The Assignment Link for Week Five is Activated

The assignments link for week five is now activated.

This week, you'll learn how to take research notes.  In particular, you'll learn how to take the kind of research notes called reference/evidence and point/opinion notes.  You can read more about what you put in these kinds of notes and why they are useful in the assignment itself, where I have written and posted an introduction to taking notes.

For those who are new to thinking about sources and research sources, later in the week, I'll also post an explanation of online vs. print sources and primary vs. secondary sources.  Check back here for this post on Tuesday or Wednesday.

You also have your first group assignment this week.  You'll be picking the research topic on which you'll be writing your King rhetorical analysis paper. Your whole group will be writing on the topic you pick as a group, and there's more information on the choice you must make in the assignment explanation for the week.  

At this point, everyone in your group should have set up their blog, there should be a link to it on the forums page, they should have read King's "Letter," and they should have posted informal notes on the rhetoric and their first pass through the letter.  They should also now know the basic ideas behind rhetorical analysis.  If they don't offer to help, and point them toward me, so I can help.  Everyone's success in your group is important to you, as you will depend on one another this semester.  Indeed, one of your assignments for the week will have you re-reading the letter again and taking research notes on the topic your *group* picks to research.

Learning how to collaborate with a group is one of the main learning outcomes for the course.  Working with groups isn't easy.  Chances are, you were trained in high school to do most of your work individually, sometimes being punished if others helped you with your work.  In business, everyone's livelihood depends on what needs to get done getting done, not on who does it.  Having said this, your co-workers won't like it much if they do all the work and you just coast.  Sooner or later, they will talk to your boss, and if you haven't been carrying your share of the work, she will fire you and find someone who will.  The upshot is that you need to find out how to get people to do their work as well as how to complete your own, and you must work out how to work with *everyone,* because the other thing a good boss won't put up with is folks playing ego games and fighting.  Again, in the workplace, it's not about any one individual.  If it is, chances are your group or business isn't doing the best job they could be, which means you aren't making the money you could be.

As you work with your group this semester, take the time to get to know everyone.  Treat them as colleagues.  Shoulder your share.  Let your group know if you need a couple of extra days and why.  Give them enough lead time to get the work done on their own, that is, if they have to, and make sure to pick up extra work later to say thanks if they have to cover for you.  If you find someone not shouldering their share, try to help them and, at the least, ask what is going on and what you can do to help.  In the case of the King research project, you need for everyone to do their share, because the quality of the rhetorical analysis you can write on your own will depend on the research everyone does.  Always know, I'm here to act as the boss if you need me.

This week, build on the relationships you began with the interviews last week, and begin to figure out how to work together.  Do you need to meet face-to-face?  Will a conference call or a calling tree work best? Will email work?  Part of succeeding this semester is figuring out how to collaborate with a group you know best online.

As always, write with questions.

Steve