Prose & Paragraphs
2016.05.25
This week, the 13th of the semester, we started winding things down to finish our final research paper. We spent the first part of the session getting clear on MLA in-text citation style. For more information on in-text citations and correct formatting for your Works Cited list, review pages 81-90 in the text and refer to Purdue University's Online Writing Lab information on MLA style (link here).
We started working with a writing partner today to review our first drafts of the research paper in a four-step process.
Step 1. Using the editing and content questions on page 115, along with your own ideas, give your writing partner thorough, helpful feedback on their draft.
Step 2. Carefully go through the questions on page 115 again with your own paper. Remember, this is your paper -- your grade.
Step 3. Bring a revised rough draft hard copy (on paper) to class next week for more review by classmates and the instructor. Next week will be a writing workshop as we move toward a finished product.
Step 4. Hand in your finished final draft Week 15 and be ready for a final exam in class.
See you next week!
JBH
2016.05.11
We still need to work on theses.
Went over blog and looked at everyone’s thesis. Continue the process so we can get some great research papers written.
This week, as soon as possible, please get everything you have written so far printed up and stapled together for feedback next week. I will start scoring things Monday. It’s all over the place on the class blog now, but you should have at least one final draft for me.
Please format it with indented paragraphs, double-spaced, Times New Roman 12 point font, and print it. Put it in my mailbox in room 106 of the main building.
And keep working through the book and writing your research paper. We will talk about Unit 3 when we meet again.
Thanks,
JBH
2016.04.27
After a long break, thanks to Election Day and the HUFS 62nd Annviversary, we got back in business.
We spent some time talking about papers on the blog on the screen
For next week, Unit 3, part 1 pre-read and answer questions. Also, please post a one- or two-sentence topic idea for your research paper to be completed next month (first draft due May 25th, final draft June 1st.
Please don't change your topic; go with what you post.
See you in class!
JBH
2016.03.30 & 04.06
We finished off Unit 1, talking about transitions, connections, conjunctions, frags, Run-ons and editing. Then we moved on to Unit 2, and have covered parts 1 and 2 together in class, finishing up together on page 48. For the next two weeks, please continue working on the rest of Unit 2 as you work on an essay of your own.
We will not meet in the classroom the next two weeks (April 13th and 20th) because of school holidays (Election Day and HUFS Foundation Day). However, we still have writing work to do in the text and on your essay writing. Here are the steps I would like you to complete as you go through that process:
First, please write a 100-150-word proposal about your essay based on the assignment from Unit 2. What will it be about, how will you address the topic, what will you say? You do not have to have the essay written yet, but I do want you to tell me the basic ideas about what you plan to write. Please post your proposal to blog and make sure the blog entry has your name on it. Assume your topic is approved unless you hear otherwise. I will review your topics next week and offer suggestions if I see the need for them by email. Please have your essay proposal posted before midnight Sunday night, April 9th.
Next, please follow the essay-building instructions in Unit 2, parts, 1, 2, 3, and 4, to write the first draft of an essay. That first draft is due at midnight, April 17th. Peer reviewers should post comments to two classmates based on the Essay Editing Checklist on page 69. Please have thorough and helpful peer reviews complete by midnight, April 20th.
Finally, because we have two weeks away from the classroom, I'd really like to see you get a final draft completed before we meet next time on April 27th. Please post a much-improved final draft of your essay as a comment underneath your first draft posting on the class blog. Improvement can be based on feedback and/or your own ideas about how to make the essay better. Be sure to include your name and class info in the comment itself so we know whose work it is.
Blogger limits comment lengths, so if your final draft is too long to fit as one comment, save it as an MS Word file, then copy and paste the first half and second half as two comments under your blog post. I look forward to reading your posts and we will talk about everything when we meet again later this month.
Have fun!
JBH
2016.03.23
Continued in text to page 24. We need to move faster in the book and wrap up Unit 1 next week.
Homework for week 5: Please continue pre-reading and answering questions in the book through the first half or Unit 2 (part 1 and 2). The only assignment for the class blog is to come up with an interesting, creative title for the paragraph you wrote last week.
Please post the title as a comment to last week's blog post of your paragraph.
Thanks!
JBH
2016.03.16
Rewrite another paragraph (or improve your first one) following the assignment instructions on page 20. Submit by email to the class blog by early class deadline. Use the subject label "Page 20 Draft" for this assignment.
Feedback for two classmates on the class blog should use the A-R-M method. Those letters stand for Add, Remove, and Replace. For comments to this blog post, please make specific, detailed suggestions about how to improve a piece of writing by stating which exact words could be added, removed, or replaced.
Don’t be afraid to make suggestions based on your opinion. Please do not explain your reasons for the suggestion or evaluate the quality of the writing; simply offer suggestions about specific words or phrases to Add – Remove – or Replace that you think might be improvements. Please let the writer know exactly what and where you are suggesting things be changed to improve the writing. Focus on meaning, not grammar.
In addition, please continue in the book by pre-reading and writing your answers to questions in the rest of Unit 1 ( parts 3 and 4). We will be looking at writing on the blog and working from the text again next week.
See you in class!
JBH
Week 2 (2016.03.09)
We went through Part 1 of Unit 1 in class, which detailed the elements that go into a paragraph and several methods to use to write one. One item we didn’t mention in class that you should take a look at is on page v and vi, the Introduction to Academic Writing, which includes basic but important suggestions about the purpose, audience, evidence, style, and process of academic writing.
Remember, as outlined on page vi, the first draft is just the beginning of writing something. Good writers write at least a second draft, and often revise several time before they finish a piece of writing.
For next week, please post to the class by email your answers to Exercise 5 on page 12, along with a complete paragraph based on your outline. Make sure your outline and paragraph are posted by the class early writing deadline, midnight on Sunday night.
Then, please give helpful feedback to two classmates by commenting to their writing on the blog. Your comments should answer the following topics:
- What was the main point? __________________.
- What I liked about this paragraph was _________________.
- What struck me as powerful was ____________________.
- What is not clear was ___________________________ because __________________.
- The one change you could make that would make the biggest improvement in this paragraph is ____________________________________.
See you in class!
JBH

Week 1 (2016.03.02)
The first week's session consisted of introductions, a brief class outline, and a self-introduction writing exercise.
For next week, please buy the text (Academic Writing Skills 1, Cambridge). It is available in the HUFS bookstore. Read Unit 1, Part 1, and be ready to discuss it in class when we meet again.
Also, read and follow the instructions linked here to email your self-introduction as a blog post to the class blog before midnight Sunday night. Then please post comments on the blog to at least two of your classmates before we meet again next week. Remember to include your name in the comment. You should ALWAYS include your name on blog posts and comments because they count for homework credit.
We will be talking about our writing, about Unit 1 and and sharing our work with classmates.
Remember: To post to the blog, send an email following the instructions linked above. To comment, you must go to the blog itself and post a comment. The blog is linked here.
Thanks, and see you in class!
JBH