Week 6

Good day. I hope you are feeling well, and that you enjoyed yourself over the  weekend.

Today we have several things to do:  review the essay work assigned last– using process description or cause/effect as means of approach and organization;  review the use of conditional and subjunctive verb tense and go on to address some matters of pronoun use; practice use of summary and quotation.  Finally, I will have you write a short essay in class on one of the topics listed below.

. . . . . . .

Midterm essay:  compose a one-paragraph essay of about 200 words. The main idea or topic sentence should be clear. Readers expect you to make a clear point and not to wonder if they have missed something.  If the main idea is stated directly (explicitly) in the essay,  underline it. If it is implicit (i.e. not stated anywhere but clearly implied from all you've written), write it below the finished essay. The bulk of the paragraph should develop the topic idea by means of description, specific details and examples, brief narration, commentary and observation (your thoughts on the matter), and so on.  Provide enough support to carry your point well.  The opening sentence should provide a smooth lead-in and/or statement of the essay's central idea (topic idea). The final sentences should be winding up the discussion to provide a sense of finish. 

To summarize and practice using quotation:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/business/08consume.html?pagewanted=3&_r=1&sq=But%20will%20it%20make%20you%20happy&st=cse&scp=1

Title the essay.

Here are the prompts for the essay, with the final one open to your own inclinations. Choose only one of the topics. Remember, you will have one major point to make and support, building the essay around this point (topic or thesis).

1. Walking Home–description and narration.

2. An unwelcome guest–description and narration.

3. A challenging moment–description and narration.

4. A healthy diet–definition and description.

5. Going out on a limb–the risks and rewards.

6. An inspiring person or idea.

7. A recent discovery.

8. Any topic you would like to explore in this one-paragraph essay.

I will collect the papers at the end of the class. Do not use the Internet for content in this essay.

Homework Essay #6: In 350 words (or more), you are to explore a hypothetical situation, which will require using the subjunctive mood and conditional (modal) tense forms.  Imagine that you had been born under or into circumstances other than those you were born into; for example, a different place and/or historical era, a different family, a different body (or species), and so on.  Describe what your childhood would have been like, what your present life might be like, and what you imagine happening in your future in these changed circumstances.  Three paragraphs:  one to the past, one to the present, and one to the future you will here envision.

     You might start in this way:  Had I been born an only child, instead of being born the fifth child of six, I might have got more attention than I did.  I might have been spoiled!  My parents, particularly my mother, had little time and attention to spare, afterall . . .

Review the class handout and verb tense sequencing here:  http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/601/1/ and here:  http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/539/07/

Week 7

 

Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species -- man -- acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world.

–Rachel Carson

Good morning, good evening. Hope you all have been well since last we met.

Today's classwork focuses on using sources to generate essay ideas and perspectives. There are two basic kinds of sources used in conducting research, primary and secondary. Primary sources are defined as those whose information comes firsthand to the writer or researcher, such as original experiments you conduct, field notes and observations you make, interviews, eyewitness accounts, and works of art or artifacts you examine and evaluate, including photographs and films, sound recordings and historical documents (letters, diaries, records of all sorts, speeches, etc.). Secondary sources are the descriptions, interpretations, and research work and conclusions others have done on a given subject of inquiry, be it a work of art or an artist, natural phenomena such as hurricanes or volcanos, human biology, cancer, etc. News reports, reviews, biographies, encyclopedia articles, among others, fall in this category. Often research projects involve use of both kinds of sources, primary and secondary.

Research is basic to many of our daily activities and decisions. We want to see a movie, a good movie, so we read the reviews of recent releases and make a decision one way or another. We want to buy a new car, computer, whatever, and so we gather information about the products available, learn their relative merits as compared to others in their class, then test run them, try them firsthand before we commit ourselves to a purchase. Your purpose in research is ordinarily defined by your interest in a subject. In college writing, the central goal of research is to develop and show a clear understanding of a particular subject. Perhaps you are asked to explain a problem, and to illustrate measures being taken to address the problem; at last, you find yourself arguing a position or advocating a certain course of action.  Having made a thorough review of the most timely, authoritative literature on your subject, you are, presumably, an expert, and in a position to advance a position or claim and to support it with reference to your various sources.

As a class we'll look at a topic of general interest–our life on this planet and our relationship to this planet in an essay called "The Voyagers"–which discusses, in part what it means to be human, our relationships with each other, and our yearning for connection . Your essay assignment involves summary description or definition of a problem, perhaps its causes and/or effects, and the measures being taken to assess and address the problem by those working in the field. Your audience will be your classmates and all those who might justifiably find the subject interesting and important.  Look at a number of  online sources, including photo sources, if you wish, and draw from these the information to make a considered claim about your chosen subject. You must develop your own slant, as with any original essay work.

Assignment (#7):  Summarize in a 350- word essay/response some of the central concerns of Linda Hogan's essay. Include direct quotation of material from the title article, and your own thoughts on some portion of what she writes about.  Title the essay.

 The opening paragraph may look something like the following, which introduces the text by title and author, and provides a brief summary with one quotation to illustrate:

                In Linda Hogan’s essay “The Voyagers,” she reminds us that this planet we call home is unlike any the universe has yet revealed to us, and all the more precious because of that fact.  While we dream of other worlds and all the possibilities of space travel, we have yet to take full stock of earth’s treasures.  The Interstellar Record, traveling aboard one of the Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977, and now sailing the far reaches of space, is one measure of our desire to catalogue and preserve some of the treasures of life on earth, and to share them with others.  It contains greetings from people around the world, “the peaceful chirping of frogs and crickets,” “the undeciphered language of whales,” the comforting sound of a heartbeat taking us back to the red house of our mother’s body,” “Blind Willie Johnson’s slide guitar,” and other artifacts of our existence on earth. 

Sentence Pattern:  Additive or cumulative structure:


  The couple reconciled after several years, having realized that their problems and differences were not as great as their desire to be together.




The trunks of the trees were dusty and the leaves fell early that year and we saw the troops marching along the road and the dust rising and leaves, stirred by the breeze, falling and the soldiers marching and afterward the road bare and white except for the leaves.   In the late summer of that year we lived in a house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains.  In the bed of the river there were pebbles and boulders, dry and white in the sun, and the water was clear and swiftly moving and blue in the channels.  Troops went by the house and down the road and the dust that they raised powdered the trees. –Ernest Hemingway


He drove the car carefully, his shaggy hair whipped by the wind, his eyes hidden behind wraparound mirror shades, his mouth set in a grim smile, a .38 Police Special on the seat beside him, the corpse stuffed in the trunk.   




 

Week 8

Everything speaks. –James Joyce Good day to you all. I hope you had a nice weekend.  A Film Review requires the reviewer put across a clear sense of the story being told or dramatized.  The reviewer summarizes  the action  that drives the story forward, and the conflict at the heart of the plot events; the characters whose circumstances and actions we follow throughout;  the setting elements generally and as highlighted by specific scenes; and the play of ideas the film puts in motion.     A review is unified by the reviewer's opinion of the film's merit, including high notes and low notes, the best and the worst, the strengths and the weaknesses.  The introductory paragraph introduces the film by title and director, and year of release.   For example:  Adventureland (2009), written and directed by Greg Mottola, is a lyrical, funny romantic comedy set among a group of eighteen to twentyish suburban kids who work the summer at a down-scale local amusement park, and make their best of the opportunity it allows them to get to know each other, and have some fun. The names of important characters should be introduced, and, if desired, the name of the particular actor playing the role.  A brief summary of the kind of characters and the action they are caught up in in the film is appropriate.  In a short essay, your focus may be limited to one or two characters, with mere mention of others.  The thesis or central idea of the review/essay should be hinted at if not stated outright in the opening lines.  The body paragraphs should illustrate by means of description of key scenes or events, and the ideas and emotions the film encourages one to take from these scenes and events. The conclusion should underscore the reviewer's central idea in a fresh way.  Often this emphasis is created by focusing on the climax and conclusion of the film; however, you may focus on a particular or key image of character, setting, or action to make your thesis clear and convincing. Say you find a film beautiful and romantic in its depiction of the saving nature of love; your conclusion would provide reference to some aspect of the the film's actions, characters, or images overall, to convey the impression you felt most strongly. The film I have brought is called Silas Marner (1985), a BBC adaptation of one of the most popular novels of  George Eliot, a 19th century English woman who assumed a male nom de plume so that she would not be judged an inferior simply because she was a woman, in a day when the work of female writers was not taken seriously.  It is the story of a man brought to his senses in a series of remarkable occurrences involving catastrophic loss and redemptive love.  Ben Kingsley plays the title role, that of Silas Marner, a reclusive linen weaver.  It was filmed on location in a part of England called the Cotswold. The other film choice is a 60-minute adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Black Cat," with, according to the jacket notes, some admixture of biographical material drawn from what is known of the life of Edgar Allan Poe, an American writer of the 19th century famous for his tales of horror and mystery.  Introduce the film by its title, The Black Cat (2006), and identify the director as Stuart Gordon. Essay #8:  The objective of this essay is to describe in summary a film story and to express your understanding of one or more of its themes, and the roles that characters of note play.  Setting and particular scene depiction may be one means of conveying the impressions the film makes.  Introduce the film by title and release date.  Underline your thesis idea.  Write a minimum of 350 words.  Those not in class can substitute a film of choice for the assignment.

Week 9

What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea. It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience, something that never has been and never could have been experienced by anyone else. –Joseph Campbell
 

Good day!  It is week 9 and that means we will be wrapping up in preparation for next week's final.  I have one final assignment here described, which requires you work with a classmate in a pair or small group.  The idea is to create a portrait of one or more of the individuals attending Ai and to bring out something of the shared student experience and the individual nature of your subject.  As you are yourselves students here, you have that perspective and experience to aid you in the interview or dialogue, which is the first step to creating the portrait.

The Character Profile or study requires you present a "portrait" of an individual.  It includes the individual's background to some degree and a look into their current endeavors, activities, interests, ideas and attitudes.  To put it together involves an interview of sorts, really a two-way exchange in which the pair members dialogue to come up with enough information and first-hand impressions to write the piece. The purpose is to bring to readers a sense of the background, motivation, and personality of the students pursuing specific degrees or career goals, specific skills and interests here at AiFL. It will be a chance to exchange personal interests and ideas with others as you gather the information to present the individual(s) with whom you share class and common pursuits and perhaps personal concerns and lifestyles. I imagine the audience as perhaps students and others in the local community or at other colleges locally or nationally who would be interested to know the experiences, concerns, and interests of college students today and something of college life. So key will be eliciting from your subject individual(s) a sense of the background and personal aims they bring to their school pursuits, and to bring that information to life in the profile. 

Some questions to ask to get your subject's story include the following:

*What's this experience or period of your life really about?

*What is the emotional truth of your life today? What feelings are you working through? What do you feel good about, uncertain about?

*How did you get to this point or place in life?

*Describe a past or current struggle in some detail to show the kind of challenge you know best.

*Who were the important people in your life? How did they influence or shape you?

*What are your near and long term goals?

We will cover in class how to structure this essay. In brief, it will involve framing your subject to support a certain thesis idea, which the life of your subject will illustrate. 


There are two ways of structuring the piece.  One is to introduce the subject in an opening paragraph, providing context and a lead-in that generates reader interest.  (See the introductory paragraph description below for more details.)  Imagine a target audience of your peers or some other reader group.  Follow the introductory paragraph with a transcript of the questions posed to your subject and the responses elicited.  Shape the dialogue so that the  questions and responses, from beginning to end, are expressive of the subject's history, interests, and future prospects or concluding thoughts on this stage of life.


The second way of structuring the piece is to summarize much of what you learn from your subject, shape the main story line around a theme, and illustrate the whole with a few well-chosen quotations from your subject.  The second way is the article or essay form, as described more fully directly below:

In the introductory paragraph, the writer must say something of the personal impressions your subject makes in a face-to-face meeting. We want readers to feel they are meeting this individual in person; of course the impressions are those you have drawn in meeting and talking with your subject.   The body paragraph(s) will recount history and current endeavors, any conflicts or issues the subject is adressing, and how they are being addressed.  

The body material is meant to illustrate  the nature of the personality and character of the individual subject.  Again, the pairs or groups will be talking and exchanging information in an informal flow of give and take as you establish rapport and commonalities and differences. You will take notes on each other, specific background information, career goals, interests, concerns, etcetera, which later you will incorporate into the essay. You will unfold something of the life of your subject to illustrate a point about students or student life today. 

Your conclusion will bring the presentation back to the central idea, underscoring it, and providing final comments. You may want to incorporate direct quotation of one or another remark your subject has made, as well, to give some sense of the individual's actual speech or voice. Dialogue or direct quotation is a dramatic device and draws readers into the presence of your subject. You may use present or past tense overall. Bringing a sense of the subject individual's physical presence is a means of creating interest and imaginative appeal. Description of hair, eyes, gestures, clothing, in some brief but telling way will allow readers to actually "see" the subject person as they learn something of the story he or she embodies in the role of student.