English 1301
You and Mr. Hall
Angryverbs.blogspot.com
BlackBoard
Week of 29
September - 2 October 2014
Week 6
Posted to angryverbs.blogspot.com on Saturday, 27
September 2014.
An attempt to post this to BlackBoard will be made the
same day
Monday and Tuesday:
- Sentence fragments – a short writing exercise in identifying fragments and then correcting them. Remember that in English there are often several different correct answers.
- Persuasive writing – I have printed for each of you several editorials from the Beaumont Enterprise of Sunday, 21 September. Read and discuss. For our purposes today we are not interested primarily in the content but rather in the development of the arguments. Is the development in each editorial mostly logical or mostly emotional? Why does the writer of the editorial choose to develop his argument this way? The pronoun “his” in the previous sentence is gender-neutral; in your writing you may employ the pronoun “her” as gender-neutral. One person, however, can never be “they”; avoid writing Television-Speak.“Television-Speak” can be understood as an extension of the concept of NewSpeak in George Orwell’s 1984. Reading beyond the telescreen (another allusion to Orwell) is essential for the development of the complete human.Most persuasive writing and speaking is emotional. This can be valid, but it can also lapse into demagoguery, that is, an appeal to the greatest number of people by manipulating them through prejudices and stereotypes. Most advertisements, both political and commercial, are developed emotionally.Persuasive Essay – As I said last week, you may substitute a college application essay or scholarship essay for the prompt I gave you. After all, arguing (logically and emotionally) for acceptance into Texas A & M requires much persuasion. Your finished essay should be formatted the way the school or scholarship committee wants it. I don’t know what that is, so you must determine that for yourself. For your final grade draft turn in a copy of your essay exactly as you are going to send it to Texas A & M (or that other school). However, if you wish for me to read your rough draft, print that out in MLA, which means, among other requirements, double spacing.Rough drafts – I want to read your rough draft. Reading your rough draft is my job. However, I didn’t schedule 33 students into one class, and reading a two-class total of 42 rough drafts is problematic in itself, and impossible if the drafts are in manuscript (handwriting) or single-spaced. The descriptive essay was to be from three – five pages. If each of 42 essays is four pages, then I would have read 168 pages and make a few observations as to form and content. Even for someone with perfect eyesight and exceptional focus that is quite a challenge. Thus, as I have often told you, I am not going to try to read handwritten manuscripts, single-spacing (which leaves no space for suggestions), or glowing words on a telescreen. Type. Print. Two weeks ago I read far fewer than 42 drafts because many of your classmates brought handwritten notes or didn’t bring a rough draft at all. Some of those who did bring a rough draft ignored observations. The point of reading and re-reading is that you consider the suggestions from your teacher and from four or five of your really sharp friends and revise. Simply printing out the rough draft as a final draft without any emendations is pointless.Wednesday and Thursday:
- We will continue studying persuasive writing techniques. The text will do you no good if you do not read the assigned pages. The handouts and postings I generated for you will do you no good if you do not study them. They will do you no good in class if you do not bring them to class. They will do you no good on an open-notes exam if you do not bring them to the exam.
- And there could be an exam.
- Let us tentatively schedule Monday and Tuesday, 6 and 7 October, for rough drafts, and Wednesday and Thursday, 8 & 9 October, for final drafts.
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