Assignments for Tuesday, Dec. 4, and Thursday, Dec. 6

For Tuesday, listen to this TED Radio Hour broadcast. Come to class prepared to answer questions about this broadcast. (Be sure to click on the link to listen to the full episode, which is close to an hour in length.)

For Thursday, as a heads up, read the excerpt from Farhad Manjoo's book True Enough that was handed out in class. (If you missed class, this reading is posted to the right.) You might want to get a head start on this reading over the weekend, and I'll give you some additional background on the events it covers during Tuesday's class. Just like Tuesday, you don't have anything to write, but come to class prepared to answer questions about this reading.

Lastly, click here for polling data from the 2004 presidential campaign so you can see the effect of the advertisements placed by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (the first ad aired in early August), and click here for a link to the 2004 electoral college map.

Assignment for Friday, Nov. 30

Complete the annotated bibliography. Turn it in as one document that includes all five annotation entries. Be sure to include a proper heading. In class, we will resume our investigation of narrative and reality.

Assignment for Friday, Nov. 30

Complete the annotated bibliography. Turn it in as one document that includes all five annotation entries. Be sure to alphabetize your sources by the author's last name, and include a proper heading. In class, we will resume our investigation of narrative and reality.

Assignment for Wednesday, Nov. 28

Write a third annotated bibliography entry. This one should be for a book. If you're in Google Classroom, turn it in there; otherwise, share it with me as a Google Doc.

In-Class Reading and Work

Here is a back-to-basics refresher exercise. Read the two obituaries linked below about the great magician Ricky Jay. Then, compare and contrast their essential rhetorical qualities. Start with their rhetorical situations, and then get into more specific rhetorical features. Feel free to draw on the SOAPSTone and DIDLS schemas. Share your comparison with me in a Google Doc.

New York Times obituary on Ricky Jay.

Slate.com obituary on Ricky Jay.

Assignment for Thursday, Nov. 15

Write one more annotated bibliography entry, preferably from a JSTOR source. For Thursday, you should be up to two annotated bibliography entries. See my comments on your first entry before you write the second one.

Assignment for Tuesday, Nov. 13

Read Salman Rushdie's Truth, Lies, and Literature. You will eventually be assigned this piece, but if you want to take advantage of the long weekend and read it now, go ahead.

In addition, prepare one entry for the annotated bibliography. It will be more manageable to begin with a shorter source, probably from GaleNet.

Assignment for Thursday, Nov. 8

Read the handout distributed in class on evaluating sources (focus on pp. 68-69, and 76-82). Also, see this handout on the STP annotated bibliography that is due on Friday, Nov. 30.

Then, watch this TED talk on the nature of objective reality. Before watching, ask yourself if there is a reality that is objective and the same for all of us.

Lastly, read this interview with Jaron Lanier, an influential pioneer of virtual reality technology, and important thinker about all things related to digital technology.