A last piece of advice, and your grades are posted.

A recent blog post from lifehack.ogr on how to improve one's resume had the follow point:

3. Proofread past spell check.

Just about everyone runs a spell check on their resume. But I’ve seen so many typos that a computer can’t catch: misused words, misspelled business names — I’ve even seen a resume with the applicant’s name misspelled! You should always read over documents to double check them, and if you can get a friend to read over your resume, go for it.

After reading portfolios for the past week, the advice to read past the spell check hit home. Let me offer an example I encountered on a more or less regular basis. A student would claim they had learned to improve their proofreading technique or to start work on critical texts earlier, giving the writing process time to help them produce more polished documents. In the next paragraph, I would encounter a word like "sue," as in, "I have learned to start work well before it was sue." The student had obviously hit the "s" when they intended to hit the "d" in "due." It was equally obvious, the student never read a final copy of their work out loud; instead, they continued to trust spell check to mark each and every word which was miss used or miss spelled. By claiming to proofread more carefully but not including reading out loud on such a critical document, like the cover essay to the portfolio, the student's credibility nose-dived.

So, here is my last piece of advice for the semester, "In critical documents, 'Proofread past spell check.'"

Have a good break. Grades are now up and posted. I will be happy to answer questions after I am back from break on 5 January.

Steve

Free stuff for 2009...

Hard economic times means students have even less money than usual; so, ever cent saved counts. Enter open source and online applications.

Over the semester, you have learned to use google docs, an online web based word processor. You can use google gears to use docs when you are offline, or you can do with I do and downloadopenoffice.

Open office is a lot like MS Office, and if you can use one, you can use another. Like MS Office, openoffice suffers from feature bloat, but there are times when you need access to features for specialized formatting, etc.

We've talked about Zotero as an online research tool. Today another online research tool crossed my desk, Webnotes. Follow this link to see what the fuss is about:

WebNotes Offers a Virtual Highlighter for Web Research

Sites like Google Docs and Zoho offer a host of applications you might normally have to buy. For instance, I haven't used Outlook for over a year to organize my life, instead everythingpours into google mail--another application you've learned to use and one you get for free from the community college. Gmail has recently addedtodo lists, contact management, and applets to google calendar and docs, all from the mail gmail page. Look under LABS in the setting tab.

If paper time management is more your style,google the hipster PDA--a free template for a paper based personal manager. Remember, next semester is always a new semester; so, between semesters you can set up new time management tools to help you get more done.

Steve

Useful, free gifts for next year...

Hard economic times means students have even less money than usual; so, ever cent saved counts. Enter open source and online applications.

Over the semester, you have learned to use google docs, an online web based word processor. You can use google gears to use docs when you are offline, or you can do with I do and download openoffice.

Open office is a lot like MS Office, and if you can use one, you can use another. Like MS Office, openoffice suffers from feature bloat, but there are times when you need access to features for specialized formatting, etc.

We've talked about Zotero as an online research tool. Today another online research tool crossed my desk, Webnotes. Follow this link to see what the fuss is about:

WebNotes Offers a Virtual Highlighter for Web Research

Sites like Google Docs and Zoho offer a host of applications you might normally have to buy. For instance, I haven't used Outlook for over a year to organize my life, instead everything pours into google mail--another application you've learned to use and one you get for free from the community college. Gmail has recently added todo lists, contact management, and applets to google calendar and docs, all from the mail gmail page. Look under LABS in the setting tab.

If paper time management is more your style,google the hipster PDA--a free template for a paper based personal manager. Remember, next semester is always a new semester; so, between semesters you can set up new time management tools to help you get more done.

Steve

Extended Office Hours Finals Week

Good morning,

I want to let you know how to find me over the next week. After Friday you will be in finals week, so I am going to extend my office hours. Here's my schedule:

Thursday, 12/11
7:30-8:15 at Atlee High School; 8:30-11:00 advising in Rm 206 Burnette; 11:00-12:00 teaching a 111 section; 12:00-2:15 in the Academic Support Center
Friday, 12/12
7:30-8:15 at Atlee High School; 9:00-10:00 teaching; 10:00-12:00 in my office at 231 Massey, Parham Road Campus
Monday, 12/15
7:30-8:15 at Atlee High School; 9:00-12:00 in my office at 231 Massey, Parham Road Campus; 12:00-2:15 in Academic Support
Tuesday 12/16
7:30-8:15 at Atlee High School; 9:00-1:30 in my office at 231 Massey, Parham Road Campus
Wednesday 12/17
7:30-8:15 at Atlee High School; 9:00-1:30 in my office at 231 Massey, Parham Road Campus
Thursday 12/18
9:00-12:00 in my office at 231 Massey, Parham Road Campus; 12:00-2:15 in Academic Support
Friday 12/19
9:00-1:30 in my office at 231 Massey, Parham Road Campus

Sometime over the weekend of 12/20, I will turn in grades and head out for Christmas Break. During Christmas Break, I have promised my wife I will not be teaching, accepting emails, etc., and she and the family will have all my attention. Any questions will have to wait until my return to campus on 8 January; so, if you have a question now, ask. As always, I will be happy to accept emails and telephone calls and make appointments outside the office hours I list above. However, emails will need to be fairly short and the questions specific. If you need lengthy explanations, call or stop by. My home number is 804-262-8585.

Please do get in touch over the next days and let me answer questions about the portfolio, read drafts, etc. If you stop by and I am not in the office, come on in and sit down. I will limit excursions to my mailbox, to check in with colleagues, etc.; and, I will try to limit time outside my office to 20 minutes or less, so if you stop by and don't find me in, come in, have a seat, and wait. I will soon return.

You will notice I will continue to work in the Academic Support Center, Monday and Thursday afternoons. Fill free to stop by and ask questions, my sessions there are usually handled as group sessions, and anyone is welcome to come in and join, ask questions about writing assignments, etc. The same holds true for the hours I am advising in 206 Burnette. Those coming in for advising have dibs over my working with my students, but it has been my experience few students do stop by for advising this week.

When you do come in for a meeting, bring a copy of your portfolio to discuss, and try to bring two copies of your cover essay.

Steve

Framing your claims with examples and analysis.

One group sent a claim and the evidence they plan to use to back up the claim. As you develop paragraphs to support the various claims you will make in your cover essay, I thought you might profit from the exchange, so find it below:

Claims

1.) I learned a great deal of information from my group members.

Example of supporting my claim: X corrected my articles providing me with a starting point on what I needed to work on this semester. After receiving some much needed advice, I looked at what my worst grammatical mistake was and researched ways that provided me with a solution to the problem.

Here, you should go on to include an example of an article Cate corrected in the portfolio evidence section. In the section of your cover essay where you discuss the article, point to the article you've included and make sure to note the specific advice you found useful and the specific aspects of the article you changed based on this advice. [Other advice: I might pull out the section on fixing your worst grammatical mistake and develop it into a separate section or paragraph. Paragraphs should focus on one central idea, develop in, and then you move on to another paragraph.] Back to the claim and the paragraph you are developing to support it.

Notice you are building up what you can think of as a basic body paragraph in academic writing, one where you do the following:

1. You make a claim.
2. You explain exactly what you mean by the claim in another sentence or so.
3. You point to a specific example/quote/summary/paraphrase/fact, etc. which illustrates your claim.
4. You explain/analyze your example, etc., pointing out the specific aspects of it which are significant to the reader fully understanding your claim.
5. You transition into your next paragraph using a sentence, phrase, or keyword.

To provide a full example, you might go on to develop your paragraph as follows:

Claim: I learned a great deal of information from my group members.
Explanation: For example, X corrected my articles providing me with a starting point on what I needed to work this semester.
Example: In the evidence section of this portfolio, I have included a rhetorical analysis with which X helped me. You can see it on page Y of the evidence section.
Analysis/Discussion: X pointed out what I later decided was my worst grammar problem--the need to make sure my subjects and verbs agree in number. For instance, you might look at this sentence, "In this situation, the noise was found in both the assumptions Tom made about the audience and the background of the audience." Originally, it read, "the noise founds" X told me to read the sentence out loud. When I did, I realized "noise founds" did not sound right, so I changed it to "the noise was found."
Transition: All semester, I received this kind of valuable advice from my group.

Notice how linking your claim to specific a specific article you include in the evidence section allows you to point to specific aspects of the article and fully discuss and develop your claim. Many students never make this leap. They link to an example to back up their claim, but they don't go on to discuss and explain the significance of the evidence to understanding their claim. Not taking this step in the difference between a "B" or "C" paper and an "A" paper. Discussion and analysis of a claim takes more time and work, but by the time you are done, your reader knows exactly what you mean, and they are *sure* you have given your claim a lot of thought. This last gains you ethos and makes your claims more likely to be believed.

The Value of Writing Well

Lifehack.org has posted a good article on the value to be gained in learning to write well. Here's the link:

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/the-value-of-writing-well.html

Here's my favorite quote from the article:

"...businesses repeatedly cite “communication skills” as the single most desirable trait in new employees."

Why is all the work in a 111 or 112 English course worth your time and effort?

"Good writing pays better than does bad."

For this semester, the end is in sight. Your portfolio will soon be finished and turned in. While patting yourself on the back, remember a lesson my father told me my wedding day, "This is just the start of all you'll need to know and do to make the marriage work." The same holds true for writing. Like putting work into a good marriage, learning to write well pays all back nine fold in terms of the life you can live.

Steve

Portfolio, Question and Answer Session

One group has engaged me in a series of questions and answers using google docs. Here is a link to the ongoing session:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg5rkm34_28dpd896gk

It is very possible some of your own questions may be answered here; so, I thought I would post a view only link.

Steve

Group workshop ideas to help you with the portfolio.

One group has written me to let me know they plan to meet to workshop the portfolio, and I wrote them some advice on activities groups have found helpful in such workshops in the past. Notice this isn't an assignment, it's meant to help your groups with discovering what make a good claim to include in the portfolio and how to use evidence from your work this semester to back up these claims.

Here's an edited copy of my email:

Here are two group workshop ideas students have found helpful in the past. I use them in my non-distant learning courses, and you can easily adapt them to work with a group google doc or in a group meeting:

1. Each member of the group writes five claims they plan to make in their cover letter. From these five claims, each student picks one to present to the group which they consider the most effective. After the claims are presented, the group decides as a whole which two claims are the most effective and which two are the most well stated. They then discuss what aspects of the claims make them effective and well stated.

The activity is designed to allow the group to come to an understanding of what constitutes an effective claim and how to state their own claims in the most effective way.

Also think of sharing your list of claims to prompt ideas within the group.

2. One at a time, each group member presents a claim they plan to include in the portfolio. The member also presents the evidence from their work this semester they plan to use to back up the claim. The group then brainstorms ideas for additional examples and evidence which could be used to help prove the author's claim about what they have learned. As part of this discussion, try to decide the best set of evidence to help support each claim. Limit your choice of evidence to that allowed in the portfolio assignment.

Notice this activity helps authors in two ways: 1) it helps them learn to think about how to use evidence to back up claims made about their learning and/or performance in the course; and, 2) it helps authors by giving them additional examples of claims and evidence others are thinking of using.

As always, write with any questions.

Steve

A helpful question about what to include in the evidence section.

A another student wrote with the following helpful question (earning some extra credit):

Besides my Rhetorical Analysis and my MLK Analysis, all I have are some quick notes from some of the activities you had us perform through the semester. Should I go back and perform the activities more thoroughly? Also I really am not sure what grade I deserve, my group has kind of fell apart over the last few weeks and the little feedback I received back from them was good. But I truly don't feel that all my work was great, it could have been better in some cases.

I thought you might all profit from a revised version of my response:

If you composed your rhetorical analysis and MLK analysis using google docs, you can look under TOOLS in google docs and see a feature which offers you your revision history. Printing out an early draft of one of your revisions or of the King paper and discussing it and the changes you made is a good way to develop the evidence section, as it gives you an opportunity to discuss process writing, the steps you took in revision and proofreading, etc. Before you begin looking at your revision history, make sure to save a hard copy of your final version.

As to what to discuss concerning your group. I am looking for what you learned by trying to work with them; so, discuss why your group fell apart and your own contributions and performance as a group member. Remember, you can also discuss learning outcomes like, "I learned to help others through critiquing their work." Here, you might include in the evidence section a print out of the draft you critiqued, and explain your comments and advice.

As to the grade, only you can judge the effort you put into the course, how well you functioned as a group member, and the amount of learning you have done, but you have a week or more before the course is done and the portfolio is turned in. One way to improve your learning is to go back and learn more through reviewing the reading and thinking about how the work you did fits. For 60% of your final grade I will judge the quality of your portfolio and the argument you present me in it. For the remaining 40%, I will then go back through everything you wrote and look at your class participation for the semester. The upshot? You grade is more based on how much you learn before turning the portfolio in, how you present this learning to me, and the quality of your portfolio than on past performance of either you or your group. Having said this, it isn't too late to use your group to help with the portfolio.

Tricks for Drafting

Drafting is the stage of the writing process where you get the ideas you've captured in pre-writing into a draft ready for revision. It is also the stage where the dreaded notion of "writer's block" most often comes into play. Writer's block, that is, the inability to write, usually happens for one of two reasons: 1) you are trying to do too much and a kind of verbal constipation occurs; or, 2) the anxiety associated with the text you are crafting triggers a procrastination response. For help with how to overcome procrastination, look at my earlier post on the subject. You might also follow this link for some solid advice on some tactics for overcoming writer's block:

http://www.tcc.edu/students/resources/writcent/HANDOUTS/writing/writblock.htm

For advice about how to avoid verbal constipation, read on.

Drafting is about one thing, getting your ideas out of your head and into a form that can be revised. That is. It is, however, far from uncommon for writers who are just learning the craft to try to do too much besides asking themselves, "What do I say next?," and then writing down what comes to mind. Instead, they are try to revise their ideas or discover what they can say or proofread or some combination of all three while they try to draft a text. All you should try to do when drafting is getting the ideas discovered in pre-writing into a form which can be revised and proofread. You do this one at a time and section by section.

Trying to do everything at once results in taking a fairly tough job--crafting a draft--and making it much, much harder than it has to be. A good analogy is trying to cook every dish in a complicated meal while setting a formal table and entertaining guests. Just as a good meal shared with others requires planning out what needs to be done first, second, etc., so does crafting a successful text. Put off starting the entree until the last moment before your guests arrive, and you might as well send out for pizza.

Good writing takes time and focus, especially crafting long or complicated texts well. Just as not every meal is complicated to cook, you can write some kinds of texts with little forethought or planning. Just as a large meal requires a different level of planning, trying to craft a long, complicated text at the last moment is a recipe for disaster. Until you know the kinds of texts you can just write and those which need careful planning and a lot of time to draft and revise, give yourself more time than you think you need. A good rule of thumb is to double your first estimate and then add in ten percent.

Give yourself permission to take the time needed, to plan ahead, and to do each step in turn, and then you can succeed. Try to do everything at once without any plan, and--most likely--you will fail. Repeatedly fail, and you soon find yourself hating to write and thinking you can never learn. Learn to hate writing and you will loose confidence in your ability to write, and every time you write, you will feel anxious, because you want to succeed; indeed, you need to succeed, but you expect failure. Go through this cycle long enough, and you will avoid writing. Once the avoidance becomes habitual and unconscious, you'll have writer's block. So? Take the time needed to succeed and build confidence, not set yourself up to fail.

As always, write or call with questions.

Steve

Final Portfolio: Frequently Asked Questions. This is a must read.

Frequently asked questions about the final portfolio?

How much of my final grade for the course will it count? 60%. The other 40% is determined by your class participation.

When is the portfolio due? 17 December.

Should I continue to do the weekly rhetorical analysis and comments while I work on the portfolio? Only if you have some which you didn't complete; otherwise, no.

What goes into the portfolio? 1) a 5-10 page cover letter; and, 2) a 10-20 page collection of work.

Can I turn it in after 17 December? Only if there is substantial evidence of hardship. A crashed printer, failure to backup, or catching a cold doesn't count. I expect you to plan for such events and to have started early.

How to turn the portfolio in? You can turn your portfolio in either as a long google doc, which you share with me, or in a manilla folder, which you turn into me by 5:00 PM at my office, 231 Massey, Parham Road Campus. If you go the google documents route, name your document: "Your Last Name, ENG 112, Fall 2008, DL02." You fill in your name. At a later date, I'll let you know which hours I will be in the office on 17 December.

Can I turn my portfolio in early? Of course. Make arrangements with me. Having said this, remember, your class participation grade will continue to play a factor in your overall grade. Finish early and bail on your group, and you will take a hit on your final grade. Part of your job is to make sure everyone in your group succeeds.

How can I receive my portfolio back? If you turn in a physical copy, include a self-addressed large envelop, and I will mail your portfolio back to you; otherwise, I will leave comments in the google doc of your portfolio.

How will I know my grade on the portfolio? Grades will be posted once the school processes them. If you wish, you can include a note in your google doc portfolio giving me permission to state your grade for the portfolio and/or course in my comments. Remember to edit your share list accordingly. Those with whom you share your docs based portfolio will be able to see any comments I make and your final grade. In either case, please remember how harried I will be. Because I want to give you as much time as I can to help you succeed, I'm giving you up until the last day possible to turn in your portfolio; this means, I am only giving myself a day or so to read them, review them in the context your work over the semester, and turn in your grade. I won't have much time to chat in comments. Please do feel free to contact me after to the grading period for more extended comments or to discuss any questions you have about writing in the future.

How many pages long should a portfolio be? No longer than 35; no shorter than 20. Don't panic. You've written more than enough to meet these demands. In fact, you will be surprised how much you have to week out to meet them. Now, give yourself a pat on the back, and the next time you are asked to write a lot, remember how much you can write...if you use the right process and if you spread the work out.

How long is a page? A page is double spaced. It is written using twelve point typeface. The spacing between paragraphs is the same as that between lines within a paragraph, that is, double spaced. Each page has one inch margins side, top, and bottom.

How should I format my reflective cover essay? Start with the date, drop down a couple of lines and open with, "Dear Steve,...: End with something like, "Sincerely, ..." You've written a letter. This one is just typed, double spaced, and written to convince me to give you a specific grade. Remember, the object is to convince me you have earned the grade for which you argue. Try to anticipate any objections I might have to your argument, and address them in your reflective essay. Such concerns will be about class participation, if you've taken advantage of the opportunities to learn which have been offered, if you've learned the material in the course, and--most important--if you've learned to become a better writer and communicator.

Why is the reflective cover essay SO long? The cover letter serves the same learning function as does a final. That is, to allow the student to review all the material covered in the course, to provide the chance for the student to integrate the material covered, and, last and least, to allow the teacher to judge the students learning and performance in the course. It needs to be long to cover the various material you've learned and to allow you space to provide sufficient detail and evidence to convince me you've learned it all.

Then why not a final? It's a course in writing and communication. You need the practice, and this is a *difficult* rhetorical situation you'll encounter later in life. Such self assessment happens every year in annual reviews. In this case, in the process of putting together the portfolio, I get you to review what you should have learned, get you to gauge and assess your learning (hence, making sure you really learn instead of just memorize), and I get to give the knowledge and skill set one last chance to set.

What tone should I use in the reflective essay? Use first person, that is, "I." You should have figured out by now, I am fairly informal, but I am your professor, and as an audience, I'm charged with making sure you have learned to write well. This means I'm looking at everything involved with your writing, including your grammar, usage, and punctuation. After all, you are supposed to have learned some tricks to help you in proofreading and revision in this course. It's only fair you should practice them. Having said this, I am more concerned you learned the concepts in the class, including Kaizen and how to improve your writing--including surface level polish--through researching specific problems and fixing them. I also expect you've improved in how well you proofread. After all, you've been practicing revision, critique, and proofreading all semester.

What style should I use in the reflective essay? The KISS/SVO<24. style="font-weight: bold;">What should I say in the reflective essay? Your essay will consist of a series of claims backed up with support. You main claim or focus for the letter will be what grade you deserve in the course, but you will need to make a series of lessor or sub-claims (and back these up) for you to convince me your major claim for a grade is valid. Prove your major and sub-claims using evidence from the writing you have done this semester. To figure out what sub-claims you need to make, think of the major ideas, terms, and skills you have had an opportunity to learn this semester, and make claims about these. For instance, one of the major ideas you had a chance to learn involved rhetoric. You might make a sub-claim like the following:

"I understand rhetoric better than I did at the beginning of the semester, and I have learned how to use rhetorical analysis to gain a richer critical understanding of the communication which happens around me and to build on this understanding to become a better writer and communicator."

You the evidence you might use to prove this claim might be taken from on of your rhetorical analysis. You might compare your early work this semester with your later work, or a draft version to a final version you have revised. You might discuss each of the primary ideas in a rhetorical analysis, to show me you understand them, and then quote from different rhetorical analysis to show me how your understanding of the terms has grown. You might tell me a story about day-to-day communication this semester and how rhetorical analysis helped you understand and be a better communicator in a communication situation in which you found yourself.

Your cover letter will be made up of different claims you make concerning what you have learned and how you have performed in the class--not just rhetoric. Make sure you develop each of these claims with more than adequate support. Remember, one of the main things I am judging you on is on the quality of your claims and how well you develop the support for each claim you make.

What advice can you give me about what to say in the reflective essay and how to approach writing it?

1. Make good, solid believable claims. Don't try to snowball me. If you screwed up in working with your group or in terms of getting the work done, don't gloss over this screw up. Instead, make it a part of what you discuss in your letter. Remember, I am not interested in excuses or reasons. I am interested in how you used a place where you messed up to learn and to get back on track. I am interested in how you recovered and what you learned in the process. You can turn having done poorly into an asset by discussing it in terms of what you have learned about Kaizen and process, how you corrected your mistakes, or--at the very least--how you might correct them in future.
   
2. Having taught freshman writing most of my adult life, I have very well defined BS meter. Don't make the BS meter go off.
   
3. Don't inflate how much you have learned or the grade you feel you deserve. You might be tempted to say, "I deserve an 'A,' when you feel you deserve a 'C.'" You'll get more credit if you make the claim for a "C." Remember, one thing I am judging is your ability to make effective claims you can backup. If you claim an "A," but can't back up your case, it will count against you. To work, claims must be honest and realistic.
4. In the same vein as 2, be creative in how you back up a claim. You've got all the work and thinking you have done this semester as potential evidence to back up your claims. While I expect the majority of your evidence and support to be grounded in the writing and work you have done for the course, don't forget that you've been learning to think about your writing as a process. This means notes you've taken, email clarifications, revisions and proofreading you have done all are potential evidence to help you support your claims about process. You might also tell stories which illustrate a point you want to make, or you might point to a piece another student has written. Your choices, while not endless, are very wide ranging; so, my best advice is to spend at least as much time going through and figuring out how you will back up your claims as you do. To do this well, go back and review *all* the work you have done for the course and *all* the reading you have been asked to do. Take notes. Your grade depends on how well you do these pre-writing tasks. You can also bring in--up to 1/4th of your evidence section from writing you have done for work and in other classes. Show me how you've allied the lessons from this class to other work, and I *will* be impressed.
   
5. Work with your group. A good pre-writing exercise for this assignment is to go through and review the reading and writing for this class and to take notes on claims you can make about your learning and how you can use writing from and to the class as evidence to back up your claim. Another effective pre-writing exercise is to then get together and share this information as a group. They *will* have had ideas about claims and how to support them which you haven't, and their idea might be the difference between a high and low grade. You might also think about getting your group to critique your claims and the development of them, and when you are finished with an initial draft helping you proofread.
6. If you try to draft this essay and turn in your initial draft in a single pass, you will fail. You have over two weeks to revise and perfect this reflective essay. It counts a *lot* of your final grade. Take the time to do it right. Use process writing. Revise multiple times over the course of the next two weeks. Get an initial draft done early,in the next few days, so you can add ideas to it and let it develop into your best work. Rush this process, and chances are, you will be disappointed in the result.

What can go into the evidence section of the portfolio? Any of the work you have done this semester. I don't want you to include it all. Go through it looking for the work which will best help you make a case for the grade you think you deserve in the course. Think of the evidence section as evidence you can point to in your cover letter to help prove your claims. It's one thing to say, "I've learned to work better with groups and to use others to improve my writing." This is a great claim, but think how this claim comes alive if you point me to a particular email exchange or place in a google document where you really and truly helped another person in your group or they helped you. A good evidence section is a collection of such places in your learning this semester. The writing and work you include should help you make the case for your claims *and* show off your writing and communication and what you have learned.

Do surface level issues count in the evidence section? Yes, but not as much as they do in the reflective essay or as much as the deep content. If you have to make a choice about what to proofread carefully, make the choice to proofread your reflective essay. Do this last carefully using multiple passes. Know the best choice you can make is to pick good evidence and work which shows you off at your best or which helps you make the case for each claim.

Does this mean I should re-type and proofread everything I include in the evidence section? No. For instance, you might decide to back up a claim you make about having taken the time to read the material in the course carefully, actively, and thoroughly by including a photocopy of notes you took on a hard copy of the reading. Don't retype these notes just to show me you can type and proofread. Include a copy or a link to a scanned pdf. It would be silly to re-type them. The same applies in other instances. Use your best judgment. If you include an analysis you have written or other type of written work, then, yes, revise and proofread. Your measure here is: "Will retyping or proofreading make my audience more likely to respond to my message in the way I hope?" AND "Is this better response worth the time and effort to retype or proofread?" Learning to balance such questions is what the course has been about.

What do I do if I don't see an answer to a question I have about the portfolio? As always, write with questions. Also, over the next couple of weeks, I'll be suggesting some pre-writing and revision activities you and/or your group can use to improve your cover letter.

Drafting Tricks: Start your draft with an email.

Drafting in email is a trick I often use. It's easier for me to stay on task and focus my writing when I know I have a particular audience. The upshot? I often start and revise a draft in email, and then I move it over to a word processor for final polish and formatting.

For more on how to use email as a drafting tool, check here:

http://www.lifeclever.com/unstuck-your-writing-with-an-email/

Google Docs Help

Here's a good place to find help learning how to use google docs:

http://documents.google.com/support/bin/topic.py?topic=15114

Continue the Rhetorical Analysis

I received a phone call from a student asking for clarification on the rhetorical analysis assignment. My expectation is you do continue to produce two new rhetorical analysis per week, and you continue to offer constructive comments on those produced by your group mates.

My object is to see your rhetorical analysis improving week by week. As the semester comes to it's conclusion, I should see your analysis becoming more insightful, as you learn from reading the analysis produced by your peers and from continued practice. Combined, the practice writing and critiquing should allow you to begin to notice more and more about the rhetorical situations.

Steve

Conquering Your Worst Grammar Problem

This week, you will begin a short research project in which you learn to conquer your worst grammar problem.

Begin this process by:

1) Reviewing my two previous blog entries on Kaizen and the notion that if you can learn to conquer your worst grammar problem, you can take on the next and the next until grammar is no longer an issue in your writing. As you look for motivation to complete the research and work on your problem, think of the confidence you will gain in your voice as a writer everytime you put a grammar problem behind you.

2) Review the error list your group provided you while proofreading your King essay. From this list, pick what you consider your most pressing grammar or usage problem. This is the one on which you want to work. Pick only a single problem on which to work. Remember, one of the principles of Kaizen is to focus on incorporating one change at a time. You give this change all the attention you can until it is behind you. Then and only then do you move on to the next problem.

3) Read my previous post on "Grammar and Usage Resources." Your goal is to find out what the various resources have to say about your problem. At this step, it is essential you take notes. For each note you take, record the URL of the site you are visiting. Take notes on which of the sites you consider most useful in figuring out how to recognize and fix the problem on which you are working. Also note essential terms or ideas someone with your problem needs to learn. Finally, note the advice or examples you find useful in figuring out your problem.

4) Go back through several pieces of your work this semester. For instance, you might look at early drafts of your King essay or some of your rhetorical analysis. Look for at least five examples of the grammar or usage problem on which you are working. Again take notes on where you find these examples, and write down each example.

5) Using the grammar or usage resources I provided in my last blog post. Figure out how to correct your five examples. Stopping by a Reynolds Academic Support Center and getting tutorial help may help you sold your problem, but I'm betting you can figure out your problem using the online resources I provide and carefully and slowly reading the handouts and sites which address your problem.

I will provide extra credit if you take the time to find additional resources for working on your grammar problem. A good search tactic here is to google a term associated with your grammar problem, like "run-on sentences," "sentence fragments," etc.

You might also google the term "Writing Center" and your problem. Most universities have writing centers, that is, a place students can go to received help or download information on writing. In any event, to receive extra credit, you might visit a couple of writing centers and see if they provide handouts on your problem. To receive the extra credit, use the class email discussion list to share the sites you find. In your post describing the site, tell the class what you found on your problem and what you found useful in recognizing and fixing it.

Comple this assignment by Sunday, 16 November.

Additional notes:

1) Identify and research only one grammar problem.
2) Do take notes on the sites you visit and the examples you find in your own writing. You'll be using these in a later assignment. You can share these notes when you turn in your portfolio. To learn about taking research notes, follow this link:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/ResearchW/notes.html

3) Notice the URL of the link on research notes takes you to the Online Writing Lab at Purdue University. It's a great site for getting handouts on almost anything connected to academic writing.
4) Don't forget you have your group members and me to provide help.

Steve

Grammar and Usage Resources

By now, you know surface level errors--errors dealing with punctuation, spelling, and usage-- aren't as important as you were led to believe in high school. Yes, they matter; but, most audiences are willing to read through a reasonable number of surface level mistakes to get at your deep message. Having said this, there's a grammar Nazi in almost everyone.

This past summer, I helped to hire a new English professor at Reynolds. As part of the hiring process, I read over sixty applications for the job. I shared my part of this reading with a computer instructor from the Business program, and I lost count of the number of times he said something like, "If they misspell X, do we want them teaching English?" I didn't go into my, pay-attention-to-what-they-are-saying, not-how-they-are-saying-it routine." Why? Because, to him as an audience, these issues matter.

You need to pay attention to surface level issues because you don't know when and to whom they will matter. You know they almost always matter in a job applications, where any difference in ability will help your audience weed the pile of applications down to the best of the bunch. You hope, when writing your significant other a love letter, your audience is paying attention to your deep level meaning and not your spelling. Think about getting a love letter back with zero comments on content and marked in red for grammar.

The truth is, there's no big secret to mastering grammar, and it isn't true that some folks are better at grammar than others. After all, a part Native kid from a mill town in North Carolina got a doctorate in English, and he still struggles with usage and grammar. Believe me, if I can master grammar well enough to major in English, anyone can. Even you. (Take that Ms. Robins--the 9th English teacher who said I'd never get through college English.) All such mastery takes is the right approach and right attitude.

Think Kaizen, that is, tackling your worst grammar problem, learning to recognize and fix it, and moving onto the next problem. This skill set is one you are learning this week. To help you, I thought I would refer you to some resources to help you with your research. You get Protestant Good Works points for any other useful resource to which you refer the class.

Don't say, "Uck! Grammar. That's boring." Life is full of boring tasks you do because it will help you look a tad less dumb, improve your ethos, and--in general--do better at difficult ongoing tasks like writing. Then again, I am not a grammar Nazi, nor am I a grammar nerd. My advice? Lose the attitude. It isn't helping. Mastering grammar (and writing and most anything) is just a matter of taking the bit into your teeth, realizing you have a long road ahead (look at the banner on the class blog), and getting on with the next step...

If you can, enjoy. If you can't enjoy, look at these links anyway, and think of England.

Steve


A list of common usage errors in English:

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

"Five Common Mistakes That Make You Look Dumb":

http://www.copyblogger.com/5-common-mistakes-that-make-you-look-dumb/

The "Blog" of "Unnecessay" Quotation Marks:

http://quotation-marks.blogspot.com/


Grammar Girl: Quick and Dirty Tricks to Improve Your Writing ("Yes, Virginia, there are grammar nerds."):

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/

Purdue's Online Writing Lab's (OWL's) Handouts on Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/

The Rules of Comma Usage:

http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/commas.asp

Resource Post: Using Firefox and Zotero to Keep Research Notes

As you research, you keep notes. You can keep your notes on three by five cards, in a bound notebook, or in an electronic format, like Google Documents. Electronic formats have the advantage of being able to be sorted by tags or searched by keywords, allowing you to more quickly moved from gathering information to outlining your research.

Readers of research need to know from where your ideas come. Doing respected research means making your means available to your readers, so it can be reproduced, or they can tell where you went wrong. Either way, research without documentation if much like an opinions without supporting evidence, everyone has an opinion, so--while it isn't worthless without support--its value is greatly reduced.

Downloading the free and open source browser Firefox and adding the research extension, Zotero, can help you with the task of keeping research notes. Zotero allows you to capture web pages, paper articles and books published online, or to capture part of them. Each time you capture such an entry, Zotero allows you to capture bibliographic information along with what you have captured. It will even help you prepare bibliographies, and export them to OpenOffice or to Word.

Here's a link to Firefox: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/


Here's a link to Zotero: http://www.zotero.org/

Take the Time to Vote

You know that feeling you get when you hear the Star Spangled Banner play? I know it's corny. I still get that feeling. The librarian who was supposed to open our precinct over-slept, so there was a long line to vote, but I didn't see anyone head back to their cars. For the first time in a while, I was reminded of the time and comfort everyday Americans are willing to give up to make sure the work of the Republic gets done, and I got that feeling.

I got there at 6:00 AM, thinking few others would be there so early. I was wrong. Already the line wrapped around the Ginter Park Library. Those joining the line knew it would be a long wait. We could see the beginning of the line where the end crossed the beginning. Some had been there since 5:00, standing in a cold, slow rain. The only hubbub I heard was the shout of joy in the doors opened.

Too often, I underestimate Americans. I shouldn't. Each time there's been a crisis, I've seen the nation pull together. Each time I think Americans don't care passionately about liberty and aren't willing to do the work necessary to keep the great experiment going, I have been proven wrong. This morning was an example. As folks would come out, more than one walked the long line telling us it was worth the wait. It was.

Evidence: "Not All Evidence is Created Equal."

We've spoken about how, at least in academic writing, one uses evidence to support claims and opinions. As a way of helping you "get" how evidence works in the relationship between opinion and support, I thought I might ask you to explore this site:

http://www.exploratorium.edu/evidence/index.html

In particular, I want you to look at the link "Can you believe it?" Note the various questions scientists ask of scientific articles to find out if the evidence is worth anything.

Steve

Assignment One: Due Thursday, 30 October.

It looks as if everyone who is going to get caught up has, so it's time to move on to the final stages of the writing process--proofreading. You should be fairly well integrated with your group now. One of the main lessons of the class is when it is appropriate to use others as part of your writing process. Proofreading and editing is such a time, and your group is there to help.

As I said in my previous blog post on proofreading, the main trick to seeing errors is getting enough "distance" from the text to not read through the errors you produce. One of the easiest ways to get such distance is to get other sets of eyeballs looking at your work.

In this assignment you will learn and practice several new proofreading/editing techniques, and you should come out of it even more comfortable working with your group and collaborating through google docs.

1. You have used google documents to get help from your group with the revision of your King rhetorical analysis. The last stage of the process in producing a polished document that is ready to publish or turn in is proofreading. For this assignment, you need to make sure your group has your latest revision, and they are added in the google document as collaborators.
2. Go back into the blog and re-read my post entitled, "Notes on Proofreading." You can find this post by looking at the top of this page, where you will find a search box. Enter "Proofreading" in the search box, and hit the button, "Search Blog." This process should call up all the posts where I mention the word, "Proofreading." Scan down and look for the one called, "Notes on Proofreading." (By the way, this method is how you can search the class blof for specific keywords.)

My post on proofreding should introduce you to a few new proofreading techniques. If you already have tried them all, research proofreading and find a technique you haven't tried and which isn't listed. If you find one and share it via the email list for the class, you'll receive extra credit for class participation!

My "Notes on Proofreading" should also teach you the place of proofreading in the writing process, that is, the last step prior to turning in your writing for publication. This is exactly where you are with your King essay. The reason we wait so late to proofread is because we assume you'll be making changes to your writing as you revise, like you have on your King analysis based on the feedback you've received from your group and on your own reading of their work.

Here is the important point: If you proofread and polish the surface features of writing you then revise, you've wasted effort; so, it makes sense to proofread and edit almost last.

3. Read each of the revised drafts produced by your group members. As you do, employ a technique from my "Notes on Proofreading" which is new to you. This means you'll try out one new method of proofreading per member of your group. Not every method works for every editor, but you have to try them out to figure out which methods work well for you.

4. As you read, look for grammar, spelling, or usage which you think might be improved. As you find them, you are to do two things:

A) fix the first five mistakes you find in each draft; and,
B) go down to the bottom of the revised draft and make a note to the author of the errors you fixed.

Step B is designed to leave the author of the revised draft on which you are working additional information for their "Error List." If you remember, authors use such Error Lists to figure out which surface level feature of writing, that is, which grammar, usage, or spelling mistake, they will next learn to recognize and fix in their own writing. If you get used to working on one error from your list at a time, you soon find yourself able to recognize and fix most of the common errors to which you are prone. Over time, you will find yourself less and less reliant on others--like your group or me--to read and fix your work for you.

4A. Some notes on how to handle the Error List with multiple proofreaders:

i) If you haven't already done it. Pick a color of text in which to work. This is *your* color of text, and no one else can have it. Talk to your group members before each of you begins editing, and decide on which color each member will use.

You produce text in a specific color by selecting the text you want to change, and then using the "A" tab next to the underline, italics, and bold tab on the google docs editing page. Pick a color you like, as I am going to ask you to use it for the rest of the semester. My own is red, the ucky color traditionally used by editors and English teachers; so, pick another color besides red. By having your own color of text in which to edit, I'll be able to recognize your work and so with the authors with whom you work. (Side note: The reason English teachers have bled red on your papers in the past is that early editors assumed it was an easy color to see, it contrasted with most early inks, which were black or brown, and there is a traditional association in English society with danger.]

ii) Make the changes to the draft in which you are working in your color of text, and, as you list the errors you fix, write your contribution to the Error List in your color. Being able to go into the document and see the surface level errors you are catching will let me better grade your work, that is, I can see what you have done; but, more importantly, it may provide me with a clue as to what I should suggest you work on in terms of your own writing, and it lets the author recognize the work of each editor.

iii) Make sure to include a section of the revised draft just after the error list you produce, in which you leave me and your team member a note saying something like:

"Color Code:
1) This is Steve Brandon, and I'm editing in red. In this document I used the proofreading technique of reading out loud. It felt a little weird, but I did see errors I normally would have missed."
2) ...."

iv) Finally, if you find yourself fixing the same kind of error someone else has fixed, place a star beside this error in your own color. Seeing one or more stars will tell the author, "This error occurred more than once; it's one I produce regularly in my writing; so, it's one I might consider learning how to recognize and fix on my own."

v) Remember, when you proofread, you aren't trying to offer suggestions about how to change anything but the surface level polish of the piece. You are looking at grammar, usage, and spelling--nothing else.

vi) Also remember, no one expects you to be an expert on grammar, usage, and spelling. You are a student writer offering another author in your group an opinion and some advice on how to fix problems you see in their writing. Adults aren't required to follow the advice they receive from others, and it's not uncommon to receive contradictory advice on a piece of writing. You work with the advice editors give you in the same way you work with any advice, that is, you listen, you weigh it, and you follow it if it makes sense; otherwise, you don't follow it.

vii) Regardless, each time you practice reading to proofread, you will learn to recognize more-and-more which could be fixed. This is one reason English teachers make such picky readers, we've read thousands of texts, and each time we've gotten better at spotting possible problem spots. Just as with your group, however, when an English teacher marks something to fix, they offer you their opinion. Remember, anyone can make mistakes. You are the author; you weigh an English teacher's opinion along with everyone else who reads and helps you improve your work.

By the way, "usage"--a term you should learn--refers to using a word like "their" when you meant "there" or "they're" or to using a weak, vague verb instead of a strong, precise one. In any event, the assumption is that by the time the author has asked for someone else to edit their work, the deep level work, like organization, development, etc. has already been done.

Finally, I've left a few errors in this post for you to find and fix. Send me an email with the errors you find in this post, and I'll offer a point of extra credit. You only need to list three errors to qualify for the extra credit.
As always, write with questions.

FYI: Four Year College Transfer Days

J. Sargeant Reynolds
Community College
4 Year College
Transfer Days

Tuesday, Oct. 21st (Burnette Hall- PRC) & Thursday, Oct. 23 (1st Floor Lobby- DTC)
11am until 1pm
Meet with Admissions Representatives
Learn about Guaranteed Admission Agreements
and Transferability of Classes

Randolph-Macon UVA
Bluefield College VA State University
Hampton University VCU
ODU Virginia Tech
JMU Mary Washington
NC State University Radford University
University of Richmond
and many more!

An example of a good, solid rhetorical analysis.

A few students have asked I post an example of the kind of rhetorical analysis for which I am looking each week. Below is a good, solid example. It could be improved, but I am impressed with how the author has placed himself in the rhetorical place of the person he is analyzing. The author of the analysis does a good job of identifying his rhetor's audience, and looking at a specific problem the rhetor is facing and how the rhetor crafts his message to overcome these problems. There are even specific examples. I would prefer the author had taken a few extra minutes to proofread, but over all, I would give the following example an "A."

Here's the example:

Watching preist perform the mass is an excellent example of Rhetoric. His ethos is established by the clothes he wears, the logos can be simply achieved by backing up your statements with scripture, and pathos can easily be achieved when people come to church, looking and expecting to feel better about themselves. The audience is generally the same group of people. Old people who come from habit, young people who come because they're forced to, and people in the middle looking for answers about life. The message stays pretty consistent from week to week: live right, but if you can't you can be forgiven. The thing that makes their job difficult is keeping the attention of this audience week to week when you need to send the same general message. They try to do this by varying the stories and examples they use. I cannot imagine this is as easy to do as it sounds. The three groups I described which compose the congregation are very diverse. Many of the stories I can relate to do not apply to many of the near-deads who sit up front. Very frequently the situations they find humorous don't do anything for me. Our priest seems to have discovered the secret to making everyone pay attention. His Homilies often conist of you might be a redneck if jokes and comparisons to professional football. Everyone likes these.

Reading: Kaizen and Process, Take Two

Now you are getting your head around the basic elements of communications---the sender, the message, the receiver, noise, and feedback, it's time to talk some down and dirty about how to improve your writing. The basic notion of how to make improvements in any process (like writing), can be found in the industrial management philosophy of Kaizen.

If you do a quick google of "Kaizen," you'll learn it's the industrial management philosophy which led to Japan being the technological and industrial powerhouse it is. This way of approaching process brings together the best of Western ideas about motion study and efficiency and Japanese notions of how communities and individuals work. It's one of a handful of the most powerful ideas to emerge from the 20th C, and it came into being at the end of WWII.

The US wanted to build a working democracy out of the wreckage of Japan at the end of WWII. Japanese industry was geared up for war, and the US had learned from how it had handled Germany at the end of WWI that for democracy to work, you had to have a certain amount of wealth flowing through out a viable economy; so, the US sent in some of our best industrial engineers to help Japan to build a consumer industrial base.

These folks were well grounded in how to set up a factory to mass produce, but they didn't have a clue as to how Japanese culture functions. The upshot was they tried to impose the latest 1930s/'40s motion and process theory and failed miserably. Japanese culture sees work holistically. It tends to see the individual as part of a community, and the function of work not so much as a means of producing a product but as a means of maintaining the viability of the community and the pride and sense of status of the individual within the community. Luckily, the Japanese were able to work with the well intentioned Americans to come up with a theory of industrial process which combined the best of both ways of working.

From the US, they took the notion of process, that is, when you do something over and over (like writing a sentence, paragraph, or email), you tend to follow the same steps and tend to need the same stuff. If you break down such repeatable activities into set steps, you can focus on one aspect of the process at a time and work to improve its efficiency. You might, for instance, make sure the tools you need for a task are at your workstation instead of stored across the room, saving you the time needed to get up, loose your train of thought, and go across the room to get a pencil or keyboard. The idea is as you improve the efficiency of the individual steps, you improve the overall efficiency of the process and your ability to compete.

Now American thought tended to think of process efficiency as a means to an end. You get a factory up to a certain level of productivity per man hour, and you can compete. The Japanese had the brilliant insight---based on Zen notions of work based meditation--that one never reaches a perfect process; instead, one can just improve the process at hand; but, and this is a big but, you can make small, continuous improvements to whichever processes is in place. Literally, one's focus isn't on the end product, but on the doing or the work necessary to a task. You practice and perfect the doing of a task, not the product of the task. The upshot is they created the notion of continual small improvements to process or Kaizen. It's quite literally a continuous focus of improving how the task is done and assuming that a good process will produce a good product which can compete.

There are some additional flourishes. Kaizen rewards workers who come up with a means to improve how their task is done. It creates time in a production schedule to have regular meetings of the workers, management, and sales folks to discuss process and product. The idea is everyone needs to understand the big picture, so they can understand their part. In any event, small groups meet to make decisions about which improvements to process to implement and to judge if a change in process is an improvement or not. There's also the notion of low hanging fruit vs. high hanging fruit. That is, one always begins work on a process from the process already in place. This process already allows you to receive some gain or, to use the Kaizen metaphor, pick the lowest hanging fruit. As you make improvements, you add to your gains by being able to pick the lowest hanging fruit and some higher hanging fruit. The upshot is your return in the investment of improving process is always increased return.

Kaizen can be applied to any process, from coding to writing to your morning routine. Let's talk about writing. You currently use a series of processes when you write. As you write and revise your inventory of WPA Outcomes, think how you produce writing currently and give these processes your attention. Break writing down into the steps you follow as you produce. For instance, how do you proofread? How do you draft? Do you build in time for revision? We'll be discussing how composition and rhetoric has broken down the task of writing and making speeches, but my goal here is to just give you some language for thinking about the processes you use as you create and write. I encourage you to think about processes in the work you do or want to do. Once you begin noticing the steps you follow and can accept the notion of improving how you produce through making small, continuous changes in these processes, you'll be half-way to becoming a writer.

Here are the tricks of Kaizen:

1) Pat yourself on the back. Whatever process you are now using is picking the lowest hanging fruit.
2) Know your goals.
3) Take small steps toward your goals by improving the process.
4) Pat yourself on the back for picking higher hanging fruit and moving toward your goals.
5) If a step doesn't work out, figure out why and make another change. Use the loss as an opportunity to learn. You are still picking fruit.
7) Keep the pace of change slow but steady. Every few weeks, figure out your next change and keep implementing the change until it becomes habit and routine.
8) Take time to review. Know you are making progress and picking higher fruit than you were. As you review, reward yourself and internalized your success. It is only from success that you gain confidence.
9) Include others in your goals and work toward them. Listen to their insights. Often, from outside, they will see those things which you cannot from the inside. Let these others share in and celebrate your success. Again, you gain confidence from public acclimation.
10) Don't expect the moon; instead, move toward it. As change and improvements accumulate, you will eventually obtain the moon.
11) Usually, when you reach the moon, you find out it wasn't about being there; it was about the journey, the successes along the way, your own growth, and the confidence you have gained for the next project.

Write if you have questions, comments, or observations.

FYI: Proofreading/reading tool

Proofreading is easier the more distance you can get from your work. One way to do this is to get someone else to help you proofread by reading your work out loud. This proofreading method works best when both you and your reader have a copy of your work; this way, whenever something sounds odd or off, you can put a check off to the side and use these checks as an index to things in your paper you want to check. Asking questions of your reader, like, "What was the main point of my paper?," "What would you improve?," or "Did I stay on topic?, is also a good way to get cheap feedback on your writing.

What do you do, however, if you can't get another reader to read your paper out loud? There's tech. While a computer reader won't be able to answer questions about your writing--at least, not yet. It will read you back your words EXACTLY as you wrote them. Add in a hard copy and a pen with which to put check marks off to the side, and you have a workable part of a decent proofreading system.

Check out this free text-to-speech web based converter:

http://readthewords.com/

Catch up on missed election speeches and debates.

Going for the extra credit for discussing the election with your classmates? Looking for a subject for this week's rhetorical analysis? Tired of not knowing about the speech about which everyone is talking?

Follow the following link to legit online access to tonight's debate, past speeches, etc.:

http://lifehacker.com/5059937/catch-tonights-presidential-debate-on-hulu

Thanks to lifehacker...

FYI: Real World Advice on Acquiring Better Study Habits

One of my favorite blogs, AskMetafilter, does nothing more than act as a place where folks can write in with a question and get good suggestions on how to answer it.

Recently, a graduate student wrote in asking how to acquire better study habits than those which got him his initial degree, and he got some good advice--advice I wish I had heard long before graduate school.

Please note: the question was posed by a graduate student, who was suddenly looking at the task of preparing for comprehensive exams. Think of all the classes you've ever taken and an exam where any question from any class is fair game, and you have a good idea of what comps are like. One reason folks with a masters or a doctorate know how to study is most of us had to sweat comprehensives at one time or another, but the skills I had to learn then would sure have made my life as an freshman much, much easier.

Here's the link:

http://ask.metafilter.com/103544/Help-Ive-fallen-and-I-cant-get-up

FYI: Apostrophes

Apostrophes are the bug-a-bear of many writers, not just students learning the ropes. If apostrophes give you fits, you might follow this link:

English Apostrophe Society

The society is dedicated to stamping out the over use and misuse of apostrophes in English. They have some truly funny pictures of places where folks used an apostrophe or six where they shouldn't have. More important, they have some easy to follow rules for when and when not to use apostrophes in your writing.

Today's post is thanks to Instructify.

Steve

Assignment: Get together with your group.

Since groups are still getting to know one another and there are folks still looking for a group to join, I am going to focus this week's work on your getting to know your group better, an evaluation of your performance as a group member, and everyone setting up some shared expectations about how group work will be done.

1. All groups with five or fewer members should advertise on the class list for additional members. There are a few folks still looking. Don't go over six members. If you are one of the folks looking for a group, advertise your need.

2. I would like you to set up a meeting with your group for this week. I *strongly* success you make this an in-person meeting, but a conference call--a far worst choice--might suffice. Knowing and having faces to go with the folks on whom you depend is important. In your meeting, review your performance as a group to date. Talk about ways you can improve group interaction, getting your assignments done and in on time, and establish ways to set mid-week due dates and keep one another accountable. You might also spend some time getting everyone up to speed on using google documents.

3. Using google docs, co-author a group authored review of your performance. By sharing this document with me once you finish it, let me know of specific plans to improve your group performance and to mutually support one another. This isn't about critiquing specific members, focus your review on ways members can improve overall group performance.

4. Use one of your rhetorical analysis for this week to write about how you have communicated with your group and how you might make your efforts more successful. Be honest. You're going to be working with groups throughout the rest of your career. What you learn now will pay off.

The secret to working with a group is to meet and/or communicate regularly. Communication is essential. You know how successful any relationship is without clear and regular communication. When you communicate: 1) establish clear expectations and known responsibilities; 2) set realistic deadlines and share these, in writing, with one another; 3) if work isn't getting done, give one another permission to check in via phone, email, IM, etc.; and, 4) give each other permission to contact me if a problem occurs which your group can't or shouldn't handle.

I'll be happy to attend subsequent group meetings, but not this first one.

Since much of your class participation grade is tied to how your group performs overall and what you learn about working with and using groups to help you write better, your time and effort are well spent. The upshot is I'm not going to make anything else due, but get your group in shape, as you'll soon be learning more from interacting with them than from me.

Notes on Proofreading.

Below you'll find my notes on various tips and tricks to help you proofread better. Over the rest of the semester, try out as many of the techniques I discuss as you can. Not every technique will work for every writer, but I'm confident you will find three or four which will help you catch surface level issues you are now missing.

Remember, proofreading differs from revision. When you proofread, you're looking at the surface level and polishing grammar, spelling and usage. When you revise, you're concerned with clarifying what you say, perfecting the organization, adding to your text, and cutting. In short, in revision, you want to deal with meaning and deep level issues. You proofread *after* you revise; otherwise, the effort you put into proofreading may well be wasted. One last note: one difference between editing and proofreading is that one edits another's text while one proofreads one's own.

On texts of some length, proofreading/editing is often the final step in the writing process prior to publishing your text. Proofreading usually takes place nearer the end of the revision process than at the beginning. Why? Because it doesn't make sense put in the effort to proofread every sentence and word level issue until your draft is fairly solid. In other words, why proofread and edit sentences and words which might still be cut or changed?

You can also waste time proofreading haphazardly. Once you've learned how to proofread systematically, your prose will be more successful and polished, and you'll save effort and time over haphazard, disorganized means you may currently be using.

In any event, here are my own notes on proofreading. You can now update your writing inventory on learning various techniques involved with different stages of the writing process.

Those notes just below are the main ones to remember:

It's nearly impossible to effectively proofread your own work. You know what you mean to say. When you read your own work, you often read over mistakes. My best piece of advice is to get others to proofread your work. Try to get at least three people to look at your work prior to turning it in. If necessary, hire someone or create a writer's group to help you with proofreading.

EVERYONE makes mistakes. Don't kick yourself for your mistakes, learn to recognize them and how to fix them. Even then, you'll still make mistakes.

I once worked for an academic journal. Four sets of eyes proofed each article--the professor who wrote it, myself, the departmental secretary, and the editor. Still, EVERY time we got the journal back from the printers, I opened it to a random page and found at least one mistake. EVERYONE, even professionals, make mistakes. I know, for instance, there are more than a few errors in these notes.

When you proofread, you're trying to do something called breaking set. This means you want to change the set or usual way you read, so you don't read over mistakes. Most of the proofreading tricks I list below have to do with changing how you read, so you can see what you've written.

1. Give yourself time to proofread. It's easy to find yourself adding the last sentence to a text at the last possible minute. As we finish drafting, the last thing we want to do is acknowledge there's yet more work to do. We want to be done. Resist the temptation. Give yourself time to proofread. Your final product will be better for the time. To give yourself time, set your deadline for finishing your draft in time to revise the draft for content and structure and to still have time to proofread.

2) Read backwards from the last sentence to the first. When proofreading for spelling, read backwards one word at a time. Learn to isolate each word, even those which have been passed by the spell check. It doesn't catch every misspelling. When proofreading for sentence issues, read backwards one sentence at a time.

3) Read slowly and out loud. You'll be surprised how reading something out loud, as opposed to silently, will let you hear errors you'd otherwise overlook.

4) Read to someone else. Reading your paper to someone else forces you to take an audience into account. Not only can the person you're reading to ask questions about content, they can mark places in a copy of your paper where they're confused or they hear an error as you read. When you hear a mistake or a piece of awkward phrasing, you can mark it and come back later to fix it.

5) Print out your text. If you usually read your papers on the screen, make a hard copy. As you find errors, mark them, and later revise your electronic copy. When we're drafting and hit the creative zone, we often work quickly and have a hard mental focus on meaning. These habits of reading quickly and thinking in terms of meaning and adding or cutting content can track over into efforts to proofread on the screen. Remember, when you're proofreading, you're not so much worried about content or organization (hopefully, each of these elements was polished earlier in the writing process), when proofreading you're looking at mechanics, usage, spelling, and grammar and only at mechanics, usage, spelling, and grammar.

6) Get someone else to read your work to you. Print out two hard copies. Get a friend to read your work to you. Both of you mark places which don't make sense or appear to be problematic. Use both copies as an index when fixing your text. Go back and look at each place which was marked and try to figure out what caused the area to get marked.

7) Have the computer read the text two you. Make a hard copy and set up the computer to read the text out loud. It will read what's there. Every time you hear an error, mark your hard copy. Use your marked copy as an index to what needs to be fixed. You can find many free text to speech readers by just googling.

8) Give yourself time. Breaking set isn't just about reading backwards or reading out loud. You get close to a text when you draft it and work on content and structural revision. If you try to proofread after working this closely with the text, you'll find yourself seeing what you meant to say rather than what you're actually saying. Horace, a Roman rhetorician, recommended putting what you write away for nine years, that is, until it reads as if someone else wrote it. We don't have such luxury, but giving yourself a day or two to let the text set, even just doing something else between finishing your content revisions and proofreading, gives distance enough so you're can bring fresh eyes back to your text. So, finish your draft and reward yourself with a night's sleep, a night out, or a workout prior to proofreading.

9) Give yourself time to proofread. Slow down. You're not in a race to get through, you're trying to look closely at multiple things, and the process takes time. Slow down. Read slowly. Take the time it takes to truly see and truly edit every sentence and word.

10) Physically touch every word. Talk about breaking set! Read backwards. Read out loud, and touch every word to make sure you're seeing and proofreading each and every word and sentence.

11) Use the grammar and spell checker. The state of the art in grammar and spell checkers isn't quite there yet, but they can help you see some errors. Just don't their word as law. Use them for the things at which they're effective. They can isolate "to be" verb constructions and give you an index to possible passive voice constructions. They can show you long sentences. They can usually recognize subject verb disagreements. They can sometimes help with punctuation. The real trick with using grammar and spell checkers is to learn their weaknesses and to learn how to customize them to the style of writing you want to reproduce.

12) Boo-boo or demon words. You know these words. They're the ones which sneak through the spell checker. Usually they're jargon or proper names you misspell or forget to capitalize. You can customize autocorrect to make corrections for your most typical boo-boo words.

13) Use a ruler or a piece of paper to isolate the sentences you're proofreading. This practice forces you to look at the sentence you're proofing, not the next sentence, not the previous sentence, the sentence you're supposed to be looking at.

14) Learn your problem areas. Everyone is prone to making different mistakes. If you or someone else sees a pattern in your mistakes, put it on a personal "list of things I have to look at when proofreading." (This is why it's a good idea to read the papers you get back from teachers and proofreaders. Often your professor will mark errors. Use their work to help develop your list of "things at which I have to look.") By learning to recognize the problems you're prone to introducing into the text and how these errors can be fixed, you'll soon find yourself making fewer errors. Every once in a while, take your copy of "things at which I have to look" and find your worse error. Spend some time researching how to recognize and fix your worse error. Eventually, you'll find your list of common errors getting shorter and your sentence level writing improving in proportion.

Adding Collaborators Seems to be Fixed

Reports from most students say the problem with adding collaborators seems to be fixed. Here's what to do if you have trouble:

1. Clear your browser's catch of cookies and temporary files.

If step one doesn't allow you to add collaborators, try:

2. Add collaborators one at a time.

When you share your google doc with a group of collaborators (Shart tab ===> Share with Others ====> Add collaborators window), you have two choices, adding folks as full collaborators or adding folks as viewers. Add your group and me as a full collaborator. This will allow us not only to read and view your document, but it will allow us to leave comments, suggestions, etc. I've had some reports of students not being able to edit once they open a document shared with them, my best guess is that this is because they've been added as a viewer rather than a full collaborator.

Steve

Problems with adding collaborators in google docs.

After touting the wondrous simplicity and ease of use of using google docs to collaborate, Google has picked now to prove me wrong.

If you've tried to add several folks as collaborators, and you've received an error message to the effect, "The server encountered an error. Try again later." You are far from alone. It's a google issue and isn't limited to this class, but is happening all over the web. Here is what I know about the problem and what is being said online about it:

The problem with the server is not you or your machine. There is something else going on, as the same problem is happening with other students and on my machine. From what I've been able to gather, folks are often able to add one collaborator at a time, but trying to add more sometimes--not always--is giving the google servers fits. I've read reports online that faster connections are getting through better, so I suspect some folks are just being timed out by google. The good thing is that google knows of the problem, but it has been unusually slow in fixing it.

For right now, try the trick of adding one collaborator at a time.

Resource Post: "Punctuation Made Simple."

Follow the link to an approachable discussion of punctuation: "Punctuation Made Simple."

List of Assignments and My Comments

A student took the time to go back and read the blog actively noting each assignment. She started with a list of questions, and she made notes as she read for each assignment. The list is valuable enough, I decided to share it with you. Her notes are in black, my responses, corrections, and comments are in red.

As always, write with questions.

Stev

The only assignment I see you've left out is the one working with Google Docs this week and those associated with introducing yourself and forming groups.

Unless I correct you below, assume your understanding of an assignment jives with my own.

Keep asking the excellent questions. With your permission, I would like to share your synopsis and my responses with the entire class. It is a helpful summary.

Weekly Rhetorical Analysis (Correct)

Due Sun @ midnight
Write 2 rhetorical analysis using magic questions or explore one question in depth using 250-500 words
• Send to entire class (Later these will be shared with only your group using Google Docs.)
  

Extra Credit for Weekly Assignments - Write about the election (This is ongoing for the semester. In addition to writing about the election and its rhetoric on the class list, you are to discuss the election and its rhetoric with other students, again--for right now--via the list. One tactic is to use some or all of your weekly rhetorical analysis and focus them on the election.)

Critique Others' Weekly Rhetorical (Read each of the rhetorical analysis and offer feedback. Double check the assignment on the blog. In some classes--depending on the other writing and feedback load--I suggest responding to each rhetorical analysis. This would have you doing six per week rather than to one per student.)

• Due Wed @ midnight
• Read one rhetorical analysis from each group member (since we have 4 people in our group, this means that I should read 3)
• Note what they did well
• Make 2 suggestions on improvements
• Send to entire class

Error List for MLK -- (Keeping the error list is an ongoing assignment begun with the King feedback. As you gain feedback from other assignments--like the weekly rhetorical analysis-- you'll be updating the list and using it as an index for issues on which you can focus to improve your writing. I haven't had you update the error list as of yet, but the work is coming.)

• Is the error list only for MLK or is it a repository for all of the feedback we receive? If it's not then would you point out in the blog where you state that his is for all writings? This will help me discover how I'm overlooking details of the assignments.
• Send to entire class ALONG with our (King Analysis) revisions based on the error list

King Draft Revision (Correct. At least one group decided to share feedback with the entire group, not just send it to the author. This is fine, but it is not required. In fact, the tactic gives everyone the chance to see feedback and learn from it; but, some students may not yet be comfortable with sharing such specific and detailed criticism. Yes, I did want a compilation email of the criticisms you gave to the members of your group. The only way to complete this entire assignment prior to 5 October is to coordinate with your group to complete portions of it during the week.)

• Revise draft based on feedback and error list
• Send revision to group only (not entire class)
• Critique each group member's newly revised draft (for my group that means that I provide feedback on 3 draft - revisions)
• Provide feedback on 2 paragraphs and how they can be improved
• Due BEFORE Sun, Oct 5th (coordinate with members)
  
• Send feedback to the author, not the group, not the class
• Send YOU the criticisms that I gave to each group member
• Sign my name to the email
• State ENG 112 in the email

The Ben Franklin reading assignment was nothing more than a reading assignment, correct? We had an option to use this in our weekly rhetorical. Is this correct? (Correct. My understand of New Federal Law requires colleges which receive federal funding to develop course work relating to the Constitution. The Franklin assignment was a way to show the class even the Constitution and Declaration of Independence went through a long revision process.)

FYI: Advice on Overcoming Writer's Block

There are many books written on the subject of the occupational disease of the writer--writer's block. I sometimes wonder if the books are written to overcome a block and profit from it. Writer's Block is real, and finding yourself without an idea to get started or the right words once started happens to all writers. Follow the link below to some decent advice on tactics to overcome writer's block. I can recommend the advice to get physical and that of doing research, but nothing works so well as sleeping on the problem and having a routine where I write every day.

Steve

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/break-through-writers-block.html

FYI: Sleep and Drafting

If you find yourself stuck on a problem when drafting or revising, walking away and sleeping on it may be the best answer. This is advice from which I've personally profited over the years, and I've passed along to students with very little to back it up but my own experience that it works. Here's a link, via Lifehacker, which points to recent research which confirms. My Mother's advice to "Sleep on it" was right.

Steve

Sleep Boosts Creativity by 33% [Mind Hacks]

via Lifehacker by Gina Trapani on 9/28/08

A Harvard sleep researcher finds that if you sleep on new ideas and information, you're 33% more likely to make connections between distantly related points. Sleep helps you make tough decisions, and solve problems, too.