Kids, I miss you. Get to work.

I don't have anything against Thinking Maps!  I don't!  I think they're fine.  Maybe even wonderful.   In fact, today I learned how to apply the multiflow map to consider the difference between induction and deduction.  Remember that?  I suggested that you draw triangles. Nothing wrong with that, but the multiflow maps work better.

Anyway.  I miss you guys.  I'd rather be talking to you during this rather dicey time in our project. YOUR IDEA HAS TO GEL THIS WEEK, if it has not already.  Some of you look fine, like you are ready to begin, whereas others still seem a little lost at sea.  I wish I were with you to help you figure this out.  I'll write two more quick posts after this one:  one on vocab, one on research help and ideas.

So FIRST, I want you to work on your Toulmin Chart.  You should have received a handout today, right? Flip back to page 125 in Chapter 3 of Language of Composition in case you need a little deeper review of Toulmin.  This chart is going to help you understand and refine your argument -- once you have that worked out, you are ready to begin writing.

On FRIDAY (vocab quiz day), on a clean piece of printer paper, have your research question expressed as ONE or TWO concise English sentences (your headline, so to speak), with the Toulmin chart below,  filling the rest of the page, and filled with information -- the data, the claim, the warrants (aka the assumptions), the backing, qualifiers, and rebuttals.  Don't get all hung up on beauty.  Fill the chart with information.  I'm looking for AP work -- charts that are organized and thoughtful, speculative, dense, curious.  I want to see a mind at work -- not perfunctory "fill in the blank" kind of papers.  Honestly, think deeply about your topic.  Try to move beyond the superficial, the obvious, the beat-to-death.  Study your stasis notes.

NEXT, let's get into this even more deeply.  Once your chart is complete, look closely at the argument you intend to make, and write a 500-word draft (more or less) expressing some aspect of your argument in one of the ACADEMIC genres -- have it TYPED, and in class on Monday.  (NOT Friday, like the board said.  That's too quick)  Write something.  Make somebody care.  Make somebody understand.

ALSO, START your WORKS CITED page NOW.  Do not save this until the end.  Set up a Works Cited page according to MLA rules, and start filling it in.  Every time you find an article or source you are going to use, get it on that works page.  YOU MUST HAVE SIX legitimate sources, at minimum.

KEEP IN MIND THAT research means READING -- reading alertly, reading broadly, and reading a ton -- more than you intend to use.  If you tallied up all of your reading minutes, you should be somewhere over the 300 mark.  LEARN SOMETHING NEW.  Teach us something new as you write.  Don't just regurgitate a bunch of stuff...help us see your topic with new eyes.

PRINT OUT ONE article that you intend to use as a source.  Annotate it, and bring it in.  Watch the video I posted here called "Paperslide Précis" and get ready to craft one of these.

TUESDAY and FRIDAY of next week, we will be in the computer lab, working -- researching, crafting our researched pieces of writing.