I’m just beginning to look over your drafts now, so I will post any advice later as another post, but I thought I would get this up now.

Here are our notes from the board today, which are essentially a review of the devices.  Focus on your papers; comment if you have any questions. Oh!  Here is the official website, which features the trailer and such.  (Note the awards listed; what do they do for the argument?  Anything?  Keep authority in mind.)

We will be discussing DeLillo’s White Noise through chapter 34 on Monday.  We will write over this in about a week, so please keep up with your reading journals.

Another great discussion (From the Board below) over the censorship!  The debate was heated at times, so we’ll be writing our own argumentative articles this weekend.  By now you are all familiar with the basic structure of an argumentative article, but here’s a quick outline to help you with your writing:

• Know your position.  Begin with a basic argument, such as "Apples are good."
• Begin gathering support for your basic argument.
  • "Apples are healthy"
  • "Apples are all-American"
  • "Apples are portable"
  • "Apples can be eaten many different ways"
• Then, begin supporting each claim, adding statistics and quotations from other sources as necessary.
  • "Apples are healthy"
    • Food and Drug Administration
  • "Apples are all-American"
    • All-American Apple Council
  • "Apples are portable"
    • Relevant personal anecdote
  • "Apples can be eaten in many different ways"
    • Recipes
    • How-to guides
• After that, make sure your sources are credible and your claims are relevant and logical.
  • "Apples are all-American" (Appeal to emotion, but not a major point.)
    • All-American Apple Council (Biased source)
• After you are certain you have a logical argument, begin writing your article.  Draw your audience in with a "hook"—something to draw them in, give them interest in your article. (Look over your previous articles for examples.)  Also, because this is such a heated topic, don’t forget to appeal to those on the other side of the issue.

Post questions below for the good of all.

Legend: Black: from the articles, Blue: From you, Green: From me.

Tonight, write out your basic thesis statement and supporting ideas.  We will give one another advice on arrangement and flow of ideas tomorrow in class.

"How to Write With Style" by Kurt Vonnegut

We’ve chosen to explore the issue of book banning for our articles next week.  I’ve listed a few sources below for those who would like to get a head start.  Remember, we are looking at arguments for book banning on Tuesday and against book banning on Thursday.

As you are searching, remember that you are looking for articles arguing one side or the other of the issue, not an "overview" of the debate.  Here is a good one about Harry Potter:

• "Some Thoughts on the Harry Potter Series" by Michael D. O’Brien from CatholicEducation.org

Parents Against Bad Books in Schools is an organization devoted to raising awareness of inappropriate material in books available in public libraries.  This page contains a number of links to articles that may be worthy of discussion.

Your analyses should be written according to the guidelines I gave you in this post.  Remember, you aren’t arguing for or against the issue (we do that in class), but explaining how the author structures his or her argument.