Imitation Activities

Imitation Activity #4

As with previous imitation activities, we will focus on the expressions used in our examples to learn about how to, and how not to, convey specific content. Last week, you worked on your research proposals and came up with a rough thesis. You will build on that thesis today, revising it and adding to it to write an outline for your SWOT Report and to get a sense of what it takes to write a convincing introduction and conclusion for this kind of report.

As a group, open Example #1 found under SWOT Report: Examples to Imitate in the Collaborative Analysis Prompt. Read the introduction and post your responses to the following question as an initial post in the forum:

- What does this author do well? What do you find convincing?

- What does this author not do well? What is unconvincing, superfluous, or otherwise limiting?

- What expressions does the author use to inform or persuade? Think back to our Hopkinson Reverse Outline. We identified general techniques like examples or contrasts that she used to make her argument, but we also identified specific sentence structures that we found effective, like dependent clause > independent clause (claim) > list elaborating on the general claim > complication of argument. Do the same here. Identify at least three (3) expressions.

Do the same for the conclusion and post as a reply in the same forum.

- What does this author do well? What do you find convincing?

- What does this author not do well? What is unconvincing, superfluous, or otherwise limiting?

- What expressions does the author use to inform or persuade? Think back to our Hopkinson Reverse Outline. We identified general techniques like examples or contrasts that she used to make her argument, but we also identified specific sentence structures that we found effective, like dependent clause > independent clause (claim) > list elaborating on the general claim > complication of argument. Do the same here. Identify at least three (3) expressions.

Repeat steps 1 and 2 for one of the other examples found under SWOT Report: Examples to Imitate in the Collaborative Analysis Prompt. Post as a second reply in the forum.

You can now create a rough outline for your SWOT Report. While I would recommend that you do not write your introduction or conclusion until after you have received feedback, you will still need a common idea from which you are all working. Complete the following and post as a final reply in the forum.

- Start by solidifying the problem that you are analyzing for the company, your client. Then, write a syllogism that connects a shared assumption of the company's with your conclusion.

- Start your outline with "Introduction:" and write out the Minor Premise from your syllogism. This is the basis for your thesis and is what you should all refer to as you write your sections.

- Use the table from Example #1 (found under SWOT Report: Examples to Imitate in the Collaborative Analysis Prompt) to complete your outline. You should all have done enough research at this point to determine which Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats fit into the problem you've identified. Write them out here. You will include this table in the introduction of your final SWOT Report.