College Pressures?

        

English 1301 students:

For our Friday, October 26, blog, please post a comment of at least two well-developed paragraphs about William Zinsser's "College Pressures" (450-459 in our textbook) and William Deresiewicz's very controversial article about elite colleges (link: "Don't Send Your Kid to the Ivy League.") Click on the article link, read it, and then answer these two questions in your comment:

1. How, according to Deresiewicz, have college pressures at Yale University and other hyper-competitive universities changed since 1979, the year Zinsser wrote his essay?

2. Citing Zinsser and Deresiewicz, discuss whether your own Angelo State University pressures fall into the same categories as the students' pressures described in the two essays or whether they fall into different categories. How do our college pressures stack up next to Yale students' pressures?

After you post your comment, please reply in one well-developed paragraph to at least one of the other students' comments.

For Monday, please read pp. 460-65 before coming to class, and please be sure to bring your textbook to class on both Monday and Wednesday.

Have a great weekend,
Dr. K

An Example of Comparison and Contrast

                           

English 1301 students:

For our blog on Friday, October 19th, please submit a comment during our class time, 12:00-12:50 or 2:00-2:50 p.m. depending on your section, of at least two well-developed paragraphs. A well-developed paragraph is about 8-10 sentences. 

In your comment, please answer the Style and Structure questions on p. 421 in our textbook, which are about Ellen Laird's article, "I'm Your Teacher, Not Your Internet-Service Provider" (417-20). You should answer questions 1, 2, and 3 in the first paragraph and questions 4 and 5 in the second paragraph of your comment.

After you submit your comment, please submit a reply of one well-developed paragraph to at least one of the other students' comments. Please reply thoughtfully to the selected comment (rather than just stating that it is a good comment).

Draft Workshop Reminder: HAVE YOUR ROUGH DRAFT OF THREE FULL PAGES READY (ALREADY PRINTED OUT) AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 22! 

DO NOT GIVE AWAY YOUR B (OR HIGHER) CONTRACT GRADE ON THE FIRST OF THE TWO PAPERS WORTH 20% EACH OF THE COURSE GRADE BY SKIPPING THE WORKSHOP OR SHOWING UP WITHOUT A VALID DRAFT! 

Have a great weekend,

Dr. K

The Tiger Mom's Purpose

                       

English 1301 students:

For our Friday, October 12, blog, please submit a comment of two well-developed paragraphs in which you evaluate the overall purpose of Amy Chua's essay, "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior," pp. 410-14. She has claimed that her purpose was to entertain her readers, but many readers have countered that her purpose was to persuade. In your comment, please include at least four quotations, citing the page of each one in parentheses, to support your points.

For more context on her controversial parenting ideas, before you write your comment, please watch this short interview video:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/video/video-tiger-mom-amy-chua-responds-to-uproar/6395/

After you submit your comment, please reply in one well-developed paragraph to at least one of the other students' comments.

Before class this Monday, October 15, please read pp. 393-422, and please bring your textbooks to class.

Have a good weekend,
Dr. K

Cause and Effect Essay Revisions

                          

English 1301 students:

For our Friday, October 5 blog, please submit a comment of just one well-developed paragraph about the revisions that you will do (or already have done) to your cause and effect rough draft before you turn in the final draft at the beginning of class on Monday, October 8.

Remember that you have to do significant revisions to your draft to fulfill the contract requirement that would qualify you for an A or a B grade. So think big! Don't just comment that you plan to change a few words here and there. Propose to redo the overall organization, to add an entirely new section, or to do something else equally substantial.

After you submit your comment, you do not need to reply to any of the other comments. Instead, you can use the extra time to get right to your revisions!

For class on Monday, please read pp. 371-398 in Chapter 11, “Cause and Effect,” of our textbook, in addition to having your final draft printed out, along with your focused freewriting, which is also called looping (done in class), your rough draft, and your workshop sheet (filled out by your partner) to turn in. Please make sure to use MLA format.

If you have any questions about MLA format, here is a link that explains it: Purdue OWL

And, again, here is a sample first page showing you how to type your name, professor's name, course name, and date above the centered title:



Please note that only your last name and the page number should be in the header, and it should be in the top right corner of each page. Your name, professor's name, course name, and date should be typed at the top of the first page, and it should not appear on any page but the first.

Have a great weekend,
Dr. K

Analysis of a Cause and Effect Essay

                 

English 1301 students:

For our blog on Friday, September 24th, please submit a comment during our class time, 12:00-12:50 or 2:00-2:50 p.m. depending on your section, of at least two well-developed paragraphs. (A well-developed paragraph is about 8-10 sentences.) 

In your comment, please answer the five Purpose and Audience questions on p. 351 about Lawrence Otis Graham's "The 'Black Table' Is Still There" on pp. 349-351 in our textbook. 

After you submit your comment, please submit a reply of one well-developed paragraph to at least one of the other students' comments. Please reply thoughtfully to the selected comment (rather than just stating that it is a good comment).

Here is how to submit your comment and reply:

• Click on the “sign in” link in the top right corner of this page. Then, type in your ASU email and password (or your gmail address and password would work). Submit your comment and reply by clicking on the comment link at the bottom of this post and on the reply link under the comment to which you would like to respond. 

• As I mentioned in class, you should compose your comment and reply in a Word document first, and copy and paste them into the comment box and reply box, respectively. You will be able, by using this method, to avoid having to rewrite your comment and reply if any problems occur when you try to submit them.

Reminder: Please read pp. 354-365 in our textbook before class on Monday, October 1. And please bring your textbook to class with you that day (and every class day).

Have a great weekend,

Dr. K

Exemplification Essay Revisions

                     

English 1301 students:

For our Friday, September 21 blog, post a comment of just one well-developed paragraph about the revisions that you will do (or already have done) to your exemplification rough draft before you turn in the final draft at the beginning of class on Monday, September 24.

Remember that you have to do significant revisions to your draft to fulfill the contract requirement that would qualify you for an A or a B grade. So think big! Don't just comment that you plan to change a few words here and there. Propose to redo the overall organization, to add an entirely new section, or to do something else equally substantial.

After you submit your comment, you do not need to reply to any of the other comments. Instead, you can use the extra time to get right to your revisions!

For class on Monday, September 24, please read “Cause and Effect,” in our textbook, pp. 321-343, in addition to having your final draft printed out, along with your freewriting (done in class), your rough draft, and your workshop sheet (filled out by your partner) to turn in. Please make sure to use MLA format.

If you have any questions about MLA format, here is a link that explains it: Purdue OWL

And here is a sample first page showing you how to type your name, professor's name, course name, and date above the centered title:



Please note that only your last name and the page number should be in the header, and it should be in the top right corner of each page. Your name, professor's name, course name, and date should be typed at the top of the first page, and it should not appear on any page but the first.

For reference, here is the assignment sheet for the exemplification essay:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Essay #1: Exemplification (pp. 211-57 in our textbook)

Rough draft due date: Wednesday, September 19^th    

Final draft due date: Monday, September 24^th

Directions: Write a 3-4-page essay, typed in double-spaced 12 point Times New Roman font, developed through examples, using MLA format, on one of the following campus-related subjects:

1. ASU’s campus green spaces, where we connect with nature

2. ASU’s public art displays, where we connect with creativity

3. ASU’s faculty office spaces, where we connect with intellectual mentors

Steps:

Invention:

• After you select one of the above, please move from the general subject to a specific topic (please consult pp. 34-5 in our textbook). Keep in mind the assigned limits for the topic (30-2).
• Visit and take notes about the places you plan to write about.
• Compose a trial thesis statement, often called a working thesis, to guide your essay’s organization.

Arrangement:

• Review the transitional phrases appropriate to an essay built on examples (57).
• Tentatively set the order of the examples in the essay.

Drafting:

• Write your body paragraphs first (55-60).
• Then, write your introduction and conclusion paragraphs (53-4 and 60-1).

Revising:

• Attend the draft workshop with a draft of satisfactory length, 3-4 pages.
• Apply the advice your workshop partner gives you.

On the final draft due date, please turn in all the following material:

1.      In-class freewriting (ten minutes)

2.      rough draft with peer comments on it

3.      peer workshop sheet

4.      final draft

Have a great weekend,
Dr. K

An Example of Exemplification

Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, New York

 English 1301 students:

For our blog on Friday, September 14th, please submit a comment during our class time, 12:00-12:50 or 2:00-2:50 p.m. depending on your section, of at least two well-developed paragraphs. A well-developed paragraph is about 8-10 sentences. 

In your comment, please answer the two questions that were on the whiteboard in class on Wednesday about Zev Chafets's "Let Steroids into the Hall of Fall, " pp. 253-255 in our textbook. Here are the questions:

1.  What is the organizational pattern in Chafets's essay? (Does he arrange the essay's examples by chronology, complexity, or importance?) Explain.
2. Are Chafets's examples sufficient (ample) and representative (relate-able and fair)? Explain. 

After you submit your comment, please submit a reply of one well-developed paragraph to at least one of the other students' comments. Please reply thoughtfully to the selected comment (rather than just stating that it is a good comment).

Here is how to submit your comment and reply:

• Click on the “sign in” link in the top right corner of this page. Then, type in your ASU email and password (or your gmail address and password would work). Submit your comment and reply by clicking on the comment link at the bottom of this post and on the reply link under the comment to which you would like to respond. 

• As I mentioned in class, you should compose your comment and reply in a Word document first, and copy and paste them into the comment box and reply box, respectively. You will be able, by using this method, to avoid having to rewrite your comment and reply if any problems occur when you try to submit them.

Reminder: Please read pp. 81-93 in our textbook before class on Monday, September 17. And please bring your textbook to class with you that day (and every class day).

Have a great weekend,

Dr. K