For Tuesday 2/1

Tomorrow:
Read and be prepared to discuss Eugene August's “Anti-Male Bias” and Deborah Tannen's “No Unmarked Woman” (handouts)

Run-on Sentences

Be careful with your sentences, and make sure you are not trying to put too much into one sentence. A run-on sentence is when two independent clauses are fused or “run together” without proper punctuation. If you are discussing two different things in one sentence, it is probably confusing for the reader.

Here are some examples of run-on’s:
“It has been 99 years since I have been in a school environment so this first time was really scary and I wasn’t sure I was going to make it.”

And, “It is a field I find most interesting because I have always loved the law, was always watching the tv courts shows when I was home with my babies and I want to help people who have made bad decisions in their past get a knew star.”

Do you see how these sentences have a lot of information and not enough punctuation and therefore are confusing to the reader?

You can fix a run-on four different ways.
• First, you could use a period to separate the clauses, like this: Arts education is important for children’s brain development. It is also fun for everyone!
• Or, you can make a complex sentence by adding a comma and a conjunction: Arts education is important for children’s brain development, and it is fun for everyone!
• Or, you can use a semicolon, a conjunctive adverb, and a comma: Arts education is important for children’s brain development; besides, it is fun for everyone!
• Or, you can add a subordinate word at the beginning of a clause and then join the two clauses: Because arts education is important for children’s brain development, it is also fun for everyone!

Here's a link for further exploration:
Sentence Structure

Commas

Class, some of your trouble with grammar comes from the use of commas. Sometimes you are using them correctly, like the beginning of this sentence: “Jackson County, although tucked away in the Blue Ridge Mountains, stepped right in and came up to bat alongside those outside the mountains in 1925.”

This is another sentence where you should use more commas for clarity: “WestCare has a long and interesting history which goes back to horse and buggy days and was graciously provided by Brian Thomas in Corporate Relations at WestCare."

Here you should separate the introductory clause (the beginning phrase of your sentence) from the rest of the sentence. For example, a skateboarding essay may include a sentence like “Although many people find skateboarding to be a nuisance, it is truly a sport that works out all muscle groups, and its health benefits are too important to ignore.”

Commas help writers to be clear in their meaning. They help us avoid problems like fragments and run-on sentences. Here’s a link to the handbook that may be helpful:
Commas

Try reading your paper out loud to hear some of these issues. If you find that you are running out of breath or pausing somewhere there is not a comma, that may be a signal to revise the punctuation in that sentence.

Avoiding "You"

Hey, guys. (All y'all)


I imagine some of you were surprised to learn that "you" is considered off-limits in academic writing!

Here is a great link that explains why: Grammar

Unfortunately, eliminating "you" from your writing is much harder than "I" -- but the link above also provides wonderful examples of how to do this.

Now, you all may wonder why I am allowed to use "you"! Well, this is because I actually do mean YOU, a specific student or students, when I use it. The problem with "you" is that usually the audience is undefined and vague, which weakens your credibility.

I hope this information helps! This tends to be the #1 habit my students need to break, by the way...

Wikipedia Tutorial: a guide for students

For MONDAY 1/31

For MONDAY:

“Nonverbal Behavior: Culture, Gender, and the Media” p. 297
“Some Friends and I Started Talking” p. 311
“The Meaning of a Word” p. 460
“A Note on ‘Ho’” p. 463

Blog Post #3 for On Borrowed Words

Ilan Stavans discusses his relationship with his father throughout this memoir. On p. 99 he states "I admire him, but I fear he perceives me as his rival. I began dreaming of a career in film thanks to him."

Respond: Interpret Stavans' relationship with his father. Does it seem loving, healthy, cold, distant to you? Why? Are children often considered the rival of their parents? Has there ever been a family talent or trait that you possess that makes you feel competitive with other members of your family? Or do you not possess a trait like that, which makes you feel left out? Do familial relationships have to be complicated? Why or why not?

For Wed.

Hey. Remember to be super awesome in discussion tomorrow:

Tomorrow: More stuff.

1.) “Is PowerPoint the Devil?” p. 214
2.) “The Making of the Gettysburg PowerPoint Presentation” p. 227
3.) Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address PowerPoint p. 223

For Tues 1/25

1.) “Do You Speak American?” p. 143
2.) “Everyone Has an Accent But Me” p. 154

Stay warm!

On Borrowed Words #2

Hi! Here's your 2nd blog post for On Borrowed Words:

Ilan Stavans discusses his grandmother's memoir. Referring to pages 56-90, he writes her history with his interpretation in mind. Choose one of these two topics to discuss in your blog:

1.) Bobbe Bela longs to leave Poland for Israel (then, Palestine) but never emigrates there. Should she have? Do you think her intentions to move there were legitimate, or only a dream? Is there a similar dream you have in your life, that perhaps keeps you going from day to day, but, will perhaps always be a dream?

2.) Stavans discusses the idea of memoir on p. 58: "Memoirs are subjective, manipulative, driven by our desire to improve our prospects in human memory, and, as rudimentary as it is, Bela's is no exception."

What do you think of this perspective of memoir? If we write about ourselves, are we always editing to make ourselves appear better? Or are we trying to explain our actions? Are there other reasons to write memoir? Are personal diaries or journals the same thing? Why or why not?

Remember to aim for at least 500 words per blog post. :) Have a great weekend. You guys have been doing great work in discussion. Keep at it! <3

This week.

Here's what we did in week 3:

Tues and Weds:
"Homemade Education"
"Betrayal of Liberty on America's Campuses"
"Regulating Racist Speech on Campus"
"With These Words, I Can Sell You Anything"

Today:
“The Language of Advertising”
“Texting”

For Monday:
1.) Watch our blog for a blog post for On Borrowed Words
2.) Read and be ready to discuss “r u online?” p. 247 and “Thx for the iView!” p. 250

Snow!

Ok, guys here's the deal:

For TH:

1.) Be prepared to discuss all of our readings, and be ready to turn in the analysis think sheets for all of them. ("Homemade Education", "Language of Silence", "My Yiddish").

2.) We will then outline essay 1 in class.

For FR:

1.) Blog Post #1 on On Borrowed Words:

Respond to what Stavans says about how New York has shaped him. Are New Yorkers all alike? Why or why not?

What do you think of this? How is being a New Yorker a part of your identity? How does living in New York shape you?

All blog posts should be about 500 words.

For MON:

1.) Email Essay 1 to me by 11:59pm. As an attachment! My email is on the syllabus. Paragraphs should be 10-15 sentences long, and your essay should be AT LEAST 3 FULL pages. Full.

A reminder about the headers on the first page of the essay:

At the top left of the first page of each of your essays should be:

Your Name
This class
My name
Draft of the paper
Date paper is due

With no shortcuts!

For example:

Susie Student
ENG 12
Professor Hunt
Essay 2 Draft 2
November 23, 2010

(Use Word to number your pages 2-4 with your last name in the upper right hand corner.)

For TUES: Read “Betrayal of Liberty on America’s Campuses” p. 466 in Exploring Language

Week 2

Hi, Guys!

For Tuesday:
1.) Read and complete Analysis think sheet for “Spanish Lessons” (Exploring Language p. 82)
2.) Bring in your 3 “life changing” events from Blog #2

For Wed and TH:

1.) Working ahead: We’ll be discussing “The Language of Silence” p. 88 and “Homemade Education” p. 65 on Wed and “My Yiddish” p. 75 on TH
2.) Be reading On Borrowed Words, we’ll have a blog post due about it this week (details to follow).

Don't forget that there is a copy of Exploring Language on reserve in the library.

Also, please be posting blog posts to YOUR blog. Some of you are still posting in the comments to THIS blog, which is fine, but, they need to be on your blog, too.

Homework for Weekend January 6-10

1.) Blog post #1 (Introduction as a writer)
2.) Blog Post #2: List 3 events that have made you who you are as a person (that define you, or changed you.) One good sentence per event.
3.) Read “A Lucky Bounce” and write out the Analysis Think Sheet and be ready to turn it in on Monday.
4.) Working ahead: Please start reading On Borrowed Words.
5.) More working ahead: We’re doing to start discussing “Spanish Lessons” on Tuesday. P. 82 in Exploring Language. If you need to use the copy I have on reserve in the library, you might want to go make a copy today.

Have a great weekend! :)

Your First Blog Post

Hi, Class!

For your first blog post, I want you to introduce yourself to me as a writer. Please complete this assignment by Friday morning.

How do you feel about writing? Do you consider yourself a writer? Why or why not? Tell me more about your relationship with writing in the past, and how you hope this class helps you become a better writer. Tell me anything else you want me to know, as well, like your favorite color, or how you're obsessed with roller coasters.

For help with things like spelling and grammar, I encourage you to type this blog post into a Microsoft Word Document, and then paste it in the fancy text box provided to you by the wonderful people at blogger.