MbShea@PWP@English@UMCP

More Weihnachten charm. Tonight is beginning of XMas holiday in many Teutonic countries.  Put out your shoes with hay and carrots for Sinter Klaus's reindeer. I will tell a little story in class today about Amanita fungi and the flying Santa tradition, from ethnobotany.  Also, as St. Nick will visit me, I will bring treats on Wednesday for you to take with you at the end of class.

Let's talk some refinements about your review (Assignment 3)  at this point. Nearly everything I present now concerns possible weak spots in these documents.

ETHOS PARAGRAPH and  conventions of science style in this genre. How is your ethos paragraph, within the first portion of your document?  Here are some refining details on that:

• For lead author, use first and last name in the first mention, then,
  • shift to land name only (NO DOCTORAL TITLES);
• Give author ethos of 
  • discipline
  • current institution
  • PhD granting institution

• DO NOT USE THE ARTICLE TITLE, as this is often too long and even visually awkward, instead,
• use a phrase or two about the content in your ethos paragraphs; and
  • name the journal (USE ITALICS); and, finally,
  • give the year of publication.

Achieving cognitive FLOW for reader: Now, some review and discussion with examples of two important "binding" or cohesion strategies: metadiscourse and counting out.  Recall the magic numbers of cognition?  Build further "flow" for your readers by alerting them to the numbers.  For example,

Let's turn now to three points from Higgs' paper on particle physics.

Among the many important findings from Kimmerer-Wall's research are two innovative methods. The first method to explore is. . .

These two methods supported her in finding the mosaic genetics patterns in maize species of Northern Mexico.  This new understanding of maize landraces is the chief takeaway of Kimmerer-Walls classic 1998 work. More than 1287 citations acknowledge her contribution to plant ecosystem genetics.

Do you also see the claim-argument pattern or rhetorical move in this last example?  Preview: we will talk more about claim and argument on Wednesday and Friday. This make-a-claim (by authors in article) and argument is the most powerful organizing principle of how knowledge is described and promoted.

More on achieving FLOW still with  counting, combined with metadiscourse, is really powerful to thread cognition for readers.  Sample phrases YOU CAN USE:

Having noted essential definitions to understand the findings of Mazela and Chimbley, let's turn now to their first point.

These brief, working definitions set the stage for Mazela and Chimbley's work on ammonia fixation in water systems.  Let's turn to their first point concerning ammonia deposition rates.

In addition to the field method described here, a second method innovation is worth our attention.

Next, let's look at the distribution analysis of Kim.

A third point useful for clinical trials concerns their discussion of biomarkers.

Finally, immunologists will be particularly intrigued by the array of IGG markers seen in the control patient group.

VOICE to showcase them and introduce you: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DO THIS.  So many students forget this powerful signal to the reader about author/researcher work and your commentary upon this work.  Hint: this voice shift in science is one of the ways we attribute knowledge to the writer. This is a type of citation, actually.

Song parodoy moment: Also, for fun, enjoy this clever song parody. Can you figure out the song being rifffed upon? Parodies rely on audience experience of the referenced material.  Just another reminder that audiences are often sorted out by time lines, especially regarding culture.