Because of a faculty and staff jollification around mid-day on Tuesday, I will be here, well, mid-day. I can eat and critique simultaneously, so don't be shy.
I will also be on campus tonight (Monday) and on Wednesday morning, as promised.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
For the Week of 14-18 November 2011, both sections.
As always, subject to modification:
1. Journal writing
2. Muster and administrivia
3. Complete rough drafts - everybody reads everybody
A. If you ask about changing topics, you're a month behind.
B. Instructor's comments will not be detailed (do your own proofreading, eh?) and are not contractural
4. Persuasive writing -- big, fat handout
A. Instructor presentation
B. Read it
5. Two persuasive essays due next Monday
1. Journal writing
2. Muster and administrivia
3. Complete rough drafts - everybody reads everybody
A. If you ask about changing topics, you're a month behind.
B. Instructor's comments will not be detailed (do your own proofreading, eh?) and are not contractural
4. Persuasive writing -- big, fat handout
A. Instructor presentation
B. Read it
5. Two persuasive essays due next Monday
Research Paper Time Line Revision
M. Hall
9 November 2011
9 November 2011
Research Paper Time Line II
Please remember that without a satisfactory research paper you cannot pass the class.
We may have to be flexible on this schedule, said flexibility solely at the discretion of the instructor.
We will also work on other projects while on the research paper.
At least half of each class will be devoted to research paper drafts, questions, and mutual aid. You must budget your time carefully. Begin work now.
1. 17 October. Hand out and discuss packet.
2. Topic and one-sentence thesis statement due. Turn this in on a full sheet of paper with a complete MLA heading for class sharing. You are permitted ONE topic change only, this week only. Done.
3. Working bibliography, typed in MLA format, due for class sharing. Done.
4. Pretty good / kinda / sorta typed rough draft with revised bibliography – let’s conflate this with: 5. 14 November. COMPLETE rough draft, including revised bibliography, typed (but may, of course, feature corrections and notes) in MLA format, due for class sharing. Zero grade if not turned in.
6. 21 November. You will be awarded ten well-earned extra points on your research paper if it is turned in by this date unless your paper scores below 70.
7. 28 November. Your research paper is due on this date; however, your instructor will accept it next Monday without penalty.
8. 5 December. Late research paper due no later than Monday, 5 December, at 0945 for the morning class, 6:00 P.M. for the evening class; none will be accepted after that date, hour, and minute. An absence or tardy on this day will not excuse you; the assignment was made in August and set in (metaphorical) stone in October.
Note: Some of the works cited pages are, well, awful. Also, please remember that the works cited page is a continuation of the body of your paper and continues the number sequence. Note the model in your book and the samples provided in class.
At this point your paper really should be almost done. Some of you are still changing topics, so possibly you are working on the research paper due in English 1301 in April.
Business Letter, Block Form, a Reminder
Business Letter, Block Form
Business Letter Format, Brief Outline
Sample:
1. Heading (sender's address, but not the sender's name; that comes later)
2. Inside address (to whom and where the letter is going)
3. Salutation (followed by a colon, not a comma)
4. Body (content -- brief, professional, impersonal)
5. Close ("Sincerely,")
6. Signature (and online, there won't really be a signature, just the name of the sender)
2. Inside address (to whom and where the letter is going)
3. Salutation (followed by a colon, not a comma)
4. Body (content -- brief, professional, impersonal)
5. Close ("Sincerely,")
6. Signature (and online, there won't really be a signature, just the name of the sender)
Sample:
221 Baker Street
Apartment B
Trestleburgh, Texas 77777
2 January 2012
Mr. Mack Hall
Angelina College / Jasper Teaching Center
450 Bulldog Avenue
P. O. Box 278
Jasper, Texas 75951
Dear Mr. Hall:
May I see you briefly before class on Monday? You marked item 3 on my test wrong, but I think my answer is a good one based on the second paragraph on page 324 of our assigned text.
Please advise.
Thanks!
Sincerely,
Nelson Snorkberger
Observe that everything hangs on the left margin, without indentation, and that there is exactly one space between parts, with the exception of the close, which features four spaces (so hit the return five times) between the "Sincerely" and the name of the sender.
Always write a business letter when communicating with your teacher because he won't respond to anything less.
In what we may laughingly call real life, always write a business letter in order to reflect your excellence and your seriousness of purpose.
For immediate purposes, learn by heart the six parts of a business letter in order; they are testable.
Failure IS an Option
1. Some of your classmates are becoming too relaxed. Please help your pals understand that this isn't high school, and that perfunctory attendance and perfunctory performance result in a perfunctory failing grade.
2. "Failure is not an option" has been taken out of context and become a cliche'. Failure in this class -- and in college, and in your career, and in life -- is indeed an option, and some of your classmates are choosing failure. You'll miss them at graduation, but not so much that you won't enjoy the day immensely.
3. The research paper teaching cycle is over. Most of your classmates will submit their complete research papers this week; some others have sanded down the rough draft and are applying the final coat of good, solid work (how's that for a metaphor, eh?) for submission on the 21st. In the meantime, we are on to the persuasive essay.
4. Remember that quizzes mayinfest your life...um...bless you with learning opportunities at any time.
5. Motivational speakers, inspirational tee-shirts, Orwellian groupthink (remember TAAS pep rallies?), and denial ("I've been in this class for months; the teacher won't flunk me; I've got to pass; I've just GOT to pass.") are not your friends. Graduation is not given; you earn graduation through hard, slogging work, late nights writing and reading at the kitchen table after everyone else has gone to bed.
2. "Failure is not an option" has been taken out of context and become a cliche'. Failure in this class -- and in college, and in your career, and in life -- is indeed an option, and some of your classmates are choosing failure. You'll miss them at graduation, but not so much that you won't enjoy the day immensely.
3. The research paper teaching cycle is over. Most of your classmates will submit their complete research papers this week; some others have sanded down the rough draft and are applying the final coat of good, solid work (how's that for a metaphor, eh?) for submission on the 21st. In the meantime, we are on to the persuasive essay.
4. Remember that quizzes may
5. Motivational speakers, inspirational tee-shirts, Orwellian groupthink (remember TAAS pep rallies?), and denial ("I've been in this class for months; the teacher won't flunk me; I've got to pass; I've just GOT to pass.") are not your friends. Graduation is not given; you earn graduation through hard, slogging work, late nights writing and reading at the kitchen table after everyone else has gone to bed.
Due Monday, 21 November -- Two Persuasive Essays
Due date: Monday, 21 November
English 1301 Angelina College
Mr. Hall
Persuasive Essays
1. You will write two itty-bitty essays arguing both sides of an issue. Employ both logic and emotion.
2. Write a brief essay, slightly more than a page, supporting an idea or proposition. Then write another brief essay, again more than a page, arguing against that very idea or proposition. Each itty-bitty essay can stand alone or, if you prefer, your second essay may respond to your first essay. Avoid prompt-dependence. As always, follow the MLA essay format.
3. Since you are arguing both sides, you will probably want to choose a topic to which you are not emotionally committed. Indeed, you should have some fun with this (Ford? Or Chevy? Desperate Housewives? Or House?) as a break from your dry, grim, serious research paper.
4. Each essay should employ complete MLA essay format.
5. Write in first- or third-person, although rhetorical questions addressed to the audience (My fellow Texans, how can you find this bizarre idea credible?) are permitted.
6. Don't forget to employ vivid verbs instead of relying heavily on weak state-of-being verbs.
7. Prompts are pretty much open except for abortion, sex, sin, satanism, suicide, terminal diseases, and other grim, depressing issues. You might, however, consider whether or not whoever invented television reality shows should be executed or given a life sentence.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
John Steinbeck - "We have only one story"
We have only one story. All novels, all poetry are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil. And it occurs to me that evil must constantly respawn, while good, while virtue, is immortal. Vice has always a new fresh young face, while virtue is venerable as nothing else in the world is.quoted in the webside Happy Catholic
John Steinbeck, East of Eden
Thursday, November 3, 2011
A Few Notes re Research Papers in MLA Format
A Few Notes re Research Papers in MLA Format
2. The top and bottom margins for an MLA paper are one inch.
3. The side margins for an MLA paper are one inch.
4. An MLA research paper is written in third-person.
5. An MLA paper is always doubled spaced.
6. In the USA the dimensions for letter paper are 8½ inches by 11 inches.
7. The thesis / thesis statement, for our purposes, states what the paper will demonstrate or prove, and is the first sentence.
8. The writer of an MLA paper cites sources so that the research can be verified. Citation is also a matter of honesty.
9. Plagiarism is falsely taking credit for someone else’s work. Avoid committing plagiarism accidentally by carefully re-reading and reviewing the drafts to make sure every source is cited.
10. Plagiarism is unethical and, in some circumstances, a crime.
11. A paraphrase or indirect quote is rewording a sources original wording, usually for clarity; a paraphrase or indirect quote is always cited, just as a direct quote is.
12. Much knowledge is common, and need not be sourced – Columbus wandered into the Caribbean in 1492, Eli Whitney invented the concept of mass production with standardized parts, and the sun always rises in the east. If in doubt, cite the source.
13. Quotation marks are for direct quotes; they are never employed for sarcasm, even in informal writing.
14. An ellipsis (three dots) (...) is used in a direct quote to indicate that the writer of the paper is deliberately omitting part of a quotation, usually for the sake of brevity. Again, this is a matter of being fair both to the reader and to the source.
15. Although some instructors distinguish between the two, for our purposes bibliography and works cited are synonyms.
16. In a bibliography / works cited, sources are sequenced alphabetically.
17. Never, never, never single-space any part of an MLA paper. Never. No.
18. The reader’s last name and the page number, separated by exactly one space, repose at the top, right-hand corner of each page of an MLA paper.
19. Except for direct quotations, the writer never begins a paragraph with the pronoun "it." Be careful of pronouns.
20. The writer's personality, sex, and culture never, never, never reveal themselves in an MLA research paper. A research paper is about the topic, never about the writer. Be detached and objective always. This is quite difficult in our highly personalized, me-me-me culture.
21. I’ve been negligent in noting this: after an end-stop, always hit the space bar twice. There are always two spaces between sentences in a manuscript.
22. Occasionally take a look at the sample research papers provided. They will help you greatly.
23. In your inexpensive little book read the chapter on research, pp. 335-406, and on MLA documentation, pp. 409-454. The model on pp. 449-454 is especially useful as a visual aide.
24. If you use really large blocks of quotation, lengthen your paper accordingly. No filler, please.
25. Take a look at p. 451 for the spacing of a long (4 or more lines) quotation – indent 10 spaces on the left and do not use quotation marks. For 1-3 lines, don’t indent and do use the quotation marks. Also note that the internal citation varies.
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