If any of you have questions, clarifications, uncertanties or doubts concerning any area of the subject, please post them as comments and I will do my best to reply to them asap.

These are my thousand to you.

For now!

Go here for a bookish message!

After just tantalizing morsels of information about a fascinating subject, here are some sites to provide you with background knowledge.

Something easy to start you off, a site by an American teacher.

Then, trek on down to egyptonline, for more information.

The American channel PBS, is one which provides quality broadcasts, and their site mirrors their focus on great graphics and writing.

PBS Nova has an earlier site on Egypt, just as good and worthwhile visiting.

Finally, National Geographic will never fail to disappoint.

Go here for some insights on pyramids while King Tut waits here.

Enjoy and learn.

The quotes that I did not, for some reason or another, share with you last term.

My sincerest apologies.

Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.
Baltasar Gracian

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All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from, and to, and why. James Thurber

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I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.
Marie Curie:

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The purpose of life is a life of purpose.

Robert Byrne

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Work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed.
Vaclav Havel

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Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.
Henry David Thoreau

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Do something every day that you don’t want to do; this is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain.
Mark Twain

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Strong reasons make strong actions.
William Shakespeare

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Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.
Pablo Picasso

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A discovery is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind.
Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

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Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value.
Albert Einstein

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The first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: Decide what you want.
Ben Stein

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Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.
Mark Twain

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We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.
Abigail Adams

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To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.
Joseph Chilton Pearce

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We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?
Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451, 1953

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Facing it, always facing it, that’s the way to get through. Face it.
Joseph Conrad

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When you make a world tolerable for yourself, you make a world tolerable for others.
Anais Nin

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All things are difficult before they are easy.
Dr. Thomas Fuller

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If you believe everything you read, better not read.
Japanese Proverb

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We must learn our limits. We are all something, but none of us are everything.
Blaise Pascal

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Now there is one outstandingly important fact regarding Spaceship Earth, and that is that no instruction book came with it.
Buckminister Fuller

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Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.
Carl Jung

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It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.
Epictetus

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Three passions have governed my life:
The longings for love, the search for knowledge,
And unbearable pity for the suffering of [humankind].

Love brings ecstasy and relieves loneliness.
In the union of love I have seen
In a mystic miniature the prefiguring vision
Of the heavens that saints and poets have imagined.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge.
I have wished to understand the hearts of [people].
I have wished to know why the stars shine.

Love and knowledge led upwards to the heavens,
But always pity brought me back to earth;
Cries of pain reverberated in my heart
Of children in famine, of victims tortured
And of old people left helpless.
I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot,
And I too suffer.

This has been my life; I found it worth living.
(adapted)
Bertrand Russell

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My friend, if I could give you one thing, I would give you the ability to see yourself as others see you… then you would realize what a truly special person you are.
Barbara A. Billings

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Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning.

~ Albert Einstein

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Mistakes are the portals of discovery.
- James Joyce

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One who has health has hope, and one who has hope has everything.

~ Arabic proverb

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Experience is the worst teacher; it gives the test before presenting the lesson.
- Vernon Law

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We did not change as we grew older; we just became more clearly ourselves.
Lynn Hall,

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If A is success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.
Albert Einstein

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I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
Bill Cosby

This is research reading/writing activity. By the end I hope you will locate inaccuracies about living conditions on Venus in the story “All Summer in a Day.”

More specifically, I hope you will work independently to locate 5 inaccuracies within the short story, “All Summer in a Day.” You will also give a brief explanation as to why the information is inaccurate.

Finally, you will think about what would be needed to build a colony on Venus.

1. You will create original settings for a colony on Venus.
2. You will explain how your settings are more realistic than the setting in “All Summer in a Day.”

Each of you should type at least one paragraph describing the proposed colony, as well as one to two paragraphs explaining why/how your setting is more realistic than the setting in “All Summer in a Day.”
Below are links to help you in your research.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus

http://www.space.com/venus/

http://www.aerospaceguide.net/planet/planetvenus.html

http://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Venus/VenusWater.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4335628.stm
Lastly, answer these questions below. All writing should be done in the comments section.

Which link was most helpful? Why?

Which offered the most interesting points for you? Why?

Did you find any contradictory information ? Why?

Why do you think Ray Bradbury used so much ‘poetic license’ in writing the story? Why did he not abide by the ‘scientific’ facts?

What do you think is the most important plot or story element? Which canot be changed, modified or taken out without changing or affecting the original story?

A site that caters to online presentations held a competition for best presentation. A panel of judges chose the 3 best entries.
[slideshare id=33834&doc=shift-happens-33834-906&w=425]

This won first prize for best presentation.

[slideshare id=32915&doc=sustainable-food-lab-6679&w=425]

This won third prize.

What do you think?

These are some notes on writing that will hopefully provide insight and information as to how to make your writing better and more effective and make all of you more knowledgeable and creative writers.

Some of the points are repeated (though written/expressed in a different way) to reinforce some important/salient aspects. Bear with them!
Please feel free, as always to post comments, questions and points of clarification; or better still, try out some of the ideas here.

POV

First Person
This is the “I” story.
The broken shutter in the window creaked a warning. I flung myself across the table, covering as best I could my neat piles of papers, as a draft of cold wind scoured into the room…
The benefit of first person is its immediacy and intimacy. You are really inside the head of the person telling the story. This is good for character stories, but not as good for certain kinds of tension stories. You can therefore say that first person’s focus might not be on what happens so much as how it happens. In other words, we know a first person protagonist lives; we just don’t know what that means.
A first person narrator can therefore be what is called an Unreliable Narrator. This means that what the person says about a situation, character, or action, might not be true. Readers can sometimes enjoy discovering that the narrator is unreliable–discovering, for example, that in spite of the fervent dislike of the narrator for a certain young duke, he’s really not a bad guy after all.

FIRST PERSON “I” “me”

*Narrator as major participant

*Narrator as observer and major participant

*Non-participant narrator or reporter (less common)

Advantages of First Person

*Eyewitness account gives immediacy, realism

*Author can create dramatic irony

Disadvantages of First Person 

*No direct interpretation by the author

*Bias or limited knowledge of narrator

*Danger that narrator may transcend her knowledge

The First Person
A story written in the first person is told by an “I,” where “I” can be the main character, a less important character witnessing events, or a person retelling a story they were told by someone else. This point of view is often effective in giving a sense of closeness to the character. It can be very easy to get the reader to identify or sympathize with your main character when the reader is seeing everything through that character’s eyes.
There are some important things to consider when writing in first person, though. First of all, you need to decide how this story is being told. Is the character writing it down? Telling it out loud? Thinking it to their self? And if they are writing it down, is it something meant to be read by the public? Or is it a private diary? A story meant for one other person? The way the first person narrator is relating the story will affect how you write it, the language you choose, the length of your sentences, your tone of voice and many other things. The reader should have at least some sense of this as well. The way they interpret a story could be very different if it is told as a secret diary or if it is a public statement.
Another aspect to think about is how much time has elapsed between when the character experienced the events of the story and when they decided to tell them. If only a few days have passed, the story could be related very differently than if the character was reflecting on events of the distant past. Also think about why the character is telling the story. What is their motivation? Are they just trying to clear up events for their own peace of mind? Make a confession about a wrong they did? Or tell a good adventure tale to their beer-guzzling friends? The reason why a story is told will also affect how it is written, and you at least should know the answer, even if it never makes its way into the text. And not only Why? but Why now?
A first person narrative is often more effective when it is a first person narrator telling someone else’s story (in other words, when the narrator is not the main character). This allows a certain distance between the narrator and the events which is impossible for the main character. On the other hand, the inability to see the bigger picture can sometimes be exploited to good effect. Whether or not your narrator is actually telling the truth is another big question (and one your readers will ask, so you’d best think about it, too).
First Person Protagonist:

For this point of view, a character relates events that occurred to them; the “I” is the main character, telling her or his own story.
I missed the bus that morning because I couldn’t convince myself to get out of bed. It was just too cosy under the comforter, with the cat curled up next to me. I was going to have to walk all the way to work.
First Person Witness:

The story of the main character is told by another character observing the events.
She missed the bus. She’d probably spent an hour arguing with herself that she really should get up. I could picture her there, curled up in bed with the cat next to her. Now she was going to have to walk to work.

First Person Re-teller:

The story is told, not by a witness to the events, but by someone who has heard the story from yet another person.
She missed the bus. I don’t know why; probably couldn’t get out of bed. You know how warm it gets when you’re all curled up in the blankets. She had a cat, too, and somehow a cat makes it harder to get up in the morning. So she missed the bus, and would have to walk all the way to work

Point Of View–

By Carolyn Miller
When a person wishes to write a story, one of the first things he must do is choose how he wants the narrative voice to sound. In a story, the author is not the one who tells it, but the voice that has been created. The writer can decide which choice will best make his story come alive and stamp an impression on the reader. These choices, called point of view, are really not hard to understand or recognize. They are person, number, and tense.

The point of view, person, is divided into three choices: First Person, Second Person, and Third Person.

The First Person is when the narrative voice refers to itself, as I. An example would be: “Will we move away from here?” I ask, the thought of leaving disturbing me. (Taken from “I am Regina”)

The Second Person is more of a rare one that the others. This one refers to the reader as you, thereby putting the reader in the story. An example of this is: “You are walking down the street on a wet and cold night, when you suddenly hear a low growl behind you.”

The Third Person, most commonly used, is when the narrative voice refers to the other characters. For instance, “Ye got no call to be afeared,” he said roughly. “I ain’t aimin’ to hurt ye none.” (Taken from “Across Five Aprils”)

The next point of view, tense, is also divided into three parts: past, present, and future. The following are examples for each of these starting with past. She saw the expression on his face, but ignored it. Present: “Perhaps you would be surprised to hear, Dr. Carter, that Mr. Taylor went deaf very suddenly last week?” Anne sat back, having thrown her bomb. (Taken from “Anne of Windy Poplars”)  And last of all, “I will never blot out his name from the book of life…”

The last point of view is Number. Number is either singular or plural. There is one of each for First Person and Third Person. Singular First Person would be the narrator referring to himself, and is not part of a group, as in: “I watched the thunderstorm.” Plural First Person is when the narrative voice constantly refers to itself as part of the group. We watched the thunderstorm. Third Person Singular is when the narrative voice is observing one individual character. An example is He glared at his captor with intense hate. Or She watched her kitten play with the mouse. Third Person plural refers to a group of two or more people, as in, They watched the barn go up in flames. Or strange things always seemed to happen to them.

Perhaps now the choices of point of view are more clear and recognizable; this is my deepest hope. The three elements are what an author has to create a narrative voice for his story. Using just these three, authors have been able to create thousands of interesting stories. And thousands more are still out there to be created!

Narrative Voice

Someone in your story has to tell us that Jeff pulled out his gun, that Samantha smiled at the tall stranger, that daylight was breaking over the valley. That someone is the narrator or “author’s persona.”
The author’s persona of a fictional narrative can help or hinder the success of the story. Which persona you adopt depends on what kind of story you are trying to tell, and what kind of emotional atmosphere works best for the story.
The persona develops from the personality and attitude of the narrator, which are expressed by the narrator’s choice of words and incidents. These in turn depend on the point of view of the story.
First-person point of view is usually subjective: we learn the narrator’s thoughts, feelings, and reactions to events. In first-person objective, however, the narrator tells us only what people said and did, without comment.
Other first-person modes include:
¶the observer-narrator, outside the main story (examples: Mr. Lockwood in Wuthering Heights, Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby)
¶detached autobiography (narrator looking back on long-past events)
¶multiple narrators (first-person accounts by several characters)
¶interior monologue (narrator recounts the story as a memory; stream of consciousness is an extreme form of this narrative)
¶dramatic monologue (narrator tells story out loud without major interruption)
¶letters or diary (narrator writes down events as they happen; narrative told through letters is also known as the epistolary novel)
If the point of view is first-person, questions about the persona are simple: the character narrating the story has a particular personality and attitude, which is plausibly expressed by the way he or she describes events.
The second-person mode is rare: You knocked on the door. You went inside. Very few writers feel the need for it, and still fewer use it effectively.
If the point of view is third-person limited, persona again depends on the single character through whose eyes we witness the story. You may go inside the character’s mind and tell us how that character thinks and feels, or you may describe outside events in terms the character would use. Readers like this point of view because they know whom to “invest” in or identify with.
In third-person objective, we have no entry to anyone’s thoughts or feelings. The author simply describes, without emotion or editorializing, what the characters say and do. The author’s persona here is almost non-existent. Readers may be unsure whose fate they should care about, but it can be very powerful precisely because it invites the reader to supply the emotion that the persona does not. This is the persona of Icelandic sagas, which inspired not only Ernest Hemingway but a whole generation of “hard-boiled” writers.
If the point of view is third-person omniscient, however, the author’s persona can develop in any of several directions.
1. “Episodically limited.” Whoever is the point of view for a particular scene determines the persona. An archbishop sees and describes events from his particular point of view, while a pickpocket does so quite differently. So the narrator, in a scene from the archbishop’s point of view, has a persona quite different from that of the pickpocket: a different vocabulary, a different set of values, a different set of priorities. (As a general rule, point of view should not change during a scene. So if an archbishop is the point of view in a scene involving him and a pickpocket, we shouldn’t suddenly switch to the pickpocket’s point of view until we’ve resolved the scene and moved on to another scene.)
2. “Occasional interruptor.” The author intervenes from time to time to supply necessary information, but otherwise stays in the background. The dialogue, thoughts and behavior of the characters supply all other information the reader needs.
3. “Editorial commentator.” The author’s persona has a distinct attitude toward the story’s characters and events, and frequently comments on them. The editorial commentator may be a character in the story, often with a name, but is usually at some distance from the main events; in some cases, we may even have an editorial commentator reporting the narrative of someone else about events involving still other people. The editorial commentator is not always reliable; he or she may lie to us, or misunderstand the true significance of events.
Third-person omniscient gives you the most freedom to develop the story, and it works especially well in stories with complex plots or large settings where we must use multiple viewpoints to tell the story. It can, however, cause the reader to feel uncertain about whom to identify with in the story. If you are going to skip from one point of view to another, start doing so early in the story, before the reader has fully identified with the original point of view.
The author’s persona can influence the reader’s reaction by helping the reader to feel close to or distant from the characters. Three major hazards arise from careless use of the persona:
1. Sentimentality. The author’s editorial rhetoric tries to evoke an emotional response that the story’s events cannot evoke by themselves—something like a cheerleader trying to win applause for a team that doesn’t deserve it. A particular problem for the “editorial commentator.”
2. Mannerism. The author’s persona seems more important than the story itself, and the author keeps reminding us of his or her presence through stylistic flamboyance, quirks of diction, or outright editorializing about the characters and events of the story. Also a problem for the editorial commentator. However, if the point of view is first person, and the narrator is a person given to stylistic flamboyance, quirks of diction, and so on, then the problem disappears; the persona is simply that of a rather egotistical individual who likes to show off.
3. Frigidity. The persona’s excessive objectivity trivializes the events of the story, suggesting that the characters’ problems need not be taken seriously: a particular hazard for “hardboiled” fiction in the objective mode, whether first person or third person.
Verb tense can also affect the narrative style of the story. Most stories use the past tense:
I knocked on the door. She pulled out her gun.
This is usually quite adequate although flashbacks can cause awkwardness:
I had knocked on the door. She had pulled out her gun.
A little of that goes a long way.
Be careful to stay consistently in one verb tense unless your narrator is a person who might switch tenses:
So I went to see my probation officer, and she tells me I can’t hang out with my old buddies no more.
Some writers achieve a kind of immediacy through use of the present tense:
I knock on the door. She pulls out her gun.
We don’t feel anyone knows the outcome of events because they are occurring as we read, in “real time.” Some writers also enjoy the present tense because it seems “arty” or experimental.
But most readers of genre fiction don’t enjoy the present tense, so editors are often reluctant to let their authors use it.

NARRATIVE VOICE

An important decision an author must make before writing a story is who will ‘tell’ it to the reader. This ‘person’ supplies the story’s narrative voice and is called the story’s narrator. There are two main choices: a story can be told either through one of its characters (usually the protagonist – using the first person pronoun, ‘I’) or by a person outside the story itself (which seems often to be that of the author and which uses the third person pronouns ‘he’, ’she’ or ‘they’). Most importantly, it is the narrative voice that creates a particular kind of relationship with the reader that mediates all that the reader can understand about other characters and the events and ideas of the story.
Working out and considering the effects of the author’s particular choice of narrative voice adds to your understanding of the characters, the story and the themes. How obvious is this voice? What are its qualities – its effects on you, the reader? Does it seem entirely trustworthy? Is it reliable? Is it educated? Is it biased towards a particular character or way of viewing society? Working out how the narrative voice mediates what you come to know and understand about the characters, events and themes is a key exam and coursework skill – and is highly rewarded as it is classed as a high level skill.

First Person Narrative
The important thing to remember here is the limitations of this choice of narrator: a first person narrator is limited by time and place, by who they are, by what they know and what other characters tell them. But this choice of narrator is able to create a close relationship with the reader – indeed, it is highly possible for the reader to feel as if they are the narrator in this kind of narrative, so close is the relationship that develops.
Third Person Narrative
A third person narrator can ’see’ and ‘tell’ everything about each character, and be anywhere at any time, able to judge and comment upon events and characters at will; however, third person narrators are usually not neutral and are given limited and biased viewpoints by the writer such that the narrative voice leads the reader to support the ‘hero’ and criticise the ‘villain’. A third person narrator is sometimes referred to as an omniscient narrator when the viewpoint is more neutral and ‘all-knowing’.

Third person dramatic or objective
•    Like a camera, narrator reports only what can be seen and heard; no thoughts of characters are given except as spoken.

Advantages of Dramatic or Objective

*Impartial report
*Offers most speed, action
*Reader must interpret

Disadvantages of Dramatic

*Author cannot interpret
*Relies heavily on action and dialogue

Third Person Omniscient

*The all-knowing narrator (like God) gives thoughts of and judgments about the characters as well as details of action and dialogue.

Advantages of Omniscient

*God-like narrator gives thoughts of character, dimension to story

*Most flexible; author can control omniscience

Disadvantages of Omniscient

*Author can come between reader and story

*Shifting from character to character may destroy unity

Third Person Limited Omniscient

*Narrator focuses on actions, thoughts, feelings of a single major character.

Point of View Character

*In third limited point of view, the narrator stands by the elbow of this character and we experience the story as this person does. We only know the thoughts of this character.

Advantages of Limited Omniscient

*Realistic, we see world through one person
*Ready-made unifying element
*Useful characterization of point-of-view character
Disadvantages of Limited Omniscient

*Limited field of observation
*Difficulty having character aware of all important events

The Meaning of Life: Theme

Don’t confuse the theme with the topic; the former is a broad statement about reality; the latter, the subject of the narrative. A theme might be “War is hell”; the subject, World War II.
Effective narratives do more than entertain; they often suggest a truth about life, a theme. This observation touches a cord within your readers and makes your story memorable. It can even help lift your writing to the level of Art.
Here are some sample themes:
•    People are capable of great heroism when put to the test.
•    Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
•    The world is a lonely and bitter place.
•    You can’t recapture the past.
•    It’s a dog-eat-dog world.

Some notes to help you prepare your ’sales pitch’ for your novels.

The Basic Principles of Persuasive Writing

Persuasive writing is writing that sets out to influence or change an audience’s thoughts or actions.

We are subjected to persuasion everyday from the time we wake up until the time we go to bed. When you turn on and listen to the radio, read the papers or watch the television. different groups of people are trying to persuade you about something.

Whenever you buy a product or use a service, your choice has likely been influenced by a persuasive marketing ad. There are, of course, many occupations where persuasion is a skill used on an everyday basis. Lawyers, teachers, clergy members, and journalists are just a few.

The point is that understanding persuasive strategies can help you in two very important ways:

1) Knowing the strategies helps you analyse the strategies other people are using to persuade you. This way you can protect yourself when, for example, unethical marketers are trying to take advantage of you.

2) Knowing the strategies helps you to choose which is the most effective way to persuade an audience.

How do we get others to accept our point of view?

1. by appealing to their reason
2. by appealing to their emotions
3. by the appeal of our good character

1) Appealing to Reason:

Remember that an argument is an appeal to a person’s sense of reason; it is not a violent fight, dispute, or disagreement. It is a measured, logical way of trying to persuade others to agree with you.

One critical thing to remember that there are at least two sides to every issue. If you take the attitude that there is only one side–your side–you will quite likely alienate your reader.

You need, then, to choose one side of an issue clearly in an effort to persuade others. If you’re unsure of your own stance, how can you expect other people to assess, understand, and be convinced by your position?

Example:

Issue: Should my father stop smoking?

Position: Yes

Questions you may ask (Your reasoning skills often depend on what we call “common sense”):

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Do I have enough evidence? (Is it sufficient?)
• Will my audience believe my evidence? (Is it trustworthy?)
• What are the assumptions built into my argument, and are those assumptions fair? (Is it verifiable?)
• Does my conclusion follow logically from the claims I make?

There are two basic types of reasoning processes: Deduction and Induction

DEDUCTION: begins with a general principle or premise and draws a specific conclusion from it.

ex. All people who smoke endanger their health. (major premise)

My father smokes. (minor premise)

Therefore, my father is endangering her health. (conclusion)

Is this a strong argument?

• you need to offer evidence in support of your claims
• it may be impossible to prove a cause-effect link between my father’s smoking and his declining health

Other issues you may bring in to support your argument:

• 2nd hand smoke / impact on family and friends
• the staggering number of people over 60 years old who die from lung cancer

INDUCTION: supports a general conclusion by examining specific facts or cases.

Ex. If I was to argue that my father was endangering his health, I might cite specific symptoms:

• His teeth are yellowish and he’s lost a considerable amount of weight.
• He’s no longer able to cycle his 25km every morning.
• Whenever he exerts himself physically, he ends up coughing extremely hard.

Other Logical Appeals?

You could cite smoking/cancer statistics, authority in the form of the Surgeon General, financial costs etc…

2) Appealing to Emotion:

The logical appeal is certainly an extremely persuasive tool. However, our human nature also lets us be influenced by our emotions.

One way of evoking emotion in your reader is to use vivid images.

Ex. (to my father who smokes): “I remember when Grandma died of lung cancer. It was the first time I had ever seen you cry Dad. I remember that you also made me promise not to start smoking.”

You could also offer vivid examples in support of your argument. Use language and/or images that are emotionally charged:

• You might detail the pain of going through chemo therapy.
• You could use Xrays of diseased lungs, or photos of cancerous gums.

Be careful, however, that when you use emotional appeal, you use it “legitimately.” You should not use it as a substitute for logical and/or ethical appeals. Don’t use emotional appeals to draw on stereotypes or manipulate our emotional fears. Don’t use emotional appeal to get an automatic, knee-jerk reaction from someone. If you use emotionally charged language or examples simply to upset or anger an audience, you are using emotion illegitimately. Your use of emotional appeal shouldn’t oversimplify a complicated issue.

3) Appealing to our good character:

The appeal of your ethics can occur on one or more of the following levels in any given argument:

1. Are you a reasonable person? (That is, are you willing to listen, compromise, concede points?)
2. Are you authoritative? (Are you experienced and/or knowledgeable in the field you are arguing in?)
3. Are you an ethical/moral person (Is what you’re arguing for ethically sound/morally right)
4. Are you concerned for the well-being of your audience? (To what extent will you benefit as a result of arguing from your particular position?)

The ethical appeal is based on the audience’s perception of the speaker. Therefore, the audience must trust the speaker in order to accept the arguments. Don’t overlook ethical appeal, as it can be the most effective of the three.

Elements of a Good Argument:

Remember to identify any unfamiliar or uniquely used terms in your argument.

If you forget to define your terms (or choose not to define them) you run the risk of alienating your audience, confusing them, or causing them to come to inappropriate conclusions.

For example, before making the argument that teachers should “monitor” their students, the word monitor should be defined. Does “monitor” include eavesdropping on their group discussions? Does it include accessing their registrar’s files to see how well (or how poorly) the students are doing in their other classes? Does it mean reading their e-mail in an online course without their knowledge? You would want to be clear about such a term so that someone wouldn’t misinterpret its usage in a particular context.

You Must Ensure that Your Evidence is Convincing:

Convincing evidence will satisfy the following questions:

• Is the evidence sufficient in volume? That is, is there is enough evidence to present a strong, indisputable case.
• Is the evidence trustworthy? Does it come from reliable, informed sources.
• Is the evidence verifiable? That is, can you corroborate it through other sources. Is the evidence factual, or does it rest solely on opinion?

Appeal to authority:

If you are drawing on an authoritative, expert figure to back up what you say, is the authority actually reliable? When trying to determine whether someone is an authority, consider the following elements:

1. Is your expert a current authority on the specific subject in question?
2. Is your expert up-to-date on the most current procedures, statistics, testing programmes etc.
3. Is your expert viewed favourably by their peers? Is he/she respected in the field?
4. Is your expert associated with reputable organizations?
5. Is your expert as free of bias as possible?

Remember that when quoting a source you must be careful that you don’t accidentally (or intentionally) take the quote out of context, changing the original meaning.

Keep in mind, as well, that your authority should be knowledgeable about the subject; he/she should not simply be someone famous. A celebrity endorsement is not quite the same as expert opinion (unless the celebrity is endorsing a product that she/he uses.)

Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ross Rebagliati may be an expert when it comes to endorsing snowboard wax, but he’s not necessarily an expert when asked about the national unity debate. Bryan Adams’ celebrity status does not make his an expert authority on the national economy, but he would be a reliable, trustworthy source if you asked him about building recording studios.

In addition, you want to ensure that the authority you are using is still current in the field. For example, you might not want to use a long-retired politician like Pierre Trudeau as your focus expert on the state of the unity issue in Canada today.

Remember that the most successful arguments often combine the three appeals. With that in mind, be very careful about relying solely on logic in an argument. Use a combination of appeals to allow for a more balanced argument. An audience may readily become resistant to your argument if you rest solely on a particular line of reasoning that they fundamentally disagree with.

Improper Evaluation of Statistics:

Using statistics, studies and surveys can be very persuasive if they are used ethically and accurately.

Ask yourself the following questions before using this kind of evidence:

1. Were the survey questions as objective as possible?
2. Was the sample pool representative or biased?
3. Are the statistics accurately tabulated?
4. Have the statistics been taken out of context?
5. Is there enough context provided so that the reader gets a clear view of any pre-existing bias?

Another way of looking at it

Bringing About Change

Persuasive speakers plan to secure behavioural changes in their listeners by influencing thinking and motivating action. Persuasive speakers attempt to modify their listeners’ attitudes and values, and alter their listeners’ beliefs. Attitudes, values, and beliefs are interconnected, but differ in their meanings.

Organizing for Persuasive Speaking

Choosing a Topic

Students should keep the following three guidelines in mind when they are selecting a topic for their persuasive speech. Good topics are:

• controversial
• clear
• supported by evidence.

Stating the Proposition

Your proposition must be in the form of a declarative sentence which states a claim. There are four general types of propositions: propositions of fact, value, policy, and definition.

A fact claim is a statement about how things were in the past, how they are in the present, or how they will be in the future. A fact claim is not a fact; it only claims to be a fact. What makes it arguable is that the speaker has no direct way of establishing the truth of the claim. For example, “The Earth is round” is a proven fact. “In our right-handed world, left-handed people are discriminated against” is a fact claim. A persuasive speaker must provide arguments which build a case in favour of the claim, showing that the claim is probably true, or at least is more likely true than false.

Value claims are arguable statements concerning the relative merits of something which is measured subjectively (e.g., “Victoria is a better place to go for summer vacation than Calgary”). What makes a value claim arguable is that different people may disagree on the criteria used to evaluate something (e.g., weather, live entertainment, water sports). Differing value claims may be used to argue the value of a variety of topics (e.g., movies, styles of living, community organizations). Defending a value claim involves offering a set of criteria for consideration, defending the set of criteria as legitimate, and showing how applying the criteria justifies the claim.

A policy claim is a statement regarding the merits of one course of action as opposed to other courses of action. What makes a policy claim arguable is that, even though people and institutions may not be totally certain about the proper course of action to take, they still must act. To argue in defence of a policy claim is to state that, given the knowledge we have at the present time, it is best to act in the manner proposed rather than in some alternative way.

A definition claim is a statement telling how a particular word or phrase should be defined in a certain context. A definition claim is arguable because different people use the same word in contradictory ways. Therefore, the claims made by different people may also be contradictory, when these claims are based on their own special interpretations of word usage and meaning.

Principles of Persuasion

Students should keep the following principles in mind when they are preparing persuasive speeches:

• People are more likely to change their behaviour if the proposition asks for a small change rather than a large change in their lives (e.g., trying one vegetarian meal rather than becoming total vegetarians).
• People are more likely to consider changing their behaviour if the change will benefit them more than it will cost them. Consider the costs to the audience in terms of money, time commitment, energy, and skill.
• People are more likely to change their behaviour if the change meets their needs. Needs vary in different communities, in different schools, and in different individuals.
• People are more likely to change their behaviour if suggested change is approached gradually in the talk. Move from arguments which the audience will find most acceptable to those which the audience will find more difficult to accept.

Using Persuasive Strategies

Three basic strategies used in persuasion are appeal to reason, appeal to audience emotion, and appeal to audience needs. Speakers should remember their ethical responsibilities and not use dishonest or misleading persuasive appeals.

Listening Critically to Persuasive Speaking

The critical listener raises certain questions concerning the meaning of what is said and the intention of the speaker. The critical listener analyzes the persuasive speech, yet withholds judgement until there is enough data for drawing conclusions. Some questions the critical listener might ask include:

• What is this speaker’s goal?
• Is the problem as important as this speaker says it is?
• Is there enough evidence presented to justify an acceptance of the speaker’s claim?
• Are there pieces of evidence or arguments which have not been introduced?
• Has the speaker provided sources for the data which is presented?
• Does the speaker cover up the main issue through the use of less important examples or details?
• Is the speaker sincere?
• Are the speaker’s arguments logical?
• Has the speaker tried to manipulate me by appealing to certain emotions or needs that I have?

Listeners will add questions or change them to suit their own purposes and needs, depending on the uniqueness of each persuasive talk.

INTRO

An Idiom is an expression (i.e. term or phrase) whose meaning cannot be deduced from the literal definitions and the arrangement of its parts, but refers instead to a figurative meaning that is known only through conventional use.

Or more simply …

An idiom is a group of words which, when used together, has a different meaning from the one which the individual words have. For example:

- How do you know about John’s illness?

- Oh, I heard it on the grapevine.

Of course, the second speaker does not mean he heard the news about John by putting his ear to a grapevine! He is conveying the idea of information spreading around a widespread network, visually similar to a grapevine.
The English language is full of idioms (over 15,000). Native speakers of English use idioms all the time, often without realising that they are doing so. This means that communication with native speakers of English can be quite a confusing experience.

We use idioms to express something that other words do not express as clearly or as cleverly. We often use an image or symbol to describe something as clearly as possible and thus make our point as effectively as possible. For example, “in a nutshell” suggests the idea of having all the information contained within very few words. Idioms tend to be informal and are best used in spoken rather than written English.
Idioms: the good news

Sometimes idioms are very easy for learners to understand because there are similar expressions in the speakers’ mother tongue. For example:

He always goes at things like a bull in a china shop!

Sometimes you can guess the meaning of new idioms from context. For example, what do you think these idioms mean?
1. He was on the carpet last week for being late for work three times.
2. She made a marvellous speech to the conference. She took the delegates by storm.
3. It was an extremely long report. It took me three hours to wade through.
4. I believe we should talk openly and frankly about the project – warts and all.
5. Let’s call it a day. I am very tired and we have covered the main points of the meeting I think.
Idioms: the bad news

However, idioms can often be very difficult to understand. You may be able to guess the meaning from context but if not, it is not easy to know the meaning. Many idioms, for instance, come from favourite traditional British activities such as fighting, sailing, hunting and playing games. As well as being quite specialist in meaning, some of the words in idioms were used two or three hundred years ago, or longer, and can be a little obscure. Here are some examples:
1. Now that the Prime Minister has been elected there will be a lot of jockeying for position to get the key posts in his administration.
2. I finally ran the book to earth in a second-hand bookshop in Wales. I had been searching for it for three years.
3. They took her ideas on board and decided to increase the budget.
4. You should fall in with our arrangements; we can’t make alternative plans for you.
5. We saw the boss at the bar but we gave him a wide berth. We did not want to talk to him then.
Read the following passage entitled “Step right up!”. What do you think the underlines words/phrases mean?

What effect/impact do you, the reader feel when reading the text?

What words/phrased can you replace the underlined words/phrases to make the passage more interesting or better/more effectively written. (Post under the comments section)

It was Sunday night and Allison was going to bed to take the load off her feet when she stopped dead in her tracks. She remembered that her project was due the very next day. Since this project was a major part of her grade, she knew that it was going to have to sweep her teacher off her feet.

Allison’s feet flew as she raced to her mom’s room. She threw herself at her mother’s feet begging for help. Her mother replied that sooner or later she would have to learn to stand on her own two feet. Allison knew that she had gotten off on the wrong foot starting so late and that she would have to step on the gas if she wanted to finish this paper. Then she knew that next time a paper was assigned she would have to get her foot in the door and take steps to prevent this from happening again.
Go to the following website which is a ‘dictionary’ of idioms. Use at least 5 of the idioms in a paragraph (not less than 75 words) based on the picture composition you all recently completed (the angry goat). (Post under the comments section)
Then rewrite the story (Post under the comments section) making as effective use of the same idioms as possible.

Think how they can be effectively used, and whether extensive use has compromised the quality of your story. (Post under the comments section)

Lastly, in groups of 4, choose an idiom to write a short script about. The idiom’s figurative meaning should be communicated by the narrative. The idiom’s literal meaning should be part of the dialogue or acted out.

E.g. ‘bury the hatchet’

A short skit could be written about two friends who argue and make up (bury the hatchet) but they show they are friends again through a ritual of burying an axe/hatchet as a good luck symbol! (To be presented on Monday 16/4/07)

Get cracking! Hoist your sails! Start your engines!

I hope the session you had on evaluating the web sites was a real “eye opener”; hope it was a “brain opener” too!

I hope all of you will take the time and effort to respond thoughfully and reflectively to the prompts I came up with in my last posting.

Remember, the point is not the DESTINATION(How did I do for the challenges/quizzes) but the JOURNEY (what did I learn and come to understand?)

Here is a list of micromodules (notes and more) on the criteria (what to look out for when evaluating a website) that you explored in the last posting. There are additional criteria to look at or take into consideration.

Please go through them on your own and post your comments, questions etc.

Who is the Publisher?

Is there Bias?

Who is the Author?

Is it current or up to date?

Which are the sites Linked To it?

Which are the sites Linked From it?

Expertise

Evidence

Accuracy

Here are some questions/prompts to help you along:

1) If you could rank the criteria, which would be your top two and bottom two criteria for evaluating a website? Why?

2) Which is the easiest and hardest criteria to apply to a website? Why?

3) Which criteria do you need help in to understand?

4) How do you feel about the internet or web sites after going through the ‘notes’?

Only after you have gone through, thought through, asked questions and made comments for all the micro-modules above, do you attempt the module below.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Digital Investigator Training

In this module you will learn to:

• evaluate the honesty of webpages
• evaluate the fairness of webpages
• discover the linkto trustworthiness of a website.

Understanding these ideas builds a foundation for thoughtful evaluation of webpages.Objectives:Expect to spend about 9 hours doing these assignments. By the end of this module you will be able to:

• Detect the honesty of an author
  • Pass a quiz on author honesty
• Explain clues about fairness
  • Recognize an author’s point of view
  • Pass a quiz on website fairness
• Perform a links to search
  • Find and evaluate pages linked to a webpage
  • Pass a quiz on using the link: tool

This module is for you to complete at your own time and pace. Remember, as always , to post your comments on what you are thinking, reflecting upon, pondering or questioning as you go through the site!