Hello all,
As most of you will no doubt have figured out by now, Waubonsee has shut down for the day due to inclement weather. As a result, all finals scheduled for today will now be given at the same time and location this Friday, the 14th of December.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
Final Thoughts
Hello all,
As we move into these last few days of the term, I want to remind everyone to study chapters 23, 23, and 27 for the final grammar quiz, which will be on our final exam day, Tuesday, December 11th, at 10:15. I will have your final drafts ready to give back to you, as well as having grades for your journals, your portfolios, and your revisions if you chose to make any.
I also want to take this opportunity to thank you all for being a part of this course. I know it seems like a long time ago, but not too many months ago we were all meeting for the first time, and there was quite a bit of uncertainty concerning the use of these blogs, and the computers in general. I hope that these setups have been valuable for you all--I know that I have learned a great deal while working with you all. I wish you all a very happy holiday, and the best of luck in your future endeavors.
As we move into these last few days of the term, I want to remind everyone to study chapters 23, 23, and 27 for the final grammar quiz, which will be on our final exam day, Tuesday, December 11th, at 10:15. I will have your final drafts ready to give back to you, as well as having grades for your journals, your portfolios, and your revisions if you chose to make any.
I also want to take this opportunity to thank you all for being a part of this course. I know it seems like a long time ago, but not too many months ago we were all meeting for the first time, and there was quite a bit of uncertainty concerning the use of these blogs, and the computers in general. I hope that these setups have been valuable for you all--I know that I have learned a great deal while working with you all. I wish you all a very happy holiday, and the best of luck in your future endeavors.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Outline Update and Rough Draft Conference Schedules
Hello all,
As you digest the last of your turkey and look towards the holidays (and the end of class!) I will remind you that there are still a few assignments left before we can all bid each other farewell. A number of folks neither emailed me nor posted their outlines--if you did not, you do not receive the ten points this assignment was worth. More importantly, you will also not receive any points for anything else (the rough draft, the bibliography, even the final draft) from this last paper until you get the missing outline to me! I have responded to most of your blogs concerning this--if you posted your outline on your blog, I responded to it; if you emailed it to me, I responded to the message. If you did neither of those things, I left you a message on the last post your did publish, so you may have to dig to get my response.
As far as rough draft conferences go, I have either emailed or posted each of you with your individual conference day. If you forget (or never look), the schedule goes like this:
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27: Barnak, Blaney, Casper, Cotts, Cudzewicz, Davenport, Forbes
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29: Perez, Plate, Reel, Singer, Wagner, Feldott
Make sure that you have your rough drafts (at least two pages worth, preferably more) ready to go on your conference day. You only have to show up for class the day your conference is scheduled, and the bibliographies are also due the day of your conference.
If you have any questions, concerns, or confusion, please email me, come see me during my office hours, or leave me a voicemail.
As you digest the last of your turkey and look towards the holidays (and the end of class!) I will remind you that there are still a few assignments left before we can all bid each other farewell. A number of folks neither emailed me nor posted their outlines--if you did not, you do not receive the ten points this assignment was worth. More importantly, you will also not receive any points for anything else (the rough draft, the bibliography, even the final draft) from this last paper until you get the missing outline to me! I have responded to most of your blogs concerning this--if you posted your outline on your blog, I responded to it; if you emailed it to me, I responded to the message. If you did neither of those things, I left you a message on the last post your did publish, so you may have to dig to get my response.
As far as rough draft conferences go, I have either emailed or posted each of you with your individual conference day. If you forget (or never look), the schedule goes like this:
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27: Barnak, Blaney, Casper, Cotts, Cudzewicz, Davenport, Forbes
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29: Perez, Plate, Reel, Singer, Wagner, Feldott
Make sure that you have your rough drafts (at least two pages worth, preferably more) ready to go on your conference day. You only have to show up for class the day your conference is scheduled, and the bibliographies are also due the day of your conference.
If you have any questions, concerns, or confusion, please email me, come see me during my office hours, or leave me a voicemail.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Persuasive Research Piece
This is it—your final piece. To this point, we have worked on a variety of specific skills in the various paragraphs, and then worked on combining them into longer, more complex thoughts in the essays. At this point, it is time to move beyond the individual tools used in writing, and get to the important stuff: making yourself understood, and making yourself persuasive.
Doing all of this isn’t easy; it takes thought, care and energy on your part. The bright side is that generating all of this isn’t as difficult as you might think. When you persuade, you are probably trying to get people to agree with you. Unless you are a habitual liar, you probably really believe in whatever you are trying to convince your subjects about—and that means that you usually really do care about whether or not the believe and agree with you!
Your final assignment puts these concepts into practice. The requirements are as follows:
Standard formatting guidelines apply. As this is your final paper, this should be representative of the absolute best, most polished work you are capable of producing. Grammar, sentence construction and spelling will be more heavily weighted than in past assignments, so be sure to carefully proofread your work! This paper must be a minimum of four full pages long, and must not be longer than eight.
In addition to this packet, you can find more information on argumentative writing in chapter 12 of your textbook.
Your topic is a simple one: I want you to choose something that you think is unfair, and try to convince your audience that A) the situation really is unfair (and explain why and how this is the case) and B) provide a solution to the unfair situation and advocate for that solution to be adopted (and show how that adoption could be achieved). You have two alternatives as far as what sort of unfair situations you can discuss: you can write about a more general, public unfair situation, like immigration, gender inequity in the workplace, or something like that. For example, you could write about how it is unfair that logging companies are attempting to cut down areas of a redwood forest that had previously been designated off limits. You could provide an alternative of creating a sustainable system of forest preserves set aside expressly for the logging industry. The way that this solution could be enacted would be to present the proposal as a bill to congress.
Or, you can choose to write about something specific to yourself—a problem
with another person, a problem within your family, a problem at work or school,
or whatever. An example of this might be that you think that it is unfair that the
boss at your job makes the schedule based on who has worked the most hours last
week. You think that the schedule should be based on seniority—who has been
working at the job the longest. You would present your reasons why a schedule
based on who works the most hours from week to week is unfair, and then show
why a schedule based on seniority would be fairer. You would finish off by
making suggestions on how to correct this unfair situation—in this case, the
solution is (obviously) adopting the new kind of schedule.
As a different slant on this, you can take a more general and traditional tack, and discuss an issue that is of importance to you (and others), and try to convince your audience that your position is the one that should be acted upon or believed. This could be something along the lines of a social or political issue (legalized marijuana, gun control, election reform) or more cultural (exploitation in the media, doping in sports). In this paper, you are presenting an issue that has at least two opposing arguments, both of which may have good points. It is up to you to do a fair and thorough job of exploring and exposing those points. Like the unfair paper, however, you are advocating a position—you must take a stand on one side or the other!
Regardless of which version of the paper you choose to write, you will need to find outside sources and use them properly. This paper calls for a minimum of five sources—make sure that whatever your topic is robust enough to support these five sources! At least two different types of sources must be used (books and websites, magazine articles and interviews, or databases and documentaries, for example). You MAY NOT simply use all of the same kind of source (this is especially true of online materials). Keep in mind that NOT ALL SOURCES ARE CREATED EQUALLY!! Some are more respectable/useful/trustworthy than others, and it is part of your job to make sure that the sources you are using are appropriate for an academic paper. You will be required to properly cite your sources in-text using parenthetical citation, and you will also be required to provide a works cited page in proper MLA format. We will discuss these requirements in class, but it is YOUR responsibility to make sure that you are familiar and comfortable with the MLA citation process. This will be an important component of this assignment, so it is important to do it well.
You need to keep a number of factors in mind as you write this paper. Tone is very important—you may be very angry about the unfair situation (especially if the situation is a personal one), but if your tone comes across as angry, nasty or superior, you are likely to anger and offend your reader! This, of course, makes them much less likely to listen to you or to do what you want them to. You must also remember that you are not the only person in the universe. Just because you think that something seems unfair doesn’t necessarily make it so. If you are writing the paper about the unfair situation, you must remember that there is a difference between “things that are not fair” and “things I don’t like”. Keep in mind that your solutions will likely impact others—if you want your message to be persuasive, you need to come up with solutions that will make those others happy, not just benefit you. If you are writing the position paper, you must remember to give reasonably even coverage to both sides—you must be able to show that you understand both sides of the issue before people will trust your position.
You should also keep the difference between belief and opinion in mind as you work on this paper (we will cover this material in class). This will help you select and refine your topic, as well as make decisions on what sorts of arguments to make, and what evidence to present.
All good persuasion follows the argument/counterargument/concession/rebuttal model. We will be covering this in class, but it is an expected part of this paper! Also we will be discussing the three parts of a traditional argument—pathos, ethos, and logos. Again, regardless of type of paper, you are expected to show an awareness of and facility with these elements. You do NOT need to include one section or paragraph on each of the three elements, but you should be able to include information from all three sections as it is needed.
Regardless of which type of paper you choose to write, keep the situations and solutions, or your position, realistic and reasonable—try to concentrate on solutions that can actually be fixed, and come up with legitimate ways to fix them, and positions that are able to be defended clearly and reasonably.
Unlike the other papers we have worked on, the importance of this paper, combined with the length and preparation time, causes due dates for this paper to be handled a little differently than the other papers we have worked on. This paper will be divided into a number of smaller sections: a topic proposal, an outline, a working bibliography, and a rough draft, as well as the final draft. Put simply, each section is due at the start of the class it is due on, unless I tell you otherwise. If you have the section done when it is due, and it is reasonably complete and accurate, you will receive full credit for that section. If you do not have the section done, or it is obviously incorrect or incomplete, two things will occur: you will receive a zero for that section, and you will continue to receive zeroes for every other section (up to and including the final draft) until you get that section properly completed and turned in to me. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS RULE!!! If you are sick, if you are going to be gone, if you are planning on using one of your free absences, you will still need to make arrangements with me concerning the sections of the paper you might be missing. In addition, I WILL NOT be taking the final draft late under any circumstances, to allow sufficient time for grading.
As always, see me with any questions or concerns you may have about this assignment.
Doing all of this isn’t easy; it takes thought, care and energy on your part. The bright side is that generating all of this isn’t as difficult as you might think. When you persuade, you are probably trying to get people to agree with you. Unless you are a habitual liar, you probably really believe in whatever you are trying to convince your subjects about—and that means that you usually really do care about whether or not the believe and agree with you!
Your final assignment puts these concepts into practice. The requirements are as follows:
Standard formatting guidelines apply. As this is your final paper, this should be representative of the absolute best, most polished work you are capable of producing. Grammar, sentence construction and spelling will be more heavily weighted than in past assignments, so be sure to carefully proofread your work! This paper must be a minimum of four full pages long, and must not be longer than eight.
In addition to this packet, you can find more information on argumentative writing in chapter 12 of your textbook.
Your topic is a simple one: I want you to choose something that you think is unfair, and try to convince your audience that A) the situation really is unfair (and explain why and how this is the case) and B) provide a solution to the unfair situation and advocate for that solution to be adopted (and show how that adoption could be achieved). You have two alternatives as far as what sort of unfair situations you can discuss: you can write about a more general, public unfair situation, like immigration, gender inequity in the workplace, or something like that. For example, you could write about how it is unfair that logging companies are attempting to cut down areas of a redwood forest that had previously been designated off limits. You could provide an alternative of creating a sustainable system of forest preserves set aside expressly for the logging industry. The way that this solution could be enacted would be to present the proposal as a bill to congress.
Or, you can choose to write about something specific to yourself—a problem
with another person, a problem within your family, a problem at work or school,
or whatever. An example of this might be that you think that it is unfair that the
boss at your job makes the schedule based on who has worked the most hours last
week. You think that the schedule should be based on seniority—who has been
working at the job the longest. You would present your reasons why a schedule
based on who works the most hours from week to week is unfair, and then show
why a schedule based on seniority would be fairer. You would finish off by
making suggestions on how to correct this unfair situation—in this case, the
solution is (obviously) adopting the new kind of schedule.
As a different slant on this, you can take a more general and traditional tack, and discuss an issue that is of importance to you (and others), and try to convince your audience that your position is the one that should be acted upon or believed. This could be something along the lines of a social or political issue (legalized marijuana, gun control, election reform) or more cultural (exploitation in the media, doping in sports). In this paper, you are presenting an issue that has at least two opposing arguments, both of which may have good points. It is up to you to do a fair and thorough job of exploring and exposing those points. Like the unfair paper, however, you are advocating a position—you must take a stand on one side or the other!
Regardless of which version of the paper you choose to write, you will need to find outside sources and use them properly. This paper calls for a minimum of five sources—make sure that whatever your topic is robust enough to support these five sources! At least two different types of sources must be used (books and websites, magazine articles and interviews, or databases and documentaries, for example). You MAY NOT simply use all of the same kind of source (this is especially true of online materials). Keep in mind that NOT ALL SOURCES ARE CREATED EQUALLY!! Some are more respectable/useful/trustworthy than others, and it is part of your job to make sure that the sources you are using are appropriate for an academic paper. You will be required to properly cite your sources in-text using parenthetical citation, and you will also be required to provide a works cited page in proper MLA format. We will discuss these requirements in class, but it is YOUR responsibility to make sure that you are familiar and comfortable with the MLA citation process. This will be an important component of this assignment, so it is important to do it well.
You need to keep a number of factors in mind as you write this paper. Tone is very important—you may be very angry about the unfair situation (especially if the situation is a personal one), but if your tone comes across as angry, nasty or superior, you are likely to anger and offend your reader! This, of course, makes them much less likely to listen to you or to do what you want them to. You must also remember that you are not the only person in the universe. Just because you think that something seems unfair doesn’t necessarily make it so. If you are writing the paper about the unfair situation, you must remember that there is a difference between “things that are not fair” and “things I don’t like”. Keep in mind that your solutions will likely impact others—if you want your message to be persuasive, you need to come up with solutions that will make those others happy, not just benefit you. If you are writing the position paper, you must remember to give reasonably even coverage to both sides—you must be able to show that you understand both sides of the issue before people will trust your position.
You should also keep the difference between belief and opinion in mind as you work on this paper (we will cover this material in class). This will help you select and refine your topic, as well as make decisions on what sorts of arguments to make, and what evidence to present.
All good persuasion follows the argument/counterargument/concession/rebuttal model. We will be covering this in class, but it is an expected part of this paper! Also we will be discussing the three parts of a traditional argument—pathos, ethos, and logos. Again, regardless of type of paper, you are expected to show an awareness of and facility with these elements. You do NOT need to include one section or paragraph on each of the three elements, but you should be able to include information from all three sections as it is needed.
Regardless of which type of paper you choose to write, keep the situations and solutions, or your position, realistic and reasonable—try to concentrate on solutions that can actually be fixed, and come up with legitimate ways to fix them, and positions that are able to be defended clearly and reasonably.
Unlike the other papers we have worked on, the importance of this paper, combined with the length and preparation time, causes due dates for this paper to be handled a little differently than the other papers we have worked on. This paper will be divided into a number of smaller sections: a topic proposal, an outline, a working bibliography, and a rough draft, as well as the final draft. Put simply, each section is due at the start of the class it is due on, unless I tell you otherwise. If you have the section done when it is due, and it is reasonably complete and accurate, you will receive full credit for that section. If you do not have the section done, or it is obviously incorrect or incomplete, two things will occur: you will receive a zero for that section, and you will continue to receive zeroes for every other section (up to and including the final draft) until you get that section properly completed and turned in to me. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS RULE!!! If you are sick, if you are going to be gone, if you are planning on using one of your free absences, you will still need to make arrangements with me concerning the sections of the paper you might be missing. In addition, I WILL NOT be taking the final draft late under any circumstances, to allow sufficient time for grading.
As always, see me with any questions or concerns you may have about this assignment.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Entrance Essay/Financial Aid Piece
Persuasive, argumentative writing is some of the most important communication that a person can do. It is also some of the most difficult. We will begin our practice in this area by working on a project that many of you can, or will eventually, relate to: the college entrance essay.
If you have ever applied to a four-year college for admission, you know that they often ask you to include a brief essay explaining why you want to enroll. Even if you have no desire to enroll in a four-year school, the practice of working on a short, controlled persuasive piece can be very helpful. Here is what you need to know to successfully complete your essay:
There are three ways you can complete this assignment: you write your entrance essay to either a college you really do want to go to (you can in fact make this essay a part of your application materials) or you can choose a school some other way: pick your “dream school”, a school you have always been interested in, choose at random, whatever you would like. Alternatively, if you are not planning on transferring to another school, or have already been accepted, or simply don’t know what school you would like to attend, you may instead write a letter applying for financial aid or a scholarship. Many of these are tailored to a specific school, but many can be used wherever you eventually decide to attend. There are even scholarships and financial aid packages available for community colleges like Waubonsee, so you can use this to aid you in your current studies.
You will need to do some research on your chosen school. The more you know about your chosen school, the better a job you will be able to do of convincing the admissions board that you are a worthwhile and serious applicant. This means knowing things like where the school is located, what sorts of strong programs it has, what sorts of things it is famous for, and so on. We will have class time to let you research your school but you may need to work on your own as well.
If you choose to work on a real application essay, you are welcome to use the essay (if any) included with the application materials. If your school does not include an essay, or if you are not really planning on applying, use this essay prompt:
Why do you want to enroll in (college name)? What qualities do you have that will make you successful here? What sorts of experiences have you had that will make you a valuable part of the college community? What are your ultimate goals for yourself and your education?
If you choose to work on a scholarship, you will find that the vast majority of them include some sort of statement or essay prompt—again, I want a copy if you use an existing prompt. If you cannot find a prompt for your particular scholarship, use the following generic prompt:
Why are you deserving of this financial assistance? How will you use this assistance to achieve your goals? What do you want to do with your education in the long run? How will you use this assistance to give back to the wider community?
You need to make sure that you consider the audience you are writing to. What are they interested in hearing about? What sort of language, vocabulary, and tone do they expect from you? What sorts of things do they already know, and what sorts of things do you need to explain to them?
You will also need to be able to give the folks who will see your essay some information and background—both about yourself, and about what you know about them. You will want to include information about your educational and working background, your extracurricular activities, hobbies, skills, and personal qualities that you think will make you successful at the school (or with the scholarship). You will also want to demonstrate that you know about them—that you have done your homework, take the opportunity seriously, and have taken steps to make sure that you will be a good fit with the college, and that you will be successful there (or will be successful through receiving the scholarship).
You will need to make use of a number of different techniques we have worked on throughout the class to write a successful essay: you may need to define and explain things, to give example, to use narrative to explain what you have done or want to do, you may even need to compare your abilities or backgrounds to the admissions requirements of the school.
Whether this is a real letter or not, you must be honest in your essay—this is really you who is applying to this school! There is one exception to this: if you do decide to apply to a dream school, and this school is one that you would normally not be allowed to attend for whatever reason (financial, distance, a school that specializes in something you have no background in, or any other admissions criteria that you don’t/can’t meet for whatever reason) you may alter your personal information to the point that it allows you to be a potential candidate.
Obviously, the essay may be very different depending on the particular school and what they are looking for. If you are writing a real application essay, the requirement of the school take precedence over the requirements of this assignment. However, there are a few rules you do need to follow—if these don’t mix with the real-life essay, you will need to create an alternate, “class version” of the essay. This essay must be a minimum of two full pages. It must follow all of the formatting guidelines discussed in class. If the real entrance essay is extremely different than the imaginary essay prompt given above, you will need to see me to make sure that the essay is acceptable for use in this assignment.
As always, see me if you have any questions about this assignment.
If you have ever applied to a four-year college for admission, you know that they often ask you to include a brief essay explaining why you want to enroll. Even if you have no desire to enroll in a four-year school, the practice of working on a short, controlled persuasive piece can be very helpful. Here is what you need to know to successfully complete your essay:
There are three ways you can complete this assignment: you write your entrance essay to either a college you really do want to go to (you can in fact make this essay a part of your application materials) or you can choose a school some other way: pick your “dream school”, a school you have always been interested in, choose at random, whatever you would like. Alternatively, if you are not planning on transferring to another school, or have already been accepted, or simply don’t know what school you would like to attend, you may instead write a letter applying for financial aid or a scholarship. Many of these are tailored to a specific school, but many can be used wherever you eventually decide to attend. There are even scholarships and financial aid packages available for community colleges like Waubonsee, so you can use this to aid you in your current studies.
You will need to do some research on your chosen school. The more you know about your chosen school, the better a job you will be able to do of convincing the admissions board that you are a worthwhile and serious applicant. This means knowing things like where the school is located, what sorts of strong programs it has, what sorts of things it is famous for, and so on. We will have class time to let you research your school but you may need to work on your own as well.
If you choose to work on a real application essay, you are welcome to use the essay (if any) included with the application materials. If your school does not include an essay, or if you are not really planning on applying, use this essay prompt:
Why do you want to enroll in (college name)? What qualities do you have that will make you successful here? What sorts of experiences have you had that will make you a valuable part of the college community? What are your ultimate goals for yourself and your education?
If you choose to work on a scholarship, you will find that the vast majority of them include some sort of statement or essay prompt—again, I want a copy if you use an existing prompt. If you cannot find a prompt for your particular scholarship, use the following generic prompt:
Why are you deserving of this financial assistance? How will you use this assistance to achieve your goals? What do you want to do with your education in the long run? How will you use this assistance to give back to the wider community?
You need to make sure that you consider the audience you are writing to. What are they interested in hearing about? What sort of language, vocabulary, and tone do they expect from you? What sorts of things do they already know, and what sorts of things do you need to explain to them?
You will also need to be able to give the folks who will see your essay some information and background—both about yourself, and about what you know about them. You will want to include information about your educational and working background, your extracurricular activities, hobbies, skills, and personal qualities that you think will make you successful at the school (or with the scholarship). You will also want to demonstrate that you know about them—that you have done your homework, take the opportunity seriously, and have taken steps to make sure that you will be a good fit with the college, and that you will be successful there (or will be successful through receiving the scholarship).
You will need to make use of a number of different techniques we have worked on throughout the class to write a successful essay: you may need to define and explain things, to give example, to use narrative to explain what you have done or want to do, you may even need to compare your abilities or backgrounds to the admissions requirements of the school.
Whether this is a real letter or not, you must be honest in your essay—this is really you who is applying to this school! There is one exception to this: if you do decide to apply to a dream school, and this school is one that you would normally not be allowed to attend for whatever reason (financial, distance, a school that specializes in something you have no background in, or any other admissions criteria that you don’t/can’t meet for whatever reason) you may alter your personal information to the point that it allows you to be a potential candidate.
Obviously, the essay may be very different depending on the particular school and what they are looking for. If you are writing a real application essay, the requirement of the school take precedence over the requirements of this assignment. However, there are a few rules you do need to follow—if these don’t mix with the real-life essay, you will need to create an alternate, “class version” of the essay. This essay must be a minimum of two full pages. It must follow all of the formatting guidelines discussed in class. If the real entrance essay is extremely different than the imaginary essay prompt given above, you will need to see me to make sure that the essay is acceptable for use in this assignment.
As always, see me if you have any questions about this assignment.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Narrative rough draft assignment
Hey all,
As we roll on with the narrative paper, it seems like most of you have a good handle on things--the average length of a rough draft on Thursday was three to four pages, and the stories have been quite good. Excellent work so far! I want you all to have the opportunity to see the good work that your classmates are doing, as well as getting the chance to see how other writers struggle with the same sorts of writing issues that you do. As such, here is your homework for the weekend:
1) Post your rough draft on your blog. If you have already done so, but have a newer draft, you can post that as well.
2) Visit the blogs of at least two classmates, read their rough drafts, and post comments about them. these comments should be reasonably substantial--don't just say "it was great!" Talk about specific things that the author did well, or that need work. By doing this, you not only give the author some specific, useful feedback, but you also engage your own mind in thinking about the challenges of the assignment--you can learn from the mistakes and successes of others, and use them in your own narrative.
As always, contact me with questions or concerns--the final draft of the narrative is due on Tuesday!
As we roll on with the narrative paper, it seems like most of you have a good handle on things--the average length of a rough draft on Thursday was three to four pages, and the stories have been quite good. Excellent work so far! I want you all to have the opportunity to see the good work that your classmates are doing, as well as getting the chance to see how other writers struggle with the same sorts of writing issues that you do. As such, here is your homework for the weekend:
1) Post your rough draft on your blog. If you have already done so, but have a newer draft, you can post that as well.
2) Visit the blogs of at least two classmates, read their rough drafts, and post comments about them. these comments should be reasonably substantial--don't just say "it was great!" Talk about specific things that the author did well, or that need work. By doing this, you not only give the author some specific, useful feedback, but you also engage your own mind in thinking about the challenges of the assignment--you can learn from the mistakes and successes of others, and use them in your own narrative.
As always, contact me with questions or concerns--the final draft of the narrative is due on Tuesday!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Narrative Paper
When most people think of narratives, they think of stories. We are surrounded by narratives—the television shows and movies that we watch, the books that we read, even sporting events and advertising make heavy use of narrative structure to make their products appealing to us.
Most students do not see the place that narrative has in other kinds of writing, however. Any time you use an example, any time you give details, any time you structure a piece of writing to move from background information to a major revelation, you are using the ideas of narrative. Being able to develop these skills allows you to more expertly develop many of the elements that make any kind of writing effective: structure and organization, description, pacing, tone, and development.
Your job for this assignment will be to create a narrative of your own. You will have the option to choose between fiction (entirely imaginary) and nonfiction (entirely truthful and based on real events) narratives, and from there, you will have other options. I realize that this assignment can be a challenge, as many students do not consider themselves to be able storytellers. However, the specifics of the assignment should allow all students to successfully create a narrative.
The basic guidelines for this assignment are as follows:
3-10 pages, following all formatting guidelines from the style sheet.
You should read the section on narrative writing that begins on page 141 of your textbook. We will also cover these materials extensively in class.
You may choose to write either a nonfiction narrative or a fictional narrative.
If you choose nonfiction, you must choose a story that can be tied to a particular theme—a central emotion, idea, or lesson that will be the basis for the story. You will need to include a short paragraph at the beginning of the piece explaining what your theme is. You are allowed to use “I” for this type of narrative. Also be aware that it is possible to embellish and build upon a real-life story and add new ideas—this will change the narrative into one of fiction, however.
If you choose a fictional narrative, you will need to choose a particular genre—a category of story, like Western, mystery, fairy tale, whatever. You will need to include a brief paragraph at the beginning of the piece explaining what genre you have selected. It is possible to mix multiple genres for this piece, but if you do so, you will need to explain your choices (and list the genres) in your prefatory piece. While you are welcome to adapt or outright steal elements from other narratives, it is not acceptable to simply plagiarize an existing narrative. While individual elements may be recycled, this should be YOUR story—it must be clearly your own work. If you are unsure of what this entails, please see me.
You will need to make use of concepts we have already worked on in class in terms of defining, describing, and explaining things as your narrative progresses.
Narratives are much more open to stylistic play than other forms of writing. It is possible, for example, to include fragmented sentences that would be unacceptable in a more formal paper in a story, particularly if you are trying achieve a certain effect, or mimic a certain speech pattern. You are also allowed to use dialogue (though be aware that extensive use of dialogue will require the adjustment of the overall page length of the assignment). Regardless of the particular narrative you are working with, however, you will need to follow the basic rules of narrative structure (organization and structure, plot elements character, etc.) that we will cover in class. If you have particular concerns or goals for your narrative that you believe may need special attention, please see me.
Most students do not see the place that narrative has in other kinds of writing, however. Any time you use an example, any time you give details, any time you structure a piece of writing to move from background information to a major revelation, you are using the ideas of narrative. Being able to develop these skills allows you to more expertly develop many of the elements that make any kind of writing effective: structure and organization, description, pacing, tone, and development.
Your job for this assignment will be to create a narrative of your own. You will have the option to choose between fiction (entirely imaginary) and nonfiction (entirely truthful and based on real events) narratives, and from there, you will have other options. I realize that this assignment can be a challenge, as many students do not consider themselves to be able storytellers. However, the specifics of the assignment should allow all students to successfully create a narrative.
The basic guidelines for this assignment are as follows:
3-10 pages, following all formatting guidelines from the style sheet.
You should read the section on narrative writing that begins on page 141 of your textbook. We will also cover these materials extensively in class.
You may choose to write either a nonfiction narrative or a fictional narrative.
If you choose nonfiction, you must choose a story that can be tied to a particular theme—a central emotion, idea, or lesson that will be the basis for the story. You will need to include a short paragraph at the beginning of the piece explaining what your theme is. You are allowed to use “I” for this type of narrative. Also be aware that it is possible to embellish and build upon a real-life story and add new ideas—this will change the narrative into one of fiction, however.
If you choose a fictional narrative, you will need to choose a particular genre—a category of story, like Western, mystery, fairy tale, whatever. You will need to include a brief paragraph at the beginning of the piece explaining what genre you have selected. It is possible to mix multiple genres for this piece, but if you do so, you will need to explain your choices (and list the genres) in your prefatory piece. While you are welcome to adapt or outright steal elements from other narratives, it is not acceptable to simply plagiarize an existing narrative. While individual elements may be recycled, this should be YOUR story—it must be clearly your own work. If you are unsure of what this entails, please see me.
You will need to make use of concepts we have already worked on in class in terms of defining, describing, and explaining things as your narrative progresses.
Narratives are much more open to stylistic play than other forms of writing. It is possible, for example, to include fragmented sentences that would be unacceptable in a more formal paper in a story, particularly if you are trying achieve a certain effect, or mimic a certain speech pattern. You are also allowed to use dialogue (though be aware that extensive use of dialogue will require the adjustment of the overall page length of the assignment). Regardless of the particular narrative you are working with, however, you will need to follow the basic rules of narrative structure (organization and structure, plot elements character, etc.) that we will cover in class. If you have particular concerns or goals for your narrative that you believe may need special attention, please see me.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Compare/Contrast Topic Comment
Hello, All
As noted in class, I want each of you to respond to this post with three things:
1) Which sort of paper (pro/con or Perception/reality) you will be writing
2) What your specific topic for comparison will be
3) What your basis for comparison/what you are basing your eventual choice on (for pro/con
papers) or what you are going to demonstrate as far as similarities and differences (for
perception/reality papers)
Make sure you put it as a response to this post so that I will see it, and make sure you get it in by Sunday night. Please contact me with any questions or concerns.
As noted in class, I want each of you to respond to this post with three things:
1) Which sort of paper (pro/con or Perception/reality) you will be writing
2) What your specific topic for comparison will be
3) What your basis for comparison/what you are basing your eventual choice on (for pro/con
papers) or what you are going to demonstrate as far as similarities and differences (for
perception/reality papers)
Make sure you put it as a response to this post so that I will see it, and make sure you get it in by Sunday night. Please contact me with any questions or concerns.
Paper #3, Comnparison/Contrast
100 points
Normal Formatting Guidelines apply
2-6 pages
2 Outside sources minimum; all sources must be cited (see below)
Comparisons (how things are the same) and contrasts (how things are different) are useful techniques to use when trying to come to conclusions about something. It is possible to concentrate on just the similarities, just the differences, or both similarities and differences between two things.
This assignment asks you to gather information, synthesize it into a useful whole, come to conclusions about it, and then present those conclusions in an effective manner. To do this, you will have two options: you can consider the difference between perception (the way we see or feel about something) and reality (the way things really are). Sometimes our perceptions are a close match to the reality of a situation; other times they are way off. Alternatively, you can make a choice between two options by weighing pros (positives) and cons (negatives) of each choice.
Regardless of which type of paper you choose, you need to keep a few things in mind:
This paper is two full pages minimum, no more than six maximum.
This paper follows all style sheet guidelines.
You can use “I” in this paper, but only if you are writing about a subject that involves you personally (generally when you are discussing your own perceptions).
While it is certainly possible to compare more than two things to each other, for purposes of this assignment I want you to compare ONLY TWO THINGS.
In order for this paper to work, you must have some sort of basis for comparison—that is, there must be enough similarities between the two things you are comparing to make the comparison worthwhile. You can’t compare a doorknob to an elephant fairly, for example, as these two things have nothing in common with each other. You could compare an elephant to a cat, however, as both are animals. You also want to make sure that you are not comparing apples to oranges—that is, that you are comparing like to like. It isn’t fair to compare a subcompact vehicle that only costs fifteen thousand to a Ferrari in terms of performance—they are not meant for the same people. The same thing applies to comparing a motorcycle to a pickup truck—they are meant for very different purposes. It is possible to compare seemingly unlike things, but you must have a clear reason in mind that connects them. Comparing two colleges is very different than comparing college to joining the military, for example. You could compare either of these sets of things, but you would do so for different reasons. When comparing two colleges, you will be looking for which school fits you and your educational needs better, while comparing school to the military would be considering which option better fit your overall career goals.
Your introduction should lay out exactly what you are trying to prove—that your perceptions were different from reality.
When it comes to actually listing your points for comparison and contrast, there are two basic ways to organize them: Chapter eight in your text lists them as subject-by-subject and point-by-point. They are also known as A/B and a/b a/b a/b. Subject-by-subject puts everything you know about your first subject into one paragraph or set of related paragraphs, and then follows that with a second section about your other subject. In other words, first you give everything you know about subject A, and then you do the same with subject B. This works well if you have a limited number of elements to compare. Point-by-point has you alternate back and forth between your two subjects. First you tell something about A, then you discuss the same point about B. Then another point about A, followed up with more about the same point with B, and back and forth and back and forth. This works well if you have many different points to discuss.
You must remember to always list your points in the SAME ORDER for each subject, regardless of which type of comparison you are doing.
Keep the subject-by-subject and point-by-point structures in mind. Remember that the more points you have to compare, the more likely it is that you will need to go to a point-by-point strategy. Also try to present your points in a logical fashion. If you are comparing two jobs, for example, keep everything about pay and benefits together in one group, everything about your coworkers in another group, and so on.
If you are comparing perception to reality, you will need to bring in outside information to help prove that the reality you are describing is in fact the way things really are. You can get this information from a variety of sources—the internet, book, magazines, and other media, and through personal interviews. Remember that you need to be a careful and thoughtful researcher, as not every source is equally reliable.
If you do the pro/con paper, you will need to reach some sort of conclusion—you must choose one option over the other for a given reason. Be careful not to simply say that one is better than the other, without first clearly defining what you mean by better. A sports car is better than a pickup truck in terms of acceleration, but it is not as good for hauling cargo. You need to make sure it is clear to your reader what your basis for comparison is. This can be very personal, and that is fine, as long as it is clear. Like the perception/reality paper, you will need outside sources to provide evidence to support your conclusions.
If you copy something word for word, this is called a direct quotation, Direct quotations must go in quotation marks! If you take something that someone else has written or said, and rewrite it into your own words (to make it shorter, more specific, or easier to understand), that is called a paraphrase. If you paraphrase something, you do NOT put it in quotation marks. For both direct quotes and paraphrases, you DO need to tell your reader where the information came from. You do this by including a parenthetical citation. This means simply that after each quote or paraphrase (and paraphrases can be entire paragraphs long, so you would wait until the entire thing is done) you must have a set of parentheses ( ). Inside those parentheses, you put two things: the last name of the person who said or wrote what you are quoting or paraphrasing, and the page number of the article or book where you can find the quote or paraphrase source. If you get the source from the internet or an interview, you simply say Internet or Interview rather than putting in a page number. If you don’t know the author of the quote, just put in the title (if it is short) or a word or two from the title (if it is long)
You will also need to use signal phrases—phrases that show your reader that you are about to quote or paraphrase something. This can be as simple as saying According to Dr. Bob Smith, “quote quote quote quote”. You don’t need a signal phrase for every quote, but you should use one every once in a while, and you should definitely use one the first time you introduce a source. If you put a person’s name into a signal phrase, you do NOT have to put the name into your parenthetical citation as well; the name or title goes in either one or the other, never both.
Your conclusion needs to make it clear to the reader what you learned through this change in your perception, and how this change affects you (and how it should affect others like the reader).
We will discuss more specifics for this assignment in class, and you will have the opportunity to work in the library to gather information for your paper. This is one of the more challenging papers we have worked on, and it is also the first time we have really worked with formal citation. As such, please see me if you have any questions or confusion about anything!
If you choose the perception/reality style paper, you have two basic avenues you can take for this assignment: you can talk about a personal experience, or you can talk about a cultural/social issue. A personal experience is just that—something that you felt one way about, and then changed your mind about as you learned more. The cultural issue is a larger concern—something that many people feel or believe that isn’t always true. Stereotypes are good examples of this: all jocks are dumb, every politician is corrupt, and so on. You might write about how you thought that all old people were boring fossils who play shuffleboard and watched Matlock, until you spent time with your great grandmother, who at age 94 still jogs every day, has a wicked sense of humor, and likes Hip Hop music! Please be careful to be sensitive to the feelings and beliefs of other if you choose this topic, as it is easy to write about controversial (racist, sexist, etc.) material here. While I will not disallow such a topic, be aware that you need to be very careful to treat such material with tact and maturity.
You can also discuss issues of history (people think such-and-such happened for this reason, but it was really for another reason entirely), technology (this gadget might seem very complex, but it is actually very simple), and other general issues (superstitions might seem silly, but they may come from legitimate occurrences; for example, Friday the 13th being unlucky). Generally, it is easier to find outside material on cultural topics than personal, though it is certainly possible to find material on those as well—you will simply need to be more resourceful.
If you choose the pro/con option, your choices are limited only by the fact that you must have a solid basis for comparison, and enough material to make the page length. You could compare stores, cars, systems of government, sports teams, pretty much anything. As always, please see me with any concerns, problems or questions you might have.
Normal Formatting Guidelines apply
2-6 pages
2 Outside sources minimum; all sources must be cited (see below)
Comparisons (how things are the same) and contrasts (how things are different) are useful techniques to use when trying to come to conclusions about something. It is possible to concentrate on just the similarities, just the differences, or both similarities and differences between two things.
This assignment asks you to gather information, synthesize it into a useful whole, come to conclusions about it, and then present those conclusions in an effective manner. To do this, you will have two options: you can consider the difference between perception (the way we see or feel about something) and reality (the way things really are). Sometimes our perceptions are a close match to the reality of a situation; other times they are way off. Alternatively, you can make a choice between two options by weighing pros (positives) and cons (negatives) of each choice.
Regardless of which type of paper you choose, you need to keep a few things in mind:
This paper is two full pages minimum, no more than six maximum.
This paper follows all style sheet guidelines.
You can use “I” in this paper, but only if you are writing about a subject that involves you personally (generally when you are discussing your own perceptions).
While it is certainly possible to compare more than two things to each other, for purposes of this assignment I want you to compare ONLY TWO THINGS.
In order for this paper to work, you must have some sort of basis for comparison—that is, there must be enough similarities between the two things you are comparing to make the comparison worthwhile. You can’t compare a doorknob to an elephant fairly, for example, as these two things have nothing in common with each other. You could compare an elephant to a cat, however, as both are animals. You also want to make sure that you are not comparing apples to oranges—that is, that you are comparing like to like. It isn’t fair to compare a subcompact vehicle that only costs fifteen thousand to a Ferrari in terms of performance—they are not meant for the same people. The same thing applies to comparing a motorcycle to a pickup truck—they are meant for very different purposes. It is possible to compare seemingly unlike things, but you must have a clear reason in mind that connects them. Comparing two colleges is very different than comparing college to joining the military, for example. You could compare either of these sets of things, but you would do so for different reasons. When comparing two colleges, you will be looking for which school fits you and your educational needs better, while comparing school to the military would be considering which option better fit your overall career goals.
Your introduction should lay out exactly what you are trying to prove—that your perceptions were different from reality.
When it comes to actually listing your points for comparison and contrast, there are two basic ways to organize them: Chapter eight in your text lists them as subject-by-subject and point-by-point. They are also known as A/B and a/b a/b a/b. Subject-by-subject puts everything you know about your first subject into one paragraph or set of related paragraphs, and then follows that with a second section about your other subject. In other words, first you give everything you know about subject A, and then you do the same with subject B. This works well if you have a limited number of elements to compare. Point-by-point has you alternate back and forth between your two subjects. First you tell something about A, then you discuss the same point about B. Then another point about A, followed up with more about the same point with B, and back and forth and back and forth. This works well if you have many different points to discuss.
You must remember to always list your points in the SAME ORDER for each subject, regardless of which type of comparison you are doing.
Keep the subject-by-subject and point-by-point structures in mind. Remember that the more points you have to compare, the more likely it is that you will need to go to a point-by-point strategy. Also try to present your points in a logical fashion. If you are comparing two jobs, for example, keep everything about pay and benefits together in one group, everything about your coworkers in another group, and so on.
If you are comparing perception to reality, you will need to bring in outside information to help prove that the reality you are describing is in fact the way things really are. You can get this information from a variety of sources—the internet, book, magazines, and other media, and through personal interviews. Remember that you need to be a careful and thoughtful researcher, as not every source is equally reliable.
If you do the pro/con paper, you will need to reach some sort of conclusion—you must choose one option over the other for a given reason. Be careful not to simply say that one is better than the other, without first clearly defining what you mean by better. A sports car is better than a pickup truck in terms of acceleration, but it is not as good for hauling cargo. You need to make sure it is clear to your reader what your basis for comparison is. This can be very personal, and that is fine, as long as it is clear. Like the perception/reality paper, you will need outside sources to provide evidence to support your conclusions.
If you copy something word for word, this is called a direct quotation, Direct quotations must go in quotation marks! If you take something that someone else has written or said, and rewrite it into your own words (to make it shorter, more specific, or easier to understand), that is called a paraphrase. If you paraphrase something, you do NOT put it in quotation marks. For both direct quotes and paraphrases, you DO need to tell your reader where the information came from. You do this by including a parenthetical citation. This means simply that after each quote or paraphrase (and paraphrases can be entire paragraphs long, so you would wait until the entire thing is done) you must have a set of parentheses ( ). Inside those parentheses, you put two things: the last name of the person who said or wrote what you are quoting or paraphrasing, and the page number of the article or book where you can find the quote or paraphrase source. If you get the source from the internet or an interview, you simply say Internet or Interview rather than putting in a page number. If you don’t know the author of the quote, just put in the title (if it is short) or a word or two from the title (if it is long)
You will also need to use signal phrases—phrases that show your reader that you are about to quote or paraphrase something. This can be as simple as saying According to Dr. Bob Smith, “quote quote quote quote”. You don’t need a signal phrase for every quote, but you should use one every once in a while, and you should definitely use one the first time you introduce a source. If you put a person’s name into a signal phrase, you do NOT have to put the name into your parenthetical citation as well; the name or title goes in either one or the other, never both.
Your conclusion needs to make it clear to the reader what you learned through this change in your perception, and how this change affects you (and how it should affect others like the reader).
We will discuss more specifics for this assignment in class, and you will have the opportunity to work in the library to gather information for your paper. This is one of the more challenging papers we have worked on, and it is also the first time we have really worked with formal citation. As such, please see me if you have any questions or confusion about anything!
If you choose the perception/reality style paper, you have two basic avenues you can take for this assignment: you can talk about a personal experience, or you can talk about a cultural/social issue. A personal experience is just that—something that you felt one way about, and then changed your mind about as you learned more. The cultural issue is a larger concern—something that many people feel or believe that isn’t always true. Stereotypes are good examples of this: all jocks are dumb, every politician is corrupt, and so on. You might write about how you thought that all old people were boring fossils who play shuffleboard and watched Matlock, until you spent time with your great grandmother, who at age 94 still jogs every day, has a wicked sense of humor, and likes Hip Hop music! Please be careful to be sensitive to the feelings and beliefs of other if you choose this topic, as it is easy to write about controversial (racist, sexist, etc.) material here. While I will not disallow such a topic, be aware that you need to be very careful to treat such material with tact and maturity.
You can also discuss issues of history (people think such-and-such happened for this reason, but it was really for another reason entirely), technology (this gadget might seem very complex, but it is actually very simple), and other general issues (superstitions might seem silly, but they may come from legitimate occurrences; for example, Friday the 13th being unlucky). Generally, it is easier to find outside material on cultural topics than personal, though it is certainly possible to find material on those as well—you will simply need to be more resourceful.
If you choose the pro/con option, your choices are limited only by the fact that you must have a solid basis for comparison, and enough material to make the page length. You could compare stores, cars, systems of government, sports teams, pretty much anything. As always, please see me with any concerns, problems or questions you might have.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
REMINDER!
Everyone should remember that your first set of journals will be due by class time on Thursday the 13th! You need to make sure that all three of your journals are posted onto your blog by that time. Please make sure that they are clearly marked, so I can see which posts are journals and which are not (simply titling each one JOURNAL NUMBER XXX in the title of the post will do the trick nicely).
Be sure to contact me with any questions or concerns.
Be sure to contact me with any questions or concerns.
DESCRIPTION PAPER
This assignment asks you to work on another important communication skill: that of being able to clearly describe things. Being able to describe what you have seen is something that we all need to do on a regular basis, whether we were witness to a crime, or are just telling a friend about the new car we just bought. Including details, being able to paint a vivid mental picture with our words, is something that makes communicating much easier.
Many people forget that we have more sense than just sight, however. Scientists have proven that the sense of smell is much more strongly linked to memory that that of sight, for example. The way that things taste (you always know when you are eating your mom or grandma’s cooking, not something out of a box, right?) touch (remember the feel of sand between your toes when you went to the beach during your vacation) hearing (remember the sound of the voice of someone close to you) as well as sight, can all play important parts in making clear descriptions.
There is more to it than even that. When you think of things that are important to you—people, places, objects—you think of more than just the physical. Do you hate going into your basement because you were always frightened that there was a monster down there? Do you enjoy being in your bedroom because it your sanctuary, your place to get away from the world and relax? Feelings and emotions play an important part in description; in many case, just as important a part as the senses.
All of these things put together form what we will call an impression—a total picture of the person, place, or thing. Mastering creating and sharing these impressions is what your are being asked to do for this assignment. The specifics:
This paper is at least two full pages, and no more than six.
Follows all guidelines from your style handout.
You have your choice of a person, place, or thing to write about. In each case, however, you must keep a few things in mind: Whatever you choose to write about must be a REAL thing. You can’t pick Santa Claus to write about, for example, or “my perfect house”. It needs to be a real, physical person, place or thing. Whatever you choose must also be something that you have personal experience with—you can’t write about Mount Everest if you’ve never been there, for example. I would prefer you choose something that you can actually interact with while you write the paper, though I will allow you to choose something from memory—be aware that this will be more difficult, however. You must also pick something SPECIFIC. If you were writing about a car, for example, you can’t just pick “a Ford Mustang”. You must pick a particular Ford Mustang—yours, your brothers, your friends, or something that is a single, specific car, not just all cars like that one.
It is usually a good idea to choose something relatively small or contained, and branch out from there if you need to. For example, instead of trying to describe an entire house, you should just choose a single room. Each room in a house might have an entirely different description, so sticking with just one lets you be more detailed and specific.
You are trying to form an impression about your person, place, or thing, and share that with your reader. A physical description is important, but you will need to have more than that. What does this thing mean to you? What feelings do you have when you think about this person? What sort of place is this? We will look at some examples that will help you know what and what not to do.
Remember that while you should try to be specific, and include important physical details about your person, place or thing, you don’t want the details to overwhelm the impression. You should concentrate on the details that support your impression. Details that don’t matter, or that actually take away from your impression should be downplayed or left out entirely. For example, if you wanted to describe what a terrible person someone was, you probably wouldn’t want to mention what a nice smile they had, or how they helped old ladies across the street, or anything like that that made them seem nice or likable.
A rough draft will be required, so make sure you have that ready when it is due.
As always, please contact me if you have any questions or difficulties.
Many people forget that we have more sense than just sight, however. Scientists have proven that the sense of smell is much more strongly linked to memory that that of sight, for example. The way that things taste (you always know when you are eating your mom or grandma’s cooking, not something out of a box, right?) touch (remember the feel of sand between your toes when you went to the beach during your vacation) hearing (remember the sound of the voice of someone close to you) as well as sight, can all play important parts in making clear descriptions.
There is more to it than even that. When you think of things that are important to you—people, places, objects—you think of more than just the physical. Do you hate going into your basement because you were always frightened that there was a monster down there? Do you enjoy being in your bedroom because it your sanctuary, your place to get away from the world and relax? Feelings and emotions play an important part in description; in many case, just as important a part as the senses.
All of these things put together form what we will call an impression—a total picture of the person, place, or thing. Mastering creating and sharing these impressions is what your are being asked to do for this assignment. The specifics:
This paper is at least two full pages, and no more than six.
Follows all guidelines from your style handout.
You have your choice of a person, place, or thing to write about. In each case, however, you must keep a few things in mind: Whatever you choose to write about must be a REAL thing. You can’t pick Santa Claus to write about, for example, or “my perfect house”. It needs to be a real, physical person, place or thing. Whatever you choose must also be something that you have personal experience with—you can’t write about Mount Everest if you’ve never been there, for example. I would prefer you choose something that you can actually interact with while you write the paper, though I will allow you to choose something from memory—be aware that this will be more difficult, however. You must also pick something SPECIFIC. If you were writing about a car, for example, you can’t just pick “a Ford Mustang”. You must pick a particular Ford Mustang—yours, your brothers, your friends, or something that is a single, specific car, not just all cars like that one.
It is usually a good idea to choose something relatively small or contained, and branch out from there if you need to. For example, instead of trying to describe an entire house, you should just choose a single room. Each room in a house might have an entirely different description, so sticking with just one lets you be more detailed and specific.
You are trying to form an impression about your person, place, or thing, and share that with your reader. A physical description is important, but you will need to have more than that. What does this thing mean to you? What feelings do you have when you think about this person? What sort of place is this? We will look at some examples that will help you know what and what not to do.
Remember that while you should try to be specific, and include important physical details about your person, place or thing, you don’t want the details to overwhelm the impression. You should concentrate on the details that support your impression. Details that don’t matter, or that actually take away from your impression should be downplayed or left out entirely. For example, if you wanted to describe what a terrible person someone was, you probably wouldn’t want to mention what a nice smile they had, or how they helped old ladies across the street, or anything like that that made them seem nice or likable.
A rough draft will be required, so make sure you have that ready when it is due.
As always, please contact me if you have any questions or difficulties.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Journal Guidelines
You will be responsible for a number of journal entries throughout the term (see schedule for a complete list of due dates).
There will be two basic types of journal entries:
Directed entries are journal assignments that I give you. I will provide you with a topic (a question to answer, an idea to consider, a problem to solve) and a general length. These will generally be due (for discussion) at the start of the next class. However, I will not collect these for grading until the next scheduled day.
Free entries. The topic of these entries is entirely up to you. They must be at least a half-page long (handwritten) but otherwise can be on any topic you wish. Typical topics include: concepts that we have discussed in class, questions about coursework (this class or another) that you are thinking about, ideas/rough work for writing assignments, personal (diary) material, and so forth. These free entries are in addition to any directed entries that we may have; they are due as listed in the course schedule.
Journal entries have a few guidelines to keep in mind:
Generally speaking, I am not concerned with format of journal entries. You can write in cursive or not, you can write on every other line, or only on one side of each page, or however you wish. I don’t care whether they are in pen or pencil, I don’t care about ink color, or anything like that. While I would appreciate your making an effort to proofread, all I really care about is that your handwriting is readable (at least with a little effort).
While you should keep directed entries generally on topic, the free entries are yours to do with as you wish—the important thing is that you are thinking and writing. They need not always make perfect sense to me, they can contain profanity and ‘non-politically correct’ material, and they can be highly personal. HOWEVER, I do ask that you keep one important thing in mind: I WILL BE READING THEM! Please do not put anything in a free entry that would cause either of us any legal complications (for the love of god, I don’t want to know that you knocked over a liquor store last night!).
If you are writing about material that you consider very personal or potentially embarrassing as part of an entry, please let me know by drawing a box around the relevant passage and clearly marking it as PRIVATE-DO NOT READ. I will respect your privacy (entire entries cannot be labeled private, however—I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I’m not that stupid!) Finally, please keep in mind that an outside party will be reading your journal, and may comment upon what he finds there (at my discretion). If you ask a question, I MAY ACTUALLY ANSWER IT!—especially if you actually ‘break the fourth wall” and ask me personally to respond to you.As always, see me if you have any questions or concerns regarding this assignment.
There will be two basic types of journal entries:
Directed entries are journal assignments that I give you. I will provide you with a topic (a question to answer, an idea to consider, a problem to solve) and a general length. These will generally be due (for discussion) at the start of the next class. However, I will not collect these for grading until the next scheduled day.
Free entries. The topic of these entries is entirely up to you. They must be at least a half-page long (handwritten) but otherwise can be on any topic you wish. Typical topics include: concepts that we have discussed in class, questions about coursework (this class or another) that you are thinking about, ideas/rough work for writing assignments, personal (diary) material, and so forth. These free entries are in addition to any directed entries that we may have; they are due as listed in the course schedule.
Journal entries have a few guidelines to keep in mind:
Generally speaking, I am not concerned with format of journal entries. You can write in cursive or not, you can write on every other line, or only on one side of each page, or however you wish. I don’t care whether they are in pen or pencil, I don’t care about ink color, or anything like that. While I would appreciate your making an effort to proofread, all I really care about is that your handwriting is readable (at least with a little effort).
While you should keep directed entries generally on topic, the free entries are yours to do with as you wish—the important thing is that you are thinking and writing. They need not always make perfect sense to me, they can contain profanity and ‘non-politically correct’ material, and they can be highly personal. HOWEVER, I do ask that you keep one important thing in mind: I WILL BE READING THEM! Please do not put anything in a free entry that would cause either of us any legal complications (for the love of god, I don’t want to know that you knocked over a liquor store last night!).
If you are writing about material that you consider very personal or potentially embarrassing as part of an entry, please let me know by drawing a box around the relevant passage and clearly marking it as PRIVATE-DO NOT READ. I will respect your privacy (entire entries cannot be labeled private, however—I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I’m not that stupid!) Finally, please keep in mind that an outside party will be reading your journal, and may comment upon what he finds there (at my discretion). If you ask a question, I MAY ACTUALLY ANSWER IT!—especially if you actually ‘break the fourth wall” and ask me personally to respond to you.As always, see me if you have any questions or concerns regarding this assignment.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Welcome to the course!
Hello all! I am posting this so that you will all have the opportunity to see what a typical welcoming post will look like. By Thursday (the 30th) I want you all to have a welcome post of your own up on your blog. This welcome post should include the following information:
Your name (whatever you have told me to call you in class, preferably)
The most dangerous thing that you have ever done. This does not have to be something physically dangerous--emotionally, mentally, and spiritually dangerous things are a lot more common in most of our lives. For example, if you have ever been set up on a date with a friend, that can be extremely dangerous. If you have ever had to confront something that frightens you, that is quite dangerous to you, even if it wouldn't seem dangerous to someone else. If you have done something that risks life and limb, you can use that, but even if you aren't a risk-taker, you have still done dangerous things.
As an example, I'll post my own introduction:
My name is Josh Mattern, and I will be your instructor for this class. The most dangerous thing I have ever done, by far, is to become a father. I love my two-year-old son Christian; he is my heart and soul. However, he scares me on a daily basis. Like all little kids, he is fearless when it comes to his own safety--he bumps into things, falls down stairs, wants to touch (and eat) all kinds of horrible things, and basically keeps me on my toes all the time. In addition to having to protect him phisically, I worry about him--about things I shouldn't worry about yet. I worry if he'll be a good driver once he gets his license, I worry that he'll get picked on once he goes to school, I worry that he'll fall in with a bad crowd and end up in trouble. I shouldn't worry about this stuff--he's only two--but I still do. because of that, being a parent is extremely dangerous as far as I am concerned.
Your name (whatever you have told me to call you in class, preferably)
The most dangerous thing that you have ever done. This does not have to be something physically dangerous--emotionally, mentally, and spiritually dangerous things are a lot more common in most of our lives. For example, if you have ever been set up on a date with a friend, that can be extremely dangerous. If you have ever had to confront something that frightens you, that is quite dangerous to you, even if it wouldn't seem dangerous to someone else. If you have done something that risks life and limb, you can use that, but even if you aren't a risk-taker, you have still done dangerous things.
As an example, I'll post my own introduction:
My name is Josh Mattern, and I will be your instructor for this class. The most dangerous thing I have ever done, by far, is to become a father. I love my two-year-old son Christian; he is my heart and soul. However, he scares me on a daily basis. Like all little kids, he is fearless when it comes to his own safety--he bumps into things, falls down stairs, wants to touch (and eat) all kinds of horrible things, and basically keeps me on my toes all the time. In addition to having to protect him phisically, I worry about him--about things I shouldn't worry about yet. I worry if he'll be a good driver once he gets his license, I worry that he'll get picked on once he goes to school, I worry that he'll fall in with a bad crowd and end up in trouble. I shouldn't worry about this stuff--he's only two--but I still do. because of that, being a parent is extremely dangerous as far as I am concerned.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Paper #1: Definition Piece
Definition Paper
For your first assignment, we’ll start with the basics. We have discussed how the study of English is really a study of the ways that we communicate. If we improve our communication—with others, and in our own thought processes—we can be more successful in whatever we attempt.
The first step towards improving our communication skills is developing our ability to define terms, ideas, and concepts. We have all experienced the problems that can occur when we are dealing with words that we are either not familiar with, or have a tough time really nailing down as far as meaning. Have you ever been in a relationship where you both claim to ‘love’ each other, but it soon becomes clear that you define ‘love’ in very different ways? When you were a kid, did you and your parents have very different definitions of what a clean room was? If so, then you know what it is like to struggle with defining things clearly. The more specific an idea you have about how you define something (which is not always the same as how other people define things) the more likely you will be able to act on your ideas. For example, how do you define ‘success’? Is it the same way that your parents do? Do you even know what being successful means to you? If not, you may have trouble making decisions that will lead you to being successful on your own terms.
All of that being said, your first job is to choose a word and define it. There are some rules that you need to keep in mind:
Feelings/Emotions—Words like joy, pride, anger, jealousy, hate, fear, embarrassment, etc. The only exception to this is that YOU CANNOT CHOOSE THE WORD ‘LOVE’ Abstract Concepts—Success, happiness, prejudice, fairness, friendship, family, loss, failure, and so forth Specialized/Technical terminology—Words from the realm of computers and high technology (what exactly is HD anyway? What is Bluetooth?) automobiles/mechanics, science and medicine, or practically anything else that the average person does not know. You need to be careful if you choose one of these words however, as it is not enough to simply provide a dictionary definition of the word (see the guidelines listed below). Something else—if you have another word you would like to do, and aren’t sure if it fits into an acceptable category, come see me, and we’ll hash it out. < style=""> You can use < Remember that you will need to have a rough draft ready for the rough draft conference, so don’t put this off for too long. We will cover all of this material in class, so please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Course Style Guidelines
ASSIGNMENT STYLE GUIDE
These style guidelines apply to all major assignments (paragraphs and essays). They do NOT apply to daily work, in-class work, or homework (unless I specifically tell you otherwise). Occasionally, the specifics of an assignment will take priority over these guidelines; this will generally be indicated either in the prompt for the assignment, or by me in class. If you are ever not sure about any of these guidelines, or when they apply, please feel free to ask!
GENERAL GUIDELINES:
- All major assignments should be TYPED, DOUBLE-SPACED, and STAPLED TOGETHER (if the assignment is more than one page in length).
- Assignments of more than one page should be numbered in the lower-right hand corner of each page (this can be done by hand if necessary).
- I do NOT require a title page for major assignments; you can provide one if you wish, but I consider them a waste of trees. The ONLY information I require as part of your heading are the following two things:
YOUR NAME
And
THE TITLE OF THE ASSIGNMENT
The title can be very simple (your narrative paragraph, for example, could be
titled “Narrative Paragraph”) though I encourage you to be more creative and
come up with a clever/descriptive title. I DO NOT WANT my name, the name of
the class/course number, date, or any other material of that sort as part of your
heading—ONLY the two things mentioned above. Your name should be put on
the very top line of the first page (you can skip a line or two if you would like,
depending on how high your top margin is set, but I do not want your first page to
begin further down than a few inches) and you should then skip one line (or just
hit return if you are already double-spacing) and give the title. You may then
skip one more line (or hit return again for double-spacing), indent your first line,
and begin writing.
- Please use normal margins (one to one and a half inches)—the default margins on your word processing program are probably fine.
- A “page” of an assignment (as in “a three-page paper”) means an ENTIRE page, from the top to the bottom. A three-page paper is NOT half a first page (with room for your extensive heading), a full second page, and one line (“the end”) on the third page. Papers that violate this will be considered incomplete and penalized accordingly.
- Use a 12-point typeface, in either Times New Roman, Courier, or Arial font. If you wish to use a different font, you may do so as long as you clear it with me first. Use black ink for your printouts if at all possible.
- PROOFREADING COUNTS. Every single major writing assignment we will have has as part of the point total some points that come from punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, and grammar. I certainly understand that typos happen, and I will allow for a few mistakes in each paper. However, repeated or severe problems will lead to point deductions, and extreme cases may result in the assignment being returned to you ungraded for a rewrite. Take the time after you have completed your paper to run spellcheck, and also read the paper over carefully—in many cases, it can be helpful to read the paper out loud. I know this sounds strange, and it does feel uncomfortable at first, but it goes a long way to finding awkward or confusing passages.
- If you are ever typing a web address into a word document, you will find that the address becomes blue and underlined—it becomes a hyperlink that can be clicked on to travel to the relevant web page. Since hyperlinks cannot be used in printed pages, please remove all hyperlinks before you print out a paper (simply right-click on the link, and select “remove hyperlink” from the pull-down menu).
- As we will already be double-spacing, there is no need for additional space for comments. DO NOT SKIP LINES BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS!
- Follow all relevant MLA formatting guidelines, as necessary. We will go over these in class, so you will know what you need to do when the time comes.
- If there are any further style concerns for a given assignment, I will cover them at that time. MAKE SURE that you check with me about any additional style concerns for an assignment if you miss class the day we go over an assignment prompt.
As always, see me with any questions or concerns.
Course Syllabus
Syllabus
ENGLISH 070: Developmental Composition II
FALL SEMESTER 2006
INSTRUCTOR: Joshua Mattern
OFFICE HOURS: Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
OFFICE LOCATION: Bodie 118
PHONE: (630) 466-7900 ext 2318
EMAIL: jmattern@waubonsee.edu
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Developmental Composition II is the second in a two-course developmental composition sequence that precedes transfer-level composition courses. This course encourages students to continue to develop and refine their voice and writing skills by responding to more complex, developed rhetorical/writing situations and responding critically and articulately to one’s own writing as well as others’. Students will learn the art of essay writing and also be introduced to the research process. Additionally, students will develop a greater sense of audience and purpose in their writing by learning how to adeptly join a larger academic conversation of thinkers, readers, and writers through readings, class interaction, and written responses.
COURSE PREREQUISITES:
Completion of ENG 050 with a grade of C or better, or placement determined by assessment score. Recommended for the student who has studied English fundamentals but needs to review them or the student who is studying English as a second language.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1. See him/herself as a developing writer who possesses a more confident, refined voice while acknowledging the relationship between language, knowledge, and power;
2. Assertively employ basic writing skills with regard to mechanics, grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, vocabulary, and word choice;
3. Demonstrate an improved control over the fundamentals of Standard American English;
4. Respond to and appropriately employ the necessary conventions and technologies of various rhetorical situations as well as broader writing across the curriculum situations;
5. Articulately respond to primary sources while understanding how to find, analyze, and synthesize information from secondary sources, possess a familiarity with library resources, and utilize appropriate documentation techniques;
6. Evidence an understanding of various composition concerns including purpose, audience, development, organization, structure, and tone;
7. Cultivate an individualized, organic writing process, which includes methods of prewriting, writing, revising, and editing;
8. Develop a more sophisticated ability to critically evaluate one’s own work as well as others’ in order to further one’s own personal evolution as a writer;
9. Appreciate reading and writing as vehicles for critical inquiry, reading, thinking, and communicating;
10. Recognize Developmental Composition II not only as a precursor to sequential, college-level composition courses but also as an integral, dignified part of academic work.
REQUIRED TEXT: Arlov, Pamela. Wordsmith:A Guide to College Writing, 3rd
OTHER SUPPLIES:
- dictionary
- 2.5 Floppy disk/flash drive
- One-subject spiral notebook devoted solely to this class to be used for journal and in-class or homework assignments. Alternatively, these assignments may be typed on a computer, printed out and kept in a separate 2-pocket folder.
INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM:
The student will be responsible for completing a writing portfolio. The portfolio will be a chronological representation of all the formal writing assignments. Save all hard copies of each assignment as well as electronic copies!
- Writing: Each formal writing assignment will generally include one typed rough draft and one typed final draft. Since writing is a process, all drafts of each assignment are necessary in order to evaluate the work. Due dates are assigned, and late work is subject to the policy stipulated in this syllabus.
- Journals: You will also be responsible for a number of journal entries. These entries will cover a variety of topics. For complete details, please see the journal handout.
- Grammar Exercises/Tests: Grammar exercises will be completed in the workbook, grammar tests will be administered, and grammar will also be taught in the context of student’s writing. Additional grammar exercises may be assigned. There will be a final grammar exam, but there will not be a midterm. Midterm grades will not be issued, though you are welcome to contact me at any time to check on your current standing in the class.
- In-Class work/Homework: We will have a variety of in-class and homework activities. Some will be graded, some will not. It is up to you to make sure that you complete and turn in all relevant in-class exercises and homework.
- Portfolio: Compilation of a portfolio showcasing 3 drafted and revised writing projects including a self-evaluation of student’s writing, which will exhibit the extent of the student’s confidence in his/her own writing skills and acquisition of course objectives.
ATTENDANCE POLICY:
In order to get the most out of this class, regular attendance is required. As such, the following policy will be in place: Each student receives ONE FULL WEEK of free absences (two or three, depending on the number of times per week the class meets). These absences can be taken at any time and need not be cleared with me. I will accept all homework and other materials the next class without counting them as late. However, in-class and group work that has been missed can not be made up, and formal writing assignments (paragraphs and essays) are still subject to normal due dates and late policies. The only other drawback to free and excused absences is the loss of participation points (see below). If you are extremely tardy to a class (more than 10 minutes) you may be marked as absent at my discretion. After these free absences have been used, any missed class MUST be cleared with me in advance to be considered an excused absence. Excused absences operate exactly as the free absences do with regards to homework. Unexcused absences carry the following penalties: NO HOMEWORK due on the day of an unexcused absence will be accepted. You will lose participation points. Most importantly, each unexcused absence will cost you either ONE (for a class that meets three times a week) or TWO (for a course that meets only twice a week) percentage points off of your total final grade.
All major writing assignments have the following lateness policy: All major writing assignments (paragraphs and essays listed in the assignment list below) are due at the START of the class they are due on. This means that the assignment must be complete, follow all style guideline (see the style guideline handout) and be ready to turn in. Failure to have the assignment ready to go means the loss of ONE FULL LETTER GRADE. This penalty is in effect until the start of the next class; if the assignment is STILL not ready, then TWO full letter grade will be forfeit. A major assignment WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED after one full week of lateness; you will receive a ZERO for such an assignment. If you know in advance that you will be missing a class when a major paper is due, contact me and we will make arrangements. If unforeseen circumstances cause you to be unable to come to class on the day a paper is due, email me a copy THAT SAME DAY, and I will consider the paper to not be late. However, I DO NOT grade email papers, and you MUST bring a printed hard copy to me the NEXT CLASS YOU ATTEND, or the paper will be considered late, with the appropriate penalties.
PARTICIPATION:
Being an active learner means asking questions, answering questions, and generally staying motivated. You are allotted participation points for each class session. As long as you show up on time, have your work ready to go, do your best to respond when called on, make at least an occasional effort to respond to my questions, and generally behave like a mature person and student, you will receive full participation points for that class session. If you are absent or NOT actively participating—if you are reading the paper, staring off into space, chatting during lecture, text-messaging, or otherwise being disruptive, disrespectful or difficult—you will be docked some or all of that class’ participation points. I will NOT be providing you with a regular tally of participation, so it is up to YOU to keep track of your attendance and participation.
GRADING:
Grades are based on a straight percentage scale: 100% - 90% = A, 89% - 80% = B, and so on. The point values for assignments are as follows:
Assignment Point Value
Short Papers 50
Long Papers 100
Persuasive Paper 150
In-Class work/Homework 3-25
Journal Entries 10
Grammar Tests 25
Participation 100
ASSISTANCE and ACCESSIBILITY:
It is part of my job to make sure that you have every opportunity to be successful in this course. If you are ever unsure about an assignment, need extra assistance understanding a concept, or have other questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me about them. If a disability prevents you from getting the most out of the course, contact the
FINAL NOTE:
All of this information is subject to change at my discretion at any time. I will notify you of any changes, but it is up to you to make sure that you find out about any announcements that may have been made in your absence if you miss class. I hope that you have an enjoyable term!
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