BEFORE CLASS

This is an excellent time to review the most important concepts from unit 1:

• Reflection as experiential learning• Concrete experience• Reflective observation• Abstract conceptualization• Active experimentation

• Thesis/research questions factors• Quantitative vs. qualitative• Broad vs. determinate

• Serial position effect

• Hegelian dialectic• Thesis• Antithesis• Synthesis

• Global vs. local revisions

QUIZ 2

Answer the following questions in complete sentences:

1. What is thesis seeking prose(like an exploratory narrative)? What does it focus on, and how is it different from closed form prose? (20 pts)

2. What is the Serial Position Effect? What elements of our essays does it tell us are the most important? (30 pts)

3. Explain the four following factors in relation to research questions (30 pts):1. Broad vs. determinate2. Quantitative vs. qualitative3. Which of these should we utilize for the research questions in an exploratory narrative?

4. What are the four stages of reflection as experiential learning? Name each and explain how that stage is used in an exploratory narrative research process (20 pts).

Extra credit: What are global and local revisions? (+10pts)

TODAY’S GOALS

• Analyze what makes famous conclusions (and student exploratory narratives) memorable

• Continue thinking about the psychological and rhetorical importance of conclusions via the serial position effect

• Brainstorm information to include in your own exploratory narrative conclusions

NAME THAT CONCLUSION!

• “Yes, it is enough,” he answered, smiling. “Enough for forever.”

And he leaned down to press his cold lips once more to my throat.”

NAME THAT CONCLUSION!

• “My guide and I came on that hidden road to make our way back into the bright world; and with no care for any rest, we climbed—he first, I following—until I saw, through a round opening, some of those things of beauty Heaven bears. It was from there that we emerged, to see—once more—the stars.”

NAME THAT CONCLUSION!

• “The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed sombre under an overcast sky – seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness.”

NAME THAT CONCLUSION!

• And that is the very end of the adventure of the wardrobe. But if the Professor was right it was only the beginning of the adventures of XXXX.”

NAME THAT CONCLUSION!

• “Believe me, I’d like to listen, but it doesn’t work, because if I’m quiet and serious, everyone thinks I’m putting on a new act and I have to save myself with a joke, and then I’m not even talking about my own family, who assume I must be sick, stuff me with aspirins and sedatives, feel my neck and forehead to see if I have a temperature, ask about my bowel movements and berate me for being in a bad mood, until I just can’t keep it up anymore, because when everybody starts hovering over me, I get cross, then sad, and finally end up turning my heart inside out, the bad part on the outside and the good part on the inside, and keep trying to find a way to become what I’d like to be and what I could be if . . . If only there were no other people in the world.”

NAME THAT CONCLUSION!-LIGHTNING ROUND

• "Tomorrow, I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.“

• "He loved Big Brother."

• "Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.“

• “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

• “Are there any questions?”

CONCLUSION SOURCES

• Twilight

• Dante’s Inferno

• The Heart of Darkness

• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

• The Diary of Anne Frank

• Gone with the Wind

• 1984

• The Catcher in the Rye

• The Great Gatsby

• The Handmaid’s Tale

SERIAL POSITION EFFECT

• Psychology concept originally theorized by Hermann Ebbinghaus

• States that recall accuracy varies as a function of an item’s position in a list• Primacy Effect- people remember the items at the beginning of the list better

than the middle, possibly because they have the most amount of processing devoted to them and the most time to be stored in long term memory

• Recency Effect- people remember the items at the end of the list best, possibly because these items are still in working memory

• Which seems more effective, the primacy effect or the recency effect? Why?

CONCLUSIONS

• These are the second most important section of your essay! (after the introduction)• Conclusions should never be an ‘afterthought’ or something you add in the

last 10 minutes of writing your essay

• Always reiterate your main idea (usually your thesis statement or thesis question)

• Leave your audience with something to think about after reading• An evocative question can be powerful here• Famous quotes are also a possibility, but you need to make sure that you do

not let someone else’s words overshadow your own ideas

EN- CONCLUSION ELEMENTS

1. Restate thesis question

2. Answer to your question• A specific answer is not necessary• You should, however, explain what you have learned

3. Anything important or memorable you found in your research• Briefly mention anything substantial you discovered that may have been surprising or

changed your view• Do not summarize all articles or their main points here

4. Your new opinion or viewpoint• If it has not changed, explain why• If it has changed, explain what you found while doing research that changed it

5. Something powerful or memorable to make your readers think• Additional questions for future research/investigations

JOURNAL ENTRY 13

• Focus: Exploratory Narrative Results

• At this point, you should have nearly finished doing the research for your Exploratory Narrative (5+ sources) and should be working towards your second draft. Take a few minutes to reflect on your research results and what questions you still have unanswered (that you may try to answer with your last source)• What did you learn about your topic as a result of this research? Did it change your

viewpoint at all? • What was your most interesting or unexpected source or piece of data you found?

Why? • What kind of results did your research give? Did you find an answer to your research

question?• What unanswered questions do you still have about your research topic? What kind of

final source might you look for to answer these? • If you had to write out the conclusion to your research right now, what would you say?

GROUP ACTIVITY: CONCLUSION ANALYSIS

• In your unit 1 groups

• Select two example exploratory narrative from the class website.

• Read the conclusion paragraphs(s) (beginning after the final source evaluation) and answer the following questions for both essays:

1. What is the topic the student is addressing? What research question do they ask (you may need to check the introduction for this)?

2. What is the result of this research question? Has the student answered it? How has the student’s perspective/knowledge on the topic developed?

3. What kind of strategy does the student make use of in the conclusion? Does it include all the key elements we talked about in class today?

4. Based on our discussion of the serial position effect, what will your last impression of the essay be like?

HOMEWORK• Turnitin.com Info

• Class ID: 10084389• Password: 4English

• Note: the final draft of the exploratory narrative will not be due Sunday night

• Reminder: we have lowered the source requirement of the exploratory narrative to five (you still need 3 peer reviewed sources)

• Exploratory Narrative Second Draft: • Bring a printed copy to class• Submit to Turnitin.com before class time on Monday in order to receive credit (a quiz grade)• The second draft of your Exploratory Narrative will be 1,500+ words and should include your

introduction, the body paragraphs for all five(or more) of your sources, and your conclusion. It is strongly recommended that you rely on your journal entries to aid you in writing this