Marc Patcher (The Art of the Interview) – Doris Kearns Goodwin (Lessons from Past Presidents) – Studs Terkel (Working) – Viewing and Reading Notation.

This is a notation exercise. Whether novelists, poets, essayists, historians or reporters, writers are, by nature, note takers. Effective note-taking is a foundational skill for good writing. This exercise will give you the chance to practice this skill in a focused way. The focus here is to separate your responses to the Marc Patcher and Doris Kearns Goodwin Ted Talks, and the pages from Studs Terkel’s Working (links to videos and PDF in your Canvas Resources) into Thoughts, Questions, and Epiphanies (TQE). Be clear and strict in separating your thoughts from your questions (sometimes they want to overlap); epiphanies are realizations that can occur to you after thinking and questioning or, sometimes, more independently and spontaneously. Again, these are your thoughts, questions, and realizations, not a flat reflection or list of the speakers’ or writer’s content. Also, questions should really ask something worth knowing or whose answer is not obvious; no yes or no questions (you are not writing a quiz).

For each one of the eight TQE tables, strive to write five (5) or more distinct Thoughts, three (3) or more distinct Questions, and three (3) or more distinct Epiphanies; i.e. 15 “items” for each table.

Start by transferring the notes you wrote in class on the Marc Patcher TED Talk to the blank table in this document; and please feel free to rewatch his talk and add more. Then move on to “Lessons from Past Presidents” and then read the pages from Working.