Although this course won’t be using Desire2Learn (D2L) for course content, I will use it for the grade book and attendance, so you may want to check in there to see where you stand from time to time. Also, you may encounter other professors and courses which use D2L regularly.
The English department’s own Michael Hedges was kind enough to create an informative video which illustrates how to log in to and navigate around D2L. Thanks, Michael.
Here’s something that all students may find valuable: an annotated essay written by an English 101 student with comments added by HGTC’s Dr. Heafner and myself. This example is characteristic of an A paper, displaying the following:
I think this student-writer does a wonderful job of transitioning between what sources say and what the writer has to say. Feel free to use it as a model, especially as we move toward writing papers that incorporate outside sources.
Note: The HGTC Communications and English department will be publishing a student resource containing sample essays like this one for all major assignments. Hopefully they will serve as helpful models as you craft essays on the topics and issues most meaningful to you.
RESOURCES AND SAMPLES
Here is an sample list of questions used to generate possible specific paper perspectives from a broad topic.
Here is an example of a research paper proposal that pitches specific questions and includes a tentative reading list.
Here is the list of criteria for research proposals we generated in class during our proposal workshop.
Here is an example of a strong research paper will helpful marginal notes.
Here’s a great handout from the Appstate Writing Center on MLA style. Also, the Purdue University Online Writing Lab has a very user-friendly guide to academic writing including info on types of essays, MLA, APA and Chicago styles, grammar, punctuation and mechanics.
Here’s a general worksheet for an activity I developed to help you read, analyze and then revise your draft. You may need to adapt it to meet the criteria of a specific assignment. Below is an older video explaining how I use this activity to revise my own work:
Helpful links, tools and tips as you write:
Your textbook contains valuable student models. I like the student essay, “The Politics of ‘Everyday Use’” on page 111 and “Mesmerizing Men and Vulnerable Teens: Power Relationships in ‘Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?’ and ‘Teenage Wasteland’” on page 654.
Here is a helpful outline that may help organize a draft for your literary research essay (via Valencia Community College).
Here’s a great handout from the Appstate Writing Center on MLA style.
Also, the Purdue University Online Writing Lab has a very user-friendly guide to academic writing including info on types of essays, MLA, APA and Chicago styles, grammar, punctuation and mechanics.
Here’s a general worksheet for an activity I developed to help you read, analyze and then revise your draft. You may need to adapt it to meet the criteria of a specific assignment. Below is an older video explaining how I use this activity to revise my own work:
Some videos I made about search the library catalog, requesting books and searching literary databases such as Gale Literature Resource Center:
Select one of the prompts below and develop a 4-5 paragraph response with an introduction and clear thesis, developed body paragraphs, and an appropriate conclusion.
If you’ve got any desire to see my ugly mug on youtube, here’s your chance! In the video posted below I explain a great revision strategy called sideshadowing. I learned and adapted this writing technique from my former teacher Nancy Welch. As an aside, Nancy also happens to be a phenomenal scholar, professor, fiction writer and activist. Her book Living Room: Teaching Public Writing in a Privatized World helped shape part of my thesis, and her short stories aren’t too shabby, either!
This short activity gets authors responding to their own work in the margins (or as I prefer in the video, in a separate document). I use this exercise with nearly all of my drafts as I have a tendency to ramble and to easily take my ideas to unintended places. While the freedom to explore in early drafts can help generate new and interesting ideas, sideshadowing challenges me to see how those ideas work toward one of the larger purposes of the paper (assuming I’ve figured that out, too).