this project include a proposal, a research exercise, and a peer review.  

Topic: The qualities of successful engineers and scientists.

Be it Resolved: Scientists and Engineers must
Debate to Create a Better and Peaceful World

Alex Aravind
Department of Computer Science

University of Northern British Columbia, Canada
E-mail: csalex@unbc.ca

Abstract—Scientists and engineers have influenced and
transformed the world in both constructive and destructive
directions. Since politicians and executives are decision
makers, undoubtedly, to a larger extend, they should
share the major blame for many destruction. However,
we believe, it is also the inability and hence the silence of
scientists and engineers (SEs) equally contributed to the
cause. Therefore, it is the time for SEs to take an active
role in shaping the future for our generations to have a
peaceful world.

As computing is influencing every aspect of our life,
computer scientists and engineers (CSEs) have a major
role to play in this mission. For that, they must to be
trained on creative thinking and effective communication.
Debating and technical writing are two most powerful
ways to acquire these skills, and they are generally touted
as requirements mainly for arts, management, and social
science students. We advocate the need for training CSEs
on debating skill so that they can effectively promote a
peaceful world. The big question is how to include debate
in core technical courses? To answer that, we will share
our experience of having debates in some core computer
science

courses.

Keywords—soft skills; debate skill; creative thinking; so-
cially responsible scientists and engineers; socially responsi-
ble computer scientists.

I. INTRODUCTION

For humans, learning comes naturally. At young age,

we could learn many complex tasks such as picking

up a language, riding a bicycle, swimming, etc. quite

easily, irrespective of our social, economic, or ethnic

background. We are blessed with unending curiosity, and

we keep learning many basic life skills with little to

no effort. With proper support and effort, learning new

things should not be so difficult. If that is not the case,

we need to re-evaluate the effectiveness of our current

approaches to teaching and learning. Since education has

the greatest ability to influence and shape our society

positively or negatively, teaching and learning cannot be

taken for granted until it is proven effective.

The world has changed so much in the recent past

and is expected to change at a faster rate in the fu-

ture. Education has to catch up to stay relevant. The

accelerated change can be attributed in a large extent

to the growth and applications of computer science. In

the past, knowledge was available only in books. Now,

due to the advancement of computing technologies, it is

available at our fingertips. As a result, change and growth

are fast in all dimensions including society, technology,

environment, etc.

As scientists and engineers have been busy devising

tools and solving mostly technical problems, policy

makers have started to gain enormous control in shaping

the world mostly driven by money and power. This has

taken the world in some catastrophic directions. A well

known example is global warming and its impact to

humanity. Now the question is how do we steer this

trend so that the world could be a peaceful place to

live. The part of the answer, we believe, is that scientists

and engineers should not only be good at devising tools

and solving problems. We should do more by effectively

educating the public to be aware of their good and bad,

and hence influence policy makers to devise policies

towards constructive and peaceful directions. Debate is

a skill required to achieve that goal.

II. DEBATE AS AN ACTIVE LEARNING TECHNIQUE

Debate hones several important life skills. Debate is

not only a necessary skill to win arguments, it is also

an effective learning technique. For most, it is fun.

Knowingly or unknowingly, we debate all the time.

Before we outline the benefits of debates, we reproduce

its definition from [13]: “A debate is an equitably struc-

tured communication event about some topic of interest,

with opposing advocates alternating before a decision-

making-body.” It has several important keywords that

978-1-5386-7764-3/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE

need to be emphasized. A debate must be equitably

designed. It brings the aspects of fairness and equality to

the forefront. It must be structured to control time and

the communication pattern, and that, in turn, will help

to prepare and sharpen strategies and arguments.

One of America’s leading debate proponents, Robert

Branham, lists four characteristics of argument for a

true debate [13]:(i) development of ideas and positions
(involves description, explanation, and demonstration);

(ii) clash (refuting ideas); extension (defending ideas
against refutation); and (iv) perspective (derive essence
or sum of ideas and arguments and relate it to a larger

question at hand). During the developmental phase of

a debate, students are forced to deeply examine and

conduct research on the topic at hand. This process

involves applying logic, reason, and analysis to formulate

an idea or opinion. Then, they must construct a plan

to unify their positions. This requires leadership, team-

work, and effective coordination and communication. In

essence, debate is a dynamic learning process involving

taking a position, expressing a point of view, contem-

plating alternates, looking for connectivity, and more

importantly, being calm and composed to keep the team

engaged.

Debate has a long list of benefits [1], [3], [7], [9]–

[11], [13], [14]. Some important benefits are that it:

(i) enables participation and involvement; (ii) enforces

the participants to provide response; (iii) engages the

participants in independent thinking; (iv) forces the par-

ticipants to pay attention and listen; (v) compels partici-

pants to analyze, create logical connectivity, and expose

inconsistencies and contradictions; (vi) heightens the

participants’ mental alertness and quick thinking; (vii)

encourages the participants to deconstruct and articulate

ideas; (viii) forces the participants to think on their feet;

(ix) sharpens spontaneity; (x) helps participants to reduce

fear and anxiety; (xi) increases participants’ clarity,

encourages critical thinking, and builds self confidence;

(xii) helps to understand different modes of influence

(e.g., persuasion), and hence, prepares to apply and

resist appropriately; (xiii) provides opportunities for the

participants to understand and appreciate different points

of view on the same issue and different solutions to the

same problem; etc.

III. DEBATE IN COMPUTER SCIENCE

When the concept of having debates in a computer

science course was brought to the attention of others,

the immediate reaction was: How do you have debate

in a highly technical subject like computer architecture

and organization? From our experience, as computer

science courses are enriched with creativity, powerful

ideas, techniques, and theories, incorporating debate in

computer science courses is easy and highly relevant.

Obviously, debate can be used to gain a deeper under-

standing of the important subject matters and big topics.

The skills developed through such exclusive debates can

implicitly help group works that are the norm in com-

puter science projects. Debating is a dynamic process.

First, it can be used to learn technical matters. Then,

through the experience gained, personal and professional

skills can be cultivated and enriched throughout the study

period. For example, in computer science, designing,

building, testing, and managing systems quite often

involves group work. The debate processes could be

effectively applied to execute these tasks involved in the

courses.

A. Impact of Debate in CS Education

Since debate involves higher-order critical thinking

skills such as defining the problem, building arguments,

researching for evidence, assessing the credibility of

sources, identifying and challenging assumptions, rec-

ognizing inconsistencies, prioritizing the relevance of

multiple viewpoints, etc., its impact on overall develop-

ment of cognitive and communication skills is evident

[1]–[3], [9], [13], [14]. In addition to deepening the

understanding of the subject matter, debate has the

potential to enrich social skills such as receptiveness,

respecting others’ view, helping each other, convincing

others, etc. Such social skills are valued as vital not

only for success in most careers [12], but also for life

in general [6], [10], [13], [15]. Therefore, we believe

that the impact of debate on computer science education

need not be different [6], [8], [15]. Though we have

not collected any formal survey or feedback from the

students who participated in the course debates, we did

receive informal and anecdotal feedback. The reactions

from the students were highly positive, confirming our

initial belief.

When debate was introduced in Fall 2014 into our

operating systems course, the initial reaction from sev-

eral students were mixed; they reluctantly agreed. Some

openly doubted its use in the computer science courses,

particularly highly technical subjects like operating sys-

tems. For them, only social science students needed

debating skills, and also only social science topics could

be debated. Some wondered what kind of topics from

core course like operating systems could be debated.

Slowly, this nebulous feeling started to fade once they

started their research on the topics. The competitive

nature brought enthusiasm among students about the idea

of debating, and at the end, most students liked it. A

few international students for whom English was their

second language understood the benefits of debate, but

expressed reservation due to their language difficulty.

However, once debate became an integral component of

some of our courses, it became one of the trademarks

of our teaching style. Students now have accepted it

and many explicitly appreciate the idea of debate and

the technical report on the topic. Some even consider

them as the main strengths of the course. In our view,

debate not only helped students to enrich their skills and

understand the topics deeply, it also left them with a

positive memory about the experience.

IV. CONCLUDING REMARKS

Since its birth in the mid 1940s, computer science has

grown as an attractive discipline encompassing science,

engineering, art, business, and everyday life [4]. In

the scientific domain, it has emerged as the “fourth

great domain of science”, after physical, life, and social

sciences [5], [6]. In the modern world, it is hard to

imagine anything in our day-to-day life that does not

touch computing in some sort. Computer science has all

the motivations to be learned and engaged with.

As computer science has influenced and influencing

the world in every aspect, it is also our responsibility to

steer the world in the positive direction. That requires us

to become better debaters as well.

REFERENCES

[1] K. L. Alford and J. R. Surdu, Using In-Class Debates as a
Teaching Tool, Frontiers in Education, S1F:10-15, 2002.

[2] L. Blume et al., A “Communication Skills for Computer
Scientists” Course, Proceedings of the 43rd ACM Technical
Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE ’09),
277-282), 2009.

[3] M. Darby, Debate: A Teaching-Learning Strategy for Devel-
oping Competence in Communication and Critical Thinking,
Journal of Dental Hygiene, 81(4):1-10, 2007.

[4] P. J. Denning, Great Principles of Computing, CACM,
46(11):15-20, 2003.

[5] P. J. Denning, Is Computer Science Science? CACM,
48(4):27-31, 2005.

[6] P. J. Denning and P. S. Rosenbloom, Computing: The Fourth
Great Domain of Science, Communications of the ACM,
52:(9):27-29, 2009.

[7] S. Freeman et. al., Active Learning Increases Student Per-
formance in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics, Pro-
ceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS),
111(23):8410-8415, 2014.

[8] J. T. Havill and L. D. Ludwig, Technically Speaking: Foster-
ing the Communication Skills of Computer Science and Math-
ematics Students, Proceedings of the 38th SIGCSE Technical
Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE ’07),
185-189, 2007.

[9] R. R. Kennedy, The Power of in-class Debates, Active Learn-
ing in Higher Education, 10(3):225-236, 2009.

[10] Y. Levin, The Great Debate, Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine,
and the Birth of Right and Left, Basic Book, New York, 2014.

[11] S. Quinn, Debating in the World School Style: A Guide,
IDEBATE Press, 2009.

[12] A. Radermacher and G. Walia, Gaps Between Industry Expec-
tations and the Abilities of Graduates, Proceeding of the 44th

ACM technical Symposium on Computer Science Education
(SIGCSE ’13), 525-530, 2013.

[13] A. Snider and M. Schnurer, Many Sides: Debate Across the
Curriculum, DEBATE Press, International Debate Education
Association, 2006.

[14] C. S. Stuetzle, Public Debate Format for the Development
of Soft Skill Competency in Computer Science Curricula,
Proceedings of the 12th Annual Consortium for Computing
Sciences in Colleges Northeastern Conference, 2015.

[15] M. M. Waldrop, The Science of Teaching Science, (Why we
are teaching science wrong, and how to make it right), Nature,
523:272-274, 2015.

The Application of Computer Aided Instruction in Course of Elements of

Information Theory

Ru-wei Li
School of Electronic Information and Control

Engineering
Beijing University of Technology

Beijing 100124, China
e-mail: liruwei@bjut.edu.cn

Xi-da Lin
School of Electronic Information and Control

Engineering
Beijing University of Technology

Beijing 100124, China
e-mail: xidalin@bjut.edu.cn

Abstract—In order to solve existent questions of CAI
(Computer Aided Instruction) in university teaching, the
course of Elements of Information Theory was taken as an
example to describe how to use the CAI. According to
characteristic of this course and teaching law, CAI could be
used correctly and reasonably by some methods which could
wake up the interest of students, such as the combination
between writing on the blackboard and electronic blackboard
writing, color matching, the combination between dynamic
state and static state, the presented amount of information and
the control of speed, the interaction between teachers and
students, the diversity of CAI and so on. The practice shows
that the proposed teaching method based on CAI contributes
to play the leading role of teachers and the subject status of
students. The learning initiative of college students could be
inspired and their learning interest could also be aroused by
CAI. Finally, the quality and efficiency of classroom teaching
are further improved.

Keywords- CAI (Computer Aided Instruction); traditional
teaching; classroom teaching; teaching quality

I. INTRODUCTION
In the form of traditional teaching, course teaching

mainly relies on the corresponding notes and writing on the
blackboard of teachers. Long-term practice proves that the
traditional teaching method is conducive to control the
classroom rhythm. With the writing on the blackboard of
teachers, students could keep up with teacher’s schedule and
thinking. Besides, the teaching style of teachers could also be
stood out, which is beneficial to influence students’ growth
by personal charisma of teachers. However, the shortages of
traditional teaching are obvious. The writing on the
blackboard of teachers easily leads to fatigue of teachers.
What’s more, the chalk dust is bad for the health of teachers
and students. Meanwhile, the teaching of writing on the
blackboard will lead to inadequate information in class, and
some abstract theories and practices are not easy to be
explained clearly by oral. To some extent, the learning
initiative of students is inhibited, which will lead students to
lose interest easily. The efficiency and quality of teaching are
affected seriously. Therefore, it couldn’t meet the needs of
talent quality in new era.

With the development of multimedia technology, in order
to solute the disadvantages of traditional teaching, CAI
emerges as the times require. It is a kind of open teaching
form and students are fully placed in the subject status of
study. The electronic blackboard writing consists of dynamic
simulation experiments, rich static materials, interactive
practices between human and machine, intelligent tutoring
and so on. It not only lets students acquire more information
in a very short period of time, but also overcome the
limitations of the traditional teaching objectively. Besides,
the classroom efficiency and teaching quality are improved
largely. More time and space of independent operation and
activity are left to students to make them stride over the
limitation of time and space and adequately play their
imagination and creativity. Therefore, CAI is widely used in
university classroom teaching at present. However, long term
practice shows that with the help of CAI, there is not a large
change in the effect and quality of teaching [1]. In addition to
the students’ personal reason, however, the immediate cause
of influencing teaching effect is the misuse and
misunderstanding of CAI for teachers. For example, in CAI,
some teachers ignore the inspiration of students and the
leading role of teachers which is entirely replaced by
computer. Some teachers adopt the inappropriate forms: The
learning enthusiasm of students is not inspired by the directly
copied text books and monotonous color. The attention of
students to learn knowledge is scattered by the blind pursuit
of novelty and obsessed with appearance. The perception of
key knowledge, imagination and creativity are affected by
the excessive and unnecessary media and videos. Focusing
on some theoretical knowledge, some teachers directly copy
text books. Careful thinking, rigorous reasoning, accurate
calculation and logical judgment are lost in multimedia
demonstration, which impedes the cultivation of students’
innovation ability and learning ability [2].

In consequence, focusing on the wrong region of CAI’s
use and understanding, relying on the course of Information
Theory Basis, this course features are used as a starting point.
Combined with students’ cognitive regularity, taking
advantage of image visual, novelty, diversity and large
information of CAI, preciseness and density of traditional
teaching in theoretical knowledge teaching and the leading
role and evocation of teachers in teaching, CAI is organically

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DOI 10.1109/ITME.2015.36

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2015 7th International Conference on Information Technology in Medicine and Education
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DOI 10.1109/ITME.2015.36
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combined with traditional teaching to promote the
improvement of college teaching’s quality and effect.

II. THE COURSE FEATURES OF ELEMENTS OF
IMFORMATION THEORY

Elements of Information Theory is a discipline [3] that
studies the general rule of information storage, transmission
and processing by Probability Theory, Stochastic Process
and Mathematical Statistics. It involves a large amount of
mathematical knowledge and covers most of mathematical
knowledge of sciences and engineering students. The
knowledge includes Advanced Mathematics, Linear Algebra,
Discrete Mathematics, Probability Theory & Mathematics
Statistics, Stochastic Process and Numerical Analysis. The
knowledge itself is more complex and abstract than other
knowledge. Meanwhile, it also involves some professional
knowledge of communication, which makes it have strong
theoretical. In consequence, even for the communication
students, they all believe that Elements of Information
Theory is very abstract and dull. This course is very hard to
be accepted. In addition, information, an important concept
in Information Theory, is not a complete and systematic
concept until today. Different research schools have different
opinions and understanding of information nature and
definition [3]. Based on this course features, the appropriate
CAI is adopted to improve the teaching quality.

III. CAI USED IN THE COURSE OF ELEMENTS OF
INFORMATION THEORY

A. Combination between writing on the blackboard and
electronic blackboard writing
Modern education concept should pay attention to not

only the leading role of teachers, but also the subject status
of students. Only by a clear understanding of this concept,
could teaching form be correctly used. Only in this way,
could the leading role of teachers and subjective initiative of
students be played fully. In the course teaching of CAI, in
order to foster students’ rigorous reasoning about concept
and theorem, such as some basic concepts, entropy, average
mutual information, traditional teaching is adopted. Students
are directed to understand these concepts by derivation of
writing on the blackboard. Then the conclusion of writing on
the blackboard is given by PPT. This method contributes to
play the leading role of teachers. Meanwhile, it also leads
students to go to thinking and understanding with the help of
teachers’ derivation process, which overcomes the shortage
of electronic blackboard writing. Large amount of
information and fast switching of electronic blackboard
writing will lead to the misunderstanding of students. The
burden of teachers’ writing on the blackboard could also be
reduced by conclusion of electronic blackboard writing. In
the process of interpreting exercises, in general, questions are
displayed by electronic blackboard writing, and then
derivation process of exercises is displayed by writing on the
blackboard. The attention of students is easily attracted by
teachers’ writing on the blackboard.

B. Color matching
Due to the sensory stimulation role of color, the interest

of students could be attracted by the appropriate combination
of colors. In teaching process of Elements of Information
Theory, different layers are represented by different colors.
Meanwhile, the key points and parts of course are display in
boldface. However, excessive colors are not suitable to be
presented on a paper of PPT. Otherwise, the attention of
students will be scattered by the messy and disorganized
PPT.

C. Combination between dynamic state and static state
Dynamic image is organically combined with static

image by CAI. In teaching process, static state is contained
in dynamic states, meanwhile, dynamic state is also
contained in static state. This way is helpful to arouse the
thinking of students. For example, in the process of
interpreting the rate-distortion function, in order to illustrate
the fidelity rule, different levels of sound distortion are
inserted in electronic blackboard writing to make students
feel the importance of fidelity rule. In the process of
interpreting entropy, the application of entropy in speech
enhancement is introduced. The process of speech
enhancement is reappeared by multimedia. Meanwhile,
enhanced speech and original speech are added, which
makes students feel the charm of entropy and motivates the
students’ interest.

D. The grasp of quantity and speed in the present
information

Compared with other teaching methods, the high
efficiency of CAI is most outstanding. Firstly, the speed of
demo is very fast. As long as you move the mouse or
keyboard, teaching contents will be displayed, which
improves the classroom efficiency. Secondly, the displayed
contents are very rich and the amount of information is large.
The limitation of time and space could be broken, which
highlights the connection and communication of knowledge.
In essence, compared with the traditional teaching methods,
the application of CAI makes students acquire larger and
richer knowledge. However, when the speed of demo and
the amount of information exceed the accepting range of
students, the high efficiency of CAI will descend seriously.
Therefore, in course teaching of CAI, focusing on the theory
knowledge, the playback speed of PPT can’t be too fast and
the displayed contents of every PPT can’t be too much.
Meanwhile, the demo can be played quickly, which ensures
the high efficiency of CAI.

E. Interaction between teachers and students
In teaching process, interaction between teachers and

students could not only stimulate the learning interest of
students, but also improve the teaching enthusiasm of
teachers. In traditional teaching, students could be attracted
to participate by personal charisma of teachers. In CAI,
multimedia couldn’t be relied absolutely. After all,
computer is lifeless and has not the emotional color. Hence,

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in course teaching of CAI, the conclusion and question are
displayed by PPT. The derivation process and the
interpretation of meaning are display by writing on the
blackboard of teachers. The rigorous derivation and cadence
of voice of teachers could provide the auxiliary information.
The interaction between teachers and students could be
finished by the asking questions and rhetorical questions of
teachers and the answers and asking questions of students,
which improves the quality of teaching effectively.

F. Taking advantage of the CAI’s diversity to arouse the
interest of students

As the saying goes, interest is the excellent teacher.
How to arouse the interest of students? This question must
be taken into consideration in teaching. In the course of
Elements of Information Theory, the diversity of CAI is
used. In the application of multimedia, the text, picture,
sound, living example, scientific achievement and the
displayed form of text are referenced properly. The learning
interest of students is aroused to make them feel the
practicability of knowledge.

IV. CONCLUSION
In order to avoid the situation of depending on computer

completely, CAI is introduced into the course teaching of
Elements of Information Theory. The leading status of
teachers and the subject status of students are established.
The matching of color is arranged reasonably. The writing
on the blackboard is organically combined with the

electronic blackboard writing. The dynamic state is
combined with the static state by picture, sound and word of
PPT. The presented amount of information and speed are
controlled reasonably. The interaction between teachers and
students is promoted by the asking question and rhetorical
question. The interest of students is aroused by the diversity
of CAI. Long term practice shows that the proposed method
improves the effect and quality of teaching than traditional
methods.

In a word, CAI is an emerging teaching method that
keeps pace with the times. In the course of development, it is
unavoidable to meet some unthinkable difficulties. However,
as long as the appropriate disposal is applied, the proposed
method must promote modern teaching activity.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by the Education teaching

research projects of Beijing University of Technology in
2015.

REFERENCES

[1] Jianwei Liu, Chunling Liu. “A rational reflection on the application of
computer assisted instruction in teaching”, International Journal of
Technology Management, 2014, 4: p110-111.

[2] Henan Tang. “The reflection and exploration of computer aided
instruction’s application”, Heilongjiang Science, 2013, 11: p151.

[3] Xuelong Zhu. “Application information processing theory” [M].
Beijing: Tsinghua University Press, 2001.5.

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General Instructions:

 

This paper is your own argument, but you should take into account what you’ve learned during this course:  you should begin by showing the conversation your paper is responding to (“they say,” which should include clear positions or arguments on the topic), you should have a clear statement of your own argument about the issue (“I say”), you should include quotes and incorporate them smoothly (both in the “they say” and “I say” paragraphs), you should point out possible objections to your argument, use appropriate transitions, explain why the issue matters (so what? who cares?), and clarify your argument by using metacommentary.  You must use at least 5 sources and at least 2 of those sources must be from academic peer reviewed journals.  You should also give your argument a clear title at the beginning of your essay. 

Recommended structure:  For this paper you have 5-6 pages to work with and you need to include, in effect, five major parts:

1. Introduction: includes an overview of the conversation (names of key authors and the issues you’re bringing up), a brief statement of your argument (or thesis statement), and a brief explanation of why your argument matters

2. summary of 2 or 3 arguments (not just facts), with quotes as evidence

3. summary of how they agree/disagree; provide quotes if necessary

4. your own opinion and your reasons for your opinion (which includes at least one naysayer and includes metacommentary for clarity); provide quotes as evidence

5. Conclusion: includes a return sentence, a restatement of your argument, and a developed explanation of why your argument matters

Note that these are five parts, not paragraphs (exceptions: the introduction and the conclusion are usually one paragraph each).  What could this look like?  Here’s an example:  After the brief introductory paragraph (where you introduce your topic, an overview of the conversation you’re entering, a sense of your argument and briefly why your argument matters), you might have a summary of one author’s argument (1 paragraph), then a summary of the second author’s argument (1 paragraph), and a summary of another author or position (1 paragraph).  Then you might have one paragraph that explains how they agree and disagree (though you can already allude to that in the summary paragraphs through phrases like “Unlike X, Y asserts that…”).  Note that the paragraph that explains how the authors or arguments agree and disagree is still “they say,” since you’re not yet putting forward your own opinion on the issues.  At that point you’ll have written about 3 pages.  Then you write your own argument (“I say”) in relation to the conversation you’ve set up (about two pages).  At that point you’ve written about 5 pages.  Then you end with a concluding paragraph, where you wrap it up with a return sentence and again explain why it matters. 

Keep in mind that this way of structuring your argument is only a suggestion; it doesn’t have to be exactly like that.  But hopefully this gives you an idea of what this kind of paper could look like.

 

Grading Guide:  I will grade your MWP3 according to the following grading guide.  Use this guide when writing your paper.

 

Introduction (

10

points)

Includes an overview of the conversation (names of key authors and the issues you’re bringing up), clear “I say” statement (thesis) placed in relation to authors, and a brief explanation of why your argument matters

 

“They say” (

20

points):  Shows conversation paper is responding to

Summary includes basic information about authors as well as the full title of essays; summaries do not agree or disagree with authors (summaries inhabit worldview); summaries use sophisticated signal verbs to summarize authors’ points; no listing or “closest cliché”

 

Quoting (20 points): Uses quotes correctly and appropriately

Quotes used to present “proof of evidence” in summary of authors’ arguments — Quotes should not be “orphans” — Quotes should be framed appropriately (“quotation sandwich”) — Quotes should be Introduced with appropriate verb — Quotes should present “proof of evidence” — Indicates page number of quote

 

“I Say” (20 points):  Clear statement of your own argument

Clearly distinguishes “they say” from “I say” – Clearly signals who is saying what: Uses at least one template to indicate “I say” — “I say” includes clear reasons for argument that are not simply summaries of authors’ arguments – Clearly plants naysayer to support “I say” argument (use at least one template from naysayers) – Includes one metacommentary to clarify argument.

 

Conclusion (10 points)

Includes at least one “return sentence” in the conclusion to remind reader of what “they say”; includes a restatement of thesis or “I say”; includes a developed explanation of why your argument matters (uses templates).

 

Bibliography or Works Cited (10 points)

Includes proper bibliographic form — no annotations included here — includes 5 sources; 2 must be peer-reviewed

 

Editing and tone (10 points)

No editing errors (spelling, grammar, punctuation, and formatting); Uses proper tone (formal where appropriate, informal where appropriate)

Introduction Includes an overview of the conversation (names of key authors and the issues you’re bringing up), clear “I say” statement (thesis) placed in relation to authors, and a brief explanation of why your argument matters Maximum score 10

“They say”: Shows conversation paper is responding to Summary includes basic information about authors as well as the full title of essays; summaries do not agree or disagree with authors (summaries inhabit worldview); summaries use sophisticated signal verbs to summarize authors’ points; no listing or “closest cliché” (pp. 31, 35, 33) Maximum score 20

Quoting: Uses quotes correctly and appropriately Quotes used to present “proof of evidence” (p. 42) in summary of authors’ arguments — Quotes should not be “orphans” (p. 43) — Quotes should be framed appropriately (“quotation sandwich”) (p. 46) — Quotes should be Introduced with appropriate verb (p. 47) — Quotes should present “proof of evidence” (p. 42) — Indicates page number of quote (p. 48) Maximum score 20

“I Say”: Clear statement of your own argument Clearly distinguishes “they say” from “I say” – Clearly signals who is saying what: Uses at least one template from pp. 72-75 — “I say” includes clear reasons for argument that are not simply summaries of authors’ arguments – Clearly plants naysayer to support “I say” argument (use at least one template from pp. 82, 83,84-85, 89). Maximum score 20

Conclusion Includes at least one “return sentence” in the conclusion to remind reader of what “they say” (p. 27); includes a restatement of thesis or “I say”; includes a developed explanation of why your argument matters (uses templates from pp. 95-96, 98-99). Maximum score 10

Bibliography or Works Cited Includes proper bibliographic form — no annotations included here — includes 5 sources; 2 must be peer-reviewed Maximum score 10

Editing and Tone No editing errors (spelling, grammar, punctuation, and formatting); Uses proper tone (formal where appropriate, informal where appropriate) Maximum score 10

Here are some frequently asked questions concerning Major Writing Project 3.

 

Below are some generic questions with my responses:

 

1) Question:  In the instructions, it states that I need five sources, two of which should be peer-reviewed.  How do I include the non-peer-reviewed sources?  Answer:  While you need five sources total, you might not want to treat all of those sources as your main voices in your argument.  Let’s say you have three main voices that you summarize: two peer-reviewed sources and one non-peer-reviewed (see the next question too).  These three sources are the main voices in the conversation you’re setting up.  The other two sources (or more, if you wish) would just be incorporated as supporting sources for your own argument.  Of course you don’t want to use them in your summary paragraphs, because you want to stay focused on what each author is saying, without confusing their voice with the argument of another.  The only exception is that you might find a source that explicitly explains and supports one author; in that case you could use one of those other sources in the summary section. 

2) Question:  Do my main sources have to be peer-reviewed sources?  Answer:  No.  In fact, you might be researching a topic that has produced a very significant conversation between authors on a blog, or perhaps it’s a conversation that took place between TV show hosts, or perhaps you’re relying on a few unpublished interviews of anonymous people.  In all of those cases, the voices or sources you’re relying on are not peer-reviewed, and that’s fine.  Nevertheless, you still want to make sure that you are in dialogue with scholars who have spoken about the same issue (even if those scholarly voices are not as current).  For that reason, we want to have at least two sources that are peer-reviewed, but those sources might actually have a very minimal importance in the argument.  For instance, you might use the peer-reviewed sources for a particularly significant way of thinking about the debate or question, or because they introduce an interesting naysayer opinion that you want to contest, etc.  But you just want to keep in mind that the opposite might also work: you might focus on the conversation between two academic sources, and use non-peer reviewed sources to help support your “I say” section. It all depends on the conversation you’re responding to. 

3) Question:  Do I have to write basic information about the authors in the introduction?  Answer:  No.  In fact, it might be better to say something about the authors right when you start to summarize them in the body of your paper.  Your introduction would then just introduce the specific topic and a brief overview of the conversation that this topic has produced, but you would wait to get into the details in your summary paragraphs.  Here’s a different situation: one of your sources might be an article written by several people, perhaps a whole team.  In that case it doesn’t make a lot of sense to say something about all the people involved in the study.  Instead, in the summary paragraph on that source you’ll simply say something about the context for that particular study (perhaps something about where the team is from, or what other papers they’ve published, or what organization sponsored the study, or something along those lines).  Another scenario: you might be dealing with a source that is anonymous; in that case, you simply can’t say anything about the person being interviewed, but you do want to explain why it is that this interview had to be anonymous. 

4) Question:  Do I have to include all of my sources in the introductory paragraph?  Answer:  No.  You really should only focus on the most significant sources, the ones that constitute the main conversation for you (usually two or three sources).  The rest of your sources will then be folded into the argument when necessary, often within the “I say” section.  Again, you might use a source only as a naysayer; in that case, you really don’t need to mention that source at any other time except when you bring up this naysayer opinion, which you’ll then contest.  Or again, you might use a source simply to reveal a significant perspective that helps your argument in a particular moment.  In that case, you’re just using that source in one particular moment in your argument, and therefore it’s not significant enough to mention in the introduction.

5) Question: My discipline really only deals with facts, not arguments.  Can I just focus on facts in my “they say,” rather than arguments?  Answer:  Well, here’s where I have to disagree with you.  Although many disciplines truly do emphasize new “facts” about their discipline, there’s really no such thing as a fact outside of an argument.  All disciplines work to produce or discover new facts that are embedded within specific arguments.  Sometimes those facts support an argument about the object of study (“Our study suggests that midi-chrlorians tend to become less effective at higher temperatures, thereby refuting studies that insist that these mysterious elements are among the most stable in the universe.  In fact, our study suggests that mid-chlorians are dangerously unstable at high temperatures”).  Sometimes those facts support an argument about the discipline itself (“Our study suggests that midi-chrlorians tend to become less effective at higher temperatures, thereby illustrating the way that researchers into midi-chrlorians can productively coordinate with those researching new sources of clean energy”).  Your job is then to emphasize the way authors use facts for specific arguments.  Your summary, and your quotes that give evidence for your summary, should clearly bring out those arguments.

Don’t forget to post your draft to the Titanium forum (Exercise 15) by Wednesday night.  It’s ok if it’s not your best work at this point; it’s expected that you’re still working through your argument.  The point is just to get a bit of experience switching gears and taking on the role of “grader.”  When we do that, we start to realize new things about our own work, and it helps us return to our draft with new eyes.  Again: don’t worry if your partner flakes and forgets to post their draft.  In that case, just do the exercise tomorrow (exercise 16) on your own draft.  The experience of being a “grader” produces that same effect of seeing your own work with new eyes.