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Meet at Kresge Lab 3/20 & 3/22

Mar18

img00029-20101021-1036My Dear Students,

We are meeting in the computer lab at Kresge Hall on March 20 and March 22 to learn WordPress.

If you already have a WordPress blog, that’s great.  We will be optimizing what you have and trying to make the best of it.

To find Kresge Lab:

  • Go to Kresge Hall.  Stand facing the building.
  • Enter the door on the left.
  • Go down the stairs.
  • Turn right, down the hall.
  • Turn right into the double doors.
  • Make an immediate, sharp, right turn into the lab.

You will need to know your sign-on information for the University Computer (i.e. the same information you use to sign-on to campus e-mail.)  You may also bring your own laptop if you wish and work in the lab (there is a table there).

Please be on time, we have a LOT to learn!!  🙂

Dr. K

Descriptive Essay Assignment for English 311

Feb3

The descriptive essay is our first essay of the year because it teaches important skills in using “show-don’t-tell” when writing.  You will need this in every assignment you do!

The Assignment

Think about an object that is small enough to hold in your hand. Now spend five minutes considering all of the following:

  1. What does it look like?
  2. How heavy is it?
  3. What is it’s texture? If you ran your thumb-nail against it, what would it feel like?
  4. What does it smell like? (Everything has a smell–even a faint smell.)
  5. If you tasted it, what would it taste like?
  6. If you dropped it, what would it sound like? Does it make a sound?
  7. What are your connections to the object? How does it make you feel when you see it?

After you have a clear description of the object in a paragraph format, please post that paragraph on the WIKI.

Now, organize the essay in one of the following ways:

Wagonwheel

Bookends

Personification

Continue reading →

Getting Started with English 311!

Jan25

This is a class in Grammar and Advanced Essay Writing, so I mean to focus on both very diligently.

I want to start the class by giving you a few tools that might be helpful in your writing this year (and hopefully in the years to come!)

Ginger is a very helpful, free, grammar, spell, and style checker.

Ginger is a very helpful, free, grammar, spelling, and style checker.

The first is Ginger.  This is a program that not only checks your spelling and grammar, but also your style–and it is FREE!  I have found it very helpful in my own writing.  It requires a download in addition to adding it to the toolbar of your favorite browser, but it will check EVERYTHING you write–even Facebook posts, WIKI entries, and email.

The second suggestion is a general category  known as “mind mapping” software.  There are literally hundreds of free mind-mapping programs out there.  Here is a collection of several mind-mapping programs you can try.

In addition, you want to make sure you know how to get to my Netvibes Account, where you will find everything you need for the class, including your WIKI, Engrade, and any other important materials you need to access for the class.

Use Your Holidays!

Dec17

Dear Students,

You are spending some quality time with friends and family this Holiday Season, as you should.  However, don’t forget to keep moving forward.  There are a lot of skills, tools, and information you can be pulling from during this holiday!

Here are some suggestions to learn something new:

[ted id=1571 width=560 height=315]

[youtube=http://youtu.be/gM95HHI4gLk]

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

English 202 Annotated Bibliography for Final Project

Oct31

Prospectus with Annotated Bibliography

Assignment: Write a prospectus paragraph and a 10 source annotated bibliography on some aspect of your author or work for your final blog project.

Audiences: Anyone looking for background information on your author or work.


Purpose

  • To develop your skills in using the Woodruff Library’s research tools.
  • To expand critical thinking skills by teaching how to decide upon a topic, narrow the topic into a research question, write a prospectus, and prepare research notes.
  • To provide practice in scholarly writing.

Directions

The prospectus and annotated bibliography are commonly used to propose a project and to keep the project notes organized while writing the paper.  It is important that you master the annotated bibliography in order to plan, propose, organize, and research projects in college and beyond.

1.  Decide upon a research question:

  1. Think of some aspect of the author or work you introduced to the class that interests you.  For example, if we had read Moby Dick, you might do a blog about whaling which might include information about different types of harpoons, the ships that were involved in whaling, and some of the environmental damage of whaling.
  2. Do some preliminary research by find out how much information is available on the topic you are considering. Sources you might use for this purpose include books, web sites, journals, audio and video files, and online encyclopedias.
  3. After you have some idea of the quality and quantity of research materials available, and the significant issues within that topic area, create a research question that will guide your search for information.  Think of a question that is narrow enough to answer in a simple blog.

2.   Write a prospectus paragraph (typically about a 1/2 page):  

The prospectus is the plan for your research project that you submit before actually completing the research or working on your project. It should contain the following elements:

  1. State the research topic and your research question: “In my research I want to examine the Whaling. Why was the whaling industry so important, and how did it effect the lives of people involved in it?”
  2. Delineate the main areas of your proposed research: “In order to answer this question, I will look at historical documents, websites, and read some historical journals to pinpoint specific aspects of what it was like to be a whaler.”

3.   Write the annotated bibliography:

  1. List the source in correct MLA format for sources.  Sources should be double-spaced with a hanging indent.  Sources should be organized in alphabetical order. Try an online bibliographic citation system if you’d like. Continue reading →

INFOGRAPHICS! Woo Hoo!

Oct24

Click for Link to 30 Infographic Tools

For my English 105WS Investigative Piece, you should be integrating some great infographics.

This is a link to over 30 different types of infographic-makers–with some comment about how to use them.

Here is a link to five more! (Some may be repeats).

If that wasn’t enough–Here are 17 more!

WAIT!  Makeuseof.com has a nice article on Infographics with links to ten more!

105WS Investigative Story: Prospectus with Annotated Bibliography

Oct19

This is how you do it:

  1. Working Title–This is on the top of your paper, as a title.
  2. Prospectus–Include your Thesis statement and your supporting paragraph.  This should be the opening paragraph of your investigative story.
  3. Write “Annotated Bibliography” as a subhead under that paragraph.
  4. List at least 5 sources for the rough draft.   You will need 10 for the final draft.  Sources should be formatted in Chicago Manual of Style (CMS).
  5. Under each source you will write two short (1-2 sentence) paragraphs that tell me about the source.
    1. The first  paragraph will summarize the source.
    2. The second paragraph will tell why it is important to your story.

This is due to MyCompLab by Tuesday night at 11:59.  You will start the peer review on Wednesday.

What will be counted for the 202 Midterm?

Oct12

Here is a list of the graded assignments I will count toward the midterm grade.  Please get them in ASAP!

  • WIKI Intro—Extra Credit (WIKI)
  • Quiz—Journey to the West (ENGRADE)
  • Discussion—Journey to the West (ENGRADE Discussions)
  • Sign up for Presentation—on WIKI (WIKI)
  • Quiz—Tartuffe (ENGRADE)
  • Group Project—(WIKI)
  • Tartuffe Group Project Individual Paper—(ENGRADE Turn-Ins)
  • Quiz—Swift/Pope (ENGRADE)
  • Midterm Take Home—(ENGRADE Turn-ins)
  • Paper #1—(ENGRADE Turn-ins)