Thurs 9 8 Notes and Assignments

A Maya sun god.

9 8 11 Notes and Assignments

10^th Read the Cotton Mather selection (handout). Make notes that will help you answer these questions:

1. Was Mather biased? (i.e. was he an objective observer and reporter? How did his preconceptions and pre-judgments possible affect his interpretations of what he observed?)

2. How is what he reports different from a trial today? Would testimony taken in the witch trials be allowed in court today?

3. Did you have any problems reading the material, due to vocabulary, old-fashioned phrasing, etc.?

11/12: We discussed the next assignment, a ‘Definition Essay’—p. 4 of the syllabus.

A completed final draft of this essay will be due on or around the 4^th of October.

Some terms related to your research topic you might define in this essay include ‘loaded’ terms, a crucial or key idea—perhaps the central term of your topic—and controversial terms.

The assignment requires that you use AT LEAST two sources other than a dictionary; but to do a really effective job, and to ensure that your research project is progressing as needed, you should already have many more likely sources identified and read by the end of September.

How can you write a 3 page paper defining a word or term? Using some of your analyitical skills. In addition to defining by explanation, you can define by:

            Contrast: define and explain some opposing term or idea.

                        Example: Define ‘pro-life’ in part as opposed to ‘pro-choice’, or ‘gun control’ as opposed to ‘gun rights’.

            Exclusion: explain and define ideas and terms that are not part of the term you’re defining (why are they excluded? How are they related?)

            Parts and wholes: what are some subordinate parts, aspects or elements of the idea you’re defining?

8^th:

HW: Do vocabulary exercises 2 B, C, and D.

9^th Read Navajo Origin and Walam Olum selections. For each, make notes about how this creation myth differs from the creation accounts in Genesis, then about any similarities it might have to the Genesis narratives.

RHETORIC: Please look at the due dates for your Aristotle vs. Socrates essays. Are you on schedule? If not, why not?

Am I your personal assistant who’s supposed to remind you of appointments and due dates?