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Richard.Jewell.net |
CollegeWriting.info
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CollegeWriting.info |
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Activities & Exercises for a Thesis Essay |
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Activities for This Chapter (or scroll down) |
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GO TO "Activities & Groups" (or go to the following individual activities) | |||
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Activities for Groups |
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Running a Small Group |
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Activities for Individuals |  |
Computer Lab, Telephone, & Online Groups |
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Topical Activities |  |
Activities for 25 Different Types of Papers |
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7 Metacognitive Thinking Activities | ||
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Activities for This Chapter |
ROLE PLAYING: In a small group of three or four
people, choose or make up an interesting or controversial
subject. Then imagine an entirely different role for yourself as a group:
pretend, as a group, that you are an individual such as a politician, a
corporation president, or a prominent entertainment figure. Write down
the name of your role and describe it in two or three sentences. Then,
as a group, write an argument from this "person"--this
role--supporting just one side of the subject or issue you chose. Then
pass your paper to another group (or, if you are at a computer terminal,
stand as a group and move to another group's computer terminal). Then imagine
a new role: someone who is from any field or type of discipline you choose,
but this person must be someone who thoroughly opposes the argument in front
of you. Write this new person's argument or disagreement, step by
step. Then read your results aloud to the class.
"FUN" PAGE: Go to the
chapter's "Fun" page and, as an individual
or a group, engage in one of its activities.
THOUGHTS ABOUT THE CHAPTER: Read the chapter and take
notes about it using one of the three methods in "General
Study Questions."
OTHER ACTIVITIES: For a wide variety of other
activities and exercises, go to "Activities
& Groups."
ROUGH DRAFT: As an individual or a group, write a
thesis paper as described in this chapter. Use the subtitles shown in
the "Introduction" or the "Basics"
section as subtitles of your rough draft, and write at least 50+ words in
each body section. If you are working as a group, you may, if your
instructor allows, develop a fictional and fanciful background and subject
for your rough draft.
GROUP CRITIQUE OF A
LATER DRAFT:
If your class has a paper all of you are preparing for grading, gather in a group to
critique each other's developed drafts:
(a) Simply pass the papers to each other;
your paper preferably should be checked by three other people. (Some
instructors prefer that you make several copies, distribute them to your
group members, take the copies home that you receive, and comment on them
there.)
(b) Write comments for each other.
To do so, use a a
set of grading guidelines (or "rubric"):
for example, "How are the contents,"
"How is the organization of parts," "Do paragraphs work
well," and "How well have editing errors been corrected?"
Preferably, you can use the guidelines your instructor applies when grading.
(c) For each question or requirement in your guidelines, write one or more
comments. Your comments should be substantial and specific (more like a
complete sentence, and more specific than just "Nice!" or "Needs
work"). Your comments also should be positive or helpfully
constructive: when positive, they should offer specific praise of a particular part, detail, or
method; when constructive, they should offer specific advice about what to add or do to make
the paper better.
(d) Add a final positive or constructive comment about how you think the
average reader of this paper might respond to it, and/or how the paper could
be changed or fixed for a stronger or more positive response from its
audience.
(e) After
receiving your comments from others, take them home. Review
what they have written. Remember
that your readers are not commenting on you as a person, but rather on how
easily (or poorly) they have been able to read your paper as its audience
members. Pay attention in particular to comments that may have
been repeated by more than one of your readers.
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