1.  Journal-

What convinces you? In other words, what can make you change your mind?

2.  Food Day.

3.  Explication practice... Preparing for argument.

Explication Practice

Some (very) brief notes about effective explication:

Good explication shows why you know what you say you know.

It refers back to the quote or fact you provided and helps readers understand how you reached the conclusion you stated.

It explains the logic you employed to create the meaning you create from the quote.

Your job is to persuade us to agree with you and understand the quote in the same way that you understand it:  we need to know how you figured out what it means.

Here is a pat way to organize explication:

1. Topic Sentence.

2. Quote to support topic.

3. What the quote means in terms of the topic.

4. How you know what the quote means and how you connect it to the topic.

Example, Non-literary:

1. There are many ways that someone can say you are dumb.

2. For Example, Vanessa called me a “bonehead.”

3. When she called me that name, she meant that I was dumb.

4. A bonehead implies that one’s head is made only of bone.  If one’s head is composed solely of bone, then that person must have no brains.  If that person has no brains, they must be dumb, so, through metaphor, a bonehead means a person is stupid because he has no brain.

Practice….Your turn, non-literary:

1.   There are many proverbs that warn people not to accuse or blame others.

2.   For example, many of us have heard the quote, “Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”

3.   This means that you shouldn’t point your finger at others unless you are perfect.

4.   This means this because:

4.  Paragraph practice... Preparing for argument.

5.  HW-  Read... Create...