Quoting and Citing

Order Description

Introduction

This is a prewriting assignment for your next paper. In this assignment, you will begin to determine your major topics for your essay. You will also continue to broaden your spectrum of effective communication by using a new, important form of modern communication: Twitter.

In this assignment, you will (1) begin formulating the major points in your research essay, (2) practice acting as a “critically-literate citizen” outside of the academic community through a mock Twitter feed, (3) consider purpose and audience to make your argument effective, (4) “show,” not tell, by using images to illustrate your major points, and (5) offer rebuttals to fellow classmates to practice addressing counterarguments.

Use the following guidelines to compose your tweets:
•Tweet One – grab audience’s attention about the problem
•Tweet Two – state the problem and your purpose clearly (like a thesis statement)
•Tweets Three-Five – illustrate the problem’s causes and effects
•Tweets Six-Eight – propose and detail a potential solution or two
•Tweet Nine – address any opposition/obstacles
•Tweet Ten – conclude and call your audience to action

Remember, a tweet can only be 140 characters, so your goal is to communicate to your audience clearly and concisely.

You may attach an image to 5-7 tweets (not every one) in order to “show” your audience more about your topic.

Example:

Example of a Tweet with the handle (account name), tweet, and image:

EnglishTeach: Who’s going to be left to teach our children if we continue to push quality teachers away due to a lack of funding and respect?

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2011/oct/03/teaching-poll-behaviour

EnglishTeach: Teachers are leaving the profession, which hurts our children and our society’s future; this can change by promoting teacher autonomy and revising state budgets.

Response:

Your response for this assignment will also be in tweet format. You should offer an additional idea or detail to the original post. You could also object to their view of the problem or a particular solution. You may use 3-4 tweets to respond to your peers, and you should respond to at least two other students.

Supported Module Outcomes:
•Outline an argument using modern media, Tweeting, with the rhetorical situation in mind.
•Evaluate peer work critically.

The Initial Posting:
•After you gather some reserach and learn more about your topic, you will sketch out your argument using the format of a Twitter feed.
•Each “tweet” must be 140 characters or less.
•You should have between 10-12 tweets in your original post (see suggested order in introduction).
•You may attach an image to 5-7 of these tweets to illustrate your point. (Make sure you include a citation below the picture.)
•Compose this Twitter feed in a Word document and then copy and paste it into the correct space on the Discussion Board.

Responses to Other Student Posts:
•Once everyone posts their written assignments, review your classmates’ work no later than twenty-four hours after the due date for this assignment. Choose at east two classmates for your response feedback.

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Your response to each peer will be in tweets.

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You should offer an additional idea or detail to the original post. You could also object to their view of the problem or a particular solution. You may use 3-4 tweets to respond to your peers, and again, you should respond to at least three other students.

•Example: “JoeSchmo32: @EnglishTeach — Teachers already get summer off, so why should they get paid more?”

Resources

A Twitter Guidebook: http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/

Acceptable Length

You should have 10-12 tweets in your original post; each tweet must be 140 characters or less. You should respond to at least two classmates with a few tweets in response to each.