Imaginary Interview Instructions

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The imaginary interview is one of the 8 assignments the English department requires from all 101 students. (Due Monday 4/20 by the end of the day).

Instructions

  1. Review the sources you think you are planning on including in your annotated bibliography.
  2. Choose two or three sources to work with for this activity.
  3. Write an imaginary conversation where you interview the authors of your sources about the topic of your final project.
      • You should ask at least three open-ended questions that allow the authors to give complex, interesting answers (3 points)
      • Each of the authors should respond to each of your questions, giving a complex, interesting answer (6 points) (So, you write a minimum of 6 responses total)
      • One of the authors should respond directly to the other author’s comment at least once (1 point)
      • The assignment should be turned in on time (2 points)

Total: 12 points

To complete this assignment, you must think about each author’s point of view (based on what they wrote/said in your source) in order to imagine (as accurately as possible) what they would think/say about your questions.

It also might help to consider, if you were actually interviewing those two people, what would be interesting to hear both of them talk about?

Format the interview like a script. For example:

Scripted Interview Formatting Example

Olivia: What is the most important thing you have learned in college so far, and why?

Student 1: I learned that I have to be really careful about planning my time, because it’s easy to get behind, and if you’re behind, you don’t have time to do a very good job on your assignments or think about them a lot. So you learn less, even if the material is easy.

Student 2: I learned a lot about the history of the American justice system and how it came to be the way it is, all the things we inherited from English Common Law, and also what we took from the Iroquois League’s constitution. I hadn’t even thought about the question in terms of life skills– I thought she was just asking about the content of the classes we’ve taken.

Student 1: Oh, that makes a lot of sense. And I’ve definitely learned useful stuff in my classes. But since I’m still in my general education classes, I think the skills I’m practicing are the most important, since they will be important for me to use in my major classes later on.

Module 4: Citation Styles and APA Formatting

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This week, we’ll be learning about citing, why citation styles are the way they are, and APA formatting more specifically. Tasks are due by the end of Monday, April 20, with an optional Zoom class on Wednesday, April 15.

You will also complete another one of your Required Portfolio Assignments, the “Imaginary Interview.” The citation activities will prepare you to write the “bibliography” part of the annotated bibliography, and the imaginary interview will prepare you to write the annotations.

Learning Objectives

  • Students will understand the value of not only citing, but citation styles
  • Students will be able to critically evaluate the features and purposes of different styles
  • Students will be able to apply APA Style to their own research sources
  • Students will continue their rhetorical study by learning to identify cognitive biases in the world

Overview of Tasks

  1. Orient yourself with a Writing Into the Week prompt (share only if you wish)
  2. Play a citation explorer game to learn your Citation Style Match
  3. Watch a YouTube tutorial on APA style paper formatting
  4. Attend an optional Zoom class on Wednesday, April 15 OR watch the recording of Zoom class on your own time to learn about APA style citations
  5. Read about cognitive biases and share two examples + analysis
  6. Write an “imaginary interview” with two or more of your sources (due Monday April 20 by the end of the day)

Step 1: Writing Into the Week

Spent 5-10 minutes freewriting. Freewriting means writing about whatever you want, as meandering as you want. But make sure you keep writing the entire time– I recommend setting a timer.

Step 2: Citation Explorer “Game”

Play through this Citation Explorer “game” to discover what citation style best fits YOU and why. Make sure you read the introduction and the explanatory material at the end.

Step 3: Watch a YouTube Tutorial

On the final page of the Citation Explorer, there are links to two YouTube tutorials for APA formatting (one for Google Docs and one for MS Word). Please watch whichever one matches your software– you can also follow along by doing the steps while you watch. I recommend doing this if you can, so that you don’t have to do it again when it’s time to write your annotated bibliography. Go ahead and get this part out of the way.

If you write using another program, watch either video just to learn about the different formatting elements. Most text editing applications (like Pages, etc.) will let you do all of the same things– the menus will just arrange things differently.

If you mostly do your work on your phone/a tablet, but you do have limited access to a computer, I recommend you just do all of the writing first, like normal, and then do all of the formatting at the end on the computer.

If you don’t have computer access, I think all of the same features in Google Docs can be used in the mobile app– it just might be a bit of a pain. Just do your best.

Step 4: Attend Zoom Class or Watch the Recording

I will be hosting class on Zoom on Wednesday, April 15 at our normal class time (4:30). We will definitely end “early” (before 5:45), though. The YouTube tutorials introduced you to APA paper formatting, but the purpose of this Zoom class will be to walk you through how to do APA-style citations.

If you’re not able to attend class live, that’s fine! I will be recording the class session and uploading it to YouTube, so just watch the video when you can.

Step 5: Read About Cognitive Biases and Post Examples

Read the Overview of Cognitive Biases  AND read through each of the 5 pages in the sidebar about specific biases (anchoring, sleeper effect, repetition, reactance, and declinism). Then, find 2 examples of people exhibiting these cognitive biases and post the examples + context + analysis as a comment on this post.

Step 6: Write an “Imaginary Interview”

The full instructions are here, but the general premise is this:

Pretend you are interviewing the authors of two or more of the sources you’ve found in your research so far. Ask them 3 or more questions about the topic you are researching. If they don’t directly address the question in the source, use the source to imagine what the author would/might say.

Both authors should respond to the same questions, and should also respond to each other at least once.

Do not spend more than 1 hour working on this step. 

Normally I would have us do this as an in-class activity with the option to finish it at home, so we would not spend more than 1 hour on it. I would rather you complete all elements of the assignment in a fast, not-very-detailed way, than have you only get part way through because you’re trying to be very detailed and do your best work. Please don’t do your best work. Just complete it.

This is due Monday, April 20 by the end of the day, submitted on Blackboard.

Optional: Viral Phony Google Doc Shows the Rhetorical Power of Academic Formatting

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This morning, the Guardian posted an article explaining the long line of bad science and misinformation that has led tens of thousands of people– including Donald Trump and Elon Musk– to believe that Hydroxychloroquine, a drug used to treat malaria, is 100% effective against COVID-19. (Spoiler: there is currently no scientific evidence that it is effective against COVID-19, although there are many ongoing studies on its effectiveness)

I think this situation is highly instructive about ethos and the many ways academic credibility can be faked/manipulated. As we begin our own research and are going to be discussing APA formatting in detail next week, I think this is very relevant to our coursework.

Essentially, some French researchers published a poorly-designed study (will explain in a footnote later)**, then a lawyer named Gregory Rigano did a lot of things to publicize the drug in the U.S. by misrepresenting both himself and the information. Then, several high-profile people got this information, including Trump and Musk, and they further spread it around.

In the rest of this post, I’m going to summarize the events and then analyze the different ways Rigano used academic writing styles, academic formatting, and academic language to portray himself as a credible source on COVID-19 even though he is not. 

The lesson I want you to take away from this is: Just because something looks fancy and academic, and just because someone has a PhD or the name of a fancy university next to their name, doesn’t mean the source is reliable. But on the flip side, getting good at academic formatting and academic language can help you seem authoritative in your own situations. Please use that power ethically and wisely.

Rigano did several interviews on TV and radio stations, but most importantly, he co-wrote a Google Doc formatted like a scientific paper and released online. Google has taken down the file because it violates their Terms of Service (probably the part saying public documents can’t falsely represent another organization), but you can see an archived version here. I will embed a screenshot of the beginning of the file– red lines are added by me.

Beginning of page previously linked to, with red annotations added by professor

This is not a scholarly source. However, it is designed to LOOK like one.

While it doesn’t have a separate title page like papers in APA and Chicago Style do, the way the title and authors are formatted mimic what a title page looks like. It includes acknowledgements and an abstract (the Summary), as well as a scientific diagram and subheadings.

Other than the fact that both scientists and many news sources have since discredited the paper, its authors, and the claims it makes, here are some clues to how it’s bogus, going in order of my red highlights:

  1. It’s published/distributed on Google Docs. Google Docs is great for writing, but scientific studies get published in scientific journals or released on university websites.
  2. Thomas R. Broker is a real biochemist affiliated with UAB (I looked him up), but when academics list their university affiliations on a publication, they just say where they currently work (or study, in the case of students)– you don’t include where you got your PhD. So the “Stanford PhD” part here is weird.
  3. Rigano’s title, “Esq,” means esquire, used to designate lawyers. He seems to really be a lawyer, but what are his qualifications for writing a biochemical study about viruses? His listed email address is affiliated with Johns Hopkins University, but he is not employed there–he’s a student. His LinkedIn profile says he is currently pursuing a master’s degree there but is “on leave.”
  4. “In consultation with” is so vague it could mean just about anything. In fact, Stanford, UAB, and Thomas Broker (the “first author” listed) have all said since this doc was released that they had nothing to do with it and want their names to be removed.
  5. The credits for the translation are also strange– I’ve never heard of an undergraduate student being referred to as a “candidate” before (usually that’s just PhD candidates), and this person is slated to graduate in 2021– they’re a junior in college. So probably they did do the translation, and for all I know they did a good job, but the formatting is designed to lend more ethos to the paper.
  6. The scientific diagram of the molecule is not actually linked to anything in the text– it’s just a decorative image that looks sciencey.

If you continue to read through the archive of the file, there’s lots more reasons to be suspicious– the actual content doesn’t make sense. At the bottom, you’ll also see there are no sources actually cited. The two sections of sources say “More Sources” and “For Informational Purposes Only.” So– the information discussed in the article itself is not actually cited at all. We just get links to related materials.

We also can see that they didn’t follow any sort of normal academic citing protocols. They say, “Due to urgency, certain parts of this publication are taken directly from their attributed source.  Cite them accordingly.” But they don’t say which parts! This is in a gray area of plagiarism. They did acknowledge that some parts of some sections were copy/pasted, but we don’t actually know which parts. 

The lawyer, Rigano, has also gone to some additional lengths to boost his apparent ethos. He is legally the CEO of a “research” company called “Jonas Research,” which was founded in either January or February (unclear) and is filed as an LLC in Albany, NY. There is no information to be found about this company beyond his affiliation with it. They are brand new, and do not appear to be doing research. Yet, he can now truthfully say he’s the CEO of a drug research company.

Fox News falsely credited him as a medical advisor and medical doctor affiliated with Stanford, and he did not correct this characterization. So, he did not claim it directly, but he is now presented that way online.

Furthermore, take a look at the Education section of his LinkedIn profile. His original college degree is in finance, then you see his law degree, and you see his master’s degree-in-progress, but you also see a nonspecific note for “Biochemistry” with the “State University of New York.”

As CUNY students, all of you should know that the CUNY and SUNY systems are just that– systems, not universities themselves. The notes say he has 32 credits in biochemistry classes split across 3 different schools. He says this is a “minor” in parentheses, but it’s impossible to get only a minor– a minor must be connected to a major. So, he’s really saying he has the equivalent coursework of a minor in biochemistry, even though he does not actually have that minor.

But a minor in biochemistry doesn’t really mean you’re qualified to offer definitive proof about cutting edge coronavirus treatments.

 

Proposal- Autism and Mental Health

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Autism and Mental Health

The research topic I have chosen is the different effects that Autism might have on the mental health of those affected. I have chosen to write about this topic because it interests me. I have always been drawn in by topics related to psychology and the way we, as humans, react to factors in our life and within ourselves. As someone who was diagnosed with major clinical depression and anxiety disorder, I know how difficult it can be to complete certain things can be during the daily routine. My brother was diagnosed with autism at the age of one, he is now about to turn three, and is often troubled by not being able to easily complete activities that a neurotypical could.

Some inquiry questions I have for my topic of mental health and autism are is there a higher prevalence of mental health distress in people with autism? Why are talking therapies less effective for those affected by autism? How can other sorts of treatments better aid people with autism? These questions are worth investigating because I want to know on what level does the diagnosis that my brother was given affects his present and future development. And, not only the way it affects him but the thousands of kids, teenagers and adults who are undergoing through the effects of this disorder. The question I would like to expand my research and knowledge is whether a higher chance of mental distress exists in people with autism than in neurotypical people. I would like to expand my knowledge in this because I have often read about many teenagers and adults affected by autism committing suicide and also mass murders to get rid of themselves and of a subject that bother them, but in a ostentatious way.

            To draw a conclusion, I will need to investigate how a ´normal´ brain functions in comparison to the brain of a person with autism. Besides the anatomical point of view, I will need to research about what mental illnesses are the most common among those who are neurotypical and compare it to the percentage of people with autism. I will need to investigate what makes talking therapy successful and what components are within it. For example, is it the same for everyone, or do therapists create different plans for each patient, and if so, how and based on what? To better understand the effect of therapy on those troubled by autism and its symptoms, I will need to research how treatments for this group get develop and on based on what factors.

Instructions for Module 3: April 3 through the End of Spring Break

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For the next week and a half (today through April 12/13), we’ll just be focusing on learning research skills and then doing research for our final projects.

Learning Objectives

  1. Students will become adept at navigating the John Jay library website and the many kinds of online resources available
  2. Students will learn research skills relevant to the beginning of a project and apply that knowledge to explore their own inquiry questions
  3. Students will create a base of background knowledge on their topics and a preliminary list of sources to reference as they compose their projects

Overview of Tasks

  1. Orient yourself with a Writing Into the Week prompt (share only if you wish)
  2. Watch some short video tutorials provided by the John Jay library
  3. Begin doing research toward answering your chosen inquiry question, using the John Jay library website
  4. Keep a running list of sources you think you might want to use for your paper– just pasting links into a file or bookmarking them is fine.
  5. Toward the end of the module (so maybe April 12 or 13), make a comment on this post giving an update on how things are going with your project (and/or with your life!)

Step 1: Writing Into the Week

  1. Regardless of how you feel about writing a research paper, what are some things that you are excited to learn as you work on this project? You all had a lot of freedom in choosing your topics– what are you most looking forward to?
  2. Take some time to freewrite for another 5-10 minutes. Set a timer. Just a few minutes to yourself, to write whatever comes to mind. Or draw! Just keep your pencil on the page or your hands on the keyboard, and keep them moving.

Step 2: Research Training from John Jay Library

Our library offers A LOT of video tutorials.  I’m going to list links below for a few that I want you to make sure you watch, but I encourage you to also watch/read others–if not now, then over the course of the next several weeks as questions arise. I will add a longer list of tutorials I particularly recommend on our Resources page.

**Some of the pages might ask you to sign in. Just use your John Jay computer/email login.**

Video 1: From Questions to Keywords
You all have inquiry questions written– how do you choose good keywords that will take you directly to the things you want to find?

Video 2: Getting Started with Google/Wikipedia
Also click to “Part 2” of this tutorial to view the video “Moving From Google/Wikipedia to Databases”

Video 3: Exploration Strategies

Read through:

Step 3: Research!

There’s a couple places I recommend you start, aside from doing general background research.

  1. View the library’s Research Guide for your topic’s subject area and choose a database the guide recommends
  2. Try searching in Academic Search Complete
  3. In the righthand sidebar of our course site, there are two search bars– one lets you search our course site, but the other takes you directly to the library’s main database, One Search! You can start right now by typing some keywords in there!

Step 4: Running List

You should actually do this one at the same time as Step 3. Whether you use a Word doc, a Google doc, or have another way you prefer to keep track, make sure you keep a list of the sources you find that you think will be useful!

Don’t worry about shaping them into an annotated bibliography right now– we have another couple weeks before we’re at that stage. Just paste the links in there, and maybe leave a note to remind yourself of the title/author/what it’s about and why you chose it.

Step 5: Give a Progress Update!

Toward the end of the module (so maybe April 12 or 13), make a comment on this post giving an update on how things are going with your project (and/or with your life!)

How are things going? What have you found/learned so far? Are you needing to adjust your inquiry question(s)? What are your next steps?

If you want to share, how are things going in your life beyond this class?

***I would like everyone to schedule a virtual conference with me sometime before the end of the semester so we can chat about your paper one on one in real time. It’s up to you when you do it– if you are having trouble getting started with research, now could be a good time! But you can also wait until later in the writing process, or make multiple appointments**

 

 

Annotated Bibliography Instructions and Rubric

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The annotated bibliography is not due until Friday, April 24th. You have 3 weeks to work on it. However, because this week (I’m writing this on April 3) is reserved as research time, I wanted to make sure you have these guidelines well in advance so you know what you’re working towards.  

Instructions:

**But also see below for an Alternative Option**

  1. As you research your inquiry question for your final project, compile a list of sources (bibliography) that help you answer your question and/or provide useful background knowledge for you and your readers.
  2. Cite each source according to APA style.
  3. Below each citation, write a paragraph or so about that source (an annotation). The paragraph should include:– A summary of the source
    —Your thoughts on the source (How do you think you will use it in your paper? What biases do you think it might have? What are its strengths, and what are its weaknesses? How does it connect to your other sources?)

Other Guidelines:

  • At least 6 sources + annotations
  • At least half of the sources should be scholarly/found through the John Jay library databases. The other half can come from wherever as long as you think they are trustworthy.
  • In addition to writing each citation in APA style, you should also include these other aspects of APA formatting: title page with title, name, university, and any author’s note you want to include, correct running head on all pages, page numbers, correctly titled References page

ALTERNATIVE OPTION:

Complete an APA-style bibliography without the annotations.

Then, create a video in which you show each source and verbally talk through the source and your analysis of it according to the guidelines for annotations above. You can do this via screencasting (built into iPhones and Macs, not sure about PCs and Androids) or by taking a video of your computer screen using your phone. It’s totally fine if the video is informal/unedited, but you can make it fancy if you want to.

Rubric:

Each source + annotation includes all required parts (citation, summary, your thoughts)
(3 points per entry = 18 points, but 1 point off per source that doesn’t meet the scholarly vs. not scholarly requirements. Make sure you have 3 scholarly sources—the other 3 can be scholarly or non-scholarly)

  • Source 1 ___
  • Source 2 ___
  • Source 3 ___
  • Source 4 ___
  • Source 5 ___
  • Source 6 ___

Total for this section: ____

Every other element of APA style listed in the instructions is met: 9 points

  • Title page ___
  • Title ____
  • Name ___
  • University ____
  • Author’s Note (if applicable) ____
  • Correct Running Head First Page ____
  • Correct Running Head Subsequent Pages ____
  • Page Numbers ____
  • Beginning of bibliography is titled “References” ___

Turned in on time (3 points) ____

***Due to the many serious ways the pandemic may be affecting our lives, if you turn it in late, I’ll just grade you out of 27 instead of out of 30. It’s sort of 3 free points, but each other aspect of the rubric affects your grade on the assignment a tiny bit (0.5% per point) more. I wanted a way to incentivize turning it in on time to keep folks on track and make my grading life easier without hurting those who can’t due to factors outside of their countrol.***

Total: ____ (out of 30 or 27 points)

Proposal: Social Distancing

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Over the past month, we have been hearing about the term social distancing more than ever. It might be me slowly losing my mind but lately, I’ve been brainstorming about where this term came from. Which brought me to my general topic which is, what is social distancing? Obviously that’s a very obvious question that wouldn’t need much research which brings me to my three inquiry questions. The first one being, how does social distancing flatten the curve/ prevent viruses from spreading? The second one being, is social distancing actually the most effective course of action when it comes to stopping viruses from spreading? The third and final question is, will social distancing become the new way in which we live and interact in this world? 

I feel all of this questions are not straight forward enough to figure out with a quick google search. They are all super important topics to be informed about especially with how hard coronavirus is hitting around the world. Many people choose to be ignorant of the fact that social distancing will probably be the only way that we can get rid of the coronavirus which is making the whole process longer than it needs to be. My questions are a mix of looking for effective ways to flatten the curve, if social distancing is actually the best course of action, and how social distancing will change our future. I know for a fact they are important since it’s all that’s being talked about in the media and I know most people are asking the same questions in their head during this pandemic.

While all these questions are important I feel as if my first question is one that I could effectively research. While my other two questions are important to know the answers to I feel like there’s more information out there on how social distancing can flatten the curve. My plan for research is pretty simple. I think I should start by comparing countries who have effectively used social distancing to their advantage and those who haven’t done enough social distancing in regards to coronavirus. However, before I even start I need to figure out when social distancing actually started and how it helped the spread of other viruses to slow down. By showing how social distancing worked (or didn’t work) in other countries combined with showing how it worked with other diseases will help me figure out how effective social distancing actually is. Another method I can use is showing how diseases spread without the use of social distancing compared to the coronavirus when social distancing was implemented. I think the hardest part of my research will be finding other instances of social distancing other than coronavirus. This is honestly the first time I have heard of the term social distancing so we will see if it has been used for other diseases.

Proposal For Final Paper

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Topic:College Admissions and Rank 

               I plan on researching college admissions and ranking. I find it interesting because there are many colleges that have a variety of racial groups which make up it’s diversity. Not only do colleges look at grades but they also look at a student’s racial background. This can affect their admissions to colleges because certain schools only accept specific racial groups. This is seen as discriminatory to many students because colleges are not looking at their grades but are choosing them based on their race and background instead. Especially in New York, there are many colleges that its “diversity” is not diverse enough. When looking up universities, the statistics speak for themselves. The minorities according to a graph in census.gov regarding to college admissions, are Asians and African Americans and the majority are Hispanics and white people that get accepted into colleges. This gap proves how discriminatory or the word used In today’s society, “diverse”, colleges can be when enrolling students.

          A question that I would like to know and answer would be why do colleges look at students Ethnic and racial groups if it has nothing to do with their Academic achievements? Many students who have good grades may not have been accepted to their school based on their race and because of this, many schools may be looked bad by many people who think the school is too selective. This can affect their rank and possibly get a bad review from many parents. 

           College admissions and rank are also determined by the income families receive. Families who receive less income are gonna have less chances to get into a private college. Caucasian families have more income than families who are Asian and Hispanic. The top 3 racial groups that are enrolled into colleges accordingly are Whites, Hispanics and Asians, respectively. The difference between these 3 groups In income is drastically different though. White families make more than Hispanics and Asians combined. Students whose parents income are low rely on scholarships to cover their tuition and this is the reason why Hispanics and Asians are chosen to get into the colleges they want. 

           College ranks depend on how many students graduate on time and without debt. This is something I would also like to research. Colleges that have high rates of students graduating on time has good reviews which make them more popular. When enrolling to different colleges, students have to research the colleges they want to go to but they have to keep in mind what colleges are more open and acceptable to them. The way they figure this out is based on the college’s statistics on race, income, location, graduation rate and how many students graduate debt free. 

Final Project Proposal

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Topic/Title: Statistics and data used to incriminate/judge Black people and other people of color.

Research Questions:

1) How is data used to incriminate POC?

2) Does this data and statistics take in account a person’s delinquency when judging or incriminating that person?

3) How does the media depict data and statistics in regard to each race?

Final Draft Proposal:

My research proposal will be based on how data and statistics impact the portrayal of black and POCs and the incrimination/judging of these people.  I always believed that our prison system was unfair and there are multiple example of this unjust and unfair treatment of black and POCs in that system, such as Cynthia Brown and Nathaniel Woods.

Things I will be using:
•Conviction statistics between black/POC and white people accused/charged with the same crime.
•Documentaries/Articles that can help me answer my threes question.

Final Project Proposal

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I decided to do my research on the way our criminal justice system effect people of color. Considering how the system is entirely unfair, I want to explore how citizens are not only treated unfair but also the history, the present, and the future of social injustice against people of color. My inquiry questions are:

~Why is it that minorities are more susceptible to police brutality and injustices in prison?

~When an injustice happens to a person of color, can the media influence law-makers into creating new laws to protect citizens?

~What long term effects does the criminal justice system have when impacting an Individuals life, in terms of negative or positive?

I feel as though this topic is very important to me. I have personal experiences and have witnessed social injustices in my very own neighborhood. I always believed that our prison system was unfair and there are several examples shown in the media of unjust actions. People of color are most effected by these injustices. I want to know what it is that causes minorities to be a such a repetitive target?

For this research project I will be using documentaries that shine information on this topic. I will be looking into statistics and data, based on the US prison system. In addition, I will be searching for articles that can help me answer my three top questions and other questions that I have been personally curious about. For example, a question that I also have would be is there a loophole that connects to why people of color get arrested more?