Portfolio Workshops

As indicated on our syllabus, I have scheduled two portfolio workshops according to the final exam schedule:

8:00am December 9 in H&SS 106 (section 16--portfolios due at noon December 9)
8:00am December 14 in H&SS 106 (section 15--portfolios due at noon December 14)

Please include the reflective paper assignment sheet/syllabus with your signature on the back with your completed portfolio.

Paragraphing Fun Tomorrow

As part of our review/workshopping sequence, sections 15 and 16 will have some fun with paragraphs during class tomorrow. In short, we will work on transitions and unity and discuss topic sentences.

Checking Web Sources

I know we discussed your use of source material from the web, especially the expertise of the source. Well, apparently, we need a reminder. Many students used less-than-authoritative web sources. In fact, one person cited this guy as an expert on college athletics.

Some Editing Fun

During class tomorrow, Sections 15 and 16 will play with the mangled sentences I saved from your first case studies. While we're doing so, I will show you a nifty little trick in MSWord you can use while editing. You will want to shower me with gifts and money, but I, ever humble, will only accept a heartfelt "thank you." I know you're looking forward to tomorrow morning as much as I am.

Library Tomorrow

I want to remind sections 15 and 16 that we will be meeting in the classroom on the second floor of the library tomorrow morning. In preparation for tomorrow's class, think about how you want use use your source material and what kind of source material is best for your purposes. That is, consider the relative advantages and disadvantages of using the databases in DISCUS, the internet, print journals, government documents, etc. Then, depending upon the points you would like to make in your paper, where should you be looking for the sources that most effectively support your points?

Strongbad Writes an Engli(l)sh Paper

A student sent me Strongbad's approach to writing an English paper last fall, and I thought it might be time to post it here for inspiration as the stress of the end of the semester begins to wear us down.

Support Your Fellow Students . . . And Receive Extra Credit!

Students in sections 15 and 16 can earn up to two extra credit points by attending and analyzing the student debate tonight at 7pm in Pacer Commons Room 4C. Your analysis should discuss the different appeals the debaters use to support their claims and assertions in much the same way you developed your analyses of Susan B. Anthony's speech and the blogs.

Writing Room Workshop

I've been a little remiss in posting reminders of the Writing Room workshops here. Here is this week's workshop:

Sex, Profanity and Diction
Wednesday, November 3: 3:00pm to 3:50pm: H&SS 214
Dr. Sue Lorch

Don't forget to vote tomorrow.

Resource

The NATIONAL RESOURCE CENTER FOR THE FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE AND STUDENTS IN TRANSITION at the University of South Carolina should have some useful stuff for folks considering papers about "working while in college" and "getting involved on campus."

Images and Documents, Anyone?

Some you may have noticed that Emily Johston has a couple images on her blog. Although blosgspot does not support images, Emily has discovered an external server to upload and display the images she has.

In what will certainly be a futile atttempt to learn more about this web and blogging stuff, I have gone ahead and retained my own external server. If you want to upload images and documents, please let me know. We can meet for a couple minutes, and I will gladly host your blog for the rest of the semester on the server I have retained. That way, when you post, you can simply click on the image icon and upload an image or a document. Email me if you are interested and have a great rest of the weekend.

Conferences

I have been plugging away at your mid-semester portfolios using the grade sheet we designed. The conference schedule is posted outside my office door, so please sign up for a conference if you haven't already done so. When you do, though, please be sure to sign up for a time at least twenty-four hours in advance. Doing so will allow me time to make sure I have your portfolio complete.

The Bedford/St. Martin's Workshop on Plagiarism

The Bedford/St. Martin's Workshop on Plagiarism is a straightforward discussion of plagiarism, academic honestly, and the development of an academic voice.

Grading Scale

As promised, I've uploaded the grading scale that we developed during class today. I'm pretty happy with it.

Remember to have your completed portfolios with you in class on Tuesday, October 4. I will then distribute the next assignment and syllabus. I hope you decide to post later versions of your blog analyses to your blogs, and, well, I hope you get some useful comments on them.

Tony-Nominated Playwright Accused of Plagiarism

According to an article in the New York Times a playwright nominated for a Tony Award (arguably the highest honor in drama) for the play Frozen has been accused of plagiarism by a psychiatrist and a columnist

The Candidates, Seen From the Classroom

Dr. Stanley Fish from the University of Iliinois, Chicago has an interesting article in the New York Times about how the two presidential candidates fared when he had his English 101 class compare excerpts from their speeches. Thanks to Dr. Hampton for pointing out the article.

Dr. Fish and his students take John Kerry to task for not clearly articulating his ideas. Dr. Fish then goes further, claiming that "if you can't explain an idea or a policy plainly in one or two sentences, it's not yours; and if it's not yours, no one you speak to will be persuaded of it, or even know what it is, or (and this is the real point) know what you are."

Hmmmmmm. . . . That sounds a lot like what I was saying about thesis statements the other day, eh?

Oops and Yippee

A big fat "Oops!" goes out to the lecture yesterday when I said that men were more likely to vote than women. In fact, since 1980 (I think) women are more likley to vote than men.

A hard-earned "Yippee!" because I think I managed to get the links to the blogs for sections 10, 13 and 25 back up on the course blog. (Harley and Riley still need to email me.) If the link to your blog is not working, please let me know.

"Framing" Your Analysis

I wholeheartedly concur with Paperwight's suggestion to read Mixing Memory's discussion of frames. A close look at how people frame their arguments can provide an excellent way to analyze those arguments.

By the way, Paperwight took the time to comment on the initial analyses from folks in sections 15 and 16. (Thanks, Paperwight!) Whether you received a comment or not, you should read everyone's blogs and consider Paperwight's comments as you continue drafting. As always, feel free to comment on any of the blog posts you come across as you are working on your analyses, whether those posts belong to other students, Paperwight, The Poorman, AmericaBlog, etc.

Thursday Reading, Plagiarism and the Course Blog

The link below to Thursday's reading seems to be working again. We will be discussing that reading as a class.

I also got started on links for a discussion of plagiarism and placed them in the left hand column.

Our course blog (this site) crashed this afternoon. I was able to salvage the left hand column and the middle column, but much of the right hand column was lost, including the links to Dr. Rhodes' sections. Please email me with your name, your blogspot address (URL), and the section in which you are enrolled. I will get everything straightened out as soon as possible.

Reading For Thursday

Here's the reading for Thursday. It's in "pdf" format, so you might need Adobe Reader in order to download and view the document.

Writing Room Workshop Re-scheduled

I created a scheduling conflict with this week's Writing Room Workshop and had to re-schedule. The new information is below.

The Timed Essay
Tuesday, September 21: 4:30pm to 5:20pm: H&SS 109
Prof. Karl Fornes