Monday, February 4, 2013 Melissa Gunby

 Hold your hands out in front of you, palms down. Imagine that you have a total of six strings tied around your fingers. Write about the objects that are dangling from the strings.

 Peer Review on “idea draft” of report  Using and supporting quotations  Avoiding plagiarism  Class Discussion: Ender’s Game, chapter 3  Chapter 2: “The Shape of Texts”

 A lot of people wonder about the value of peer review, thinking that if they don’t think they’re a great writer that surely it means their classmates aren’t either.  But I believe that we all have strengths and weaknesses and sometimes by working with others we can balance those things out.

 To read and think like a reader  To give honest and constructive feedback  To learn a bit about what others are doing and trying to incorporate it into your own writing

 It does no good to just skim through your partner’s paper and say “it looks good!”  That kind of feedback isn’t helpful in the long run.  Be honest, but be constructive.  Don’t say “dude, this sucks.”  Instead say “You know, I had a hard time understanding what you meant to say in this sentence? Can you explain it to me?”

 When you’re done reading each other’s papers it’s okay to talk a bit. Sometimes, we can explain better verbally than we can in writing.  Ask your partner to clarify anything that troubled you. By talking it out, you both may come to solutions that you were both looking for.

 You have 20 minutes to complete this activity.  1. read your partner’s draft  2. mark any places on the draft where you think you need to mark; where you were confused or didn’t understand, or where you think there might be an error in grammar or something  3. answer the questions on the handout  4. return drafts and talk for a few minutes about the feedback you each got.

 We use quotes to show that we have experts who agree with what we have to say in our writing.  We also use quotes to say things that other’s have already said better  Or we use quotes when writing about literature to make a reference to a particular line, phrase, etc.

 My syllabus reflects a very mixed philosophy of teaching. I believe in free-writing to develop ideas, and that it doesn't need to be graded. It should be collected and used for participation points, but not for evaluation. I wouldn't want my notebook graded on the random thoughts I generate in class, so it would be unfair of me to expect different of my students. I also believe very strongly in the revision process, but also of giving grades. As Lad Tobin writes, "[e]ven the most process-oriented teachers acknowledge that a meaningful profess ought to lead eventually to some sort of written product" (Guide, 7).To that end, I have created a syllabus that allows time for multiple drafts for each major assignment, with the provision that the grade received on a "final draft" my be improved by further revision in time for the final portfolio project.

 In J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, the modern romantic epic, the main group of nine heroes follows a code of friendship to hold them together and see them through the dark times that they are trying to bring to a close. “Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens” (Tolkien, 274). Their friendship is one of undying loyalty to each other and the mission they have taken up. The Fellowship of nine is brought together with a common purpose and soon develops a close bond among the nine. But when one member of the Fellowship allows himself to be lured by the power of the Ring, the Fellowship crumbles and the members go on their separate ways to see to the ultimate goal of destroying the Ring the fighting the growing darkness spreading over Middle Earth. Though the Fellowship was reunited at the end, it wasn’t the same. The journey had cost the remaining eight members so much, that none of them were the same. The fault of one member caused the Fellowship to break, because he couldn’t uphold the unwritten code that they all agreed to live by.

◦ Easiest thing to remember is this: ◦ Set up the quote ◦ Give the quote  Cite the quote ◦ Support/explain the quote  You don’t want to just drop a quote in  It has to be supported and tied back to your thoughts

 Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a character of much indecision. He waffles constantly over his courses of action. “To be, or not to be, that is the question,” may be one of the most famous lines from the play, but it also sets up Hamlet’s frame of mind (3.1.55). Throughout this soliloquy, Hamlet is questioning his decision to act, and reveal his uncle/step- father’s guilt in the death of the King.

Formatting Short Quotations In-text Examples: According to some, dreams express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184), though others disagree. According to Foulkes's study, dreams may express "profound aspects of personality" (184). Is it possible that dreams may express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184)? Cullen concludes, "Of all the things that happened there / That's all I remember" (11- 12).

 Sometimes you don’t want to use a whole quote but you want to explain someone’s ideas in your own words. This is paraphrasing or summarizing.  Example: Hamlet’s indecision shows in his soliloquy in the first scene of the third act. When he questions whether or not to take action or suffer the consequences of inaction, he is struggling with ideas of not only justice, but loyalty to his mother and being a hormonal teenager ( ).

 The period for the end of the sentence always goes on the outside of the ( ).  If you follow up the quote with more words before the end of the sentence, put a comma before the close quote punctuation.  “To be, or not to be, that is the question,” may be one of the most famous lines from the play, but it also sets up Hamlet’s frame of mind (3.1.55).

 Whenever you quote in an essay, you must cite your source, that is, give credit to the original author.  Whenever you reference an idea by another author (summarize or paraphrase), you must also give credit to the author.  You must cite in two places: in text and at the end  Each documentation style (MLA, APA) has its own way of documenting  We’re going to focus on MLA, but your handbook has information on APA which maybe handy in other classes.

 In MLA format, we use parenthetical citation. This means that after a quote, we put the source in parenthesis ( ) at the end of the sentence.

 If you use the author’s name in the sentence (signal phrase), just put the page number in the ( )  If you just quote, put the author’s last name and page number in the ( )  If you use more than one source by the same author, include the title in the ( )  See page 191 in green book

Print Source with Author In-text Example: Human beings have been described by Kenneth Burke as "symbol-using animals" (3). Human beings have been described as "symbol-using animals" (Burke 3).

 Don’t try to memorize the way all this formatting should be done. There’s too much to try to remember.  Keep your handbook (the green book) handy when you’re writing.  I have a Master’s in English and I still have to look this stuff up.

Break time !

The Shape of Texts

 We’re going to cover introductions and conclusions separately, and we’ve already gone over paragraph structure.  So….  Let’s kind of “skip” chapter 2, and just work on thesis statements and essay structure. ..\..\..\Solano College\Spring 13\370\essay structure and thesis statements.pptx..\..\..\Solano College\Spring 13\370\essay structure and thesis statements.pptx

 Complete the handout assignment: ◦ I have given you a sample essay, along with an introduction, thesis statement, and conclusion. ◦ Your task for homework is to write two supporting paragraphs to support the thesis provided. ◦ You MUST incorporate the quotes included on the handout into the paragraphs.