourth. Now I’m back to trying to decide which topics to select from. This is going to be harder than I thought it would be, I’m already stuck and the gyrations of the mind are skipping, what shall I do? Back to the drawing board I suppose and I mean drawing and doodle-bugging and whatever it takes to reach my short term goal of topic selection by tomorrow.
I used this suggestion to determine what I might use as topic for the scientific research paper (Health Care Professional) 1- Advances of Emergency Room Equipment and Techniques Over the Last Forty Years 2- Legal and Ethical Issues in the Civilian Healthcare Market as Opposed to Military Health Care Policies 3- Future Developments in the Proposed National Healthcare Plan 4- How The Human Genome Project has Affected Health Care Insurance Provided by Employers 5-Herbal Medicine, Acupuncture, Homeopathic, and Chiropractic Alternatives to Medical Care 6- Star Wars, Star Trek and Other Sci-Fiction Adventures and Their Influence on Modern Medicine Advancements 7- Medicare and Healthcare, What is the Difference?
I had to narrow it down for two topics within the next week, what questions could I ask myself in order to determine which ones I should choose? I decided to place them all on post-its and put them into my Merlin’s wizard’s hat, randomly remove two and those would be the ones that I’d use. On my first roll of the dice I selected two which I decided I wouldn’t like to write about after all, the second attempt one was inappropriate for the assignment and the other was completely ridiculous, the third attempt was also unsuccessful, so was the fourth. Now I’m back to trying to decide which topics to select from. This is going to be harder than I thought it would be, I’m already stuck and the gyrations of the mind are skipping, what shall I do? Back to the drawing board I suppose and I mean drawing and doodle-bugging and whatever it takes to reach my short term goal of topic selection by tomorrow.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
If you like movies, movie trivia
Comcast is giving away a lot of prizes this summer for movie trivia buffs. Big screen TV, tickets to movies, and laptops. They will give me some more chances to win if you follow this link, and you too can become a big winnner, ha!
http://www.truefantrivia.com/?o2mguid=31E6E8E8-71F7-47E0-B65A-EACF6DE09A5B&cid=NET_82_27
So, if you like trivia games go play.
http://www.truefantrivia.com/?o2mguid=31E6E8E8-71F7-47E0-B65A-EACF6DE09A5B&cid=NET_82_27
So, if you like trivia games go play.
Creativity in the Computer Age
Novice writers have a tendency to sit down in front of their computer and compose their entire project in front of it without gaining the benefits of freehand writing, doodling, bubbling, or other forms of prewriting using a pen and notebook away from the computer. Computers and word processers have definitely simplified the process of editing and formatting drafts and final paper as compared to the old clicks of the typewriter and correction tape, but just don't rely on them completely for the whole project, you will limit your creativity and cramp your thought process.
I usually carry a pen and notebook around with me to jot down ideas and notes about the projects that I am required to do. I use pen and paper in the prewriting and draft stages of the writing process, some people prefer to record their thoughts on a tape recorder or mp3 player/recorder such as Creative Zen, or perhaps a combination of both notebook and voice recorder. The computer limits your creativity, creates blocks in the thought process and isn’t as portable for spontaneous enlightenment, not even a laptop would be as quick on the draw, and you might lose your thoughts before you were able to access it and record it.
Use the tools you have which are the most practical and productive for each portion of your writing process; the task will be easier, more enjoyable, and you will produce a higher quality product. Don’t clog your creative juices with the handicaps of the computer and word processor, get retro and go with a pad and pen, you will see the difference in the first few projects that you do.
I usually carry a pen and notebook around with me to jot down ideas and notes about the projects that I am required to do. I use pen and paper in the prewriting and draft stages of the writing process, some people prefer to record their thoughts on a tape recorder or mp3 player/recorder such as Creative Zen, or perhaps a combination of both notebook and voice recorder. The computer limits your creativity, creates blocks in the thought process and isn’t as portable for spontaneous enlightenment, not even a laptop would be as quick on the draw, and you might lose your thoughts before you were able to access it and record it.
Use the tools you have which are the most practical and productive for each portion of your writing process; the task will be easier, more enjoyable, and you will produce a higher quality product. Don’t clog your creative juices with the handicaps of the computer and word processor, get retro and go with a pad and pen, you will see the difference in the first few projects that you do.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Complaints About Anemic Millennials
In today’s world we classify everything, even generations. I belong to the Baby Boomers, my daughters are called X-Generation, and the adolescent youths of today are known as Millennials. I wrote research papers about the mixture of these generations in the workplace and in online education. To summarize, Millennials were raised by their “helicopter parents” of the X-Generation, are newcomers to the workplace and are independent techno-savvy, entitlement freaks, who are apparently good networkers that live in their own isolated cubical world.
Well, this is what I think about that! We are required to make an initial post and then two responses on the discussion board each week in every class that I’ve been in since enrolling at Kaplan University. It seems to me that in order to be “politically correct” you must paraphrase three important elements into your responses. This is their procedure. Firstly, procrastinate until around Monday to browse the posts, don’t want higher education to interfere with your weekend activities, which have already been made, don’t actually read the entire post, just scan it for key words. Then respond to a few with interlaced phrases of 1- I agree with you. 2- You are right about (insert keyword (s) here) 3- Then the all famous exclamation of “GOOD JOB!” Then they pat themselves on the back thinking that they have fulfilled the requirements for that unit and go ask mom for a twenty dollar reward because they have done such a great job at school.
I ask you, Is this some politically correct all purpose response absorbed throughout their lives from their parents and teachers during the previous twelve years of education? Has it come to this completely useless, nonproductive input from a majority of them? How about they consume some of those forbidden carbohydrates and red meat to raise their thought processors (CPU in Millennial terminology) to slightly higher clock speed or perhaps isolate them and force them to think about something else besides getting to a higher level on the video game that they are incessantly playing? This is one of my pet peeves; I can’t complain about it in public on the discussion boards, but I feel free to do so on my own blog.
Excuse me as I rant and vent cranky, old guy frustrations into the Internet. I will be back on topic with the next post, sometime later this week. Oh, by the way that's probably a Baby Boomer trait, also very unproductive.
Well, this is what I think about that! We are required to make an initial post and then two responses on the discussion board each week in every class that I’ve been in since enrolling at Kaplan University. It seems to me that in order to be “politically correct” you must paraphrase three important elements into your responses. This is their procedure. Firstly, procrastinate until around Monday to browse the posts, don’t want higher education to interfere with your weekend activities, which have already been made, don’t actually read the entire post, just scan it for key words. Then respond to a few with interlaced phrases of 1- I agree with you. 2- You are right about (insert keyword (s) here) 3- Then the all famous exclamation of “GOOD JOB!” Then they pat themselves on the back thinking that they have fulfilled the requirements for that unit and go ask mom for a twenty dollar reward because they have done such a great job at school.
I ask you, Is this some politically correct all purpose response absorbed throughout their lives from their parents and teachers during the previous twelve years of education? Has it come to this completely useless, nonproductive input from a majority of them? How about they consume some of those forbidden carbohydrates and red meat to raise their thought processors (CPU in Millennial terminology) to slightly higher clock speed or perhaps isolate them and force them to think about something else besides getting to a higher level on the video game that they are incessantly playing? This is one of my pet peeves; I can’t complain about it in public on the discussion boards, but I feel free to do so on my own blog.
Excuse me as I rant and vent cranky, old guy frustrations into the Internet. I will be back on topic with the next post, sometime later this week. Oh, by the way that's probably a Baby Boomer trait, also very unproductive.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Ways of Inquiring to Decide What You Really Want to Write-
Using the Bruce Ballenger Curious Writer Recursive Technique When Writing
I haven’t really decided on my topic for the project paper yet, I’m throwing ideas around about Overwhelming Evidence of the Evolution Theory, Global Warming - Fact or Myth, Modern Genetics -The Human Genome Project, or Cigarette Smoker’s Violations of Rights in Today’s Society.
A few years ago I took a Writing 121 class at my local community college; the text book used was “The Curious Writer” by Bruce Ballenger. I was inspired by the class and have been developing my thought generation techniques using the ideas that I learned.
Ballenger’s technique is called dialectical thinking, a recursive process. His argument is that writers don’t always begin at the beginning and often go back over portions of their own writing process for revision. So why use a linear model for the writing process?
Ballenger’s explanation of dialectical thinking is that you use both your creative thinking and your critical thinking as the opposing dialectic forces.
Exploration is used upon a topic to help you discover what you think about it; provides a critical analysis of your existing ideas or beliefs about a subject. Some examples of exploration inquiries would be, what does this mean to me, how do I think about it now? What do I notice first, and then what, and then what, and then what? Implementing the recursive technique of questioning for you exploration inquiry? How does the way my own personal knowledge and experiences affect the way that I see and feel about the subject? What surprises me about the way I feel or see the subject?
Explanations are then used to help you understand what you already know. They are also used to help you clarify those understandings to yourself and others. They help you define, describe, and compare the subject matter. Explanatory inquiries ask the what, who, and where, but they also ask the purpose, how does it work, why doesn’t it work, what it looks like, and compares the subject to other subjects, and whether or not you really understand what you are trying to explain. If not then you must do some more research.
Evaluation is a judgment about a subject. Evaluation inquires test the subject and compare it to other subjects. It is used when you are trying to prove something rather than finding out more about it. You’ve analyzed and formed an opinion about the subject. You can judge quality, relevance, or the significance of something. Evaluation provides you with the reasons that something is true. Evaluation type inquiries consist of what is my judgment on this subject, what are my reasons for this judgment, do I feel the same way as others do about it? What is the most and least convincing argument for this judgment? What do I see that supports my judgment and what are the weak points that complicate it?
Finally reflection is thinking backwards about how you did something, how you came to these conclusions, why you made this evaluation, how you came to these explanations for the subject. What do I think about it now?
Then, since the Ballenger system is recursive, you must start over at a different spot and do it over again using a revision process and refine your notes a few more times before actually starting on your project or paper.
Reference
Ballenger, B. 2009. The Curious Writer. New York. Pearson-Longman
I haven’t really decided on my topic for the project paper yet, I’m throwing ideas around about Overwhelming Evidence of the Evolution Theory, Global Warming - Fact or Myth, Modern Genetics -The Human Genome Project, or Cigarette Smoker’s Violations of Rights in Today’s Society.
A few years ago I took a Writing 121 class at my local community college; the text book used was “The Curious Writer” by Bruce Ballenger. I was inspired by the class and have been developing my thought generation techniques using the ideas that I learned.
Ballenger’s technique is called dialectical thinking, a recursive process. His argument is that writers don’t always begin at the beginning and often go back over portions of their own writing process for revision. So why use a linear model for the writing process?
Ballenger’s explanation of dialectical thinking is that you use both your creative thinking and your critical thinking as the opposing dialectic forces.
- CREATIVE thinking < > CRITICAL thinking
- Fastwriting < > Composing
- Showing < > Telling
- Specifics< > Generalizations
- Collecting< > Focusing
- Observations of< > Ideas about
- What happened< > What happens
- Then< >Now
- Generating< >Criticizing
- Exploring< >Reflecting
- Seeing< >Interpreting
- Playing< >Judging
Exploration is used upon a topic to help you discover what you think about it; provides a critical analysis of your existing ideas or beliefs about a subject. Some examples of exploration inquiries would be, what does this mean to me, how do I think about it now? What do I notice first, and then what, and then what, and then what? Implementing the recursive technique of questioning for you exploration inquiry? How does the way my own personal knowledge and experiences affect the way that I see and feel about the subject? What surprises me about the way I feel or see the subject?
Explanations are then used to help you understand what you already know. They are also used to help you clarify those understandings to yourself and others. They help you define, describe, and compare the subject matter. Explanatory inquiries ask the what, who, and where, but they also ask the purpose, how does it work, why doesn’t it work, what it looks like, and compares the subject to other subjects, and whether or not you really understand what you are trying to explain. If not then you must do some more research.
Evaluation is a judgment about a subject. Evaluation inquires test the subject and compare it to other subjects. It is used when you are trying to prove something rather than finding out more about it. You’ve analyzed and formed an opinion about the subject. You can judge quality, relevance, or the significance of something. Evaluation provides you with the reasons that something is true. Evaluation type inquiries consist of what is my judgment on this subject, what are my reasons for this judgment, do I feel the same way as others do about it? What is the most and least convincing argument for this judgment? What do I see that supports my judgment and what are the weak points that complicate it?
Finally reflection is thinking backwards about how you did something, how you came to these conclusions, why you made this evaluation, how you came to these explanations for the subject. What do I think about it now?
Then, since the Ballenger system is recursive, you must start over at a different spot and do it over again using a revision process and refine your notes a few more times before actually starting on your project or paper.
Reference
Ballenger, B. 2009. The Curious Writer. New York. Pearson-Longman
Friday, June 11, 2010
Chip off the Writer’s Block
As student writers we will often acquire writer’s block, I thought that this would be a good title for my blog. In another writing course we discussed dialectical thinking, a recursive model for writing to help avoid writer’s block and ease the writing process. Some of the techniques that I learned in that class will pop up as subjects for my blog. Hopefully this will help my classmates should they develop writer’s block, need to think of a topic, or need to find some process to follow as a template until they develop their own writing styles and voices.
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