23 TUE APR 11

Class 23 TUE APR 11

Writing Center Help when you need it.

Located in the Campbell Library, the Writing Center offers help to students from experienced tutors eager to assist their peers by appointment.

Rowan Writing Center tutors provide opportunities that enable student writers to discover and develop effective writing and composing practices. We offer a space where writers of many genres can find support at any stage of the writing process.  From brainstorming ideas, organizing them, revising drafts and checking citations, the RWC and its tutors provide a comfortable environment for students to improve and succeed.

Link to the Rowan Writing Center website. Register here, “meet the tutors,” and make an appointment.

Deep Dive Lyrical Analysis

Not that you have much choice (well, you could walk out!), but I hope you’ll indulge me in listening to a Ben Folds song whose lyrics I both very much admire and nevertheless ruthlessly critique.

I do so partly to amuse myself and you, but importantly to encourage you that I am brutal even to work I really love. So much about this song is genius, and so much of it makes me cringe.

Listen along and read along, please.

The Luckiest (Ben Folds Five)

Riddle: The Missing Dollar Paradox

A Case Study: Maintaining Control

This is a brilliant opening. A brilliant opening of which anyone should be proud. A brilliant opening that goes wrong almost immediately and surrenders the ground it firmly established.

Women have to work harder in every aspect of life. Thankfully in today’s world, the fight for gender equality has progressed greatly. Despite this progression, there are still some kinks to work out, even in something that unites the world like sports. Throughout the years sports organizations and media have been under fire about the unfair treatment of genders and lack of female representation in televised sports. Women in sports have constantly fought to be represented and respected by not only their male counterparts but the world as a whole. 

  1. Women have to work harder in every aspect of life.
    —What a brilliant first sentence. It unapologetically maps out the territory and the rules. This writer is in command of the subject matter.
  2. Thankfully in today’s world, the fight for gender equality has progressed greatly.
    —And then, gives it back. Women have had to work harder, BUT things are improving. I didn’t really mean it. Pay no attention to me.
  3. Despite this progression, there are still some kinks to work out, even in something that unites the world like sports.
    —No, wait. women do still have to work harder while the kinks are worked out, even in sports, where we wouldn’t expect them to have to fight for equality.
  4. Throughout the years sports organizations and media have been under fire about the unfair treatment of genders and lack of female representation in televised sports.
    —As I was saying in the first sentence, the Olympics, international sports leagues, media outlets, EVERYONE in fact, continues to treat women unfairly.
  5. Women in sports have constantly fought to be represented and respected by not only their male counterparts but the world as a whole. 
    —What was I thinking? “Gender equality has progressed greatly?” That’s what they WANT US to think! I call bullshit on that!
  6. Women have to work harder in every aspect of life, INCLUDING INTERNATIONAL SPORT!

Where does it go wrong? In the second sentence.

Second Grade for your White Paper

I’ve completely (for the time being) caught up on Feedback Please requests, so my next order of business will be to revisit your White Papers to see how they’re progressing. If you’ve already posted your Causal and Rebuttal sources, written Purposeful Summaries, and updated your Hypotheses and Current State sections, you’ll do fine on the regrade.

Writing Skills

Take-Home Exercises

Next Portfolio Task

24 Responses to 23 TUE APR 11

  1. davidbdale says:
    December 13, 2021 at 4:37 am

    Nice one: don’t just provide statistics- they need direction and velocity. having them is pointless if you don’t know how to use them
    3/3

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  2. rowanstudent6 says:
    April 11, 2023 at 9:09 am

    -WC Help: Visit writing center if writing help is needed
    -The Luckiest: Do not be redundant or weak
    -The Luckiest: Understand what you are saying and be concise
    -The Luckiest: Check grammar
    -The Luckiest: The songwriter allows the listener to fill in the blanks, but I should not do this. Be firm and make a claim
    -Missing Dollar Paradox: Confusing and I’m certain I’m wrong
    -Case Study: Make a claim bold and clear
    -Case Study: Do not undermine claim
    -Case Study: Stick to your guns
    -Case Study: Review how well I maintain control of my claim and the reader
    -White Paper: Update white paper
    -White Paper: Find additional source for rebuttal argument
    -Writing Skills: Independent Clauses emphasizes claims
    -Writing Skills: Dependent Clauses minimizes objections
    -Writing Skills: Be obvious with your claims
    -Rebuttal Argument: Refute and obliterate the rebuttal position
    -Rebuttal Argument: Add a real title
    -Rebuttal Argument: Due Thursday

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  3. oatmealvibes says:
    April 11, 2023 at 9:14 am

    Writing Center – The writing center is an area that has experienced tutors who are ready and willing to assist you with an appointment. They can help with any point of the writing process such as brainstorming, organizing ideas, revising etc. The professor gave us a link to the appointment page for the writing center if you need it. (Always recommended just for a little extra help.)

    The Luckiest – Is the song by Ben Folds, some of the lyrics don’t make complete sense but the professor enjoys this song and it’s beautiful regardless of the lyricism. It’s grammatically clumsy but it’s enjoyable to listen to.

    Riddle: The Missing Dollar Paradox – My answer is on the riddle page!

    A Case Study: Maintaining Control –
    The opening to this paragraph was great. It has a clear case established. “Women have to work harder in every aspect of life.” Then it backtracks its claim by acknowledging that gender equality has progressed “greatly.” It goes back on track with the last 3 sentences but it went wrong in the second sentence by acknowledging how much gender equality has “progressed.”

    Second Grade for your White Paper: The professor has caught up on all the feedback please requests so now he will be doing a second grade for your white paper. If you have posted causal and Rebuttal sources, written purposeful summaries, and updated your hypotheses and current state sections then the regrade will be fine.

    *The visual rhetoric is more than just describing what is on the screen. It’s also about drawing conclusions from what you’ve seen.

    Writing Skills: Take home exercises – Independent clauses emphasize claims. Independent clauses are complete sentences with a subject and a verb. It’s in other words a complete thought. In the sentence example, the sentence “It won’t help them end their addiction.” that’s the most important part of the whole entire sentence, if it was a dependent clause which is a sentence with a subject and a verb but doesn’t complete a thought, it’s not a full sentence. Dependent clauses minimize objections and help our case.

    Editing for logic: The answer is on the editing for logic page!

    The rebuttal argument is due on Wednesday, April 12th at 11:59 pm.
    – Rebuttal arguments are respectful, specific, and firm. The position is that your own opinion is correct regardless that others hold opinions very different from your own. There are needs to be met for your rebuttal opponent’s arguments to be full-proof.

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  4. queenrandom04 says:
    April 11, 2023 at 9:14 am

    David analyzed the song ‘The Luckiest” to show us even the media he enjoys a lot. He is still critical of it. The point of the riddle we did is to exercise our active reading comprehension skills. We went over poorly organized arguments to see the way changing the order of what we have written can make our issue just that more understandable to our audience that’s reading it. We looked at examples of a rebuttal essay to know when and how to specifically refute our worthy opponent. Finding reputable sources of both sides and finding a way to make them illegitimate without just saying they are dumb because they don’t agree.

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  5. giants19 says:
    April 11, 2023 at 9:14 am

    -Today, class began with us analyzing a songs lyrics. I thought that the song was very vivid and I was able to really use my imagination when examining the lyrics.
    – We then examined a riddle called “The Missing Dollar Paradox”. The riddle stumped me until I really just broke it down to simpler terms.
    -Then we took a look at what some examples of good writing and examples of what bad writing are.
    -We spent most of today on writing exercises and how to make our writing better.

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  6. rowanluver29 says:
    April 11, 2023 at 9:15 am

    – The writing center is a good place to get your paper looked over before you submit it for a final grade. But if you are expecting them to pretty up and completely perfect your essay, you should book an appointment somewhere else.
    – We analyzed the lyrics of The Luckiest by Ben Folds Five. We came to the conclusion he does not regret getting things right the first time because it led him to the woman, he ended up falling in love with.
    – The missing dollar paradox: There was no missing dollar (explanation in reply post)
    -Where does it go wrong in the second sentence? The second sentence seems to be contradicting to the entire point of the paragraph. It states that there has been progress in the equality between women and men, but the first sentence and rest of the paragraph continues to prove that wrong.
    – The point of a rebuttal argument is to find a worthy opponent and then “take out their knees.”

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  7. sinatraman17 says:
    April 11, 2023 at 9:15 am

    “The Luckiest” -Ben Folds
    “What if I’d been born 50 years before you in a house on the street where you live?”
    -Brilliant concept of missing out on your true love due to lack of life synchronization. This idea has an infinite amount of personal iterations, and warrants further exploration by myself in my own art (I’m taking note of it)

    -Independent Clauses: Self-sufficient sentences. Noun & verb. Make sure primary claims go into THESE clauses.
    -Dependent Clauses: Sentence fragments. Add more context or details to set up the independent clause/PRIMARY claim.

    *White Paper Regrade: polish up The White Paper**
    **Rebuttal Argument: DUE 11:59PM WED APR 12**

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  8. Water says:
    April 11, 2023 at 9:38 am

    The writing centre is a recommended tool of assistance where they could help you review your drafts, you should make appointments as soon as possible for they tend to be extremely busy during this time of the semester. We go over the song “the luckiest” by Ben Folds Five, the author builds up his pain and the wrongs he’s gone through but he then mentions a turning point where he sees this girl he feels like the luckiest, he shows his gratitude for meeting the love of his life and he expresses he would be nothing without her and they were meant to be, there may have been grammar mistakes in the song that either was going in no direction or had no purpose for being there but delivery purposes it was used to tell a story. We then looked at a sample paragraph on gender equality, and we noticed that it went wrong in the second sentence, the first had a claim but the second sentence disproves what the first sentence originally said and after the second they go back to the original idea of the first sentence. We look at independent clauses and dependent clauses and the difference when independent have either a noun or verb, and dependent clauses are more of a segment that needs furthermore explanation.

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  9. tlap23 says:
    April 11, 2023 at 10:30 am

    4/11 class
    Writing center help when you need it- get a relationship with a tutor now before crunch time at the end of the semester and you cannot get one
    Deep Dive Lyrical Analysis
    -The Luckiest by Ben Folds→ Analyzed this love song and its complexity
    Riddle→ Missing Dollar Paradox
    Case Study→ Maintaining control
    -Make a bold claim and don’t add supporting evidence that counters your claim
    White Paper: Eligible for a second grade
    -Update white paper with additional sources
    -Post a comment in feedback please for quicker feedback
    Magical Dependency
    -Put your most important claim in your independent clause
    Due Thursday, April 13- Rebuttal argument due

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  10. sortableelms says:
    April 11, 2023 at 10:34 am

    In order to get help from the Writing Center Help it is good to reachout now as it’s the last time you are able to before it gets flooded.
    “The Luckiest” Ben Folds: If you can take your readers to the edge where they finish your claim it is really powerful and hard to do. We need to be firm with claims. He has a fear of losing someone that he still has. “Nostalgia for the present”
    Riddle (The Missing Dollar Paradox): There is no missing dollar because the women spent $27, of which $25 went on the bill and $2 went to the waiter. The $2 that went to the waiter came from the $27 spent, with the other $25 going on the bill. There is $25 in the cash register, $2 in the waiter’s pocket, and each of the three women has $1.
    A Case Study: Maintaining Control: It comes for stacking bold claims on bold claims.
    Magical Dependency: Independent Clauses Emphasize Claims versus Dependent Clauses which Minimize Objections. Put the most important claim in the independent clause and push the claim that isn’t as important to the dependent clause.

    ***DUE***
    Second Grade for the White Paper is coming up
    Rebuttal Argument: My Worthy Opponent Is Wrong! DUE THU APR 13 (11:59 PM WED APR 12)
    **********

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  11. g00dsoup says:
    April 11, 2023 at 10:35 am

    We have (including today’s class) four real classes left before our final class on April 25 and our final portfolio check on April 27.
    Our rebuttal argument is due before our class on April 13. Between now and the end of the semester, our annotated bibliographies, reflective statements and any other rewrites that we feel the need to rewrite.

    The Writing Center is located in the Campbell Library. The Writing Center Tutors offer student writers to develop effective writing skills.
    You can make an appointment online (after you’ve logged in).

    Deep Dive Lyrical Analysis: The Luckiest (Ben Folds Five)
    Even if lyrics don’t make the most grammatical sense…there is still so much within them. Lyrics have the ability to leave a lot of opportunities to question what the songwriter really means from the lyrics and it allows us to put in our interpretations of the lyrics.

    Riddle: The Missing Dollar Paradox: (Let’s hope my mediocre math skills can solve this riddle)

    Case Study: Maintaining Control
    The introduction starts off a with such a bold claim. However, it backtracks its logic by writing something not suited for the paper. Then the paragraph resumes with sentences that support its initial, bold claim.

    Second grade for White Paper: Be sure to revisit the White Paper for a regrade.

    Magical Dependency: Put your important claim as the independent clause in your writing

    Due Dates: Rebuttal Argument: 04.12.23 (11:59pm)
    Revise White Paper

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  12. sunflower0311 says:
    April 11, 2023 at 10:40 am

    – If you need more help on your papers you can visit the Writing Center at the Library. You should make an appointment soon and build a relationship with one of the tutors before everyone tries to get in for finals.
    – We then went over the lyrics to “The Luckiest” by Ben Folds. The lyrics tell a lot without actually coming right out and saying what the song writer is trying to say.
    – Your professor will be going back over your white paper and regrade them.
    – Everything can always be regraded just make sure you ask for a regrade to make sure it happens.
    – Independent Clause: A sentence that is not dependent on anything else. Put the claim that is most important to you into the independent clause.
    – Dependent Clauses: Put claims that you want to deemphasize within these clauses.
    *Rebuttal Argument is due at 11:59 on Wednesday April 12th.

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  13. mellowtacos says:
    April 11, 2023 at 10:40 am

    *Quick demonstration of how improve the use of feedback please
    –Turn on email notification for replies

    WRITING CENTER
    – if you need help schedule an appointment NOW because they will be getting requests at the end of the year
    – make an appointment online

    DEEP DIVE LYRICAL ANALYSIS
    “The luckiest”-Ben Folds
    *If you can take reader to the edge of where they finish your argument, that would be amazing (it’s very hard to do)

    He says “What if I’d been born 50 years before you in a house on the street where you live?”
    — pre-nostalgia – worrying about having lost someone before you have even lost someone.

    RIDDLE
    The Missing Dollar Paradox
    3 ladies go to a restaurant for a meal with a bill of 30 dollars. Bill ended up being 25, but the waiter pockets 2 dollars so where is the missing dollar?

    if they all placed 10 dollars on the table and the bill ended up being 25 and the waiter pockets 2 dollars that is 25+3+2= 30 there is no missing dollar. That would not mean that the bill was now 27 dollars and each and the ladies pay 9 because they technically paid 9 dollars and something cents because of those two dollars in the waiter’s pocket, however the ladies do not know the waiter pocketed dollars so for them that is what happened.

    MAGICAL DEPENDENCY
    Giving free heroin to addicts that can not be rehabilitated
    PROS
    – Lower crime rate
    – Reduce needle sharing

    CONS
    – doesn’t help addicts end their addiction

    *Independent clause
    —Since the program lowers the crime rate by giving free heroin to the addicts,
    — it won’t help them end their addiction.
    *Put the claim that is most important to you in the independent clause

    FAILING SCHOOLS PARAGRAPH
    -without the wordiness and repetition the bones of the paragraph are able to be seen

    Example:
    before: The replacement of large failing public schools with smaller “specialized” schools will successfully guide underprivileged students in the right direction to become successful
    after: Underprivileged students are more likely to succeed

    ***Rebuttal argument due Thursday before class

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  14. pinkheart84 says:
    April 11, 2023 at 11:06 am

    Writing Center Help when you need it: Campbell Library, offers help to students from tutors.
    Deep Dive Lyrical Analysis: The Luckiest by Ben Folds, most of the lyrics don’t make sense and it’s worded very weird but it’s nice to listen to.
    Professor has caught up on all feedback.
    White paper: Update white paper and find other sources that will help with rebuttal argument.
    Rebuttal argument: due thursday, add real title.
    Writing Skills: Take home exercises.rewrite the paragraph to make it more logical.

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  15. gobirds115 says:
    April 11, 2023 at 11:21 am

    Class Notes 4/11:

    – Writing Center is a useful resource to get your paper looked at and examined prior to submitting it for a grade. However, if you’re looking to get your essay fixed and really polished up, you should consider getting an actual writing tutor who can do that for you.

    -After analyzing the lyrics of “The Luckiest” by Ben Folds Five, we can conclude that he was fine with getting it right on the first try because it eventually lead him to the woman which he fell in love with

    -The missing dollar paradox actually shows that there was no missing dollar

    – When we looked at the gender equality excerpt, the second sentence contradicts the entire point of the paragraph as it states something along the lines of how strides have been made in gender equality. This sentence doesn’t really agree with the rest of the paragraph at all.

    -When constructing our rebuttal argument, find an opponent that is respectable and worthy and then take them out using your reasoning and outweighing the pros of your argument vs theirs.

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  16. tristanb50 says:
    April 11, 2023 at 5:16 pm

    -Essay help from a tutor can be found at the Writing Center
    -I was unable to access the link to The Luckiest, I will try later
    -maintain control of your argument, don’t surrender your point when talking
    -bring up what you’re going to talk about in the first sentence, rather than whittling down a broad topic to your specific talking point
    Upcoming:
    -White Papers being regraded, with additional sources for each argument
    -Rebuttal Argument Due tomorrow night

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  17. chickennugget246 says:
    April 11, 2023 at 5:37 pm

    We are encouraged to leave a reply and say what kind of feedback we want, under feedback please, in order to receive helpful feedback from the professor.
    It is very helpful to respond to the feedback we receive and have a conversation about what we can improve, so we are guided on the right path for revisions.

    We can ask for help from the Writing Center if we need it. We can make an appointment with someone, but we would have to do it now because it fills quickly.

    Deep Dive Lyrical Analysis: Professor Hodges was showing us lyrics to a song that he admires, but also critiques. He is even brutal to work that he loves, so he is not picking on us when he critiques our arguments.

    Riddle: The Missing Dollar Paradox: where is the missing dollar?

    A Case Study: Maintaining Control: The author stated a bold claim and is in control of the subject matter, then completely lost it and gave it up in the second sentence. We have to maintain control over our subject matter by stating bold claims after bold claims.

    Second Grade for our White Paper: we have to make sure to keep adding to our white paper since Professor Hodges will be revisiting it.

    We can make revisions and ask for a regrade, we just have to leave a comment to let our professor know.

    Magical Dependency: Independent Clauses Emphasize Claims and Dependent Clauses Minimize Objections. Independent clauses are inside a sentence. Put the claim that is most important to you in the independent clause. We put the one that is not as important in the dependent clause, the one that we want to diminish or deemphasize.

    Editing for Logic: taking big (fat) paragraphs and making them smaller (lean), creates space for more words.

    Thursday our rebuttal argument is due.

    We should refute, not advance their argument.

    To create a good argument, we can find ways in which seat belts or car seats, for example, can be more hazardous than helpful.

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  18. inspireangels says:
    April 11, 2023 at 7:34 pm

    You can receive help from the writing center since it offer free service to help students with an appointment

    Deep Dive Analysis:
    – if you can take your audience to the edge of your claim without you filling it in for them, the audience will fill in the the claim you wanted to get across without you having to say it.
    – There’s a lot of opportunities here in the song to fill in the blanks.
    – This was my first hearing this song and I would like to say that I enjoy it very much even though when breaking down the lyrics, some lyrics sounded a little off but we were still able to understand what the artist was getting across with his song.

    Case Study
    – Most of the time people in their introductory paragraph tend to undermine their claim. Individuals need to have clear bold claim so you have through control of your essay

    Magical Dependency:
    – it’s easy to switch the emphasis of your claim
    – Independent clause: are complete sentence that have a noun and verb that can stand on it’s own since it’s a complete thought. Put the claim that’s most important to you into the independent clause
    – Dependent clause: isn’t a complete sentence since they are incomplete thoughts and because of this dependent clause minimize the objection

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  19. Shazammm says:
    April 11, 2023 at 7:47 pm

    The writing center is here for our utilization. Book an appointment if you need help writing your arguments. The clock is ticking, though. The beginning and end of the semester is when the writing center gets super busy. I may book one when piecing my arguments together.

    When writing a piece such as Ben Folds’ “The Luckiest,” be sure that your words are communicating your desired message effectively, for your audience may interpret your lines wrongly if you are not careful. GETTING THINGS WRONG THE FIRST TIME IS OKAY.

    A sentence is an independent clause.

    Rebuttal argument is due April 12 at midnight.

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  20. blueee04 says:
    April 11, 2023 at 8:36 pm

    Today, we first discussed the writing center and Professor Hodges advised us to take advantage of it for tutor help. I was required to have a tutor last semester, which was helpful because she gave good advice and it was another pair of eyes to look over my essays, spotting anything I should change. We then read a riddle which was quite confusing, I think that the wording in the riddle was twisted a bit to cause confusion.

    Then we looked at examples of how we should set up our rebuttal argument assignment. We also took a look at the last few assignments due dates coming up. I think it’s crazy how quick this semester has gone by. There are only a couple more weeks until we’re done.

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  21. pitandthependulum22 says:
    April 11, 2023 at 10:05 pm

    Writing Center
    – sign up now on posted link (tutors get busy around finals season)
    -make appt

    Lyrical Analysis

    Riddle: Missing Dollar Paradox

    Case Study
    – not sure of the author’s beliefs (if they are actually passionate about the topic they write about or if they are just relating a point)
    – paragraph went wrong in the second sentence

    Second Grade For White Paper
    – keep posting notes and other observations
    – Make sure causal and rebuttal sources, written purposeful summaries, and updated hypothesis and current state sections are posted and complete

    Magical Dependency
    – independent clauses emphasize claims/ dependent clauses minimize objections

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  22. doglover846 says:
    April 12, 2023 at 12:37 pm

    – Create an appointment with the Writing Center to help you with your papers.
    – Put the claim that is most important to you in the independent clause
    – Keep checking up on the feedback so you can get a better grade.
    – Make sure you but the papers and assignments in the right categories
    – Independent clauses
    – emphasis claims
    – Dependent clauses
    – minimize objections

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  23. clevelandbrown03 says:
    April 29, 2023 at 5:11 pm

    you can go to the writing center for help.
    we have to put our assignments in the right place.
    Riddle: was the missing dollar paradox
    A sentence is an independent clause.
    The independent clause emphasizes claims

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  24. pinkmonkey32 says:
    April 30, 2023 at 9:01 pm

    – if you would like extra help with your work you can visit the writing center and meet with a tutor.
    – make sure your argument is clear and strong, check grammar errors.
    -make your claim, and make it known
    – the missing dollar paradox is one that is hard to figure out but I left my best guess on the post
    -claim should be clear and don’t accidentally go against your own claim
    – make your claim so strong that your reader doesn’t have time to think against you
    -review your claims to make them stronger through your essays
    -Go back and update white paper for a regrade
    – Independent Clauses emphasizes claims
    -Dependent Clauses minimizes objections
    – take out your opponents position
    – turn in rebuttal argument by Thursday
    – MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A TITLE

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