Unit 1
definition of arduous
extremely difficult to achieve
counterintuitive
different from what is expected or seems correct
incumbency
state of currently occupying an office
fervently
in an intense or deeply felt manner
equitable
fair and equal
Read the excerpt from the article “Household Robots Are Here, but Where Are They Going?” from MIT Technology Review.
Robots as smart home hubs seem to be the most promising area in the near term. For all his references to Jibo as a “companion,” Revis enthusiastically supports the notion of it (sorry, him) as a turner-on of lights and a locker of doors. Such tasks “fit nicely into his charter,” Revis says. The main challenge for now is technical standards, which are highly complex and far from settled as companies like Google and Apple also make their way into the market.
But fairly soon it will be routine for homeowners to bark out “turn the lights down 20 percent” and have it happen. Eventually, a robot-controlled smart home will “understand where a person is in the home and know what they want” without even being asked, says Michael Wolf, the founder of NextMarket Insights. He estimates that the market for owner-installed smart homes will rise from about $1.3 billion today to about $7.8 billion by 2019.
What is the key point the author is trying to make in these paragraphs?
The most promising use for robots in the near future is as smart home hubs.
what is the rhetoric triangle?
rhetoric is a platform for creating a relationship among three key components: the message, the writer/speaker (author), and the audience.
what are structural elements?
Structural elements such as sentences, paragraphs, chapters, and sections, can help a reader to comprehend a text’s main idea or claim.
how can the theme of a text be determined?
by the topic of the text
what is a claim?
the primary statement that is to be proved through the presentation of an argument.
what are tone, style, and word choice dependent on?
task, purpose, audience
what is the purpose of a researched essay
The purpose of a researched essay is to synthesize, interpret, and present information from a variety of credible (believable and convincing) sources. For this paper, you should use multiple print and digital sources that you have evaluated for accuracy and reliability.
what should an introduction do?
what is an argument?
a type of writing that emphasizes logic, specifically claims, reasons, evidence and, counterclaims.
what should not be used in a argument essay?
first person pronouns, slang words
why is textual evidence important?
This skill becomes even more important when you are working with inferences and textual ambiguities that ask you to read between the lines and make claims based on your own understanding.
what are key terms?
Key terms are words or phrases that are vital to understanding the important information in a text.
what is pathos?
appealing to emotions
what is an allusion?
an indirect reference to a person, object, event, or literary work that is widely recognized.
what is the chain of reasoning?
what is syntax
the arrangement of words and phrases
what are two ways of efficient note-taking?
paraphrasing, skimming
what might you consider when revising your thesis?
consider how you might be able to refine the essay’s clarity, focus, and flow.
name two types of evidence?
example, testimony, opinion, facts, statistics
what is syntax?
the way you arrange your words within each sentence, with each sentence being one of four types: simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex.