Practicing Your Problem Solving

Muecke's Mechanics Minute

Today...Singular Subjects with Plural Pronouns.

The pronoun "their" is plural and can therefore only be used for a singular noun.  So, it is incorrect to write:

A good student should care about their grades.

"Student" is singular and cannot be used with "their."  There are two ways to correct the sentence:

• use singular pronouns (A good student should care about his/her grades.)

• make the noun plural (Good students should care about their grades.)

Evaluation and Proposal - Together in Perfect Problem-Solving Harmony

1.  Brainstorm 3 problems here at Wayne State.

2.  Share the 3 problems you came up with in your group.  As a group, choose one problem to work on.

3.  As a group, think about what kinds of groups/people could do something about this problem, either directly or indirectly.  List 3 groups/people, then narrow this list down to 1.

4. That person/group is your audience.

5.  Brainstorm solutions to your problem.  Keep your audience in mind - they need to be able to implement your solution.

6.  Choose whatever solution(s) you want to argue for.  If choosing more than one solution, those solutions need to be related and work together.  They also need to be tailored to your audience.

7.  Make sure you can clearly state the problem and why it's a problem, your audience, your solution, and why and how that solution will work.

Assignment for Tuesday/Wednesday:

• Answer the Project Three Planning Questions for your specific Project Three topic.  Then post your answers as a comment on the It Needs Evaluation page by 5:00pm on Tuesday, November 2.
• Then re-visit the It Needs Evaluation page after 5:00pm on Tuesday, November 2 to read your classmates' responses to these questions.  Choose at least one project (not your own) that you're interested in workshopping during Wednesday's class.