Who, being loved, is poor?
–Oscar Wilde
Good morning. I hope you are well.
Today we will review your summaries of the article "Wildlife at Risk Face Long Line at U.S. Agency" (New York Times, April 21, 2011), and the report on a local place or event that we discussed last week. I will provide some examples and allow you time for discussion of destination subjects and approaches to writing the piece. We will follow with an essay built upon your response to a news report or feature article. Some documentation will be required as the work builds on the requirements of the short research work.
Note, our ideas, whether commonly held or no, are rooted in traditional areas of study reflecting the history of human thought, values, attitudes, and tastes, and conduct. These study areas include philosophy, religion, nature, aesthetics, science, ethics, education, etcetera. Our most closely held beliefs and attitudes reflect very often our unexamined ideas about the nature of love, faith, trust, loss, betrayal, goodness and evil, freedom, sanctity, the very meaning of life. Whether we focus on Washington and the shenanigans that make the nightly news, bioengineering, Facebook, legal injustices, or the most recent individual or "hero" making a positive difference in the world, our beliefs, associated ideas, and feelings define us as human beings. In choosing a research topic you will tap into some subject about which you feel strongly and have clear enough knowledge to put across a cogent argument or position, as supported also by fact and opinion gathered from your reading of available literature. You must begin to explore a subject or idea, begin finding and reading material relevant to whatever line of inquiry you intend. Week 10 you will have due a 1000-word length essay in which you put across a claim, your thesis, made persuasive and credible by virtue of supporting facts, expert opinion, testimonials, logical inquiry, and whatever emotional appeals you make to the reader's values.
Today's class work is intended to get you started. It requires you read from recent publications and then select a subject of particular interest for discussion.
Summary/Response or Roundup Assignment (#6): In 450-500 words, introduce by title and article one to three articles published in today's New York Times. Summarize each and provide commentary and an overarching thematic link between the articles you have chosen. This is an informal piece in which you must discuss one or more of the most interesting headlines, as you see it, and why the stories are of interest. Include an alphabetical listing of the works discussed, in the MLA format displayed at the OWL writing site (the link is here, at this blog's link list).
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