Grades Uploaded, and Next Semester

Hi there!

Grades for this class have been uploaded. If you have any inquiries about your grade, please first read this page for more information on the handling of grading disputes before contacting me.

Also, if you’re curious about courses I’ll be teaching next semester (Fall 2008), there’s a list on the front page of this site.  Have a look and see if anything appeals to you: there are several courses focused on creative work, as well as a literature course.

Have a good summer!

Announcement for Next Semester

Interested in Writing a Graphic Novel?

In Fall semester 2008, there will be a special course offered under the name Multimedia English Education and taught by Gord Sellar. In fact, this course will consist of planning, outlining, writing, and completely creating a graphic novel –  that is, a novel-length and novel-quality “comic book” which will subsequently be published online. (Print publication might be sought, depending on the outcome of the project.)

Students who are interested in a hands-on project in which they can creatively use and develop their English skills are encouraged to consider this course. You needn’t be an “artist,” although talented artists are certainly welcome.

For more information, please contact me.

Last Group Crit Essay

Here’s the last essay for group critique:

Last essay for critique (pdf)

And here’s the plan for the next couple of weeks:

June 4th: Discuss essay above

June  9th: Last Writing Exercise

June 11th: Group Feedback session

We’ll talk about the essay’s due date in class tomorrow!

That Nora Ephron Essay

I mentioned that I would post a link to the Nora Ephron 1975 essay “A Few Words About Breasts,” so here it is. Check it out for her use of personal experience and reflection to illustrate a social problem.

I’m still working through the emails you’ve sent me, but so far nobody has won the bonus points. I’ll post an update once they’re all taken!

Essay for Critique May 28th, and Homework for May 26th

Here is the essay for critique on Wednesday evening:

Eun Hee’s essay (PDF)

I hope you all saw and prepared your homework for Monday evening, as discussed in class (and here).

Essay for Critique on May 19th

Here’s Fangyuan’s essay for discussion on May 19th:

Fangyuan’s essay (PDF)

Please also see my other recent posting on this page about other homework for that date. There’s a lot of stuff to read on citation formats and so on!

Stuff…

Here’s some stuff I promised to upload, and some stuff I didn’t mention but which is worth looking at.

First off, here’s an EXCELLENT explanation about the basics of college essay-writing. I meant to post it here a while ago, but I kept forgetting. This is a lot of the stuff I’ve been working on teaching you, but boiled down into a simple, straight-forward explanation.

Here’s a good explanation of how to use quotes in your essay, and another on appropriate use of sources. It’s worth having a look. Notice that the focus is always on developing your ideas, and saving words for that purpose.

The University of Dartmouth has an excellent site on citation and sources, titled Sources. There’s a lot of great information there on internationally accepted rules on plagiarism as well as Bibligography Citation formats, such as for “a book with one author,” or “a journal article,” or “a newspaper article,” or “a web page.”

You can find more examples like these on the right side of the main Sources site, linked above; it’s a list of links under the word “Examples” on the right side of the content.

Personally, I prefer the MLA format for English Language & Culture students, and I expect you to learn it, though you’re free to use the “Footnotes” format if you prefer, or the APA or Sciences format if your major is in that field. We’ll take a brief look at the site, and I’ll be giving you an assignment as well.

Part of your homework for next class is the following: bring five “sources” to class. These can be of any of the types listed in the Source Types subpage. The requirements for this assignment:

You might wish to print out some of the example source pages from the Dartmouth page linked above. You don’t have to, but it will make your assignment on Monday that much easier…

And last but not least, here’s a terribly difficult essay which you don’t need to try to read (though you can try if you want to go crazy, though personally I think it’s not worth it for you). All I want you to pay attention to is how quotes and paraphrases are used, and how they are cited. We’ll talk about this too, next week.

(And yes, this essay has headings. I don’t like the use of it here, but I think headings can be used well, sometimes.)

Next Essay for Critique…

Here is Mijun’s essay for critique on May 14th.

Don’t forget that your adversarial response paper is due for the same day, May 14th. You should have one copy for me, and one copy for your partner.

Since someone asked me for advice about writing it, here is what I wrote in response:

Essentially, write something that challenges your partner to acknowledge or answer a differing point of view. If your partner’s arguments are weak, take advantage of those weaknesses to disecredit your partner’s arguments. If there’s no evidence, challenge them to offer real proof. If arguments are vague, force them to clarify. If you can imagine someone disagreeing with your partner’s assumptions, take that position.  Counterevidence would be a great challenge to your partner, and thus I advise that you do indeed include some!

It’s worth trying to write something in paragraphs because it’s good practice for you. However, I won’t be grading you on grammar. The point is to challenge your partner, so focus on that. I’ll be using my checkmark system to grade it, meaning there are plus and minus but the main point is doing it and doing a good job.

See you Wednesday!

A Modest Proposal & Yujie’s Essay

I spoke last week of how anger and humor can be combined with exaggeration or even sature in good writing, and mentioned the example of Jonathan Swift’s 1729 essay “A Modest Proposal.” Since I was asked to provide a link, here are a few:

And here is Yujie’s essay, for critique on May 7th.

Essay for April 30th, and Homework

Here’s Yanfei’s essay for class critique on April 30th.

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