Please Turn in Your Perl Reading Responses as Soon as You Arrive

These should be printed, stapled versions. I cannot accept work that's submitted late.

Class Discussion: Perl

  • What are the main ideas to take away from the reading? Let's list them.
  • What are the implications of studying how someone writes in such a detailed way?
  • How would you feel if you were the subject of such a study? How do you think it would impact your writing?
  • So, what are we going to do with this? How will this relate to the rhetorical analysis: Writing Project 2 The Rhetorical Analysis
  • Here are some samples of what you should have and what a video session looks like:

Thanks to Brian Owens

Thanks to Damaris Georgiadis:

Thanks to Felly Jacobo:

Thanks to Travis Benton:

Small Group Brainstorming: How Will I Document and Analyze My Writing Processes?

Get into your newly formed Writing Groups! Assign someone to take notes. You'll need this information later!

  • Referring to the article, come up with your own "code" for analyzing your writing process. You'll need to decide:
    • What aspects of the composing process will you code? You may not need to be as detailed as Perl was, but you'll need to identify the important parts of the writing process.
    • Assign a code to each part of the process. You may use some of Perl's, create your own from scratch, or use some sort of combination.
  • You'll also need to discuss and decide:
    • How will you transcribe and evaluate your experiment?
    • How you will set up your experiment (will you record yourself via web cam? Cell phone? Ask someone to video tape you with a cam corder?
  • Make sure someone from your group types this up and emails it to everyone in the group.

Report your group's methods to the class.

10 Minute Break

Getting Ready to Draft Writing Project 2

  • Let's review the assignment
  • You'll need to re-read Pollan or read one of the other articles.
  • Respond to the following prompts in the Bb journal for today:
    • Summarize the article in your own words.
    • Choose a specific quote from the article where the author makes a logical appeal. Write a "quote sandwich." Set up the quote in your own words, then transcribe the quote, then provide some analysis or explanation.
    • Do the same for an example of a pathetic, or emotional appeal.
    • How does the author establish his or her ethos?

Research Basics

You're going to need to do some basic research on your author and the historical context behind the article itself. Check out our Food Library Guide

  • Using Academic Search Complete

Next, you'll need to investigate the publication in which your article was published.

  • How to use Ulrich's Periodicals Directory


  • Review the code your group came up with today. Make any revisions you would like in order to "customize" your code to your liking. Make sure your code will work for you as you analyze everything you do while writing. Please print out your own customized code and bring this to class on Tuesday.
  • BEGIN DRAFTING WP 2 and record yourself drafting, using the composing aloud protocol. Start by simply writing a summary of the article (use today's Daily Writing to help you continue this). Sum up the key points your reader needs to understand in order to understand your rhetorical analysis. It may be helpful to use the journalists' questions as you write this "chunk of text:" who, what, when, where, how, why? Record yourself for 15 minutes. You may want to wait until you're more in a groove of drafting before you hit record. *Before you begin the recording, make sure to MARK ON YOUR TRANSCRIPT (WORD DOC) WHERE YOUR WRITING BEGINS. Then, be sure to SAVE what you write (the transcripts). Don't alter them.
  • Save the recording, and SAVE the draft you composed while recording by naming it: WP 2 Draft 1. Bring this document in electronic format AND a printed copy, your video, some headphones, and your printed customized coding sheet to class on Tuesday. This will count as a homework grade.
  • If you get on a roll, and want to draft more of WP 2, go ahead. BUT MAKE SURE YOU KEEP THE DRAFT OF WHAT YOU WROTE AS YOU RECORDED AS A SEPARATE FILE. In other words, if you work on the project some more, SAVE the subsequent file as WP 2 Draft 2. Save your project and name it a new file after every major revision.
  • READ "Monsanto's Harvest of Fear". Take notes on this article as you read, and be prepared to thoughtfully participate in our class discussion on Tuesday.