Class, Thurs, 5/07/2015

Arak Journal 

Responses to Responses [pdf]

Some Controversies in Editing

• Oxford Comma: Vampire Weekend, pdf
• Punctuating Quotations: Ben Yagoda, pdf
• The Onion

 

To Do

1. Tues, 5/12, 10:00–11:00 am, 12:30–2:30: Drop-by conferences. No longer than ten minutes. I will only discuss passages that you have added to your essay since your last draft.
2. Wed, 5/13, 11:00 am: Post e2d3 to Dropbox . At the same time, log on to the course evaluations site and evaluate this course. When I see that you’ve done so, I will send you back your grade for the essay and the course.

Conferences, Tues, 5/05, & Wed, 5/06/2015

Class, Tues, 5/05/2015

Titles [pdf]

• Straightforward
• Allusive
• Doubled

Using the M-Dash [pdf]

• Series
• Parenthesis
• Afterthought
• Emphasis

To Do

1. Tues, 5/05, 10:30–12:00, and 3:00–4:00: Optional conferences with me.
2. Wed, 5/06, 1:00–3:00: Optional conferences with me.
3. Thurs, 5/07, class: Come to class with a print copy of the current version of your second essay. We will work closely with them.
4. Mon, 5/11, 11:00: Submit e2d3 to Dropbox.
5. Tues, 5/12, class: Last class! Sum up, reflections, etc.

Class, Thurs, 4/30/2015

Responding to e2d2

In your writing groups: Please exchange drafts so that each author has their own piece with three sets of comments.

Round One

Writers: Read through the beginning comments on your piece and make notes. Jot down three ideas you now have about revising your piece that you’d like to ask your readers about. At least one of these questions must respond to:

• Comments from two or more of your readers;
• An issue that concerns you, but that none of your readers has yet to mention.

When you’re ready, chat together as a group. Each writer should begin the discussion of their essay by asking their three questions/ideas. The readers should respond, and you can go from there.

Round Two

Read through the suggested changes that your readers have made to your text.  Decide:

• Which changes you will make;
• Which you will ignore;
• Which you need to think more about.

Quick Write

Add, cut, change, move. Identify at least three points in your draft where you might make one of these moves in revision.

Thinking About Style: Topics, Cohesion, and Paragraphs

Underline or highlight the topic of each of the sentences in your essay. The topic of a sentence is what it is about, what the rest of the sentence comments on. It usually—but not always—appears near the beginning of the sentence (or clause), and is often its subject. (See this example from Woolf.)

List the topics of the sentences in your essay. Each of your paragraphs should consist of a cluster or series of clearly linked and connected topics. When your topics shift, you should probably start a new paragraph.

To Do

1. Fri, 5/01, 4:00 pm: Email me your revising plan (w5). I will reply by by Mon, 5/04. If after reading my comments, you feel you’d like to talk more with me, then email me back.
2. Tues, 5/05, class: Come to class with a print copy of the current version of your second essay. We will work closely with them.
3. Tues, 5/05, 10:30–12:00, and 3:00–4:00: Optional conferences with me.
4. Wed, 5/06, 1:00–3:00: Optional conferences with me.
5. Thurs, 5/07, class: Come to class with a print copy of the current version of your second essay. We will work closely with them.
6. Mon, 5/11, 11:00: Submit e2d3 to Dropbox.
7. Tues, 5/12, class: Last class! Sum up, reflections, etc.

Class, Tues, 4/28

Design Elements [docx]

Line Editing

Exchange drafts with the person next to you. Read your partner’s draft closely, pen in hand, marking any work that needs to be done to the following:

• First Page
  • Name
  • Course
  • Date
  • Assignment/Draft
• Title
• Running Head
  • Name
  • Short Title
  • Page Number
• Paragraphs
  • Indents
  • Extra space
• In-Text Citations
  • Underline names and titles in the text. Does it appear in the list of References? Check, both in the text and list, if it does. If not, mark boldly.
  • Direct quotations: Is there a page reference following? If not, mark boldly.
  • Block quotes {BLQ]: Quotations of more than a sentence or running more than two lines. Mark quotations that need to be blocked.
• References
  • Alphabetical?
  • Chicago format?

w5: Feedback and Revising Plan

To Do

1. Wed, 4/29: Post e2d2 to your group dropbox folder.
2. Thurs, 4/30, class: Bring print-outs of our group members’ drafts with at least ten suggested changes marked on each. Bring a clean print-out of your own draft.
3. Fri, 5/01, 4:00 pm: Email me your revising plan (w5). I will reply by Mon, 5/04. I will also hold extended office hours on Tues, 5/05, and Wed, 5/06, if you’d like to talk more about your piece.
4. Tues, 5/05, class: Bring a print copy of the current version of your second essay. We will work closely with these in class.

Groups, e2d2

Group 6

• Josh
• Dani
• Kalah
• Lauren

Group 7

• Alicia
• Kyra
• Sam
• Sean

Group 8

• Seth
• Nick D
• Nick M
• Matt
• Lyndsay

Group 9

• Maggie
• Sydney
• Katherine
• Alex

Group 10

• Troy
• Colin
• Christina
• Maya

 

Class, Thurs, 4/23

Moving from e2d1 to e2d2

Reread the ¶ you wrote for today in which you defined your own aim or project as a writer. Then:

• Without consulting your current draft, outline a tentative “map” of  the next draft essay which executes the aim you’ve defined. For each planned section or ¶ of your second draft, note (a) the specific text, experience, or idea you will discuss, and (b) what you plan to do with it (e.g., “analyze as a counter-example”; “show how this scene illustrates a critic’s ideas”; “yes, but . . .”)
• Once you have your map, read over your e2d1. Where might those ¶s fit into your current plan (or not)? What will you need to do to make them fit better?
• Note down one question this exercise raises for you. Discuss your question with two other students. Give me a copy of your question as your exit ticket for today.

Groups

We need to form writing groups for next week. Let’s use the attached spreadsheet to figure out who can offer useful advice to whom.

e2d2

To Do

1. Tues, 4/28, class:  Bring a print copy of the most recent version of your second essay with you to class. We will work with them.
2. Wed, 4/29: Post e2d2 to your group dropbox folder.
3. Thurs, 4/30, class: Bring print-outs of our group members’ drafts with at least ten suggested changes marked on each. Bring a clean print-out of your own draft.

Conferences, Tues, 4/21, and Wed, 4/22/2015

Class, Thurs, 4/16/2015

Proto-Drafts

Share your 500-word piece for today with the person next to you. After you read your partner’s essay, jot down some thoughts in response to these three questions:

• What would you like to know more about the primary text?
• What would you like to know more about the secondary text?
• What would you like to know more about how the author is trying to connect the two?

Return the piece with your comments to your partner. Chat for a bit about what you noticed or about any questions you might have.

Rewriting, Chapters 2-3

• Coming to terms: Re-presenting the work of another  writer
• Forwarding: Thinking with another text, borrowing and extending its ideas and keywords. “As the writer suggests . . .”
• Countering: Thinking against another text, noticing problems and gaps. “Yes, but . . .”

Leslie Hilmann, “I’m Trapped in a Paper Case of Emotion” [video]

• When and how does Leslie come to terms with Carr and McLuhan?
• When and how does she forward ideas from either writer?
• In what ways does she counter either writer?

e2d1

• Drafts
• Conferences: Tues, 4/21, and Wed, 4/22

To Do

1. Mon, 4/20, 11:00: Post e2d1 to your Dropbox folder.
2. Tues, 4/21, or Wed, 4/22: Bring an annotated print-out of your e2d1 with you to your conference with me. Be ready to ask questions and try out ideas, as well as to hear my responses.

Class, Tues, 4/14/2015

Responses to Course

Worked Well

• “Multiple chances to begin”
• Workshops, seeing other students’ writing
• Choice of what to write about

Do Differently

• Better advance idea of final essay grade
• Woolf: Do more with or do less with
• Earlier conferences
• Sharing writing in class vs. smaller groups

Proposals: Some Key Questions

• How do you ground your discussion of an issue in a reading of your primary text?
• How do you use your secondary texts to inform your reading of your primary text?

Moving Toward a Draft

• Quick Write: Take 10-15 minutes to describe a key scene or passage in your primary text as vividly and evocatively as you can. You may quote sparingly from your primary text, but your main goals should be to (a) describe in detail, in your own language, what happens in this passage or scene, and (b) to begin to suggest why you find it important or interesting.
• Groups: Read your descriptions to each other. Readers: What would you like to know more about (a) this scene or passage, and/or (b) the text as a whole?
• Exit Ticket: Write down the following info about your primary text: Author. Title. Date. Genre. Three or four keywords from your description. Fill in the class form when it comes to you.

To Do

1. Thurs, 4/16, class: Write at least 500 words in which you connect at least one of your secondary texts to the passage from your primary text you have described today in class. (You may use some of the prose you generated in class today.)
2. Thurs, 4/16, class: Read Chapter 3, “Countering”, of Rewriting (54–72). We’ll discuss Chapters 2 and 3 in class.
3. Mon, 4/20, 11:00: Post e2d1 to your group Dropbox folder.