Essay Writing Winter 2020-2021
2021.01.13
In class today, we went over some common problems that have been noticed in student essays so far. They are listed below.
On Thursday, our last day of class, we will have timed writing final exam. The exam should take about an hour, but you will have more than an hour and a half to complete it and upload it to the Canvas Timed Writing Exam folder.
Please come to the Zoom room at our regular class time for detailed instructions.
Thanks for a great class, and let me know if I can help you with anything in the future,
JBH
Essay Writing Common Problems
Suggestions for lots of folks:
Content:
1. Add examples and details to body paragraphs for stronger writing. To learn how to add examples and details, check Equip: Pinning it Down in Writing Resources on my website.
2. Avoid duplication/plagiarism.
Format:
1. Titles and title case need improvement for many students.
2. Double space, indent paragraphs.
3. Avoid contractions in academic writing.
4. Avoid you and your in academic writing, do not use I or me very often.
5. In-text citations/references need to be correct as shown on pages 314-318 in text.
6. Spell numbers one through nine, use numerals for numbers 10 and above. (11, 12, 13, etc.)
2021.01.11 and 01.12
We did not meet as a class on these two days. Instead, students had one-on-one conferences with the instructor about their writing as they worked on improving their final revisions.
We will have a general workshop session Wednesday, talking about common challenges and how to improve our writing, as well as allowing the instructor to answer any questions.
On Thursday, the last day of class, we will take a timed writing exam and submit our final drafts of our two best essays to the Final Revision Assignment Folder in Canvas.
Thanks!
JBH
2021.01.08
In class today, we went through Chapter 8, finishing our session with a review of the argumentative essay assignment. Please complete a first draft of the essay assignment on page 166, which requires you to first answer questions on the articles on pages 286 and 288 of the text to gather information before you write.
Please submit a great first draft of the Chapter 8 assignment to the canvas discussion folder by 11:59 p.m. Sunday. You should also create a document that includes a copy of your chapter 8 draft combined with the best one of the other essays you have written in this class. Submit the two essays together as one document to the Preview Assignment folder in Canvas for me to look at when we talk next week.
Please make sure these essays are combined as one document, with the second essay starting on a new page after the first essay. Your writing should be submitted as a Microsoft Word document, double spaced, using 12 point Times New Roman font, and including a title.
See you next week!
JBH
2021.01.07
We continued looking over Chapter 10 on Thursday, going over choppy, run-on, and stringy sentences. From there we moved on to Chapter 8 and got started looking at the elements of an argumentative essay.
We also took a few minutes to talk about formatting papers correctly (example on page 2), as well as writing a title.
Friday we will continue looking at Argumentative Essay structure. Your argumentative essay is due in the Canvas discussion area, and assignment folder, by 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 10th. Next week, we have one-on-one conferences scheduled instead of class as a group. Use the time to improve your essay revisions before you hand them in Jan. 14th.
Thanks!
JBH
Paper formatting
Example of a formatted paper (page 2)
Writing a Title
2021.01.06
Today's class got going with a brief overview of the remainder of the course. After taking a quiz today, we'll be moving on to Argumentative Essays in Chapter 8, with the assignment due in the Canvas discussion area for feedback by 11:59 p.m. Sunday. Also before 11:59 p.m. Sunday, you should post your best essay from those assigned so far, along with your best version of the Chapter 8 essay, to the One-on-One Essay Previews Assignment folder in Canvas. I'll be talking to you about one or both essays, time permitting, in a one-on-one session on Monday or Tuesday. Sign up for your session at this link.
We will not have regular class on Monday and Tuesday, which will be reserved for one-on-one sessions with the professor to look at your writing. Please come prepared with questions and topics to discuss.
After our one-on-one sessions, we'll have time on Wednesday, Jan.14th, to look at a few more sentence structure problems and get our revised essays ready for submission. On Thursday the15th, we will take a timed writing exam in the Zoom room and submit final revisions of two essays, your best revision of any essay we have already written and your best revision of the Chapter 8 Argumentative Essay.
Let me know if you have any questions,
JBH
2021.01.05
We got a look at Chapter 10 today, which deals with parallelism and sentence problems. We will finish off Chapter 10 on Wednesday and get going on Chapter 8, which includes your last major homework assignment writing project, an argumentative essay.
For tonight’s homework, please use the Chapter 7 Peer Review form on page 333 to guide you as you give helpful, thoughtful comments to at least two classmates about their Chapter 7 Essay drafts in the Canvas discussion area. Also, please pre-read and pre-answer all questions in Chapter 10 from where we left off Tuesday (page 196). Don’t be surprised if there is a quiz on Chapter 10 Wednesday, Jan. 6th.
As we go through this week, you should be selecting the best drafts from the essays we’ve written so far. You’ll be choosing your two best drafts to improve. One of them will be the assignment from Chapter 8. The other can be from any of the chapters we’ve done so far. Upload those essays as Microsoft Word documents to the Essay Preview assignment folder in Canvas by 11:59 p.m. Sunday, along with your thoughts and questions for our discussion during our one-on-one conferences Monday and Tuesday.
I am NOT going to edit your papers for you. I will give you some ideas about what is working and what might need more work, but it will be based on what you and I talk about. Don’t just give me your paper and expect me to fix it for you. That is your job. Your classmates and I will try to help, but we won’t do your thinking or your writing for you.
Have fun,
JBH
2021.01.04
In today’s class, we finished off Chapter 7 and got ready to build the first draft of our comparison/contrast essay. It should be posted in the class Canvas discussion area before class time on Tuesday. Please use the subject heading “Your Name/Chapter 7” for your Canvas discussion post.
We also had a detailed discussion about how I score your writing.
The criteria I use for scoring essays and essay exam answers are linked here.
When we come to class tomorrow, we’ll be working on Chapter 10, which deals with parallelism and sentence problems. Don’t worry about getting ready for that chapter overnight; instead, get moving on your Chapter 7 draft writing.
See you in class!
JBH
2020.12.30 & 12.31
In class Wednesday, we worked on Chapter 6 through page 128, looking at the elements of Cause/Effect essays.
Following the step-by-step instruction in steps 1 through 3 we wrote a first draft of the Chapter 6 essay, which was to be posted to the class Canvas discussion area before class time Thursday. Use the subject heading “Your Name/Chapter 6.”
We got started on Chapter 7 in class Thursday, and over the weekend you should use the Peer Review form on page 331 of the text to guide you in making helpful, thoughtful comments on the writing of at least two of your classmates' first drafts on Canvas.
We will continue with Chapter 7 Monday, and start writing the first draft of the Chapter 7 Essay assignment. Feel free to get started earlier if you wish.
새해 복 많이 받으세요!
JBH
2020.12.29
Today we got back to Chapter 3, wrapping up the material on quoting, paraphrasing and summarizing.
Before we meet again on Wednesday, please complete practice 7 on page 63 and post it to the Canvas discussion area using the subject heading “Your Name/Chapter 3.”
Wednesday we will move on to Chapter 6. We will be writing first draft essays from chapters 6, 7, and 8 before we finish this Winter session, so feel free to look ahead and get started writing.
See you in class!
JBH
2020.12.28
Back from the long Christmas weekend, we wrapped up Chapter 4 in the text which got us started writing short essays, and took a step back to Chapter 3 to look over material on using outside sources. Citing references in the text of an essay as well as a reference list were covered, along with avoiding plagiarism.
When we meet on Tuesday (12-29), we will wrap up Chapter 3 and get going on Chapter 6, which looks at cause/effect essays. Students were asked to pre-read and be ready to talk about the remainder of Chapter 3 for Tuesday. There was no writing assignment today.
For future reference, we will likely be going over and writing drafts in chapters 6, 7, and 8 in this course, as well as (possibly) Chapter 10. Feel free to look ahead if you have time.
See you in class!
JBH
2020.12.24
In today's class we started off with quiz on chapter 4 of the text, which took up much of the first hour, including reviewing the answers. Then we continued in Chapter 4 of the text, wrapping up on page 92. Continue reading and using the text to help you build your draft of the Chapter 4 writing assignment on pages 98 and 99.
Please get your draft submitted to Canvas by 11:59 p.m. Friday, Dec. 25th. After that, please use the peer review form on page 327 to make helpful, thoughtful comments on the papers of two classmates. Please try to help classmates who don't already have two comments on their papers.
We will continue in Chapter 3 of the text Monday, and may share Canvas on the screen and talk about some student writing.
Have a great Christmas!
JBH
2020.12.23
After making sure that everyone was up to speed on the textbook, website, and Canvas class page, we got started with Chapter 4 of the text this second session.
We started off looking at essay structure, analyzing a model essay and talking about what goes into a good introduction before we wrapped up talking about the writing assignment for the chapter.
Now you have two things to write: First make conversational comments below two of your classmates' Canvas posts about themselves as a writer before we meet again in class on Thursday. These replies will help us get more comfortable communicating online about our writing.
Also, please get started on the Chapter 4 writing assignment on pages 98 and 99. Please follow the instructions and write about one of the educational topics provided on page 98. You should have a solid first draft of at least 250 words completed by 11:59 p.m. Friday. Write your essay draft as a Microsoft Word document, and then copy and paste the text as a post to Canvas. The subject heading should read "Your Name/Chapter 4."
Read and complete the Writer's Self-Check on page 328 of the text before you submit your draft, and use the Chapter 4 Peer Review on page 327 to guide your comments on two of your classmates' writing. Please have your comments on two classmates' drafts finished before class time Monday, Dec. 28th.
Along with all this writing, please continue reading and learning from Chapter 4 on your own.
We will continue next time talking more about thesis statements, body paragraphs, conclusions, and different types of essay organization from the chapter. We may also look over a few drafts together and provide group comments to a few lucky students.
Have fun!
JBH
2020.12.22
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 or from online textbook distributors in Korea.
For this first session, please check out my webpage (profjbh.com), read and pre-answer all individual questions in Chapter 4 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 in the Canvas discussion area. Please get your post done before we meet again tomorrow (Dec. 23rd). After that, also in Canvas, please respond thoughtfully to two classmates in a brief "getting acquainted" conversation before we meet on Thursday Dec. 24th. We may talk about some of your writing and comments in class.
For the discussion subject or title use "Your Name/Writer".
A pdf file of Chapter 4 of the text can be found in our class Canvas site under "Files." That way, you can start working on the text before you get your copy. We will move on to the writing assignment in chapter 4 after our second class session, posting it online 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 4 (Use the pdf in Canvas if you don't have a book yet).
3. Post your (at least 200-word) response to the question "What kind of a writer are you?" to the class Canvas discussion area before class time on Wednesday (Dec. 23rd).
4. Comment on at least two classmates' answers to the "writer" question before class time Thursday (Dec. 24th).
See you next time!
JBH
P.S.
We will meet at our regular class time each day in this Zoom room online: 841 1252 1337.
You should have received an email from me with the classroom password. Please do not share it with anyone outside our class.
You can access Zoom discussions with your computer, tablet, or phone, but something with a big screen and a webcam will work much better.
