Essay Writing Fall 2019
2019.12.3 & 12.10
After wrapping up Chapter 5, we cruised through the exercises in Chapter 8 these weeks, as well as writing a first draft of the Chapter 8 essay as assigned on pages 163-167.
Please come to class Week 16 ready to take an in-class writing exam based on a timed writing topic from either Chapter 4, 5 or 8. Also, please bring with you your best two final drafts from essays assigned in chapter 4, 5 or 8. Scores on the two essays, plus the final exam, will make up the second half of your quality points score for the semester. The other 40 percent of your score will come from homework completion, which includes posting to Canvas and quizzes.
Thanks for a great semester and good luck on all your exams!
JBH
2019.11.26
We continued working on Chapter 5 this session, taking a chapter quiz, going over exercises and getting ready to write the first draft of a definition essay. For next week, please write that first draft and submit it to Canvas by the class early deadline. then, using the peer review form in the back of the book, give thorough, helpful feedback to two classmates before we meet again Dec. 3rd.
We will continue then looking at the remainder of Chapter 5 before moving on to Chapter 8. You will need to write solid first drafts and get feedback on the essay assignments in Chapter 5 and Chapter 8 before the end of the semester. We will have a sit-down writing essay exam week 16. You should also hand in your best two final drafts from the second half of the semester that day. You choose your best final two final drafts, from Chapter 4, 5, or 8.
See you in class!
JBH
2019.11.19
This week, we wrapped up the last couple exercises of Chapter 4 and moved on to Chapter 5. No writing assignment this week, but go over the chapter carefully and answer all questions.
See you next week!
JBH
2019.11.12
We continued with Chapter 4 this week, after looking over our midterm quality points on essays and the mid-term exam.
We moved through the practice exercises, covering the topics of cause and effect writing structures, parallelism, and using quotations in writing.
For next week, please submit a revised draft of your chapter 4 essay as the final comment under your first post. Also, be ready to wrap up Chapter 4 and move on to Chapter 5.
See you in class!
JBH
We continued with Chapter 4 this week, after looking over our midterm quality points on essays and the mid-term exam.
We moved through the practice exercises, covering the topics of cause and effect writing structures, parallelism, and using quotations in writing.
For next week, please submit a revised draft of your chapter 4 essay as the final comment under your first post. Also, be ready to wrap up Chapter 4 and move on to Chapter 5.
See you in class!
JBH
2019.11.05
Class finally got going on Chapter 4 this week, looking over some model cause/effect essays and practice exercises through page 74. We also talked about the essay assignment on page 83.
For this assignment, I am giving you an assigned topic. Your cause/effect essay should be about immigration to or emigration from a country that is not in Asia. Please do your research and writing about a country that is not a place where you have lived or already know a lot about. I want you to use research, not background knowledge about something you have already read about extensively, heard lots of talk about, or written about in the past.
Please post your first draft to the class Canvas discussion area before midnight Nov. 9th, and comment on two classmate’s drafts using the Peer Review guide on page 227 before class time Nov. 12th.
Have fun!
JBH
2019.10.15-29
We started off class with a quiz on Chapter 3 this week, and correcting all the possible sentences together took a long time.
After that, we went over Chapter 3, and just got started with the model essay
For next week, write the abstract assignment in Practice 8.
Next week is also exam week, and we will do a timed writing in class. Please bring hard copies of your best two writing assignments from what you’ve written so far. Make sure they are double-spaced, Times New Roman , 12-point font.
See you exam week!
JBH
P.S. When we meet again for regular class Week 9, we will be talking about your writing so far in one-on-one sessions. Week 10, we'll jump into Chapter 4. Please pre-read, pre-answer questions, and be ready to talk about Chapter 4 in class before we meet Week 10.
2019.10.08
This week we wrapped up the last few exercises in Chapter 2, and looked over the first drafts of our essays from that chapter on the screen, making a few comments on our classmates' papers.
For next week, please write a revision of your Chapter 2 essay and post it as the final comment under your first draft post.
Also, please pre-read Chapter 3 through page 54, answer all questions in the exercises in Practice 1-5 and be ready to discuss the chapter in class.
See you next week!
JBH
2019.10.01
In this class session, we started the survey and interview tasks we planned last week.
We completed the timed writing assignment on page 39 during this class session.First, we completed Practice 4, 5 and 6 from pages 34 and 35 but made the survey, chart and questions about our topics. After that, either in the classroom or nearby, we took 40 minutes to talk to at least five people (10 would be better but there might not have been enough time) about our topic. Quickly but thoroughly, we used the topic idea we had already proposed and asked some of the questions we planned in Canvas.
Some of us might have wanted to review the model on pages 22-24 and the writing guides on page 189 to help us write our introduction and first body paragraph.
We promised to complete the timed writing in 50 minutes on Oct. 1st. After finishing, we transferred our writing it to the Canvas discussion area under the subject “Your Name/Timed Writing 2.”
After you've finished the timed writing, please write the first draft of the Chapter 2 Writing Assignment on page 37 in Canvas before midnight Oct. 5th, and comment on two classmate’s drafts using the Peer Review guide on page 227 before class time Oct. 8th.
Have fun!
JBH
P.S. In case of any questions, the instructions I posted in class are linked here.
2019.09.24
Week Four, we started the session off with a quiz on Chapter 2, which students should have read before class.
Then we quickly moved into Chapter 2, which deals with classification essays, and the example essay that looks at Amish lifestyles and values. We went over the features of the chapter example essay, and talked about vocabulary and language features such as collocations.
For Next week, please write a 150- to 250-word proposal on what you will do for the writing project from Chapter 2. A proposal is your initial idea about what your essay will be about and how you will design it. You do not need to have your whole essay written yet, but your proposal should include a good idea of what your topic is, what kinds of questions you'll be asking, and who you'll be asking those questions of. Expect to interview or survey at least five to 10 people, and you should ask each of them at least 10 questions to get something worth writing about.
Post your proposal to the class Canvas discussion area by midnight Saturday, Sept. 28th, and make a comment on at least one classmate's proposal before we meet again next week. Your comment should include some positive thoughts as well as suggestions or ideas to help make your classmate's proposal better.
Have fun!
JBH
2019.09.17
In class this week, we went over the remainder of Chapter One together and looked at a few students' writing on the screen in class, offering helpful feedback.
For next week, please use suggestions from your classmates and your own ideas to complete a revised draft of the Chapter One essay you submitted to Canvas. Please post it as the final comment under your original post.
We will move into Chapter Two next week, so please pre-read and pre-answer all individual questions in preparation for us to go over the material in class.
Be ready to write another amazing essay next week. See you then!
JBH
2019.09.10
We hit the ground running this second week of class, diving deep into the first chapter of the text and talking about getting going on some real writing. We worked through page 8 of the text and took a good look at the Chapter 1 essay assignment on page 18.
Your first draft of this assignment should be posted to the class Canvas discussion area by midnight Saturday night. This assignment should be between 400 and 600 words and from five to eight paragraphs.
Then, before we meet again on Tuesday, please use the Chapter 1 Peer Review guide in the back of the book to give helpful, thoughtful feedback to two classmates. Please give feedback to writers who do not already have comments from two classmates, so everyone gets suggestions. Ideally, everyone should make comments on the work of two classmates, and everyone should receive comments from two classmates.
You do not need to bring a hard copy of your draft to class at this time, because we will be looking over some writing on the screen in class next week. But when I do ask you to hand in finished revised drafts later in the semester, the basic format for university papers in English is 12 point Times New Roman font, with lines double-spaced. If you don't understand what that means, be sure to ask in class.
Have fun writing over the holiday!
JBH
2019.09.03
Hi everybody and welcome to Essay Writing!
This is a writing class, which means we are going to be writing. Please bring paper and pencil to class every day, along with your textbook, and be prepared to write some things after class too.
Did I mention that we will be writing? It's a writing class. Expect to write a lot. In English.
Please buy the book ASAP. -------------->
It is available at the HUFS bookstore.
For this first session, please check out my webpage (profjbh.com), read and pre-answer all individual questions in Chapter 1 of the textbook and be ready to talk (and write) about them when we meet again in class.
You will also get an email invitation from Canvas to join our online class discussion. Follow instructions to sign on and post your response to this question: "What kind of a writer are you?" Please respond with a post of at least 200 words. Also in Canvas, please respond thoughtfully to two classmates in a brief "getting acquainted" conversation before we meet next Tuesday.
For the discussion subject or title use "Your Name/Writer".
We will move on to the writing assignment in chapter 1 after our second class session, posting it online in a class blog and giving each other feedback on our writing.
To Do List:
1. Get the book.
2. Pre-read and pre-answer all questions in Chapter 1.
3. Post your (at least 200-word) response to the question "What kind of a writer are you?" to Canvas.
4. Comment on at least two classmates' answers to the "writer" question.
See you next week!
JBH
