The Website of Your English Class: March 2009

Thursday, March 12, 2009

ESSAY WRITING OVERVIEW FOR INCLASS PEER REVIEW PREPAREDNESS!!

If you haven't brought a flash drive for the important files (MLA powerpoint and other stuff), you really want to do that for Tuesday.

Here is a site to learn how not to make common errors in the English language.

Further citations link from my website (only for paper 2+3).

Further MLA directions link from my website (only for paper 2).

What will we look for?

We're trying to figure out if you have a good paper or not.

Essentially, there are 4 things that I look for:
Transition / Flow
Grammar
Organization
Do you prove your point (thesis)?

If you don't have those things, you won't do well. You most likely won't pass the paper and will have to redo it.

Yes, there is a redo on this paper, but if you don't use spell and grammar check on Word, I will LITERALLY STOP correcting your essay. If I find any word that does not exist in the English language or if I find that there are OBVIOUS errors that should have been picked up by a grammatical check (but were not corrected), I MAY CHOOSE to stop correcting your paper. If this is the case, you will be on your own for suggestions when it comes to a redo paper.

Also, please note that I don't give help on papers that I've already corrected.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL with outside assistance. You have had plagiarism explained to you. I don't play games with plagiarism. Also, you have to write your final exam on your own. Students who were passing the class have failed the final because they could not meet its pass or fail requirements (as mandated by the division). This happens more often than not because students thought that they were getting ahead when in reality someone else was doing their work.

With that, please note that I give personal help to students so that they see what errors that they are making IN THE HOPES THAT THEY learn how to correct these things on an individual basis. Not everyone who comes for help gets A grades. Not everyone who comes for help passes this class. You don't get extra credit because you come. You get individualized help to assure that you can do what you have to do in order to succeed in college and in life. It's up to you to make this help work.

Most likely, if you come, we will start with reading your paper out loud so that you can hear if your paper makes sense. Just as most first paragraphs sounded awkward and flat when read in class, many papers sound equally jumbled when they are read out loud.

In the effort of time, you should note that I don't correct handwritten papers. This is because these papers can be very different in how they are typed out, and in my knowledge, it is best to look at a paper that is in its final stages as opposed to one that still has to be interpreted while it is typed out (however, you can come for direction in how to start out, but don't expect me to take over the writing of your paper). In the past, students who were still typing papers at Barnes and Nobles were not happy because they did not get their papers thoroughly corrected.

Clearly understand, I'm not here to hand you a grade. If you're not working for this, then you're really not doing your share of the work.

Thus, here are some corrections for you to see if you need to make them.

1. Is your paper typed in 12 point type, Times New Roman lettering, and is it double spaced from the top to the bottom? See the Blair Handbook for a sample essay (page 412).
2. While you DO NOT HAVE TO have a header, if you do, it must be in the header. If it is not, then you already have a formatting error. This is how you set up the first page. The first page is not a title page. I don't require that since it is optional and because too many trees have already died for this class.
3. Line 1 of the paper begins with your name. This is followed by my name, the class, and the date. These must be written in this order.
4. Double spacing begins after your name. If you leave those 4 things single spaced, you are not following the directions of the Blair Handbook in the MLA research section. If you don't know how to double space, please ask. This is not hitting enter at the end of each line as if you were using a typewriter.
5. The next line down is a title that is centered. It does not have to be the cleverest thing, but it has to be there. All the same, it should be something more exciting than "a hobby that makes me happy."
6. Remember the rules of the first paragraph. Your thesis is the last sentence. There are 2-3 sentences before it. There are no facts. The whole thing flows through.
7. Remember the rules of the last paragraph. This begins with the understood "It is clear to see that." You do not have to write this out, but technically, you can. There are 3-4 sentences within it. There are no facts or new ideas. There is no repetition. It is a generalized summary of everything that you have stated. The whole thing flows through to a conclusive ending.
8. There can be no use of the word "I." (except in paper 1). There can't be any use of the word you (in any paper). If you use the words we, our, and us, they must clearly refer to you and the people who are with you at this place. If they don't, you will lose points.
9. THAT SAID, this paper is an explanation of why this place makes you happy. It it not about a trip there in a story telling fashion. It does concern your opinion. It is not researched. It is how you see this place as wonderful and how you prove it.
10. There is NO Works Cited Page on this assignment as it is not researched. There are no quotes from other people, so you will only have 0 citations.
11. These papers are straight forward. I don't want to see any question marks or exclamation points.
12. If your paper is not 2.5 pages, you will lose length points and effort points. If your paper stops short, you can lose effort points as well. While you will only have to give 2.5 pages of reasons for why you feel this, you have to detail them thoroughly.
13. If you don't convince me that you are passionate about this topic, then you will not do as well as someone who does. Remember that the thesis of this paper is to tell me about a place that makes you happy in this paper. It doesn't matter if I agree that it's a great place. All that matters is that you write about why it is.
14. Your thesis promised me something. Did you deliver through with it or did you get lost along the way?
15. See Issues in Your Paper for other rules.
16. See The Right Word for other frequently messed up words.
17. Please e-mail me with questions you might have. All the same, don't e-mail your paper for proofreading. If you can't make it in person, I won't correct your paper so that you can just change errors and GET a grade. That's not learning - that's being spoonfed. I don't do that.
18. Please hand in all of the pre-writings with the essay. If you don't hand these in with the essay, then they don't come in. I don't make accomodations for people writing pre-writings as after the fact points (See below). Dresser Drawer Method, Outline, Notes, Typed Rough Draft.
19. This may sound like a lot, but you're here to learn to write the best essay possible. Knowing how to edit your paper will help you do this.

The Final Essay is graded based on the following categories to the corresponding percentages:

Length (10)
Format (10)
Effort (10)
Sentence Sense (30)
Transition Cohesion (20)
Grammar (20)
Pre-writing (50 points on top of the 200 you already had on top).