Academic Writing II

AW2: Week 12, December 20th, 2019

Homework

  1. Choose a book, movie or article, fiction or non-fiction, Japanese or English, to respond to (see a list of suggestions below).
  2. Email me your choice.
  3. When I say “OK” (by email), you can start writing your response (Essay 5)
  4. Email me your Essay 5 draft 1 by Jan. 10th 2020.
  5. Print it out and bring it to class Jan. 10th, 2020.

You can use something you have read before,  e.g. Bastiat’s Broken Window story, an essay by George Orwell (I recommend “Politics and the English Language”) or Francis Bacon, “Philosophy: Who Needs It?” or choose something new. 

If you would like something challenging to read, below are some suggestions.

As a model, you can use the textbook essay (p. 113-4 “Model A”) or my Model B  for literary texts (fiction “Response to ‘The Elephant’s Child'”) and non-fiction (“Response to ‘Philosophy: Who Needs It”), which uses a simple 3-part structure: 

  1. Background information about the author (objective information)
  2. Summary of the story or content of the article/essay  (objective information)
    1. (The order of 1 and 2 above can be reversed)
  3. Your evaluation (can include subjective elements but try and keep it as objective as possible; NOT whether you agree or disagree, but whether it is a well-written article/essay/story or not and why).
  4. Works cited:
    1. list all the resources you used, including of course the original.
    2. Use the MLA style. See the Academic Writing Resources page on this website for useful links.
    3. All references must be in Roman characters.
    4. Do NOT translate the names of Japanese sources.
      1. See the “Citations Worksheet” for examples.

Suggested reading (or choose your own) (Updated 8 Jan 2020):

  1. “Jimu Rojaazu Nihonde kongo nobiru sangyou mitsu” [Jim Rogers: The three Japanese industries that I expect to grow]. Toyo Keizai Online, 13 Feb 2019. https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/264245?display=b  Accessed 8 Jan 2020.
  2. Ball, Tim (Dr.). “Are Environmentalism and Global Warming Effectively Religious Socialism?”  Watts Up With That? (WUWT).  21 February, 2016. https://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/02/21/are-environmentalism-and-global-warming-effectively-religious-socialism/    Accessed 7 Jan 2020.
  3. North, Gary (Dr.). “It’s Not Just That Global Warming Is Fake. What Matters Is Why This Fakery Is Being Promoted”. Gary North’s Specific Answers. 3 Jan 2020. https://www.garynorth.com/public/20368.cfm  Accessed 4 Jan 2020.
  4. Obata, Seki. “Nisen Nijuu-nen, igaina tokorokara baburu houkai wa hajimaru” [Financial bubble to burst in an expected place in 2020]. Toyo Keizai Online, 31 Dec 2019. https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/322543?display=b Accessed 1 Jan 2020.
  5. Denninger, Karl. “New Decade Resolution: STOP BEING STUPID.” The Market Ticker – Commentary on the Capital Markets,  1 Jan 2020, www.market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=237771  Accessed 1 Jan 2020.
  6. Denninger, Karl. “A Positive Change”. The Market Ticker – Commentary on the Capital Markets, 30 Dec 2019, www.market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=237758Accessed 1 Jan 2020.
  7. Broken Window Fallacy https://www.garynorth.com/public/20341.cfm 
  8. Plato’s Republic, Book VIII
  9. Aristotle’s Rhetoric “Ars Rhetorica”. Especially Book 1, chapter 1.
  11. “Propaganda” by Jacques Ellul
  12. “Crystallizing Public Opinion” by Edward Bernays
  13. “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley
  14. “Nineteen Eighty-Four” by George Orwell (long novel)
  15. “Animal Farm” by George Orwell. (short novel)
  16. “Resistance to Civil Government” by H.D. Thoreau (“Civil Disobedience”) https://sniggle.net/TPL/index5.php?entry=rtcg
  17. John Stuart Mill: on Liberty https://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/mill1859_1.pdf
  18. Chapters 1 and 2 of the Book of Genesis in the Bible Click here for Japanese version.
  19. Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion
    4. John 19:1-30 and here in Japanese
  20. Any essay by George Orwell. Especially
    2. “Politics and the English Language”  http://orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit
  22. Any essay by (16th century French philosopher and essayist) Michel de Montaigne.  https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3600/3600-h/3600-h.htm 
  23. For suggestions of other famous English-language essayists, see here: https://www.thefamouspeople.com/essayists.php

Today’s class

  1. Textbook practice 5 (p. 120
  2. Practice 6 (p. 121-2)
  3. Practice 7 (p. 123)