Moving to the larger context
In Class Today:
We've been talking about some small and fairly subtle ways in which what we read acts on us and allows us to infer things about the writer and her motives, how attitudes get into texts. I want now to switch to some larger things (and to pay some attention to the larger context of texts generally). I also want to do a kind of assessment of where we got with the first question, about spin, slant, etc., and that's what the next prompt is about. Today, however, what I want to do is see what happened with the questions about the periphery of the texts you've been working on. First, let's do a round and see what people found out and decide whether it makes a difference to how we read the articles, how we think about them, and how they affect us.
We'll do that by setting up a circle and inviting people to read their question and tell us what they found.
Looking at the process
As I said in the prompt last time, I'm at least as much interested in what you did to find your information as I am in the information itself. An important part of what we're doing here is learning how the world of text works, how people store and share information and ideas in text form. I'm interested in beginning where you are rather than with some abstract bunch of lessons on research methods, and I'm also interested in having you become more self-aware about what you're doing when you go out on the Web or down to the library. So here's an assignment for next time.
For Next time
I'll arrange for everybody to swap the reports you brought in this time. Make sure your name is on both the log of "every single thing you did," and on the written reportt of what you found as an answer to the question. You'll give that to someone else, and get someone else's back in turn. (If you don't have these in written form, you can't participate in this.)
Between now and Thursday, do two things.