I agree with Nicole, the first thing that drew my attention instantly was the children like animation. My hypothesis, just like trees growing we have to plant seeds in our children of tomorrow. Teaching them the importance of nature, the role it plays in our environment and why we must protect forestry. Plantings these seeds now and hopefully, when kids grow up, they will help save the ecosystem of tomorrow.
This session’s show & tell post is from PUPEL. You can view Pupel’s post here. Thanks for sharing!
Watch this brief intro video, which will summarize what we hope to do in this session and review the qualities of strong thesis.
Keep researching! Find at least one more source relevant to you research question, whether scholarly or non-scholarly. Challenge yourself to find yet another kind of source, another perspective from which to approach your question.
Remember: as you find sources that interest you or feel relevant, revisit your driving research question and revise it. Your question should shift and change a lot through your research process.
To remind you again: at this point, stop looking for facts. Look instead for arguments, theories, and ideas, because these will help you build your argument and join a scholarly conversation.
Your engagement with Verlyn Klinkenborg’s book Several Short Sentences About Writing was truly inspired. Now, we want to think about incorporating some of those suggestions into our writing.
Recall that Klinkenborg never claims that short sentences are always better. The point is not to stop writing long, complicated sentences. The point is to focus on how you write sentences by limiting their length momentarily. In this way, you can control what you’re saying. This slows down the writing considerably. Later, as you turn toward your final project or to essays due in other classes, you should feel free to use longer, more complex sentences again.
In order to think about this, read this handout: “Arguments with Simple Sentences”
TRUE STORY FROM MY OWN WRITING LIFE: As you might know, I’m in the process of finishing up my first book, which is about 300-pages / 110,000 words. It’s taken me five years, and, around 2018, I lost count of the number of drafts. Some days, it takes me an hour to get one sentence right. (Really!) I share this with you not to intimidate you but to encourage you to think of good writing not as fast and efficient but as s l o w. If you slow down your process now, you will build necessary skills while improving clarity and strengthening original thought that will allow you to speed up later without losing any of the quality.
Don’t worry. You’ll be able to speed up and use long, complex sentences again. But for now, focus on short, slow sentences.
Write another post about your process so far. Unlike the previous posts, I want you to use all that you’ve read and studies about research questions, strong theses, summary, and the clarity of short sentences to list the following:
When you’re done, tag the Category as “Post 3.4” and click “Publish.”
We’ll meet for a short time at 7pm to talk briefly about the start of your research process.
In preparation, write down some thoughts on the following:
Would green real estate be more expensive to the city? The trouble with centuries of real estates is greenery. Real estate is “property consisting of land and the buildings” Walking through my neighborhood, reminded me every other street in the city, no greenery. I looked at images of most modernized city and concluded more technology no greenery . I am poised to think that oxygen will either be artificially made or be stored in tanks. I looked at most modern cities, just to realize I am looking at stone cold concrete paves and bricks, asphalt and these are all good features of a city. Cause when the rain comes there’s no puddles of mud in the road. etc., however, I look I see no green. Before people had no machines making their meals and needed to plant crops and needed that plants grow in abundance, now I see a few plants. Will we need our plants more than ever or will we be communities without trees and plants? What about parks can you pinpoint the closest park, if we have so many houses of square footage, could we not reinvent our yards, and make Green House or Green Yard. Yes, Tree yards not a park where people need to socially gathered, instead a place with a small amount of land only for trees, shrubs or mangroves, and we can see them all behind this twelve foot plastic wall, since we like to build everything so technological. I found myself on google counting, most family yards have left with only 1 tree, counted the parks and I saw only, ten trees, there was lots of places for more. Extra Extra Read all about it, Yard Trees coming to a neighborhood near you. Trees, you mean that other green thing, I’m excited. An entire yard of trees, that last throughout the year, plants were indoors for the winter. If we have so many lands available, real estate should stop and reconsider Green House or Green Yard. instead of , the sizes of these trees should be monitored, not to exceed 
some heights, areas, well, maintained by neighborhood botanists or environmental technicians, this may seem a bold venture but may be of good purpose for otherwise wasted green acres. I speak of green real estate as more efficient homes built and more green present even on just the balconies not just the Green House or Green Yard, like before mentioned. This was the trouble with centuries of real estate, we did not include the plants, we included the effects on the environment, but no real estate from plants. One question would be is anyone paying attention to the plant population? How many plants have died over the last two decades. How much more good could they have done. Biodiversity, did not mean only inhabited by folks. We”RE” so mean referring to the humans. Stating “we” to refer to us humans. We conquered the world and put out all the plants and animals, mother nature responds with a whopping, i researched into innovative cities . Just to realize that this refers to some of the countries who can afford to build greener right away, contrary to an article by a student. I wonder if the plants may go extinct before us humans do, since we put concrete on everything so far. Since all the birds and mammals seem to be dropping. Should I welcome another deli in my neighborhood or a bio park, should I pay taxes on the web, or should I donate 50 cents to the gardeners in my neighborhood. Should I spend a few dollars and sprinkle seeds around, or should I respect peoples properties and wonder if I should I mail gardening instructions and flower seeds to get the public more interested in trees respons Is the next generation less stubborn than the current one, when it comes to farming, or gardening. Or will they like the green plants more. Were they better educated to participate in the preservation of real estate for green or will they continue to pur concrete which seems easier to put in the ground than plants. My light is I see there were the emergence of some small trees growing g, trees of all heights I was happy to see. They grow some more tall, it’s like they can reach the heavens of we only learning to grow and climb them. Yes I always realized I was just that short. Can better real estate solve climate? Would green real estate be more expensive to the city?
Of the two options I am strongly leaning towards the idea of looking into a local environmental problem and researching a solution for it, because local environmental problems are something I see and am affected by regularly. As opposed to developing an argument about contemporary media and analyzing through a variety of lenses, which is not as motivating because I may not be directly affected by what is reflected in the contemporary media. When I read the first option I instantly had an idea, unlike the second option which I am still not sure where I would take it to. As someone who lives on Long Island the rising sea level is something that is constantly on my mind. Long Island is primarily built upon sand and other minerals, lacking a sturdy foundation for long term reliability, unlike the rest of New York, which is built upon bedrock. Due to the fact that Long Island is not structurally sound, Long Island is much more vulnerable when it comes to natural disasters, such as hurricanes. Since we lack a stable foundation, hurricanes are able to wreak havoc upon buildings, ruining their structural integrity and destroying some completely. Some parts of Long Island are still recovering from the aftermath of hurricane Sandy. Thankfully I did not live in Long Island when hurricane Sandy occured so I did not think too much of it until I moved out here I saw it first hand. Not only do we have to worry about hurricanes we also have to worry about coastal flooding and rising sea levels. Long Island has many beautiful beach house, but once the sea level goes up a few feet those houses are no longer over the beach instead they are partially underwater, and as that water retreats, if it does in fact retreat, it erodes the coast slowly taking sand away from the beach lessing the gap between the water and the homes of many, so that the next time it will only be worse. Since my family has recently bought a home in Long Island with a 30 year mortgage, for the most part I am stuck. So I rather research the topic and learn how to prepare myself and hopefully Long Island for what is inevitable at this point. Research on the topic has been exhausted to this point and solutions have been present for quite some time, but why are we acting so slowly? This is where I feel I will take my research. I feel that due to a lack of education on the topic of climate change is leading not only Long Island but the entire world to a state of chaos, from which we may not recover. So is our lack of education leading the human species to extinction?
Trees play many important roles in the environment and are an essential factor in keeping our lives enjoyable. Trees serve other vital roles such as providing quality air for us to breathe. This is important because humans and animals require clean, breathable oxygen levels as it is crucial for survival.
In the evolution of industries people are in need land and fail to realize to the effect of deforestation on the ecosystem. They cut trees and are often never replaced. This act of deforestation leads to global warming, due to an increased presence of greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere. Additionally, it disturbs the water cycle. It is clear that when there are no trees, different types of calamities are inevitable. Calamities such as, more chance of floods and erosion; extinction of wild animals, which happen to be of high importance in the ecosystem. The video above give us a vu of deforestation and the reflection on our environment .
Questions .
a) How can we overcome the crisis of deforestation ?
b) What makes deforestation so difficult to stop ?
c) What a rapid solution can we bring ?
Q• What are you proud of in this draft? What’s working well?
A* I took great pride in making my essay clear and polished
Q• More broadly, what do you think your strengths as a writer are? Why?
A* Honestly, when I’m given a project I tend to approach the assignment really ambitiously. I start off having all these different ideas sort of spiraling in my head, that I have a hard time honing them in and really refining what is it that I really want to say, specifically
My goals for revising are thinking more “Big Picture” create more engagement, In the past I missed my mark ( main idea). Which was not just about masculinity but was the way fossil fuels Defined it.
If you weren’t able to join us for the collective video chat on Monday, please watch the recording here.
This session’s show & tell post is from VICTORIA here—a thoughtful inquiry into both the beauty and impact of resorts vacations! Thanks for sharing this, Victoria! Head over, read, and leave a comment.
Remember that scholarly sources are peer-reviewed. If they’re articles, they’re published in academic journals. If they’re books, they’re published by academic presses. Scholarly sources almost always have an end bibliography/works cited/list of references.
Helpful tip!: if you find one good, relevant scholarly source, try looking at the works cited at the end—and use that to find more sources.
A popular source, then, is non-scholarly. Does that mean it’s not authoritative? Not necessarily. Newspapers and magazines are popular sources. Not all newspapers and magazines are authoritative on certain subjects, however.
If you’re having trouble distinguishing between scholarly and popular sources, here’s a handout that compares the two: “Popular vs. Scholarly”
So what makes a source authoritative? Just because a national news source published it, doesn’t mean it’s authoritative. From where do texts derive their authority? What makes something authoritative?
This is an open question. I’ll let you think about it in your blog post.
Keep researching and find another source relevant to you research question. Challenge yourself to find a different kind of source, not just a popular source but one that you might use in a totally different way—perhaps a source you’d argue against or from a different discipline.
Remember: you’re not just looking for facts. You’re looking for arguments, theories, and ideas, because you’re building an argument.
Write another post about your process so far. Include the following:
You might also begin drafting the short annotations for your Annotated Bibliography. A reminder of what those are here.
This session’s show & tell post is from ZABIA here. Zabia has shared with us thoughts from the 2013 documentary Blackfish. Some particularly helpful qualities of this post are:
Thank you for serving as such a great model of critical analysis and presentation, Zabia!
And we’re off! Once you have a topic and specific research question that you feel excited by and confident about, start researching! Don’t worry if it feels overwhelming at first. Go for specificity. The smaller your question, and the more specific, the more manageable your research.
Your goal is to find at least one scholarly source that looks relevant to your project using the library’s databases. Part of your tuition goes to fund these resources—so use them!
Be sure to save it to your computer somehow. Keep your research organized!
Write about your assignment 3 research process so far.
Write and write and write. And write. Don’t worry about perfection. Just transfer the thoughts that are happening in your head to the page/screen. This might seem hard at first, but IT GETS EASIER. It only gets easier, however, if you practice it.
Some advice:
Have fun with this. Make it your own, and use this time/space to really think about a question that interests you.
When you’re done, publish your thoughts as Blog Post 3.2 (don’t forget to tag “Post 3.2” in the Categories box!).
We’ll meet for a short time at 7pm to talk briefly about the start of your research process. In preparation, write down some thoughts on the following:
If you weren’t able to join us for the collective video chat on Monday, please watch the recording here.
Heads up: I was only able to record part of our meeting. My deepest apologies. What’s not on here is:
Remember that library orientation we had a few weeks ago? Yeah, me neither!
Luckily, the Queens College library has put together a series of videos that will help you review the most important skills you need to know in order to start your academic research.
Spend considerable time watching these videos, scrolling past the videos and reading the text, and clicking on each of the five tabs at the top. The five tabs are: Getting Started, Generating Keyterms, Finding Books in OneSearch, Finding Articles in Library Databases, and Wrapping Up. Please make sure you review by reading each of those pages. That should take some time.
Here’s the library orientation review: https://qc-cuny.libguides.com/c.php?g=955810&p=6897913
It all starts with a research question! Your thesis will be only as good as the question that answers it. Significant time spent brainstorming, revising, and narrowing down a research question will save you hours and hours and hours of work—not to mention stress.
Go for: narrowness, specificity, complexity, and feasibility. Does your question require substantial, theoretical research, or does it lead to a simple, factual answer? Can you actually find evidence and arguments to explore the question thoroughly? The most commons mistake here is asking a question that’s too broad and general. Often, students ask questions that require WHOLE BOOKS to answer. Be careful! The smaller and more specific the question, the better. You want to be able to actually answer it with your set of sources.
If you’re stuck and don’t know what topic to start with, you might check out this list of environmental justice organizations in New York. (This works particularly well if you’ve chosen the first of the two prompts.) Why look at environmental justice organization websites? Because they’re usually focused on specific campaigns that address local environmental problems. So if WE ACT is focused on asthma in children in Harlem due to pollution from diesel trucks AND you’re also interested in that, it might be a good place to start.
In order to learn more about developing a research question, read this handout: “Developing Strong Research Questions”
If you want to read more about how to develop strong research questions, skip to the optional reading in 12.2.6: “From Topics to Questions.”
Now that you understand how to begin with a question, it’s time to brainstorm. Do this however you’d like, but I want to see evidence of an engaged, sustained brainstorm.
Write a brainstorm blog post: give me at least 500 words (but challenge yourself to go for much more!) in which you write, write, write in order to think out loud about what you want to write about and why. Which of the two options interests you most? What do you think you want to write about? What driving research question could provide an annotated bibliography that would be both interesting to you and meet the goals of the assignment. Feel free to include images or anything at all. MESSINESS IS WELCOME AT THIS STAGE. Think out loud!
When you’re done, tag the Category of the post as “Post 3.1” and PUBLISH.
If you’re stuck on how to move from a general topic to a specific research question, there’s no better source than Booth, Colomb, and Williams’s The Craft of Research. Check out this chapter on moving “From Topics to Questions”. I find it super helpful!
Watch: Intro Video
Watch this short introductory video:
This session’s show & tell post is from JENNY on a deforestation video. (Thanks, Jenny!) You can access the post here. I’m also particularly interested in thoughts around the form of the video. We talk a lot about the content of the things we bring in, but I challenge you to analyze the form of the video. How does it communicate? Why might it communicate in that specific way? What’s implied that might not be explicitly shown/stated?
Read the third major assignment prompt slowly and carefully. Then, re-read it! Note any questions you might have and ask me during the group video meeting @ 7pm on 4/20.
Okay—so what’s an annotated bibliography? It sounds scary!
Good question. And I hope it’s NOT scary. (Or at least not as scary as a full research paper.) But you WILL need to learn what it is and how to construct it. Don’t worry. I’ve divided the research assignment into small, manageable parts that are due a little bit each class period.
Start by reading this brief handout: “What is an Annotated Bibliography?”
Then, take a look at this sample bibliography: Sample MLA Bibliography.
You can use the sample bibliography as a template. In terms of style/formatting, your Annotated Bibliography should look exactly like this, although your annotations will be longer, and there will be more of them. Read the sample to better understand what you’ll create.
OPTIONAL: If you’re still not sure what an Annotated Bibliography is, take a look at the following resources listed below. (I’ll also list these on the “Resources” page.)
As we turn toward thinking about research and solutions to environmental problems, I thought I’d end this class session on an uplifting note. Watch this TED Talk by Majora Carter, an organizer in the South Bronx, talk about her work toward environmental solutions. (Note: there’s a transcript posted on the site that you can follow along with.) As you watch, keep thinking about research. Consider the following:
When you’re done, post your thoughts and response to the above question on the class discussion board.
We’ll meet for a short time at 7pm to talk briefly about the third major assignment and the work ahead. In preparation, write down some thoughts on the following:
Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/99276265639?pwd=R2luTEV4TTFqSDZidll0VFNvdUJldz09
Meeting ID: 992 7626 5639
Password: 031104
