102q Composition

Use the links at right and below to navigate the course information and assignments, or use the search tool to quickly search for specific information you want.

Syllabus

Welcome to English 102 online! What follows is necessary information to get you started in the course. I encourage you to print this out and start a file or binder of documents for the course.

Introductory Information

Sections

I am teaching 2 sections of 102q online—QL and QM. However, for the purposes of how I handle my online course, it doesn't matter which section you're in—I treat it as one big class.

Where to Go for Information

This web site is the primary means of communication for the course—coming here is like going to class. You will find announcements on the home page and links to course information, assignments, and necessary resources. This is also where you will write, read, and comment on blog posts.

We will use email as well: for asking questions and submitting some assignments. Also, I will sometimes send email reminders to the class.

Finally, we will use the Comment website for peer response and grading of essays. You will find a link to the Comment site on most pages of this site.

Texts

The texts for the course are

  1. lunsford coverAndrea Lunsford’s The Everyday Writer (3rd edition), a handbook that will help you with grammar, punctuation, documentation, and so forth. This text is required and will be used for some of your assignments. This text, if purchased new, is bundled with an access code for Comment.

  2. trimble coverJohn Trimble's Writing with Style: Conversations on the Art of Writing. This small book offers practical insights to help you grow as a writer. It is written in a conversational style, and it has the best explanation of audience I have read. It's one of my favorite books on writing. It too is required for some of your assignments.

In addition to these two print resources, we will also use

  • the course web site (where you are now), and
  • Comment, a web site designed for peer response and grading of student essays. You can learn more about Comment here. If you purchased a used copy of The Everyday Writer, you can purchase a Comment access code separately at Snoozy's or online on the Comment web site.

How the Course Works

  1. Your assignments instructions will be posted on this course web site—see the links in the sidebar at right. I also will post reminders and supplementary information as needed on the site. You would be wise to check the site's home page once a day for any announcements.
  2. There are no chat or other required meeting times for the course.
  3. Blogs will be an integral part of this course, providing a place for group discussion as well as personal reflection and thinking about our assignments.
  4. Major assignments will be due on Sundays and Wednesdays at midnight (though you may not have something due every Sunday or Wednesday). Blog posts may be due at other times.
  5. Many of your assignments will require you to turn in small pieces along the way—this helps me to know that you are a) keeping up, and b) understanding the assignment.
  6. All due dates for a particular assignment will be provided when the assignment is put online.
  7. I make each assignment available as we finish the current assignment. This is not an independent study, and you cannot work at your own pace.

Grading

You will receive grades for three types of assignments: essays, mini-projects, and peer response. The relative weight of each type of work is detailed below. You will find specific instructions in the Assignments section.

Assignment Weights

You must earn at least 70% (C–) on the combined average of your essays to pass the course with a C.

Essays (75%)

Essays are graded according to specific criteria that will be provided to you for each assignment. My criteria are based on the English Department's generic standards for essays in 101 and 102, which you can read on the next page.

  1. Essay 1 (15%)
    (1000–1250 words)
  2. Essay 2 (20%)
    (1500–2000 words)
  3. Essay 3 (25%)
    (1500–2000 words)
  4. Essay 4 (25%)
    (1500–2000 words)
  5. Essay 5 (15%)
    (1000–1250 words)

Mini-Projects (20%)

Mini-projects focus on smaller writing tasks, portions of assignments, or on helping you develop your understanding of what constitutes successful writing.

Response Grade (5%)

This grade is an average of grades given for your participation in peer response to essay drafts.

Scale

Your grades are calculated on a 10-point scale:

  • A=90–100
  • B=80–89
  • C=70–79
  • D=60–69
  • F=below 60

Note: I do not automatically round up final grades—in other words, a 79.9 is a C, not a B. This policy may seem harsh, but it is based on fairness: where do I draw the line? It may seem reasonable to round up a tenth or even half a point, but what about a whole point? Two? Every semester I get requests from students to round up their grades two, three, or even five points! Therefore, I have concluded that it is best both for me and my students that students receive the grade that they earn.

How I Calculate Grades

I use gradebook software that generates individual grade summaries that will be sent to you periodically via email. These summaries serve two functions: first, to let you monitor your performance, and second, to allow you to double-check that I have accurately recorded your grades.

Your grades are calculated according to the percentage weights specified above, with this exception:

 

You must earn at least 70% (C–) on the combined average of your essays to pass the course with a C.

If you have a question about your average, please ask.

Departmental Essay Standards

What follows is a generic set of standards for each letter grade; you will receive specific grade sheets tailored to each essay assignment that I give you.

A = Excellent

Demonstrates clear and consistent competence

  • Effectively addresses the writing task
  • Is well organized and fully developed
  • Uses clearly appropriate examples to support ideas
  • Displays consistent facility in the use of language and MLA format
  • Demonstrates variety in sentence structure and range of vocabulary

B = Good

Demonstrates reasonably consistent competence

  • Effectively addresses the writing task
  • Is generally well organized and adequately developed
  • Uses appropriate examples to support ideas
  • Displays facility in language, syntactic variety, vocabulary, and MLA format

C = Average

Demonstrates adequate competence with occasional errors and lapses in the quality of writing

  • Addresses the writing task
  • Is organized and somewhat developed
  • Uses examples to support ideas
  • Displays adequate but inconsistent facility of language and MLA format
  • Presents some errors in grammar or diction
  • Presents minimal sentence variety

D = Poor

Demonstrates developing competence with one or more of the following characteristics:

  • Inadequate organization or development
  • Inappropriate or insufficient details to support ideas
  • An accumulation of errors in grammar, diction, sentence structure, or MLA format

F = Unsatisfactory

Demonstrates incompetence and is flawed by one or more of the following weaknesses:

  • Poor organization
  • Thin development
  • Little or inappropriate detail to support ideas
  • Frequent errors in grammar, diction, sentence structure, and MLA format
  • This grade is also used for cases of plagiarism

I = Incomplete

A grade of incomplete, I, indicates that a student has performed satisfactory work in English 101, but lacks one or more assignments. Incomplete grades that are not removed within the term after being assigned are changed to F by the registrar unless written permission is secured from the Dean granting an extension for completing the work. The student, not the instructor, is responsible for requesting such an extension.

W = Withdrawal

Students must initiate the withdrawal from a course. After a posted date, a student will not be allowed to withdraw from the course. The grade of W is not counted in the student's grade point average. All grades of withdrawal remain permanently on the student's transcript.

Academic Misconduct

Academic dishonesty, which includes cheating and plagiarism, is a serious offense and one that I do not take lightly. The University allows faculty to fail students for the course when academic misconduct can be demonstrated. When such a failure occurs, University policy requires that a letter explaining the cause of failure be sent to the Associate Provost’s office and kept on file; the policy also states that two failures for academic misconduct will result in expulsion from the University. If you are found guilty of cheating or plagiarism in this course, you will fail the course (unless, of course, you withdraw from the course before final grades are assigned). You can find more details in both the print and online versions of the undergraduate catalog (see the section on “Academic Conduct”), which includes the following definition:

PLAGIARISM: claiming as your own the ideas, words, data, computer programs, creative compositions, artwork, etc., done by someone else. Examples include improper citation of referenced works, use of commercially available scholarly papers, failure to cite sources, or copying other’s ideas.

Further, the School of Arts and Humanities policy on plagiarism states:

Plagiarism is using the words or thoughts of another person without proper citation; specifically, it is submitting as one’s own work any portion of a book, magazine, journal, handout, original creation, speech, lecture, oral communication, paper or examination written by someone else. Plagiarism is a serious offense. All members of the educational community must carefully avoid plagiarism by fully acknowledging the sources of studies, projects, and ideas which have been produced by another person. Note: unless an assignment specifically states that research is required or allowed, you should not do any research to complete your graded work.

Be Techno-Savvy

As you know, computers and technology don't always work the way they are supposed to. Even geeks have problems from time to time. You don't have to be a computer wiz to handle an online course, but you do need to be a wise user of technology. Being a wise user means that you

  • ask questions as soon as a problem arises that you can't fix;
  • contact me by phone if you can't access your email or the course web site; and,
  • have a backup plan.

For example, I have a Gmail account that I use as a backup for this course when my dot-com access goes down (and it always does at some point in the semester). I encourage you to think now about what you would do if your computer crashed—do you have access to the Internet somewhere else? I know that if I lose my connection at home, I can go to the public library or to campus.

Wise use of technology also means investigating your options regarding the software you use for the course.

  • Students can buy Microsoft Office (which includes Word) at the Blazer Bookstore for very cheap (about $10 the last time I checked).
  • A web-based email account for this class will allow you to check messages from any location in which you have Internet access, giving you more flexibility.
  • Internet Explorer is not the only browser available (though Microsoft would certainly like you to think so!). Many experts recommend using Firefox, a free browser that is faster and more secure than Explorer. Firefox offers many useful features, and I have found it indispensible. It's also guaranteed to display all materials for this course correctly, which cannot be said for any version of Explorer. Obviously, you aren't required to use Firefox, but I would encourage you to download it and try it out. You can learn more about it here.

My goal here is not to scare you but to get you thinking about your options should a problem arise. Also, know that I understand when technology becomes a hindrance rather than a help; if you run into problems, let me know and we can work something out. With this in mind, AOL users, please keep reading...

A Note to AOL Users

If you don't use AOL, skip to the next section. If you do use AOL, however, what follows is essential to your success in this course.

In teaching online for many years, I've found that AOL consistently causes problems. It filters out email messages sent to the entire class because the messages are incorrectly identified as spam. My conversations with AOL technical support have been unhelpful in finding a way to resolve this issue. I strongly encourage you to set up a free email account with Hotmail or Gmail and use it exclusively for this course. The added benefit is that course messages won't get lost in the midst of your other messages. Just send me a message with your new email address.

Note: if you would like a Gmail account, let me know and I can send you an invitation for an account.

Turning in Your Assignments

File Formats

  • You must submit final drafts of all documents to me in Microsoft Word format (.doc).
  • Comment requires that you upload your file as HTML.
  • If all else fails, use the "Save As" option in your software and choose RTF (Rich Text Format) from the list of options. For help in saving a file as RTF, see this helpful page.
  • If you do not have Word, you can purchase it for about $10 + tax at the UAB Blazer Bookstore, with a student ID. They offer 2 versions of Microsoft Office (which includes Word), depending on which version of Windows you are using (Mac users can also buy Office for Mac at a discount).

Getting It to Me

You have 2 options for getting your assignments to me:

  • sending it as an attachment with your email message. If you need help figuring out how to send an attachment, you may find these instructions helpful.
  • pasting it into the body of your email message. This works fine for drafts but isn't the best solution for final versions of essays where formatting is more important.
  • Please note that even when you post a draft in Comment, you must still send a copy of your work to me as well.

Getting Help

I want to finish with what I consider to be the most important piece of information—

I'm excited about the semester and look forward to working with you on your writing. I enjoy teaching and I love my job. I have a good time working with my students, and I find it rewarding to see you learn and grow as writers and thinkers.

Just because we don’t meet face-to-face does not mean that you are on your own. It means only that you must take the initiative to ask questions. I am very much available to help you, either via email or by phone:

Email

  • Be sure to use the right email address: 102q at danbutcher dot com.
  • Provide a useful and specific subject line: question about essay 2 sources is much more helpful than something like help or question.
  • Include your name (first and last) in the message body. Don't expect me to remember that you are dolphingirl@waterworld.com or prtyboi@nitelife.org.
  • Treat your email communication with me as professional correspondence.

Phone

  • office—934-8578—on MWF mornings only
  • home—822-5041, between 7:30 a.m. and 9:00 p.m.
  • If you get an answering machine at either number—or my wife at home—please leave not only your name and phone number but also which class you are in (“online 102” or something like that). This lets me know what information I need to be prepared with when I contact you.

Or, if you're on campus, don't hesitate to come by my office—207D in the Humanities Building. I have office hours from 8–9 a.m. MWF, and other times are available by appointment.

Please get in touch if you have any questions.

Assignments

Assignments will be added as they come in the semester. Your first assignment is Mini-Project 1.

Mini-Projects

Mini-projects are small assignments that focus on specific skills or shorter pieces of writing.

Mini-Project 1: Reflecting on Online Learning

Due Wednesday, January 11, by midnight
You will email this assignment to me, using this information:
Subject Line: 102q project 1
File name for attachment: lastname letter (ex: butcher letter)

This project has 2 versions (use the links below):

  1. for students who have not taken an online course before, or
  2. for those of you who have taken an online course.

...have not taken an online course

Due Wednesday, January 11, by midnight
Subject Line: 102q project 1
File name for attachment: lastname letter (ex: butcher letter)

  1. Visit Online Learning.Net (opens in a new window)
    This link will take you to the Univ. of San Diego/UCLA distance learning site and a test to assess your compatibility with learning in an online environment. Take the test and make careful notes about the evaluation you get when you finish.
  2. Find another site on the internet that offers a similar self-test. Make careful notes of the complete address where the test is found. Take that test and make careful notes about the evaluation you get when you finish.
  3. Find three sites that discuss online or distance learning and read them, making note of the complete address for each site as well as what each site says about online or distance learning.
  4. Finally, you will summarize and report the findings of these 3 steps in a letter to me of about 500 words. Though this is a letter, and therefore less formal than an essay, you should make it as correct as possible. Watch your spelling and grammar, etc. This is your first piece of writing and your first opportunity to show me what you can do with words and ideas.

    Your letter should address thoroughly each of the following, though how you organize the information is up to you:
    • tell me how you scored on the self tests and explain what strengths or weaknesses were identified;
    • give me the full addresses for all the internet sites you visit (You should have a total of four addresses in your letter);
    • provide a brief summary of the information found on the sites that you visited; and
    • discuss whether you think you are well suited to learning in an online environment or not. If you are well suited to it, why? If you aren't, why not? What personality traits do you possess that might hinder or help you as a student in an online class? How do you plan to deal with the potential problems that were identified for you?

Be sure to compare your letter to the grade sheet before submitting. See Turning in Your Assignments for instructions on file format and getting the letter to me.

... have taken an online course

Due Wednesday, January 11, by midnight
Subject Line: 102q project 1
File name for attachment: lastname letter (ex: butcher letter)

Write a letter of about 500 words to me in which you reflect on your experiences in an online course. You might consider these questions as a starting point:

  • What did you learn about working online?
  • What were your expectations about online courses? How have those changed?
  • What were the surprises?
  • Were there problems with technology, with scheduling, your ability to manage?
  • What have you learned about being an online student that you can apply this semester to help you succeed or have fewer problems?

Note that this assignment does not ask you to critique or analyze your previous online course; rather, it asks you to analyze your performance as a student in an online course.

Be sure to compare your letter to the grade sheet before submitting. See Turning in Your Assignments for instructions on file format and getting the letter to me.

MP1: Grade Sheet

These 2 criteria must be met or the project fails:

_____ The letter was emailed by the deadline (Wednesday, 1/11)
_____ The letter is about 500 words

For students who have not taken an online course

The Letter explains

_____ How the student scored on each of the two self-tests
_____ The student’s strengths and weaknesses, based on the self-tests
_____ What was found on the sites the student visited, in summary form
_____ Whether the student believes he/she is well-suited or not to learning in an online environment

The Letter includes

_____ The full address for each of the 4 web sites that the student found for the letter

For students who have taken an online course

The Letter explains

_____ What the student learned about being an online student from taking an online course
_____ What the student will do differently in this course based on past experience

The Letter avoids

_____ Analysis or critique of the previous online course, focusing instead on the student's performance as a student

Mini-Project 2: Continuity and Coherence

Due Sunday, January 22, by midnight
You will answer the questions for mp2 using this webform.

Rationale

A significant problem with student essays (and the writing of many people out of school) is what Trimble calls "continuity," which he describes in chapter 4 of Writing with Style (Lunsford uses the term "coherence"; see The Everyday Writer, Section 8e, pp. 57–60). This mini-project aims to help you recognize and think about the problem of continuity by looking at two essays written for the first essay assignment for this course. By the end of this project, you should

  • understand what continuity/coherence is and why it is important;
  • understand how to determine if an essay has continuity; and,
  • understand how to provide continuity to an essay.

You will turn in this assignment using a web-based form that allows you to type in your answers to each question. I would encourage you to print a copy of the form so that you can prepare your answers before you use the form.

Part 1: Learning About Continuity

Read and make notes on “Middles,” Chapter 4 in Writing with Style, so that you can answer these questions on the form:

  • According to Trimble, what are the important parts of an essay?
  • What are the strengths of the Model Essay on Julius Caesar? (Note that you don't have to know anything about this play to understand the essay—that's the beauty of a well-written essay!)
  • What is continuity?
  • Why is continuity important?
  • What are specific strategies for achieving continuity in an essay?

Part 2: Evaluating Two Essays for Continuity

You can access the sample essays using the links in the sidebar or the “next” link at the bottom of the page. I would encourage you to print out both essays so that you can mark them up for the rest of the assignment. Read each essay and answer these questions about each essay.

Briefly, the essay assignment asks students to identify the important elements of a department web site from a student's perspective, illustrating and supporting their ideas using department sites in their major.

Note that in this mini-project, you are evaluating these sample essays only in terms of continuity.

  • Type the thesis of the essay.
  • Make a list of the topics you expect to be covered in the essay, based on the introductory paragraph.
  • Make a list of the topics actually covered in the essay (in other words, make a simple outline of the body paragraphs).
  • Does the content of the essay match the thesis?

Part 3: Thinking About the Unsuccessful Essay

Finish by answering these questions that apply Trimble's concept of continuity to the unsuccessful essay.

  • Using Trimble's checklist on p. 35, which essay is NOT successful?
  • Briefly explain why this essay is not successful.
  • List 4 specific changes you would make in the unsuccessful essay, using Trimble's ideas about coherence (for instance, adding parallel elements or “signposts”).

The Grade Sheet

The grade sheet for this project is simply the Word document with all the questions reformatted as a checklist so that I can determine if you successfully answered all questions. Note also that as with all the mini-projects, this mini-project must be turned in on time or it fails.

Essay 1

Essay 1: Don’t Make Me Go in Circles

Departmental websites can be very useful to a student trying to find out information about his or her classes. However, a departmental website that is not easy to access can frustrate a person. I am majoring in accounting, and I visited the Clifford College website, Wexel University’s website, and Eastern State’s website. I reached the following conclusions. A departmental website should be easy to navigate, while also capturing my attention and providing useful information so that I do not feel like I have wasted my time by going to this specific site.

There are many useful links that I feel a good departmental website should have. I like to know about the teachers that I am going to have and I don’t always know someone who has already taken a class that I might need. Therefore, links to faculty information would be very helpful. I would also like to know what each instructor expects in a classroom (attendance policies, grading criteria, etc.). In addition to faculty information, it would be useful to know something about some students majoring in the same field as me. I am also interested in what I can do with a degree in accounting and what kinds of jobs are available now that I can do. Links to job information would save me a great deal of time. Finally, if I have any trouble in a class--which most people do, at one point or another--I want to know where I can go to get help. Give me a link to tutoring services.

Wexel University’s accounting website gives a lot of useful information. It is also fairly easy to navigate around the site. The Eastern State site for accounting is more difficult to get around. Last semester, I had a computer class and I couldn’t find the links for my class. That’s because there is no link to the pages I need from the main accounting page. There also isn’t a link to many other useful things such as course requirements, and suggested curriculum; although I found links to these on the main Eastern State site. Clifford College’s accounting website offers the least information. While they put all the information on one page and then used links that scroll down part of the page, using this technique would make a page with more information look cluttered. At Clifford College, they focused on the requirements for an accounting major, which is good, but they didn’t tell a prospective student anything else. It basically looked like a page I could find in the course catalog.

A website should offer good information, but also be easy to navigate. The best way to allow users to get around a site--especially one with an abundance of information--is to use frames. Frames allow users to see exactly what pages a site contains and make it simple to get back to a certain page, allowing the user to click one link instead of forcing him or her to click on the back icon several times. Colors and graphics should be used wisely in a departmental website. Remember, this is supposed to draw the user’s attention, but it’s also supposed to be professional. In addition, most students are pretty busy people. Give the student the information he or she needs and let him or her get back to whatever he or she need to do.

Good departmental websites are not hard to make. A web designer should simply take into consideration what the viewers want. A few basic things are a must in a departmental website. Links to faculty and student information, links to tutoring information, and easy navigation are very important to me. In addition, something easy to read that tells me what I need to know and gets me in and out quickly will be more desirable to me than a site that is hard to read and keeps me going around in circles.
(652 words)

Essay 2

Essay 2: Form and Function in a Department Website

I am an English major and have examined the English department websites of three State Universities: East State, West State, and North State. Based on my perusal of these sites and my needs as an English major, I have concluded that an effective website must load quickly by effectively using graphics, provide for easy navigation, and contain information that both graduate and undergraduate students will find useful and interesting. While none of the websites I explored was perfect, they all provided useful insights into what should and should not be done with a departmental website.

While increasingly faster connections are always available, few people can afford the high-end services that allow for quick viewing of graphically intense websites. This holds especially true for students. Irrelevant factors that significantly slows down a website will eventually drive off even the most dedicated student. While I can see an Art Department’s having snazzy graphics, I can see no reason for an English site to indulge in them. The programmers of the East and North websites understood this; their sites loaded quickly. North’s website was especially fast. It was a bit on the drab side, however, and would benefit from--if nothing else--a change of color scheme. Black and blue and purple reminded me of bruises and band aids. The East site was pleasantly balanced. There was enough color and imagery to please without wowing. West State’s website, though, could have easily pared down its imagery without sacrificing utility. The ideal solution to the problem of balancing function against form is to provide a bare-bones introductory page which provides one link to the image-heavy version of the department site and one to the more frugal version. This approach would benefit everyone. The programmer could construct the minimalist version first and maintain it while working on the jazzed up site. Students could access the information they need and provide feedback, and the high-end website, once functional, would reflect the department’s commitment to the online community.

Not all members of that community are techno-savvy, however. Even computer literate students will stop using a website if they find it difficult to navigate it. I knew, vaguely, that this was true before examining these English department sites, but little did I realize how drastic a difference it would make. After my explorations I concluded that three factors must be present in an easily navigated website: a search engine, pull down menus, and well maintained links. East State was the only university to provide a search engine, and I felt the lack of one at the other two sites. With a search engine one can accomplish with a few keystrokes and a single link what could easily take half a dozen clicks to accomplish.

Pull down menus also reduce the time it takes to find information, and they provide a spatial representation of the website’s structure, too. West State benefited greatly from its use of pull down menus, more than making up for the time spent on loading imagery. East and North did not have these menus, and the sensation of traversing a labyrinth (instead of looking down upon it from above) stayed with me while I examined those sites. With search engines and pull down menus one can quickly determine if a particular piece of information is present; not so with a website equipped with nothing more than links.

A good webmaster will maintain the links on a website. If a link must be deactivated it should not appear as a link. A dead link should not be placed next to active links, nor should it be underlined or highlighted. Its status as a link should not be visible. The constantly shifting structure of the web is unavoidable. “Under Construction” signs are an inescapable hazard of navigating online. I suspect, though, that they are not as necessary as it would appear. Surely the content can be entered before the link is activated. If so, why bother with the dead end? Simply rearrange things when ready, and not before. If the site is rearranged or so thoroughly updated as to effectively split into substantially different sites (as happened on West State’s site) then something has gone wrong. The data should be collected and reorganized and, after this is done, if there are still major differences, then a link to the new site should be listed with other links of interest. The West State site provided, on the main page, a link to the “Old English Department Site.” I was confused by this. I thought at first that this was a link to an entire sub-department devoted to the study of Old English. Upon finding it to be a link to the old departmental website I wondered why the extra click--and irritation--had been necessary.

The ultimate source of irritation in a website is insufficient or useless information. If a department goes to the effort to erect and maintain a website it should ensure that it is a useful one. On a purely functional level the website should provide contact information for everyone in the department, including email, phone, fax, and physical address, as well as directions to the building. The East site gave detailed directions and a map with routes clearly marked, which pleasantly surprised me. A frequently asked questions section would seem to be in order as well, as this would guard the department secretary from at least a few unnecessary phone calls. This function as a buffer between the department and everyone else is, in fact, one of a department website’s primary reasons for existing. This buffer function allows the inquirer to gain information at their convenience and pace, while freeing up members of the department to concentrate on matters requiring judgment, such as figuring out what courses a student wants to take. A useful addition to the website, then, would be a ‘smart transcript’ program. This program would list projected course schedules, track major, minor, and overall requirements, and provide a current list of the student’s instructors. While none of the websites I visited had anything like this program, North appeared to have something remotely akin to it. All the department faculty were listed by topics and time periods, with links to pages for each one.

Aside from strictly useful information a department would be well advised to list as much interesting material as it can clearly organize. An events calendar is a must, as well as forums and bill boards. Work-study opportunities and scholarships should be advertised. Links to other interesting and related sites add flavor and quite possible utility. North surprised me with its links list. There were links to dictionaries, style manuals and thesauri, links to “How to Avoid Insensitive Language” and the “Offensiveness Quotient,” links to on-line texts, magazines, and libraries. I was amazed.

Each of the websites I visited had amazing aspects, but none of them managed to assemble all the important pieces into a great whole. A truly excellent website will not call attention to itself with slow loads or poor design. What it will call attention to is the information it contains, and it will do so with the aplomb of a seasoned tour guide. The capacity to inform and engage students and prospective students is an invaluable commodity for any department, and that capacity is what a good website delivers. (1225 words)

Mini-Project 2: Answers

A student was kind enough to allow me to post her excellent answers to the questions asked in mini-project 2.

Part 1: Learning about Continuity

According to Trimble, what are the important parts of an essay?

After you gain a sense of audience, Trimble says a well defined thesis, a clear strategy, strong evidence, a clean narrative line, and persuasive ending are the essentials to a good paper. (see pp. 34–35)

What are the strengths of the Model Essay on Julius Caesar?

The model essay demonstrates strengths that illustrate Trimble’s essay “checklist.” The well-defined thesis vividly explains the point Danny is trying to make. This essay is such a great example of a clear strategy because there is evidence of such great organization. He thoroughly explains and strengthens his first two points to ultimately persuade his readers through the use of very simple structure. He uses “signpost” structure to clearly state each point he attempts to make to his audience and links them together with appropriate words and phrases. Last, Danny displays the strong evidence to support his beliefs so that the readers are not confused by generalization.

What is continuity?

Continuity is the idea of clearly connecting sentences together so that the points flow freely together. Making connections within your sentences ensures your readers have proper understanding of the points you make in a paper.

Why is continuity important?

Continuity is important in a paper in order to achieve its purpose: explaining your points and persuading the reader that your points are true. Without continuity, a paper would be a bunch of mass-jumbled paragraphs thrown together to inevitably confuse your reader. When your sentences flow together, your paragraphs build from them and form your essay, saving you from stress and your reader from confusion.

What are specific strategies for achieving continuity in an essay?

One way to achieve continuity is to list out the main topics of your supporting paragraphs as Danny did for his paper. This helps you outline your ideas and avoid random thoughts and ideas from chopping up your thoughts. Another way is to use Trimble’s idea of “signposting” or parallel structure. This technique uses conjunctive adverbs and transitional words to signal a new thought is coming into the paper, which helps your thoughts flow smoothly together.

Part 2: Evaluating Two Essays for Continuity

Essay 1: Don’t Make Me Go in Circles

Type the thesis of the essay:

“A departmental website should be easy to navigate, while also capturing my attention and providing useful information so that I do not feel like I have wasted my time by going to this specific site.”

Make a list of the topics you expect to be covered in the essay, based on the introductory paragraph:

  • Details about each of the three websites he visited
  • How a website is easy to navigate
  • How to capture attention
  • How a website can show useful information

Make a list of the topics actually covered in the essay (in other words, make a simple outline of the body paragraphs:

  • Useful Links
    • faculty information
    • job information
    • tutoring services
  • Website that has good information but easy to navigate
    • links
    • cluttered information
  • Navigation
    • Using frames to organize
    • Colors and graphics to get attention

Does the content of the essay match the thesis? If not, how should the thesis be changed?

No, content does not match the thesis. The thesis should definitely be rewritten because it is very choppy and confusing. An example thesis: In order for a departmental website to be beneficial to students, the site should provide for easy navigation, be attractive to draw attention, and provide useful information for all students.

Essay 2: Form and Function in a Department Website

Type the thesis of the essay:

“Based on my perusal of these sites and my needs as an English major, I have concluded that an effective website must load quickly by effectively using graphics, provide for easy navigation, and contain information that both graduate and undergraduate students will find useful and interesting.”

Make a list of the topics you expect to be covered in the essay, based on the introductory paragraph:

  • Pages that load quickly with use of graphics
  • Easy navigation
  • Graduate and undergraduate student information

Make a list of the topics actually covered in the essay (in other words, make a simple outline of the body paragraphs:

  • Graphically intense sites provide slows down speed
    • fast sites that need graphic and color improvement
    • intensely graphically enhanced pages with slow connection
    • two links to website: graphic and simple for slow connections
  • Easy Navigation
    • pull down menus
    • search engine
    • well-maintained links
  • Useful and Interesting Material
    • contact information and frequently asked questions
    • faculty information
    • Interesting Information
    • Events calendar, links, work opportunities, etc.

Does the content of the essay match the thesis? If not, how should the thesis be changed?

Yes, the content of this paper reflected the topics mentioned in the introductory paragraph, while the conclusion sums it up. This paper was very easy to read and follow due to good organization of the topics.

Part 3: Thinking About the Unsuccessful Essay

Which essay is not successful? Why is it not successful?

The first essay, "Don’t Make Me Go in Circles," was so hard to follow. The writer’s thoughts did not flow together and the points were not made. It was apparent the writer did not list out the points to be discussed before the paper was written. Then, the topics mentioned in the introductory paragraph did not follow the points made in the supporting body of the paper. Last, the conclusion did not sum up the overall idea of the paper and even brought in new information that was unnecessary. This paper needs to be rewritten by following Trimble’s checklist in order to become a successful paper.

List 4 specific changes you would make in the unsuccessful essay using Trimble’s ideas about coherence.

  1. I would suggest rewriting the paper using Trimble’s checklist and making an outline of the paper’s main idea and points.
  2. Either the thesis or the supportive points need to be changed so that they match up with one another.
  3. Have more detailed information on each website to give further evidence to support the thesis.
  4. Use more appropriate words like “signposts” to help the points flow in order and have a more persuasive effect on the reader.

Mini-Project 3: Using and Documenting Sources

This mini-project has 2 goals:

  1. for you to produce part of a resource on using and/or documenting sources for fellow students
  2. for you to evaluate the work of your classmates for effectiveness in addressing audience and purpose

Audience: students in freshman composition
Purpose: to produce an easy-to-use guide to basic tasks related to using and documenting sources

Step 1: Produce your resource

By midnight, Thursday, March 16

  1. post a draft of your resource on the course site. We will be using “book” pages (the same kind of pages I create for your assignments); the big difference between these and your blog posts is that book pages can be organized into a hierarchy (again, like the assignment pages) so that some pages are sub-pages of other pages. We’re using the book pages so that these materials will be available to later classes.
  2. add a comment to your book page explaining your choices in creating the material. What did you do to make your resource useful for your audience? What kinds of decisions did you make to help you meet the purpose of your resource?

Go here for the book pages: http://courses.danbutcher.com/s06/102q/sources

Step 2: Evaluate the resources of others

By midnight, Sunday, March 19

  • add comments to the work of at least 4 of your classmates, giving feedback on how they presented their resource. Did they achieve their purpose (an easy-to-use guide)? Did they present it in such a way that it is useful for their audience?

How do you get the information you need to produce your resource? I would start with your handbook and Trimble; both address many, if not all, of the topics you are working on. Be sure, though, that you do not simply copy what either author has to say; that would be plagiarism.

Essays

Instructions for each essay will be provided here as they are needed. An announcement will appear on the home page when new assignments or information are available.

Essay 1: A Successful Department Web Site

Instructions

This assignment has a real audience (me) and purpose (helping me improve the English Department's web site). Techno-geek that I am, I serve as webmaster for the department. I have redesigned and reorganized the site, and I am working to make it more useful for students. I have a lot of ideas about what should be done, and so do some of my colleagues, but I want to know what students think is important. Your job is to write an essay for me in which you

  1. identify what makes a departmental web site useful to you, both in content and in structure; and
  2. illustrate what’s useful using examples from at least three department web sites of your choosing.

Think of the essay this way: Suppose you came to my office to talk about this face to face. What would you point out to me on a particular site? You might say something like, “I really like the way they list the courses here—it’s easy to read because...” Or, “There are too many links and images on this page, and I had a hard time figuring out where to click to find what I wanted.” Or, “I like the way this page looks, and these dropdown menus seem great, but they took a long time to load, so I don’t think they are a good idea.”

The goal of this assignment is not to evaluate the chosen sites but to identify what works—and doesn’t—for you as a student using a departmental web site, backing up your ideas with discussion of specific sites. So the thesis is not going to be

The web site of Eastern State’s Department of Physics is really good, but the sites for Newton College and Western Tech are poor.

Instead, the introduction is going to be something like this (the thesis is bolded):

My major is physics, and I looked at the web sites for Physics Departments at Eastern State, Western Tech, and Newton College. Each of the sites had some useful features and some things I didn’t like. As I looked at these sites and considered my own experiences online, I realized that my biggest frustration comes from not finding the exact information I need or from not being able to locate the information I think should be there. I’ve concluded that a useful departmental web site lists all the information about which courses a major should take and is easy to navigate.

Each of the body paragraphs would expand on these statements to explain why specific content is important (using one or more of the schools as an example), and what types of navigation are good—and bad (again, using specific examples from these three sites to back up my point).

Some Things to Keep in Mind

  • The essay should be 1000–1250 words in length.
  • The goal of the assignment is to tell me what you as a student want and need in a departmental web site—not to explain why specific sites are good or bad. Keep the focus on what you want and need, using the specific sites to help you explain yourself.
  • You may discuss what doesn't work on a particular site as a means of highlighting what you would like to see as a student. For instance, you might contrast poor navigation on site A with good navigation on site B to show why the navigation on site B is a better characteristic for you as a student.
  • There are no right or wrong answers here, just well-supported and poorly-supported opinions.
  • I will look at the sites you discuss as I read your essays so I can try to see what you saw.
  • Be specific! If you are discussing a site's navigation, and you had a hard time finding the information you wanted, don't just say, “I found the site frustrating”—explain why, like this:
    “I wanted to see what was required for a major, but the information wasn't easy to find. I thought that if I clicked on 'Majors,' I should be able to find what I needed, but instead, this page explained why I should major in accounting. Then I tried....”
    Help me to see and understand what you experienced.
  • You don’t have to know anything about web design. I am interested in the responses and opinions of typical student users.
  • Steve Krug, an expert on web site usability, says the “first law” of design is “Don’t make me think.” He contends that the more a user has to think about what to click and where to go for information, the poorer the design. A useful way to approach the sites you analyze is to ask yourself, “How much thinking am I doing to get to what I’m looking for?”
  • Web sites can be discussed in terms of four broad areas:
    1. Content: the information it provides (e.g., does it tell you what to take when, or just list courses?)
    2. Structure: how the information is organized (e.g., are courses listed under "courses" or under "undergraduate programs" or "majors"?)
    3. Navigation: how you get to the information (e.g., how many clicks does it take to get to the course listings? Was it obvious where to click?)
    4. Appearance: what the site looks like (e.g., does it have lots of images, or is it mostly text?)
  • You may choose to focus on all or some of these areas.

Due Dates

Wednesday, January 26

  • Create an account in Comment; the class code is 102qqlqms06. One of the goals of this assignment is to get you familiar with Comment; it is essential that this be done by midnight Wednesday so that I can get you set up for the next step.

Sunday, January 29

  • Read the instructions for using Comment.
  • Compose a list of your ideas about what is important in a departmental web site in a Word document.
  • Upload your list into Comment, placing your document in the group "What I want in a web site." It is essential that you upload your document into the group. If you need help understanding how to upload your document into a group, look at this tutorial (opens in a new window).
  • Write a blog post that includes
    • your major or area of interest
    • the names of at least three different universities, along with
    • the URLs for department web sites. In other words, you should have something like this for each site:

      Western State University
      http://www.wsu.edu/department/

  • If you don’t have a major, pick an area you think you’re interested in, or as a last resort, you can look at sites for English departments. You are free to choose the universities you want, and you may include a department at UAB as one of the three sites. How do you find departmental web sites? You can go to Google and type in school and subject (e.g., “Harvard computer science”) and you should get a link high on the list that will take you to that school’s particular department. Or, if you don’t have any institutions in mind, you can browse this list of colleges and universities by state.
  • Note that when you write your post, you'll see an addition to the page. There will be a heading that says "Assignments," and under this will be a drop-down list. Right now, this list has only one choice: "Essay 1 URLs"; later, I will add other options. These choices are "tags" that can be added to your posts to allow them to categorized by assignment. This may not seem like a big deal now, but as the semester continues, we will have many blog posts, and it will be helpful for you and for me to be able to quickly find all posts related to a particular assignment. So, please choose "Essay 1 URLs" before writing your post.

Wednesday, February 1

  • Add comments to the lists of at least three other students. If you go into a list that already has quite a few comments, choose another document. The goal is that everyone get practice in commenting and everyone get some comments. What sort of things should you comment on? For this assignment, something as simple as "I have this on my list too." or "Good idea! I didn't think of that." is fine. This is not the time for negative comments. If you need help understanding how to add comments, see this short tutorial (opens in a new window).
  • Write a post in your blog with a list of things that are important to you in a departmental site, based on the posts in Comment. This is NOT a definitive list, and I’m not going to hold you to it (it can change as you write your essay), but I want to make sure you’re thinking about this before you go any further.

Sunday, February 5

  • Post a draft of your essay in Comment in the group "Draft Group #." (Let me know ASAP if you have problems posting it.)
    AND
  • Send me an email with the draft attached as a backup
    subject line: 102q web site draft
    file name: lastname web site draft	

Wednesday, February 8

  • Respond to the drafts of your group members in Comment. More about what sorts of things to comment on will be posted online.

Sunday, February 12

  • Submit the final draft of your essay by 1) emailing a copy to me and 2) by uploading a copy to Comment in the group "Final Draft Website Essay."
    subject line: 102q web site final
    file name: lastname web site

Essay 1 Grade Sheet

This grade sheet serves as a checklist to help me identify the strengths and weaknesses of your essay. It was written for this specific assignment. I write the grade sheet by starting with the characteristics of a C (or average) work, asking myself what the minimum characteristics are for an acceptable essay. I then develop the B and A lists, working up, and finally the D and F lists, working down from C.

A Excellent

an A essay includes all the characteristics of B and C work as well as the following:

  1. the essay is easy to read because it flows smoothly from idea to idea; continuity is handled expertly
  2. the writer has made good use of language
  3. the writer consistently offers clear and detailed explanations in support of the thesis; the reader has little need to look at the “sample sites” to understand the writer’s points
  4. the writer has clearly supported the thesis presented and the reader has no doubt how the writer arrived at the conclusions offered
  5. there are few or no errors in grammar, mechanics, etc.

B Good

a B essay includes all the characteristics of C work as well as the following:

  1. includes a more focused and specific thesis about the characteristics of a useful department site
  2. identifies specific issues (positive and negative) with the characteristics of a useful site and provides details to show why these issues are significant
  3. makes better use of the “sample sites” by discussing specific features
  4. provides enough details that looking at the “sample sites” is not necessary to get the writer’s main ideas
  5. moves beyond the specifics of a particular site to generalize about department sites in general
  6. shows greater awareness of continuity and skillfully makes use of transitions and other strategies

C Adequate or Competent

a C essay demonstrates the writer’s ability to communicate ideas and has these characteristics:

  1. includes necessary introductory information about the purpose of the essay and the sites considered for the essay
  2. includes a thesis that identifies the characteristics of a useful department web site, though the thesis may not be very specific
  3. keeps the focus on the site characteristics, not on analyzing the "sample sites" (that is, those studied for the essay)
  4. discusses each characteristic, though it may do so only in general terms
  5. makes some use of the “sample sites,” though it may do so only in general terms
  6. the essay's organization shows an understanding of continuity and makes appropriate use of transitions, signal phrases, and other strategies that promote continuity
  7. no consistent problems with grammar, mechanics, spelling, or sentence structure

D Inadequate or Incompetent

D work falls short of 3 or more of the requirements for C work, and/or it may reflect the following:

  1. failure to meet the requirements of the assignment
  2. the essay is focused more on analysis of the sample sites than on making an argument for the characteristics of a useful site
  3. consistent problems with grammar, mechanics, spelling, or sentence structure that hinder the reader’s progress through the essays
  4. continuity is an issue in the essay, either because the organization of individual paragraphs is problematic orthe organization of the essay as a whole is problematic

F Completely Unacceptable or Failing

The problems are with content, structure, and mechanics. This writing is characterized by any of the following: unclear purpose; incoherent organization; inadequate, irrelevant, or illogical development; little originality of thought; reliance on clichés; inappropriate word choice; ineffective or incorrect sentence structure; numerous or significant problems with mechanics and grammar. Plagiarism is also grounds for failure.

Essay 2: Overview

Project Overview and Goals

7 Habits coverThis project asks you to look at one of six films as a teaching tool to help teens understand the concepts in the first chapter of Stephen Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The films are

  1. October Sky
  2. Remember the Titans
  3. Secondhand Lions
  4. Batman Begins
  5. Cinderella Man
  6. Ella Enchanted

Following the guidelines provided in the memorandum, write an essay of 1500 to 2000 words explaining how one of the six films can be used effectively to teach the concepts Covey presents in his first chapter, "Inside Out." The audience is the Curriculum Development Team.

The primary considerations in grading this essay are

  • achieving the purpose of the assignment
  • addressing the audience for the report
  • the clarity of your explanation of Covey’s ideas
  • the clarity of your explanation of how the movie illustrates Covey’s ideas
  • the thoroughness of the support you provide (both for Covey and for the movie)
  • proper use of quotations and details as part of that support
  • depth of thought and analysis

Project Goals

The report on Covey is constructed around a "make-believe" situation: I am your boss, and you are a researcher and writer working for an education consulting firm. Also, as you can see from the due dates, I have broken the report into many steps. I have several reasons for setting up the assignment this way:

  • Writing is not just something you do in school; this scenario I've created gives you the opportunity to think about how writing might function in a work setting.
  • By creating a situation with a highly specific audience and purpose, you get more practice in shaping your writing to effectively communicate to that audience and purpose.
  • Longer, more complex writing assignments can seem overwhelming. By breaking the production of the report into pieces, I'm providing you with a model of the way you can approach other writing projects—like term papers you might be assigned in upper-level courses for your major. Almost any piece of writing can be broken into small pieces, and each piece of writing you produce along the way feeds into the bigger, graded report.

Essay 2: Memo

Dynamic Learning Concepts, Inc.
setting minds in motion

Memorandum

To: Freelance writers and researchers

From: Dan Butcher, Director of Research

Date: February 13, 2005

Re: Character Counts! Project for the Lincoln County School Board

Welcome to our family! We are happy to have you working for Dynamic Educational Concepts, and we’re eager to put you to work on your first assignment as a writer and researcher.

The Lincoln County School Board has decided to use Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People as a basis for their high school character-building curriculum, the Character Counts! Project. The School Board has asked us to work with their Curriculum Development Team to develop a curriculum for the first chapter of Covey’s book. In talking with them about how best to use Covey’s materials, three premises have become clear:

  1. many of their students will find it difficult to grasp Covey’s concepts using just his written materials;
  2. the students’ understanding will be enhanced by the addition of a visual explanation; and
  3. the students will respond more favorably and learn the concepts more easily if they find the presentation enjoyable.

After further discussion with Board members, it was determined that the most effective method of teaching Covey’s materials would be to supplement the text with a film that illustrates Covey’s concepts. Our initial research has identified six films—October Sky, Remember the Titans, Ella Enchanted, Batman Begins, Cinderella Man, and Secondhand Lions—that could work well to illustrate the concepts found in Covey’s first chapter, "Inside Out." You should choose one of the six films to focus on for your report.

My contact at the Lincoln County School Board Office also told me some useful information about the Curriculum Development Team. Three of the seven team members are not convinced that a film will be an effective use of class time, and they are likely to be troubled by the decision to use a popular "movie" as a teaching tool for high school students. You should give serious thought to how you will address these concerns.

You are responsible for writing a report for members of the Lincoln County Curriculum Development Team demonstrating that one of these six films (either October Sky or Remember the Titans or Ella Enchanted or Secondhand Lions or Cinderella Man or Batman Begins) can be used to effectively teach the key concepts of Covey’s first chapter.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Due Dates

#1: Wednesday, 2/15

By the deadline, complete the following:

  1. Read the overview and memo.
  2. Read Chapter 1 in Trimble.
  3. Post in your blog the answers to these questions:
    • Who is the audience for the report you will write?
    • What facts do you know about the audience?
    • How can apply what Trimble tells us about "veteran writers" to addressing the needs of this audience and accommodating the facts you know about them?

#2: Sunday, 2/19

By the deadline, complete the following:

  1. Read Covey (get it online or download it as a PDF)
  2. Post in your blog the answers to the questions below. Your answers should include brief examples of each concept. Do not use Covey’s examples, and do not use quotations from the text. Your post should address these five questions in your own words.
    • What is Covey's main idea?
    • What is paradigm?
    • What is a paradigm shift in general and specifically in relation to Covey’s main idea?
    • What is Character Ethic? How does it relate to Covey’s main idea?
    • What is Personality Ethic? How does it relate to Covey’s main idea?

#3: Wednesday, 2/22

By the deadline, complete the following:

  1. Working with your peer group members, identify the best explanation of each of the four terms and the best example. Someone in the group needs to write a single blog post for your group that offers the best of your group's answers for the rest of the class to see.
  2. Post a plot summary of your film in your blog; use the title of the film as the title of your post. The summary should be one paragraph in length. For two examples of a plot summary, read these at IMDb.com. You should note that while these summaries are not bad, they aren't perfect either, and so they are offered as examples to check out, not models to copy. One of the goals here is to help you find others in the class who are working with the same film so that you can share ideas for the essay.

#4: Sunday, 2/26

By the deadline, complete the following:

  1. Draft the introductory section of the essay and body paragraph(s) on one of Covey's four concepts; the goal here is for you to write on one of the four concepts and get feedback before you draft the entire body (which will cover all four concepts) of the essay.
  2. Post your draft on your blog.

#5: Sunday, 3/5

By the deadline, you need to complete the following:

  1. Draft the remaining three concepts from Covey to finish the body section, and draft the conclusion as well. You should now have a complete draft of the essay.
  2. Post your draft in Comment in your peer response group.
  3. Email a copy of your draft to me:
    • subject line: 102q covey draft
    • file name: lastname covey draft
    • include your name in the text of the file you send.

#6: Wednesday, 3/8

By the deadline, you need to complete the following:

  1. Respond to the drafts of your classmates in Comment, using the peer response questions (to be provided later) as a guide for your comments.

#7: Sunday, 3/12

By the deadline, you need to complete the following:

  1. Post the final version of your essay in Comment in the group "Covey Final for Grading."
  2. Email the final version to me:
    • subject line: 102q covey final
    • file name: lastname covey final
    • include your name in the text of the file you send.

Peer Response Instructions for Essay 2

These questions should guide you in responding to the essays of your classmates. You need to consider all these issues as you read and respond, but your comments on any given essay don't have to address all these questions, if something is not an issue.

Don't forget to say positive things as well as pointing out potential problems. If someone uses a good example, say so.

 Grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc., are not considerations. You are to focus on the content and the expression of ideas.

Part 1: Introductory Section

  • Write a comment in the first sentence stating whether you have seen the film being used.
  • Does the writer provide background information including the purpose of the report, an overview of Covey, and a brief plot summary?
  • Is there anything that should be cut or added?
  • Can you identify the author's thesis?

Part 2: Body Section

Apply these questions to each of the four concepts from Covey.

  • Does the writer explain the concept clearly, including either quotation or paraphrase from Covey?
  • Does the writer provide clear examples from the film that match the concept?
  • Does the writer give enough details from the film, including dialogue where appropriate, to make the example clear to someone who hasn’t seen the film?
  • Does the writer connect the example(s) back to Covey, so that the reader is certain how the example illustrates that concept?
  • Could the writer have provided better examples? More examples?
  • After reading the entire body section, is there a logical flow from concept to concept, or does it seem as if the writer just organized it randomly?

Part 3: Concluding Section

  • Does the writer use strong, clear language to support her conclusions?
  • Does the writer indicate that the recommendation of the chosen film is based on research and analysis? 
  • Does the writer introduce any new information? (He should NOT do this.)

Part 4: Audience

As we've said from the beginning, audience is an important part of this report. Awareness of audience means the writer has:

    • paid attention to tone and word choices
    • provided the appropriate level of detail
    • provided the appropriate amount and kind of explanation of those details
    • paid attention to and addressed the special issues and concerns the audience has.
  • Rate the tone of the essay. Tone comes from word choices and the way ideas are expressed. The report should sound professional, but that doesn't mean it has to be formal or stuffy. And, it's okay for the writer to use the word "I."
  •  Rate the level of detail given for the readers:
    • Are you confused, and you know what's going on?
    • Does it makes sense, but only because you've seen the film?
    • it works for the audience some of the time.
    • the audience should understand. 
  • Our audience has two concerns. The first is that we understand their needs in this project. How well does the writer communicates her understanding of what this project is about?
  • Their second concern is that a film may not be an appropriate tool for teaching Covey. How well does the writer addresses this concern in offering her chosen film as a solution for this project?

Current Groups

Group 1

Ahn, Bena

Anderson, Brittany

Ayres, Andrew

Belew, Anna

Group 2

Booher, Whitney

Brewster, Robert

Cleckler, Brandon

Crouch, Kimberly

Group 3

Davis, Ebony

Deweese, Jonathan

Dowe, Meagan

Frasier, Christina

Group 4

Green, Jennifer

Jain, Karan

Jeffcoat, Michael

Johnson, Carldell

Group 5

Jones, Richard

Jung, Kwan Ho

Lee, Kwang Suk

Monteiro, Jerson

Group 6

Mukubu, Wen

Nunley, Nikki

Parrish, Kelsey

Phillips, Marilyn

Group 7

Ray, Andrew

Reaves, Mason

Rucker, Michele

Smith, Jacqueline

Group 8

Robertson, Jared

Taber, Jeff

Wastrack, Kristina

Weatherly, Kernesha

Willenbrock, Nancy

Group 9

Hopkins, Calvin

Kennedy, Zachary

Stringfellow, Courtney

Williams, Nicole

Group 10

Broeker, Candace

Foster, Besstina

Garrison, Anna

Jemison, Vaunzcea

Resources

This page provides links to resources that will help you write your essay on Covey and the film.

Covey Explained

Covey’s Main Idea

Covey presents many important ideas, but a statement of his main idea should identify the most important idea. In this chapter, he hits on two key ideas:

  1. success or effectiveness
  2. paradigms

In the process of explaining these two ideas, he presents a few other ideas:

  • paradigm shift
  • Character Ethic (a paradigm for success)
  • Personality Ethic (also a paradigm for success)

A good statement of his main idea should link the two keys—success/effectiveness and paradigms—to say something like this:

Covey believes a person can be truly effective only when that person acts out of a paradigm based on unchanging principles that are within that person.

If I wanted a quote to relate to that, this passage would be good:

"The character ethic taught that there are basic principles of effective living, and that people can only experience true success and enduring happiness as they learn and integrate these principles into their basic character" (18).

Paradigm and Paradigm Shift

A paradigm is a perspective or way of seeing the world that affects our attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Thus, a paradigm is more than an opinion–you can recognize a paradigm by "its fruit" (that is, there is clear evidence of the paradigm).

Example:

Opinion

Paradigm

Writing can be a useful skill for some people.

The ability to express oneself clearly is essential to success.

If I don’t see myself as part of "some people," I won’t really value writing.

If this is truly my paradigm, then my writing practices and teaching philosophy should show evidence of it.

The Bible has some good ideas in it.

The Bible is divinely inspired and provides a standard for the way I live my life.

Since this is just an opinion, I don’t feel any compulsion to act on any of those good ideas.

If this is truly my paradigm, then my attitudes, beliefs, and actions should match what the Bible says.

A paradigm shift is a fundamental or radical change in perspective that results in a change in attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Again, it’s more than a change in opinion—a paradigm shift can be identified by evidence in a person’s life.

Example: One of the actors in Animal House (a movie about a fraternity starring a number of Saturday Night Live regulars) said that he thought differently about the kinds of films he made after he had children. He wasn’t comfortable with his children seeing him in films that glamorized drugs and alcohol. This is a paradigm shift: he first thought—and acted (literally)—from the perspective that it didn’t matter what kinds of things were portrayed in the films he was in. The presence of children in his life brought a shift in perspective or paradigm, and he made a decision to choose different kinds of acting roles (evidence of the shift).

Character Ethic and Personality Ethic

Both of these are paradigms for success or effectiveness, and both of them are about motives, or what is inside the person. Right outward actions are not necessarily a clear sign of which paradigm is at work. For example, consider Covey’s story about his son; outwardly, he seemed to be doing all the things a father should do—encouraging his son, etc. However, motives revealed that Covey was actually working out of a Personality Ethic in that situation.

 

Character Ethic

Personality Ethic

This ethic is…

principle-centered

need-centered

I do what I do because...

I can point to an unchanging principle that supports my actions.

it meets my immediate need or makes the social situation work smoothly.

Behavior based on this ethic...

will be consistent because it is based on something unchanging: principles.

will be inconsistent because it is based on something that is changing (my needs and/or the situation).

In a situation where lying might be useful...

I would still tell the truth because I believe in the principle of honesty.

I would weigh the personal benefits of the truth against the personal benefits of lying.

My decision on how to act in a situation...

is already made because I live from a paradigm that is principle-centered, and principles are unchanging.

has to be made in each situation, because I live from a paradigm that focuses on meeting my needs in that situation, and those needs are always changing.

This last point is important and is the basis of Covey’s claim that "enduring happiness" comes from principle-centered living. A person who knows how to act in every situation because she lives on principles is free from a lot of the stress that a person who acts based on his own needs will feel, because he will often lack certainty about the best decision.

One final point about Personality Ethic: not all the ideas of Personality Ethic are bad; positive mental attitude, for example, is a good thing. However, positive mental attitude won’t help me decide whether I should lie on my tax returns. As Covey says, Personality Ethic works on the surface–like "social aspirin and band-aids" (40) rather than getting to the root of the problem or situation.

Q&A on Writing the Report

Q&A on the Report

Audience

Who is the audience for the report?

  • You are writing for the 7-member Curriculum Development Team.

What do you know about them?

  • all of them agree Covey is worth teaching, and
  • all of them agree that Covey will be hard for teens, andso a film needs to be used with the book, but
  • 3 of the 7 are skeptical about the value of using a popular movie for that purpose
  • all of them are familiar with Covey
  • most of them are likely to be unfamiliar with the film

How do you use this information?

  • You write with the needs of this audience in mind; that's a big part of the grade.
  • You use vocabulary appropriate for the situation: don't use words like "movie"—"film" sounds more educational and professional
  • You don't waste their time telling them they are smart to use Covey or trying to convince them that Covey i's worth teaching.
  • Instead of telling them, you provide enough details and explanation to show them that your chosen film is an excellent choice to pair with Covey.
  • You give them background information in the introductory section so they understand the rest of your report.
  • You provide a brief summary of the film's plot to provide context for the details you will include in the body of the essay. Note that the names of actors are not useful here—the fact that Denzel Washington plays Coach Boone is irrelevant for your purposes in this essay.
  • You demonstrate your understanding of the purpose of the report by briefly explaining what the report is about. This reassures your audience that you know what their goals are.
  • You don't alienate your audience by writing something like 3 of you don't want to use a movie, so I'm going to show why a movie is good to use. Take a more subtle approach and let your argument speak for itself.

Body Section

As you write the body section, remember to show, not tell.

  • Showing means you'll use plenty of specific details from both the film and from Covey.
  • Each time you discuss one of Covey's ideas, you should:
    1. provide detailed examples from the film, including dialogue when appropriate
    2. make a specific reference to Covey’s ideas, including paraphrase, quote or summary
    3. explain clearly how the example shows Covey’s ideas

How many examples do you need?

  • If your goal is to show, then you will likely need more than one example for each of Covey's concepts. You want to show your readers that the film has many examples that teens can pick up on—the more examples you can point to, the stronger your case is.
  • You might be able to fully explain any of the four concepts with only one character, and with details about only one scene. It's always wise, however, to indicate that you have consciously chosen to use only one character or one scene and that more examples in the film are available.
  • Keep in mind that as you explain paradigm shift, you're likely to also address examples of paradigm, Personality Ethic, and Character Ethic, and this will simply reinforce those concepts as you illustrate a shift. If you plan your examples well, they can all work together nicely to reinforce each other—and to minimize the amount of explaining you need to do about the film to set up your examples.

Keep your details focused.

  • Keep the details you do provide from the film focused on the point you want to make. If the details you provide don't help the reader understand your point, then cut them out. In Ella Enchanted, it's likely not relevant to know that Hattie is stupid; in Batman Begins, readers probably don't need to know that Bruce Wayne's father built the Gotham railway system. In each of the films you can write about, interesting details exist that aren't really relevant to your argument.

Using Quotations

  • Quotations are, of course, always surrounded by quotation marks.
  • When quoting from the film, no other information is necessary; you can't document the scene with a page number.
  • When quoting from Covey, however, you must provide the page number in parentheses after the quotation, like this:
    "clearly manipulative, even deceptive, encouraging people to use techniques to get other people to like them . . . or to use the ‘power look,’ or to intimidate their way through life" (19).
  • Note that the page number comes after the closing quotation mark but before the period ending the sentence, and that no period goes inside the quotation mark.
  • Also, when you choose to leave out part of a quotation, you use ellipses (3 dots with spaces between them) to show that you left something out. Make sure that you don't change what Covey meant by your use of ellipses.

Concluding Section

I've given them all these details, now what?

  • You're ready to wrap up the essay with a concluding paragraph that briefly reminds the reader of what you've shown them in the rest of the essay. You'll want to return to your thesis—that October Sky is a good teaching tool—and summarize your support for that thesis.

You want your conclusion to be strong, not wishy-washy.

  • Don't write something like, "I hope you'll agree with me..." That sounds like you don't believe in what you've written—and what they've just read.
  • Don't use the phrase "in my opinion..." either. While it may have been your opinion at the start of the report, now that you've given your audience detailed support and explanation, your conclusion is no longer based on your opinion but on careful analysis of the film.
  • Do use wording that shows conviction and that emphasizes attention to the details of the film, like
    Based on careful analysis of the film, I am confident in recommending October Sky as a visual aid in teaching high school students Covey's concepts.
    Note how this sentence begins—"Based on careful analysis." These words move your conclusion from the realm of pure opinion ("I think it will work") to reasoned, well-supported argument.
  • And finally, don't introduce new information—such as another example from the film—in the conclusion.

Finally, think "sections"

Instead of thinking about this essay in terms of paragraphs (1 paragraph for the intro, 1 for each concept, 1 for the conclusion), think about the essay as having sections, some of which may have 1 paragraph and some of which may have multiple paragraphs. For instance, the introductory section will have a paragraph introducing the report and a paragraph summarizing the film. Your discussion of Character Ethic (or any of the concepts) might require several examples that are best served by separate paragraphs. Take a look at the sample essay for an illustration of this principle.

What's in the Introductory Section

In a well-written Introductory section, the writer:

  1. Summarizes the project and the report’s purpose.
  2. Provides a brief overview of Covey’s ideas.
  3. Provides a brief and focused plot summary of the film you are using.
  4. Names only the essential characters.
  5. Briefly explains why your chosen film is an acceptable movie to show in the classroom.
  6. Uses clear transitions between each piece of information.
  7. Includes a clear thesis statement.
  8. Includes all these pieces of information:
    • Covey’s book title
    • Covey’s chapter title
    • The Lincoln County School Board and/or the Curriculum Development Team
    • film title
    • paradigm, paradigm shift, Personality Ethic, Character Ethic

Sample Introductory Section

Here's a sample introductory section that shows one way to present the information that's necessary for a strong, successful introduction. As you read it, see if you can find the eight elements that should be present in the introduction (see the list here). For those curious about such things, there are 299 words in these 3 paragraphs.

The Lincoln County School Board has decided to use Stephen R. Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People as a part of their high school Character Counts! Program. Because Covey can be hard for teens to understand, the School Board contracted Dynamic Learning Concepts to find a film that will illustrate and reinforce Covey’s ideas. His first chapter, "Inside Out," focuses on four main concepts: paradigm, paradigm shift, Personality Ethic, and Character Ethic. Our research identified October Sky as a film that clearly and effectively illustrates these four ideas for teens.

October Sky tells the true story of Homer Hickam, a 17-year-old struggling with his future and his father’s expectations. Homer's father John is the foreman of the coal mine that dominates their small town, and he expects Homer to follow in his footsteps. Homer wants a different life for himself but doesn’t see a way to achieve it until he watches Sputnik pass overhead in October 1957. The Russian satellite inspires Homer to build rockets, and his dream is spurred on by the chance of going to the National Science Fair and winning a college scholarship. To reach his goal, Homer enlists the help of the school "weirdo" and two friends. The four boys face opposition from the people around them, and many of their rockets fail, but the "Rocket Boys" persist in their experiments and grow in the process of finding success.

This film portrays problems that teens today can understand, and it shows the main characters dealing with those problems in constructive ways; though not perfect, Homer and his friends are positive role models. Homer, his father John, and other characters show clear examples of Covey's concepts "in action," making it easier for high school students to understand what Covey writes about in his book.

Sample Concept Paragraph

The sample paragraph below discusses the concept of paradigm using October Sky. Some things to note:

  • Several quotes are included, both from Covey and from the dialogue in the film. The use of quotations makes the argument stronger and clearer.
  • The writer alludes to the fact that more examples of paradigm could be offered from the film—this shows that the film offers plenty of examples for students to find.
  • Enough details are given to set up the examples so that someone who hasn't seen the film can follow the basic argument.
  • A clear transition is used to move the reader smoothly from one example to another.
  • The paragraph begins with a brief explanation of Covey's concept and ends by relating the examples from the film back to Covey. The reader never has to wonder how the film and Covey fit together.

One of Covey's central concepts in the first chapter of his book is the idea of a paradigm. Covey describes paradigm as the "way we 'see' the world—not in terms of our visual sense of sight, but in terms of perceiving, understanding, interpreting" (23). The film October Sky contains numerous examples of the concept of paradigm, but I will mention only a few here. Homer Hickam's success and happiness is a direct result of his paradigm. Home's paradigm of goal-oriented, positive thinking requires him to be steadfast and determined in moving toward his goal. This point is illustrated by a scene in the film in which Homer shows excellent character while trying out for the high school football team. Homer was too small and was repeatedly knocked down. Finally, the coach says, "Homer, you sure got guts, but you got to know when to quit." Instead of giving up as suggested, Homer keeps doing his best regardless of the outcome. Homer's paradigm is again tested later in the film, but in a different venue, that of rocket building. When discouragement is felt amongst the group of "Rocket Boys," Homer demonstrates his grit and determination to achieve his goal; he attempts to end the apathy of two of his friends by reminding them of their motivation: "We ought to be tryin' to get into that science fair!" Covey teaches that out of an individual's paradigm comes their behavior and assumptions, an idea clearly demonstrated by the above examples and many others in the film October Sky.

Sample Essay

A student from my first online 102 wrote this report in Spring 2000, when I paired Covey with Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It deals with a different film but otherwise is an excellent example of what this report should contain in terms of details from both Covey and the film. It's also well written in the way quotations are integrated, and it's well organized, with effective transitions and connections provided for the reader. The only thing lacking in this essay is the introductory section; it does not have all eight elements.

Notes

The title of the film is italicized. It can be underlined instead, but it should never be both italicized and underlined. The title of Covey's book should be italicized or underlined as well, but the title of the chapter from his book would be placed inside quotation marks: "Inside Out."

Report to the Lincoln County School Board

Abstract principles are often difficult for high school students to grasp. Nevertheless, such principles can be illustrated through concrete examples. The animated version of The Hunchback Of Notre Dame offers the opportunity to demonstrate Covey’s contrast of the personality and the character ethics. Covey’s thesis that the character ethic has greater value, even though expression of the personality ethic may result in more immediate self-interested gains and social expectance, is difficult to convey to people of this age because their world is often focused on short-termed gratification. This report will demonstrate why the film should be adopted as a supplement in teaching the meaning and implications of Covey’s thesis.

The Disney version of this novel is true to the original in its essential content. The outcast Quasimodo is used by Frollo, the Minister of Justice, to further his own personal ends. Quasimodo’s experiences with Esmeralda and Phoebus create a change in his view of himself and others. In the end the shallowness of Frollo leads to his own destruction and the destruction of innocent others. However, the animation and musical interludes would help hold the attention of an adolescent audience. In the process of entertaining, the film clearly expresses the ultimate value of character and morality over personality and appearance. The main characters offer the viewer the contrasting qualities of the personality and character paradigms, as well as the profound influence that a paradigm shift can have on the life quality of a person. What follows in this report is a more detailed examination of how the characters of Phoebus, Quasimodo, Esmeralda and Frollo provide clear illustration of Covey’s points of view.

Heather made use of a heading here (and in the rest of the body) to help the reader know what she's going to discuss. While it's not necessary, it's a great idea.

Note that ellipses ( . . . ) are used to indicate where words have been left out of a quotation. This is a convenient way to keep quotations focused on only the pertinent information.

Also note that quotations from Covey are followed by the page number in parentheses.

Heather does not use quotations as stand-alone sentences. She leads into each quotation with her own words. This makes the paper flow more smoothly, because the quotations and Heather's words are integrated. In the last highlighted sentence, Heather uses a quote and then explains what it's significance is. She never assumes that her reader knows why a quotation was included.

Finally, this discussion of Personality Ethic is wrapped up by a summary paragraph. Again, Heather doesn't leave it to the reader to draw the conclusions; she spells it out.

Frollo: Exemplar of the Personality Ethic

Frollo represents the Personality Ethic and its negative implications in its purest and simplest form. Covey states that the Personality Ethic encourages a presentation of self that is "clearly manipulative, even deceptive, encouraging people to use techniques to get people to like them . . . or to intimidate their way through life" (19). In the opening scenes of the movie the puppeteer says of Frollo that he "longed to rid the city of sin and saw corruption everywhere but within." From the beginning, Frollo expresses a public image of goodness and morality. However, the viewer is aware that Frollo’s motives are self-serving, regardless of the words he uses in presenting himself to others. For example, he often tells Quasimodo that it was he, Frollo, that saved him from the cruel mother who wanted to kill him. However, Frollo is heard saying that "even this foul creature may one day be of service to me." Frollo, throughout the film, blames his own shortcomings on others. He remarks to Quasimodo that "all of Paris is burning because of you," suggesting that Quasimodo was responsible for Frollo’s cruel and immoral acts.

The film presents the viewer with a clear lesson in Frollo. Concern with one’s self and ones own self-interest, at the expense of others, ultimately leads to failure. In a real sense the Personality Ethic is a self-defeating ethic. Frollo’s secret desire for Esmeralda, which turns to revenge, and spiteful persecution of the gypsies results in his death.





Heather makes effective use of repetition to keep the reader on track with her ideas.

Esmeralda and Phoebus: The Character Ethic

Covey describes the Character Ethic as composed of "basic principles of effective living, in that people can only experience true success and enduring happiness as they learn and integrate these principles into their basic character" (18). Examples of these principles are such traits as integrity, courage, justice and treating others as you would have them treat you. Esmeralda represents these principles with a clear simplicity that high school students should be able to perceive easily. In the scene during the Festival of Fools, Quasimodo is persecuted and ridiculed because of his physical deformity. When Esmeralda frees him, she has the courage to endanger herself to stop the injustice that Frollo was allowing to occur. She tells Frollo that he treats Quasimodo like he treats her people, that is, with a self-serving cruelty. An important aspect of the Character Ethic is the ability to see important qualities in other people that are deeper than their mere appearance. Esmeralda sees in Quasimodo a kind and thoughtful person, and does not react to him as a deformed monster. For example, when she reads his palm in the Tower of Notre Dame, where she has sought sanctuary, she says she sees no "monster lines" in his hands.

Heather also keeps the reader on track through connecting words in these paragraphs. Each of the highlighted words and phrases serves to move the reader easily from one idea to the next. Some connecting words link ideas through similarity (like), while others link ideas by contrast (but, however). And others connect by showing a series (First, next).

Like Esmeralda, Phoebus expresses the assets of the Character Ethic. He is a man of duty, honor and integrity, but at the same time, he is aware that integrity and fidelity to higher moral principles are of a higher importance than blind loyalty to superiors. First, he refuses Frollo’s order to take Esmeralda into custody because of his innate sense of the injustice that Frollo intends her. In an even clearer demonstration of his commitment to higher moral principles, he directly disobeys Frollo’s command to burn the home of a family that Frollo has accused of aiding, or hiding, the gypsies. Indeed, Phoebus risks his own life to save the family from the fire after Frollo sets the home ablaze himself. From that point on in the film, Phoebus is an example of the immediate costs that the Character Ethic can entail. In other words, doing the right thing leads him to suffer the fate of an outcast.

Nevertheless, the positive rewards of the Character Ethic are exemplified in both Esmeralda’s and Phoebus’s final outcomes. Both find that their courage and endurance is rewarded with a permanent and lasting happiness. The film clearly expresses, in a way that student can grasp, that virtue is rewarding.

Heather treats each section as a mini-essay, first giving clues to the reader about where she's headed.

Quasimodo: The Power of Paradigms and Paradigm Shifts

Quasimodo presents us with the most complex character and exemplifies Covey’s most important concepts. First, Quasimodo shows us the power of paradigms of self to shape our thoughts about ourselves and our orientation to solving our problems. Second, Quasimodo demonstrates both the capacity to change our paradigms of self, and the important implications that such a shift may have for solving problems in life.

Throughout most of the film, Quasimodo presents us with representation of the Personality Ethic and its capacity to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. For example, Quasimodo’s comments to the gargoyles, when he is considering going to the festival, that "I’d never fit in out there. I’m not normal," indicating that he has accepted Frollo’s views of his inadequacies. This is reaffirmed in the musical exchange between Frollo and Quasimodo. Frollo says to Quasimodo, "You are deformed" and "You are ugly." Quasimodo answers in refrain, "I am deformed" and "I am ugly." Later, he says to the gargoyles again, "I’m a monster you know." Indicating that he has accepted Frollo and society’s perception of his inner character as a mere reflection of his outward appearance. In referring to what he thinks Esmeralda’s view of him is, he remarks, "Let’s not fool ourselves, ugliest face in all of Paris, remember? I don’t think I’m her type." He further sings, "No face as hideous as my face was ever meant for heaven’s light."

As long as Quasimodo views himself in the negative image of the Personality Ethic, he cannot muster the courage to reject Frollo’s evil actions and intentions and aid Esmeralda and Phoebus in their just cause. However, when he comes to realize that his limitations are produced by this false image of his true character, he is able to overcome Frollo’s domination of him and act on the basis of true moral principles. This paradigm shift is captured in the following renunciation of Frollo: "All my life you have told me the world is a dark and cruel place. Now I see the only dark and cruel thing in this world is you." Here we see the truth in Covey’s statement about the basic flaws of the Personality Ethic. Covey says, "To try to change outward attitudes and behaviors does very little good in the long run if we fail to examine the basic paradigms from which those attitudes and behaviors flow" (28). Quasimodo’s weakness and problems were a product of his inaccurate perception of what his problems really were. Once his paradigm shift takes place, his actions are based on the absolute principles of his inner character. Consequently, his actions cause justice to prevail through his courage to rescue Esmeralda. In the end he finds true happiness and acceptance because of this change in his image of himself.

In this conclusion, she nicely sums up the evidence she has offered and reinforces the idea that the film will be effective in illustrating Covey's concepts (the thesis).

As we all agree, the idea’s expressed by Covey are very valuable and well worth incorporating into a high school curiculum. Nevertheless, as was mentioned above, the abstractness of his concepts may be difficult for students to understand in their original statement. The Disney version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame offers us the advantage of presenting the implications of the Personality Ethic, the Character Ethic and the importance of the capacity of persons to shift their self image from the former to the latter. The film clearly demonstrates, in a way students of this age can understand, the self-defeating qualities of seeking popularity through sacrificing the deeper and more absolute values implied in Covey’s concept of the Character Ethic. Moreover, this annimated version will capture and maintain the attention of the students, thus allowing the teacher to elaborate and expand the students’ basic understanding of these ideas.

Essay 3: A Guide for Students in Online Courses

This essay assignment asks you to develop part of a guide to taking online classes. Your audience is other students who are interested in online learning; your purpose is to create a resource that can help them make informed decisions about participation as well be more successful if they take a class. My plan to make what you write available to students at UAB who are signing up for online EH101 for the fall, so the audience and purpose are very real.

Step 1: identify your topic

by midnight Saturday 3/25 (note this is not the standard due date), post in your blog your topic as well as your reason for choosing that topic. As you choose your topic, think about the kinds of questions you had about online courses as well as issues that have come up for you in taking online courses. You may find this list helpful as a starting point:

  • time management skills
  • interacting with other students—the social aspect
  • what to expect in an online course
  • specifics related to various types of students (student-athlete, ESL, fulltime employee/parttime student, etc.)
  • technology skills and issues
  • preconceptions and expectations
  • interacting with teachers—the learning aspect

Note that some topics may require you to address a specific type of student; if so, include that in your post.

Step 2: do some research

You need at least 4 sources for this essay. You can search online for information relating to online learning, or you may want to do what is called "field research": interviews, surveys, and polls. You might want to interview an online student or an instructor of online courses (if you want to interview an instructor, let me know—I've got a few people you can contact); you might want to post a question in your blog and invite others in the class to reply. Our course site provides the ability to conduct simple polls (you've probably seen this kind of thing on other websites: "Which movie should win the Oscar for Best Picture?" with 3 or 4 choices). If you are interested in polling your classmates (or even other online students in the English Department), let me know and I can help you put the poll together and get students to respond.

Step 3: write your essay

This essay should be 1500–2000 words. The final draft of the essay is due for grading by Sunday, April 9. If you want peer review on this essay, you are free to initiate that on your own—I would suggest that you post something on the course web site asking others who are interested in peer response to get in touch. If you need help setting up a group for response in Comment, let me know.

Essay 4: Evaluating Your Work

This essay asks you to evaluate the writing you have done this semester and make an argument for your success in achieving the department's objectives for 102. They are:

  • The student can create an original and unambiguous thesis statement that responds to an assigned topic.
  • The student can write a coherent and unified argument with an introduction, a conclusion, and well-developed body paragraphs.
  • The student can write a logical argument that supports the claim with appropriate and sufficient evidence.
  • The student can identify the intended audience for a particular argument and communicate with this audience in an effective way.
  • The student can incorporate external sources pertinent to the argument.
  • The student can use MLA format for textual citations and the Works Cited page.
  • The student demonstrates competence in the grammatical and usage conventions of Standard Edited American English.

Your essay should be 750–1000 words and should make specific references to your writing this semester. This would include not only the formal essays you have written but also your mini-projects and blog posts. Your sources, then, are your own pieces of writing. For instance, in discussing your ability to write for a specific audience, you should not just say, "In essay 2 I wrote for the audience you told us to write for." Rather, you would want to write something like this:

Essay 2 specified the Curriculum Development Committee as my audience. I communicated effectively with this audience by doing x, y, and z. For example, I wrote, "...."

The essay is due in Comment by midnight, Wednesday, May 3.

Comment Help

Important Tips

I have created two animated images that cycle through a series of screen shots in Comment to help you in uploading a document and in making comments. Each image will open in a new window.

Using Groups

This series of screen shots provides a tutorial for getting to your group in Comment. Click here to see the screen shots.

Adding Comments to a Document

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Peer Response Basics

The purpose of Comment is peer response—making it easy for you to give feedback to each other on your writing. Some of you may be thinking that you don't really care what your classmates think—you just want to know what the teacher thinks. Don't underestimate the usefulness of getting responses from other people—or of giving feedback.

Getting feedback

Obviously, the more people that read your essay, the better—especially when they know the purpose of the assignment, as your classmates do. You'll be getting responses from 2 or 3 classmates, and these responses should give you a good idea of what works and what doesn't in your essay.

Giving feedback

Though I don't think this is likely, let's assume the worst: that all the feedback you get from classmates is useless. It's still a valuable activity for you to give feedback, because in thinking about why someone else's essay is good or bad, you're helping yourself to see your own paper differently. Reading other essays helps you put your own work in perspective. Maybe you think you're a poor writer, but after seeing some other essays, you discover you're not as bad as you thought--or maybe you discover that there is room