UNIT 1: THOMPSON'S "PUBLIC THINKING"

• Excerpts from Clive Thompson's "Public Thinking," chapter 1 of Smarter Than You Think (Penguin Press, 2013.) The excerpts are 
  pages 65 - 61, 66-68, and 81-2.  (The complete chapter is also available).

Background on Thompson 

• Clive Thompson's bio (from the site for his book, Smarter Than You Think.)
• Thompson's wikipedia page, twitter feed and blog 
• Video of Thompson discussing some of the claims in his book with Andrew Keen of TechCrunch TV (10 minutes).  Video interview about the book on Huffington Post (12 minutes).  
• Video of Thompson from CBS This Morning show. Short (3.45) 
• Review of the book by Walter Isaacson of the New York Times. A collection of reviews from other sources (selected by the publisher of Thompson's book). 

Drafting Paper 1

Prompt and 

• The prompt and some sample introduction and body paragraphs.
  
• Assignment Structure
• Sample student paper on Malcolm Gladwell, and a sample paper that examines arguments about the veil in the U.S.
• Signal verbs, templates for talking about claims, and how to be a QUOTATION NINJA
  
• Transitional phrases - some templates and tips.
• Interpreting and Evaluating Evidence 
• TIPS FOR WRITING PAPER 1 

Some Key Ingredients in Strong Analysis Papers

1. Compose introductions that provide context and make the reader care. See They Say p. 23 for ideas.
2. “Orient” the reader by reminding her of the context/rhetorical situation. (The rhetorical précis described on page 17 of the reader can help with this.) Use of metadiscourse can also help (see They Say 306). See outline for introduction.
3. Use the language of argument and analysis (See They Say p. 39)
4. Master the art of quotation (become a “quote-ninja”). See They Say chapter 3 (p. 42)