40 Points Due date: October 5. Late deadline October 19.
Reading:
Read the Projects in Dozer's Quintessential Guide to Computer Literacy while you are in front of the computer and practice the steps.
In this assignment, you will select an issue to write a paper about. In a later assignment you will write the paper and a PowerPoint presentation. The paper will be argumentative. The description below was taken from http://www.rscc.cc.tn.us/owl&writingcenter/OWL/Research.html , a site with great resources for writing different kinds of papers:
A research paper may be argumentative in nature. In other words, the student may take a stand on an issue and then research others who agree and disagree with the stand and cite them (quote them in the paper). In this type of paper, it is generally expected that students will learn how to anticipate the objections of others and make concessions.
Part 1: Issue Selection Discussion (5 points)
1. Each of the issues below is a forum in Discussions. Choose one of these that you would like to write a paper taking a side on. If you have an alternative issue you are interested in that is related to technology, email me and I will add it to the list if I approve.
Are RFID devices a threat to privacy?
Is driving while talking or texting on a cell phone safe (even hands-free)?
Are genetically engineered foods dangerous?
Will nanotechnology be used to benefit mankind or hurt it?
Are electronic voting machines accurate and secure?
Do video and computer games contribute to school violence?
What are the dangers of social networking sites?
Should cloning human organs be allowed?
Should there be a sales tax on Internet purchases?
2. Go to the Discussion forum for the issue you chose. Locate 2 web pages with information about the issue that no one has posted about yet.
3. Start a New Topic in the forum for the issue. Put the title of your page in the Subject line. In the body of your message, copy and paste the URL. Below it, give a brief description of the type of information on the page.
4. Repeat with the second page you found.
Part 2: Research Paper Plan and Works Cited Page (15 points)
Start a new document in Word.
1. Type the issue you chose.
2. Type the conclusion of the paper you will write.
3. Write a summary of the reasoning that will be in your paper. It should be at least one paragraph.
4. Create a properly formatted Works Cited page for the 2 references you posted about in the discussion plus one that another student posted. Click the link for instructions for creating a Works Cited page with Word.
Save as Task5Paper and upload to Task 5 assignment in Tasks, Tests and Surveys.
Part 3: Ambiguity Study Questions (20 points)
Start a new document in Word.
Go to the Beatrice Santorini Linguistic Humor page at http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/humor/. Scroll down to the Lexicon section or click the Lexicon link in the frame on the left.
Click the link for Ambiguous Recommendations. Read the page to understand the different types of ambiguity and examples.
Go Back to the Beatrice Santorini Linguistic Humor page. There are lots of ambiguities in the links under the headings; Pragmatics, Lexicon and Morphology. You will also find ambiguities in some of the other categories. Look at the links to find an example of an ambiguity that you like that hasn't been posted about already by another student.
1. (3 points) Choose an ambiguity that you find humorous or meaningful.
a. Copy and paste the ambiguity to your document.
b. Explain both meanings for the ambiguity.
(6 points) Repeat this process for 2 more ambiguities. Number your answers as 2 and 3.
4. (9 points) Click the link and read the article "If we could learn to communicate, we could teach the world to sing" by Adell Shay (a LAHC Business instructor).
a. She describes an incident where an ambiguity led to a bad result. What happened?
b. What would be the best way to avoid this ambiguity? Why wasn't that method used?
c. Find a phrase in her writing that could be interpreted in different ways and might lead to confusion in someone who is not a native English speaker. What is the phrase and what are two meanings?
d. What is her conclusion? Warning! Read carefully. Her writing style makes it a little difficult to find. When you think you have it, ask yourself, "Do the reasons provided support that conclusion?"
e. Use clipart or Google image search to find a graphic related to the story like farmer, farm, school, pregnancy, baby, condom (please not sex acts or penises). Insert the graphic into your document.
5. (2 points) Go to the top of your document. Use WordArt to put the title Ambiguity Study at the top of the page. Experiment with style, color, size and effects to make something attractive.
Save as Task5Ambiguity and upload to Task 5 in Tasks, Tests and Surveys.