Composing Complex Texts: Research, Story, Argument, Analysis and Media: Unit Review

Signs (any two): people disagree, it affects people differently, it needs research. Example: Should our town replace the outdoor rink with a parking lot?

The primary audience is who you're trying to reach; a secondary audience will also see the text.

Example: Five of the eight teens I interviewed said the new curfew makes it hard to get home from evening jobs.

Stop, Investigate the source, Find better coverage, Trace claims to the original context.

Smartphone privacy settings, because they change quickly.

When curated feeds keep showing similar views. Step out by searching for other perspectives on purpose and evaluating sources.

**Lin, Sam. Northern Lights. Aurora Press, 2022.**

(Lin 37)

Any two: research, private study, education, parody, satire, criticism, review, news reporting.

Does this help prove or explain my thesis?

A card sort, because it lets you group notes before you know the structure. Then make the outline.

Example: The concept map helped most because it showed that the bus schedule was the main cause of low club turnout; next time I'll make one before outlining any cause-and-effect text.

Starting a story in the middle of the action.

Example: Noor smoothed the same page of her script for the fourth time. "Is it hot in here, or is it just me?"

"Are you coming?" she asked.

Attention, need, satisfaction, visualization, action.

Example: Bring a reusable bottle to school every day next week, starting Monday.

Example: Our class counted 14 near-misses at that corner in one week. A crossing guard would make the crossing safer. (Real evidence, no false certainty.)

Point, Evidence, Analysis, Link.

Example: In "Thin Layers," the repeated image of thin layers of ice shows Theo learning patience from his absent sister.

Example: Nadia's reminder that Theo has "got all winter" tells him he doesn't need to fix everything at once.

The most important facts: the 5 Ws and H (who, what, when, where, why, how).

A line graph.

So bar heights compare fairly; otherwise differences look bigger than they are.

Empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test, refine.

Poster: a big headline, one image, few words. Announcement: short spoken sentences and the slogan repeated, under 45 seconds.

People who end up seeing a text it wasn't designed for. Plan for them so the text doesn't confuse, shame or offend them and backfire.

Explicit: I think the splash pad is a good idea. Implicit: calling the pool a crumbling mess, or quoting only people who agree.

Example: Most students I asked like the new schedule, though a few bus riders said it makes their mornings rushed.

How formal or informal language is.

Example: Recess matters for three reasons. (Then name them.)

Accept, adapt or reject, each with a reason.

Content, elements of style, patterns and features.

I shovelled the snow-covered driveway.

We had three goals: to win, to have fun and to work as a team. (Parallel structure.)

Examples: heading styles + table of contents (automatic, updating contents); hanging indent (Works Cited format); page break (start a new page cleanly); footnotes; tracked changes; header/footer page numbers.

Any two: audience questions, comments, actions (votes, donations), survey answers, before-and-after measurements.

Plan, research, organize, draft, revise, edit, publish, reflect.

Example: In my first Grade 9 research essay, I'll check every source's date and author before I take notes, because two of my Grade 8 sources turned out to be outdated.