Thursday, March 30, 2017

Week#5 - Writing an Opinion Essay

Assignment:  Create a Google Doc in your writing folder with the first draft of your opinion essay.  The title of your document should be 'Your name - Opinion Essay'.
Bring a printout of your essay on Thursday, April 6. 

Writing a five paragraph opinion essay
        A Cat is a Man's Best Friend
        The Benefits of Regular Exercise
        The Hazards of Moviegoing
        The Three Africas
        Why Study Shakespeare?

If You Teach or Write 5-Paragraph Essays--Stop It!

Thesis Sentence vs. Topic Sentence




How to Write a Conclusion


Thursday, March 23, 2017

Week#4 - Revising Photo Descriptions, Topic Sentences, & Opinion Essay Brainstorm


Assignments
  • Choose one of  your 'Get Acquainted' answers and revise it so that it follows the paragraph structure described on page 14.  Make the topic sentence bold.  If you'd like to start from scratch and write a new paragraph, feel free to do so.  Either way, increase the font size of that paragraph so that Jeff knows which one it is.
     
  • Finish revising your photo descriptions by 6pm on Saturday, March 25
    Jeff will take another look at your essay and make comments by 6pm on Sunday March 26.

    (Optional) If there are still error comments that you don't know how to fix, submit a maximum of two to our 'What's the Problem?' Doc between 6pm March 26 and 6pm March 27.   Write the complete sentence that contains the error.  

Topic Sentences
Topic Sentence Exercises

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Week#3 - Corrections, Error Codes, & Quizlet

In Class
Assignments
  1. Revise your photo description Google Doc by 11:59 Saturday March 18.
     
  2. Read 'Color Me Pink’ (pages 5~7). Look at the vocabulary activities. We will not cover reading comprehension activities, but will start writing activities next week.
     
  3. Choose at least three vocabulary words or phrases you've learned this semester and create a Quizlet Set.  Please name your set "your name - ENG260 Vocabulary'.  Please let Jeff know the URL of your Quizlet. You can post it in the Band, send him an email, or post a link on your blog.  (if you have technical issues Watch the Quizlet Screencast and/or post a question in our Band) 
  4. (Optional) Start blogging for pleasure. Choose something of interest and write about. Possible topics include sports, fashion video games, news and politics, life’s big questions, and  career-related issues. I encourage you to link to other blogs and sites, but do not copy and paste more than a sentence or two and never without citation. 



Quizlet Screencast Guide

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Descriptive Writing - Week#2

Descriptive Writing

Handout


Examples

Assignment
Choose three photos. Write a paragraph for each photo. One should focus on objectively describing the scene. The other two should focus on subjectively describing why this photo is important to you. Type this in your Google Drive ‘ENG260 Writings’ folder if possible. Bring a printed first draft of your paragraphs to class on Thursday March 16.


Descriptive Words




Google Translate Examples

Assignment
Choose three photos. Write a paragraph for each photo. One should focus on objectively describing the scene. The other two should focus on subjectively describing why this photo is important to you. Type this in your Google Drive ‘ENG260 Writings’ folder if possible. (Title: Name, Student#, Photo Descriptions')  Bring a printed first draft of your paragraphs to class on Thursday March 16.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Blog-building and an About Me Page





Blogging Ideas

An 'About Me' page is an important component of most blogs.

How to add an About Me page to your top menu


Former Students 'About Me' pages


Other Examples

Guides

Searching for blogs on Google
Tips:
  • include 'site:blogspot.com'   or 'site:wordpress.com' in your search. 
  • include the word 'blogroll' in your search to find others' lists of blogs. 
  • click 'Search Tools' and select News/Blogs


Narrative Essay

Narrative Essay

Letter Writing Resources

Letter Writing Resources

Personal Profile Articles

Writing a Personal Profile Article

  • How to Write a Profile Feature Article - The New York Times

     Decide on an approach.
     Outlining your story is the best way to start. This means reviewing your notes, marking the most interesting or articulate quotes, making a list of important points, and creating a structure into which you can fit your information. Spend extra time of the beginning of your story. Readers will decide whether to proceed based on the capacity of your lede to grab their interest.
     Focus on what's most compelling. Before you start writing, think through all the information you have and all the points you plan to make. What's surprising? What's important? What's useful?
     Show, don't tell. It is tempting to describe a room as messy or a person as nice. But carefully-observed details and well-chosen verbs make a much stronger impression than adjectives.
    Put your story in context. You must help answer a reader's biggest question about any story: Why should I care?
  • How to Write a Profile Story

    That theme should be introduced in the lead, it should be explored and often it will be returned to at the end of the story. Something of a person’s character, spirit and style will then be revealed through that theme.
    Be Curious: Good reporting skills equal good observation and listening skills. If you don’t understand something, ask the person to explain. Underline or circle all names, ideas, etc you’re unsure of so you can double check them.

  • Seven Tips for Producing Great Profiles

    Avoid Factual Overload

    Too many beginning reporters write profiles that are little more than an accretion of facts about the people they are profiling. But readers don't particularly care when someone was born, or what year they graduated from college. So yes, include some basic biographical information about your subject, but don't overdo it.

    Avoid Chronologies
    Another rookie mistake is to write a profile as a chronological narrative, starting with the person's birth and plodding through their life up to the present. That's boring. Take the good stuff - whatever it is that makes your profile subject interesting - and emphasize that right from the start.

    Make a Point About Your Subject
    Once you've done all your reporting and gotten to know your subject reasonably well, don't be afraid to tell your readers what you've learned. In other words, make a point about what kind of person your subject is. Is your subject shy or aggressive, strong-willed or ineffectual, mild or hot-tempered? If you write a profile that doesn't say something definitive about its subject, then you haven't done the job.

Examples
Assignment Process- A Personal Profile Article
You are going to write a story about a classmate.  Try not to make it a simple biographical profile but rather a story about a current passion, a major past life event, or a dream for the future.

Take at least 30 minutes to interview each other.  You can ask the questions below or any others you’d like.  Try to find an interesting ‘angle’ and pursue that by asking lots of follow-up questions.


  1. What’s on your mind these days?
  2. What’s something most people don’t know about you?
  3. What were the most significant events/turning points of your life?
  4. What do you want to be doing in 5, 10, 20 years?
  5. What have been the most significant turning points of your life?
  6. What is your biggest regret?
  7. Who are your heroes and role models?
  8. What are you most proud of so far?
  9. What’s your favorite (book, quote, movie, song, etc..)?  Why?
  10. What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?
  11. What would you like to change about yourself?
  12. How would you describe yourself?  How would you like to be described?
  13. What have been the highlights and lowlights of your life? time at BUFS? semester?
  14. Tell me about your family.  Close friends.
  15. How would you describe your family culture?
  16. What were you like as a child? teenager?
  17. What was your dream job as a child? What is it now?
  18. How do you spend your free time?
  19. What have been the best and worst parts of your university experience?