A Riddle about Riddles
1. Last Call for Course Evaluations of Instructor Effectiveness.
2. Invitation to post at Rate My Professor
3. Your Professor-for-Life
4. Class Discussion
The CDC will meet today to decide how to distribute COVID-19 vaccines as they become available. Among the factors that will influence their decisions are the types of vaccine available, the effectiveness and dangers of different types, and the types of people who will get the vaccine in what order.
Many decisions will depend on good Definition and Causal Arguments. Name some that must be addressed before sound decisions can be made.
Where would you start? Who would get the vaccine first, second, third? Who would pay for the vaccines? Who should be allowed to demand early treatment? Who should be allowed to refuse?
3. A Final appeal for Brevity, Richness, and Clarity.
Many of my beloved students are putting arguments into the Feedback Please category asking for advice on sources and assessments of the quality of their arguments. I’m happy to help with both of those requests, and my Feedback queue is currently empty, so I should be able to respond promptly.
Three questions I’m never asked, but which every student could benefit from asking, are,
- Are my claims as clear and brief as they could be?
- Do I make as many content-rich statements as I could in every sentence?
- Are my claims burdened by jargon and “academic” language?
Follow the link to examples of Feedback regarding clear claims.
612119d
bluntwriting88
capched
cardinal7218
carsonwentz1186
cfriery
chavanillo
christianity19
clementine102
comicdub
compiistudent
corinnebuck1219
daphneblake25
dayzur
g903254
gabythefujoshi18
goldin92
gooferious
hailthegreat8
hazelnutlatte123
honeysucklelilac
icedcoffeeislife
imgoingswimming
iwantpopsicle
doorknob9
BabyGoat
jeffbezos123
jets1313
johnwick66
justheretopass
kobebryant32
kowiklinski
l8tersk8ter
aquarela
metro111c
mrmba1
mysterylimbo
nina525
nousernamefound1
nyaj32
oaktree1234
pardonmyfrench13
person345
pomegranate4800
Jessicariccio
rosekyd
rowanrat
rowanstudent24
runnerd4
shadowswife
SmilingDogTheProfWants
sonnypetro29
tcarter101
thecommoncase
wafflesrgud22
wazoo1234
yourfavoriteanon
Counterintuitivity 
-Riddles about riddles
-knock knock
-who’s there
-death
-death who?
-does it really matter
-there is usually a way to say what you mean that is perfectly appropriate to your intentions, sometimes more than one, but always many ways to get the tone all wrong and spoil the effect you were going for, usually by falling for ready-made language or by overwriting what could be written simply
-are my claims as clear and brief as they can be?
-do I make as many content-rich statements as I could in every sentence?
-are my claims burdened by jargon and “academic” language?
-the CDC will meet today to decide how to distribute the covid 19 vaccine as they become available
-some factors to consider:
-the effectiveness and dangers of different types
-types of people who will get the vaccine in what order
-many decisions will depend on good definition and causal arguments
-Where would you start? Who would get the vaccine first, second, third? Who would pay for the vaccines? Who should be allowed to demand early treatment? Who should be allowed to refuse?
-you will be tempted to sound academic when writing papers for college courses
-nothing can be more harmful to your style, nothing can do more damage to your coherence
LikeLike
causal argument has been turned in, now focus on the rebuttal
A Riddle About Riddles
-the point: there is usually a way to say what you mean that is perfectly appropriate to your intentions but always several ways to get the tone wrong and ruin the effect you were going for
1. last call for course evaluations
2. rate my professor
3. your professor for life
-if you want to study abroad think about reaching out for a letter of recommendation
3. a final appeal for brevity, richness and clarity
-ask these three questions:
a. are my claims as clear and brief as they should be?
b. do I make as many content-rich statements as I could in every sentence?
c. are my claims burdened by jargon and “academic” language?
-if you focus too much on trying to sound “smart” your reader will get lost in the language you throw at them.
-there’s a difference between someone not understanding the topic of your essay and you just make it difficult for them to understand by overcomplicating your argument
LikeLike
4/21/21
We discussed about the last few classes
Monday the 26th will be a final workshop class to make sure your portfolio is all set and good.
Wednesday the 28th will be an optional class if you have any questions on your sources.
We went over a knock knock riddle about death
We sent over it to make the point that there is usually a good way to frame an argument and there is a bad way of making an argument.
We then went over professors’ Lifetime Guarantee
We can still come to him for general academic advice, writing, and grammar.
We should be asking these questions when writing that could help improve our writing.
Are my claims as clear and brief as they could be?
Do I make as many rich statements as I could in every sentence?
Are my claims burdened by jargon and “academic” language?
When writing you don’t want to sound like a language making machine
Basically don’t try and do too much to make yourself look smarter
We then translated a paragraph into a simpler language
LikeLike
I can still request feedback on previous essays as well as regrade before finalizing portfolio
Knock Knock jokes that make a point (Death joke easy to make sense of the point it makes)
“Jokes are not meant to make you want to punch the person that tells it.” – Professor Hodges
Bad joke exercise (mine was fish joke)
Take a look at the three questions I should ask during feedback requests. (For me, ask the first one)
Overview of “academic” arguments
ALWAYS GET STRAIGHT TO THE POINT (No unnecessary wording)
(I really need to work on briefly making claims, especially after looking at in class examples)
Exercise working on cutting down unnecessary wording (Didn’t think I did half bad actually)
Not Because exercise review (Its definitely possible to not use because 🙂
Start filing away portfolio assignments (Portfolio due MONDAY)
LikeLike
Nice work.
3/3
LikeLike
Notes 4/21
Regrades, end of semester schedule, feedback requests, riddle/ joke about death
Using jokes as an example to show how you shouldn’t make audiences angry by making “bad jokes”
Are my claims as clear and brief as they could be?
Do I make as many content-rich statements as I could in every sentence?
Are my claims burdened by jargon and “academic” language?
All questions that should be asked before portfolio is complete
Restructured a paragraph that was too educational and put stress on the reader to actually read the thing
Reducing jargon in writing is extremely important and should be on a writers mind at all times
LikeLike
Riddle about death. Post review on rate my professor and teacher evaluations. Very few people ask specific questions when asking for feedback. If you are borrowing from a culture, you are harming the subordinate culture. They have the right to benefit from their creative process. Sounding too academic in writing makes claims unclear.
LikeLike
-ask questions about brevity, richness, and clarity
-writing about science and overuse of scientific words can be difficult to read unless the writer understands the topic well enough to explain it in simpler terms
-don’t let your essay drown in academic jargon (stop reading a thesaurus)
-it is impossible to hide weak claims with “academic” vocabulary
-I struggled a lot more than I thought I would with “Not Because”
LikeLike
Make sure to submit as many essays as possible for a regrade( in order for regrade make sure to make a noticeable l changes in the essays Ex: incorporate new source, readjust the paragraphs)
Rate the Professor Via Rate my Professor
Professor is more than willing to help students out by writing letters of rec.
Questions to ask when asking for feedback:
1. Are my claims as clear and brief as they could be?
2. Do I make as many content-rich statements as I could in every sentence?
3. Are my claims burdened by jargon and academic language?
Make sure to complete the in class exercise today which is to de academize a paragraph.
Try not to begin a sentence with because.
LikeLike
4/21
Riddle about riddles
– Answer or write appropriately to your intentions, watch how descriptions are approached based on aimed outcome
– Be wary about writing purely academically; keep your audience in mind and make understanding and clarity your main priority
– Be brief, precise, and purposeful in what is said.
Not Because
– “For” is a good replacement for “because”
– Flipping “not because” statements is sometimes required
LikeLike
-If you are stealing from a culture and benefitting from it, it is harmful.
-Music enlivens and shapes every society
-When you disrupt things, they become less stable.
-If you start your sentence with because, that is completely allowed.
LikeLike
First, we started with the riddle about riddles. This riddle is a riddle because it points out an absurdity. We don’t really care what death comes, we just care that its death.
We need to do a rewrite in order to fix our grades if we want them changed. We also need to go to rate my professor.
We need to ask ourselves questions like if the claims are clear, do I make content-rich statements, and are by claims burdened by academic language?
We see an example of an overcomplicated paragraph that is not decipherable. These sentences use too much academic language which buried the actual subject matter. This paragraph did not make me want to continue reading because of its dense language on a relatively simple subject. I will make sure to look back at my language in rewrites.
We rewrote these paragraphs in order to make them much clearer.
Something I’ve never heard before from a professor is that we can use because as the first word in a sentence which I found to be interesting.
LikeLike
4-21-21
—Knock knock.
—Who’s there?
—Death.
—Death who?
—Does it really matter?
Version 2
—Knock knock.
—Who’s there?
—Death.
—Death who?
—Ultimately, it makes little difference in what form death arrives or by what name we call it. We all go one way or another and while there may be more dignity in some manners of demise, more time to prepare, or less suffering, the ultimate destination couldn’t be more similar: gone and gone and gone forever.
LikeLike
We can reach out to our anytime even after the semester is over
K-pop boy bands copy off of black american hip hop artists
No artists haven’t went by without using another artist song
People are inspired by others and they use that to help with creativity
But not everyone will see it that way
Some people will find it to be stealing because they aren’t getting any credit for it
A lot of people had suffered during the pandemic
De-academize to help make a statement more clearer
LikeLike
Next class, we will be going over our portfolio
As soon as your portfolio is checked you can leave class
Riddle about riddle
One because it points out the universal austerity
Two it gets the point of the joke wrong
That there is a perfectly prepared way to frame an argument and there is a wrong way of framing one.
Feedback
The last thing you want to sound academy when you don’t have the academic background
You can help your reads understand without requiring them to know everything have learned through your research
It all matters through the delivery of the meaning of the paper
Reducing Jargon and “Academese”
Wanting to sound more academically, will have more of a negative effect on your writing than you would think
We looked at a paragraph as a class that was using too much academic writing.
We were to edit the paragraph and make it less wordy
We finished class by looking at the Not Because take home task
LikeLike