Homework

Write your final draft, save it as “AW2 Essay4 Final Lastname” (use the same for the subject of your email) and email it to me by Friday Dec. 6th. No need to print out or bring to class.

Today’s class

1. Citation MLA style.
   1. Notice how Japanese books and articles are cited (with titles given in Japanese but in Roman characters.)
   2. Notice how articles which have no author (or where the author is unknown) are cited.
   3. worksheet. [wpdm_package id=’1844′] Completed worksheet is here: [wpdm_package id=’1835′]
   4. Notice how citations are done in this model essay (notice how the in-text citations refer to the “works cited” section).  [wpdm_package id=’1824′]
2. Counter-arguments. Read this extract from a popular Japanese manga. How does this relate to academic essay writing? What did you learn about the importance of counter-arguments from reading this extract?  [wpdm_package id=’1841′]
   1. Successful advertisements and academic essays need objective, factual information (e.g. “1 km from the station” or “5 minutes’ walk from bus-stop”) not subjective impressions such as “convenient” or “close”.
   2. Successful advertisements and academic essays need objective facts about both good and bad points.  These make the advertisement (and essay) more persuasive because they suggest impartiality and let the reader judge whether this is good or bad, positive or negative.
3. Here is the MLA guideline for a multivolume work (which “Angel Bank” is)  (from the Purdue University  Online Writing Lab).
   1. A Multivolume Work
   2. When citing only one volume of a multivolume work, include the volume number after the work’s title, or after the work’s editor or translator.
      1. Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria. Translated by H. E. Butler, vol. 2, Loeb-Harvard UP, 1980.
4. Using the biographic information below, write a citation for this manga using the MLA style.
   1.  2009
   2. Kodansha
   3. Angel Bank (but you must write the title in Japanese)
   4. Norifusa Mita
   5. Volume 5

Announcement

Essay #4 Class Collection is now ready and can be downloaded here: [wpdm_package id=’1459′]

Thank you to all those students who graciously gave permission for their essay to appear. (Note: this document is password-protected which limits printing and changes made to the document.)

Homework

• Write draft 1 (typed) of your response essay (if you have already shown me your typed complete essay, then this will be draft 2)
• email it to me by next Friday Dec. 14th
• Print it out and bring to class Dec. 14th.

Today’s class

1. 1-to-1 conferencing
2. Textbook:
   1. p. 116 practice 3
   2. p. 120 practice 5
   3. p. 121 practice 6
   4. p. 123 practice 7
   5. Read the article “Don’t Shoot” (pp. 162-3)
   6. p. 115 practice 2

Homework

Write a response essay to any one of the following essays. It must be typed with correct format. Print it out and bring to class, and also email it to me.

1. The “privacy” essay by Penenberg in the textbook appendix.
2. The “Homework” essay in the textbook appendix.
3. The “Violent Video Games” essay in the textbook appendix.
4. Trump’s “America First” speech: trump-foreign-policy-speech
5. George Washington’s Farewell Address (just the highlighted  foreign policy parts): washington-farewell-address

Today’s class

1. Discussion of subjective judgements vs objective facts, using a worksheet of sample sentences from student responses. Download the worksheet here: subjective-vs-objective-worksheet
   1. In academic essays, avoid purely subjective, personal opinions, unless you can support them with objective facts.
      1. E.g. “His ideas are old-fashioned.”
         1. If you use such a statement in an academic essay, you must
            1. give an objective definition of “old-fashioned”
            2. show how the writer’s ideas are old-fashioned using examples from the original.
   2. Textbook: practice paraphrasing, quoting and citing
      1. p. 120 Practice 5
      2. p. 121 Practice 6
      3. p. 123 Practice 7.

Homework

Write a simple 5-paragraph (or more)  response  essay to this video clip below.

1. Your introductory paragraph must include a short summary of the episode, the main lessons it teaches about English study and about life, and whether you agree with those lessons or not and why.
2. The other paragraphs should deal with the main lessons that you select from the video.
3. Use the English subtitles for quoting directly from the video, or use paraphrasing.
4. Finally, cite the original source. The URL is https://youtu.be/AEnO6uYMX4g
   1. Use this format for the citation but without the parentheses:  “(Name of video).” YouTube, uploaded by (name of uploader), 6 June 2016 (date uploaded), www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBlpjSEtELs (URL, see above or visit YouTube).

Today’s class

1. Review homework.
2. Read the sample “response” essay and answer the questions below. The essay is a response to reading “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau. (click the links to read more. Click here to read about Walden in Japanese and here to read about Thoreau in Japanese)
   1. What is the theme of “Walden”?
   2. Does the writer think Thoreau achieved his goal?
   3. What is the subject (topic) of the long paragraph 2?
   4. How many reasons does the writer give for his opinion?
   5. Do you notice anything else about the essay?
3. Textbook,
   1. p 120-1 Practice 5
   2. p. 121 Practice 6 (#1~#3)
   3. p. 123 Practice 7 (#1~#3).

Homework:

• Re-write your second draft response to one of the two essays in the Appendix to the textbook pp. 162-165. This will be your final version. Print out and bring to class next Friday (Dec. 4th). If you will be absent next class, please email it to me.
  • A “response essay” is NOT a 感想文.
  • You are not writing mainly about the topic (violent video games or homework). You are writing about the article (either the Amanda Shaffer one, or the Alfie Kohn one).
  • First, you need to take a position for or against the article (not the topic), and write your position clearly in the first paragraph.
  • summarize the article’s main points and give your response to each together with your reasons why you agree (or disagree) with the points in the article.
    • E.g.,you disagree because
      • the facts in the article are false (e.g. “It is not true that capitalism is responsible for the increasing income inequality. Instead, capitalism is responsible for overall growth in income and wealth; income inequality is partly a natural phenomenon because people are not equal, but it is made worse by the policies of government and central banks.”
      • or because the argument is weak (e.g. “Automation does cause some job losses, but it also creates new jobs that did not exist before. For example, cars and trains automated long-distance travel by replacing horses. Many jobs related to horses were lost (e.g. horse farmers, horse trainers, horse riders, etc.). However, many new jobs were created by automation, e.g. car and train drivers and mechanics, factory workers, engineers, designers, etc. To say that automation destroys jobs is therefore a weak argument.”)
        
      • or because the writer does not provide enough evidence, e.g. “The writer says that the government knows exactly where the dictator has stocks of dangerous weapons, but does not give the exact locations.”)
      • or because the evidence is weak (e.g. “The author says that ‘research link[s] violent video games to increased aggression’ (162), but the research does not show a clear link, it only ‘suggests’ that ‘violent video games may be more likely to’ lead to aggressive behaviour. It may, but also it may not. The evidence does not support the author’s claim.”)
  • Your reasons should include as many objective facts as possible.
  • Your personal belief is not an argument.  Simply stating your belief is not persuasive and should not be used in an academic essay.

Today’s class:

1. In groups of 4 or 5, read each others’ essays.
2. Hand in your second draft of your “Response essay”.
3. Read the sample academic reading #6 “David Cameron’s porn filter”,  Sample academic reading 6 .
   1. To understand “censorship creep” in the title, you need to understand “mission creep”. Click the link to read a Japanese translation.
   2. Then answer these questions:
      1. What was “always the intention”, according to the article?
      2. What non-pornographic sites were also filtered?
      3. Does the author think that a “social or moral framework” is necessary for the Internet?
      4. What is the evidence, according to the article, that pornography harms young people?
      5. What does the author think the real purpose of the “porn filter” is?
      6. What do you think “extremism” means, and why does the author put it in quotation marks (“..”)?
      7. What does the author mean by “in the name of protecting children”?
   3. Textbook:
      1. read page 118 D
      2. page 120 E and practice 5
      3. page 121 F and practice 6
      4. page 122 G and practice 7.