Window(s) - or Mac - Shopping

In this week's blog entry, students will evaluate a commercially available product or service using online comparative shopping tools. They will present their research in reviews that consider several evaluative techniques:

• Assessing the rhetorical situation,
• Stating an overall claim about the subject,
• Clarifying their criteria for evaluation,
• Stating a judgment for each criteria,
• Supporting each judgment with evidence, and
• Balancing their evaluation with both positive and negative comments.

 Their evaluations and reviews will feature products ranging from trucks to shoes to vacuum cleaners.

Interview with(out) a Vampire

Photo GNU license - Wikimedia Commons

Our Students are in the process of conducting interviews as the first step in preparing for an Investigative Paper. Their topics range from sports to social issues, yet they have all identified "experts" in the field of their research to interview.

The students will blog about their preparation processes, their question and thesis formulation, and about their findings from this hands-on step in the research process. Students will use the information gathered in the interview to shape their theses, to rethink their approaches, and to  guide their research.

The class has accessed a number of materials in textbooks, writing labs, and through online digital sources to prepare for the interviews and to contextualize this step of research in their project.