MbShea@PWP@English@UMCP

9-11 join me in Monday's OHitS/AMA doc for ongoing questions about your peer editing review task DUE TONIGHT, so as to help each other move forward.  Thursday, I will open a final documdnt space in Eli Review for a grade. HOWEVER, you can turn that document in, say, through Sunday and not be late.

Let's meditate on the "power of three," namely, that we can remember stuff better if we put the items in sets of three or four.

• phone number patterns X XXX XXX XXXX
• Social Security numbers XXX XX XXXX
• All the fairy tales and wisdom stories
  • three little pigs
  • three blind mice
  • seven swans/brothers (3 + 4)
  • Rumplestilksin's three tasks
• Liberty, Fraterny, Equality of the French Revolution
• Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
• Three stooges
• Jeni gives you three wishes
• Bob Marley's Three Birds
• Paper-scissors-rock game

Read this short Forbes opinion piece reminding that three pieces of information are effective in communication.

About your journal club review:  your task is not to TELL YOUR COLLEAGUES EVERYTHING.  Rather, you job is to

• help your colleagues with the huge burden of reading in a field
• share three or four memorable take-aways from the paper
• place the paper within the context of human problem solving
• let a colleague consider for themselves if they should read further or simply rely on your summary

Using the "power of three" is a really good life skill.  Two additional items for you as spring is now here and unlike last year, we use cautious optimism now rather than the very amorphous fear of one year ago.   Go outside!  Wear your mask. Sign up for a shot (rumor is that campus will be a location of shots in late May/June).  And, enjoy Bob Marley's song.  

Good morning.  I will be in a new google doc typing between 9-12 about reading your research article strategically.

Here are two quick-read commentary pieces from Science, a AAAS publication:

1. Adam Ruben's 2016 lightly funny piece that offers direction and support of this special act of attending.
2. Elizabeth Pain's 2016 follow-up to Ruben's piece, with good follow up commentary and guidance.

Read the comments in both pieces to hear from other scientists about how to attack this complex and necessary reading. Ruben and Pain are both scientists, rather young scientists -- like YOU!

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Bonus read from Science Daily:  What about when an artifical intelligence (AI) reads a scientific paper? 

Wednesday information:  Some links to help you are in this post.

We will meet in GoogleMeet at this link at two times; attend the one that you can.

• 10 AM
• 12 NOON (outside our regular class times but this time was widely requested.

We will take notes and I will POST THEM here later in the day. This means that for those not attending, you can gather a bit of information about these F2F sessions.  Ask questions on GroupMe, too.  And, recall that those who answer, we really appreciate this work. Labor grading policies also cover this type of activity, even if I do not know specifically who helps out.  

Simultaneosly, I will have a google doc OHitS/AMA open but will be most active there at

• 9AM
• 11AM 

Because 10AM is the first GoogleMeet session.  You can post your questions there and I will scurry to answer.

All of these resources should help you learn within the Memo 2 assignment (this is my most central goal) and revise the document into a good document for an A.

ON WEDNESDAY, in the sessions, we will need to decide if we have one or two additional peer editing sessions. TB Discussed.  The final draft for a grade is due before April 1. All of April is devoted to your article review assignment. Then, we are done. BEFORE FINALS.

Today's language lesson concerns empty subjects.  Let's NOT use them in sentences, though they are quite common and come to us from spoken English.

Empty subjects (DRAFT) HANDOUT.

Take-away for Memo 2: Now, you have an additional tool about strong sentences. Please, focus particularly on your sentences as you open and close a paragraph or document section. Readers are cognitively primed to pay attention in this "high value real estate" locations.   A good approach is to write short, clear direct sentences at the beginning and ends of paragraphs.  Why in these positions?  The brain is attending carefully to

• the topic sentence position, where the main idea of the paragraph is announced
• in the transition position BETWEEN the two paragraphs.  On Friday, we will look closely at two types of transition strategies: tight and loose.  In tight transitions, you repeat a word or phrase at the end of one paragraph and the beginning of the other paragraph.  In loose transitions, you invoke meaning between these two paragraphs with similar or related concepts.

Meet up on Google Docs on Wednesday's OHits/AMA.

Mini lesson today on transitions between paragraphs: how to achieve cognitive flow in the text for readers to experience.

First, begin by looking at this OWL PURDUE exhibit on useful meta discourse transition words and phrases. Meta discouse works to weave all types of content together.  However, for the best cognitive flow, we also need to link the content.  Tight and loose transtions strategies help us connect content within a document.  Back to paragraphs and the specific locations with paragraphs where transition craft works:  

• look at the last sentence of each paragraph; 
• then, look at the first sentence in the next paragraph.

Do you see connection between content, including a reasonable pivot or shift to new information?  The paragraphs, although they stand alone in topic and content, should CONNECT or TRANSITION with the surrounding paragraphs.   This is how to achieve that important quality of FLOW.

Paragraph check: Ask

• What is the paragraph doing in the document?  What type of paragraph serves this purpose? For example, a narrative paragraph can tell a brief story or present a case or example.  An illustrative paragraph – cousin to descriptive paragraphs - paints a picture.
  
• Is the paragraph cohesive?  Does the content “hang” together?  Do the sentence choices achieve cohesion?  Look at the transition words and phrases in the OWL link above.  You can use them to achieve cohesion and flow between sentences. This focus is called local coherence, which is key to achieving flow.
  

Finally, paragraphs do not truly stand alone in most documents. Paragraphs combine to provide coherent content in a document for a reader.  Ask this:  do the paragraphs fit and support the arrangement or structure of the document?  Focus on transitions between paragraphs, which help with cohesion in the document.  Local coherence (within a paragraph) + global coherence (between paragraphs and within a document) create overall flow.

Cheap! Way To achieve cohesion between paragraphs try "chaining" by transitions. Place the  topic of the next paragraph in the last sentence of the preceding paragraph. The first sentence of the new paragraph must include that topic also. Doing this knits or binds the paragraphs to each other.  Here is how a math person would say this: 

Let ParaA be the preceding paragraph. 

Let ParaB be the following paragraph.  

Let T be the topic that should appear in both paragraphs.  

We will limit our discussion now to two sentences: 

•  
  • the last sentence of ParaA and the 
  • first sentence of ParaB. 

In reality, ParaA and ParaB exist in a document with an arrangement of many paragraphs (why I focus on arrangements in these memo assignments).

ParaA relates to ParaB through the last sentence of ParaA AND SIMULTANEOUSLY through the first sentence of ParaB. The relating elements is a topic, T;  T can be a repeated word or a phrase.  Some variation on T makes for good style.  Now, let's look at two real world documents that show two types of T: tight transitions and loose transitions. See the difference between tight and loose?

tight transitions pivot on specific words and identical or nearly identical phrases; while

loose transitions pivot with reasonable word/phrase/concept substitutions. 

Happy Wednesday.  Let's stay in the same Google doc today. Short little grammar lesson here on using hopefully to begin a sentence.  Much of grammar is a convention.  Conventions help us in complex systems but conventions are not moral systems nor our they always understood as cognitive absolutes.  

HOWEVER, we can be judged by others if we do not know and use conventions.  This is true, especially, with the greater formality about language in older people, compared to younger people.  Most of your bosses and gatekeeping audiences for now are older.  So, let's learn this convention.

• Read or listen to Mignon Fogerty's commentary (she is Grammar Girl)
• OWL, in a short guide to literary theory writes:

"Hopefully, after reading through and working with the resources in this area of the OWL, literary theory will become a little easier to understand and use."

OWL is an guide written by grad students/rhetoric professors and directed at students, generally a young audience.  See their use of hopefully?

The take-away here is that language is fluid.  Some users prefer deeply rule-driven, technically correct language. And, if you use hopefully this way, to open a sentence, you should use the comma.  This comma-convention will help you, when you use this adverb in ways that irritate older audiences.  At LEAST, use the comma.

On the OHitS/AMA, I will talk about how Jane the Boss feels about this hopefully thing.

Today's OHitS/AMA document and Friday's Eli Review task is DUE at 11:45.  PLEASE RESPOND, as your classmates need your feedback.  I will post the next steps here, in the class journal, but NOTHING is due until we come back.

Grammar usage + punctuation lesson:

"that" and "which" should be used with care.  Read more here, at Grammar Girl. She offers a simple rule (start here) and a more complex rule; her discussion relies on understanding the difference between restrictive and non restrictive clauses.  Note:  WHICH takes a comma while THAT does not. Here is another image to help you:

Need more on how to decide? Here is a several page handout (Google doc by me) with many examples about that and which.  Recall, that much of this decision lies in the emphasis of the writer.

YET:  you can ALWAYS punctuate correctly, whether or not you are completely clear on using that vs. using which.  WHICH takes a comma.  See that hat?  Visual memory for you that WHICH (witch) takes a comma. 

Sometimes, getting the punctuation right is enough for a fussy, gatekeeping, older, more exacting reader.  Those of you writing personal statements for medical and dental school may want to think about this final flourish, as these readers are often gatekeepers with knowledge of all the grammar and punctuation conventions.

Friday's pre-writing Eli Review task is up here.  Here is Wednesday's OHitS/AMA where I will present a bit about paragraphs and the two NODE spots on the flow chart.   I have posted the flow chart* for this memo before but here is a stand-alone version for you to look at.  Are you getting this many hints?  This flow chart arrangement will help you write well about this complex topic. Get out of your research head NOW; use the sources I give you. What we are learning now is how to argue well, with science is unclear, while at the end of the document acknowledging the reasonable counter argument.

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Here is a paragraph exhibit. You can use a version of the final one here IN YOUR MEMO.  Model paragraphs. Model sentences.  In this way, we use the mentor text approach to learn writing skills.

Coherence in a paragraph (sample content but the paragraphs might not be complete for the purposes of your coffee cup paper):

"Meh" paragraph (but a good start at a classifying the cup problem)
Plastic and paper cups pose problems for recycling. Ceramic cups are very energy intensive to produce. Recycling seems environmentally-sound.  Paper does not degrade deep within most landfills and the plastic coating is also difficult.  Not all plastic can be recycled.  You need to check the bottom of the container.  Landfills are increasingly full.  There is a huge "patch of garbage" in the Pacific Ocean.

Better paragraph
Paper and plastic both pose disposal problems.  First, not all plastic can be recycled. Check the bottom of the plastic container. "No. 1" and "No. 2" types can be recycled by most facilities. Note that Styrofoam is a kind of plastic and is almost never recycled. Second, paper does not degrade deep within most landfills because of low oxygen conditions. The plastic coating also interferes with decay. Landfills are increasingly full.  ]There is a huge "patch of garbage" in the Pacific Ocean. Other watersheds, too.

Even better paragraph (can you see the re-thinking of content as well as sentence-level revision)
Paper and plastic both pose disposal problems.  First, not all plastic can be recycled. Check the bottom of the plastic container. "No. 1" and "No. 2" types can be recycled by most facilities. Second, paper does not degrade deep within most landfills because of low oxygen conditions. Methane release from landfills is part of paper degradation ( Do I need a SOURCE?) The plastic coating also interferes with decay. Landfills are increasingly full, with paper and plastic part of the waste stream. Not all plastic is recycled or landfilled. (I need to say something about Styrofoam -- MISSING SOMETHING? According to Algalita Foundation  huge "patches of garbage" in the Pacific Ocean are further evidence of the environmental harm posed by plastic that "leaks" out of disposal/recycling systems (Can I use a referral link here?  Do I need a formal cite)

 Come on over to the OHitS/AMA document to discuss this paragraph that you can use in your draft.

Read more about the cookie cup here.  EXTRA CREDIT: are these still available?  Let me know.

*Spot the typo!  

Friday's OHitS/AMA document here. Do not forget your Eli Review (pre) Writing Task tonight.  Please do this NOW.  You do not have to be completely clear.  This is a really hard cognitive task.  You can ask questions about the feedback you need. Recall that you will also see what others write. We learn from each other a pathway through complexity.

I have given you enough sources to use in this assignment. Do not try to research your way out of this work.  We are using a pattern of:

1. Pick and reveal a cognitive frame for this memo (climate change frame or ocean plastic).
2. Define and describe the problem.
3. Offer a key method definition of life cycle assessment (analysis) as a cradle-to-grave approach
4. Use authoritative research and emphasize the research of Hocking or Moore to support your claim and strengthen the frame.
5. Acknowledge the reasonableness of the other side (courteous address of the counter argument).
6. THEN, you can suggest some other things you are interested in.

Common knowledge?  Lots of this is common knowledge, which is why referral links are a way to help people and feel as if you are noting the intellectual contributions of others.  More on citation next week.

We will stay in the same OHitS/AMA as Monday.  I am building a checklist for your final version, due on Friday at 11:45 PM for a grade.  I am pretty liberal with the deadlines for me and stricter with the process deadlines within Eli Review, where you need to post on time, so you can give and receive feedback to each other.  Having said this, five people have not submitted a revision plan in Eli Review.  Please do that before you turn in your final version for a grade.

Come to the Google doc, linked above, and ask your questions so you turn in a find memo on Friday.  I would like to see evidence that you are taking to hear the idea of counting out.  

Next week?  New memo, with a policy recommendation.  Jane wants to know which disposal coffee cup is better for the environment: Styrofoam?  Paper?  We will need authoritative, low-bias technical and scientific evidence for the claim.  Poke around on the internet to gain a sense of the problem and proposed solutions.  Also, keep in mind what Jane is asking:  she wants a recommendation. That means that all your critical analysis will occupy th five stases.  Keep a running list on key terms that need definition"

• environmental persistence
• energy efficiency
• Styrofoam
• paper cup (including the plastic coating)
• limits of recycling
  • is Styrofoam recyclable?  Is this widely available?
  • what happens to paper that is not recyclable (plastic coating?)
  • what is land filled, even if we think the material is recycled
• HINT: think a bit about climate change and energy efficiency
• HINT: what do we know about the fate of ocean plastic (patches, gyres, etc.)

On Friday, I will direct you to some authoritative sources you can rely on. In the meantime, read this fine analysis of the three-part strategy about our waste streams (and energy is in this, because everthing we make, transport, market, select, use, and dispose of).  The source is from NRDC -- the Natural Resources Defense Council; this environmental policy group uses science for policy decision.

FRIDAY!

Good morning!  Do not forget your 11:45 final draft of your rain garden submission.  Try to be on time, but you can submit through the weekend.  I try to my deadlines a bit fluid (covid, politial worry, stress, etc.) as I do ask you to meet the deadlines you have for each other, so that peer editing is possible.

TODAY in OHitS/AMA, we chat about your last questions on rain garden submission and we talk about the knowledge we need to write the next assignment.

This next memo is a short recommendation report.  We will answer our boss's questions AS SHE POSES IT, concerning which cup is best for the environment.  We will use stasis theory and afew cognitive wedges to move throught this recommendation genre quickly and efficiently.  I suggest diving into some background guidance on using the web well to find trustworthy and authoratative information. You can select your own path through, however, I suggest that you start with the Wikipedia and Google guides.  Bonus: this work will help you in your other classes as you approach papers.  And, critical media literacy is important as a life skill for now and in the future.

• How to Use Wikipedia Wisely (Stanford History Education Group): Wikipedia can be a useful research tool, if used effectively. Learn how in this video.
• Google Search Tricks for Research (by Common Sense Education): This hands-on tutorial shows a few key "search operators" you can use to get better, more refined results on Google.

Choose a few that strike you as useful, after your browth the sets:

• How to Pop Our Filter Bubbles (by TED): A collection of TED-produced videos focuses on diversifying sources and stepping outside algorithmically and culturally enforced echo chambers.
• Navigating Digital Information (by Crash Course): This 11-video playlist -- developed with experts and researchers -- is an awesome primer on how to find and evaluate sources on the web and social media.

My favorite place for technical information that is open access, well sourced, and well written is Science Daily. Here are a few short reads from this science journalism new source that will help you with the coffee cup recommendation report:

• Read this 2020 research (Nanking University) summary for a good working definition of the cradle-to-grave concept, one definition you will use in your memo as an analytical frame. Note:  the paper v. plastic example here is bags.  We often read adjacent information in our research and apply some of these ideas to our particular case.
• 2020 Princeton research analysis of how plastic pollution circulates; helpful for understanding the fate of ocean plastic problem.
• Part of the emerging analysis about the fate of aquatic plastic concerns microplastics.  For you, how will you learn about microplastics and specifically Styrofoam plastic? This 2016 analysis from a Norwegian research consortium looks a microplastics in soil-to-watershed context we looked at in our rain garden memo.

About all this reading: you DO earn grades for thinking, reading, responding to the work of others.  I hope this helps you knowing that I acknowledge what activities go into learning.  And, that I trust you as you work, even if the work is somewhat invisible to me.