### Title: Crafting Effective Surveys and Counterarguments
In today’s session, the focus was on the critical elements of creating surveys relevant to students’ final essays and discussing the structure and significance of counterarguments in argumentative writing. Students learned about the importance of designing effective surveys as a fundamental part of their research, which would, in turn, influence the robustness of their final essays. Additionally, detailed guidance on framing and refuting counterarguments was provided to enhance the students’ ability to construct persuasive essays.
### Attendance
– No specific mentions of absent students.
### Topics Covered
– **Survey Implementation:**
– Importance of the survey for the final essay.
– Extended deadline for survey submission announced.
– Instructions on submitting the survey link through eCourse and notifying via Telegram.
– **Bilingual Survey Design:**
– Discussion on designing surveys in English and Russian to accommodate non-English speaking respondents.
– Instructions to write questions and responses in both languages within a single survey format.
– **Crafting and Refuting Counterarguments:**
– Detailed exploration of what counterarguments are and their role in argumentative writing.
– Introduction to the concept of refutation and different strategies to refute a counterargument: proving it incorrect, irrelevant, or insufficient.
– Practical exercise on identifying potential counterarguments for various scenarios and how to tackle them effectively.
– Review of example paragraphs demonstrating effective refutation techniques.
– **Straw Man Argument:**
– Explanation of what a straw man argument is and why it is a weak form of counterargument.
– Emphasis on selecting strong counterarguments to ensure robust debate and essay structure.
– **Workshop Activity:**
– Students received anonymous problem and solution scenarios to analyze and critique.
– Discussion focused on enhancing the ability to critically assess and argue both sides of an issue.
### Actionable Items
– **Urgent:**
– Remind students to submit survey links by the new deadline and confirm via Telegram.
– **Moderate:**
– Provide feedback on initial drafts of counterargument paragraphs once submitted.
– **Low Priority:**
– Plan a follow-up session to review the integration of survey data into argumentative essays, ensuring students effectively incorporate findings into their discussions.
### Homework
– **Survey Completion:**
– Complete and submit the survey link by the extended deadline (Wednesday).
– Notify the instructor through Telegram upon submission for review.
– **Counterargument Paragraph Draft:**
– Write and submit a draft of the counterargument refutation paragraph by Friday.
– Focus on strong problem and solution statements that can withstand scrutiny against potential counterarguments.