Make Your Mom Proud on the Writing Review!

Here are the instructions for your last assignment in this course, the Writing Review:

To complete this assignment, begin by taking the post-semester diagnostic. You will need to include a discussion of the pre- and post-semester diagnostic in your review. Then look back at your pre- and post-semester grammar diagnostic scores and results, all of your assignments and commentary, and class notes and in-class activities. Based on what you find when you examine these materials, write a 400 – 550 word reflection on what you have learned about academic writing and what you understand about it that wasn’t clear to you before. Develop a thesis that helps your readers understand what you will focus on in the review.

Then, give specific examples that help you illustrate your thesis. For example, you can discuss specifically what you have learned about summarizing and paraphrasing texts, about analyzing texts, as well as what kinds of challenges those tasks posed for you. You should also discuss what you have learned about grammar and mechanics that has helped you become a stronger writer in that respect. In addition, you should also talk about other learning experiences you’ve encountered during the course. Finally, you should discuss how the work you’ve done in 1301 has or has not transferred to the writing you have been asked to do in other courses this semester.

You may use first-person pronouns in this review, but keep in mind that the language and tone of the review should be professional.

***Remember that the Writing Review is due on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 11:59 p.m.

Here are some other class announcements:

1. Having trouble locating the post-semester diagnostic? It should be available on your RaiderWriter homepage. For a visual, check out this helpful screen shot.

2. Having trouble composing your review? Check out this helpful Writing Review Breakdown.

3. Want to look over the gorgeous PowerPoint I used in class for more information on Writing Reviews? It’s available here.

4. Class participation grades will be posted to Raider Writer within the next week or so.

5. Final grades will be posted on Raider Writer by Dec 17th.

6. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, email me. If not, have a great holiday!

Draft 1.2 Reminder!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, but don’t forget that Draft 1.2 is due this Tuesday (11/29)!!!

 

Since this is your FINAL draft, it should be thoroughly proofread. Here’s an editing checklist to help you make sure your draft is error-free:

 

1.Is each sentence clear and complete?

2.Can any short, choppy sentences be improved by combining them?

3.Can any long, awkward sentences be improved by breaking them down into shorter units and recombining them?

4.Can any wordy sentences be made more concise? 

5.Can any run-on sentences be more effectively coordinated or subordinated?

6.Does each verb agree with its subject?

7.Are all verb forms correct and consistent?

8.Do pronouns refer clearly to the appropriate nouns? 

9.Do all modifying words and phrases refer clearly to the words they are intended to modify?

10.Is each word in the essay appropriate and effective?

11.Is each word spelled correctly?

12.Is the punctuation correct?

 

If you have any questions, let me know.

REMINDER FOR THURSDAY

What you need to bring with you to class this week (11/17/2011):

1.       Print out and bring in TWO clean and complete copies of your Draft 1.2. You will be getting into groups of three to peer critique/review each other’s essays. I am requiring you to bring in two so that your peer critics can write directly on your essay if they would like to. It will help you see exact places that need work in your draft. Failure to bring in two copies of your draft will result in a zero for participation and an absence on Thursday as the entire class on Thursday is geared towards workshopping and beginning revisions based on the comments received by your peers.

2.       Print out TWO copies of the peer critique worksheet/handout attached here and bring them to class. You will be answering the questions on these as you read/after you read your peer’s draft and handing it back to them in class.

See you Thursday!

Realize Your Wildest Dreams on BA9!

This blog post contains a link to the PowerPoint we looked at in class, the assignment description from Raiderwriter for BA9, and your homework for next week.

First, you can access the PowerPoint I used in class here. Please keep in mind that, although we primarily discussed editing strategies during our workshop, you need to start this assignment by tackling content-level revisions. In other words, if there are problems with the content of your analysis, you need to fix those BEFORE you begin editing for emphasis, conciseness, clarity, etc. Use the commentary you’ve received on your drafts to guide these content-level revisions. If you’re confused about what your graders have told you, email me BEFORE Tuesday and I’ll interpret for you.

Next, here’s the description for Brief Assignment 9:
•       First, review your Draft 1.1. Consider the following:
•       Does the initial focus of your draft as expressed in your thesis statement need revision?
•       Are your purpose for writing and target audience easily identified after reading your draft? If you need to revise your thesis (and thus, a substantial portion of your paper), or if you need to better focus your purpose and identify your audience, your revisions of your body paragraph might start with those areas. You may need to make sure that your main point(s) are restated clearly, and that your readers understand the implications of your analysis.
•       For this assignment, use the guidelines from Chapters 4, 5, 40, and 43 in the St. Martin’s Handbook to revise a substantial body paragraph (i.e. at least 4 sentences in length) from your Draft 1.1. Paste the original paragraph from your 1.1 draft into the assignment so that your instructor will be able to compare the original with your revision. Then, revise the paragraph. Finally, write a short summary and evaluation of your revisions. Identify and explain which new strategy you used from the textbook and explain how changing the strategies used in this paragraph will influence your readers’ response to your analysis. Also let readers know here which paragraph, your original or the revision, is the strongest and why you believe that to be so.
•       The total length of the analysis should be 350-500 words, NOT including the original and revised body paragraphs.
•       Include labels: Original Paragraph, Revised Paragraph, Summary/Analysis of Revised Paragraph, Final Analysis.

Finally, here’s your Homework/Readings for class next week:
•       Bring in 1 copy of your completed draft 1.2 to class for workshop.
•       Do the following reading from St. Martin’s Handbook:
•       Part 7, Sections 34-39, “Confusing Shifts,” “Parallelism,” Comma Splices and Fused Sentences,” Sentence Fragments,” “Modifier Placement,” Consistent and Complete Structures”  (pp.643-678)
•       Part 8, 41-42, “Coordination and Subordination,” “Sentence Variety” (pp. 686-699)
•       There will be an activity geared towards your understanding and completion of the reading during class next Thursday, so take notes and bring them to class!

Work hard, guys! The due date for Draft 1.2 (November 29th) is fast approaching, and you should be using these brief assignments to complete your most important revisions!

Succeed on BA8!

BA8 Description:

*   Does the initial focus of your draft as expressed in your thesis statement need revision?
*   Are your purpose for writing and target audience easily identified after reading your draft? If you need to revise your thesis (and thus, a substantial portion of your paper), or if you need to better focus your purpose and identify your audience, your revisions of your conclusion might start with those areas. You may need to make sure that your main point(s) are restated clearly, and that your readers understand the implications of your analysis. If you are satisfied with your focus, purpose, and audience, study your conclusion to determine how clearly it reads. You may need to revise for coherence, emphasis, or conciseness (see Chs. 40 and 43 of your e-handbook), or you may need to work on sentence structure (Chs. 34-39 of your e-handbook).

If you need to work on specific grammatical and/or mechanical issues, consult the appropriate chapters in your e-handbook. Next, review the strategies for writing conclusions in section 5f2 of The St. Martin’s Handbook. Then, copy and paste your original conclusion from your 1.1 draft and re-read it. In a brief sentence or two, identify and explain which of the strategies from the textbook you used in composing this conclusion.

If you cannot identify one of these strategies in your conclusion, then describe the strategy you had in mind.
Next, revise your conclusion. You must incorporate a strategy from the textbook that is different from the structure your conclusion originally used. Finally, write a short summary and evaluation of your revisions. Identify and explain which new strategy you used from the textbook and explain how changing the strategies used in your conclusion will influence your readers’ response to your analysis. Also let readers know here which conclusion, your original or the revision, is the strongest and why you believe that to be so.

The total length of the analysis should be 350-500 words, NOT including the original and revised conclusions.

MY ADDITION: Include the same labels that I asked you to include on BA7: Original Conclusion, Summary/Analysis on Original Conclusion, Revised Conclusion, Summary/Analysis of Revised Conclusion.

Homework & Readings for class next Thursday (11/10/2011):
·            BA 8 due Tuesday, Nov. 8th by 11:59p.m.
·            Readings for next week:
·            St. Martin’s Handbook
·       Part 1, Sections 4i, 4k-l, 5a-b, 5d-e, “Revising Paragraphs Sentences, Words, and Tone,” “Editing,” “Proofreading the Final Draft” (pp. 94-98,100-104)
·       Part 8, Sections 40, 43, “Concise Writing,” “Memorable Prose” (pp. 680-685, 700-706)
·            Also, bring in your weakest body paragraph
·            Copy/paste it onto a new page, print it out, and bring it in.

Slam BA7 (and Happy Halloween, y’all!)

Here’s a preview of the content in this long blog post: It contains your BA7 description, a recap of the items you need to bring to class next week, a link to your extra-special audience homework, and some other announcements from me. So read on, students!

 BA7 Description:

*   Does the initial focus of your draft as expressed in your thesis statement need revision? If so, revise it.
*   Are your purpose for writing and target audience easily identified after reading your draft? If you need to revise your thesis (and thus, a substantial portion of your paper), or if you need to better focus your purpose and identify your audience, your revisions of your introduction might start with those areas. You may need to make sure that your main point(s) are restated clearly, and that your readers understand the implications of your analysis. If you are satisfied with your focus, purpose, and audience, study your introduction to determine how clearly it reads. You may need to revise for coherence, emphasis, or conciseness (see Chs. 40 and 43 of your e-handbook), or you may need to work on sentence structure (Chs. 34-39 of your e-handbook).
*   If you need to work on specific grammatical and/or mechanical issues, consult the appropriate chapters in your e-handbook. Next, review the strategies for writing introductions in section 5f1 of The St. Martin’s Handbook. Then, copy and paste your original introduction from your 1.1 draft and re-read it. In a brief sentence or two, identify and explain which of the strategies from the textbook you used in composing this introduction. If you cannot identify one of these strategies in your introduction, then describe the strategy you had in mind.
*   Next, revise your introduction. You must incorporate a strategy from the textbook that is different from the structure your introduction originally used. Finally, write a short summary and evaluation of your revisions. Identify and explain which new strategy you used from the textbook and explain how changing the strategies used in your introduction will influence your readers’ response to your analysis. Also let readers know here which introduction, your original or the revision, is the strongest and why you believe that to be so.
*   The total length of the analysis should be 350-500 words, NOT including the original and revised introductions.
*   Label the parts of your assignment (Original Introduction, Summary/Analysis of Original Introduction, Revised Introduction, Summary/Analysis of Revised Introduction, Final Analysis).

Also, here’s a recap of the homework you need to complete before class next week (11/03/2011):

•         BA 7 due by 11:59pm on Tuesday, Nov. 1st.
•         Reading for next week: St. Martin’s Handbook Part 1, Section 5f2, “Concluding Paragraphs” (pp. 132-134)

Don’t forget to bring these items to class next week:
•          Your draft 1.1 commentary (both the 1st and 2nd and 3rd—if applicable to you). Copy and paste the commentary from each of your graders into a clean document, print it, and bring it to class for an activity.
•         Bring a clean copy of your draft as well.
•         Your audience homework.

Other Miscellaneous Announcements:

•         Last day to drop the course is this coming Monday, October 31st! If you do not drop by that date, you will be required to stay in the course and keep the final grade you receive.
•         Extra Credit #3 – Take your revised draft or the draft you’re currently revising to the Writing Center before it’s due on Tuesday, November 29th. If you want to take advantage of this opportunity, you need to make an appointment in the next couple of days. Otherwise, the Writing Center might be completely booked up.

Live Long, Complete BA6, And Prosper

BA6 Description:

First, you will be given a Draft 1.1 to read

•      Write a paragraph in which you discuss the problems you see with the draft. Remember, you should focus on major problems (like the clarity and appropriateness of the thesis, the quality of the analysis, and the overall structure of the draft) not minor problems (like spelling, punctuation, grammar).

Then, you will see a revised version of that same Draft 1.1.

•      Write another paragraph that discusses:

                 •      whether the problems that you saw in the first draft were addressed

                 •      whether the revisions fixed other issues that you hadn’t noticed in the draft

                 •      why the revisions are or are not an improvement over the first draft. Sometimes the revisions a student has made don’t necessarily make the draft better– sometimes it even makes the draft worse!

                 •      If you believe other revisions should be made to the draft, conclude your assignment with an explanation of what those are and how the revisions should be made.

This assignment should consist of two paragraphs– one on Draft 1.1, and one on the problems and revisions you see in Draft 1.2. Together, these two paragraphs should run between 300 – 400 words. (There is no set word count for this assignment, but 300-400 words is how long most are.)

Homework:

•       BA 6 due Tuesday, Oct. 25 by 11:59 p.m.
•       St. Martin’s Handbook Part 1, Sections 4f, 4h, 5f1, “Revising Thesis and Support, “Revising the Title, Introduction, and Conclusion,” “Opening Paragraphs” (pp. 91,92-93, 130-132)
•       The reading is short so that you can begin your revisions as soon as you get your Draft 1.1 commentary back.

Remember, there will be a reading quiz next week. Now, go forth and learn, my students!

Rock Your Peer Critiques!

First and foremost, I’ve gone to the trouble of customizing a document to help you all break down your peer critique, and it is available here. So please use it, ladies and gents!

Secondly, here is some important information in regard to RaiderWriter: Once you click the “Submit Now” button for Peer Critique 1.1a & 1.1b (found under the “Turn In/Manage Writing” tab), a draft will be assigned to you to critique. It will stay assigned to you for a week. This is more than enough time as your assignment is due this coming Tuesday– less than a week from today. This means, even if you log out of RaiderWriter, the draft you are critiquing will be the same for a week. Unfortunately, you cannot save your critiques in RaiderWriter before you submit them. So, I recommend that you write your critique in Word or another word processor and save it to your computer. You will submit only the finished critiques to RaiderWriter. Make sure that you submit the correct critique for each draft. The graders will be checking the actual draft you’ve critiqued (we can view that draft along with your critique) to make sure that you’re providing the thesis and examples from the correct draft.

To summarize, here’s all your homework:

•         Peer Critiques 1.1a & 1.1b are due by 11:59pm on Tuesday, October 18th.
•         St. Martin’s Handbook – HEAVY READING. START EARLY. There will be a reading quiz on this material next week.
I. Part 1, Section 4a: “Rereading Your Draft” (pages 72-74)
II. Part 1, Section 4c-e: “Getting the Most…”, “Learning from Instructor Comments,” & “Revising with Peer and Instructor Comments (pages 87-90)
III. Part 5, Sections 24, 25, & 27: “Writing to the World,” “Language that Builds Common Ground,” & “Word Choice” (pages 502-517; 526-538)

Questions? Concerns? Rants? Shoot me an email!

The Draft 1.1 Checklist & Other Stuff

Here is the URL for the Draft 1.1 checklist:

https://beavers1301.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/hbdraft1-1checklist.docx

The Draft 1.1 checklist is simply a list of questions you should ask yourself before you turn in Draft 1.1– it is meant to help you figure out if you have everything you need in your essay before you turn it in. Here’s a tip: Have a parent or trusted friend go over your essay with this checklist before you turn it in. Sometimes after you’ve been looking at a piece of your own writing for too long, it becomes difficult to see mistakes.

Also, here is the URL for the PowerPoint Presentation I showed in class yesterday:

https://beavers1301.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/hbpresentation7-1301.pptx

It contains helpful information on the grading rubric for Draft 1.1. And don’t hesitate to scroll down to the entry I posted last week! The PowerPoint I posted there contains information about where to locate sample Draft 1.1s, how to construct appropriate introductions, body paragraphs, and conclusions, etc.

Finally, you have one reading assignment for next Thursday: St. Martin’s Handbook Part 1, Section 4b, “Reviewing Your Peers” (pp. 75-86).

However, please keep in mind that I reserve the right to quiz you on the reading assignments you’ve completed over the last two weeks:

1. St. Martin’s Handbook Part 1, Section 3f-g, “Planning,” “Drafting,”  (pp. 61 – 71)

AND

2. St. Martin’s Handbook Part 1, Section 2, “Rhetorical Situations” (pp. 23-43)

You may be quizzed on these readings next Thursday.

Have  great fall break, everyone! And good luck with your Draft 1.1s!

I <3 Rhetorical Analysis, and So Do You!

Students,

I’ve uploaded the PowerPoint I used in class yesterday so you can refer to it at leisure, but I can’t figure out how to navigate to it without just giving you the URL:

Click to access hbpresentation6-1301.pdf

So, open the URL. It will allow you to access a PDF of yesterday’s PowerPoint.

If any of you computer buffs know of an tidier way to accomplish this kind of thing on WordPress, I’d appreciate it if you availed me of your expertise– i.e., email me.

Good luck on your drafts! Remember, I want to see 1000 words minimum when you come to class next week!