Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 6 (Oct. 2)

Greetings!

We had a good class yesterday.  We're progressing nicely through the research writing process.  I divided the class into 3 groups to discuss 3 different ACT/SAT essay prompts:

1.  In this country, most people see and hear advertising for many different products every day.  Some people think advertising is useful because it provides important information about many different products. Other people think advertising is not useful because it tries to persuade people to buy products they do not really need. In your opinion, does advertising serve a useful purpose in our society?

In your essay, take a position on this question. You may write about either one of the two points of view given, or you may present a different point of view on the question. Use specific reasons and examples to support your position.

2.  In some high schools, students are required to complete a certain number of community service hours prior to graduation. Some people think community service is a good requirement because they think students will benefit from this experience. Other people think schools should not require community service because students will resent the requirement and, as a result, will not benefit from the experience. In your opinion, should high schools require students to complete a certain number of hours of community service?

In your essay, take a position on this question. You may write about either one of the two points of view given, or you may present a different point of view on the question. Use specific reasons and examples to support your position.

7.  Educators debate extending high school to five years because of increasing demands on students from employers and colleges to participate in extracurricular activities and community service in addition to having high grades. Some educators support extending high school to five years because they think students need more time to achieve all that is expected of them. Other educators do not support extending high school to five years; they think that students would lose interest in school and that attendance would drop in the fifth year. In your opinion, should high school be extended to five years?

The small groups then presented their ideas about important points and a potential outline for the essay.

Following the test prep work, we discussed the informal and detailed outlines, choosing sources, principles about quoting and citing sources.  The detailed outlines were due this week.  Those who didn't have them ready for class time should get them in sometime this weekend.

The first rough draft is due next week.  With this rough draft, I will be looking for content and organization.  If they don't feel they have enough information, they should write using what they have.  It's easy to feel overwhelmed at this point, but I encourage the students to just start writing, even if they don't feel they are ready to put together their research papers.

I mentioned to them that I have some resources for citing sources.  Below are some links from previous Writing 3 classes.  I've also attached some other documents that will be helpful.  An important reminder:  since we only meet once a week, most of the work that students need to do is between classes.  

I will be sending another e-mail with more attachments regarding citing your resources.

Next week we will discuss  citations and the peer edit.

Assignments for Next Week:  

-- Rough Draft #1

Helpful Links for this Week:

Class Notes

MLA Guide from Purdue OWL

Helpful MLA Citation sites

Another Helpful Web Resource

Have a great weekend.  Stay warm and dry!

Mrs. Prichard