Journal Entry 22  Focus: Reflect on Unit 2  Please do this on a separate sheet of paper that you can add to your journals when they are returned  Take a few minutes to remember the content from unit 2 of our class and the most important items within. Since February, we have learned about drafting a research proposal, the use of APA formatting, the primary research process, and applied our rhetorical theories and strategies in our class debate.  What do you think the most important concepts from unit 2 were?  How has your research question or understanding of your topic changed since you wrote your exploratory narrative?  Was there any part of unit 2 that you found particularly easy or difficult?  How has this class compared to your other English or research-based classes in college thus far?  What was the most fun or easy activity in unit 2? The most difficult or onerous activity?  What did you find most useful from unit 2? I urge you here to consider your major or field of study and how you might use what you have learned in this field in the future.

Journal Entry 23  Focus: Publication Brainstorm  Based on our class activities and discussion, begin thinking about what publication you would like to use for your informative article.  Of the four publication types we have discussed in class (newspapers, magazines, scholarly articles, and research reports), which do you think would be most appropriate for your primary research topic and method?  What primary research method is most commonly used in that publication type? Does this align with your primary research method?  Within your publication type, what specific publications might be appropriate for your informative article?  If you have a specific publication in mind, what formatting and style conventions can be utilized to match that publication’s conventions?

Journal Entry 24  Focus: Research Experiences & Results  At this point in the development of your informative article, you should be completely (or very nearly) done with all of your primary research. Take a few minutes to reflect on that experience, considering the following issues:  Was conducting primary research easy or difficult to you? How does it compare to your experiences with secondary research?  Did you encounter any unexpected difficulties while conducting the research? (finding participants, drafting questions, interpreting observations, etc.)  Did your research results align with your expectations (and possibly your thesis)?  If you were to perform this research again, what might you do differently?  Aside from gaining field research experience, what did you learn from conducting your own research?

Journal Entry 25  Focus: Reflect on Unit 3 and ENC1102 thus far  Take a few minutes to remember the content from unit 3 and of our ENC1102 class thus far and the most important materials within.  What do you think the most important concepts from unit 3were?  What do you think the most important concepts in the class overall have been?  How might you use visual rhetoric strategies in your career or major in the future?  What did you learn from conducting your primary research?  How has this class compared to your other English or research-based classes in college thus far?  What techniques or strategies have we learned in class that you think will be most useful to your future major or career goals?  If there was one thing you would suggest be removed from this class due to being unnecessary or too difficult, what would it be?

Journal Entry 26  Focus: Classical argument ideas  Over the course of this semester, you have (hopefully) gained a deeper understanding of a contemporary, contentious, and arguable issue. (or multiple issues) Based on that understanding, what sorts of original arguments might you make on this topic.  What are the major unresolved problems related to this issue? What sort of proposal or solution can you come with to solve this problems?  How can you make those solutions unique or specific to your argument?  Who might object to your solution or idea? What would the main argument against your idea be? If you have used several topics for your major essays, you may wish to consider instead:  Of the topics you researched, which seemed the most appealing to you and why?  Why did you originally decide to switch topics?  For our final essay, will you choose one of these topics or switch to another?  Pick one of the topics you have worked with and identify your main solution or argument for it, and try to think of what the main argument against it would be

Journal Entry 27  Focus: Thesis and forecasting  At this point in the development of your classical argument essay, you should have selected a topic and be working towards a version of your thesis.  Use this time to brainstorm a thesis for your classical argument essay as well as the reasons you can use to support it  I suggest writing many theses or many different versions of the same thesis here. You can select the best one and edit it and refine it as the paper develops  You may also find it helpful to begin thinking of what reasons you will forecast and use in your body paragraphs as these can sometimes be incorporated into your thesis with “because clauses”

Journal Entry 28  Focus: CA Source Evaluation 1  Find the first source you will use for your classical argument essay  Read and analyze the source.  Sum up the argument it makes or find its thesis statement and write it here  Identify the source as supporting your view, supporting an opposing view, or providing neutral background information  Finally, play the Believing and Doubting Game to find the strongest and weakest elements of the source.

Journal Entry 29  Focus: CA Source Evaluation 2  Find the second source you will use for your classical argument essay  Read and analyze the source.  Sum up the argument it makes or find its thesis statement and write it here  Identify the source as supporting your view, supporting an opposing view, or providing neutral background information  Finally, play the Believing and Doubting Game to find the strongest and weakest elements of the source.

Journal Entry 30  Focus: Counterarguments  At this point in the development of your essay, it is time to start working out the second most complicated element of your classical argument essay: the counterarguments.  First, take a few minutes to brainstorm what the main objections to your stance will be, trying to see the issue from multiple perspectives. You should think of the most common objections as well as any rhetorical weak points your argument may have.  Next, consider how you can refute these counterarguments.  Will you attack your opponent’s main idea or thesis? Or might the opponent’s evidence be a weaker point to debate?  Are there any strong points your opponent may have to which you will have to concede? Why?  Of the rhetorical strategies we have just discussed, which do you think will be the most helpful in refuting counterarguments?

Journal Entry 31  Focus: CA Source Evaluation 3  Find the third source you will use for your classical argument essay  Read and analyze the source.  Sum up the argument it makes or find its thesis statement and write it here  Identify the source as supporting your view, supporting an opposing view, or providing neutral background information  Finally, play the Believing and Doubting Game to find the strongest and weakest elements of the source.

Journal Entry 32  Focus: CA Source Evaluation 4  Find the fourth source you will use for your classical argument essay  Read and analyze the source.  Sum up the argument it makes or find its thesis statement and write it here  Identify the source as supporting your view, supporting an opposing view, or providing neutral background information  Finally, play the Believing and Doubting Game to find the strongest and weakest elements of the source.