MbShea@PWP@English@UMCP

For all of next week, bring a digital copy of your memo to class.  Using this rain garden memo checklist (spreadsheet), we will consider a number of items.  Recall that we are relearning many writing techniques -- and thinking frames -- in addition to learning some writing/document design conventions.

Here are some items I gathered from a close read of all your documents.

For next week, I will find and post over the weekend an authoritative source for cost-electiveness.  We will also consider the differences between written memos (more formal) and email memos (mashes up letter and memo format).

Also, you may want to look at these curated articles (Scoopit) to find two visual examples of rain gardens.

BRING YOUR DIGITAL MEMO TO CLASS ON FRIDAY. We will revise working on a few items, principally signal phrases in both reference citation and formal citation. Citation is an act of ethos -- building trust with your reader using strong, authoritative sources; Citation is also an act of generosity, making referrals to help the reader select further reading.

Let's start, however, with a little warm-up joy on ABT.  Can you find the ABT in this song?  'Tis in the chorus.

Now, for science fun, look at this parody of CRJ's uber popular bubble gum pop song:

UMSOM does the BEST parodies (lesson: medical schools need you to build community and some fun; who knew?):

Question: do they use the ABT structure?

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SIGNAL PHRASES and natural language (referral citation). Newspapers provide clues to source details without using parenthetical phrases or formal end notes). Wht is the job of signal phrases? Three fold:

1. DRAW boundaries: Signal phrases demark your words and the source’s words. These phrases provide smooth transition for the reader between your words and the source; signal phrases distinguish between two or more sources in a paragraph.

2. Emphasizes source, thereby ESTABLISHING AUTHORITY: Signal phrases reveal the author or source being invoked. You can also provide additional and important details like: publication name, date, and perhaps location.  Think of the clues that a reader could use to find this original in a google search:  Who, where, when....

3. AVOIDING plagiarism and intellectual property violations: All source material must be cited EVEN in less formal settings.  Signal phrases plus additional details are one way to cite a source within sentences or even your spoken voice.

 Look at your document and think about how to use such phrases:

According to this well-written Wikipedia entry on bioretention, 

These details about rain garden design are taken from the "bible" of bioretention, The Bioretention Manual, posted at the Prince George's County website.  Written in 2009, the pdf form is used widely for rain garden implementation.

. . ., according to several EPA sources that assess the cost-effectiveness of rain gardens in environmental problem solving.

This 2007 slide set, available at Allen Davis' faculty web page, provide an open access overview of his work on bioretention effectiveness. . .

See more about how serious these environmental problems are in the Prince George's County Bioretention Manual (pages X-Q, especially.

with an in-class relfection note to me.  Why this reflection?  Because we can open a conversation about writing rather than you prepare for me to red pencil your work into submission.

Discussion on sentences, with emphasis on "empty subjects" to be continued.  And, on to paragraphs: let's start with a brief document on transitions, taken from a real-world setting.

Monday in class:

• Hard copy
• memo style heading
• Stapled
• Double spaced
• Your two-source bibliography can be on the same page as the end of the memo
• Your courtesy mentions of the Prince George's County Biorention Manual and the Wikipedia entry on bioretention/rain gardens do not need bibligraphic sources.

Watch this space for possible group me option being proposed by Andy in 10 AM section.

Recall that you can email one or two questions by SUNDAY AT NOON.  Place the text you want guidance on IN THE BODY OF AN EMAIL.  ASK YOUR QUESTION.  I will get back to you AS MY TIME PERMIT NO LATER THAN 10 PM. 

Memos also have a standard format:  See the image to the left.  Also, look at the email heading in your software.  This electronic message is based on the memo format.  

Bonus question:  what is the difference, traditionally, between a memo and a letter?

Topic Sentences: A list of qualities for you to strive for

• Usually a short direct sentence (think announcement)
• Signals the topic in the paragraph (think preview)
• Hooks the reader by 1) raising a question or 2) provoking thought
• Can be placed anywhere, but early on in the paragraph is the best default strategy for most professional documents; in other words, at the beginning of the paragraph
• Contains an element of transition from the previous paragraph

Note:  topic sentences can be implied in tightly coherent prose (for now, leave this subtle technique to the professionals!)

Let's look at examples of topic sentences useful in the rain garden memo:

Rain gardens, or bioretention ponds, are a kind of low impact development.  Low impact development....

Rain gardens have two components:  layers of percolation material and carefully chosen plants.

Rain gardens protect the local environment by absorbing water run-off from impervious surfaces and by sequestering pollutants.

Dr. Allen Davis studies rain garden effectiveness.  Davis, a civil engineering professor, has been studying bioretention for more than twenty years.

Let's also think about sentences generally.  General advice to you?  Write shorter sentences than those you are familiar with in literature and many of your textbooks. 

Now, let's think about sentences: 

Sentence Patterns

Buffy and Sentences

Pitch the Verb