Discussion Board Posting Instructions
Throughout the term you will post blog entries on the dates indicated on the syllabus. You must also comment on at least one of your classmates' postings within two days of the dates that they are due.
You must use MLA citation format to acknowledge the sources to which you refer or the images or media you incorporate in your postings.
For MLA style see https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
For quoting practices see: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/563/01/
and https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/03/
For avoiding plagiarism see: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/930/10/
Discussion Board Posting Rubric
The instructor will evaluate your postings using the following five point rubric above, ranging from 0 (no credit) to 4 (exceptional).
4: Exceptional. The posting is focused and coherently integrates examples with explanations or analysis. The author effectively analyzes one or more quotation(s) and an image or form of media. The entry demonstrates awareness of its own limitations or implications, and it considers multiple perspectives when appropriate. The entry reflects in-depth engagement with the topic.
3: Satisfactory. The posting is reasonable focused, and explanations or analysis are mostly based on examples or other evidence. Fewer connections are made between ideas, and though new insights are offered, they are not fully developed. The entry reflects moderate engagement with the topic.
2: Underdeveloped. The posting is mostly description or summary, without consideration of alternative perspectives, and few connections are made between ideas. The entry reflects passing engagement with the topic.
1: Limited. The posting unfocused, or simply rehashes previous comments, and displays no evidence of student engagement with the topic.
0: No Credit. The posting is missing or consists of one or two disconnected sentences.
Adapted from http://www.samplereality.com/2009/08/14/pedagogy-and-the-class-blog/
Discussion Board Posting 1: Syllabus Memes
As you learned in the introduction to Understanding Rhetoric, comics make meaning visually by combining words and text. Memes work in a similar, and often humorous, way. For your first discussion board posting, you will make a meme to teach your classmates about one aspect of the syllabus, such as when assignments are due, what discussion board postings involve, when one should go to the writing center, what constitutes plagiarism, when using phones or devices in class is appropriate, what class participation involves, or how many absences one is permitted. Make sure your meme is appropriate for an academic audience (G-Rated).
In addition to posting your meme on the Discussion Board, you will write a response of least 50 words addressing why the point that your meme makes matters and how its combination of image and text makes meaning. In the introduction to Understanding Rhetoric you will learn about visual literacy. As you discuss why you chose the design, content, and language that you did, make a connection to at least one point in the introduction to Understanding Rhetoric, citing the page number, and quoting the text if relevant.
You can use any application you would like to make your meme, including Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Snapchat, or Instagram, and saving your image (perhaps as a screenshot) to upload.
Some other tools include:
https://makeameme.org/
https://imgflip.com/memegenerator
https://builder.cheezburger.com/builder/
https://memegenerator.net/
This assignment was adapted from one by Dr. Andee Krafft and the example to the right is by her student.
Your posting will be evaluated using the Discussion Board Rubric. Remember to proofread your response.
You are also required to respond to at least one classmate’s posting within 48 hours of the deadline. See the rubric for guidelines regarding responses.
Discussion Board Posting 2: E. B. White and Edith Wharton
In this posting, you will assert an argument analyzing the way that E. B. White or Edith Wharton depict the humanity of New York City in "Here is New York" or Old New York. Your posting will be at least 250 words and analyze at least two quotations from the text you have selected to prove your thesis. You will need to select a narrow focus that you can analyze in depth. It may help to examine a particular character, moment, or set of moments in the text. You could also compare characters, moments, or aspects of New York life. Tracing the use of a word or phrase in the text might also help to focus and anchor your analysis.
Remember, you do not need to summarize course texts in your essay. Assume your readers have read the novel and only tell them what they need to know to understand your points.
Your posting must demonstrate correct use of MLA style and a correctly formatted list of works cited, including the course text you are addressing. While you are not required to consult additional sources, you must cite all sources that you consult, including webpages. Use parenthetical citations to acknowledge when you are quoting or citing others’ ideas. It is plagiarism to use others’ words or ideas without citing them.
Discussion Board Posting 3: Cornelius Eady
In this posting, you will assert an argument analyzing at least one poem by Cornelius Eady that we read.
Your posting will address one of the following questions:
1.) How is at least one of the poems relevant in today's world? What in them should readers know about? What in the text allows us to better understand our world and what light does our world shed on that of the text?
2.) How does at least one poem allow us to better understand New York? What does the poem teach us?
As you discuss the poem you have selected, you must analyze quotations from it to indicate the lines, images, words, or phrases to which you are referring. Unpack the poem and consider such aspects as the poem’s tone, form, word choice, allusions, and figurative language (similes and metaphors). Some of these terms are defined here.
Your posting must demonstrate correct use of MLA style and a correctly formatted list of works cited, including the course text you are addressing. While you are not required to consult additional sources, you must cite all sources that you consult, including webpages. Use parenthetical citations to acknowledge when you are quoting or citing others’ ideas. It is plagiarism to use others’ words or ideas without citing them.
Discussion Board Posting 4: Roland Barthes
What are today's mythologies? In this posting, you will critique a phenomenon, object, or practice in today's world (G Rated), following the example of Roland Barthes in Mythologies. In your posting, you will also analyze at least one quotation from one of Barthes's essays as you consider what your image teaches us about the twenty-first century. You might draw a comparison or contrast between your artifact and what Barthes is discussing, or a connection between a point Barthes makes and a point you would like to make.
If you and your group have already selected a topic or created an artifact, you can also use this posting to begin writing about it and drawing connections to Barthes's work.
You are also welcome to discuss one of Warhol's images or artifacts and address the ways that it dramatizes or demonstrates concepts that Barthes discusses. You can address its relevance in his world (with some research) or to our own. Make sure to include an image of the art you are addressing and cite any sources that you consult as you investigate.
Some sample topics include: iphones, water bottles, Facebook, Netflix, a video game.
Your posting must be at least 250 words, include an image or video clip of the artifact you are addressing and demonstrate correct use of MLA style.
You must use your own words, quote appropriately, and cite all sources you consult, including websites.
Discussion Board Posting 5: Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol's art critiqued the world in which he lived. For this posting, students will create an image critiquing our world. Postings will include this image and a 250-word rationale that addresses the image's subject, design, and audience. Drawing on our reading of Roland Barthes's short pieces in Mythologies, you will also analyze at least one quotations from at least one of Barthes's essays as you consider what your artifact teaches us about the twenty-first century.
You are welcome to use any applications that you would like to make your artifact, including Microsoft Word, Power Point, Instagram, Piktochart, Photoshop, or a combination of various tools. See here for sample images.
As you begin work, review resources regarding Warhol's technique and the significance of his work, including, How to Print Like Warhol, a discussion from the Khan Academy, and a documentary about Warhol's career. Cite and quote these resources and others you consult in your works cited.
Your posting must demonstrate correct use of MLA style and a correctly formatted list of works cited, including the course text you are addressing. While you are not required to consult additional sources, you must cite all sources that you consult, including webpages. Use parenthetical citations to acknowledge when you are quoting or citing others’ ideas. It is plagiarism to use others’ words or ideas without citing them.
Discussion Board Posting 6: Mong-Lan, Diaz, and Hayes
In preparation for your final projects, you will each make two to three minute screencasts using Canvas Studio. In your video, you will answer one of the following questions, discussing at least one line from one of the following poems:
Mong-Lan,"O New York!,"
Natalie Diaz, "Manhattan is a Lenape Word"
Terrance Hayes, "New York Poem"
1.) How is at least one of the poems relevant in today's world? What in them should readers know about? What in the text allows us to better understand our world and what light does our world shed on that of the text?
2.) What is the role of power in at least one of the poems? How is it similar to or differ from the ways we have seen power function in at least one other text we have read this term? Why is this similarity or difference significant?
3.) How does at least one text allow us to better understand New York? What does the text teach us?
Remember to cite all sources you consult, including a works cited page in your video. This list should include sources and links for images or media you include.