Week 8: short recommendation report that requires judgement
I believe that today is offically swetta wetha.
Audience/Context/Purpose: This NEW memo content is more complex and wide-ranging. Transitions (craft lesson) are a way to thread the cognition (achieve flow for the readers, which is a cognitive event) for our busy readers. Your first memo focused on the definition stasis, with a evaluation move at the end.
Now, our boss wants a problem-solution memo about the type of coffee cup we use in our firm. Therefore, we need to frame this work with the stasis of policy (what ought we do).
Back to our boss: Jane wants a coffee cup policy for the office that is "green." Also, the new MD Governor wants her advice, too OK, that is the context for your invention (thinking, research, prewriting).
Here is rough working arrangement (paragraphs):
POLITE OPENING, with your recommendation that previews your final policy paragraph
CONJECTURE PARAGRAPH Problem description (our office situation, with quantifiers), with reference to national. international size of the problem
CONTEXT PARA(s) Environmental problems (energy efficiency ->climate change AND persistence of plastic in ocean -> food chain disruption)
YOUR WEIGHTED PROBLEM SOLVING METHOD (revealing your pre-analytical frame or bias)
DEFINITION-->CAUSE/EFFECT information
Coffee cup types (how many? Can we do this in one paragraph or do we need one per coffee cup type? Use counting technique of two or three)
PIVOT PARA from background to ANALYSIS PARAS
Decision criteria (HINT: Life cycle analysis, and define this; use an EPA source) HERE, this definition helps us move to the VALUE paragraphs
CAUSE/EFFECT continued (system) -->VALUE (Harm or benefit)
Martin Hocking's work on life cycle analysis of paper v. Styrofoam OR
Charles Moore's work on size of ocean garbage patches
POLICY/ RECOMMENDATION (restate your recommendation, with qualifiers, as one does in science land)
Science/Research support (remind about evidence discussed above in VALUING PARAGRAPHS)
Qualification (concede reasonableness of the other position)
Sentences that can help you as topic sentences or transitions sentences between paragraphs
Any analysis of coffee cup choice requires use of life cycle analysis.
Life cycle analysis -- also known as cradle-to-grave -- helps capture the entire environmental effect from origin and inputs through use and, importantly, to disposal.
In my analysis, I weight [name environmental problem] more heavily than [the other problem].
Life cycle analysis can help us understand this difficult question about coffee cup sustainability
We have two choices in coffee cups: paper or plastic (Styrofoam).
Martin Hocking conducted the first -- and to date only -- peer-reviewed analysis of the energy embodied in coffee cup choices.
Charles Moore is among the first to alert us to the huge problem of persistent ocean plastic.
We will work through the above next week, using stasis theory.
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CRAFT LESSON/CHUNKING into paragraphs-->
Paragraphs: One of Aristotle's canons for writing is ARRANGEMENT (of paragraphs, chapters, sections, etc.). The order and "chunking" of information matters very much for reader cognition and receptivity to what you write. This care in arranging information for the audience is also part of the cognitive wedge strategy. Think of chunks of information, served up according to ACP (Audience, Context, Purpose). You are arranging into categories. Of course, we are moving into a food and hospitality metaphor: think small cupcakes or savory tarts that your reader will consume with ease and even a bit of pleasure.
Listen to this podcast for background on climate change -->
Now, consider the frame of the fate of ocean plastic with this TED resource-->
Marybeth Shea
Good morning.
Here is a Google doc guide I wrote in response to questions about citation practices. Hint: we will use these citation practices in the short reccomendation report. Good for you to review. I hope that this guide, which is arranged by two student questions to me think week, helps you see the worth of all citation practices.
Regarding referral links, user design expert Mark Caron addresses hyperlinks in this short article hosted by Medium. A few of you places raw urls in your document. A scant more hyperlinked the entire sentence. Pick a work or short phrase, to embedd your referral link under.
Now, a gathering or round up document that can use to approach the coffee cup memo. You will need this information for your Friday Eli Review task based on pre-drafting this complex memo.
Please also decide if you are team Styro or team Paper. We will have some freedom options later in this process. So, keep on top of these ideas as they occur to you. You can also ignore these other ideas. Freedom works both ways in this class.
Here is a visual representation of the memo we work toward --> (hint: open in another tab on your browser; for your ease, a link to this image is also placed int the round up document just described above)
This is created at Popplet (not well supported anymore, a pity!) and was recommended to me about five years ago by a comp sci student. Said student said that all the text description of this assignment was overwhelming and could I build a flow chart to assist in cognition. Genius.
Marybeth Shea
Happy Friday, turtles and tortoises,
Couple of items:
- Voice -- we will speak more next week but think about how often we are told that science is always written in third person. Well, yes; this is a general principle that serves the values and knowledge frame of science. However, we often use first (and second person/first person plural) strategically in writing. Samples below.
- Begin where you can - My arrangement asks you to reveal the ending at the beginning. Tell your recommendation, with the chosen frame. You are not only showing your work, you are revealing the destination. Imagine getting into a car with friends and the driver does not tell you where you are going. Up 270, you wonder, are we heading to Rockville, Shady Grove, heck Poolesville, or even PA. We mostly want to know the destination as we start. This need to know contrasts with the fiction pattern of not revealing the end until the end. Consider these stories-->
- Game of Thrones
- Harry Potter
- Star Wars
- Use the topic sentences to jump however awkwardly forward to make sense of the memo arrangement. Review with partners will help you so much, clearly.
Make notes of your rebellion, though; most minds just want to tell Jane concepts like:
- the emergence of bioplastics
- use of microbes to break down many plastics
- that styrofoam can be recycled
- that the question is false -- we do not have to choose one cup; we can and must address more than one coffee cup at a time....
- that the ocean plastic problem is related to the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels.
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