Journal Blog #7: What happens next?

We're almost there. Now comes the "easy" part: write the essay. You have worked hard to narrow a topic and from that, develop an introduction with a clear point, with a clear thesis statement. From here, the path forward should be clear.

This doesn't mean that it is an easy path, but the direction should at least be logical and reasonable. For the purposes of this final assignment, you should be thinking of 3 ideas that follow clearly from your thesis statement. They may be aspects of your topic. They may be reasons for your opinion. They may be examples of the phenomenon you stated. Make sure that all of the ideas directly relate back to the thesis statement.

In this journal blog, share the 3 ideas that you plan to use for your Body paragraphs. If necessary, explain how they relate to your thesis statement. Remember to include your ID# and Section # in your post. Aj. M

Journal Blog #6: What is your topic Situation?

In class, I presented a sample introduction that referred to Beyonce releasing her single through a Pepsi advertisement. This was one of the first times a major pop star did this, by combining art and business together in such an obvious way. This was a pretty creative marketing campaign for Pepsi that was trying to bring new inspiration into its brand.

I encourage you to consider a real situation to inspire your topic. This will help you to narrow and focus, and moreover... make your topic interesting. Work to avoid general topics about no person in particular, no place in particular, nothing in particular....  zzzzzz.

In this journal blog, explain to me the situation to which you're thinking about for your topic idea. Remember to include your ID# and Section # in your post. Aj. M

Journal Blog #5: What is your area of interest?

We're looking towards the end of the course. In these last 4 weeks, we are writing for a reader. We are narrowing down to an interesting and academic topic that we will research, support, and communicate. The narrowing process is the first, and really the most crucial step. It is this step where you work to understand a particular situation that comes from a particular subject that comes from a particular field or area.

Let's start making the first baby steps. We are all starting from the same place: Innovation and/or Inspiration. The next step is to identify a field or area of interest that you can link to the theme. It may be your major, or it may be another area that we have read about this term. There are no rules at this step. You can go wherever you want, but every step after this must follow from here.

In this journal blog, please explain your area of interest and why. Include your ID# and Section # in your post. Aj. M

Journal Blog #4: The perfect face.

We have thought about how to start an essay with an introduction. Starting is absolutely the hardest part because there is so much that we're trying to do in that paragraph: introduce the topic, provide background and context, state the point of the essay with a thesis statement, and hopefully, catch the reader's attention. This all has to happen with about ten sentences.

We look at the Mona Lisa, and regardless of whether or not you enjoy or appreciate art, there is something about her face that we cannot deny, nor can we quite understand. Artists for generations have studied this face and millions of people per year visit the Louvre museum in Paris, just to catch a glimpse of that cheeky smile.

Try your best introduction for the thesis statement: DaVinci's Mona Lisa has inspired all artists after about how to paint the perfect face.

The best introductions will be reviewed in class. Remember to include your ID# and Section # in your post. Aj. M

Journal Blog #3: In what area will the next most important innovation be in the next 20 years?

Up to now, we have been reading about where ideas come from and how problems inspire innovation. Now, we are going to start looking for our own inspirations for topic ideas that will motivate us to write.

In the last 20 years, I would have to say the innovation of the internet has really been the most important and world-changing technology. It is hard to imagine a world without it now, and what it has done for all areas of life: for business, for society, for politics, for entertainment... the list goes on. There have been other innovations as well, like in  health care and in transportation, but the internet and the wide access it gives has really expanded the opportunities for all of these other fields.

Let's now look forward. What can we expect or predict for the next 20 years? The world is facing global warming, and it seems to be worse than we originally thought. There are constant wars and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere. Ebola is breaking out in West Africa and could spread to other places. Cities around the world are over-crowded, and the gap between rich and poor is widening in every society.

From problems comes innovation. In this journal blog, I want you to think about from what area or field will the next big innovation come? Will it be an innovation in health care? In economics? In technology? Another? Make your own prediction and explain why.

Remember to include your Section # and ID # in your post. Aj. M

Journal Blog #2: Synthesize and Summarize

We have been analyzing the construction of Gladwell's essay, In the Air. He tells 3 stories in detail about different kinds of people who we would consider geniuses, experts, inventors, and innovators. The phenomenon that he introduces us is that of multiples: the idea that innovation is in some way inevitable. It is a kind of evolution where whoever is in the right place at the right time with the right frame of mind will be the one who takes the next step and invents or discovers the next big thing.

The difficulty in summarizing is that it demands that you knit together a lot of ideas into a neatly packaged paragraph. In Gladwell's essay, we have 3 stories that are all examples of multiples. Your task is to synthesize the main ideas of each story into one summary paragraph about multiples. Develop your sentences carefully and work to explain to a reader what this essay is about in not more than 10 sentences. (Less is better).

Post your summaries on the blog and the best will be reviewed in class. Remember to include your ID# and Section # in your post. Aj. M

Journal Blog #1: Where do ideas come from?

Unlike other limited resources like trees or oil or minerals, ideas are plentiful and sustainable and seemingly unlimited. To all of our world's problems, we look for inspiration and innovation to save us, whether it is by thinking of a new technology, creating a new strategy, or trying new methods of doing things in our daily lives.

At the same time, we know where the trees are. We know where to get the oil and how to find the minerals...  but ideas...  good ideas... they are a little more mysterious. How do they happen? Sometimes they just pop into our head in the middle of the night. Maybe they emerge from a conversation with a friend or in a class discussion. Sometimes they just happen.

In this journal blog, please share your experience. Where does inspiration come from? How do ideas happen? Remember to include your ID# and Section# in your post. I look forward to reading your thoughts.
Aj. M

Journal Blog #4: What happens next?

We are on our way. You have worked through the narrowing process and you have attempted a draft at an introduction. By now, your thesis statement should be fairly clear, so the reader should know where we are going...  right?

It is actually quite difficult to keep our point. Any of us knows the the feeling after we've been talking for a while to then think aloud...  "what was I saying again?" This is the challenge of academic work. It is to state your point and never lose it. To dig deep into it and keep going without getting distracted by other ideas that may seem related, but nevertheless are not doing anything to further undersand the task at hand.

What happens next? Describe the 3 or 4 supporting ideas for your thesis statement, and explain the order in which you plan to present them. We are nearing the end of the term, so lets get this planning done now while we still have time to be thoughtful.

Include your ID# in your post. Aj. M

Journal Blog #3: What is your area of interest?

Things move very quickly in these short summer sessions. Developing a topic is the first and most important part of the process. It is not only important to know your topic, but also to know where your topic comes from. What is behind your topic? Of what situation are you writing about? Of what subject does this topic belong?

The first thing you have to figure out is your area of interest. For ERS, this is wide open; however, I recommend that you consider your major as  your area of interest. This can be a good starting point from which we can start to narrow to a particular subject to a particular situation to a particular topic.

In this journal blog, tell me what your area of interest is and explain why? Are there possible ideas in this area that motivate you or catch your curiosity? Let me help you work this out.

Include your ID# in your post. Aj. M

Journal Blog #2: How can leaders inspire people in both good and bad ways?

We have been reading about some influential figures, namely Aung San Suu Kyi and Dave Brubeck. When we think of inspirational leaders, we usually think about those who have changed our world for the better... Those important figures that make us as individuals want to be better people.

However, leaders also have the influence to mislead and to misinform. We can find ourselves following the wrong leader down the wrong path. If not the wrong path, a strange path that gets us into one kind of trouble or another.

In this journal blog, I would like you to consider this question. Can you think of an example of a leader who has had great influence and many followers, but whose message may not be something we would admire. Why do so many people become inspired by these kinds of leaders?

Please include your ID# in your post. Aj. M

Journal Blog #1: Academic writing is hard because...

Welcome to this summer edition of ERS. In just 4 weeks, we will spend everyday together fine tuning our
writing skills to prepare you for your majors in MUIC and for your academic life overall. When we think of academic writing, it tends to be a serious subject. It is something that we approach with a high level of formality and focus. This is true and correct.

However, this should not be confused with boredom and void of creativity. The best academic writing is formal and focused and important...  and fun and interesting and inspiring. We often forget these latter parts. The ultimate objective is to inform and persuade our reading with well organized and thoughtful ideas, but hopefully along the way we as writer give them as reader an enjoyable and even memorable experience.

In this first journal blog for the summer term, share what you find the most difficult challenge is for you when you approach writing for an academic purpose.

Make sure that you include your ID# in your post. Aj. M

Journal Blog #7: What happens next?

We're almost there. You have brainstormed and narrowed. You have developed background and context. You now have a thesis statement... you now have a point of focus. So, what happens next?

The reader should have a clear idea about where you are going by now. Your introduction has directed them in a certain way... now take the reader that way. Don't change direction and confuse the reader. You need to follow up your thesis with logical, interesting, and well-developed ideas. The ideas should be arranged in a thoughtful order. Each idea should be equally developed.

This requires some careful and creative planning, because communicating in writing is different from any other medium. You only have one chance. You can't stop and say "oh... what I mean is..." No. The words on the page is what you mean.

In this journal blog, share what happens next in your essay. Remember to include your ID# and Section # in your post. Aj. M

Journal Blog #6: Narrow down to your topic.

We have been working to brainstorm topic ideas and to organize those ideas that we could communicate in an essay format. It is so important to not just get an idea, but it is maybe even more important to understand where that idea comes from. We have been narrowing from a theme to a sub-theme to a field to a subject to a situation and to a topic...  I want to see this in this journal blog, and please say a little bit about what you expect this essay to explain.

It is hard to say how important this process is, because before you know it, you will start to write only to realize that you don't know what you're writing about. Take the time and think with care about these steps.

Remember to include your ID# and Section # in your post. Aj. M

Journal Blog #5: What is your area of interest?

It is now time to start thinking of what you're going to do. I have been leading you up to now, exposing you to a variety of texts and ideas about leaders and leadership. We have seen how good and bad essays are organized, and you have given it a try already in your in-class essay.

Any essay has to start with an idea. The only rule for the last assignment is that whatever topic you do has to, in some way, relate to our theme of leadership. Start thinking about where you're going to go. Take the next step and consider your sub-theme. In this journal blog, tell me what your sub-theme is and why you want to go that way. Is it related to your major? Is it a general interest you already have? Do you have a personal connection or experience to this idea? Let me know what you're thinking, so I can help you to continue narrowing down to a particular idea.

Remember to include your Section # and ID# in your post. Aj. M

Journal Blog #4: Write an Introduction.

We have been looking at different ways to write an Introduction. Some may start with a quotations or a shocking statistic. Others might ask a question (and hopefully a good one). Others may tell a story (or otherwise called an anecdote) to bring the reader into the world of the topic: "a steamy evening at the beginning of the rainy season...".

When we think about Michael Jordan, we think of one of the greatest sports leaders of all time. Even after Shaq or Kobe or LeBron, Jordan still stands out as the model everyone looks to. He was a high flyer. He was quick and fast and smart. More than that, he was a winner. A good introduction tells us the background (who is he?), some context (when? where? what? why? how?), and takes the reader to a particular point, a thesis statement.

Think about Michael Jordan. Write your best introduction, and I will review the best ones in class.

Remember to include your ID# and Section # in your post. Aj. M

Journal Blog #3: How leaders make us better or worse?

When we think of leaders, we tend to automatically think of the great ones: Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, Michael Jordan, Mother Theresa, Aug San Suu Kyi, and Nelson Mandela.Whether we're thinking of politics, religion, or sports, there are great leaders that inspire us in profound ways that make us dream of our potential.

However, there are also incredibly effective leaders who have been able to inspire masses of people to do bad things, horrible things... things we wouldn't do if it were not for their misguided leadership. Such leaders would be people like Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot, and Osama Bin Laden. While we may look at some leaders like this with fear and hatred, we cannot deny that they somehow captured the imaginations of people who would follow them and their vision.

In this journal blog, reflect on why we, as human beings, need to have a leader. And also consider how a leader can inspire us to even do unethical and horrible things that we would not think to do before. Does our ability to do good or bad depend on those leaders that are available to us? I wonder what draws us to certain kinds of models that may put us on the right or the wrong path.

Include your Section # and ID # in your post. Aj. M

Journal Blog #2: When have you needed to be a leader?

Some of us work much our lives to move up the ladder to achieve a position of leadership. It is our ambition to become more important and to have more status... more power. This can be in the context of work, in sport, in politics, and even in family. We have ideas for the future and we want people to follow us.

Yet, sometimes we are put into a position of leadership in other ways... sometimes by accident or against our will. We may unexpectedly be asked by others about what to do next, and it is up to us to figure that out for them. We are now in a time in this country where there appears to be no leader or leadership. A Prime Minister has been kicked out, people are confused about what to do next, and some people want the job and others do not.

I have always wanted to be a teacher. When my teachers asked me in primary school what I wanted to be, I said that I wanted to be a teacher. In this profession, I am asked to lead. This can be uncomfortable at times because sometimes others don't want to follow, so it is my work to convince them that the way I'm showing them is good for them. I know how to teach (I think) because I have observed so many teachers in my life. This is how I know what to do. But I also know what to do because of my students. They show me how to teach also. They show me when I'm doing the right thing by the expressions on their faces and by the work they produce, and they show me when I'm doing the wrong thing by the same way. Leadership is a constant education.

In this journal blog, explain when you have needed to be a leader and how you knew what to do in that role. Remember to include your Section # and ID # in your post. Aj. M

Journal Blog #1: Describe a Leader in your Life.

There are many people in my life to whom I have turned for advice at various stages. People who have helped me through difficult decisions or who have turned me to right path. Many of them are advisors, teachers, strangers, and mentors, but not many of them are who I'd call leaders.

For me, leaders are people who inspire. I don't even have to know them or be directly affected by them. But they make me want to be a better person. They make me humble and make me strive to be better and to do more for other people if that is what they call for.

Aung San Suu Kyi comes to mind for me. I don't know her. I'm not from her country and have never experienced the kind of persecution or pain that she or her people have in their lifetimes. Quite the opposite. I have lived a life of mostly privilege and opportunity, and so to know her story and to observe her grace in the face of such tyranny and corruption, it is truly inspiring, and I consider her one of the great leaders of this generation.

In your first journal blog, describe a leader who you consider important in your life. What is it about that person that makes he or she a great leader?

Make sure to include your ID# and Section # in your post. I look forward to reading your thoughts. Aj. M

Journal Blog #5: What happens next?

By this time, you have drafted an introduction to a narrowed thesis statement. We have looked at many readings with many methods of organizing an essay.

We have considered how different writers organize their ideas of an essay, either by time, by importance of ideas, or by themes...  Think carefully about your work. What is the best way to outline and take your reader through your thoughts in a way that is interesting, useful, and easy to understand.

What happens next? After your clear thesis statement, outline 3-4 key ideas that you will use for your body paragraphs. Share this outline in  your journal blog 5. Remember to include your ID# in your post.

Aj. M

Journal Blog #4: What is your Category?

We are now passed the middle of the term, and the end is in sight. Topic Development and Decision is the first step to writing the final essay, and it is the most important step of the process. Not only is it important to find a topic that interests you and motivates you to write, but it is absolutely important to understand clearly where your topic comes from.

The only rule is that we start with our theme of Art. I hope that by now, we can see that there a lot of directions we can go. It may be great to link your major with this theme somehow, and let me help you do it. We have looked at essays to do with Business and Philosophy and Technique. Are you interested in a particular artist or a particular issue like Caravaggio or Copyright...  ??

In this journal blog, I want you to take the first step. Start narrowing down, and let me pick you up if you're falling down. What is your Category? And if you know more than that, let me know what you're thinking.

Remember to include your ID# in your post. Aj. M

Journal Blog 3: Try an Intro

In class, we have been looking at different ways at developing an Intro. Gladwell started with an anecdote. Squires started by providing some background about Caravaggio and the techniques he used. Hook started with shocking statistics about the incredible prices of paintings at auctions...

Consider the two example topics we looked at in class: the important skills learned from art class and the sexual exploitation of young women in the music industry. Think about the example Introductions we have studied, analyzed, and reviewed. With regards to these topics, what would be the best way to introduce your reader to the topic and narrow the idea down to a clear thesis statement.

Give it a try and post on this blog. Don't forget to include your ID# in your post. The best intros will be reviewed in class. Aj. M

Journal Blog #2: When is it ok to copy in Art?

This week, we have been thinking about issues like intellectual property, copyright, and plagiarism. In terms of design, the laws on intellectual property are quite difficult to understand. When talking about the copyright of music, it is a big mess and the major record companies don't know what to do about people copying music and sampling it. In terms of copying published words, plagiarism rules are extremely strict and unchanging. Gladwell is asking us, why?

All of us copy, me included. I copy pictures from the internet everyday to prepare presentations. I burn music CDs for my friends. Copying and pasting are pretty routine, and I don't think about it much. However, in the world of academia in which I work and in which you study, it is clear that copying the words of others in research and writing is absolutely unacceptable and punishable. I don't know how to answer Gladwell's question.

In your view, when is it ok to copy Art? Why is it ok to copy some creations but not others? What is your view?

Make sure you include you ID# in your post. Aj. M

Journal Blog #1: What does Art mean to you?

Some of us might think about Art frequently. You may play the guitar or piano. Some may to paint and draw or have some technological skills to design graphics or games. Art may be something you do all the time.

But then some of us may not think about it much, yet still appreciate Art and can't imagine a world without it. We may see Art in the way Messi passes the football or in the way Bolt runs the 100m. We may see Art in the way a car is designed or in the fashion that we wear. Art is everywhere...

In this first journal blog, I would like to know how you experience Art. What does it mean to you?

Don't forget to include your ID# in your post. Aj. M