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Oops, science is POWERFUL!
ENGL 390, 390H, and (sometimes) 398V Class Journal
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Week 2: definition (in stasis theory) and rain garden memo
I hope your holiday was relaxing. Let's start with some word fun:
Today's fun word is
mummichog or mud minnow a kind of killifish in the C.B.---
Could you pass a quiz -- if we did that -- on rain gardens? What is a rain garden? We will draft, revise, peer review an informational memo on rain gardens over the next week. This class journal post contains most of the links we need over the next week.
The structure and type of paragraphs you will write follow Aristotle's (really, more the contribution of Hermanagoras!) stasis theory (very much a system of analysis and action, like your scientific method steps). You will open and close the memo with brief introductory paragraphs, but the meat and potatoes (or tofu and kale) of your memo will be these staged, disciplined paragraphs.
- Brief, Working Definition (what is a rain garden, briefly, by two functions)
- Classification (what type of technology is this? Hint: low impact development and storm water management)
- Extended Description (Illustrative; give detail on the layers of soil and the type of plants; best to divide the complex material into two parts, plants/function and soil layers/function)
- include two examples; consider the ones on campus (can be sep. para OR placed at end of doc)
- Evaluation (is this good or bad? Use Dr. Davis' research as you do not have authority to evaluate based on your expertise)
I would think you need about one source per these paras: classifying, illustrating, evaluating. Use (author, date) citation from APA guidelines. Include a works cited page also.
Audience scenario for this memo: Here is Jane, our boss. She asked for the memo at the end of our last staff meeting.
irst up! What is a memo?
By the way, the OWL website at Purdue is a fabulous resource for writing. 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:
And, on to paragraphs:
Paragraph Definition: think Architectures
More on stasis approaches:
Stasis and research (Owl Purdue, by colleague A.B.)
BYU page on stasis approach (see how legal process and jurisprudence knits forth?)
Stasis and dinosaur debate (download full text and skim)
My take on stasis with environmental scientists
Marybeth Shea
For Friday: introductions, digital policies, preview of rain garden memo
What makes words funny? Science Daily news article on "skunkoople" effect.
The case for not using humor in science presentations. AAS Science blog post by Adam Ruben, a molecular biologist. Ruben also writes their "Experimental Error" blog. This entry on how to read a scientific article is good prep for the entire semester and for life. Do you agree with his critique hidden in the humor? That scientific writing can be a real up-hill slog?
Here is another guide by Elizabeth Pain to reading scientific literature.
First I read very fast: The point of the first reading is simply to see whether the paper is interesting for me. If it is I read it a second time, slower and with more attention to detail.
If the paper is vital to my research—and if it is theoretical—I would reinvent the paper. In such cases, I only take the starting point and then work out everything else on my own, not looking into the paper. Sometimes this is a painfully slow process. Sometimes I get angry about the authors not writing clearly enough, omitting essential points and dwelling on superfluous nonsense. Sometimes I am electrified by a paper.
- Ulf Leonhardt, professor of physics at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel
Read the comments, also. And, be sure to know what confirmation bias is.
Over the weekend, spend about fifteen minutes reading about rain gardens, at sources that you choose. You could begin at this ScoopIt site and browse the posts. Here, we are not looking at technical literature from a peer reviewed source. We will take that up after labor day.
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Welcome, fall 2016
Readings for Wednesday:
- Your rights presented by Undergraduate Studies (will discuss attendance and copyright -- changes from last year.)
- My syllabus
- From my syllabus, browse and consider these links for discussion:
- This Wikipedia entry on the Electronic Frontier Foundation provides context.
- What is Fair Use? Again, Wikipedia is helpful.
- Creative Commons on levels of “readers” and types of licenses.
- What is the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act?
Please consider the complexity of copyright, intellectual property, and the laws as well as norms that govern uses. We will discuss this practice all year. I recommend that you browse the University policy links noted above. Further important reading for you include:
Assignment for you: Find something to enjoy about science. I recommend looking for UMSOM parady videos. Doing that will open up a wider world of how funny and clever -- and cool -- scientists are. Here are two that I particularly like:
WHOOPS
Forgot the checklist to rule them all. Here. Turn in on Monday. If you did not come to class today, please email a buddy before you contact me about what this means.
Document design continues
and due on Friday, in hard copy. In class on Friday, you will also post your formal final project proposal.
Do not forget the May 1 deadline for extra credit on your directions.
Today, we look at captions associated with your images. Generally:
- Use text box OR adjust the figure/caption option in MSWord
- Use small font, like 8-9 pt. Consider bold or italics.
- Align with "snap lines" (to be demonstrated in class)
Using a pull quote? Try this tutorial.
Some help in these two tutorials focused on images/captions:
- Image and caption basics
- Customizing the defaults in MSWord caption option
What about using a dingbat at the close of your document?
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Two grammar/punctuation ideas:
- single quotes are quite rare; use double quotes (about 80% of the time)
- Grammar Girl's take
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- Slate article by composition professor Andrew Heisel
- check affect/effect in your reviews. Go back to Grammar Girl, for guidance on this.
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