LITERATURE 344
HUMOR & SATIRE
COURSE INFORMATION
CLICK TO GO TO...

BEST PRACTICES
Here's what my successful students do (or don't do)

GRADING FACTORS
How writing and discussion assignments are evaluated

RESEARCH BASICS
What's expected when it comes to supporting your views


GENERAL GUIDELINES
Policies and procedures for the course

WHAT TO AVOID
Avoid using these in your writing

WHAT NOT TO DO
Common writing assignment errors

BEST PRACTICES
Over the past fifteen years I've accumulated this list of things that my successful students do. These are practices which, if followed religiously, will not only get you the grade you want, but the grade you deserve. Some of these points come directly from research in education, others from my own experience.

   

  • Never give up!
    Research in education has shown that persistence or, as it's better known, stick-to-it-ive-ness, is the single most important factor in student success. Most of the time, if you "hang in there" you'll make it. (And that's especially true in this class. As long as you stick with me, I'll stick with you).

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  • Ask Questions
    Don't be embarassed or reluctant to ask a question. Remember, you're paying for this course. You have a right to an answer and I will do my level best to respond promptly and as clearly as I can. And if that's not good enough, ask again.

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  • Have Foresight
    Students who succeed look ahead. Many will write assignment due dates and schedule other items, like the days to post to the Discussion Board, on their calendar. If you're computer savvy, you can put them into your online calendar and set up a reminder.

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  • Figure out what's in it for You
    Successful students generally value learning for its own sake. Grades matter, but understanding matters more. When you know the value of what you're being taught, everything else will fall into place.

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  • Make full use of the Textbook and other Resources
    In addition to the textbook, which is your essential resource, there are a number of documents on the BlackBoard site and also at the Dr. Write Site. These include the Syllabus, Lectures, Frequently Asked Questions, and Checklists. Successful students print these out and keep them handy as a reference during the course.

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  • Consider How You "Look"
    Successful professionals generally need to, and take pride in, expressing themselves in a way that shows them in their best light. You may not even be aware of it, but people draw conclusions about you based on how you write. If your resume makes you appear to be less competent you might not get the job you want or get a promotion. I point out spelling and grammatical errors because I care and the corrections I point out can help make you a better writer.

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  • Don't Write to Satisfy the Teacher
    Most of the time, it doesn't work. A friend of mine says this kind of activity is crazy-making. If focus on the assignment and how to meet the requirements you'll do better. And you'll do even better if you focus on what you the assignment is trying to teach you.

    Think of it this way. If you were taking golf lessons and paid no attention to what the instructor tells you with regard to your stance, your swing, and other aspects of your game, and simply spent the time trying to figure out what made me happy would you ever become a good golfer?

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  • Don't Count Words
    Unless an assignment seems especially short, I don't count words, so neither should you. Focus on completing the assignment.

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    		Take A Position
    Following the basic information about the reading, state your position on the topic (but DO NOT say "I think...," "It seems to me...", "I believe..." or any other phrase of that sort. Since you are the author of your essay, it's clear to the reader that any comments are yours. For example, you might say this:
      Jonathan Swift's essay "A Modest Proposal" presents a drastic solution to the problems of hunger and poverty in sixteenth century Ireland. Swift's proposal is anything but modest. In this essay he proposes that children be cooked and eaten. At first glance, this sounds like a strange and bizarre idea, but further study reveals that Swift has his tongue firmly planned in his cheek and does not mean to be taken seriously.
    But not this:
      Jonathan Swift's essay "A Modest Proposal" presents a drastic solution to the problems of hunger and poverty in sixteenth century Ireland. I thought that Swift's proposal was anything but modest. He proposes that children be cooked and eaten and the first time I read it I thought it was a strange and bizarre idea, but then I realized that Swift had his tongue firmly planted in his cheek and didn't mean to be taken seriously.

       

    		Research the Topic
    Some research is likely to be necessary for most of the assignments; your position and comments are a lot stronger when you back them up with support from outside sources. Therefore, broad claims and assertions will not be accepted without some kind of support behind them. For example, you should avoid saying things like:
      "People in Swift's time must have been outraged at the idea. No one would think his proposal was funny."
    Instead, remarks like these should be supported (or not made at all), like so:
      "Fowler's History of the Irish Famine states that when Swift's essay was first published many people were outraged at the idea. Very few thought his proposal was funny."

    In the first example, you are making an unsubstantiated claim. In the second example you are documenting a fact.

    GRADING FACTORS
    Once a paper is in the DropBox, I download it to my system. (There are filters built in that reject improperly named files. I do this to make sure that papers with the same name don't copy over, and thereby erase, papers I already have.) The paper is then deleted from the DropBox.

    After I have reviewed it, I save it under a slightly different file name (I add an "R" to the end of it) and upload it back to the DropBox. At that time, I also title the upload (not the file) with your name, the paper number, the version (NEW, REVISED, etc.) and the word "Reviewed."

    Papers are returned with review comments at the top and edits in the body of the paper. The comments are always in blue and are of two types: CONTENT AND COMPOSITION. My goal is always to provide you with information which will guide you in any revision you have to make and let you know what you'e doing right as well as what you've done wrong.

    Content Comments
    These remarks deal with how well the assignment was answered. You are expected to respond to the requirements of the assignment as thoroughly as possible. The number of words required is a MINIMUM. Few, if any, students could be expected to do a thorough job in less and most students will need more.

    Another aspect of the content concerns the extent to which you made an effort to research the information necessary to do the job. Students who say "I don't know much about this subject, but..." can expect their papers to be rejected. Likewise, remarks that begin "I believe..." or "I think..." are not acceptable. The fact that you believe something is of no value to others (except, perhaps, your mother). If there's a logical reason behind your belief or if the belief can be supported by credible references, it is then worth mentioning. And if you have taken the trouble to find out about something you only 'believe' or 'think' to be so, you will have earned the respect of your reader. [Note that you are expected to provide this support from credible sources; someone's blog or a time-worn cliche aren't credible,' nor is Wikipedia.]

    Composition Comments
    The second set of comments concerns not WHAT is being said, but HOW you have said it. The extent to which grammatical structures and the rules of standard English are followed is an important consideration. I often edit all or part of the paper; I rewrite things, crossing out what you wrote and adding my own wording. And I make comments about some things, often including an arrow ← to point to the portion I'm commenting about.

    Here's an illustration of what a paragraph might look like after I've 'had at it.'

    Of course, some of the changes I make are not corrections in the narrow sense of the word; they're improvements. If you could have said "I disagree with Wynton Marsalis' view of Rap music," but said "I have to say that I found myself not in complete agreement with the expressed view of popular Rap music as put forth by the musician Wynton Marsalis," I will mark it up.

    Here's another example:

      My brother and I were biking on the left sidewalk, and the park was on the right and my brother decided to cross over to the other side. All of sudden, Suddenly we heard a car'S brakes and I noticeD that the car was about to hit Vincent. The car was able to stop after but not until part of the bike was underneath the car. Luckily Vincent had jumped off the bike and was pushed backward a few feet by the force of the car.

    Notice that I added a 'D' to 'notice' and an apostrophe 's' to car.These are the kind of little things that can make a big difference. Compare this...

      "All of sudden, we heard a car brakes and I notice that the car was about to hit Vincent. The car was able to stop after part of the bike was underneath the car. Luckily Vincent jumped off the bike and was pushed backward a few feet by the force of the car."
    ...to this:
      "Suddenly we heard a car's brakes and I noticed that the car was about to hit Vincent. The car was able to stop but not until part of the bike was underneath the car. Luckily Vincent had jumped off the bike and was pushed backward a few feet by the force of the car."

    Many of these errors can be avoided very easily by following two simple rules:

    1. Turn on the Spell Checker
      When there's a spelling error, it appears in red. Highlight it, then go to the TOOLS menu and select Spelling and Grammar and you'll get alternatives. Don't leave any red words in your paper.

    2. Turn on the Grammar Checker
      When there's a grammar error, it is underlined in green. WORD isn't as good with grammar errors as it is with spelling. It simply shows you where there's a problem. You'll have to play with it to get rid of the green. (And note that sometimes you may not want to do that. For example, if you're quoting the opening sentence of Huckleberry Finn ("You don’t know about me without you have read a book by the name of 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,' but that ain’t no matter.") You want to leave the errors in because they are not yours; they are the intentional errors of the author, Mark Twain, who has written that way to give the character's voice a realistic "sound."

    Minimum Means "the least"
    If an assignment says the minimum number of words is 300 that means that the instructor can't conceive of anyon being able to accomplish the assignment in less. It doesn't mean to write 300 words and then stop. It means that the best students might be able to do it in 300 words. And leads us to another rule...

    Grading Scale
    Ultimately, a grade of A, B, C, D or F is awarded (with an occasional plus or minus for the borderline papers.)

    Occasonally, student errors produce some comical results. Check Dr. Write's Outpatient Club for some examples. Or visit Jay Leno's Headlines for examples of poor writing that actually wound up in print!

    Five Factors
    There are five major factors that determine the grade you receive on your assignment:

    1. Logic of organization and use of prescribed formats
    2. Choices and uses of examples and evidence
    3. Integration of examples and research
    4. Insights and ideas that are germane to the assignment
    5. Grammar and Mechanics
    Each carries the same weight (20%). They are further defined below

    1. Logic of organization and use of prescribed formats
    To satisfy this aspect, the paper should be submitted as a Microsoft WORD or RTF document using a 12 Point, Times Roman font, One Inch margins, and double-spaced without extra spacing between paragraphs. They should be a minimum of 300 words and there should be a title page with the title and number of the assignment, your name, the course name, the instructor's name, and the date submitted. Each assignment should have the following basic organization structure:

      First Paragraph: An Introduction
    • Opening comments that introduce the subject of the paper
    • A statement of the issue
    • A thesis statement (Your Point of View or Opinion)
    • A preview of the arguments you’re going to present to support your thesis.

      Second Paragraph: Your First Argument

    • Topic sentence: Clearly stated, the point you’re going to make
    • Supporting evidence / facts, examples, and research support if necessary

      Third Paragraph: Your Second Argument

    • Topic sentence: Clearly state the point you’re making
    • Supporting evidence / facts, examples, and research support if necessary

      Fourth Paragraph: Your Third Argument

    • Topic sentence: Clearly state the point you’re making
    • Supporting evidence / facts, examples, and research support if necessary

      Fifth Paragraph: Conclusion

    • Restatement of your thesis
    • Summary of your arguments
    • Summary your paper
    2. Choices and uses of examples and evidence
    Your personal opinion is of little value without some kind of evidence to back it up. Therefore, you are expected to cite examples from the subject of the assignment; specific quotes are usually best. And they should be pertinent and clearly support your argument.

    Most often, you will need to conduct some research to find support from outside sources. Here are some of the acceptable sources:

      Books
      Make sure the author of the book is credible and the information is not outdated. (In many fields, information changes rapidly; however, historical information generally does not change.)

      Popular Magazines
      Popular magazines like Time, Psychology Today, and National Geographic are acceptable, but make sure the writer has the experience and knowledge to cover the topic authoritatively.

      Professional Magazines
      Professional magazines are somewhat better than popular magazines, though you’re not likely to find many that deal with comedy and/or satire

      Journals
      Like professional magazines, journals contain articles written by professionals in the field. An important difference is that most journal articles have a bibliography of sources at the end, so you can verify the accuracy of the sources. And most professional journals have an editorial review board of experts who determine if the article submitted is credible before it is published.

    A Note About Internet Sources
    You may think that the internet is a good place to do research and it can be, but you need to know how to search it properly and how to cite the source. There are a lot of items on the internet that have little if any credibility. You can do some good research on the Internet if you can locate a good electronic periodical index that accesses bibliographic citations to the sources. And very often, the source originally appeared as a book, popular magazine, professional magazine, or journal, so if it fits your needs, you probably can use it. But beware: Wikipedia is NOT an acceptable source for research. It might serve as a good starting point to get you to good sources, but by itself it is too unreliable.

    3. Integration of examples and research
    This requirement relates to the extent to which you work your examples and research information into your paper. It’s not enough to simply ‘tack on’ or ‘paste in’ a quote from the source. It must be an integral part of your writing.

    4. Insights and ideas that are germane to the assignment
    Being able to come up with an original or unique view of the assignment topic is highly valued. While I don’t expect you to produce a brilliant treatise on the influence of the minstrel show on modern sketch comedy or the origins of dialect usage in satire, a paper that simply repeats what has been said in the discussions and readings will not get much credit in this category. What you have to say should reflect some thought about the subject.

    5. Grammar and Mechanics
    By the time you reach college you probably know what this means. And with the grammar and spell checkers available with your word processor, you should not have major problems in this regard. Proofreading is critical. A paper that is submitted with extensive errors in this category says that you didn’t care enough about the quality of your work to proofread and correct it.

    A Note About the 800 word Minimum
    As noted elsewhere here, word count is not critical, but it’s likely that a paper that gets an ‘A’ is longer than the minimum of 300 words.

    How Grades Are Awarded
    A grade of A, B, C, or F is awarded by applying the standards specified above to the scale shown below.

     

    "F” LEVEL
    "C” LEVEL
    "B” LEVEL
    "A” LEVEL
    1. Logic of organization and use of prescribed formats Paper does not conform to prescribed formats Organization and format minimally conform Organization and format meet and occasionally exceed requirements Organization and format exceed requirements
    2. Choices and uses of examples and evidence No pertinent examples and/or evidence are provided Minimum examples and/or evidence are provided Some examples and/or evidence above the minimum are provided Extensive use of examples and/or evidence
    3. Integration of examples and research Examples and/or research are not integrated Examples and/or research appear as defined in outline; transitions are awkward Examples and/or research follow logically; some awkward transitions Examples and/or research are smoothly integrated
    4. Insights and ideas that are germane to the assignment There are no insights or ideas Insights and ideas are present but not unique Some good insights and ideas Excellent insights and ideas
    5. Grammar & Mechanics Major grammar and mechanics problems Some grammatical and mechanical errors Few grammatical and mechanical errors No grammatical and mechanical errors

    So, for example, if your paper receives the following scores...

    1. Logic of organization and use of prescribed formats
      Organization and format minimally conform (10%)
    2. Choices and uses of examples and evidence
      Some examples and/or evidence above the minimum are provided (15%)
    3. Integration of examples and research
      Examples and/or research follow logically; some awkward transitions (15%)
    4. Insights and ideas that are germane to the assignment
      Insights and ideas are present but not unique (10%)
    5. Grammar & Mechanics
      Few grammatical and mechanical errors (15%)
    ...your grade will be 65%…a ‘D’.

    Assignment Standards
    The assignments submitted for this course should adhere to the standard for college-level essays submitted for any college course. In addition to adherence to the standards for punctuation, grammar and usage (explained further below), the assignment should conform to the basic principles of an expository essay.

    CRITERIA LEVEL % GRADE
    1. Logic of organization and use of prescribed formats Paper does not conform to prescribed formats 0 F Level
     

    		Organization and format minimally conform 10 C Level
     

    		Organization and format includes some useful modifications 15 B Level
     

    		Organization and format exceed requirements 20 A Level
     

    		%  

    		 

    2. Choices and uses of examples and evidence No pertinent examples and/or evidence are provided 0 F Level
     

    		Minimum examples and/or evidence are provided 10 C Level
     

    		Some examples and/or evidence above the minimum are provided 15 B Level
     

    		Extensive use of examples and/or valid evidence 20 A Level
     

    		%  

    		 

    3. Integration of examples and research Examples and/or research are not integrated 0 F Level
     

    		Examples and/or research appear as defined in outline; transitions are awkward 10 C Level
     

    		Examples and/or research follow logically; some awkward transitions 15 B Level
     

    		Examples and/or research are smoothly integrated 20 A Level
     

    		%  

    		 

    4. Insights and ideas that are germane to the assignment There are no insights or ideas 0 F Level
     

    		Insights and ideas are present but not unique 10 C Level
     

    		Some good insights and ideas 15 B Level
     

    		Excellent insights and ideas 20 A Level
     

    		%  

    		 

    5. Grammar & Mechanics Poor grammar and mechanics 0 F Level
     

    		Some grammatical and mechanical errors 10 C Level
     

    		Few grammatical and mechanical errors 15 B Level
     

    		No grammatical and mechanical errors 20 A Level
     

    		%  

    		 

    Rewriting and Revising
    Any paper that receives less than an ‘A’ may be revised and resubmitted to try to raise the grade. When your paper is returned to you, it will include a table like the one above. If you wish to revise and resubmit it, you must do so within 10 days of its return.

    When you submit the revised paper, I pull up the original version and look at my comments, comparing it to the new version to see if you understood and followed my directions. Sometimes I find errors that I missed the first time, but I don't penalize you if you haven't corrected these.

    The objective of this process is to provide you with the information you need to become a better writer. If you wrote "Swifts essay quickly reaches it's conclusion," and I change "Swifts" to "Swift's" and "it's" to "its", I not only expect those to be changed in the revision, I expect you to understand why I did it and to avoid those kind of mistakes on future assignments. And if you don't understand, I expect you to get in touch with me so I can explain further.

    RESEARCH BASICS
    Whether it is in one of the writing assignments or in the discussion area, you are expected to do whatever research is necessary to support your comments and conclusions. Wild or exaggerated claims are not valid expressions in a college level class. Here is some basic information to keep in mind with regard to what are acceptable research methods and sources.

    Blogs & Wikipedia
    These two major sources of information are readily available on the Internet, but they are unreliable. The first, Wikipedia, certainly seems like a valid source; it sounds like it's an encyclopedia. And it is...more or less, insofar as it has information on just about everything. But the problem with Wikipedia is that just about anyone can make an entry and write whatever they like. (I don't know anything about brain surgery, but I can write about it for Wikipedia.) To find out more about why Wikipedia is not acceptable, check out either or both of these articles:

    The second no-no is a blog, for much the same reason as Wikipedia. Just about anyone can set up a blog and say write whatever they like. So unless you can confirm that the author of the blog is, in some valid way, qualified to comment on the subject, don't use information from a blog.

    And this brings us to the meat of the discussion. As much as we like to think we're important, when it comes to expressing an opinion our personal thoughts on a subject aren't of much value unless they are supported by some kind of evidence or research. In an academic course such as this, you are expected to back up any claims you might make in a paper submitted in fulfillment of an assignment. Backing them up means providing direct evidence (and that often can be direct quotations from whatever is being discussed) or support from outside sources.

    Direct Evidence
    Here are three statements that appeared in a student paper discussing the language used in a short story. While the claims being made may be correct, they lack the necessary evidence to back them up.

    Outside Sources
    Using the words or the ideas of another person or getting information from somewhere other than your own head requires you to give credit to the source of the words, ideas, or information. For each of these, there are specific rules.

    What You Must Do

    How You Must Do It

    Whether you are using exact words or your own, there must be an indication of where you got the material immediately afterward. This should be an abbreviation of a more detailed citation at the end of your paper.

    Provide a "Works Cited" List
    At the end of your paper there should be a "Works Cited" list where you list the sources you used. There are many variations on the style for such a list. The example below provides the Author's Last name, First Name, Title of the source, the Publisher, and the date. [The usual format is for the first line to be OUTDENTED five spaces--an outdent is the opposite of an indent.]     The primary purpose is for there to be enough information so that any person reading your paper is able to trace back the source of the information.

    Works Cited

    Gold, Jeannye. "When Fathers Raise Children Alone." U.S. News and World Report,
    Apr. 12 1982: 51-52.

    Larson, Eric. "Cross-Cultural Studies of Fatherhood." Journal of Marriage and the
    Family, 11 (Aug. 1988): 212-18.

    McKee, Loma and Margaret O'Brien, eds. The Father Figure. 3rd ed. New York:
    Tavistock, 1982.

    Schorr, Burt. "States Cracking Down on Fathers Dodging Child-Support Payments." New
    York Times 26 Jan. 1983, natl. ed.: A1.

    Valsiner, Jan. "The Father's Role in the Social Network of the Soviet Child." The Role
    of the Father in Child Development. Ed. Michael E. Lamb. New York: Wiley, 1981.
    187-201.

    Wooster, Bernard. "Child Support Laws Should Be Tougher." Family Values: Opposing
    viewpoints. San Diego: Greenhaven, 1993. 10-14. Rpt. of "Deadbeat Dads." Reader's
    Digest Jan. 1992: 29-34.

    Zamorra, Carlos. "Stepfathers Have Rights, Too." 2 Feb. 1995. Online posting.
    Newsgroup soc.parents. Usenet. May 15, 1995.

    Give Credit in the Body of the paper
    You must give credit to a source IN THE BODY OF YOUR PAPER. In the format approved by the Modern Language Association (MLA), you put a shortened form of the source along with the exact page number where you found it. For example:

    Jeannye Gold says that "natural fathers aren't the only ones raising children on their own. As more families split up, social workers note that stepfathers increasingly are being called on to bring up other people's kids" (Gold 52). According to Bernard Barber in Encyclopedia Americana there is a trend toward waiting to marry and toward postponing the birth of the first child (Barber 6). At the turn of the century many men worked long hours, which "entailed their absence from the family for most of the day: that was not a rejection of fatherhood but a necessary element of it" (McKee and O'Brien 54).

    All that's needed within the parenthesis is enough information for the reader to be able to go to the Works Cited list at the end of the paper and get the complete information. From there, the reader should be able to go to the actual document (or newspaper or magazine or web site...whatever) and find the original source.

    Exceptions
    As with anything, there are exceptions to the above.

    If you give the author's name in your sentence, all you need to do is give the page number:

      Freud found that dreams move backward in time as the night progresses (Dement 71).

    If you use a work that has two or three authors:

      Psychologists hold that no two children are alike (Gesell and Ilg 68).

    If you use a work that has no author. (You begin with the word by which the title is alphabetized in the Works Cited)

      Random testing for use of steroids by athletes is facing strong opposition by owners of several of these teams ("Steroids" 22).

    An Example
    Here's an example of a student post to the discussion board.

      Mark Twain was able to combine journalism and humor in such a way that allowed him to mock politicians, American institutions, and human nature, in general, creating a satirical affect. Born Samuel Clemens, his life spanned the Civil War period in America. His book, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is known as one of most subversive texts in American literature history. Twain uses his humor, through a character named Huckleberry Finn, to attack such previously respected institutions as education, religion, the family, and the justice system. Mark Twain paved the way for today’s political satirists. There is even a “Mark Twain Humor Award” given to the comedian who has contributed most to raising the political awareness through comedy and satire.

      Works Cited: http://collegejournalism.wordpress.com/2008/08/03/mark-twain/
    Notice that the student provided a source, but It's not good enough to put the source at the end of the post (or paper). When you incorporate the exact words from that source those words need to be in quotes so that you din't give the appearance of having 'said' those things yourself. The student's comments used the following phrases which are word-for-word from the source:
      "...combined journalism and humor in such a way that he was able to mock politicians, American institutions, and human nature."

      "one of most subversive texts in American literature"

      "to attack such respected institutions as education, religion, the family, and the justice system."

    Quotation marks give proper credit to the source; it tells your reader that these are not your words, so you cannot be accused of plagiarism (a very serious academic offense).

    For a more detailed discussion of this, see the Research section of the Dr. Write web site.

    GENERAL GUIDELINES

    Sending E-Mails

  • Please send all emails through the SNHU system to me at g.wilkerson@snhu.edu.edu. I will answer all of your messages and grade your essays as quickly as possible--usually within 48 hours.

    All messages and assignments are important to me and I try to respond to them in a timely fashion. But marking messages and assignments as “high priority” does not speed up the process. Save that for emergency messages when you absolutely must have an immediate response.

  • Use only one email address throughout the entire semester. In an emergency (i.e. you cannot access the computer you usually use) make sure to put your name in the subject line of the email and address a copy of the message to yourself at your regular email address. This gives you a copy for your records and it enables me to send my reply to your regular email address. That saves time and enables me to respond to your message quicker.

  • Do not send the same email more than once unless you are sure that it didn't get through the first time. (If that happens you will usually receive a message from the server.) After a reasonable amount of time (at least 48 hours), if you are not certain I received an email, you can call me (518.346.6414) to ask about it.

  • If you change your email address during the semester, immediately send me an email from the new address and put something like this in the SUBJECT line: Email Address Change for Julie Doe. If your email address changes after you have already sent me an assignment and you haven't received an acceptance notice, send the assignment again from your new email address. It's better that I receive it twice than not at all.

    Naming Files
    This may be the most critical guideline of all. Since I will be receiving many papers from different students, it's important that each file be unique. (If everyone submitted the first assignment in a file named PAPER-1.DOC, I would only get one person's paper, the last one to submit it, since the computer will record each newly submitted document OVER the old one, thereby erasing it.) Therefore, it's important that you follow these directions.

    The name for the file for each paper should consist of three parts:

    1. Your last name
    2. The assignment number
    3. Whether it's NEW or a REVISION

    Each part should be separated by a hyphen: -

    For example, if Julie Doe is submitting the third assignment, the WORD file would be named:

    DOE-3-NEW.DOC

    When I return the paper I will add an "R" to the end of the file name, like so:

    DOE-3-NEW-R.DOC

    If Julie is submitting a revision of the third assignment, the WORD file would be named:

    DOE-3-REVISION.DOC

    And when I return that paper I will, once again, add an "R" to the end of the file name, like so:

    DOE-3-REVISION-R.DOC

    This way, there will never be two papers that have exactly the same file name. And though it shouldn't make a difference, I prefer that file names be in UPPER CASE.

    IMPORTANT NOTES: The above refers to the name you give to your WORD file when you save it. It's the one you select when you use the 'Browse' function to upload the paper; it's not the name you type in the field labeled "Name" (See image below).

    And make sure you use Send File , NOT Add File when sending the file.

    Formatting Papers
    Papers should be submitted as a Microsoft WORD or Rich Text Format file. (In other words, the extension on the file name should be DOC or RTF.)

  • Type your name, the course number, and the paper number at the top of each assignment (before the title ). Don't put quotation marks around the title. (The only proper place for quotation marks is around the names of other authors' works.) Here's an example of how your heading should look:

      Julie Doe
      Literature 344
      Assignment 1: A Modest Proposal

      The Satire of Swift

  • Do not type your essay into the body of an email or on the Discussion Board.

  • Please make certain all your essays are at least the required minimum length before you submit them. The minimum is the least acceptable number of words; anything less will receive an 'F'. So you can assume that if your assignment is right around 800 words, the best grade you can expect for it is a 'C'.

    Writing Style
    This is a college level writing course. Your paper should be written at that level. Conversational language is not appropriate. For example, a student wrote the following: "Honestly, I would never want to send my loved one off to war ever." While you might express yourself this way when speaking to someone, a friend or relative, it's not very scholarly. The student should have said something like: "Sending a loved one off to war is never a joyful event." (Notice that the first person [I] was removed.) And conversational words and phrases like "honestly" or "nowadays" should not be used.
          The other side of the coin is the tendency to become too formal. Some students, in an effort to "sound" academic introduce unnecessary verbiage that does nothing but confuse matters. (For example, saying "with regard to" instead of "about.")

    Submitting an Assignment
    You may submit only one assignment at a time unless I specifically tell you otherwise. Any essay returned for revising or rewriting must be resubmitted and accepted before you submit the next assignment. BUT, just as soon you finish one assignment, there's no reason you shouldn't begin researching the next one.

  • If a reasonable amount of time has passed (at least 48 hours) and you haven't had your assignment reviewed and returned to you, you may e-mail me to inquire about it. Do not post the same essay more than once.

    Sample Papers
    The following examples of A, B, C, and F levels papers are provided as illustrations for your reference only.

    PITFALLS
    Eliminating some words and phrases can make a world of difference in the readability of your assignment. Here's a few of the major ones to avoid.

       

  • Avoid saying "SHOULD"
    I think it was Joe Ely who sang "Musta, Notta Gotta" and "shoulda, woulda, coulda" is in the same class when it comes to writing about Central Ideas. The word should implies a moral. "We should all love one another," is a nice 'message' but it's not a Central Idea.

    •    

    		Avoid saying "WOULD"
    "Shoulda, woulda, coulda" are in the same class when it comes to writing. The word 'would' implies a negative. If you ask me "Will you read my paper?" and I say "I would..." you then expect me to say "...but..." So statements like "I would say that this article was informative" sound wishy-washy. It's much stronger to say "This article was informative." (Another example: "My favorite part of this would have to be the part where he fell down the stairs." How about: "My favorite part is where he fell down the stairs."
    How to catch this error? After you write your paper, do a search [CTRL-F] for "would".

       

    		Avoid Excessive Verbiage
    That means using too many words. For example, a student wrote "Mark Twain is known to have made many great contributions to American literature." when he could have said "Mark Twain made many great contributions to American literature."

       

    		Avoid "I", "ME", AND "YOU"
    Remember that the topic of your assignment is the subject.

    When you use 'I', YOU become the subject. The focus moves away from the topic and onto you. Sentences like this are not appropriate:

      "This essay made me sick to my stomach. I couldn't believe what I was reading."
    This tells us nothing about the topic, only that the person writing about it was sick and in disbelief.

    Likewise, you should not say:

      "This essay will make you glad you live in a time and in a country where you don't have to worry about famine and poverty."
    This shifts the focus to the reader. There's an involuntary, unconscious response; the reader thinks "Who? Me?" In this version, the important thing is not 'the essay' but the fact that the reader is going to be glad he or she lives in the U.S.

    So what's the right way to do this? There are a couple of options. You can put it in terms of readers:

      "This essay will make readers grateful that they live in a country where they don't have to worry about famine and poverty."

    Or you can use the more formal sounding "one."

      "This story will make one grateful to be living in a country where they don't have to worry about famine and poverty."
    But that's not my favorite solution. Ultimately, if you have this dilemma, you should reconsider what you're trying to say and put it in a way that maintains the focus where it belongs--on the thing being written about:
      "After reading the proposal presented in this essay, we can be grateful to be living in a country where they don't have to worry about famine and poverty."
    And notice how the use of "we" creates an inclusiveness. The writer (that's you) and the reader are brought together as participants in the experience.

    The reule concerning 'YOU' isn't absolute, but it's enough of a problem that it's easier to tell students to avoid it altogether. When we say 'you' we're talking to the reader. Did you understand that? (See? I was talking to you when I said that...you, the reader of this paragraph. In this instance I wanted to talk to the reader. But most of the time, using 'you' becomes distracting. Take a look at this paragraph from a student's paper:

      "I was really excited when this restaurant finally opened. I had been waiting close to two months for it to get under way and now the time had arrived for me to embark on a delectable seafood excursion. During this time you could see all the construction from outside going on every day, almost all day. It was building upward, now and was going to be attached on to the side of the tallest bank building in downtown Indianapolis and across the street from the RCA dome where the Colts played games. You couldn’t miss it."
    She starts out fine, using the first person to talk about her experience with the restaurant, but by the third sentence the subject has shifted from the writer ("I") to the reader ("you"). As the reader, my initial reaction to her statement that "you could see all the construction from outside going on every day" is "No...I couldn't."

       

    		Don't say ALMOST
    A paper I received, talking about a description, said "you can almost hear the bird singing." If you can almost hear the bird singing, you can't hear it. So what does it mean to say you can 'almost' hear it? (And the problem with saying YOU is explained elsewhere on this list).

       

    		Don't say "IN CONCLUSION"
    Saying "In conclusion" is trite. It sounds like something from a speech: "And in conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, I'd simply like to say what an honor it has been to be here."

       

    		Don't say I THINK or I BELIEVE
    If you are the writer, it's evident that the things you're saying are what you think. A statement like "I think the essay was well written," is weak. If you think the essay was well written, then simply say "The essay was well written."
    And leave beliefs to matters of faith. It's equally weak to say "I believe that the essay was well written." If you believe that Mohammed received his revelations over a period of 23 years from the Angel Jibreel (Gabriel)," it's OK to introduce the sentence with "I believe," but saying "I believe the purpose of the essay is Referential," is a way of 'fudging' on the matter. If you say you believe it's referntial and I say it's not, you can reply that you said you "believe" it was, but you didn't really mean to say it was.

    COMMON ERRORS
    Here are some common errors I've found on many student papers. They're easy to correct with a simple SEARCH of your document before turning it in.

       

  • It's Not Like You're Really There
    A phrase I see a lot on assignments is "It's like you're really there" or "It seemed real." Another one is "the writer paints a picture in your mind." The appearance of reality is one of the basic features of great literature. Those are the things we're studying this term, but phrases like this don't add anything to an analysis. In fact, they trivialize it. (I suspect they're leftovers from high school.) If you truly felt "really there" or that the author painted a picture in your mind, identify what the author did to cause you to feel that way and use the tools provided in the course to analyze that.

    •    

    		Is it a STORY or an ESSAY?
    Don't confuse the two. A story is a a series of true or fictitious events; it has a plot, a conflict and characters. An essay is a piece of writing about a single subject, usually from the viewpoint of the writer. The Gettysburg Address is an essay; Little Red Riding Hood is a story.

       

    		Confusing Past and Present Tense
    The rule is simple: stay in the same tense. I often see statements like "Hamlet was a play about the Prince of Denmark." 'Was" suggests it no longer 'is.' But it still is a play about the Prince of Denmark.

       

    		Delete My Comments
    If I return a paper for you to revise, delete the comments that I usually put at the top. If i get a paper back and I see those comments I'll assume you didn't make any revisions and I'll delete it.

       

    		Turn on the SpellCheck
    Please...this is such an easy thing to do. You've paid for this expense program with its bells and whistles, so use them. The SpellCheck and GrammarCheck are invaluable.

       

    		Differentiate Your Quotes
    Make sure you understand whose words you're quoting. When you quote something from an essay or story you're not always quoting the author of that essay or story. If a statement has quotation marks around it, the author is quoting it from somewhere else, so if you use that statement, you can't cite the author of the essay as the author of that statement.

       

    		To Hyphenate or not to Hyphenate
    That's often the question and many students don't know the answer. Most of the time, the hyphen is left out. For example "all you can eat" is always used like an adjective; it describes something, like a buffet or a barbecue. So you want readers to treat it as a single element: "all-you-can-eat." The same is true of 'wall size'; it's one thing, so it's hyphenated: wall-size. A term like 'hang out' is a bit trickier; you can't decide without the context. If you say that The Magnolia Cafe is your "hangout," it's just one word. But if you say "I'm going to hang out at the Magnolia Cafe," it's two words.

    Most of the time, a hyphen is used when a new term is created and eventually, the hyphen goes away. When I was a kid*, cooperation had a hyphen between 'co' and 'op' and good-bye was hyphenated too, but no more.

    So...just remember to watch for those terms that need to be connected to produce a single idea. And if you'd like more on this topic, here's a link to The Grammar Curmudgeon's page on hyphenated words and one that references the Texas Law Review Manual of Style.

          * Of course, when I was a kid TV was in black-and-white and the 'net' was the thing my mother wore on her head.

       

    		Don't Refer to People by Their First Names
    Unless you know someone personally, you should not refer to him or her by their first name. If you're writing about Shakespeare's Hamlet, you don't say
         "In this play, Bill raises the question of the ethics of suicide."
    Likewise, if you're writing about Tom Cruise's performance in Mission Impossible you wouldn't say
         "Most critics panned Tom's performance in this film."
    The most commonly accepted way to reference a writer is by his or her last name:
         "In this play, Shakespeare raises the question of the ethics of suicide."
    or
         "Most critics panned Cruise's performance in this film."

       

    		Don't Make Assumptions About Your Reader
    Papers should be written with the assumption that the reader is not familiar with the subject or the assignment. If it's about a reading, the title and author of the piece should be given at the very beginning of your paper, along with a summary of what the reading is about. For example:
      Jonathan Swift's essay "A Modest Proposal" presents a drastic solution to the problems of hunger and poverty in sixteenth century Ireland. Swift's proposal is anything but modest. In this essay he proposes that children be cooked and eaten.
    And notice that the title of the essay is in quotes. All titles should be identified one of three ways: (1) place them in quotes, (2) underline them, or (3) put them in italics.

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