Katie Van Gorder

English 363 Scholar’s Notebook

January 24th – February 10th

24 January 2022 - Rhetorical Analysis: A systematic method

Purposes: To educate students on the complexity and origins of the word polarity. To provide a
better understanding of how to determine what is polar and nonpolar. To show the importance of
this electric charge and to hopefully provide a simple, but educational overview of the word.
Intended Readers: College students, adults who are interested in chemistry, Adults who have not
gone to college, High school students, beginners in research, chemists, biologist, and parents.
Order of Information: Importance and impact of polarity on the universe. Who discovered it.
How it works and why it works.
Types of Evidence: Examples of its complexity within simple molecules. Examples of daily
activities that are a result of polarity.
Style and Tone: Formal/informal style with an excited/interested tone.
Graphic Presentation: Shorter paragraphs. Bold font for emphasis on specific topics. Possibly
bullet points. Provide pictures to show examples.

31 January 2022 – Clustering and peer review of my word polarity.

My clustering:
Follow up on peer’s questions and interest:
I discussed that I would define the word polarity in chemistry. I have polar and nonpolar
one idea and electronegativity as another. My subsections for polar and nonpolar are to define
what each of those means. Another subsection is to explain what makes a molecule polar or
nonpolar. The subsection for electronegativity is explaining what it means and giving examples
of the type of atoms that have stronger and weaker electron pull. I might have a subsection for
my subsection on the definition of electronegativity to explain valence electrons. My peers felt
that what I had down was a good start and that I needed to brainstorm more to explain its
importance. My peers also mentioned that I could give more background on who discovered
polarity and how they discovered it.

7 February 2022 – Ideas to write a good definition paper

Polarity
1. Using a graphic and examples to show how polarity works within molecules and within
our bodies and life.
2. Using simplified English to make it more enjoyable for people unfamiliar or not
experienced in chemistry.
3. Partition to help readers understand.
Free writing generation technique:
For polarity I will talk about who discovered it and will talk about what makes molecules
polar and nonpolar. I will explain in detail about how molecules interact with each other
depending on the type of atoms as well as the type of bonds are created depending on the
electronegativity. Certain atoms have a stronger electronegativity. I will explain what
electronegativity means. I will show examples of how polarity is affected in our bodies and in
the life around us. I will try to focus on simple examples and complex examples and talk about
the type of interactions that can occur due to the different types of polarity.
My reflection and peer’s thoughts:
I enjoyed free writing because I felt like there was less pressure to write something that
sounded fluid or formal. It allowed me to jot down the thoughts and ideas in my head without
having to put them into “nice” sentences. I struggle a lot with English, but I really want to
improve so I will try to implement multiple generation techniques from the MIT’s Writing
Program’s website when I write from now.
I did clustering from a previous day and also really enjoyed putting down my ideas to
start thinking about how I want to approach my definition essay. I think I will include lots of
examples for my definition and want to really focus on providing an easy and enjoyable read
even though my word is chemistry related. My peer felt like it would be a good idea to include
lots of visuals for people to see what I am trying to explain and said it would be nice to see the
importance of polarity within our bodies. She had also mentioned that I should break down my
explanation and really think about using a simpler way to explain my word since it was slightly
overwhelming when I explained it to her.