Ideas Matter

  • Ideas Matter introduces student writers to three of the most common and useful types of writing they will encounter in their academic and professional careers: summary, rhetorical analysis, and personal response. The assignment is framed as an annotated bibliography entry and emphasizes the importance of signal phrases to indicate intention to readers. Students choose from 2,000 TedTalks to write about, which helps them to be interested and engaged in their presentation's topic.
  • Learning goals for Ideas Matter:
Learn to summarize information from sources in our own words
Improve our evaluation and rhetorical analysis skills
Develop our ability to integrate our own ideas with information from sources
Strengthen our understanding of effective organization
Practice writing in the genre of annotated bibliography or literature review
Gain experience using citation and documentation styles

Ideas Matter Assignment Sheet

Rhetorical Analysis

Annotated Bibliography Examples

Citations Examples and Exercises