Day 41 - Friday
1) Class Business (5)
- * Sign-in Sheet
- * Discuss Assignment for 12/3
2) Old to New Information (45)
*****
Lecture Notes:
I. We’ve spent most of the semester talking about argument.
Now I want to move to sentence-level and paragraph-level work.
In particular, I want to work on "transitions."
II. Write "537" on the board. Gradually add more information,
having students raise their hands when they have enough old information
to understand: B-G, 537; GWB-AG, FL, 537; GWB over AG, FL, 537;
Bush over Gore in Florida by 537 votes.
A) When did you recognize what I was describing? Why? (You
needed enough old information — such as the state of FL, the
candidates’ names, etc. — to interpret/ understand the
new information.
III. Let’s look at some more examples:
A) Write the three LRS examples on the board (LRS Old to New
Information pp1-2: TXO 3 … TXU 3 7/8 … TX 3 _ …; PLEASE
SEND FIFTY AMERICAN EXPRESS EXPLANATION FOLLOWS LOVE LOU; Classified
Ad: LG Elivr M2b Rbsm T$700). Can anyone decipher this information.
Explain.
B) Use explanations on page 2:
1) Repeated, old information is important to those who don’t know
what to expect.
2) Old information is important to those who don’t know the context
or situation.
3) Old information is important for guarding against errors in transmission.
IV. What is old information?
A) Definition: Old information is what your readers already
know and understand. New information is what your readers do not
already know, but could understand with the assistance of old information.
B) Clinton/Bush and British Open Examples (LRS Old to New Information
page 3).
1) Read Clinton/ Bush Example: Raise your hand if what I say
is old information. What sentences contain new information? What
is new? What is old?
2) Read British Open Example: Raise your hand when you hear old
information and therefore understand the new information.
C) So, why can’t we just give our readers new information?
(Coherence.) Old information? (Duty to inform.) Two Keys:
1) In order to inform, you must give readers new information.
2) In order to inform, you must give readers old information.
a) These keys refer to your papers as a whole, of course, but
just as importantly they refer to your transitions between paragraphs
and sentences.
V. Distribute LRS Old to New Information Passages 5 and 6 Handout
A) Read and discuss.
1) Which paragraph is easier to understand, a or b? Why?
(Moves from old to new information; b uses familiar characters.)
VI. Three Types of Old Information
A) Information readers bring to the text.
B) Information readers learn as they read.
C) Information the text implies.
1) Locate these three types in the passages we just discussed.
VII. Writing Clear Sentences
A) Readers will more easily understand the new information
in your sentences when you introduce it in the context of something
old and familiar.
B) So, organize your sentences so that they open with short, specific
subjects naming one of your cast of characters. Start with more
familiar, rather than less familiar, information. Look again at
the Breton Lai example.
VIII. Problems with Information Flow
A) Distribute handout and discuss.
B) Distribute Old to New Information handout. Have students
get into 6 groups of 3. Each group should revise the Mendel passage,
using the instructions on the Problems with Information Flow handout.
Structure as a race to revise.
*****
3) Return Paper #4
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