Why did I loop back to pick up the apositive or short phrase punction craft skill?  Simply, I want to give you an opportunit to increase your skills with definition work.  Recall that in your first part of the analysis, you will define terms in a paragraph.  These are the foundational ideas that you share so that your motivated but inexpert reader can follow your analysis. Reminder of these beginning definitions-->

BEGINNING with definitions.  You can consider bullets.  These work well when the concepts are closely related. For example,

ONE) Let's review PCR types before we look at Guerro's modifications in her study:  

1. Polymer chain reaction (PCR) tests for....
2. Quantitative PCR (qPRC)...
3. Pyro sequencing ....

TWO) The treatment studies for Patel's rice productivity work examine subtle soil pH variability in spring crops typical of terraced fields in SE Asia.  The soil categories, based on surveys of Thailand posted at the UN FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) data base:

podulized categories 3-8

spodosoil category 6

hydropodosoils (two)  designed for this experience but based on FAO emerging research linked here.

More complex definitions might need their own paragraphs. Consider defining what a highly conserved gene is and how that work helps scientists use animals for human disease. In my work with farmers and nitrogen scientists, i need to define Q method, which tests subjectivity rather than objectively.  Farmers get this but scientists tend not to.

We have a second definition craft move (think helpful chess moves shared with the reader) called nested definitions.  Here you place a phase near the discussion set off by 

• commas (bunny paws). -- MOST COMMON
• parentheses (bunny ears) -- for SMALL references, often with discinplinary patterns like genus species or conversion of units between metric and English
• dashes (bunny back feet) -- LEAST COMMON but exciting and can signal surprise, novelty, or importance.

These nested definitions can appear within your point paragraphs.

Revisiting the colon-semi-colon craft lesson of Monday--> Punctuation marks help readers by

Segmenting text into digestible units.

Controlling the reader’s processing rate.

Providing inflections that help define the meaning of words.

Colon principles

For clearly defined lists at the end of a sentence.

To connect two short sentences, that are related.

To connect one sentence to a key or essential clause (Mb says, a "ta dah!"0

Never use a colon to divide a verb from its complement. 

Never use a colon to divide a subject from the rest of the sentence.

Never use a colon after including, for example, etc.

Colon examples (Incorrect examples are preceded by X)

We conducted three tests: hemoglobin, hematocrit, and white blood cell count.

The results are clear: The drug is safe and effective.

X The most frequently reported adverse events were: nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

X This facility: screens, sorts, and quarantines mail.

X We conducted a number of tests, including: hemoglobin, hematocrit, and white blood cell count.

-----

Semicolon principles

To replace coordinating conjunctions (and, but, nor, or, so, yet) connecting independent clauses.

To punctuate a series whose elements are already punctuated.

Before conjunctive adverbs connecting independent clauses.

Semi-colon examples  (Incorrect examples are preceded by X)

One adverse event was reported; its cause was unknown.

Larval feeding habits of flies include the following activities: parasitizing beetles, moths, and other insects; mining in fern leaves, stems, and other plant tissue; burrowing in carrion, offal, and dung; and scavenging decaying vegetation.

Phenytoin is effective in the treatment of status epilepticus; however, large doses may compromise cardiac function.

X We conducted a number of tests, including; hemoglobin; hematocrit; and white blood cell count.

Punctuation can matter in astonishingly exacting ways, especially in legal contexts!

• Case 1: Omitting the penultimate (second to last) comma cost a Maine dairy company nearly $5 million. Said dairy company settled a 2017 lawsuit over an overtime dispute with milk delivery drivers.  Documentation from the company to drivers was the subject of that ruling and hinged on the use of the Oxford comma. In short, An absent this "Oxford comma" will cost that dairy company $5 million, to be awared to drivers in this labor dispute.
• Case 2 :Reported yesterday, widely in many print and broadcast news sources. My summary)  Former Vice President Mike Pence wrote a book,        In this book, he wrote that he said this statement to former President Donald Trump: 

“You know, I don’t think I have the authority to change the outcome.” 

Reportedly, Special Counsel Jack Smith (in the Mara Lago security documents case) asked Pence in grand jruy testimony if that comma was supposed to be in there; Pence, under oath, said that the comma was not.

In other words, sans comma, what Pence actually said to Trump was this:

“You know I don’t think I have the authority to change the outcome.”

Comma placements and writer's intent matter. Pence's reflection on his meaning appears to be an acknowledgment that Trump knew that Pence didn’t have the authority to change the election results.  In legal terms, what Smith is exploring is mens reas -- from Latin, "guilty mind" -- essential in estabilishing defendant intentions for a crime.

 BONUS: see the nested definitions

via GIPHY

TGIF, right?  Please post to the Eli Review WRITING TASK linked in both your ELMS mail and calendar.

Will be here to chat with you, as needed. Check in later with your ELMS Calendar today because I will post the SCHEDULES FOR Atlanta Train v. Boulder Train.  Let's consider the A Train first with this song by Billy Strayhorn and made famous by the Duke! 

Why do we have a train metaphor for the end of the semester? Why NOT? Simply put, I want you to commit -- aka buy a ticket for the early train of Atlanta or the next train of Boulder.  

From Monday Dec 4 on out, we will have separate TRAINS to wrap up the semester, with modified prompts to reflect the different needs/schedules of students. Look at your finals schedule and decide which train to board.

TRAIN ATLANTA 

Friday, Dec. 8, ER WRITING task of your current draft (will be your last interaction on drafts)

Monday,  Dec. 11, ER REVIEW task to your peer group on the ATLANTA TRAIN

Friday,  Dec. 15, PARKING LOT FOR FINAL SUBMISSION OPENS FRIDAY; try to submit by Monday, Dec 18.

TRAIN BOULDER

Friday, Dec, 8, ER WRITING task of current draft

Monday, Dec 11, ER REVIEW Task to your peer group

Friday,  Dec. 15, ER WRITING Task of current draft (last peer interaction)

Monday, Dec., 18, ER REVIEW Task to your peer group

WEDNESDAY, Dec 20 PARKING LOT FOR FINAL SUBMISSION OPENS  submit by Friday, Dec. 2

Train to Boulder?  You have a song, too.

Nippy Wednesday.  

We will talk more about ABT statements. Of course, you viewed the Olson video, right?  I will scroll back and pick up a few slides from the long marine science PDF of slides.  However, you are already prompted in the reading grid about ABT statements.  Clip -->

Summarize the article according to a story narrative using AND>BUT>THEREFORE.

TaDAH! , in Andrew Revkin’s words (channeling Randy Olson, Trey Parker, and Aristotle), now write these for each article: BEGIN QUOTE

______ and _____, but _____, therefore ______.

Every story can be reduced to this single structure. I can tell you the story of a little girl living on a farm in Kansas AND her life is boring, BUT one day a tornado sweeps her away to the land of Oz, THEREFORE she must undertake a journey to find her way home. END QUOTE

via GIPHY

You WILL include an ABT statement in your final assignment 3; therefore, learning/practicing ithis n Friday evening's Eli Review Writing task is one of several tasks upcoming.

Scientists tend to stack about fifty-'leven "ands" in their work.  Understandable.  However, research questions arise in the "but" moment.  Truly.  Think about how YOU experience this:

• wait, what?
• hold on a minute
• are you sure
• "I do not think that word means what you think it does?"

These phrases above capture when the human brain is engaged in a "but" moment.

On reading your article: Selected critical thinking lessons about your reading/writing for the one-article review assignment.

• Mining the abstract in this short html presentation from CAIN (same people who brought you the seven openings).
• Understanding that technical style  (CAIN, again) is different from literary style, news/journalism style, and even humanities style.  Common errors in technical and scientific writing:  see this helpful table, from CAIN.

Mini  writing craft lesson: As you read, note the treatment of numbers in your article.  Here is an html short presentation from CAIN about conventions on writing about numerical information. Watch for this technical style in the article you are reading.

Mentor model and support for writing your ethocs paragraph (first author focus).

Writing about the ethos of the first author. In author paragraph (within the first three paragraphs/on the ramp of the cognitive wedge), give expertise and institution. Do not focus overmuch on undergraduate study.  Note:  PhD are earned, rather than obtained.

Kaspari earned a PhD in pharmacognition from the University of Illinois.  She leads an interdisciplinary team at Wexler Institute of Plant Based Technology, which is part of the University of California at Berkeley Plant Science Department.

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.

Some ABT samples from the neighborhood of UMCP and the University of Maryland System (UMS)-->

• First attempt  (google doc roundup) at ABT statements from Spring 2023; Hint: skim read and focus on shorter ones to see the pattern.  The longer ones tended to need editing.  However, if you are familiar with the subject in the long ones, you can look at how a peer wrestles with science complexity.
• Long but worthy slide set from 2016 graduate school workshop with RO.

 Preview of Friday? 

• Colon v semi colon (sample-rich html piece) and even the power of the period to close a thought (terminal punctuation)
• Fun way to think on the counting out power of three, four, and perhaps even seven. Why did I spell those one-decimal place numers out as prose?
  • From your 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.

Wednesday!

Parking lot for turning in your coffee cup memo opened up by midday. I will link on your ELMS calendar and send link+note to you via ELMS mail.  Strategic redundancy is a good way to lead a team. 

I see some opportunities to remind you of polishing-up strategies.  Do not lapse on these craft and critical thinking skills for life.

• Use cognitive wedge at the beginning.  In some ways, you can also use a concision-aspect of the cognitive wedge in each paragraph with a
  • short, simple topic sentence
• Newish idea about using a cognitive wedge shape at the end of each paragraph to slide down a smooth ramp into the next paragraph.  Think also, of the lemon shape.  Let your transition be short, tight (repeat a word or phrase between the linked paragraphs).
• The LCA paragraph is your decision criteria.  You can say that in first person. You want to underscore the pivot from problem description into analysis.
• Citation!
  • Be generous with your curated referral links throughout the paragraph. Use signal phrases to announce the worthy work of others. Help your reader "choose their own adventure" through this complexity.
  • Use formal citation for the EPA LCA reference AND offer a link to help reader get there quickly if needed.
  • Use formal citation for the evaluation paragraph where you are either
    • Team Styro, hence offering logos of numbers from a peer reviewed Hocking paper.
    • Team Paper, hence offering logos  of numbers from a peer reviewed Moore paper.
  • Hint: you will have likely offered an open access referral link about your frame earlier in the paper:
    • Team Styro, IPPCC report on climate change with caution on PDF size
    • Team Paper, a Charles Moore open access weblink to his foundational work on ocean plastic

Important reading on the difference between descriptive writing v. analysis writing. Use the links to see how I credit two other thinkers about this important difference. My example concerns rain garden knowledge, a topic you have some familiarity with now. 

I will post a new Eli Review task regarding your first take on your research article.  You have that article, right?  And, sign, please post on Friday for this assignment.  Don't make me regret my liberal use of labor grading for this course.  You simply MUST BE ON TIME FOR EACH OTHER.  Preview: the power of three.

Pictures for the day and do you recall the concept each is associated with yet?

Happy somewhat dreary Friday.  I will be available between:

9-9:50

11-11:50

You can pick and article NOW and ask me in the sessions.  I will not judge you, truly.  If you look at the reading grid linked on Monday and read the prompt in Eli Review, you can still DO THIS BY FRIDAY EVENING/the Saturday Morning halo to 11AM is.  Please get in there!

Here is a short video of inspiration about writing and science, as well as synthesis knowledge.  Ecology and human health are both synthesis disciplines.  The brain is not separate from the body.  For example, microbiome studies show a connection to depression, anxiety, sensations of well being.  Brain <--> gut interactons! By the way, the gut microbiome is a fascinating internal ecosystem.

Robin Wall Kimmerer is a moss and liverwort specialist -- bryophytes are primitive plants. Living fossils in our world. She is also a hero of mine.  She is the last quote in my environmental science dissertation.  I am concerned about agroecology and how our food systems require flourishing ecosystems to support food production.  Flourishing human communities need varied, nourishing food.  Kimmerer is a 2022 MacArthur Genius. 

She is also an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatami Nation.

I hope this short video encourages you in this next assignment.  Writing about science is key to sharing knowledge.  All human experience is enriched by knowledge generation and sharing.  Why? For intellectual pleasure in know about our complex world as well as making the world better for children and other living beings.

Assignment 3 is a portal to shared knowledge in our small and temporary learning community. Let's go!

P.S. That quote? (using block indent style, so a tiny little lesson here that is similar to the block quote LCA clip from EPA in your Memo 2. Always be learning, says Mb)-->

In Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, ecologist Robin Wall Kimmerer notes:

Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.” ― Kimmerer (2015)

Kimmerer is reflecting on the provision role of ecosytems to support human communities. She also notes the delight of living, moving, and having our being upon this earth.  Her science inquiry stems from this frame.

At the end of the document, here is what is my very last citation in my 300+ bibliography-->

Kimmerer, R. W. (2015). Braiding sweetgrass. Milkweed Editions.

Note, this is too short for a hanging indent. Always be learning. Here is what one looks like for a longer paper by RWK. Recall that the hanging indent in a long bibliography helps a reader find a desired citation because the last name sits out in a "panhandle."

(Think: Oklahoma!). Etsy listing: 3 dollars for a hanging indent magnet!

November comes in a litle be blustery.  I love all the weathers!

Ideas to help you think about this memo and critical thinking/writing generally. First up,

• Metadiscourse is a strategic roadmapping that you, the writer, provide as a courtesy to the reader, so that the reader knows what you are doing in the document. You are helping the reader, well, read what you have written.   Meta discuourse is related to choices you make about
• Voice: by now, you have seen how I offer first and second person (aka first person plural) phrases that reveal your thinking -- a metadiscourse strategy -- that helps your reader take a journey in the subject with you. Note, active+passive voice relates to third person+ first person voice. We can look at this short Google slide set. Slide 13 is pretty emblematic of how this works.  Involves the agency of the door; if you? Report this agency by saying: I did this.  Or if in a team?  We did this.
• Time: Remember the tight transitions and loose transitions guide?  I said in that presentation that time always helps a reader feel oriented and move through the material with a sense of coherence.  Here are a few new phrases you might consider:
  • Hocking conducted these energy comparison studies in the early 90s.
  • Moore noticed huge swaths -- he first coined these as gyres -- while on technical marine expeditions in the mid to late 1990s.

Reminder of free phrases of metadiscourse for you:

Let's turn now to Hocking's work on...

Having established the broad outlines of ocean plastic extent, we can read Moore's work with a sense of proportion on this emerging discipline,

I want to emphasize the reasonableness of the other position.  Changing the frame to .....

You can see even in my quick, first-cut analysis that the science is not clear on the better coffee cup....

I am willing to look at this further, including the link between both problems....

 Ok: This folk song still scares me.  Why?  The minor key and scale is part of the effect 

Happy Friday, we are wrapping up the three-day fest about dead people.  First up was Halloween, meaning the eve of the day of the dead, and then the idea of the good dead people aka saints!

Enjoy this depression era song about the boogeyman aka the boogie man.

Here are some ideas that I see in your drafts as well as from students of yore.  This last set of commentary is a way to accompany an argument -- your proposal with evidence, including the frame (environmental problem) and decision criteria (LCA, which examines the environmental shadow over the life of the material) -- with a polite yet powerful critique of the ordinal question. 

• Both cups have an environmental footprint that stems from petroleum production and use.
• Reusable cups are better than both disposal cups when used even times to overcome their energy inputs.  Also notable here is the energy and water use required to clean cups.
  • Not all facilities can wash re-usuable cups.
  • European infrastructure, excluding generally the UK, still includes washing facilities and employment for washing tasks.
  • The aesthetics of paper complicate the picture.  You can view Starbucks and the paper cup as a partial greenwashing act to tap into the common notion of a green cup.  Yet, Starbucks is positioned to be the high quality consumer experience over, say, WaWa, Dunkin' Donuts, and 7-11 coffee experiences.
• Styrofoam is just one type of plastic. Other types -- think, generally, "clear" plastics -- do give rise to the phenomenon of microplastics.  The human health and ecosystem health effects look ominous. I suggest that we read science journalist Matt Simon's new book:
  
  A Poison Like No Other: How Microplastics Corrupted Our Planet and Our Bodies 
• You may know that Styrofoam can be recycled but not in our county.  I would be willing to look at how to ban with other institutions locally for a group recycling option. Let me know if you would care for me to study this.
• New technology regarding ocean plastic recovery include the use of microbes that can digest types of plastic.
• Shall we focus a new study team on microplastics in the Chesapeake?  Perhaps the governor and the Maryland Department of the Environment might have exploratory funding for this effort.  Here is a local, current even that might serve as a case study.  This NBC-4 October 1 news piece (includes 2 minute video; caution, YouTube is placing minute-long ads at the front of most videos)

Anyway, why am I sharing?  And, do you need to close your memo thusly?  First, the why: I am teaching you a pattern of argument that includes a way to critique politely the very question that Jane, your boss, assigned.  And, no, you do not need to close with any or additional ideas.

Learn the pattern to use in the future for real-world writing.

And, since this memo can be a short and powerful writing sample for you, you may want to close thusly.  One of these ideas demonstrates your thoughtfulness and professionalism. 

Hello. As per class discussion, (also updated on Monday's post, too)--> 

Wed UPDATED/INTERACTIVE FOR YOU NOW Q&A/AMA document

Today we will work from Monday's resources.  Here are few very specific sources you can consider for both referral link curation in various paragraphs as well as the two formal cited sources need for the evaluation paragraph, where ytou summarize pertinent, authorotative research. Let's start there. Check, are you-->

• Team Paper?  If so, then you will need one of Charles Moore's peer reviewed research articles. List here, at his new website.  Worth reading around his site, as well as the first one he founded, now more educational, the Algalita Foundation. This is a good read that is more authorativie then Wikipedia articles. However, I start with Wikipedia articles to scope out a topic.  Hope you do too.
• Team Styro? If so, you can select paper-versus-styrofoam cup article from the link re Martin Hocking posted on Monday.    Hint: this summary, by Hocking, appearing in Science, is a really good one to include as a referral link in this evaluation paragraph. 

Now, let's consider a referral link option for the text passages where you remind/summarize for Jane the broad contours of your environmental frame.  Again, check your team-->

• Team Styro? You can look for a recent IPCC policy makers report.  What is the IPCC? You may also check out the Wikipedia articles, too.  BLUF here? This international panel assembles the complex, interdisciplinary, global science re atmospheric change based on fossil fuel consuption. You can refer Jane to a report.  CAUTION HER as these PDFs are huge and colorful.  Scope out reports, like
  • the more recent synthesis reports of the science and/or
  • the policymaker summaries of climate status and options
• Team Paper? I suggest that you use one of Moore's web exhbits (either foundation) to craft a referral link regarding ocean plastic. Why?  He is the scientist who opened this line of inquiry.  His advocacy is deeply rooted in the science.  If you select an environmental organization, even the Natural Resources Defense Council (highly scientific in approach), you are still shifing more to advocacy-ethos. We will chat in class.  You can think about how cancer advocacy is part of the larger cancer quest by science, policy, and other human systems.

Looking forward to seeing you.  Trixie-the-wonder-dog is stable but serious and I appreciate all your care for me about this deeply upsetting turn of Monday.

Hello.

Here 

9-9:50

11-11:50

BE ON TIME FOR EACH OTHER tonight, with the halo penumbra by 11 AM Saturday.  Helps if you email me.

This document posted earlier and discussed on M and W IS HELPFUL. Start here, I think, if you have questions

AMA/Offices Hours in the Sky/AMA

Punctuation lesson of the week --> (open in a new tab to see entire and helpful jpg)