The Value of Peer Reviews

Peer reviews are a very useful tool if done correctly. My experience with them in other writing classes is that those who review my works of art are too polite and only tell me what a great job that I’ve done and really offer no constructive criticism. The draft stage is a perfect time for peer reviews, it’s not done yet and still in the formulation stages, there are going to be mistakes both in style and organization because of that. It’s easy to spot errors and it gives the peer review person every opportunity to point those out, and learn more about their own papers in the process.

It seems like when we are in the revision stages of a paper, we often miss obvious errors because we’ve gone over the paper so many times, a second sight is worth a million bucks! I often have my wife read my papers, let me know which paragraphs need work on, or which sentences aren’t clear, but also what I left out or what is unnecessary. She’s a great peer review person and a wonderful proofreader. On the other hand I am not!

Sometimes I see it and other’s I don’t, then I have difficulties explaining what I think is wrong, there is a void between my mind and my mouth and it doesn’t always communicate effectively, I suppose that is because I don’t often have the opportunity to perform peer reviews now that my daughters are gone and no longer ask me to do it for them.

We need to know the TRUTH, it may offend some, but it’s better than being too nice. We are supposed to express what we like and don’t like about the paper, help identify the thesis statement if we can, and then figure out if the paragraphs follow the thesis structure and fulfill those statements or not. The only way that I could think of doing that, was to use the post draft outline tool, which we learned in the last unit.

APA format is hard enough for me to figure out in my own paper, how the heck will I point out these types of errors in other student’s papers, then what if I am wrong and they follow my advice, how would I feel, who is to blame? It’s a dilemma and I feel that the best way to do this, was to examine all of the papers and decide which ones are correct and which ones are obviously wrong, then go to the Writing Center and verify your findings! After all there is only the title page, first page, in-text citings, and then the reference page and those citings.Sounds like a good learning process to me, maybe the course designers knew that, the blind leading the blind! Oh boy!

Other characteristics that are open for analysis would be the flow of the paper, the writer’s voice and tone, their structure,  each paragraph and then down to each sentence, techniques which they probably learned in Composition I, and which I missed out on.

Introductions and Conclusions would be hard to really evaluate, but if we actually read the paper, break it down with the post draft outline, we should be able to see if everything fits, what’s missing and what else needs to be removed or placed into the introduction or theisis, thanks to the new post draft outline tool.

I went back to the Writing Center and reviewed some writing basics, sentence structure, writing a good paragraph, logical fallacies, how to write a good introduction and conclusion and feel a lot more confident in my abilities to be able to give a few good peer reviews during this unit, and hope that I get some good input too.

This is the seventh week and there are only three more to go before the end of the course. The clock is ticking and time is getting short, it’s good to have these checkpoints to help us remember the deadlines and commitments ahead of us.

Solving the World’s Food Shortage Problems

I’m writing about genetically modified foods, are they harmful or helpful? The world population has been growing exponentially; today there are 6.3 Billion people in the world. Normally disease, famine, war, and natural disasters control the population of the species according to the natural resources, space requirements, and food supply of the population’s ecosphere; but Man is so smart that he has out-foxed Mother Nature once again, defeated the inevitable, and overcome some of the natural population control mechanisms. Silly Man, when will he ever learn?

We have too many people and not enough food, we can either increase the amount of food, the quality of the food, and food production, or we can decrease the amount of people we have to a proportionate number according to the amount of food that we can currently produce. We have to do something, why not use science and the knowledge of genetics to achieve the desired results instead of letting things go natural and have people dying inhumanely or becoming unhappy and hungry?

Some of the issues I’ve discovered in my research are absolutely ridiculous and that others are eye openers and surprised me. I often consider knowledge a valuable asset and that wisdom is hard to find, especially in Man, perhaps the facts presented in my final project, preserved in a hermetically sealed chamber will become the new Bible - according to Doc, or cause the formation of a new religious cult, similar to Scientology and Hubbard, which will enlighten future generations about the vast numbers of mistakes we have made in our time and help them to achieve the truly idealist but great goals that we have fallen far short of and  allow them to live in world peace, a Zion like community of Eutophia, Love, Happiness, and Prosperity. NOT! It’s a dang final project paper not the Dead Sea scrolls.

Prewriting Techniques

Sensory Prompts
I use prompts to get the gears going, prompts from my rich life, cartoons, television shows, and movies that I've seen, prompts from pictures or a screen saver, vivid life long memories, magazines, nature, people in the mall, insects crawling in the garden, birds or clouds floating in the air, trees and squirrels fighting the blue jays, women I’ve loved and women that I’ve not gotten along with, friends, friend's problems, problems with friends, all sorts of interesting stuff will come up with prompts to inspire your lists and free writing. Audio learners should also include music and/or ambient sounds which are in sync or out of sync with the visual prompts, you could even burn incense, or spray air fresheners, perfumes, cologne, cooking smells if you wanted some fragrant stimulation. Certain tactile stimulations might help some people, a blanket, a teddy bear, a sword, a yo-yo, a pencil, toys to play with. I would avoid taste sensations, but if it works for you then go for it!  It’s fun and should not be considered work, but play. Be creative and entertain yourself, it's your little prewriting party, you might be surprised what may become useful material for your project. Don't really think about listing yet, just become stimulated, inspired, and enthusiastic about your pre-writing.

Listing - Freewriting
I usually start out with a listing method; pick something off that list then freewrite about it for two or three minutes. Pick another item off the list and do the same thing. This helps stop procrastination, generates some ideas, and begins a little structure and analysis of what must be done in order to complete a paper. Some of the items of the list don’t necessarily have to obviously pertain to the topic of your paper, start out with a wide margin concerning the general topic then narrow the items on the list down to your specific topic, title, or thesis statement.

Bubbling-Clustering-Doodling
Bubble some of the items from your lists, connect the bubbles, establish relationships between the bubbles, doodle, cluster bubbles and doodles together, then create an outline, not a formal outline just from the groups that you’ve doodled together, see how many you can fit into a one page outline. It’s a great exercise to spark the creative flow and inspiration to begin your project. Some people like music, or ambient sounds of waves, wind, forest in the background, the more stimulation you have the more likely you are to come up with something really good for your project, no matter how silly it may seem at the time, make notes about your thoughts as you play around with the lists and freewriting.

Post Pre-writing exercises
After about twenty minutes or so, stop and take a count, what subject was the most  or least abundant, were there any surprises? What is confusing or inclusive, what other questions might need to be answered here? How much of your freewriting was honest, did you do enough research yet? What parts are you uncomfortable with, do you need to clarify a few points in this dark zone?

The next unit will be reflection and sketching to a draft.

Plagiarism and the Internet

I remember digging through the rows of Dewey decimal system file cabinets full of 3” x 5” index cards looking for reference books that pertained to a report that I was writing, going to the sections of the library, pulling the books, if I could find them, off the bookshelves, taking a stack over to the table and going through them, copying down the author’s name, title of the book etc., to make a bibliography. We walked to school barefooted back then, uphill both ways, through the snow, and we liked it!

Today, we just type in a few words at Google, popping up thousands of references to use, just copy and paste sentences in the paper, paraphrase it and then consider that we haven’t really stolen an idea or plagiarized the work of someone else. However, while attending school here for three terms I found out that you CAN”T DO THAT, they will take away your birthday, spank you, and destroy your entire life. They have the CIA type of tools and software to find out exactly where you got your information. Now how is that fair, they want me to work, use my brain and write my own ideas, which need to be supported by someone that actually knows what they are talking about because I’m just a student who knows nothing and hardly worth the effort of reading, especially when it’s not even my own ideas and I haven’t properly cited the work that I’ve stolen! How is that fair!

I admit I wouldn’t want anyone to steal my work, but I don’t really consider it stealing. Stealing is downloading 9,000 MP3s off of BitTorrent, a file sharing application, with nobody paying anything for them. Nobody having the incentive to compose music anymore. The thieves not even having enough time to listen, appreciate, and enjoy the music anyway; their greed to have everything keeping them so busy downloading, “I GOT TO HAVE EVERY ONE!, madness because of some compulsive-obsessive disorder passed onto them from their “long haired Vietnam protesting,hippie, drug damaged parents!” not a law-abiding, conservative, Mr. Rodgers do-gooder like me! Yeah right.

I have this bad habit of stepping back and looking at the big picture. I see myself stealing other’s ideas and not liking it, I see myself being lazy and inconsiderate of the time and efforts of others, I see the wrong in the whole situation. I just don’t see how the heck I am supposed to compose a paper with less than about 30% reference material and 70% of my own ideas when I’ve never done a darn thing in my life concerning most of the topics worthy of writing about for a academic research paper, it’s a real dilemma.

It’s time to put the nose to the grindstone and figure this out. My plan is to read about ten academic journals, get their ideas and then consolidate their opinions into an argument and then derive a conclusion from it all in my paper. Give credit to their ideas, rebuttal and/or agreement without much foundationn or qualification, and hopefully get a passing grade on the papers that I write in the future.

Then I have to FORMAT it in a very precise manner,it's like syntax for the literary community, imagine that, them telling me how to do something, who do they think they are anyway! I guess they got PHDs and know what they are talking about, I'm just venting, it's part of my healing process, I hate to look at the real world, see where I am in it, at the bottom of the food chain, the off cast chaff, the tenement worker, the laborer, a tool for the guys on top. I have little or no responsibility, is this how you get ahead, you gather responsibility, you start thinking, writing and publishing papers in an accepted format, pull the sword of "Excelsior" ( Excalibur)  from the stone! Become the great King Arthur of Camelot. Oh, well at least I still have my dreams, they can't really take away my birthday, my life is already a shambles and can't get much worse. Maybe there is something to this giving credit where credit is due. Something to this learning and using APA format, maybe my dreams will come true, maybe I’ll rise from the ashes and become the Phoenix, bring joy to the world and everlasting happiness to those around me, maybe I’ll just pass this course and owe a few more thousand dollars on my student loan!

Does that seem a little bit melodramatic to you? Have a great day! I did.

Back to Basics, the Basics of Writing

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.

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.

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.