Composition I

Professor Kratz

The Connections Game!!

Objective: to conclude new and original things based on connections you make between existing positions below.

Your connection might be:

  • a comparison (...and...)
  • a contrast (...but...) [Please note: any original argument must move beyond just observing similarities or differences to conclude something from or argue something about them.]
  • a development (if...then...) [Please note: “also” is not a form of development]
  • a complication (or/on the other hand/however)
  • Frame-case (the first quote gives a theory, the second an example which shows the theory at work, or how the example contradicts the theory)

You might also imagine making connections like this:

  • You can synthesize positions: if A=B & B=C then A=C where the first equation represents a point made in the first quote, the second equation represents a point made in the second quote, and the third equation represents your intervention, combining both position into something new and more complete. (This would be a kind of development.)
  • You might use one quote to undermine/critique the other. (This would be a kind of complication.)

Positions:

1)Wolves hungry for human flesh relentlessly populate colder regions.

2)Studies show that distractions make people’s minds more resilient.

3)If the US makes a military strike in Syria, Russia will declare war on US.

4)The number of frogs living in NJ lakes has dramatically diminished.

5)The Gulf Steam—the current of warm water running from the Eastern US Atlantic shore toward England—makes England (which is at the same latitude as Iceland) temperate in climate.

6)If the Syrian government uses chemical weapons, the US will make a military strike.

7)Spinach has a lot of micro-nutrients.

8)Excessive focus prevents us from being able to see what we don’t expect.

9)As the basis for any lake ecosystem, frog populations reflect the health of the broader ecosystem.

10)The melting of the polar ice caps will disrupt the Gulf Stream.

11)Micro-nutrients prevent cancer in adult humans.

12)Technology is causing the human race to revert into drooling cavemen, spastically looking everywhere for a hypertext link that will bring them something shiny (or perhaps naked) to look at.