Thoughts on Grading

Below is a letter I sent out to Writing 1 & 2 about grades.  Writing 3 has been a little different since we didn't have weekly assignments that were scored and graded.  I thought I'd share my thoughts with the class (and students) anyway.
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Dear Writing 1 & 2 Classes,

I've just finished calculating the grades for this first semester.  As tutors, these are suggested grades for you as homeschooling families to consider.

 

Before I send them, let me share my thoughts on grades.  As I homeschooled, I didn't give my children grades.  I felt that grades were far too subjective.  I taught my own children for mastery.  We didn't proceed with a topic until they were ready no matter how long that took. 

 

Letter grades are a funny thing.  For some students, it becomes the only motivation for doing well.  For some, it becomes a measure of their worth as a person or as an academic learner.  I personally don't like these "side effects" of the grading system.  On the other hand, grades can be a valid reward for working hard, being diligent, and understanding the materials.

 

When teaching students to be good writers, I give a lot of consideration for growth and improvement. Each student has a starting place; over time I look for him or her to learn the mechanics of grammar, good writing techniques, and analytical thinking skills.

 

For this class, I gave points for attendance, participation, short assignments and longer papers.  I also offered a few extra credit opportunities.  I tend to be an "easy grader" and like to see my students encouraged to do their best.

 

Each student (and parents) will get an e-mail with percentages and suggested grades for this semester. 

 

Blessings,

Tammy Prichard

 

PS.  I will be gone to England and without internet options from December 28 to January 9.  Feel free to contact me after that date if you have any questions about the scores.

Writing 3 Class Notes -- December 6

Greetings!

We are in Week 14 of this term.  The last 2 weeks of our time together are set for the students to give presentations about their research projects. We didn't do any test essays, vocabulary, or grammar work today.  Our class time was devoted to presentations.  Between the presentations, we played a round of "Articulate," a game in which players try to make each other says words by giving them clues.

We had three presentations today from Michael, Caitlyn, and Kayla.  They each gave short speeches which summarized their research.  We had visual aids and touching stories.  Afterward, the students fielded questions from their classmates.  The students also game some feedback to one another about the strengths and positive aspects of their presentations.  They were good masters of their material.

Following the presentations, we discussed the process of this project.  I asked them what they learned about their topics that they found surprising or especially interesting.  I also asked them what they learned about themselves as researchers, writers, and learners.  They have all been very thoughtful, deliberate, and hard-working. 

Next week -- Danielle, Hanna, and Charity will give their presentations.

The students also mentioned "treats."  Feel free to bring any goodies to class.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Prichard

Writing 3 Class Notes -- November 29

Greetings!

We are down to the wire with our research papers!  As we met this week we discussed any last questions about the papers that students had.  We also spent a significant amount of time talking about the presentation portion of this assignment.

I decided to make this a part of the class because it increases ownership of the topic for the students and is often a part of senior or capstone projects.  It also gives the student an opportunity to share their hard work with the others in the class.  The guidelines for the presentation are fairly simple:  take 5 to 15 minutes to share the highlights of the research.  The students are encouraged to use visual aids like posters, maps, or even live animals.

Next Week:
-- Final copies of the papers are due!
     Anyone who wants me to take a look at his/her papers before next week should send it in before Monday so that I have enough time to read it and get it back before Tuesday.
-- Come prepared for presentations:
     Everyone by Hanna is presenting next week.

Note:  Our last week of classes is December 13.  We'll have one last presentation and a "party"  of food and literature/writing activities.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Prichard

Writing 3 Class Notes -- November 15

Greetings!

We began class with a 10-minute Quick Write.  I gave the students 4 options: write about a current event, a global issue, a historical figure, or a personal passion.  They could either write about one, or come up with thesis statements for each topic.

For Vocabulary Building, we used flashcards from an SAT list and used them to build a "Scrabble" game on the whiteboard.  We took some time to share ideas about best ways to learn and memorize new words.

After this, we spent most of our time going over the rough drafts that they had handed in last week (or over the e-mail).  I spent a lot of time going over each each paper, sentence by sentence.  These students had put a lot of work into their papers.  I'm really very proud of them.  I cautioned them about being overwhelmed with the marks and corrections that I had made.  My primary goal is that they learn about writing and the process.  I want them to be good writers and to learn from their mistakes.  I gave each student typed notes addressing mechanics, content and organization.  Please take time to go over papers and notes.  I'll e-mail notes separately.

We've adjusted the timeline for the paper. We don't have classes next week, and I decided to add another step in the process.  For next week, I'd like them to write a "reverse outline."  In this outline, they write a fresh outline from the work they'd already done.  This will help them to get a fresh perspective on their organization.  They are to go over the papers paragraph by paragraph.

Change in class timeline
11/22 -- no CHAT classes
11/29 -- Old plan --final draft; new plan -- reverse outline
12/06 -- Final Drafts and Presentation
12/13 -- Last day -- Finish Presentations & Party

Assignments:
-- Reverse Outline
-- Outline or plan for Presentation.

I'll be sending individual e-mails to each student and parent with my notes about their papers.  Again -- they're a great, hard-working group kids!

Have a great week and Happy Thanksgiving!
Mrs. Prichard

Some More Citation Helps

I'm still looking for helpful sites for writing footnotes.

An Oberlin professor has written a good chart.
I also found a youtube video
Son of Citation website (for building a bibliography)

Someone asked about noting information from the same source.  Below is some information:

Use of ibid. and op. cit.:

Gibaldi (313) does NOT recommend the use of these old-fashioned abbreviations: ibid. (from the Latin ibidem meaning "in the same place") and op. cit. (from the Latin opere citato meaning "in the work cited.")
For Footnote or Endnote citations, if you should see the term ibid. being used, it just means that the citation is for the second mention of the same work with no intervening entries:

³ Ibid. 12-15.

More commonly, author and page number or numbers are now used instead of ibid., e.g.:

⁴ Miller 12-15.

For second or later mention of the same work with intervening entries, where previously op. cit. was used, now only the author and page number or numbers are used:

⁵ Miller 198.

Writing 3 Class Notes -- November 8

Greetings!

We are coming into the home stretch!  The students handed in their second rough drafts for me to go over and edit.  With the first rough drafts, I looked primarily at content and organization.  This time I'll go over grammar, mechanics, content and organization with the proverbial fine-toothed comb.  We took some time to talk over problems with the papers.  I'll hand the rough drafts back next week and they will have 2 weeks to finish and have their final copies ready. 

Our last few weeks will look like this:
November 15 (Week 12) -- Hand back rough drafts and discuss problem areas
November 22 -- No Class for Thanksgiving Break
November 29 (Week 13) -- Final Papers Due! Along with Final Presentation plan
December 6 (Week 14) -- Presentations
December 13 (Week 15) -- Presentations & Party

We worked as a group with one of the SAT essay prompts.  The best scores for these tests are on ones that are well-organized and insightful.  My hope is that these exercises will serve them well not only with the SAT and ACT but with essay exams.

As a class we worked through common word usage problems.  These are problems that occur in tests AND in freshman writing classes.  One student commented that she had discovered a grammar error on a sign at a store.  Way to go!!

Have a great week!  If you haven't e-mailed me your paper, get it in as soon as possible.
Mrs. Prichard

Endnotes Page

IV. Endnotes: (English, Social Studies)

Literary and historical writing requires sources to be acknowledged in the text with a reference number and the complete information about the source used listed on a separate page at the end of the paper. This is done primarily to avoid disrupting the narrative and where the source information is not important to the narrative. It is information that can be looked up later.

A. Directions for Endnote Numbers in Papers:

1. Number endnotes consecutively from beginning to end of paper.

2 . In the text of your paper, place the endnote number 1/2 space above the line at the end of the material acknowledged. NO PERIOD follows the number. Many word processing programs today have a function called superscript that will place the numbers correctly above the line. Numbers should look like this in your text.[i]

B. Directions for Endnote Page Format.

1. Number endnotes consecutively just as they appear in your paper.

2. Indent the first line 5 spaces, second and following lines start on the left margin.

C. Endnote Samples, first citation:

1. Book, one author:

     1Edward Shorter, The Health Century (New York:Doubleday, 1987)

22.

2. Book, two authors:

     2James F. Fries and Lawrence M. Crapo, Vitality and Aging (San Francisco: 

W.H. Freeman and Company, 1981) 59.

3. Book, more than two authors:

     3Hoyt Gimlin, Sandra Stencel, Laurie De Maris, and Elizabeth Furbush, eds., 

Staying Healthy: Nutrition, Lifestyle and Medicine, (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Inc.,

1984)188. 

4 . Book, no author named:

     4The Incredible Machine (Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society,

1986) 321.

5. Reference book article, unsigned:

     5"Health," The New Encyclopedia Britannica, 1993 ed.: 556.

6 . Magazine article, signed:

     6Philip Elmer-Dewitt, "Fat Times," Time 16 Jan. 1995: 58.

7. Magazine article, unsigned:

     7"Why Your Head Hurts and How to Make It Stop," Health Jan./Feb. 

1995: 95.

8. Piece from an anthology:

     8Thomas Lux, "Hospital View," Articulations: The Body and Illness

in Poetry, ed. Jon Mukand (Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 1994)117-119.

9. Newspaper article:

     9Bruce Ramsey, "Changing the Formula", Seattle Post-Intelligencer,

11 September 1995: B3.

10 . Pamphlet, signed:

     10Mavis Millstone, Strengthening Your Back (San Jose, CA: Kramer 

Publishing Co, 1992) 12.

11 . Pamphlet, unsigned :

     11Smoking, Chewing and Cancer (Boston: Davis and Sons, 1995) 2-3.

12. Personal interview:

     12Thomas Johnson, health administrator City of Bellevue, interview 

by author, Bellevue, Washington, 15 October1994.

13 . Lectures, speeches, and addresses:

     13Tammy Flynn, address, Eureka Summer Science Camp, Wenatchee, 

Washington, 7 July 1992.

14 . Audiovisual materials:

     14The Champion Within, videocassette, Metropolitan Pittsburgh Public Broadcasting Inc., 1988 (60 min.).

15 . Article from an electronic database, ex.: CD-ROM:

     15Ramunas Kondratas, "Public Health", The New Grolier Multimedia 

Encyclopedia, [CD-ROM], Windows, (Grolier Publishing, Inc., 1993).
 

16 . Internet article - World Wide Web site:

     6Joe R. Momma, "Onocology for Beginners," [Internet - WWW, URL],

http://cancer.med.upe.edu/, 13 March 1995.

17. Internet article - Gopher or FTP site:

     17Austin Hospital, "Pet Scan Image Database," [Internet - Gopher],

gopher.austin.unimelb.edu.au, Digital Image Library|Austin Hospital PET Centre Image 

Database|Image 1.3, 3 September 1994.

18 . Internet or other online communication article - Email or Newsgroup:

     18Kurt Grosshans, "Ask Mr. Science", [Internet - E-mail],

apscichs@radford.vaked.edu., 12 November 1994.

D. Endnote Samples, previously cited sources:

After the first complete reference to a particular source, later endnotes may be shortened as follows:

1 . For a source which has been cited in the immediately preceding endnote:

¹Ibid., 136.

2 . For source which has been cited before, but not in the immediately preceding endnote:

²Shorter, 22.

³Shorter, Health, 28.
(Include title of source if using more than one source by the same author)

⁴Corbin, Newsweek, 54.
(use for newspapers, magazines and other periodicals)

---

Endnotes and Microsoft Word

In class we talked a lot about writing a bibliography for our papers.  When you understand the basics and have a good handbook for reference, it's not a difficult process.

Footnotes and Endnotes are more challenging.  In the old days of manual typewriters, we sat with rulers and pencils in order to appropriately place footnotes.  I've spent some time on my older version of Microsoft Word today today in order to familiarize myself with endnotes.  If you are using some other software, you may have to someone who knows it.

You can add endnotes even after you've typed in the bulk of you paper.  When you insert the first note, you can set the format for the rest of the paper.  Follow these steps:

• Insert your cursor at the point you want a note.  It should be right after the end punctuation without any spaces in between.  
• At the top of the toolbar, click on Insert then Reference then Footnote.
• When the Footnote and Endnote box opens, set the following formats:  Endnotes, Number format (1, 2, 3 ...), Start at 1, Numbering Continuous, Apply changes to Whole document.  Once you've set the formatting, select Apply.
• After you've set the format for the endnotes, you can use the shortcut keys for inserting the rest of the note numbers:  CTRL + ALT + D.  This will insert the next number.
• When you insert the numbers, the numbering starts at the end of the document.  These you'll have type in yourselves according to the MLA format.
• Word wants to add a line above the notes.  You need go through a couple steps to do that.  First, change the view from Print Layout to Normal.  Go back to View and click on Footnotes.  
• A pane will open at the bottom of the page.  This pane (box) has a dropdown menu, click on Endnote Separator and then delete the line.  Click Close and the box will close.  You can then go back to Print Layout.
• When you add or delete any notes, the numbers are automatically re-numbered.
• You will now have numbers in the body of your paper and the numbers at the end of the document.  You'll need to move the notes to its own page and title it "Endnotes."

Other helpful websites:
Microsoft Office

MVP Microsoft Helps

Writing 3 Class Notes -- November 1

Greetings!

A brief recap of today's class:

We didn't write our regular test prep exams or vocabulary builders.  Rather, we started with a couple light-hearted rounds of "Man Bites Dog," a headline-building game. Writing a research paper requires a lot of analytical thinking; sometimes it's good to use our brains for a little fun.

We discussed plans for the presentations, trouble spots in the papers, and the format for endnotes and bibliography.  We took quite a bit of time going over correct formatting for bibliographies.  Working with some handbooks and worksheets, we put some examples on the board of bibliography entries for various types of resources.

Formatting the papers and working with word processing software may be a bit of a challenge.  If any parents are experts, be sure to help your students.  I'm not familiar with programs other than the 97 version of Word. Let me know if this area (word processing) is your forte.  We might be able to use you!

Assignments for Next Week:
-- Rough Draft #2
-- Rough Draft of bibliography
-- Plan for presentation  (something to hand in)

Students, feel free to e-mail me regarding any questions or editing help.

Have a great week,
Mrs. Prichard

Writing 3 Class Notes -- October 25

Greetings!

I apologize for the tardiness of my e-mail for the class.  Sometimes life has more details than expected.

I had the students write for 15 minutes from one of the writing prompts in the SAT prep book.  I feel that every time we do the these writing exercises the students develop skills that help them think more quickly and clearly.

We talked at length about the rough drafts that they had handed in over the weekend.  I made some comments on each of the papers which I hope will help them with their organization and content.  On the next rough draft, I will go over specific grammar problems.

I handed out a number of papers that might help with revising and editing their papers, formatting their papers, and documenting their work. 

A couple of notes:
--  NEVER use "there is/are/was/were" etc. in your sentence constructions.
--  Check that each sentence and comment adds to your thesis and fits appropriately within the paragraph.
--  When thinking of expanding your paper, consider adding your own personal analysis of the issue.  Be careful not to add unnecessary information.
--  Regarding citing sources, I sent out an e-mail last week about some blog entries that have information on endnotes and bibliographies.  The students are responsible for learning the MLA guidelines and using them appropriately in their paper.

Check the following blog entries:
A Helpful Site for Research Papers
Purdue OWL
Another Helpful Web Resource

Students, feel free to send you papers, questions, or a portion of your paper to me for help.

Have a great week!  Enjoy this beautiful weather.
Mrs. Prichard

Another Helpful Web Resource

If you google MLA style, or footnotes/endnotes or documentation or in-text citations, you will find a plethora of websites.  In the past blog posts, I've given links to sites that I feel are clear in their explanations.  My goal has been to help you find the place where you can find the information.  Your job is to acquire the information for your own use in writing you paper.

The links given below are from "A Research Guide for Students."


How to write an A+ research paper,
How to effectively deliver a presentation,
How to format a research or term paper,
How to quote passages,
How not to plagiarize,
How to write Footnotes and Endnotes
Examples on writing First Footnotes and Endnotes in MLA Style
Footnotes Sample Page and an Endnotes Sample Page.

Purdue OWL

The Purdue Online Writing Lab is an excellent resource for students.  They have an especially good explanation of MLA style and formatting.

Please go to this site for review.

MLA Introduction

MLA Workshop and Overview

General Format

MLA Footnotes and Endnotes

Formatting Questions

Abbreviations

In-text Citations

Works Cited Page #1

Works Cited Page #2

Works Cited Page #3

Works Cited Page #4

Works Cited Page #5

Works Cited Page #6

MLA Formatting and Style Guide

Citation Style Comparisons

A Helpful Site for Research Papers

I've found a good site with loads of information on the many aspects of writing research papers.  This site is prepared by the Humanities Department as part of "The Guide to Grammar and Writing" for the Capital Community College of Hartford, Connecticut.






If you're needing more information, check out these pages.
A Statement on Plagiarism
Paper Format
Guide to Citations
Works Cited Page
Grammar Helps
Principles of Composition
including a Grammar Index

The Thesis Statement
Transitions
Introductions
Conclusions

Sometimes we're not able to cover everything in class.  I hope this site is helpful.

Writing 3 Class Notes -- October 18

Greetings!

This afternoon we wrote from a list ideas for college application essays.  All of these beginning-of-class writing activities help the students to quickly look at a topic, analyze it, and organize it into an essay. Our vocabulary words came from the end of the alphabet:  zenith, zeal, wily, whimsical, watershed, warrant, wane, and wanderlust.

The rough drafts for their research papers were due today.  The students are in various places in their research and writing.  We talked individually about each student's progress, especially looking for ways to help one another.  A couple of students are having trouble finding enough information.  We discussed other areas they could research so that they can expand their papers.

We continue to discuss ways in which the students can present their information.  Analytical writing includes the following styles for organization:  process, comparison/contrast, classification, extended definition, cause/effect, problem/solution, and evaluation. 

The students are to hand in their rough drafts via e-mail before Saturday.  Besides going over them myself, I will send each student another student's paper.  The students will perform a "peer edit," looking for ways the students could expand their papers, any rearranging or changing the organization, and marking any obvious sentence problems.

Continue to encourage your students to "keep going."  They expressed a common difficulty in finding time and staying focused on the work.  I think they're doing a good job and working hard.  I'm looking forward to reading the rough drafts so that we have something specific to work on.

Bless you week.  Now that the weather is turning cold, we'll have to pull out jackets, sweatshirts, and possibly mittens.
Mrs. Prichard

Writing 3 Class Notes -- October 11

Greetings!

We began class with an ACT writing prompt that required the students to write a "proposal" to a school board suggesting ways to increase a high schooler's time in school in order to fit in more electives.  In the past weeks we've worked together on sample questions so that we could develop our abilities to quickly evaluate the question and then to organize our thoughts.  This week the students worked alone and wrote for 15 - 20 minutes.

For our  Vocabulary Exercises, I listed 6 Latin words and their meanings; from these we discussed derivatives.  [circum (around), corona (garland, wreah, crown) dens, dentis (tooth), cogito (to think), diabolus (devil), dominus (master)]  We thought of many words for circum (circumvent, circumnavigate, circumscribe, circumference, circus, circle) and dominus (dominate, domineering, domocile, domino, domestic).

I handed back outlines that three of the students had handed in.  With a small class (5 students), I feel that we can go over work individually, take time to answer specific questions, and work together on problem areas.  In our discussion we touched on the importance of defining and explaining terms that the average reader might not know.  We also talked about general principles for organizing the research papers.

The first rough draft is due next week.  I know that a couple of students don't feel ready to be at that place.  This is a project that really requires more work to be done outside the class than inside. I mentioned that I'd rather see a poorly written paper than no paper. Please encourage your students to "keep at it." 

Next Week's Assignment:
--  Rough Draft #1

Have a great week!  Work hard!
Mrs. Prichard

Writing 3 Class Notes -- October 4

Greetings!

We began the class with SAT writing prompts.  The students worked for a while on their own before we joined forces to brainstorm about the important points that might be included.  We discussed how to compare and contrast the pros and cons of the questions.  Our Vocabulary Builders were words from the test prep book.  We did a modified version of a "spell down."

We had a productive class this week.  I collected the second set of outlines from the students. This outline was to have full sentences for the points of the outline instead of bullet points or one-word entries.  They were to treat each sentence entry as if it was the topic sentence for a paragraph.  This will go a long way in helping the students compose their rough drafts. 

I had forgotten to check their notecards or research notes this week.  I'll check them next week.  My aim in doing this is to make sure they're keeping up with this part of their work.  We discussed some of the difficulties that the students are encountering as they do their research and write their papers.  A common problem is procrastination.  When the project is big, that's understandable.  Some suggestions from the students included working on it first thing in the day, blocking out a longer uninterrupted time, or putting in 15 minutes at a time two or three times a day.

Since these papers are to be "position papers" and not simply "reports," the task of developing a thesis that needs to be supporting with information continues to challenge the students. 

Next Week's Assignment:
--  Continue researching the topic for the paper.
--  The first rough draft is due in 2 weeks; an appropriate goal would be to have half of it done by next week. 
--  Bring all research notes and materials to class.

Enjoy the beautiful weather,
Mrs. Prichard

Writing 3 Class Notes -- September 27

Greetings!

We had a productive day today. This is a thoughtful group of students, and I'm enjoying walking them through the process of writing their research papers.

We've been working on writing prompts from the SAT and ACT as our Quick Writes. This week we started on a lighter note and played a quick game of Bananagrams. Anything to keep us working with words!

We're also reviewing common problems with grammar that show up on college entrance exams AND in students' writing. Today's topic was pronouns and chosing the correct form according to the case (nominative or objective) needed.

My aim with the students today was to talk over any problems or challenges that they are encountering as they work on their papers. Most of them are having some difficulties with their thesis statements. In these statements, the students are to take a stand on the topic which they have chosen. This can be one of the hardest parts of the paper. One of the next hardest parts is to make sure that all of their points on their outlines and all of their research is related to providing supporting details about the thesis.

Assignments for next week:

-- Rough draft of the introduction for their paper.

-- Outline #2. This outline should be in the following format:

     I. Topic heading

          A. Related sub-topic

          B. Related sub-topic

          C. Related sub-topic.

     II. Topic heading

           A. Related sub-topic

               1. Details

               2. Details

          B. Related sub-topic

          C. Related sub-topic.

     III. Topic heading

               etc.

-- The Related sub-topics should be stated in complete sentences. These will serve as the topic sentences for the paragraphs that contain this information.

-- Continue your research for the various points on your outline. Set your own personal goal regarding how much of the research you need to have done each day/week so that you can begin writing you rough draft. Rough draft #1 is due in 3 weeks.

Have a great week! Enjoy the warm weather.

Tammy Prichard

Plagiarism

PLAGIARISM

            “Plagiarism” comes from the Latin, plagiarus, which means kidnapper.  In antiquity, plagiarii were pirates who sometimes stole children.  Plagiarism offers the words or ideas of another person as your own.  Plagiarism happens intentionally and accidentally.  Occasionally, a student will take large portions or whole papers and present them as their own.  Most often, however, the student knows the rules and is careless, or he is uninformed regarding proper citing of sources.

            To avoid plagiarism, develop personal notes with your won ideas on a topic.  Discover how you feel about the stand you’ve taken with your subject.  Then, rather than copying sources directly into the content of your research, synthesize the ideas of the authorities with your own thoughts by using the précis and paraphrase.  Rethink and consider ideas gathered by your reading, make meaningful connections, and when you refer to a specific source, give it credit.

Checklist for documenting your sources

·        Let a reader know when you begin borrowing from a source by introducing a quotation or paraphrase with the name of the authority.

·        Enclose within quotation marks all quoted materials – a key word, a phrase, a sentence, a paragraph

·        Make certain that paraphrased material has been rewritten into your own style and language.  The simple rearrangement of sentence patterns is unacceptable.

·        Provide specific in-text documentation for each borrowed item.

·        Provide a bibliography entry in the “Works Cited” section.

Forms of plagiarism:  (WWS, p. 29+)

·        Uncited data or information;

·        an uncited idea, whether a specific claim or general concept;

·        an unquoted but verbatim phrase or passage;

·        an uncited structure or organizing strategy;

·        misrepresenting evidence;

·        improper collaboration;

·        dual or overlapping assignments.

Bad ideas and attitudes that promote plagiarism:

·        Start late; adrenalin will get you through.

·        Don’t waste time writing until you know what you want to say.

·        Just skim the assignment prompt; don’t get bogged down in details.

·        Part of the assignment is guessing what our instructor expects.

·        Follow your interest above all.

·        To get the lay of the land, start every paper by doing an internet search of key terms and skimming sources that turn up.

·        Do all your work on-screen, where the action is.

·        When taking notes on sources, just summarize; come up with your own ideas when you’re done.

·        Your paper is your responsibility; hole up and write it.

·        During your initial reading of sources, keeping track of publications information will only slow you down, and you may not even use some of the sources.

·        Compose your paper in the file where you collect your sources and notes, so these can be readily drawn in.

·        Try to sound impressive and sophisticated, like a real scholar.

·        Don’t seek help if you find yourself in a jam; it’s humiliating and will single you out to your instructor as a screw-up.

·        In a pinch, borrow a friend’s paper to inspire you, or borrow some notes to work with.

Citing Sources

When should you cite and why?

1)  Whenever you use factual material – e.g. data, information, testimony, or a report that you found in a source.  You need to make clear to your readers who gathered the information and where to find its original form.

2)  Whenever you use ideas – e.g. claims, interpretations, conclusions, or lines of reasoning arrived at by another person.  Let your readers know that you are summarizing or paraphrasing thoughts formulated by someone else.

3)  Whenever you use a special concept, term, or theory that you found in a source.

4)  Whenever you make use of a source passage’s distinctive structure, organizing strategy or method.  Citing tells your readers that the strategy or method is not yours and allows them to consult its original context.

5)  Whenever you quote verbatim.

Over-citing:

·        frequent citation can weaken a paper by making you seem less thoughtful and too dependent on others

·        citing “common knowledge” or citing inefficiently

·        giving too much rehash of other people’s ideas and need to generate more original ideas of your own

Citing well

·        credits the work of others;

·        respects the scholarship of your readers;

·        shows your respect for your topic;

·        strengthens your paper by displaying intellectual character;

·        establishes you also helpful, honest, open, serious, and careful

·        Intermittent, casual, sloppy, or vague citing raises suspicion and makes your readers skeptical.

Three Basic Principles (for how to use sources)

First Principle:  Use sources as concisely as possible, so your own thinking isn’t crowded out by your presentation of other people’s thinking and your own vice lost in your quoting of other voices.

Second Principle:  Never leave your reader in doubt as to when you are speaking and when you are relying on material from a source.

Third Principle:  Always make clear how each source you introduce into your paper relates to your argument.

Rules for Quoting

·        Quote only what you need or is really striking.

·        Quote verbatim.

·        Construct your own sentence so the quotation fits smoothly into it.

·        Usually announce a quotation in the words preceding it.

·        Choose your announcing verb carefully.

·        Don’t automatically put a comma before a quotation.

·        Put the period or comma ending a sentence or clause after the parenthetical citation.

·        Indicate clearly when you are quoting a passage as you found it quoted in another source.

Writing Notes

Note-taking is the heart of research.  Notes taken for a research paper will fall into the following categories:

·        Personal notes:  expressions of your own ideas and thoughts pertaining to your subject and in response to your reading.  Reflect on findings, make connections, record discoveries, explore another point of view, and identify prevailing views and thoughts

·        Quotations notes:  capture the authoritative voices of the experts on the topic, feature essential statements, offer conflicting points of view, show the dialogue that exists about the topic and prove that your have researched the subject carefully.

–  select material that is important and well-phrased; not common knowledge

–  use quotation marks

–  use exact words

–  quote key sentences or short passages, but not whole paragraphs

–  quote from both primary and secondary sources

·        Paraphrase notes:  requires you to restate in your won words the thought, meaning, and attitude of someone else.  Paraphrase maintains your voice or style in the paper and helps to avoid endless strings of direct quotations.

            Five rules of paraphrasing:

·        rewrite the original in about the same number of words

·        Provide an in-text citations to the source

·        Retain exceptional words and phrases from the original by enclosing them within quotations marks.

·        Preserve the tone of the original by suggesting moods of satire, anger, humor, etc.

·        Put the original aside while paraphrasing to avoid copying word for word.

·        NOTE:  When readers see an in-text citation bout no quotation marks, they will assume that you are paraphrasing, not quoting.

·        Summary notes:  describes and rewrites the source material without great concern for style or expression.  These notes record material and statistics that have marginal value for your study, which note an interesting position of a source on a related topic, or to reference several works that address the same issue.  Mark in your notes with quotations any key phrasing that you cannot paraphrase.  Provide documentation.

·        Précis notes:  requires you to capture in just a few words the ideas of an entire paragraph, section, or chapter.  Condense the original with precision and directness.  Reduce a long paragraph into a sentence, or an article into a paragraph.  Preserve the mood of the original.  Write the précis in your own words while retaining key phrases or words.  Provide documentation.

·        Field notes:  charts, notes from experiments, research journals, lab notebooks, and questionnaires.  Interviews require careful-note taking to insure accurate quoting.

Choosing Sources

Sources

A source usually provides one of two things for your research and for your paper:

1)  It provides factual data to interpret and to use as evidence to support your assertions;
     –  Examples:  exact text of a written, spoken, or visual compositions; statistics or measurements; a summary record of an experience; information.

2)  It provides ideas about data, to build upon or dissent from.

     –  examples:  a particular claim made by another writer about the topic you are addressing, along with the reasoning that supports the claim; a general concept – a term, theory, or approach that has appeared in discussion of other topics and that you apply to your own.

·        When dealing with factual data:

     –  stance of acceptance, although you may call into questions the completeness or accuracy of provided facts

·        When dealing with concepts/ideas:

     –  three basic stances are Yes, No, or Maybe (with conditions)
     –  you can affirm or reject the ideas of another

·        Use sources in whatever ways are required to make a persuasive case for your way of looking at the material.

·        Make clear what comes from you and what comes from your sources.

Writing 3 Class Notes -- September 20

Greetings!

 

Our Quick Write involved an ACT test prompt. The question dealt with whether conscience or money/fame/power is a more powerful motivator. As a class we brainstormed key points that we would include and how we would organize this essay. I'm hoping these exercises are helpful.

 

Our words for our Vocabulary Building included more words from an SAT guide: autocracy, autonomous, avarice, and benign. Usually we have words with Latin roots, but our first 2 had Greek roots.

 

We spent the bulk of our class time going over a handout that discusses Choosing Sources, Taking Notes, Citing Sources, and Plagiarism. I've had the students read some other sources, but I though we needed to discuss them as a class. The handout is available on Dropbox and as separate entries on the blog.  As I'd written last week, the students should be well on their way with research. Both students and parents should feel free to ask any questions.

 

The students handed in their initial outline. The next draft of their outline is due in two weeks.

 

Have a great week. Work hard!

Tammy Prichard

Writing 3 Class Notes -- September 13

Greetings!
From my point of view, we had a productive class time. Our Quick Write was a short brainstorming session with an ACT writing prompt concerning dress codes. We took turns contributing and organizing ideas.

Our Vocabulary Building exercise included SAT prep words, a Latin dictionary, a Latin/English derivatives book, and a book of word etymologies. Knowing the roots and derivatives of words often opens up an even wider vocabulary.

Our Grammar Review included sentence fragments, run-on sentences, subject-verb agreement, pronoun-verb agreement, and pronoun-antecedent agreement. Some of this information is helpful for their own writing, and some will aid future testing.

The students should be in the "gathering information" stage of their research paper. We covered what makes a Finding the Best Sources, Evaluating a Source, Preparing an Annotated Bibliography, and Note-Taking. (Please go to the blog for more information and review of the information.)

Next Week's Assignments:
-- An first draft of an outline for the paper.
-- Notecard check. (A check of the students' progress in researching their topic.)

Note: I had mentioned at the very beginning of the class that most of the work for this class will happen outside of our class periods. Realistically, the students should do about an hour of work a day on this project. This is not something that they should leave until the last minute.

Have a great week!
Tammy Prichard

Note-taking

How you take notes as you do your research is important.  You shouldn't write down every word you read.  Rather, take down pertinent facts in lists or as bullet points.  Don't copy large portions to quote.  Your paper should be in your own voice.
 
As you read, don't pass over information because you're just not sure whether it will be useful.  This is a very common and costly mistake in research. More often than not, you find that the passed-over tidbit is critical to your paper, and then you won't find it again.

Check out these helpful websites:  the Hunter College Reading and Writing Center and the University of Toronto website and from a Lakewood Library. 

Preparing for an Annotated Bibliography

An annotated bibliography is, in essence, a bibliography with notes regarding the usefulness of the book.  The following information should be collected for each book:

Author and/or editors
Pertinent chapters or sections
Title
Editor, translator, or compiler
Edition or Volume
Name of the series
Place, publisher, and date

Do this for each book as you read it.  It's far too hard to go back later to find this information.

Evaluating a Source

With the myriad of books, articles and web sites available, many writers have a hard time narrowing down their options and determining the value of an individual resource.  To save time, readers need to be selective.  Students should be concerned about Relevancy, Authority, Accuracy, and Currency.


Relevancy:  How well will does the book, etc. fit your topic?
Authority:  Are the credentials reputable?  What kind of research has your source done?
Accuracy:  Do the resources verify their own research?
Currency:  Are the resources recent enough for your topic?

Finding the Best Sources

It will be important for the students to find appropriate resources for their topics.  Their own specific topics will help to determine and dictate the sources they will need.  Current events related papers will require up-to-date information.  Primary and secondary sources are both valuable.  Some resources are more valuable and and reliable.

Imagine an inverted pyramid with the most excellent sources at the top and less authoritative ones at the bottom.  As the students compile their materials, they should carefully select good pieces.

Below is a list in descending order, from best to not-as-good, of types of resources:

Scholarly Books

Biographies

Scholarly Articles

Sponsored web site

Interview

Experiment, Test, Observation

Trade Book

Encyclopedia

Popular Magazine

Newspaper

Listserv Posting

Individual web site

Usenet news group posting

Internet chat conversation

The internet supplies both valuable and "sketchy" information.  Here's a checklist for determining the validity of a website:
1.  The site name will reveal a serious and scholarly emphasis.
2.  The sponsor should be an institution or professional organization.
3.  The home page will reveal the nature and purpose of the site.
4.  Author/Sponsor credentials will confirm the serious nature of the site.
5.  Links to other scholarly sites, not commercial sites, will reflect the serious nature of the site.
6.  E-mail to an author or organization offers a means for a scholarly conversation.

Prepositions at the End

Most adults remember few grammar rules.  One that I'm sure will pop up for most is the "never end a sentence with a preposition" rule that they were taught from grade school to high school.  This rule causes you to write stuffy, pedantic sentences that no one would ever say out loud.

I have news of great joy for most of you -- it's OK to plop the occaisional preposition at the end of a sentence!  The Grammar Girl says so; the Phantom Linguist gives us the go-ahead; About.com gives an authoritative "no."


For the sake of argument and vigilance, some still promote keeping those pesky prepositions from the end of sentences because they are a wimpy way to conclude.  Mellanie Spiller seems to be a purists with whom you would need to argue this point.  The good folks at Garden of Phrases equivocate a bit.  And the Answer people at Yahoo even show you how to rewrite a sentence to make it stronger and more effective while keeping that preposition tucked somewhere in the middle.

In my class, I will allow the occaisional preposition to appear at the end.  But be advised that I'm gritting my teeth as I deny the teachings of my elders.

Don't get me started on passive voice ......

How to End a Sentence

In a conversation with a college-graduated son, we discussed whether it was still necessary to put two spaces after the period at the end of a sentence.

Below are three links to articles about this point of grammar:

About.com and Desktop Publishing

A Slate article

Grammar Girl article


Read the articles and tell me what you think.

Writing 3 Class Notes -- September 6

Greetings!

We had a productive class this week.  Sometimes the class right after lunch can be the hardest; a good lunch and a morning of classes are more conducive to naptime than classtime.  But the students in this class engage well with the material and the discussions.

We began with a fun Quick Write using the cards from a game called "Man Bites Dog" in which players are given cards with common words found in newspaper headlines.  The students were to arrange the words into their own headlines and start a short newspaper story to go with it. After a couple of rounds with the cards, we worked on impromptu essays using SAT writing questions.  In the SAT, students have 25 minutes to write an essay. This week I gave the students 10 minutes to outline what they might write in response to the question.  A key skill for students to learn is to think and analyze quickly within a given time constraint.  We'll do a few of these throughout the semester.

After the essays, we did some Vocabulary Building exercises.  Some people can memorize long lists without any trouble.  I find it easier to learn words if I know the roots of the words.  Especially Latin roots.  Also, learning roots opens the door for understanding whole families of words.  This week we looked at caput ("head") and oculis ("eye").

Having a topic and leading questions was the assignment for this week.  We went around the room sharing our topics and getting feedback and suggestions.  A helpful component for this class will be the collaboration and input from the group.  A challenge in writing this paper is developing a thesis.  In other words, the students need to take a stand regarding their topic.  Not only do they need to research and present information, but they need to express it in a way that causes the readers to agree with them. 

We also discussed ways to organize notes.  Some students will prefer notecards, while others may feel more comfortable with loose leaf notebook pages or a spiral notebook.  Whichever they choose, they need to be consistent.

Next Week's Assignments:
-- Read the following articles found in Dropbox or on the blog:
      --  Brainstorming
      --  Argument
      --  Developing a Thesis
      --  How to Write a Thesis Statement
      --  Evaluating Print Sources
--  Firm up the thesis for your paper.  Write it in 1 or 2 sentences.
--  Begin work on your outline.
--  Begin work on your research.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Prichard