Class Cancelled due to illness

Unfortunately, I'm out sick today. Class is cancelled, but let me offer a few reminders:

1. The test is coming up! Use this time wisely. You can go to a computer lab on campus to continue your practice writing on your own, or you can visit the Writing Center to review your work with a tutor or take a CATW practice test. 

2. We will be meeting on Monday. If you're taking the test this Friday or Saturday, please come and brief us on the topic you were given! This could make a big difference for your classmates. 

3. If you're taking the test any time before Wednesday, please use your blog to inform the class about the topic you were given! Post a one-paragraph summary and, if you like, a few brief notes about your focus idea, opinion, and claims. Remember, you may be helping one of your classmates to pass the test. 

In-Class Work: 10/29

During today's class, we continued our in-class CATW practice and discussed last Monday's CATW Field Test. We also analyzed sample paragraphs from Andrew Marantz's article "Annals of Psychology: Unreality Star," identifying their parts. Please see the "Parts of Paragraphs" handout for details.

Good Body Paragraphs

During today's class, we discussed the different parts of body paragraphs and how to use paragraphs to organize and develop your ideas. We also looked at a sample paragraph, collaboratively wrote a paragraph of our own on the board, and completed an exercise in identifying the parts of body paragraphs. Please see the "Using Paragraphs" handout for details.

In-Class Work: Monday 10/6 and following

Most of our in-class work for the next several weeks will focus on practice writing, using our CATW Prompts handout. You'll start with the first prompt, make an outline to organize your thoughts, and begin your draft; please see the outline we've discussed in class for guidance, though it's possible that your finished essay will be organized a little differently.

As you work on your draft, I will be available to give you immediate feedback -- just raise your hand. When you have a finished draft, call me over to review it: at that point I will either tell you how to revise your work or I will approve the work. Once I approve the work, you may post it to your class blog and go on to the next prompt. Remember that your grade for the class is based partly on how many practice essays you complete.

Homework for Wednesday 10/1

Your homework for the next class meeting (Wed 10/1) is to create a blog for this class, if you haven't already done so, and put up your first post: your summary of Scott Shane's "Administration to Seek Balance in Airport Screening" (see the "Writing Summaries" handout). 

TO POST YOUR WORK:

1. Go to blogger.com and sign in using your Google ID and password.

2. You'll find yourself at the Blogger dashboard. Find the name of your blog. Next to it, you'll see a button with a picture of a pen or pencil. Click on that button.

3. Click "Compose" at the top of the page. This will make it much easier to edit your work.

4. You'll see two boxes where you can enter text. Put the title of your piece in the top (smaller) box. Put the body of your piece in the bottom (large) box. You can use the formatting buttons to format your text.

5. Click the "Preview" button to see what your post will look, and make any changes you want.

6. Click the "Publish" button to make your work public. Now everyone can read it!