Writer's choice

Question

Discussions of articles in the news will open your eyes to current events and make the material in your textbook relevant to your daily lives so that you will be able to listen to news radio, television, or print with a more critical ear. After this course, my hope is that you're not just absorbing information, but you will get experience reacting to the news and examining your own opinions.

Two times in the semester you are required to post one news article which corresponds with one of the course chapters in that unit. You are then to comment on one other person's posting with comments or reactions, however, observe the rules of netiquette when posting on anyone else's thread. After you have posted your news article, please review your thread in order to respond to any questions your classmates may have posed to you.

Your word count for the comment should be a minimum of 100 words.

Note: You may not post the same news article (the same topic is fine, the same article is not) as one of your classmates. Doing so will cancel yours out. Each entry is time-stamped; you must be the first to post your news story in order for it to count. You must post directly into the corresponding unit’s forum. Please paste your article’s URL into the subject line of your posting and do not include the entire article in the body of your post. Your article must come from a credible news source. Please make sure you are NOT selecting an article which is an opinion piece or from a blog. Such articles are not appropriate for this assignment and will not earn you ANY credit.

Format: The length requirement is 300 words at a MINIMUM. You should include your word count at the bottom of your posting. Your organization should be in paragraph format. The first paragraph should be a summary of your news article. The second paragraph should describe your reaction to the article. In this paragraph you should tell me why you chose this article if you have any comments on the nature of the issue, and how you felt the author did as a whole in writing the article. The third and last paragraph is the most heavily weighed paragraph, which is the relevance paragraph. In this relevance paragraph, you should explain clearly the correlation your article has to the course and its current material. Your articles must be relevant to one of the chapters we are covering for the unit. In the relevance, paragraph be sure to cite your text with page numbers indicating correlation for full credit according to MLA citation style.

You must include your word count at the bottom of each posting.

Important: Your original posting must be turned in 48 hours PRIOR to the deadline to allow time for discussion and replies. Original postings which are late WILL NOT BE GRADED.

For resources on MLA citation style please see the resource librarian at TWU or you may use the Owl at Purdue web source.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_electronic_sources.html (Links to an external site.)

The biggest mistake students make with this assignment is length and not citing properly in the third paragraph.


Some credible news sources you may wish to consult include:


www.WashingtonPost.com


www.USAToday.com


www.CNN.com


www.NPR.org


www.DallasNews.com


www.TexasTribune.org

While these are recommended sources, you may choose from others if you like. Again, You may not use opinion pages or blogs to draw from or you will not receive credit. Your news source must be credible. If you have questions about a news source before posting, please ask.


Reply Posting Guidelines:

The second part of each discussion forum involves replying to an original post offered by at least one of your peers. You may choose to reply more often, but the minimum expectation is for each student to engage with one person in each forum. Please reply to someone who does not have any replies, so that every one may receive some degree of feedback. Your reply does not involve the same level of rigor as the original post, but it must be of substantial academic and intellectual value. Be sure to directly address the main points made in the original post and even offer additional sources to consider. You must reply to the same unit you are taking part in.

Simply cheering on your peers with phrases like "Good posting" or "I agree" will not suffice for this assignment. This is an opportunity for a real exchange of ideas, so make the most of the opportunity to teach and learn from your classmates. Any personal attacks are grounds for immediate removal from the course and possibly the college.

Again, your grade will be based on the quality and originality of your feedback. The minimum writing requirement for a reply post is 100 of your own words (excluding cited information from the word count). Finally, provide a word count and if needed list any works cited at the end of the reply.