"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug." - Mark Twain
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Due Monday, September 29
Post a comment of 250 words minimum in response to the following prompt:
Choose two of the selections included in the Memoir section of NextText Chapter Two (pages 154-171). Discuss/describe the relationships that are being portrayed in each memoir and compare how the two authors approach the idea of "family" - what does it mean to them? How is this meaning demonstrated?
Choose two of the selections included in the Memoir section of NextText Chapter Two (pages 154-171). Discuss/describe the relationships that are being portrayed in each memoir and compare how the two authors approach the idea of "family" - what does it mean to them? How is this meaning demonstrated?
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Good Writing: A Definition
"Good writing [is] making what is completely obvious only to you completely obvious to everyone else. With words." - Jason Kottke
Monday, September 15, 2008
Due Wednesday, September 17
Post a comment of 250 words minimum in response to the following prompt:
In "We're All Cousins and Other Web Revelations" (page 141 of NextText), Michael Schuyler - like Henry Louis Gates, Jr. in "My Yiddishe Mama" (page 135) - traces his family history. However, the two pieces have different approaches to the topic and are written for different audiences. Compare the two essays, identifying - among other observations - how audience affects the style and tone of each.
In "We're All Cousins and Other Web Revelations" (page 141 of NextText), Michael Schuyler - like Henry Louis Gates, Jr. in "My Yiddishe Mama" (page 135) - traces his family history. However, the two pieces have different approaches to the topic and are written for different audiences. Compare the two essays, identifying - among other observations - how audience affects the style and tone of each.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Due Monday, September 15
Post a comment of 250 words minimum in response to the following prompt:
Chapter Two of NextText looks at the American family through the disciplines of sociology and public policy. How do you define "family"? Is family primarily determined through biology or something else? Do you think the American family is facing worse problems now than in the past? In your answer, refer to at least two of the essays found in pages 86-118 of NextText.
Chapter Two of NextText looks at the American family through the disciplines of sociology and public policy. How do you define "family"? Is family primarily determined through biology or something else? Do you think the American family is facing worse problems now than in the past? In your answer, refer to at least two of the essays found in pages 86-118 of NextText.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Narratives (The Beginning)
As you prepare your first paragraphs for Essay #1, our narrative assignment, give some thought to how these examples begin. Notice that often a good narrative begins by showing rather than telling.
"During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher." - Edgar Allen Poe, "The Fall of the House of Usher"
"Carla heard the car coming before it topped the little rise in the road that around here they called a hill. It’s her, she thought. Mrs. Jamieson—Sylvia—home from her holiday in Greece. From the barn door—but far enough inside that she could not easily be seen—she watched the road where Mrs. Jamieson would have to drive by, her place being half a mile farther along than Clark and Carla’s. If it was somebody coming to see them, the car would be slowing down by now. But still Carla hoped. Let it not be her." - Alice Munro, "Runaway"
"When I was in fourth grade, my class took a field trip to the American Tobacco plant in nearby Durham, North Carolina. There we witnessed the making of cigarettes and were given free packs to take home to our parents. I tell people this and they ask me how old I am, thinking, I guess, that I went to the world’s first elementary school, one where we wrote on cave walls and hunted our lunch with clubs. Then I mention the smoking lounge at my high school. It was outdoors, but, still, you’d never find anything like that now, not even if the school was in a prison." - David Sedaris, "Letting Go"
"Oscar de León was not one of those Dominican cats everybody’s always going on about. He wasn’t no player. Except for one time, he’d never had much luck with women. He’d been seven then." - Junot Diaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
"Perhaps it was the middle of January in the present that I first looked up and saw the mark on the wall. In order to fix a date it is necessary to remember what one saw. So now I think of the fire; the steady film of yellow light upon the page of my book; the three chrysanthemums in the round glass bowl on the mantelpiece. Yes, it must have been the winter time, and we had just finished our tea, for I remember that I was smoking a cigarette when I looked up and saw the mark on the wall for the first time." - Virginia Woolf, "The Mark on the Wall"
"During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher." - Edgar Allen Poe, "The Fall of the House of Usher"
"Carla heard the car coming before it topped the little rise in the road that around here they called a hill. It’s her, she thought. Mrs. Jamieson—Sylvia—home from her holiday in Greece. From the barn door—but far enough inside that she could not easily be seen—she watched the road where Mrs. Jamieson would have to drive by, her place being half a mile farther along than Clark and Carla’s. If it was somebody coming to see them, the car would be slowing down by now. But still Carla hoped. Let it not be her." - Alice Munro, "Runaway"
"When I was in fourth grade, my class took a field trip to the American Tobacco plant in nearby Durham, North Carolina. There we witnessed the making of cigarettes and were given free packs to take home to our parents. I tell people this and they ask me how old I am, thinking, I guess, that I went to the world’s first elementary school, one where we wrote on cave walls and hunted our lunch with clubs. Then I mention the smoking lounge at my high school. It was outdoors, but, still, you’d never find anything like that now, not even if the school was in a prison." - David Sedaris, "Letting Go"
"Oscar de León was not one of those Dominican cats everybody’s always going on about. He wasn’t no player. Except for one time, he’d never had much luck with women. He’d been seven then." - Junot Diaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
"Perhaps it was the middle of January in the present that I first looked up and saw the mark on the wall. In order to fix a date it is necessary to remember what one saw. So now I think of the fire; the steady film of yellow light upon the page of my book; the three chrysanthemums in the round glass bowl on the mantelpiece. Yes, it must have been the winter time, and we had just finished our tea, for I remember that I was smoking a cigarette when I looked up and saw the mark on the wall for the first time." - Virginia Woolf, "The Mark on the Wall"
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Announcement: September 8 Readings
A student asked about the readings listed on the syllabus for September 8. Since we haven't discussed the September 3 NextText readings yet, please read only the New Century Handbook pages that are listed for September 8. Of course, reading ahead is always encouraged.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Due Monday, September 8
Any homework assignments are due by the beginning of class on the date listed in the subject line. You will know the post includes a homework assignment because 1) it will be announced in class and 2) it will have a subject line like the one above.
Read the prompt carefully. Sometimes you will be asked to only respond to the question(s) listed, and sometimes you will also be asked to respond to another student's comment.
Click on the word Comments below and choose Name/URL for your identity. Enter your first name and last initial.
For September 8, please post a comment in response to the following questions:
1. What training in academic writing have you had before this course?
2. In your previous experience, what were some of the most valuable skills that you learned or most relevant tools you acquired?
3. What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of the writing process?
4. Which types of coursework do you find most helpful to learn new concepts (specific writing assignments, group work, class discussion, oral presentation, lecture, etc.)? Why?
5. Which types of coursework do you find least helpful? Why?
6. Please briefly describe a memorable writing assignment you have previously completed. What made it memorable?
7. What do you hope to learn in this course? Which skills or tools would you like to take with you at the end of the course?
Read the prompt carefully. Sometimes you will be asked to only respond to the question(s) listed, and sometimes you will also be asked to respond to another student's comment.
Click on the word Comments below and choose Name/URL for your identity. Enter your first name and last initial.
For September 8, please post a comment in response to the following questions:
1. What training in academic writing have you had before this course?
2. In your previous experience, what were some of the most valuable skills that you learned or most relevant tools you acquired?
3. What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of the writing process?
4. Which types of coursework do you find most helpful to learn new concepts (specific writing assignments, group work, class discussion, oral presentation, lecture, etc.)? Why?
5. Which types of coursework do you find least helpful? Why?
6. Please briefly describe a memorable writing assignment you have previously completed. What made it memorable?
7. What do you hope to learn in this course? Which skills or tools would you like to take with you at the end of the course?
New York Times Registration
I've created a New York Times ID and password for the class. (The site requires registration.) To read some of the articles to the right, use this log-in:
Member ID: aw111fall08
Password: woodbury
Member ID: aw111fall08
Password: woodbury
Welcome!
This will be the home site for our AW111 class where you can:
- read posted articles related to writing
- complete your post/comment homework assignments
- locate the articles for your synthesis essay assignment (#3)
- communicate with your classmates and instructor
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