SAMPLE CROSS-CULTURAL Research-Based
Argument ASSIGNMENT
Revolutions and Evolutions in
Environmental Rhetoric
Instructor, Carolyn Ross
Andy Goldsworthy, gold rowan
leaves from Collaborations
with Nature (NY: Abrams, 1990)
Cross-Cultural Rhetoric (CCR)
Videoconference #2
Activity: Compose a collaborative topic-specific blog in preparation for Thursday’s
videoconference with the Russian Students
1. Please follow the link to the online signup (a Google document) that I sent via
email invitation to you. Sign up for a topic area that relates in some fundamental
way to your independent research topic. Be sure to include your name and
email address.
2. Contact your topic partners to discuss the content and composition of your blog,
to be posted on the CCR blog no later than noon on Tuesday, February 10.
(The Russian students at KSAEL will arrange themselves in groups to respond –
as respondents to your topic in Thursday’s videoconference exchange and in
comments to your blog. I’m not sure whether they will post comments to your
blog before or after the videoconference – or both.) To post your blog, go to site
(http://cgi.stanford.edu/%7Egroup-ccr/mt/mt.cgi). Enter gaiacollab as the user
name and fall2008 as the password. Please post your blog to “Stanford
Environmental Rhetoric class.”
3. By all means, meet with you topic mates in person, if you can, to collaborate on
composing your blog. An alternative might be to use Backboard
(http://www.getbackboard.com/) or a similar document collaboration tool to
compose the blog together.
4. Features of each blog should include:
a. A statement of exigence. Why is your topic important? Why and how is
it relevant to you? Why and how is it globally relevant? ;Why is it
important right now? What’s at stake?
b. List all of your individual research topics. List, and explain briefly how
each of them is related to your group’s over all topic.
c. A statement of consensus or range of point of view on your overall
topic among all topic group members. Explain your thoughts, feelings,
ideas of your overall topic. What are the key challenges as you see them?
The underlying problems? The possible differences in understand or
approach depending on national, cultural, economic, political and/or other
relevant factors?
d. Pose three questions. And no more than three, so think carefully about
them. These are questions that you would like o have an open discussion
about your videoconference exchange with the Russian students. Think of
this dialogue as a kind of problem-solving session.
5. Your blog should run around 750 words.
6. Please email me if you have any questions!