"Gin, Television, and the Cognitive Surplus"

Before class on Friday, you should closely read and annotate (highlight, underlines, circle, and look up unfamiliar words) Shirky's article "Gin, Television, and the Cognitive Surplus" (located on Canvas as a PDF) and then do the following:

1) What is this article about? What is the main argument Shirky is making?

2) How does this article define literacy? How does this definition either coincide or differ from the 2 previous articles (Wolf and Carr) we have read?

3) What is a cognitive surplus?

4) Why does this article matter?

5) Use the Method to analyze the article (pg. 26 in Writing Analytically) by looking for patterns of repetitions, strands of similarities, binaries, and anomalies.

6) Choose one repetition, strand, binary, or abnormality and write a paragraph on why this aspect of the article is the most important in understanding what the text is saying. 

Breaking Down the Pieces of "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"

Before class on Wednesday, read, highlight, and be ready to discuss the Carr article, which is posted on Canvas as a PDF file. For annotations, either print out and make physical notes, highlights, etc. or use the digital tools available to make notations. 

If the PDF attachment does not work on Canvas, a problem I keep having, simply access the article at the link below:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/306868/

After close reading and annotating, answer the following questions in a blog post: 

1) Write a brief summary of the article's main argument or claim.

2) How does the article say the Internet has affected his thinking process?

3) In class on Monday, we discussed "Socrates Nightmare" and its definition of literacy as being able to think deeply and beyond face value. How is literacy defined in this article? 

4)How are the above definitions similar and/or different?

5) According to the article, how has the Internet changed the thinking processes and mental habits for many people?

6) What types of evidence does the author provide to back up his claims? (List at least 3).

7) Is this evidence effective? Why or why not?

8) What is the article's answer to the "so what?" question? Why does this topic matter and what can the reader take away from this article?

"When is Good" Poll

After checking your schedule, please vote for which day you would like Essay 4 to be due on (either November 20 or November 22). 

When is Good Poll

Optional One-on-One Conferences (Thursday, October 17th)

If you are interested in signing up for a one-on-one conference for the Unit 3 essay this Thursday, October 17th, here is the link to the Google doc sign-up sheet:

Unit 3 Optional Conferences

As before, please be aware of what time you sign up for and arrive on time for your conference prepared with your draft and specific questions. If you cannot make a scheduled time, please let me know ASAP so we can open up that time slot for one of your classmates.

Compelling Conclusions and Smooth Transitions

From your Unit 2 decompression writings, you all have expressed the need for us to talk about transition phrases and conclusions, so here we go!

Transition Phrases

A transition phrase is used to connect paragraphs and to turn disconnected writing into a unified whole. Instead of treating paragraphs as separate ideas, transition statements can help readers understand how paragraphs work together and reference one another to build a larger point. The key to producing effective transition phrases is highlighting connections between corresponding paragraphs. By referencing in one paragraph relevant information from previous paragraphs, writers can develop important points for their readers.

It is a good idea to continue a paragraph where the preceding on left off by mentioning a key phrase from the previous paragraph or with transition words, such as additionally, even though, similarly, in contrast, as previously stated, etc.-- if you cannot connect the ideas at all, this may be a sign that your essay is in need of better organization!

Picking up key phrases from the previous paragraph and highlighting them in the next can create an obvious connection for your readers in a place that might have been unclear without the transition phrase. 

Here is a link to some useful advice and examples of transition phrases that can be included in the beginnings of paragraphs effectively: 

Transition Words and Phrases

Conclusions

First, see Writing Analytically (pgs. 361-361 and 364-365), then read below:

It is important to have a strong conclusion, since this is the last chance you have to make an impression on your reader. The goal of your conclusion isn’t to introduce any new ideas, but to sum up everything you’ve written. Specifically, your conclusion should accomplish three major goals:

•  Restate the main idea of your essay, or your thesis statement in a new way (no copy and pasting of your thesis statement into the conclusion!)

•  Summarize the the subpoints of your essay

•  Leave the reader with an interesting final impression

The paragraph below is an example conclusion. As you read, think about what each sentence accomplishes within the paragraph. What sentence(s) restates the essay’s thesis statement? What sentence(s) summarizes the essay’s subpoints? What sentence(s) leaves the reader with an interesting final impression?


"Getting a better job is a goal that I would really like to accomplish in the next few years. Finishing school will take me a long way to meeting this goal. To meet my goal, I will also prepare my résumé and search for jobs. My goal may not be an easy one to achieve, but things that are worth doing are often not easy."



Notice that the first sentence restates the thesis. The second and third sentences summarize the essay’s subpoints. Finally, the fourth sentence leaves the reader with an interesting final impression. No new information is presented in this paragraph. Instead, the writer sums up what has been written so far and leaves the reader with a last thought. While the content of the paragraph is very similar to the introduction, the paragraph itself is not exactly the same. This is important. Even though the goal of the conclusion is to restate a lot of the information from the introduction, it should sound different because the conclusion’s purpose is slightly different from the introduction. Remember to support the points you have gathered. Remember to restate your thesis by picking out a few key words, summarize your subpoints, and leave the reader with an interesting final impression.

If you still have concerns, Writingcommons.org has a helpful handout on writing compelling conclusions, which can be found at the following link: 

Writing Commons, "How to Write Compelling Conclusions"

Thesis Statements and Social Media's Influence on Identity

In class today, we will be looking again at how to contract thesis statements, but first I wanted to offer up 2 news articles (one on Twitter, one of Instagram) to help supplement your essay writing, if need be. Feel free to find your own article as well, but make sure you 1) correctly cite it in your essay AND on the works cited page and 2) that is is a legitimate news or academic source. If you would like to search for your own, I recommend searching through Time.com, Slate.com, The Wallstreet Journal, The New York Times, or another well known news source. 

In addition to the "Focus on Facebook" PDF posted on Canvas, here are a couple articles that might give you some more insight into how social media and identity work together:

"How Twitter Took over My Identity" (Wall Street Journal article)

"Why Instagram is even more Depressing than Facebook" (Slate article)

Now, on to thesis statements!

Constructing a thesis statement is not a matter of taking a position, but rather think of your thesis as an idea that you are testing through analysis of evidence as a way to get your reader to think along with you as you write. As we have said before, this about your analytical essay assignment as one simple question-- how does social media impact identity? 

You can take the stance of social media making a positive impact, a negative impact, an inaccurate representation, an accurate representation-- it is up to you which direction you want to take your thought process is, so don't be afraid to say something controversial about social media and identity if you have that opinion. 

You can think about whether or not social media accurately represents the identity of a person OR you can think about how social media builds the identity of an individual, brand, band, company, etc. through pictures, updates, comments, etc. Also think about the PURPOSE of the platform you are working with in general (what is Facebook normally used for? What is Twitter used for?) as well as the PURPOSE of the particular account you are analyzing-- is it to sell a product or advertise an idea? Give information about a particular topic? Represent a particular public figure in a certain way? Is it just a personal expression of that individual's life? A combination of all these things? Thinking about the purpose of social media is a great place to start your analysis!

So right now, you have some sort of idea of how you think social media might impact identity, how a particular social platforms functions and what your account’s general “identity” is, but you need to gather evidence and data before you begin writing, so using heuristics to break down and make sense of the data available is crucial. 

Your main goal today should be to find an idea to shape your paper around! Think about your thesis statement as a hypothesis for what you think will happen and your analysis as the experiment—at the end of the writing “experiment,” you may find that your thesis needs to change to reflect the work you have done.

Your thesis should not be a claim that does not need proving (AKA "Gus Malzhan’s twitter feed builds his identity as Auburn’s head football coach")—you should look for ideas below the surface, a more in depth look at his “identity” through social media. 

In short, your thesis should make your audience WANT to read you paper and think along with you as you explore this topic in order to see how  you have arrived at this idea instead of immediately and completely agreeing with you from the very first paragraph. Why else are you writing an essay about social media? You are writing to help your audience better understand the idea behind the phenomenon of social media. 

Unit 3 Brainstorming: Identity and Social Media

For Unit 3, you will analyze the social media account of a public figure-- a celebrity, a band, an athlete, a business, a company, a sports team, or a political figure...any public account that is unrelated to you is fair game! Keep in kind that, as with Unit 2, you may not be able to choose the first account you have in mind. 

As you begin coming up with ideas, keep in mind that a good social media account to analyze will have the following:
1) recent and frequent updates
2) photo posts
3) interactions with other users (fans, personal friends, other celebrities, etc.)
4) personal comments and anecdotes
5) some sort of relevance to their overall identity and helps establish an ethos for that individual

Accounts that would not be as useful to analyze will have the following:
1)sporadic posting with very few pictures, personal anecdotes, and/or commentary
2)inactive accounts
3)accounts that seem to obviously be controlled by someone other than the public figure (such as a PR team).
4) an account that mainly responds to fans' requests for retweets with no other postings that allow a reader to get a glimpse of the person's identity.

If you are having trouble getting started, here are some great resources for finding interesting and useful accounts for our purpose: 

The 10 Best Branded Companies on Instagram

140 Best Twitter Feeds of All Time

Who to Follow on Pintrest: 30 Pinners to Follow

18 Facebook Users You Should Follow

Before class on Wednesday, you should read Writing Analytically (pgs. 133-140) on "Making Interpretations Plausible." Then browse and choose an account to analyze and post a short blog on which person/ band/business/etc. Include a short synopsis of why you think the account will be useful to analyze and provide a short summary of what sort of identity the account exhibits through its postings. 

Social Media: What Does Your Tattoo Say?

As we have discussed in class, your social media life is as permanent as a tattoo. As we begin Unit 3, we will be dealing with social media as a way to explore identity and professionalism and to get started, take a look at your own "tattoo." Are you the next Rebecca Martinson?? Below I've included links to the article and video we used in class today.

CNN article on Rebecca Martinson

TEDtalk: Your Online Life, As Permanent as a Tattoo

Before class on Monday, read the "Focus on Facebook" PDF (located on Canvas) and write a blog post that does the following:

1) Makes a claim about what "kind" of person you represent yourself as on social media by
2) Analyzing any 5 photos, tweets, status updates, captions, conversations, etc. from a social media site you currently use and then
3) Think about what kind of person this is a  representation of-- do you think it is accurate? What can you do to change this?
4) At this point in your life, do you feel like you have a responsibility to maintain a social media presence? Uphold a certain type of identity? Do you feel pressured to censor yourself in any way? Why or why not?
5) Think about your future career-- what would you do if you were interviewing for your dream job and when you sat down, your interviewer handed you a print out of your most recent emails, Facebook posts, tweets, or Instagrams? Would you still get the job?

****You do not have to discuss or analyze any aspect of your social media account on the blog that you feel invades your privacy or is inappropriate for our academic setting, but if you encounter these issues, it may be a sign that your social media account is representing a person that you don't think is accurately representative of who you really are or who you want to be.
****If you do not have and/or use any social media accounts, you may browse public accounts and analyze 5 posts from a public figure, athlete, band, politician, etc., and make a claim about what kind of "person" they seem to be. Do not analyze any of your friends' accounts.