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/
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
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
http://documents.google.com/support/bin/topic.py?topic=15114
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
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
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
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
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
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
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/
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/
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
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.
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.
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