Week 12: (picking up from previous links; reading/thinking)
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All the linked material in the first part of this post you have seen before (hope you have been reading all along). I want to revisit them to highlight items.
- Opening (see the seven strategies (Google doc based on RICE University's CAIN project)
- We will look at the last part of the document and see a link to Manchester University's Academic phrasebank
- How to read science! Reposting entire paragraph so we can peek into this process-->
- Let's look at this recent article in PloS One about writing scientific prose. In Science, two scientists talk about how they read articles. Ruben writes with a somewhat lighthearted approach while Pain responds to his piece with her approach. Read the comments. Peek into the strategies of technical readers.
- First author conventions: reposting the paragraph-->
- If you cannot find a first author author bio, focus on the last author. Let's review the conventions on order in authors. Here is a thoughtful NCBI/NIH article on first author conventions. Two additional resources are this 2010 open access piece at Science and this 2012 Nature short guidance article.
- I will add some thoughts on when you cannot find an author (science is international; different conventions on maintaining lab pages, university or institutional profiles, and even cultural differences/language)
- Three is a magic number! Reposting (and is in your reading grid) --> Recall the “power of three, four, or seven” of George Miller (1956) BUT also look at this 2012 Science Daily summary of “four is magical” ; bottom line? Three or four, plus perhaps subclusters of related ideas for a total of seven is a good strategy for audience cognition and memory.
New stuff! Remember stasis theory? Let's look at stasis 2, description/definition; stasis 3 concerns causal analysis (the heart of science). This short guide (Google doc, two pages with good links) focuses on how to recognize stasis 2 and stasis 3 in what you read, as well as prep to write these stases in YOUR documents.
I do not think we looked fully at Burke's Pentad (slides, starting with 12)about understanding audience, context, purpose. We will review on Wed, also. Why? We need to think about context and readers as agents who act upon information in documents.
Marybeth Shea
Wednesday and sunny!
Copy/Pasting Friday night's ER Writing Task. Numbers matter here.
This Eli Review Task uses the power of numbers to grow clear on the BEGINNING paragraphs and MIDDLE take-away points of Assignment 3. To recap the usuals now (leave your name out for privacy):
Ask for the help you need! (you may want to bold your questions NEXT TO THE PARTS YOU PRESENT).
Include your article citation at the TOP of your post (APA).
Now, to beginnings. For a working order-->
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- Refine your first paragraph of your BEGINNING. Draft this opening paragraph, with one or more of the Seven Types of Openings.
- Tighten your ABT statement. Then, you have two (perhaps three) options on where to place this central contextual information. First, many students find that they use the ABT statement just after the ethos paragraph. The strategy is that you introduce the first author ethos; then, to transition to your body paragraphs; why? the ABT is the perfect context to set up why they did this study. The second option is to place the ABT paragraph just before or after your definition work. The thinking here is that definition work (stasis 2) include descriptions of context. Consider if this is a strategy you want to try.
- Variation (third option): And, think if you want to use one (of the seven) opening with the ABT statement. Can work beautifully.
- Include in this opening set of relatively short paragraphs the (perhaps revised) ethos paragraph of your first author. Feels good to have a paragraph that is pretty much done, right?
NEW TASK (still beginning of document):
From your ABT work, think on/list the short definitions/descriptions you plan to include in your final document. You may have other definitions your wish to includes. Note: try bullets for this work. You have many choices here: aim to at least list the ideas a reader needs to understand the main takeaways.
NEW TASK: the MIDDLE of your document:
Try out your three or four points of "interestingness" that will form your body paragraphs (fat portion of lemon or pear).
Thoughts on the body paragraph ideas (bullets are fine):
You have a series of points emerging, right, from your reading/captured on the reading grid? Your goal is to place three (or four) body points in the center of the lemon shape.
Practical note: Other points that you care about can be worked into beginnings and even can be noted at the end -- forming part of your closing. Option for you to share: asking others to help with the interestingness of opening and closing points can be really helpful. Draft readers stand in for real readers.
ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS: If you have a methods point, be sure to identify as such; plan to ultimately place a methods point either first or last in the body points. Variation: Some of you will want to place the methods point in the definition paragraph.
To help you, here is the celery famous flow chart. Sample slide set of ABT statements.
When an 80s pop one-hit wonder (3 + 4 = 7) helps you remember bin theory of short term memory. Tommy TuTone's "867-5309/Jenny"; Start with this Wikipedia page for the song. Searching on Spotify will give you covers. Is catchy tune, or what the Germans call an "ear worm."
Marybeth Shea
Friday, which is Good Friday for Roman and Orthodox traditions and starts the wrap up of Passover week. Take care and I hope you haave time with family and friends; plus food, the enjoable foods of these seasons.
I will be here: 
- 9:-9:50
- 11-11:50
If you have not heard from me about your Coffee Cup Memo (Assignment 2), please email me. I want to catch up, whether this is on my end or your end.
Let's clear the decks for you to focus on Assignment 3.
Speacking of Assignment 3, you have an ER WRITING TASK DUE THIS EVENING. Please complete. I will open up the ER REVIEWING TASK on Saturday, midday. We will shift to composing prose to support the complex middle aka the three or four body paragraphs; we will also work on analysis and critique of this work/findings/implications; then, we consider how to think and write about statistics.
Might we enjoy some spring music? On Spotify, search on "Blossom Dearie." Just enjoy but you may appreciate these:
Does her voice sound familiar? She sings in this Schoolhouse Rock video that is more winter than spring but is extra fun for math, science people: