The Gordon State College Composition Handbook, 2017-2018 Edition, a Product of the Gordon State College Composition Consortium

The Gordon State College Composition Handbook, 2017-2018 edition, a product of The Gordon State College Composition Consortium,

Wesley Venus and Mark King, eds., with major contributions from Chad Davies, Anna Higgins-Harrell, and Anissa Howard Acknowledgements This work would not have been possible without the hard work, expertise, and cheerful spirits of a number of talented and giving individuals.

Mr. Mark Price of Fountainhead Press helped put the idea for an institution-specific composition guide into our heads and was an early supporter. Early drafts of text and generous critique were provided by Dr. Anna Higgins-Harrell and Dr. Stephen Raynie—both of whom served on Gordon State College’s Composition Consortium. They were joined on the Consortium by Dr. Jeff Rogers, Dr. Gary Cox, and Dr. Elizabeth Watts-Warren.

Support from GSC’s Provost, Dr. Jeff Knighton has been strong and unflagging. A generous grant from Affordable Learning Georgia transformed the work from “someday it would be nice to…” status to “it will be online in August” status; the authors would like to thank ALG, Mr. Jeff Gallant, and Ms. Lauren Fancher. Additionally, former Gordon State Provost Dr. Margaret Venable was an essential resource in helping us neophyte grant recipients navigate state grant waters. The College’s English faculty bravely ditched their long-held composition guide and accepted ours sight unseen—a vote of confidence that left us humbled and grateful.

The book’s sections on writing across the curriculum were made possible by a number of our Gordon State colleagues patiently sitting through interviews about their experiences with student writing. We are indebted to our colleagues from across the campus: Dr. Bernard Anderson, Dr. Alan Burstein, Dr. Michael Borders, Professor Samantha Bishop, Dr. Neil Boumpani, Dr. Gary Cox, Professor Tony Pearson, Dr. Sherri O’Sullivan, and Professor Jeff White. As books do not magically go from the hard drives of office computers to the Internet, we needed more than a little technical expertise. Such help was cheerfully and patiently provided by Mr. Jeff Hayes, Mr. Troy Stout of GSC’s Information Technology and Ms. Autumn Schaffer, Gordon State’s Instructional Designer. Professor Anissa Howard generously shared with us MLA- centric academics her expertise in APA form; she is the sole author of the book’s APA passage.

This book also would have been in far worse shape without the benefit of Dr. Rhonda Wilcox’s copy-writing expertise. There are far fewer embarrassing errors because of her eagle eye. Finally, there are perhaps two individuals who deserve special thanks: Dr. Ed Whitelock and Dr. Chad Davies. Our Chair, Edward Whitelock, was an early and outspoken champion of this work. He served on the Composition Consortium throughout its life-span, helped write the ALG grant application and provided advice, encouragement and good cheer throughout the process. Gordon State Professor of Physics Chad Davies was a stalwart member of the Composition Consortium, provided much-needed expertise in the subject of critical thinking, and helped explain the principles of science writing to us relatively clueless English professors. Perhaps most importantly, Dr. Davies is the sole author of the section on writing for the sciences.

Dr. Wesley Venus

Dr. Mark King July, 2017

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Table of Contents

Section A: Writing 1 Why write? 1.1 Writing everywhere 1.2 No writing? 1.3 Natural? 1.4 Six reasons to write 1.5 Three key elements in writing 1.6 Summary

Section B: Writing in English 1101 2 English 1101 2.1 The English composition sequence 2.2 English 1101 and processed-based writing 2.3 Types of essays and activities in English 1101 2.4 Other activities 2.5 Types of writing, English 1101, and The Karate Kid 2.6 The Skills Developed in English 1101

Section C: Writing in English 1102 3 English 1102 3.1 English 1102 and process-based writing 3.2 Types of essays and activities in English 1102 3.3 Other activities 3.4 Types of writing, English 1102, and The Karate Kid 3.5 Skills further developed in English 1102 3.6 New skills developed in English 1102

Section D: Writing in Literary Survey Classes 4 Writing in English 2*** 4.1 English 2*** and process-based writing 4.2 Types of essays in English 2*** 4.3 Essay examinations 4.4 Skills further developed in English 2*** 4.5 Writing pitfalls in English 2***

Section E: Writing Across the Curriculum 5 Writing in a Colloquium 5.1 Critical thinking 5.2 Invention 5.3 Length 5.4 Subject 5.5 Topic 5.6 Issue 5.7 Logic

5.8 Logical fallacies 5.9 “So what?” 5.10 Heuristics 5.11 Arrangement 5.12 Extrinsics 5.13 Composition 5.14 Collaboration 5.15 Editing and proofreading 5.16 Editing 5.17 Proofreading 5.18 Colloquium Courses

6 Writing in theater arts class 6.1 Introduction to Theatre and process-based writing 6.2 Types of writing assignments in theatre arts classes 6.3 The what, why, and how of theater writing 6.4 Analysis 6.5 Playwriting project 6.6 Pitfalls in writing for the theater

7 Writing for humanities classes 7.1 The humanities and writing 7.2 The humanities and process-based writing 7.3 The cultural event report 7.4 Writing skills developed by humanities classes 7.5 Pitfalls in writing for the humanities

8 Writing for music classes 8.1 Music and writing 8.2 Purpose of music writing 8.3 Music and process-based writing 8.4 Writing skills developed in music appreciation classes

9 Writing for science classes 9.1 A brief discussion of scientific methods of inquiry 9.2 The purpose of scientific communication 9.3 Discipline-specific communication 9.4 Scientific communication for an educated audience 9.5 Scientific communication for a novice audience 9.6 How do you know? 9.7 Explanation of method 9.8 Using precise language 9.9 Summary

10 Writing in the social sciences 10.1 Types of writing assignments in social sciences

10.2 Modes and topics in social science writing 10.3 Skills developed in social science writing 10.4 Pitfalls in social science writing

11 Writing in mathematics 11.1 Writing skills fostered in general mathematics classes 11.2 Writing skills fostered in higher mathematics classes

12 Writing in the health sciences 12.1 Health and Wellness for Living and Physical Fitness for Life 12.2 Writing in a health science colloquium 12.3 Writing in the nursing program 12.4 Writing in the ASN program and the BSN program 12.5 Good writing in the nursing program

13 Writing in education classes 13.1 Bibliography 13.2 Research paper 13.3 Pitfalls to be avoided in education writing

Section F: Supporting Documents 14 Tips for success in college 14.1 Actively attend class 14.2 Always Alert (aka Early Alert) 14.3 Asking questions/class participation 14.4 Be prepared for class 14.5 Be alert 14.6 Dropping classes 14.7 Electronic devices 14.8 Emailing a professor 14.9 End of the semester reviews 14.10 Following directions 14.11 Grade forgiveness 14.12 Native-speaking students and ESL faculty 14.13 Midterm grades 14.14 Note taking 14.15 Prioritize 14.16 Students with special needs 14.17 The Gordon State College Student Success Center 14.18 Study smarter 14.19 The syllabus 14.20 Take advantage of opportunities 14.21 What to call your teacher 14.22 Where to sit in class 14.23 The 2:1 ratio

15 Strategies for writing timed assignments 15.1 The importance of defining terms 15.2 Step one: forget everything 15.3 Timed writing assignments: before, during and after 15.4 Argumentative timed writing assignments 15.5 Expository timed writing assignments 15.6 Reading essay prompts

16 Sets of words you just might be mixing up

17 Paper-wasting words that add nothing to your writing

18 Top 8 errors at Gordon State College 18.1 Comma splices, fragments, run-ons 18.2 Proper thesis 18.3 Misplaced punctuation 18.4 Subject-verb agreement 18.5 Pronoun-antecedent agreement 18.6 Improper indication of possessives 18.7 Quote integration 18.8 Their, there, and they’re

19 Top questions students have regarding English usage 19.1 “Can I ask questions in my essay?” 19.2 “Why can’t I use second person (‘you’)?” 19.3 “I know I need a conclusion paragraph, but what goes in it?” 19.4 “What’s the difference between a semicolon and a colon?” 19.5 “When I am writing my essay and reporting other people’s words or ideas, how do I know when to use present tense and when to use past tense?” 19.6 “In punctuation, how do I know when to use a dash and when to use parentheses? What’s the difference between them?” 19.7 “How do I write better transitions?” 19.8 “How do I get started with this essay?” 19.9 “What’s the difference between quotation marks and italics?” 19.10 “What’s the difference between lay and lie?”

20 Tips to improve your writing style 20.1 Close up the distance between subject and verb 20.2 Close up verb phrases 20.3 Close up the distance between modifiers and the words they modify 20.4 Convert prepositional phrases into modifiers where possible 20.5 Reduce the usage of empty constructions 20.6 Reduce over-reliance on linking verbs

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20.7 Be mindful of word order in restrictive and non-restrictive elements 20.8 Be mindful of voice 20.9 Be mindful of diction

Section G: MLA, APA, Citation, and Academic Integrity 21 Citation basics 21.1 A case for academic honesty 21.2 Integrating quotes (In-text citations) 21.3 Verb choice and tense 21.4 Paraphrasing and summarizing 21.5 Citation mechanics 21.6 Italics and quotation marks 21.7 Authors’ last names instead of first 21.8 Reference markers 21.9 A guide for the works cited page 21.10 The basic works cited entry 21.11 Books 21.12 Articles 21.13 Other documentation formats 21.14 What do people mean by “MLA” style? 21.15 Three components of MLA style 21.16 A word about electronic bibliography generators 21.17 Elements of a works cited entry: “author.” 21.18 Elements of a works cited entry: “title of source.” 21.19 Elements of a works cited entry: “title of container,” 21.20 Elements of a works cited entry: “other contributors,” 21.21 Elements of a works cited entry: version, 21.22 Elements of a works cited entry: number, 21.23 Elements of a works cited entry: publisher, 21.24 Elements of a works cited entry: publication date, 21.25 Elements of a works cited entry: location. 21.26 The last parts of a works cited entry or, “lather/rinse/repeat”: 21.27 Parenthetical documentation 21.28 What if there’s no author? 21.29 What if I refer to the author in my sentence; should I repeat his or her name in the citation? 21.30 What if there’s no page number? 21.31 What needs to be cited? 21.32 What does not need to be cited?

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22 APA Documentation 22.1 A brief overview of APA style documentation 22.2 An APA style title page 22.3 Drafting the APA style abstract 22.4 Grammar and usage in APA 22.5 APA mechanics. 22.6 “And I quote…” 22.7 In-text citations and reference lists 22.8 Basic formatting rules 22.9 Annotated bibliography 22.10 References

Section H: Glossary

Section I: Supplements 1: Sidebars Know your reader Words to avoid, words to use The legend of Bigfoot Logic: The Fermi paradox Modal features 2: Writing samples Fish slap Analysis of e. e. cummings “[i carry your heart with me (i carry it in]” The Fate of Sullivan Ballou: A Forensic Analysis A critical analysis of the character “Glinda” of The Wizard of Oz The Glock 22

Introduction In many ways, as you read this handbook, probably you will find very little that does not sound very familiar or very obvious to you already. This is because writing is one of several forms of language use, and whether you consider yourself a good writer or not, you have been a language user for most of your life.

The English composition sequence (ENGL 1101 and ENGL 1102) qualifies as part of the “Essential Skills” portion of the core curriculum because it is so fundamental. Its purpose is, in part, to hone those skills you have already, but it also is to adapt those pre-existing skills to a new context that might not be so familiar to you: academic writing.

Academic writing requires years of acculturation and practice to master, and that lengthy process is one of those things that no amount of short-term cramming or applied intelligence can substitute for.

You are reading the third edition of the Gordon State’s in-house writing guide. Members of the Gordon faculty have collaborated on the authorship of this guide, and it is targeted directly at Gordon students to help them with their writing across the GSC curriculum. This guide provides at least three distinct advantages over other guides: it is specifically targeted to Gordon State students, it covers writing across the whole curriculum, not just English; and it is free.

Many approaches to crafting this guide were entertained, but the authors decided that what students really want from a composition guide are practical examples of writing that they might actually encounter in their classroom experiences at Gordon. Many guides try to do this, but this guide uses real Gordon professors and real Gordon class assignments as a starting point. This results in what we feel is a substantial improvement over other available writing guides.

This guide was created as a product of the Gordon State College Composition Consortium, which is a group of faculty members from several disciplines. English faculty were well-represented, but faculty members from other disciplines have been given a balanced voice in the process, advising the English faculty on what features of writing in their disciplines are most important to them. These other faculty members sometimes also wrote full sections.

Completion of the first edition of this handbook would perhaps not have been possible without the assistance of the Affordable Learning Georgia (ALG) textbook grant program. This program was created for the purpose of fostering projects such as this one.

There are many benefits in using this guide beyond the rules of punctuation and grammar. More than anything, it will provide you with the tools you need to succeed in your college writing career in all disciplines, from your first semester to your last. Perhaps most importantly to the student with limited financial resources, this guide’s

1 cost represents a substantial savings from the $90.00 composition guide that it replaces.

The authors of this guide have taken the idea of Core curriculum and have applied it to writing throughout the Gordon State College experience. Many students will first be introduced to this guide when taking those all-important two English classes—English 1101 and English 1102. But the guide can be used to assist with writing tasks in all sorts of classes—from Health Science to Mathematics, and from Sociology to Theatre Arts. Wherever there is writing at GSC (and it is just about everywhere), this guide is there to help.

Dr. Wesley Venus Dr. Mark King August, 2017

Section A: Why Write? 1 Why write? 1.1 Writing everywhere We sit in a coffee shop, hunched over our laptops, writing. As we walk across campus, we write using our thumbs and a smartphone keyboard. We arrive at our classroom, take out a notebook and write notes as the professor lectures. When he’s not looking, we take out another small piece of paper and jot down a list of “things to do” for that evening. After class, an attractive classmate gives us his or her number and we “write” it in our phone’s list of contacts. Pleased to have received such a valuable artifact, we write about our good fortune on social media. Writing, writing, writing. Writing is so common in our society that at first the question, “why write?” might seem pointless and take readers aback—“why write?” How could we not write? Haven’t human beings always written? After all, isn’t writing “natural”?

1.2 No writing? It is not difficult to imagine a world without writing. In fact, for much of humanity’s two- hundred thousand years on the planet, people did not write (Zolfagharifard); writing only developed around 3,000 BC in the part of the world now known as Iraq (“Why Do We?”). So that means that for more than three quarters of humanity’s time on this planet, we didn’t write at all. What’s more, even after 3,000 BC, most of humankind were still non-writers: widespread literacy didn’t happen in the West until the nineteenth century or so (Mitch). Many believe that The Odyssey, arguably one of the greatest achievements in the Western literary tradition, was composed by a poet who could not write (Burgess 88). Maybe humankind won’t always write; maybe we’re one of the last generations to do so.

We don’t have to write; even today, it is possible to imagine a world with no writing. At some institutions, college examinations are still given orally: that is, a team of professors ask the student questions and the student replies on the spot –no pen or pencil required. Today, some of us prefer to leave voice mail messages rather than to send texts. Others discard the printed “How To” directions with a new gadget to search for a YouTube video explaining the same thing.

1.3 Natural? Moreover, writing is not natural. Arguably, writing is decidedly unnatural: writing takes the jumble of our distinctively non-linear thoughts and forces those non-linear thoughts into tight linear rows of clauses, sentences, and paragraphs. There is even something mystical or dangerous about the act of writing: classical poets call upon the ancient Greek muses and ask for their blessings before venturing into the tricky world of epic poetry. The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates never did get over his suspicion of writing. Socrates felt that if students could simply access knowledge that had been written, they might mistake having access to data for actual wisdom (“Why Do We?”). One can only wonder what Socrates would have made of Google.

1.4 Six reasons to write Although writing may not be natural, it sure is common. As mentioned earlier, it seems as if almost everyone is writing almost all the time—text messages, social media updates, essays, Yelp restaurant reviews. Certainly more people in history are writing now than ever before and they’re writing more text than ever before. The question remains: why? There is not just one answer to that question as we write for a number of reasons. We write for fun, for money, to share, to think, to remember, and to show what we think.

1.4.1 Write for fun For some, even for those who write a lot, writing is a chore. Even some professional writers claim to dislike writing. A quotation often attributed to Dorothy Parker sums it up this way: “I don’t like writing. I like having written.” For others, the writing experience is even worse than a chore; they might call it sheer torture. But for some lucky folks, writing is a pleasurable activity. They delight in nothing more than being able to pen a long letter to a friend in a distant city or fire off a sharply worded two-thousand word letter to the editor of their local paper. For these people, writing is a source of fun. Lucky ducks.

1.4.2 Write for money Though the number of those who make their livings via writing novels or poems is relatively small, when we expand the list of professional writers to include advertising copywriters, journalists, bloggers, and those in corporate communications, writing forms a fairly sizable part of the modern economy. When all of those in writing-related fields are added (the copy-editors, proofreaders, teachers, editors, and publishers) writing is more than “fairly sizable;” it is significant. In fact, at least one person thought that this was the only reason to write. Samuel Johnson once said, “No man but a blockhead ever wrote but for money” (qtd. in Boswell).

1.4.3. Write to share Diarists, moony-eyed lovers, religious leaders, Facebook posters, poets from Shakespeare all the way to 2Pac Shakur, and even those self-appointed “experts” who post in the “comments” sections of on-line articles have felt an irresistible compulsion to let others know exactly what is in their hearts. For these sharers writing is an attempt to connect with their fellow human beings.

1.4.4 Write to remember The student jotting down a homework assignment in a day planner, the owner of a new computer writing down a password on a Post-it note, the parent painstakingly making a grocery list before heading to the store, and the aged statesman sitting down to write his memoirs are all writing to remember. Even in our increasingly digitalized age, writing is still usually the best way to remember something. Indeed, many have learned to regret saying, “I don’t need to write it down; I can remember it.” Our memories are faulty and writing preserves our thoughts.

1.4.5 Write to clarify thinking Sometimes, people don’t know exactly what they feel about an issue until they take the time to write about it. It is difficult to describe, but it seems as though there is something about the way writing forces us to organize our thoughts into sentences and paragraphs that helps clean up muddy thinking. Thus, writing can be said to have a didactic quality to it—it aids in critical thinking.

1.4.6 Write to demonstrate thinking One of the things that writing can do is serve as a veritable “snapshot” of a person’s mind. It is a unique activity that allows others to see exactly how a person thought about something. This aspect of writing is especially useful in college. If instructors had unlimited time (and classes contained very few students) they could give oral examinations. But instead, the modern college campus allows the student to explain to the professor how much (or how little) the student understands about the concept at hand. The writing may be just a phrase on an examination, or it might be a ten-page paper, but either way, the student demonstrates mastery of the subject through writing. By the way, the student who claims, “I understand the concept perfectly, I just have trouble putting it into words,” usually doesn’t understand it all that perfectly. At any rate, it is this last reason to write—to offer a “snapshot” of our thinking that will motivate much of the writing that students will do in college and be the focus for much of this book.

1.5 Three key elements in writing Any piece of writing will have a number of elements in it, but arguably the three most important elements in any piece of writing are the writer, the audience, and the text or the subject. Writing has to be about something (the subject). Someone has to do the writing (the writer). And, finally, the writing has to be aimed at someone (the audience). Take away any one of those elements and the writing would cease to exist. In fact, these three elements can be arranged in a triangle.

1.5.1 What is on top? Even though every piece of writing has all three elements at work in it, the balance of attention given to each one of those elements is not always equal. It is a triangle, after all, and triangles have tops. Some forms of writing privilege the writer, some the text, and some the audience.

Writer

Audience Text (Subject) 1.5.2. Writer on top Some types of writing tend to privilege the role of the writer. That is to say, that type of writing is mostly about the person doing the writing. Some examples of this type of writing might include an autobiography, certain types of poetry—especially romantic

5 poetry, or a diary or journal entry. More recent types of writing that privilege the role of the writer include such disparate types of writing as a love song, “Yesterday, all my troubles were so far away…” (Beatles). A Facebook post, for example, is often ALL about the writer—to the detriment of everything else. Certainly it is no secret that a hefty percentage of rap music is about the writer as is the case in 2Pac’s “Me Against the World;” the “me” of the title is not some abstract, made-up character. That “me” in “Me Against the World” is 2Pac, the artist himself.

Writer

Audience Subject

1.5.3. Subject (or text) on top But that, “it’s all about me” approach is not the only way to write. A text is not always about the person speaking; sometimes it is about the subject at hand. For example, think about a textbook. The writers of a college chemistry textbook do not waste time and paper space discussing their feelings about magnesium with their readers; to do so would be silly. Their work is not personal, it is expository; the book will uncover (or “expose”) the secrets of chemistry to the uninitiated. Other examples of this sort of writing include encyclopedia articles, unbiased newspaper accounts, technical manuals, and cookbooks. Much, but by no means all, of the writing that students do in college will privilege the subject. Subject

Audience Writer

1.5.4 Audience (or reader) on top There are also instances of writing that are focused on neither the writer nor the subject, but on the audience or reader. For example, if an inconsiderate boyfriend had to write a letter explaining his bad behavior to his girlfriend he might write something like, “There’s nothing as important as you are; even though I don’t always show it, you are the most important thing in my life.” Think about how advertisements work: what makes a good advertisement? On the simplest level, a good advertisement is simply one that successfully encourages the audience to purchase the intended product. Political communication works the same way: a Republican party television commercial is successful only to the extent that it motivates its viewership to vote for Republican candidates. In much college writing the audience is always going to be composed or partially composed of the professor. It is important to remember that when making choices as to appropriate voice and diction.

Audience

Writer Subject

1.5.5. Appropriateness r With three different ways to privilege a text (writer, subject, or audience), the student might ask, “which one is the right way?” The answer to that is whatever one is appropriate to the situation at hand.

It is not hard to imagine what happens when this work is done in an inappropriate manner. If you have ever read a Facebook post and then thought, “Ick: too much information; who cares?” then you know what it is like to read work that is inappropriately personal. But that is not the only way to misjudge appropriateness in writing. A love note that only coldly discusses the physiological reactions associated with love, or one that outlines the history of the love poem from Petrarch to Walt Whitman would not be very effective. It is simply not appropriate in that situation to not talk about one’s self.

Similarly, if given the college English class assignment to trace the history of the love poem from Petrarch to Walt Whitman, it would not be appropriate for a student writer to talk about the funny feeling he gets in his chest and the way he always feels flush when a particularly attractive female classmate walks by.

1.6 Summary Writing, although not natural, is hard to get away from; it is almost everywhere in our culture. People write for a number of reasons—to share, to remember, to make money, to have fun, and to show what is on their mind. Every piece of writing has three key elements—its writer, its subject and its intended audience. Writers should consider appropriateness when embarking on a writing project.

Section B: Writing in English 1101 2 English 1101 Most students will first encounter this book when enrolled in English 1101. Although every engineer does not need to write like Tolstoy, he or she does need to communicate effectively in writing. Similarly, every poet does not need to understand calculus like Stephen Hawking, but he or she does need basic calculation skills. English 1101 serves to nurture basic writing skills in writing so that the student can go on to tackle weightier matters.

2.1 The English composition sequence The importance of writing can be attested to by the fact that English composition is the only class in the USG core curriculum that most students have to take twice. Indeed, when we speak of composition studies at Gordon State College, we usually speak of it in terms of a sequence: English 1101 and English 1102. Successful completion of both English 1101 and English 1102 (or their equivalents) is required for graduation or transfer. Usually taken in the fall of semester of the freshman year, English 1101 marks Gordon State College students’ first experience with the rigors, challenges of college- level writing. In English 1101, Gordon State College Students will develop the writing skills necessary to take on the second course in the sequence, English 1102.

2.2 English 1101 Sometimes, when students think of college writing, they think of scholars burning the midnight oil writing long, heavily foot-noted research papers on some arcane subject, or maybe crafting an impassioned persuasive paper on some current issue. English 1101, however, has little of that sort of thing. Most of the papers are short and many require little or no research. All of them ask the student writer to focus on the process of writing as well as the result or finished text

2.2.1 English 1101 and process-based writing Briefly, process-based writing means that the student should focus on the steps of writing, not just the finished product. Of course, there are a number of ways to get to a strong finished product, but the typical writing process might contain the following steps Reading ►Pre-Writing ► Drafting ► Revision ► Editing ► Submission

2.3 Types of essays and activities in English 1101 Students in English 1101 at Gordon State College will probably write around five or six essays over the course of the semester. Most will be written outside of the classroom, but some will be written wholly or in part in the classroom during class time. Some of the types (or modes) of writing students might find themselves doing in English 1101 include:

2.3.1 Personal narrative This writing assignment usually asks the student to tell a story of a key event in his or her life, relating that story with strong and specific sensory detail. Many assignments of this nature ask the writer to highlight the significance of the event and illustrate that

8 significance in such a way that it speaks to the reader. Often, a personal narrative assignment will ask the student writer to show rather than just tell his or her feelings and/or experiences.

2.3.2 Compare and contrast This assignment asks the student to examine two items, ideas, texts, products, services, etc. and explain both how they are alike and how they are dissimilar. Often, the professor will ask students to contextualize their findings in a compare and contrast essay and to make a recommendation in its conclusion.

2.3.3 Summary A summary assignment asks the student writer to actively read and often annotate a text by another writer and then, using the conventions of paraphrase, quotation, and proper documentation write an essay that accurately, briefly, and thoroughly illustrates all of the original document’s major points without getting bogged down into the source text’s minutiae. Strong summary writers are good at seeing the “big picture.”

2.3.4 Synthesis When composing a synthesis essay, the student takes two or more texts, ideas, or theories and combines them to form a hybrid of the two (or more) texts, ideas, or theories. A good synthesis essay connects ideas that are sometimes very different to form a coherent whole. Similar to the summary essay, the synthesis essay is a good way to develop the skill of seeing the difference between “the forest” and “the trees.”

2.3.5 Process analysis This assignment asks the student writer to look at a multiple-step procedure and carefully explicate each particular step giving particular attention to the details involved. A good process analysis essay is “idiot proof,” that is, by following the directions carefully, any reader—regardless of the reader’s prior familiarity with the process— should reach the desired result. The process analysis essay places particular value on specificity.

2.3.6 Description The descriptive essay writer attempts to “paint a picture with words” and describe a particular locale so that the reader can actually “see” the place in question. Like the process analysis essay, the descriptive essay is a great way to develop the ability to write with specificity.

2.3.7 Problem and solution A precursor to the argumentative or persuasive essays students write in English 1102, problem and solution essay asks the student to see a community issue, describe the issue in detail, and offer a potential solution. The process analysis essay develops a student’s ability to look beyond his or her own needs and see the values of the community at large. It also develops the ability to think in terms of possible consequences.

2.3.8 Classification The goal of the classification essay is to divide a bunch of disparate items by using a principle of classification so that every item in a given group falls into one and only one category. Classification is a great way to build the skills students will use as they do work in sciences.

2.3.9 Definition The definition essay asks the student writer to go beyond the dictionary definition of a term and come up with an extended and nuanced definition of a word often using examples. Often this assignment asks the student to write a definition of tricky, abstract terms such as honesty, education, or honor.

2.3.10 Persuasion/argument Although some instructors might think of terms like “persuasion” and “argument” as very similar, others might differentiate between these two terms. Although both persuasion and argument both ask the student to create an essay that will change the opinion of one who feels diametrically opposed to the student writer on a topic, argument often relies solely on reasons and evidence. Persuasive writing tends to also incorporate emotional or value-driven reasoning.

2.3.11 Expository This type of essay asks the student writer to uncover all he or she can about a given topic, package that information, and make it readable to a given audience.

2.3.12 Research This mode of writing, actually more of a technique or tool, can be paired with any of the other modes of writing above. It encourages the student writer to ferret out the most trustworthy information about a subject: often using Gordon State College's Hightower Library and its holdings.

2.4 Other activities in English 1101 Other activities in English 1101 include taking quizzes and tests, and writing in timed situations such as in-class essay examinations. English 1101 is also the class in which most GSC students get their first taste of college level research through the mandatory Hightower Library Orientation.

2.5 Types of writing, English 1101, and The Karate Kid As is clear from the extensive list above, students do many different types of writing in English 1101. Sometimes the connection between assignments and what is traditionally thought of as “academic” writing is apparent—as in the case of the Problem/Solution Essay (argument) or the Classification Essay (classification work in the life sciences).

Other times, the academic connection is harder to see. A student in English 1101 might find him- or herself writing an in-depth description of a dormitory room or painstakingly recalling the minute details of a family holiday celebration, or even meticulously elucidating his or her reader on the exact steps necessary to produce a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Such a student might ask, “What in the heck does this have to do with real college writing?”

Actually, it has a lot to do with college writing. To see the connection, just think about The Karate Kid. In the film The Karate Kid the protagonist visits the home of an old man who is well known as an excellent karate teacher. The young protagonist asks the old man to teach him karate and the old man agrees. However, instead of immediately learning holds, throws and kicks, the old man assigns the young man a number of mind- numbing household tasks. Moreover, the old man is very particular about the way the protagonist performs these tasks. Just as the young man has had enough of being used as inexpensive household labor, the old man makes it clear that what the protagonist has really been learning are the basics of several key karate moves. Those English 1101 writing assignments—even the ones that seem frivolous—are building core skills necessary for strong academic writing.

2.6 The skills developed in English 1101 There are many differences between what college writing instructors look for in English 1101 and the type of writing assignments most students received while attending high school. Although individual instructors may vary, it is probably fair to say that most college instructors are looking for increased depth and detail, more specificity, audience awareness, appropriate citation and a level of mechanical correctness in line with college audience’s expectations.

2.6.1 Depth and detail “Go deeper!” is an English professor’s common plea. One good way to develop more depth and detail in writing is for the student writer to add the following caveat to his or her sentences: “For example….” So if a student writes, “My friend James is always making me laugh,” he or she could leave it at that, or he or she could finish the thought by adding “for example” and write: “My friend James is always making me laugh. For example, one day he picked up a trash can, put it on his head, and insisted I refer to him as "R2D3" for the whole day.”

2.6.2 Specificity In high school, a student might get away with writing a sentence such as, “It was a nice day.” In college, however, the instructor will want to know “what was nice about it?” Was it free from rain? Pleasantly cool in summer time? Warm in December? Was the day spent with friends? Alone? Or was it just a day free from hassles? Do not be surprised if the instructor scribbles something like “what do you mean by that?” in a paper’s margin. Specificity is one of the key elements of college writing.

2.6.3 Audience awareness Sometimes high school writers are told to write for a "general audience." However, college professors often want students to be more specific and begin to ask themselves, "who am I writing this for?" Questions like the implied reader's age, gender, ethnicity and familiarity with the topic will arise.

2.6.4 Citation There are a number of citation systems; in English the writer generally uses MLA form. Basically, MLA form ask the writer to demonstrate where he or she got every fact in a paper that is neither his or her own work or common knowledge. Then, MLA gives the student writer a tightly prescribed format for demonstrating those sources. For more information on citation, see the section in this work on “Citation basics.”

2.6.5 Mechanical correctness One aspect of composition that everyone knows is the struggle to get essays mechanically correct. Students in college writing, however, can be surprised to learn that there are other, arguably more important, aspects to student writing. Still, if readers cannot follow what student writers are trying to convey, communication breaks down and the writer's ethos suffers. Although completely mistake-free papers can be elusive, savvy writers strive for mechanical correctness in all their work.

Section C: Writing in English 1102 3 English 1102 When considering English 1102, it is important to remember that for many students, English 1102 is the last chance that they will have to take a class that focuses exclusively on academic writing. Skill development cannot be delayed any further; students enrolled in English 1102 will have to demonstrate their proficiency at college- level writing.

3.1 English 1102 and process-based writing Just like as is English 1101, Gordon State College faculty teaching English 1102 are interested in the finished product, but also in seeing the steps—or process—a student writer has taken to create that piece of work. Interestingly, the same steps that serve the student writer in English 1101—reading, pre-writing, drafting, revision, editing, and submission—will be needed for successful completion of English 1102. However, the activities and approaches of each step is apt to be different as the student moves to English 1102.

3.2 Types of essays and activities in English 1102 Students in English 1102 should expect to write a variety of papers including annotated bibliographies, expository research papers, arguments, persuasive papers, proposals, literary papers, evaluations, and rhetorical analysis. Students in English 1102 will also do at least one oral presentation.

3.2.1 Annotated bibliography It can be easy to get an “annotated bibliography” assignment mixed up with a “works cited.” The two do share some attributes—they both contain a list of MLA style resources used in a longer work—but there the similarities end. An annotated bibliography goes further and includes a summary of the work and sometimes an evaluation of the secondary source as well.

3.2.2. Research paper Virtually all Gordon State College composition faculty members require a research paper or some variation on that assignment. The research paper assignment requires that the student writer gather, examine, analyze and synthesize a significant amount of data and repackage that data in his or her own words according to accepted documentation policies.

3.2.4 Argument (also known as “position paper”) Convincing a potential date to go out with you, applying for a job, getting a parent to extend curfew for one special occasion –the process by which these goals were reached often involves argument. Rather than involving raised voices and name calling, real argument—in its rhetorical sense—can be defined as “a course of reasoning aimed at determining the truth or falsehood of a given claim or proposition” (“Argument”). Argument is a fundamental building block of college level writing—students should

13 expect to create arguments throughout their academic careers—and it should come as no surprise that argument is one of the key assignments taught in English 1102.

3.2.5 Persuasion It is easy to get “persuasion” assignments confused with “argument” assignments. In fact, some faculty members even confuse or conflate the two assignments. Although the two styles of assignments share key attributes—they both try to change the minds of an audience who disagrees with the student writer—to many who study writing there is a key difference between persuasion and argument. To many, the key difference between the two is that “persuasion” essays utilize facts, statistics, and emotional reasoning, while “argument” essays stick to rational, fact-based arguments alone.

3.2.6. Oral Presentation A University System of Georgia requirement, the oral presentation is a bit of an odd-ball assignment in that it asks the student to present information orally, not in writing. The oral presentation can be persuasive or expository and is often, but not always, linked to another English 1102 assignment such as the research paper or the argument.

3.2.7 Proposal (also known as “prospectus”) Usually linked to another, longer work a proposal assignment (aka “prospectus) is the instructor’s way of making sure that the student gets off on the right foot and has chosen a topic that is likely to lead to a successful project. Although the proposal is often a short assignment, it should not be taken lightly and the student should think carefully about it before submission.

3.2.8 Literary essay (also known as “scholarly interpretation,” “literary analysis,” “poetry paper,” “drama paper,” or “fiction paper”) It can go by a lot of names, but one thing students in English 1102 might find themselves doing is writing about literature. It is worth mentioning that college literature assignments often ask the student writer to go far beyond mere summary and into analysis, looking at how a given piece of literature “works” as well as simply “what happens.”

3.2.9 Evaluation Evaluation essays usually seek to judge something’s value or worth. Writers can (and do) evaluate anything: works of literature, methods of completing tasks, television shows, and restaurants are some of the categories that lend themselves to evaluation essays. Writers of evaluation essays will set criteria, collect evidence, and render judgment.

3.2.10 Rhetorical analysis (also known as “argument analysis”) A rhetorical analysis essay should never be confused with mere summary. Whereas summary is concerned with “what happened,” rhetorical analysis essays examine the ways that a given text seeks to influence its readers—not so much “what is said,” but

14 rather how it was said. A rhetorical analysis paper examines things like tone, voice, and word choice.

3.3 Other activities Of course, instructors vary and an individual instructor might have one or more other assignments for his or her English 1102 students during the course of a semester. Common activities in English 1102 include tests, examinations, group work, or in-class writings.

3.4 Types of Writing, English 1102, and The Karate Kid If we thought of the assignments in English 1101 as the beginning of the movie The Karate Kid (1984 dir.: John G. Avildsen; remade in 2010 dir.: Harald Zwart), then the essays assigned in English 1102 are not unlike the end of the movie when the protagonist takes his skills and uses them in the final karate bout. So too will the Gordon State student use the skills he or she learned in English 1101 to “do battle” with the writing challenges of English 1102. (Also see Section 19 for further exploration of this particular example.)

3.5 The English 1101 Skills Further Developed in English 1102 English 1101 sought to develop skills such as writing with depth and detail, specificity, audience awareness, proper citation and mechanical correctness. Those skills will be further augmented and enriched as the student moves through English 1102. For this reason, among others, it is strongly recommended that students take English 1102 during the semester immediately following their successful completion of English 1101 with a grade of “C” or better.

3.6. New skills developed in English 1102 In addition to honing the skills developed in English 1101, participation in English 1102 will develop new skills in the student writer such as critical thinking, writing for audience, writing with a sense of purpose, analysis, and synthesis.

3.6.1 Critical thinking Critical thinking is one of those concepts that gets bandied about so often (and so casually) that it can be useful to stop for a moment and define exactly what is meant by the phrase. To most of the GSC faculty, critical thinking is the process of objective analysis and evaluation of data to form a rational judgment (“Critical thinking”). In this way, “critical thinking” differs from hunches, instinct, and one’s “gut” reaction. In fact, and hunches can be looked at as opposites to critical thinking. For example, imagine being asked who was going to a win an upcoming football game. A native Atlantan might answer, “the Falcons, of course.” But did the answerer respond in that matter because he or she really thought the Falcons would score more points than their opponent? Or did the answerer merely “hope” that the Falcons would win? If it was hope, then the respondent wasn’t practicing critical thinking. If the prediction was based on observations and data –for example, the other team’s starting By the way, if someone tells you that he “knows” the Falcons are going to win before the game

15 begins, he’s definitely not practicing critical thinking –sports are nothing if not unpredictable. For more information on critical thinking, see Section 3 of this work.

3.6.2 Audience awareness English 1102 papers are fascinated by the concept of audience –or, the person or persons to whom the student writer’s paper is addressed. Now, of course the professor is the student writer’s audience, but usually there is another audience involved as well. In the case of an argument paper, the audience is usually composed of those who disagree with the student writer’s position. In the case of an expository research paper, the audience might be composed of those who wish to learn more about the subject. Audience becomes a very important aspect of writing in English 1102.

3.6.3 Rhetorical purpose Also known as exigence, a sense of rhetorical purpose is a natural outgrowth of thinking about audience. If a writer has an audience, he or she could do a number of different things with (or to) that audience. The writer could educate that audience, convince that audience, inspire that audience, motivate that audience or a number of other options. Be aware that rhetorical purpose or exigence is not the same thing as topic. One topic could yield many different types of papers depending on what rhetorical purpose is chosen. For example, the topic could be “the 2016 Presidential election” but papers just explaining the election (expository), attempting to convince the reader to vote for one particular candidate (argument), or to demonstrate the importance of voting (motivational), would be very different works.

3.6.4 Textual analysis When a television sports commentator shows highlights of a sporting match, or when a friend says something like, “I should have known it was going to be a terrible day when I walked out of the house without my cell phone this morning,” or when a financial reporter blames stock market woes on the number of housing starts in the preceding month, they’re doing analysis. Analysis involves taking something big apart and looking at its components carefully. Textual analysis involves pulling apart and looking for key moments (in a longer work, like a novel) or key lines (in a shorter work or poem). For example, a textual analysis of Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations might pull apart the rest of the long novel focus on (or “analyze”) the death scene of the Pip’s benefactor, the convict Magwitch. Textual analysis of T.S. Eliot’s modernist poem “The Waste Land” might focus on (again, “analyze”) the Sanskrit mantra, “Shantih, shantih, shantih” that appears at the poem’s end.

3.6.5 Synthesis If “analysis” represents a “pulling apart,” then “synthesis” represents its opposite—a putting together. For example, if a hungry Gordon State student asked six classmates for their recommendations about the best fast food options in Barnesville and four colleagues recommended the chicken restaurant while two recommended the barbeque restaurant and all of them suggested staying away from the burger joint, the student could put all those opinions together (“synthesize”) and expect that the chicken restaurant might be the best one to try first.

Section D: Writing in Literary Survey Classes 4 English 2111, 2112, 2121, 2122, 2131, 2133 These classes, representing World Literature 1 and 2, English Literature 1 and 2 and American Literature 1 and 2 are all literary-survey classes. Since they share many common facets, they will be discussed as a group. They are the last English class many students will take, all look at the literature of one area and period. The classes move quickly and provide a broad over-view of the “best and the brightest” literatures these cultures presented. For our purposes, we will refer to them collectively as “English 2***”.

4.1 English 2*** and process-based writing Just like as is English 1101 and English 1102, Gordon State College faculty teaching English 2*** faculty are interested in the finished product, but also in the steps—or process—a student writer has taken to create that piece of work. Regardless of whether or not the English 2*** professor insists on seeing evidence of those steps, he or she still expects the steps to be taken. The same steps that serve the student writer in English 1101 and English 1102—reading, pre-writing, drafting, revision, editing, and submission—will be needed for successful completion of English 2***.

4.2 Types of essays and activities in English 2*** Students in English 2*** should expect to write a variety of papers including annotated bibliographies, expository research papers, arguments, persuasive papers, proposals, literary papers, evaluations, and rhetorical analysis papers. It is likely that students will write essays on their examinations as well. Students in English 2*** may or may not be called upon to complete an oral presentation.

4.2.1 Annotated bibliography It can be easy to get an “annotated bibliography” assignment mixed up with a “works cited.” The two do share some attributes –they both contain a list of MLA style resources used in a longer work—but there the similarities end. An annotated bibliography goes further and includes a summary of the work and sometimes an evaluation of the secondary source as well. Annotated bibliographies are often evaluated on the strength of their summaries and evaluations as well as the adherence to MLA form in the citations.

4.2.2 Literary analysis essay Although this assignment is known by many different names, it usually involves tearing a work apart and looking closely at its key moments in hope to determine a “truth” about the literary work in question. This assignment can be done with or without use of secondary sources. One of the keys to successful completion of this assignment is to avoid an over-reliance on plot summary. One way to think about it is like this: plot summary is what happened in a work of literature. Literary analysis is concerned with why it happened. Another way to look at the literary analysis essay is that it seeks to determine how a given piece of literature works.

4.2.3 Biographical essay Like literary analysis, this assignment can go by many different names. This assignment is a research assignment that asks the student to learn about an author’s (or a group of authors’) lives and literary careers and then explain what the student learned to peers and professor. Often biographical essays are particularly successful when they find links between an author’s life events and his or her literary output.

4.2.4 Bibliographic essay One way to think about the bibliographic essay is as an expanded, literary annotated bibliography. The student writer gathers a group of secondary sources all relating to one work or the work of one author. The student summarizes the secondary sources and then creates an essay discussing the central themes or ranges of this criticism. In some ways a bibliographic essay is like the opening sections of a researched literary analysis essay where the student writer discusses prevailing critical opinions on the work in question.

4.2.5 Compare and contrast essay This deceptively simple essay asks the student writer to find both similarities and differences between two different works (or between the collected works of two different authors). Like the literary analysis, this essay can be done with outside sources making it a research essay, or without secondary sources. Many instructors want the student to go beyond mere list making of similarities and differences and contextualize or comment upon those similarities and differences in the essay’s conclusion.

4.2.6 Evaluation essay Evaluation essays usually seek to judge something’s value or worth. Writers can (and do) evaluate anything: works of literature, methods of completing tasks, television shows, and restaurants are some of the categories that lend themselves to evaluation essays. Writers of evaluation essays will set criteria, collect evidence, and render judgment.

4.3 Essay examinations Many Gordon State College English professors will ask essay exam questions as part or all of a student’s midterm or final examination. Essay examinations can be challenging, but by following some hints before and during the exam, students can succeed.

4.3.1 Essay examination strategies—before the examination Some students might say that there is absolutely no way to prepare for an essay examination. That is not true. A week or more before the essay examination students should be thinking of possible topics. It is important at this stage to try to “think like a professor,” and ask not “what do I hope she asks on the exam?” but rather, “what do I think she will ask on the exam?” Students would also be wise to memorize one or two key quotations that they might use in their essay. Obviously, students should gather all necessary supplies well in advance of the examination: the morning of the exam is no time to scurrying around purchasing a blue book. 19

4.3.2 Essay examination strategies—during the examination One of the most useful hints for successful exam writing is also one of the most obvious: read the question carefully. Students should read the question multiple times, even if they are relatively sure that they understand it at first. It is also a good idea to look for “keywords” that hint at how the professor is expecting the question to be answered. For example, “trace” is asking for a history while “describe” is asking for something quite different. “Convince” tells the student writer that an argument or persuasive essay is expected, and “define” should never be confused with “give an example of…”.

Many writers consider it a good idea to wait and think about what they want to write before starting on an introduction—even in a timed essay situation. Students should develop an argumentative thesis and carefully pick examples from the text that illustrate their thesis. Budget time carefully: decide how much time should be allotted to each section of the essay and force yourself to move one. Students should also avoid cherry picking –the act of picking examples that illustrate one’s thesis while ignoring all the examples that disprove the thesis. Students should also anticipate counter-arguments and head them off. Finally, essay examinations should include a conclusion that does more than merely repeat the thesis.

4.4 Writing skills further developed in English 2*** English 1101 sought to develop skills such as writing with depth and detail, specificity, audience awareness, proper citation and mechanical correctness. Those skills will be further augmented and enriched as the student moves through English 2***. For this reason, among others, it is required that students take English 2*** during after their successful completion of English 1101 with a grade of “C” or better.

4.4.1 New skills developed in English 2*** Participation in English 2*** will develop new skills such as critical thinking, research skills, synthesis, weighing evidence and judicious use of quotation.

4.4.2 English 2*** and critical thinking To most of the GSC faculty, critical thinking is the process of objective analysis and evaluation of data to form a rational judgment. In this way, “critical thinking” differs from hunches, instinct, and one’s “gut” reaction. If we are to determine what a literary work “means,” we are going to have to reach that conclusion based on literary evidence, not hunches, guesses, or what we hope it means.

4.4.3 English 2*** and research One effective way of gathering evidence to determine the meaning of a literary work is to go to the library and see what other readers have thought of the work through the years. Successful Completion of English 2*** allows the student to polish the research skills he or she developed in English 1101 and 1102. Familiar research resources such

20 as Galileo and GIL will be used again. In English 2*** they will be joined by new resources such as J-Stor and Project Muse.

4.4.4 English 2*** and synthesis Often students in the 2000-level English survey classes will have to synthesize—that is, “put together” a group of disparate and individual critical opinions to get some sort of idea of the “general” state of criticism regarding a particular text.

4.4.5 English 2*** and weighing evidence One of the things a student in English 2*** will have to do is weigh evidence. Be able to differentiate between causation and correlation; that is, one thing happens and then another thing happens. But does that mean thing number two was caused by thing number one? Sometimes, sometimes not. Weighing evidence also means not ignoring evidence that tends to disprove one’s theory. Instead, meet that counter-evidence head on and account for it. Do not be afraid to bring up such evidence; if you do not do so, others will.

4.4.6 English 2*** and judicious use of quotation A good English 2*** paper is more than just a group of quotes strung together. Good writers know that they should never quote unless there is something specific about the exact wording that needs to be preserved. Often, summary and paraphrase work just as well (even better) than quotation. Hard and fast rules about how much quotation is too much are hard to find, but many professors agree that rarely should a paper contain more than ten percent quotations.

4.5 Writing pitfalls in English 2*** Some of the danger areas in writing for English 2*** classes include relying on plot summary, cherry picking, stacking the deck and confirmation bias; a belief that any reading is an acceptable reading, and an over-reliance on quotation.

4.5.1 Plot summary Students have been summarizing works of literature since at least the second grade or so. Perhaps that is the reason that they are so comfortable with summary. The problem is that professors on the college level are rarely looking for mere summary; they often want to go beyond “what” happens to “how” it happened or what it means. Summarizing when one has been asked to analyze will rarely yield a good grade.

4.5.2 Cherry picking, stacking the deck, and confirmation bias When a student writer takes a theory and applies it to a work of literature, the first person he or she has to convince is his or herself. Sometimes that process is so successful that the writer is unable to see other points of view. That’s when things like cherry picking or stacking the deck become a problem. Basically, these terms all refer to the same thing: an inability or a refusal to acknowledge any evidence that refutes one’s thesis or contention. Experienced writers know not to fear evidence that counters their thesis, they account for it instead. Grappling with confirmation bias reminds us that it is

21 probably better to do good, honorable literary work, to adjust our thesis, or even to abandon our previously-held position than to be “right.”

4.5.3 Multiple readings = any reading? Reader response criticism tells us that one text can account for multiple readings. Unfortunately, some students take that position and assume that it means a text can account for any reading—anything goes! That’s simply not true. Readings have to be supported by the texts themselves. For example, Hamlet can support many disparate interpretations, but none of them involve space aliens or zombie attacks.

4.5.4 The quote-happy student writer As stated above, quotations should generally account for no more than ten percent of a student paper. Though few professors fail students if they submit a paper that is eleven percent quotations, when the paper is thirty, or forty, or even fifty percent quotations, professors tend to look at the paper as being padded and grade it accordingly. Adding more quotations is rarely the answer to a student writer’s problems.

Section E: Writing Across the Curriculum 5 Writing in a Colloquium Area B of the Core Curriculum requires all students to take a Colloquium course (COLQ). Each of these courses involves the application of critical thinking to a general area of study. This is a universal requirement, regardless of a student’s area of study, which underscores the significance the University System places on it. In fact, in an informal survey of many Gordon professors, most stated critical thinking as one of the areas they want their students to be most improved.

5.1 Critical thinking The requirement of any COLQ course involves the composition or creation of some critical thinking project. Likewise, there will be elements of critical thinking in all areas of the curriculum. That is what the COLQ course requirement is for. It is helpful, then, to understand what critical thinking really is, even before taking the COLQ course, since ENGL 1101 and 1102 require some element of critical thinking.

Critical thinking involves the establishment of some opinion or some fact, along with the justification for that opinion or fact in a manner that is effective for the readership. If it is helpful, think of it as a simple formula:

Critical thinking = [OPINION/OBSERVATION] + [JUSTIFICATION]

With writing, critical thinking is important because it requires a writer to think carefully about the task of writing – not only about the subject of the essay, but about how effective the essay is and how effectively it is being written. A portion of this chapter is dedicated to those universal rules for critical thinking as they apply to writing. They are applicable to any subject-area of study.

5.2 Invention Invention is that phase of the writing process where a writer develops a generalized idea of what will go into the essay into a somewhat coherent essay.

NOTE: There is an important difference between invention and composition. An idea exists in a person’s mind and on the written page very differently. This has to do with the fact that writing and reading are linear – the words come to us one after another – whereas in thinking, our thoughts are more of a jumble. For this reason, it is the rare writer who taps her skull and says, “No, I haven’t written it yet, but it’s all up here,” who actually can write it out in a short sitting.

5.2.1 Purpose Understanding why a writer is writing – what is the intended outcome – is an important early step. There are many factors to consider. Without purpose, the thing would not be written in the first place.

5.2.2 Readership The readership is essentially everyone who will read the essay. Many writers do not take into account how the readership of an essay will affect its final form. Whether they consider the needs and wants of their reader or they don’t, the fact remains that readers think differently, and thinking of how to take advantage of those differences can make an essay more effective. The readership could be just about anyone – someone old, someone young, someone familiar, someone unknown, one person, more than one person, etc.

Here is one illustration that helps to understand readership and its importance. Consider the possibility that nothing has ever been written without a readership in mind. Even in that case, if a person writes reminder notes, notes for class, or even in a diary, though that person never intended them to be read, there is still the future self who will look at it – the forgetful person that afternoon, the student who means to review for a test, or the diarist looking back.

It is helpful to ask this question, then: If a person sits and writes “Dear Diary…,” to whom is that writer writing? What kind of a reader is that diarist envisioning?

It can help, in writing for school, to be very practical about readership. For the most part, in college, the readership is limited to the professor. Still, there are circumstances where a student writes for fellow classmates to read. (See Section 5.14, “Collaboration,” for more information about this.)

5.2.3 To persuade (vs. to argue) It is helpful to have some idea of the difference between persuasive writing and argumentative writing. Argument is a form of persuasive writing: to argue is one way available to a writer to persuade his or her reader to a certain point of view. There are other ways to be persuasive, however. One can threaten his or her readers, manipulate their fears and wishes, etc.

One of the best methods of measuring persuasiveness is this: if, after reading an essay, the readers proceed to think and do exactly as the writer intended them to think and do, then the essay was persuasive. A good deal of persuasiveness has to do with intent because if the readership responds differently, then the essay is less persuasive. Either way, no writer can reasonably expect exactly what was intended. A writer might then talk about his or her writing as “particularly” persuasive or “more” persuasive than usual.

5.2.4 To inform There is also a very important distinction between persuading and informing that cannot be overstated. To inform is to communicate information to a reader without attempting him or her to accept some opinion or belief connected to it.

There is an undercurrent of argument even to informing, however, especially in a college setting. Though the purpose of an essay might be to inform a professor the findings of some laboratory project, the student is still persuading the professor that he or she understood the assignment and how to do it and that a good grade is therefore warranted.

5.3 Length The required length of an essay is important enough to consider in this section. In writing situations, it might be understood as a minimum page length, word length, or in many cases the length of time allowed to complete the assignment. This might not seem like a very important factor, but it is actually critical when it comes to establishing a writing topic, as is explained earlier.

5.4 Subject It’s helpful to understand the subject of an essay. The subject will be the most generalized term to describe what the essay will be about. It is usually expressible as a word or short phrase.

For the remainder of this section we will follow the development of a handful of subjects, from basic ideas to suitable essay topics and issues. Steroids in baseball Cell phone usage

Often the subject will be handed to you, and other times you will have to come up with a subject all on your own. Either way, a subject is rarely specific enough to make a suitable essay topic. It is merely a place to start. Professional writers dedicate whole books and even their careers in some cases to subjects like these.

5.5 Topic The topic is a continuation of the subject toward an effective essay: it is a more specific area within the subject that is manageable in the space of an essay. Usually a topic is expressible in a phrase.

Consider the following topics as extensions of the subjects listed earlier. There can be many more, but these are included for the sake of discussion.

(On “steroids in baseball”:) Causes of steroid usage in baseball Effects of steroid usage on baseball pitchers

(On “cell phone usage”:)

Cell phone usage in moving vehicles Laws governing cell phone usage

Notice the similarities between the way these potential topics are worded and the way the modes of development later.

5.6 Issue The issue is a feature of invention in argument. It is expressible as a question, and it anticipates a statement of the writer’s opinion on a debatable topic. In the Subject- Topic-Issue scheme, it is only relevant in the case of argument or persuasion.

(On “steroids in baseball”:) What are the true contributing causes to steroid usage in baseball? Is steroid usage a problem significant enough to warrant stronger action? Should Congress involve itself in baseball’s steroid problem? Does steroid usage affect position players differently?

(On “cell phone usage”:) How should we deal with cell phone usage problems? How is cell phone usage being dealt with? What constitutes “cell phone usage” anyway?

These are only a few examples of the directions a writer could take to address the topics and the topics themselves will be further examined later in this chapter.

5.7 Logic Logic is thought and reason made valid through structure rather than content. This is a statement that is direct enough and seems to make good sense…until it is carefully examined. The key hang-up for most people in this definition is over what is meant by “structure” and “content.”

The basic idea is that an argument of any kind is convincing because of the way it is “built”: there are certain ways of arranging ideas to make them compelling to any reasonable person. Primarily, logic is built upon premises and conclusions, and conclusions are reached because of the way the premises are stated.

5.7.1 Basic forms of reasoning Perhaps the two most basic forms of logical statement are deductive and inductive reasoning. These forms gain their validity through the arrangement of general and specific statements, and though they are rarely stated as succinctly as they are here, close examination of almost any argument will reveal them in some form or another.

5.7.2 Deductive Deductive reasoning involves the statement of at least two accepted ideas generally accepted as facts (two premises, in other words) and a conclusion reached from those facts that might not be generally accepted as fact necessarily.

The classic example of a deductive argument is on Socrates and mortality. It reads thus:

All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Therefore, Socrates is mortal.

This very basic syllogism illustrates the point well enough. Statements #1 and #2 are the premises – the generally accepted viewpoint of the average person, and Statement #3 is a conclusion not as generally accepted (especially by someone like Socrates was). The strength of the argument is in its logic: if a person agrees with the premises, that all people are mortal and that Socrates is a person, then that person is compelled to accept the conclusion that Socrates is mortal. There is no other, logical choice.

5.7.3 Inductive Inductive reasoning does not rely so much on compelling proof (because in practice it is usually difficult to get everyone to agree on two or more premises) as it relies on the cumulative effect of many unquestionable facts. It draws generalizations from smaller observations.

Inductive reasoning can be well illustrated with the following example:

No green rabbit has ever been observed in nature. Therefore, naturally green rabbits do not exist.

This line of reasoning draws its strength from the fact that humans, in their long history of observing rabbits, have never once observed a rabbit that is green in its natural form. The strength, it must be said, of inductive reasoning is not when the conclusion is stated as absolutely proven as it is when the conclusion is presented as being overwhelmingly likely. The argument about green rabbits is compelling because of the overwhelming evidence against the possibility of a green rabbit existing. A person can read this and say, “that only proves that a green rabbit has never been seen, not that it doesn’t exist,” and that person would be justified in saying so, but it is overwhelmingly likely that green rabbits do not exist.

5.8 Logical fallacies Logic requires that the user or writer base his or her argument upon true and positive premises and observations. Otherwise, the argument may seem logical because it is built like a logical argument ought to be built, but it is flawed in its foundation. This is where logic can become very dangerous, and it is why logic must be used responsibly and ethically.

When a writer reasons from false premises and unproven “facts,” he or she is committing a logical fallacy. Communicators have been collecting these fallacies for thousands of years. The following is a list of common logical fallacies, though not all of them nearly. There are literally hundreds.

Ad hominem: attacking the arguer instead of the argument (ethos) Appeal to emotion: making emotion the foundation of an argument instead of reason (pathos) Begging the question (petitio principii): making the conclusion or assertion of an argument its own premise False authority: using only one authority, of usually dubious credentials (ethos), to support an argument False dilemma: implying that a reader has only two choices to make, when in reality there are many other options Hasty generalization: drawing a conclusion before it can be reasonably inferred (induction) Red herring: distracting a reader by introducing a separate issue from the issue at hand because the new issue is easier to speak to Reification: treating an abstraction as if it were a concrete, physical thing. Slippery slope: asserting that a small step will inevitably lead to worse, tenuously related consequences Tautology: treating the mere notion of a thing as sufficient evidence of its own existence

5.9 “So what?” The main difference between academic writing and conversational argument is the teacher’s role in it: the teacher is there to require that a student ask him or herself why the conversation should be had to begin with. Many call this the “So what?” question. A writer who consistently asks him or herself “so what?” while writing is taking an important consideration of readership.

5.10 Heuristics It’s also helpful, when formulating the question, to think of the anticipated answer – what kind of question is it?

For one, does the question imply a perfect answer? Many people go on arguing their point of view expecting to fix an unfixable problem. Take the question “What should we have for dinner?” as an example. Many ask this question anticipating the “right” or perfect answer when there really is none. This is where perspective is important because one reply might be “It’s just dinner.”

Think also of Cicero’s four questions: definition, conjecture, quality, and policy. Definition asks questions about the meaning of a thing. (“How can we define it?” or less formally, “What is it exactly that we’re talking about, anyway?”) Conjecture asks questions about the existence or extent of a thing, in the past or in the future. (“Could it be considered?” “Was that really the way it happened?”) Quality asks questions about a thing’s seriousness or severity. (“How serious is it?” “Do we really need to worry about it?”)

Policy asks questions about what should be done about a thing. (“Should it be submitted to some formal procedure?” “Do we need to act on this?” “How do we need to handle it?”)

Think of small changes that make significant differences in your question. Consider the difference between the words could and should as one example. The question “Should I return this to the store?” implies something very different from “Could I return this to the store?” The first question implies quality – would it be a good thing to do? – while the second implies capability and conjecture. Likewise, the word would does something different, but similar.

Also consider the difference between should and is. “Is there a policy for this?” anticipates a yes or no, non-debatable answer, while “Should there be a policy for this?” implies more than one answer and a question of policy.

Many have problems with academic writing when they really shouldn’t. As we see above, most people have the necessary basic skills to do so – and to do so very effectively. Using the methods above, it can be accomplished easily, when done in the right frame of mind.

The problem is that most people tend to overthink an academic assignment. They generally know what they want to write, but not what they want to say about it. Take steroid usage in Major League Baseball, from the previous example. Many students want to write on that topic. First of all, most want to say that steroids are a problem, that something should be done about them, and that it is unfair or harmful to the game of baseball and to the players themselves; and those people have little more to say beyond that. When applying the methods described above, a student can find new things to say.

For one, it is helpful to understand what question the writer is answering. That answer is a vague answer to a vague question. Probably it is something like “What is your opinion on steroids in baseball?” It implies a perfect answer because there is only one way to answer it (“your opinion”). In reality, the subject is obviously far more difficult and complex than that, and to think otherwise is to oversimplify the issue. Secondly, if Cicero’s questions are applied, there are many directions in which a writer can go:

Definition: “What do we mean when we say steroids anyway?” “Which steroids are the harmful ones?” “What do we mean by sportsmanship?” Conjecture: “Are steroids harmful to baseball?” “Is steroid usage poor sportsmanship?” Quality: “How serious is the steroid problem?” “Is it serious enough?” “With regard to sportsmanship, are steroids significantly worse than gambling, corking bats, sharpening spikes, spitballs, etc.?” “What would be the best way to handle it?” “What’s the best way to manage it?” Policy: “What should we do about steroids in baseball?” “How should we handle violators of the steroid usage rules?” “How should we test players for steroids?”

5.11 Arrangement Arrangement, or sometimes Organization, is the phase of the writing process when a writer takes into consideration the order in which he or she places the details of an essay.

5.11.1 The modes of development One way to think of arrangement is along the lines of the modes of development. These are a generalized way of approaching a topic or an issue. It should be remembered that an essay does not necessarily follow only one mode, and the way an idea should be developed does not have to follow these modes in a rigid way.

If some of these modes sound a good bit like the heuristics from the previous section, that is because they really are very much like the heuristics from the previous section. Also, note that there is a complement to this section in Section 3.2, “Types of essays and activities in ENGL 1101.”

5.11.2 Cause and effect Whenever a writer holds a thing or idea or action alongside another for the purpose of establishing the idea that one thing caused another to happen, then the writer is working in the cause and effect mode.

5.11.3 Classification/Division Whenever a writer examines a thing or idea or action by some standard or criteria, for the purpose of determining how well that thing or idea or action meets that standard or criteria, then the writer is working in the classification/division mode.

This mode is best identified when the circumstance requires a writer to describe a subject in superlative or comparative terms: key words like “best” or “better,” “appropriate” or “most,” etc., are usually a good indication that the writer is required to write in this mode.

5.11.4 Comparison and contrast Whenever a writer holds one thing or idea or action alongside another for the purpose of pointing out something meaningful about it, either by pointing out the similarities or the differences (or perhaps both), then the writer is working in the compare and contrast mode.

5.11.5 Definition Whenever a writer examines a thing for the purpose of understanding what it “really is,” or perhaps of how it should be categorized, then the writer is working in the definition mode.

5.11.6 Description Whenever a writer examines a thing for the purpose of understanding it by using one or more of the five senses (a sixth sense, second sight, and women’s intuition don’t count), then the writer is working in the description mode.

Description can be difficult to distinguish from definition. The key difference is that description is based in the practical (how a thing looks, sounds, tastes, smells, and feels like), whereas definition is based in the abstract (how a thing is or should be understood).

5.11.7 Narration Whenever a writer describes a sequence of events, for the purpose of helping readers understand what has happened, then the writer is working in the narration mode. Narration is one that can look a lot like cause and effect, and there is no reason why the two must be mutually exclusive: it might be that a writer is writing in both modes.

5.11.8 Process Whenever a writer describes a sequence of events, for the purpose of helping readers how something happens or how it is done habitually, then the writer is working in the process mode. Process is very like narration, in that it is the description of an event-sequence, but process often has a more technical or scientific context to it – it does not involve the development of “characters” and their agendas in a personal way. A good way of thinking of the difference between narration and process is to remember that narration involves the telling of a story, and process is something more like a lab report or a set of assembly instructions for a baby bed. In truth, a better term for it might be “pattern description.” Again, there is no reason why an essay cannot be a hybrid of several modes.

5.11.9 Functional arrangement Another way to think of arrangement is through functional arrangement. This involves the careful consideration of a reader’s needs to make him or her most receptive to your argument – whether it is to convince the reader to accept your opinion or to convince the reader that you know something or how to do something. Functional arrangement, then, involves careful consideration of what information will be presented at what point in the essay. Also, it means thinking carefully about what information needs to be given in what order.

5.12 Extrinsics Normally this section would be called “Research,” but research is only a part of a larger subject called extrinsics. Extrinsics are those details a writer uses to support an argument or observation that originally occur or occurred in some other context.

5.12.1 Research Research is the work you do to find information to help you make your essay more effective. This topic is covered extensively in Section 2.6, so refer to that section for 31 much more. In either case, research is the work a writer does to discover knowledge that he or she did not know beforehand or information that he or she did not discover independently.

5.12.2 Personal experience In certain circumstances, personal experience is very like research. It depends only on the way the details are used. Personal experience is often used to support a point the same way that research is. In some ways, personal experience is like conducting research before you know that that is what you are doing.

There is a question, however, of whether or not personal experience is acceptable as an effective extrinsic detail. Very often it is not. It is usually best to clear it with your professor before you use personal experience as a supporting factor.

5.13 Composition Composition is that phase of the writing process where a writer is writing that part of an essay that will be a part of the final product. It does happen often that a writer composes something early on that ends up in the final version that he or she did not expect to be there at the beginning of the process.

5.14 Collaboration Collaboration is that phase of the writing process where a writer consults with another person on the effective composition of an essay.

There is an important difference, however, between collaboration and collusion. Collusion means receiving excessive help from another to the point that a work can no longer be the product of a single author. Collusion is similar to collaboration, but it is instead a serious form of academic dishonesty.

5.15 Editing and proofreading This is the phase of the writing process when a writer is addressing the low-order concerns. At this point, whenever during the writing process it occurs, the writer is dealing with issues that have less to do with what the essay is about and more to do with how it is written.

5.16 Editing Editing is that phase of the writing process when a writer is making corrections and adjustments to any aspect of his or her writing – from the smallest comma issue to the largest content-related concern.

5.17 Proofreading Proofreading is that phase of the writing process when a writer is making final corrections before the essay is submitted to be read. These will be the types of errors that a writer will simply miss during the regular part of the writing process – the errors a writer knows to avoid, but did not avoid for one reason or another. This requires a writer

32 to step back from the “big picture,” thinking less of what the essay is about and more of how the rules of grammar apply to what has been written.

In many ways proofreading can be the trickiest part of the writing process for some because, for example, if a writer expects a word to be somewhere because she meant to put it there, she likely will “see” the word there, but her reader won’t. Some effective strategies for catching proofreading errors include  reading the essay aloud, to approximate better the experience of a reader who is “hearing” the essay for the first time in his or her mind;  having someone else do a “cold read,” by seeing the essay for the first time and reading it back to the writer; and  finishing the editing phase earlier than usual and then taking time shortly before the essay is due to look at it with “fresh eyes.”

5.18 Colloquium courses (COLQ 2991, 2992, and 2993) Among many other things, all that has been said in this section on Critical Thinking goes to establish the purpose and usefulness of critical thinking to the Area B requirement of the Core Curriculum. This Area requires students to choose from one of three courses (COLQ 2991, COLQ 2992, and COLQ 2993) that they believe best suits their career path. These colloquia involve the focus on some topic in one of three areas – Humanities, Natural Sciences/Mathematics, and Social Sciences, respectively. The idea behind it is that students would be presented with challenges to their critical thinking and asked to meet those challenges through strong argument. The benefit of this approach is that it enables students and teachers to narrow their focus.

6 Writing in a theater arts class When students think of a theatre arts classroom, writing is probably not the first thing that they think of. However, theatre arts classes at Gordon State—especially Introduction to Theatre—involve a surprisingly significant amount of writing.

6.1 Introduction to Theatre and process-based writing Although students’ theatre arts professors may not necessarily collect their first drafts or wish to see their students’ pre-writing activities (though professors might want to see these things), it is still a good idea to think about the steps involved in writing: Reading ► Pre-Writing ► Drafting ► Revision ► Editing ► Submission

6.2 The types of writing assignments in Introduction to Theatre Students in Introduction to Theatre classes should expect to write a variety of types of essays including a love song response, performance analysis, dramatic analysis, and playwriting project. Although these are somewhat different assignments, they share some basic goals. Students writing in Theatre Arts classes should expect relatively short assignments (generally three pages or fewer), but they should still attempt to get deeper and focus on the why and the how, not just the what.

6.3 The what, the why and the how of theatre writing To a large extent, the what is the easy part. Statements such as: The play is Hamlet. The play is two hours long. The play is enjoyable even for those without a familiarity with Shakespeare. All of these simple statements are fine, but they won’t help the student successfully complete the writing assignment.

To complete the assignment successfully, students need to consider the why. Why is the play Hamlet? Why is it two hours long? Why is it enjoyable? When the student answers those why questions, the essay at once becomes more memorable. Consider the following:

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is an irresistible temptation for any company. In fact, it’s been said that there’s a production of Hamlet running somewhere on the planet twenty-four hours a day, three-hundred sixty-five days a year every year. In short, sooner or later Gordon State College would have to do Hamlet.

The play clocks in at well over two hours; however, the fidgety shouldn’t worry— crisp timing, unexpectedly silly comic scenes interspersed at regular intervals, and the occasional sword fight make Hamlet fly by. In fact, I was shocked when the house lights went up for intermission.

In closing, if you love Shakespeare, go see Hamlet; if you hate Shakespeare, see Hamlet anyway. The quick pace, comic buffoonery and Hollywood-style action will more than make up for the old-fashioned way they have of speaking.

All of these three passages come to life because they were written with the why as well as the what in mind.

6.4 Analysis In this writing assignment, students will focus only on the acting. Students pick one actor and focus on two or three key actor’s moments in the play. Students should pick physical or vocal choices that the actor made and examine the way that those choices affect performance.

6.4.1. Performance analysis In this writing assignment, the student acts as theatrical critic, sees some live theatre, and then composes a detailed review of the performance. Students should go beyond the mere judgmental, i.e., “I liked it,” or “I did not like it.” Students writing Intro to Theatre Performance Analysis assignments should delve deeper and talk about the why behind their opinions. Additionally, students should focus on all areas of theatrical performance; their papers should at least touch on the acting, the directing, and the design. Papers overly concerned with mere plot summary are rarely successful.

6.4.2 Dramatic analysis This writing assignment can be explained as simply a performance analysis for a play that the student has not seen as yet. In a dramatic analysis, the student examines and picks out key moments of a play in its script form and then explains them in writing.

6.5 Playwriting project Working alone, or with another student, this assignment asks the student to write a three minute to five minute play for the stage.

6.6 Pitfalls to avoid in writing for theater arts classes Writing for the theater has its own set of pitfalls to be avoided. One of the most common pitfalls is to confuse plot summary with analysis. Many theatre arts professors will caution students to stay away from mere plot summary. Rarely will professors want copious amounts of plot summary. Most theatre arts professors want students to focus on analysis. Simply put, plot summary is what happens; analysis is why it happens.

7 Writing for humanities classes Humanities is a broad term; Webster’s defines it as “the branches of learning (as philosophy, arts, or languages) that investigate human constructs and concerns as opposed to natural processes (as in physics or chemistry) and social relations (as in anthropology or economics)” (“Humanities”). Basically, if it has to do with “being human,” a student might study about it in a Humanities class.

7.1 The humanities and writing At Gordon State College, Humanities classes HUM 1501 and HUM 1502 are open to students who are taking Learning Support English classes. For that reason, writing demands in HUM 1501 and 1502 tend to be modest. Rarely will a Humanities professor assign long and complicated research papers or sophisticated argument assignments. Instead many GSC Humanities professors encourage their students to sally forth into the community and experience some of the art that is around them. A common assignment is the Cultural Event Report.

7.2 Humanities classes and process-based writing Although humanities professors may not necessarily collect their students’ first drafts or wish to see their students pre-writing activities (though professors might want to see these things), it is still a good idea to think about the steps involved in writing and think of Introduction to Humanities writing assignments in terms of the steps that this book has discussed previously:

Reading ► Pre-Writing ► Drafting ► Revision ► Editing ► Submission

For Learning Support students taking Humanities classes, it is particularly important to think of writing as a process and, if it at all possible, to enlist the help of tutors from Gordon State College’s Student Success Center before submitting their cultural event report for evaluation.

7.3 The cultural event report Individual professors vary, of course, but this assignment often asks students to visit three or four outside events—concerts, plays, theatrical performances, etc.—and write a review of the events.

7.4 Writing skills developed by humanities classes Some of the elements that separate a strong Cultural Event Report from weak one include depth, detail, and specificity. While many of us are quite comfortable giving our opinion, (“I liked it!” “I hated it!”), we can get tongue-tied when asked to go deeper and explain what about it in particular did we “like” or “hate.” Consider the two following passages:

“The play was kind of boring. I think that my Dad might have even dozed off during the second act.”

“The lack of action, the obscure references to nineteenth-century Italian politics, the poor pacing (I am not sure the actors know their lines), and uncomfortable metal chairs make One Italy! a trying and tedious night at the theater.”

Both passages essentially state the same thing—that the play is boring. But the second passage provides reasons for the conclusion. What makes the writer say that the play was boring? He or she has four reasons: no action, obscure references, poor pacing and uncomfortable chairs.

7.5 Pitfalls to be avoided in writing for humanities classes Some of the pitfalls in humanities writing include, lack of specificity, getting a late start and failure to take adequate notes.

“Start early” is advice students often hear and often ignore. But in case of the Humanities class cultural event report, ignoring that advice could have dire consequences. This project involves seeing outside events and all the details that come along with seeing events—purchasing tickets, arranging schedules, transportation, and parking—waiting to begin can put the student hopelessly behind. Students should schedule their events so that they have completed their viewing with two full weeks to write and revise the cultural event report.

Of course, getting an early start is useless if the student writer does not take advantage of it by taking specific notes at the performance. “I don’t have to write it down; I can remember it” –we have all said that at least once and we have usually been proved wrong. Students should be sure to attend their cultural events with a small notebook and something to write with. Even though taking notes in a semi-darkened theater can be challenging, students should avoid the temptation to illuminate their notes through use of their cell phones: such behavior is considered very rude.

Since depth and detail is something to be praised in effective humanities writing in, it is not surprising that a lack of specificity can ruin a cultural event report. The student

36 should avoid making a pronouncement without explaining why he or she has come to that conclusion. If, for example, the student writer wants to state that the play’s costuming seemed neglected, then he or she should provide a reason for that contention; for example: “the play’s costuming was spotty at best: to the best of my knowledge no one in fifteenth-century Verona wore Air Jordans.”

8 Writing in a music class Although there is probably little formal writing expected in an advanced cello class, Music Appreciation students can expect to do significant writing. Although individual instructors have varying expectations, it is safe to say that much Music Appreciation writing takes the form of either performance critiques or composer biographies.

8.1 Music and writing At Gordon State College, Music Appreciation classes are open to students who are taking Learning Support English classes. For that reason, writing demands in Music Appreciation tend to be modest and instructors tend to be forgiving of one or two minor usage mistakes in a paper. Rarely will a music professor assign long, complicated research papers or sophisticated argument assignments. However, most GSC music professors encourage their students to sojourn into the community and experience some of the art that is around them. Common assignments include the performance critique.

8.2 Purpose of music writing Writing about music serves a myriad of purposes: to demonstrate mastery, to aid in evaluation, but perhaps writing about music serves no more important function than to make improve our listening skills. Indeed, it seems clear that by listening closely, processing, and then writing about the experience we become better audience members and are able to experience music on a deeper and more enjoyable level.

8.3 Music and process-based writing Although the professor may not mention process-based writing, it is still a good idea to keep the sequence in mind when preparing for a music class writing assignment.

Reading ► Pre-Writing ► Drafting ► Revision ► Editing ► Submission

8.4 Writing skills developed in music appreciation classes Both the performance critique assignment and the composer biography assignment place great value on the following attributes: critical thinking, specificity, and appropriate use of discipline-specific terminology.

9 Writing in a science class While the natural sciences cover topics as varied as oscillating springs and beating hearts, writing in the sciences is done with the goal of supporting the process of scientific inquiry. This means that writing for science must communicate more than results but also include a clear description of how those results were arrived at. This discussion will usually include an explanation of the problem being considered, the 37 methods used to collect and analyze data as well as the data itself and the conclusions that have been drawn. Finally, given the inductive nature of scientific inquiry, results and conclusions are reported with a certain level of reservation, avoiding claims that may not be fully supported by the data available.

9.1 A brief discussion of scientific methods of inquiry Unlike philosophy or literature, which date back nearly as far as there are written records, traditional scientific inquiry, or the process of asking questions about the physical universe and seeking answers, has only become a fully realized process in the last five hundred years or so. While its roots extend back to the classical Greek natural philosophers and the development of the process can be traced through the great Arabic and Persian astronomers and mathematicians of the 10th and 11th centuries, it is only after the Renaissance begins to take hold that what we call scientific inquiry develops the characteristics that will define it as a separate approach to understanding the physical reality around us.

The first thing to understand regarding scientific inquiry is that it is concerned with the physical universe only. Science, for reasons to be explained shortly, is not equipped to deal with questions such as “What is right and wrong?”, “What is beautiful?” or “Is there a God?” Thus, while scientific inquiry is a powerful tool in the arsenal of an investigator or thinker, it is limited in what it is able to address. The first mistake many novice writers make is to attempt to use scientific inquiry on questions that are not scientific. To avoid this error, ask the following question, “Is what I’m addressing primarily about the physical universe that can be observed and measured?” If the answer to that question is “no”, then the writer is better served using another discipline’s process of inquiry to consider the topic.

The second thing to understand is that scientific inquiry is always based on the foundation of observed phenomenon. Whether this is the careful observation of something in nature or the conducting of a designed experiment, all questions are addressed through the making of observations. These observations must be carefully controlled and the data they produce must be precisely recorded. Scientific researchers must take great pains to be precise in developing procedures for making observations that are rigorously followed in order for their data to be considered valid and reliable.

The third point to make is that the process isn’t just a random one where the scientist just sort of looks around to see what’s out there. All processes of inquiry are driven by the asking of questions and seeking out the answers in an organized way and science is no different. Usually in science, the question is developed from something called a hypothesis. A hypothesis is an idea or model of how a physical system works. It will allow the scientist to ask questions that will lead to testable predictions about the behavior of a physical system. While a hypothesis may be little more than an educated guess about the behavior of the system, it is usually developed from an understanding of similar types of systems. One way a prediction can be formed is in an “If…then…” structure, i.e. - If a system is set up like x, then y will occur, where prediction of the

38 outcome, y, will be derived from the hypothesis. Since the scientist doesn’t actually know what will take place, the prediction must be tested through observation.

A concrete example of this might be that a scientist has observed that when objects are released from rest near the surface of the Earth, they will fall towards the ground and that they will speed up while doing so. This would be considered an established fact. However, let us say that the scientist is curious as to what an object released near the surface of the Moon would do. She might form a hypothesis that says that since gravity is what makes objects fall in the observed way on Earth and gravity is something found everywhere in the universe, gravity will act near the surface of the Moon. She would then make a prediction, “If an object is released near the surface of the Moon, then it will fall towards the surface while speeding up just like it does on the Earth.” Note, the prediction flows directly from the premises of the hypothesis, i.e.-that there is something called gravity, that gravity acts everywhere the same way as it does on the Earth and, therefore, that it will act on objects near the surface of the Moon. Additionally, note that the prediction is testable by anyone who can go to the Moon.

When an observation confirms a prediction to be correct, the hypothesis is thought to be valid in that case. It is then broadened to include new physical situations and again tested. If the prediction is shown to be false, the hypothesis is either modified to take the new data into account or discarded completely. This will continue in a cyclical process until the hypothesis explains all known physical occurrences of a phenomenon or it falls. For this process to work, it is absolutely vital that all hypotheses be testable in such a way that a false result could occur. If a hypothesis is stated in such a way that it could not be potentially falsified through observation, it is not considered scientific. This is why science can’t address questions outside of those directly associated with the physical universe. For example, there is no way to conclusively determine whether or not a certain type of style of painting is or is not art through examining the physical aspects of the painting. A scientist can’t devise a physical test that could show that a given painting definitively lacks artistic merit or value.

In the example above, when the experiment was performed by the Apollo mission astronauts, it was found that objects do indeed fall towards the surface of the Moon when released from rest. However, they do not fall in exactly the same way as they do on the Earth. While they do speed up as they fall, they only fall at one-sixth the rate of acceleration as they do here in the Earth. This means that while the scientist’s hypothesis is partially correct, it is in need of some modification. She may do this by saying something like while gravity is found everywhere; its strength depends on the size and mass of the largest object. Since the Moon is smaller and less massive than the Earth, the strength of gravity will be less. This would then lead here to revise her predictions to say that rate of acceleration depends on the size and mass of the world the object is dropped on.

Finally, scientific inquiry has built into it the requirement of reproducibility. For an observation and its resulting conclusions to be considered scientific, they must be able to be reproduced by other scientists who possess the equipment and knowledge

39 required to make a given observation. It is expected that all results will be checked by other researchers for accuracy and validity. While this process makes the progress of science seem maddeningly slow at times, it has two benefits. The first is that when results are reproduced, there is an increase in the scientific community’s confidence in the information. The second is that reliance on authority is undermined, thus avoiding the emergence of scientific dogma. Just because a famous researcher (as opposed to a newcomer or a scientist that is relatively unknown) makes an observation and draws a conclusion from it doesn’t exempt that result from verification by other scientists. Through the use of this method, humanity has achieved a startlingly broad and deep understanding of the physical universe. While this understanding has allowed for the development of amazing technologies and solved a number of problems once thought to lie in the realm of the supernatural, practitioners of science need to realize that accepted hypotheses are always open to revision as new data is collected and new relationships are discovered. Science, as an inductive process, must always remain open to new information and the change in understanding that accompanies it.

9.2 The purpose of scientific writing How one writes has as much to do with the audience that will be reading the communication as it does with the subject matter. In science, the writer generally will have three possible audiences. The first could be other scientists doing research in the field that the piece of writing is about. This group of readers will be interested in looking for the specifics of the work being discussed so that they can evaluate it and, if needed, replicate the observations and confirm the results. A second group of readers would be those who have a solid understanding of the field being discussed but who are not actively participating in the scholarly conversation about the research. These readers will be familiar with the vocabulary of the topic but will not be interested in all the data or details. They are interested in understanding how the conclusions affect the scientific community’s understanding of the subject. Finally, the last audience will be those who have a limited knowledge of the subject matter and are reading the communication in order to learn more about the topic. Writing for this group will require the most explanation while leaving out most of the specific detail about the data and methods used.

9.3 Discipline-specific communication The purpose of research oriented scientific writing is fairly straightforward: to communicate the process of scientific inquiry with the necessary clarity so that another researcher can replicate any observations, compare data gathered and assess any conclusions the scientist may have drawn. This form of communication will be from scientist to scientist and will often use language that is known only those familiar with the specific field study. In other words, this will be specialist communicating with specialist with all the accompanying jargon that is assumed to be understood by the audience. Thus the focus of the writing will be on presenting observations or ideas in great detail and with precision. In these cases, the emphasis of the writing is not in explaining terms or ideas that are well understood within the discipline being discussed, but in clearly describing the question being considered, discussing previous relevant work on the question (with appropriate citations, of course!) and presenting the scientific

40 work that has been done. This includes methods and apparatus used, data gathered, analysis done and conclusions drawn.

9.4 Scientific communication for an educated audience A second level of scientific writing is when a researcher needs to communicate with an audience that is not involved in the active research community. In this case, the purpose of the writing will change from detailing exactly how a conclusion was arrived at through observation or reasoning to a more general approach of discussing the broad outlines of method and moving to results. In this case, it may not be assumed that the reader will understand the discipline specific language or mathematics. In such cases, the writer will want to consider using descriptive models, metaphors and examples along with clearly worded definitions to explain what is meant in helping the reader understand key ideas or concepts. The goal is still to communicate the work that has been done by the researcher but to do it in a way that is accessible to all interested parties.

9.5 Scientific communication for a novice audience For writers who aren’t scientists themselves, it is important that the writer communicate that they did not do the research but instead that they are attempting to summarize and explain it to the reader. The purpose of the writing is to communicate the methods, data and conclusions of others and to explain them to an audience in a way that is understandable. As such, it is usually not necessary to include each specific piece of data or each small detail of the method. It is usually sufficient to describe broad outlines of the methods used to gather the data and the relationships the data reveal in order to draw the conclusions and insights that will be explained. Again, as in the case above, it will help to use models, definitions, metaphors and examples but the writer should take extra care to make sure these are appropriate and accurate as it is surprisingly easy to introduce misconceptions into the reader’s understanding of the material. In many cases, the writer will be composing a broader survey of the research and developments in a field of study and thus will be taking information from a number of sources and synthesizing them. This process takes time and usually requires the writer to gain a sufficient mastery of the material that they can see how each piece fits together in the larger puzzle.

As with all writing, the process of communicating ideas and information clearly takes time and requires a process that, like the process of scientific inquiry, is cyclical. Time is required to research, draft, do more research, revise, conduct even more research, revise again, edit and polish. Far too often students attempt to produce scientific writing in too short of a time frame which leads to inaccuracies and misconceptions in material that is too shallow to be of any real benefit to the reader.

9.6 How do you know? In science it’s not enough to know something, it is equally important to understand how something is known. Scientific knowledge is diminished in the absence of understanding the method of discovery. When communicating in science it is therefore just as important to discuss the process in which conclusions were arrived at. The

41 writer needs to explain the methodology used to produce data and how the data was analyzed in order to provide the appropriate context in which to understand the results. Just telling the reader that something should now be held to be true without describing the path through which that conclusion was reached violates the spirit of science that all parties should be able to check the conclusions by reproducing the results.

9.7 Explanation of method The audience of the communication will determine the level of detail which is included in the discussion of method. When writing of results to a scientific audience it is important to be very specific as to the equipment used as the way in which it was employed to take data. If a PASCO model 8345 Digital Thermometer was used to make a measurement, then the specific model number as well as its operational range and error tolerances needs to be included in the description. If the thermometer is calibrated a certain way, the calibration description must also be included, along with any other details of the measurement protocol. The discussion must be precise and detailed enough that the data taking procedure can be replicated from the description by another researcher.

When writing to an audience that is more concerned with the contents of the results than reproducing them, the writer may safely omit some details regarding the equipment and procedure but should still take pains to make sure the reader understands what has been done to produce the data. In this case, since the reader may not be a researcher in the field being discussed, it may be necessary to describe certain apparatus in order to understand the data. An example might be if an experiment used a cathode ray tube, it would likely be prudent to explain that a cathode ray tube was a vessel made from glass with positively and negatively charged metal electrodes at either end in which all of the air had been removed. In these cases, there is great wisdom in the adage that “a picture is worth a thousand words”. A picture, figure or diagram of the apparatus with an explanatory caption will usually go a long ways to helping the reader understand what was done to collect the data.

9.7.1 Presentation of data As in the case of the explanation of method, presentation of the data depends on the audience. For scientific papers all data should be presented first in raw form, usually using a table. This way another researcher could conceivably check their data directly against what has already gathered. If these data are large in quantity, they will often be included in an appendix to the writing in order to not break up the flow of the communication. In this case, a small sample of the data will be included in the body of the writing so that the reader can see what it looks like for later reference.

The usual way of presenting data is in some analyzed form. The most basic way to do this is produce a graph of the data. When doing this, it is important to describe the type of graph and what it represents both in the body of the text as well as in a caption for the figure. All figures should include a distinctive label such as, Figure 2.1: Population as a function of time for catfish in a salinated test pond. Such conventions help the reader keep track of what they are looking at which is especially important as figures will

42 not always be directly adjacent to the relevant text in a paper or report. This includes figures used to help describe methods as discussed above. Graphs should include clear labels for their axes that contain units of measurement.

9.7.2 Analysis Once the data is presented, the next step is to present or describe the analysis done to the data. In cases where writing is being done for a scientific audience, all calculations should be described with a sample calculation included for clarity. If the method of calculation is not obvious or part of the general accepted practice of a discipline (as in the case of calculating the slope of a line on a graph), the equation used for the calculation should be derived from known principles. This is usually done in the section of the communication that describes the methods used.

For more general readers, it is more useful to directly point out relationships between physical quantities from the data. This is usually done by graphing the data and then using a mathematical tool such as a best fit line to illustrate the relationship between the two physical quantities represented on the axes of the graph. The point of the writing for this section is to describe and explain these relationships at the reader’s level.

9.7.3 Drawing conclusions Drawing conclusions in science is done with great care and reserve. While the data may show a clear relationship between a given set of physical variables, they only do this in the particular case that has been studied or tested. Generalizing these results should be done cautiously and only when the researcher is certain that changing the system being studied will not significantly change the outcome of the experience. When describing the conclusions drawn by other researchers, the writer should be careful to explain how the conclusion was reached through analysis of the data. It may not be obvious to the reader that a specific conclusion can be drawn inherently from the data and thus the writer should take the time to make the connections from data through relationships to conclusions. It is important that the writer not draw additional conclusions that the researcher did not, usually through overgeneralization, unless additional work has been done by other researchers that broaden the scope of the result. An example of this would be to cite a study that demonstrated that in a group of 10,000 subjects, those who ate more broccoli had a lower incidence of colon cancer and then generalizing this to say that dark green vegetables prevent all cancers. This sort of error is made frequently in general science writing by journalists and can do great harm in shaping public discussion of scientific issues.

9.8 Using precise language, or the importance of picking the right word Science is a precise discipline in its use of language. Scientific disciplines have very specific terms that they use to describe physical quantities and systems. While these words may be the same as words used in everyday language, they may mean very different things. An excellent example of this is the word “work”. In everyday language work generally means to exert or apply an effort to a task. The discipline of physics, however, has a very precise definition of the term that involves pushing or pulling an object in such a way that the object moves in the direction of the push or pull. While this

43 may seem similar, it should be noted that if the object does not move, no “work” is done according to the physics definition. Similar issues arise when words like momentum, gravity and energy are used without care being taken to make sure the correct word is being used to describe a specific scientific idea.

This brings up the issue that many student writers run into when writing scientifically: the imprecise use of scientific language. Many a student has complained to a professor that a paper or lab was unfairly graded when the professor deducts points for an incorrect word or phrase. In frustration, the student will vent saying, “The professor only wants me to use the exact word they used…” While it is true that the professor wants only a specific word used in a given context, this is because that is the only word that correctly describes the idea or concept being used. In other words, while two words may be synonymous in everyday vernacular, they may have important differences in meaning in a scientific context.

Finally, there are occasions where an everyday word can describe an entire set of concepts without being specific enough to convey what is meant in sufficient detail. The word gravity is a common example of this. While the word “gravity” may convey the general sense of being held to the surface of the Earth, it doesn’t distinguish between the idea of a gravitational force, an acceleration of gravity, Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation or Einstein’s description of gravity as part of his General Theory of Relativity. While using gravity is broadly correct, it lacks the specificity to communicate what is really meant.

One way to avoid both of these errors is to fully describe an idea in an early draft of a paper or lab report. Once the idea is in the draft, the author can then determine what the correct and precise term is and either replace the description with the appropriate term or, in the case of writing for a non-scientific audience, associate the term with the full description in the first instance and then use the term exclusively thereafter. In any case, the writer must resist the tendency to use synonyms to add variety to the communication. While this is admirable in certain types of literature, it can easily destroy the effectiveness of a scientific writing.

9.9 The article summary One common task of scientific writing is that of the article summary. In this type of assignment, the writer is asked to read and then summarize the important points of one or more articles for an audience. This is a task that is commonly assigned in work groups to help everyone in the group keep up with the latest thinking and research in a field. Another common use of this is in business where workers will summarize scientific information for the managers or executives they work for in order to help the managers make decisions.

9.9.1 What is the purpose? The purpose of this writing is to present the key details of the article in relationship to a broader context so that the recipients can understand the major points of what has been done and why it matters. This will allow the reader to quickly familiarize themselves

44 with the research that has been done and then make a decision as to whether it warrants further study. As such, it is important that the writer not merely regurgitate the material already found in the article but distill it down to the most important points. This process of analysis places the burden of understanding the entire article clearly on the writer (which is why professors give this sort of assignment to their students). Only this deep level of comprehension will allow the writer to correctly assess what are the core ideas and processes described in the article and then present them succinctly.

9.9.2 Analysis of content One way a student might organize their thinking and analysis is to ask and answer a series of questions about the article being reviewed: What is the main point of the article? How did the author of the article arrive at their conclusions? Why are these results important? How does this information relate to other things being done in the context of the subject or discipline? In developing the answers to these questions, the student is forced to do the in-depth analysis and synthesis necessary to write a truly helpful summary.

When reviewing articles published in scientific journals, it is important to understand the previous work the author is drawing from. This may mean that the summarizer may need to go back and read additional material referenced in the paper. An example might be if the article’s author references that they used a specific method to do gene sequencing that is not commonly used in the discipline, the description of that method will need to be found and understood. This reference should be cited in the text of the summary so that the reader can reference it.

When reviewing articles for a more general audience, the author of the article will have done much of the summarizing of methods and data already. In these cases, it is more important to focus on the key conclusions and what they mean. Additionally, the relationship of these conclusions to the broader discipline becomes an important consideration as they will help the reader place the information within the disciplinary framework. Taking time to understand how the conclusions fit into the “big picture” will go a long ways to helping the writer develop a thesis and outline for the communication.

9.9.3 Communication of key ideas and relationships In summarizing the article the overriding dictate is “clarity in brevity.” While a good writer always strives to explain things using as few words as needed, this is especially true in article reviews. Remember that the point of the exercise is to reduce the work of the person reading the summary so that they can make a decision as to whether to pursue the information further. Balancing this, however, is the requirement that the information of the original article is presented accurately.

Thus, it is not necessary for the summary to explain every detail of the data taking or analysis. What is required is enough information on these portions of the article to support the conclusions drawn by the original author. Additionally, strengths and limitations of the conclusions should be discussed only in the context of the original article and that of the specific discipline the article addresses. Finally, relationships

45 between the article and other relevant work that has been done should be noted when appropriate. This is especially true if the results of the work being summarized are surprising or contradictory to either previous ideas or research.

While the structure of the article summary will be dictated by the individual professor assigning the work, the writer may develop an outline for the communication using the questions developed for the analysis of the article. A logical and organized order to the questions will lead to a logical and organized summary consisting of answers to questions in the readers’ minds (whether the questions are explicitly stated or not). One guideline to follow is to place the most important thing to be communicated (known in journalism as “The Lead”) in the first sentence or two of the summary. An example of this might be something like this:

In their paper titled, “Georgia Bats and Their Habitat,” authors Binder and Hartman assert that greater levels of urban development are causing marked changes in the distribution of native species. Bat species once found only in mountainous climates of north Georgia are now being observed as far south as Macon in high rise structures such as church towers and multistory buildings.

Note that the main conclusion of the article is found in the first two sentences of the summary. A brief summary of methods can follow this but the lead lets the reader know what the outcome of the research was quickly so that they place all of the other information in the summary within that context.

10 Writing in the social sciences Defined as the “scientific study of human society and social relationships” (“Social Sciences”), social sciences is the study of humankind’s workings in groups. At Gordon State College, the social sciences are composed of the departments of Anthropology, History, Political Science, Economics, Business, Psychology, and Sociology. Writing- based assignments form a considerable part of the work in the study of the social sciences.

10.1 Types of social science writing assignments While taking Area E classes, students will sharpen their writing skills while completing essay examinations, group projects, short papers, expository papers, and analyses and other assignments.

10.1.1 Essay examinations One of the most common Area E writing venues is a test or examination. When faced with an essay examination question, students should read the question carefully, determine what exactly the question is asking, map out an answer, compose carefully, and leave time to proofread.

10.1.2 Group projects Although some students enjoy working as a team, others vehemently dislike the concept of group work. Nevertheless, working as a part of a team is a “real world” skill

46 that all students will need as they enter the working world after graduation. The challenges and rewards of group work are many. Students must strive to “bring something to the party,” that is, contribute in a meaningful way, without becoming the “Bossy Boots” who dominates every meeting and insists on micro-managing or controlling the process. A good group project is a gumbo pot of ideas and benefits from everyone’s input.

10.1.3 Short papers A hallmark of Business/Accounting classes and a staple in other classes as well is the short paper (one-thousand to fifteen-hundred words, or about four or five pages). Students working on the short paper assignment should make certain that they understand the assignment thoroughly, start early on the project, see the professor or Student Success Center tutor for help if necessary and proofread their papers carefully.

10.1.4 Understanding the assignment: expository, analysis, and arguments Regardless of whether the student is alone or working with a group, regardless of whether the paper is long or short, the student must be absolutely sure he or she knows what the assignment is asking and how the assignment is arranged. There are many modes of writing in college, but three of the most common are: exposition, analysis, and argument.

10.1.5 Expository papers Several decades ago, a popular TV police detective would chasten chatty crime witnesses with the request, “Just the facts, ma’am.” By that the detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, meant that he was not interested in hearing long digressions, opinions, or any other sort of “side” information. Though he did not use the term, what Sergeant Friday wanted was an expository tale—just the story of what happened—not why it happened, not a defense of choices made—just the facts. That is what an expository piece of writing does: it presents the appropriate facts to the reader. We read expository writing all the time—an encyclopedia article, most newspaper articles, or an automobile owner’s manual are all examples of expository writing.

10.1.6 Analysis papers If an expository piece looks at the topic, an analysis essay pulls the topic apart and begins to look at its components one by one. Whereas an expository essay answers the question, “What is it?” an analysis essay asks, “How does it work?”. Analysis essays are concerned with things such as key moments, momentum changes, shifts, and root causes. An analysis of a football game might look closely at a key interception in the third quarter. An analysis of a presidential election might look at a candidate’s perceived failure in a debate or a mis-statement for which a candidate was ridiculed. Analysis of historical events, such as World War II, might conclude that the Allies were victorious in large part due to the United States’ superior industrial production.

10.1.7 Argumentative papers An argumentative paper seeks to use reasons and evidence to change the mind of one who feels differently from the writer. Whereas expository writing is going to be mainly

47 concerned with “just the facts,” argumentative writing is going to be filled with opinions— how those “facts” should be interpreted. It is important to remember that even though argumentative writing relies on opinions, those opinions need to be backed up by reliable reasons and concrete evidence.

10.2 Mode and topics “Expository,” “analysis” and “argumentative” essays are all modes of writing—they’re “customary ways of doing something” (“Mode”). Modes shouldn’t be confused with topics. Topics are what the student writer is writing about; modes are how the student approaches the topic. A single topic can yield very different essays when its mode changes. For example, a student could write an expository paper about spring break options in the southeastern United States; a student could analyze all the various spring break options for things such as price of accommodations, number of students present, and nightlife options; or a student could argue that one particular destination is the “perfect” spring break locale for the readership. Though the topic remains the same in all these essays, the essays themselves are very different as the mode changed. Similarly, if a student were writing about World War II in a history class and had the topic “the Battle of Midway Island,” an expository essay (which simply tells the story of the battle) would look different from an analysis essay (which would look at the role of one or more key elements; say, “weather”), and they would both look very different from an argumentative essays, (which might argue that without a victory at Midway, the United States would have lost the war in Pacific to the Empire of Japan). One topic yields three very different essays.

10.3 Skills developed in writing for social sciences Writing in Area E classes will help students cultivate a number of skills, including collaboration, careful reading, critical thinking, “owning” their own prose, developing a historical imagination, and following directions.

10.3.1 Collaboration As mentioned above (see Section 10.1.2), a hallmark of many Business and Accounting classes is the group project. One of the skills that a group project will encourage is collaboration. In fact, “collaboration” is not a single skill; it involves a range of skills and practices: knowing when to speak and when to listen, active listening, tact, expanding on other’s ideas, patience, giving appropriate feedback, and supporting the group, among others. Being a good “team player” is one of the key attributes modern employers are looking for.

10.3.2 Careful reading Being able to locate a text’s main idea, being able to differentiate between what is stated outright by a text and what is implied, and being able to comment effectively on a text’s style and an author’s tone are all part of reading college-level material effectively. Careful reading, sometimes known as “active reading,” is a vital piece in the student writer’s toolbox. In fact, many professors believe that a substantial percentage of students’ writing problems are actually reading problems in disguise. Area E assignments will give students ample opportunity to improve their reading skills.

10.3.3 Critical thinking “Critical thinking” is a much bandied-about term. At the risk of over-simplification, critical thinking refers to the practice of basing conclusions on observable phenomenon and empirical observation. In this way, we can look at “critical thinking” as something that is almost diametrically opposed to “gut instinct” or “hunches.” Critical thinking is relentless in asking us questions such as, “WHAT makes you think so?” (For a more detailed discussion of critical thinking, see Section 5.1 of this work.)

10.3.4 “Owning” it Sometimes students—especially struggling students—think of a research paper as if it were a quilt. Just as a quilt takes different fabric swatches and sews them together, some students think that they can take “swatches” of quotation and “sew” them together with appropriate documentation and transitions to make a research paper. In fact, a research paper needs to be much more than that. For starters, students must really understand the passages they are quoting—in short, the student writer must “own” the material he or she is using.

10.3.5 Developing a good historical imagination One of the characteristics of good writing in the discipline of history is development of historical imagination. It is all well and good to know what the political leaders said or what the generals thought, but such information only tells part of the story. What would it have been like to be a soldier at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415? What would the battlefield have looked like? What sounds would the soldiers hear? What would it have smelled like? The ability to take oneself out of one’s own surroundings and imagine life in a completely different world is key to developing a strong historical imagination.

10.3.6 Following directions Encouraging students to follow directions carefully is so obvious that it seems self- evident, and there seems little reason to include it in a text like this one. However, many professors report that failure to closely follow directions is responsible for many of the D’s and F’s students receive in Area E classes. A good tip is to re-examine the assignment sheet after a strong first draft has been executed. It is amazing how often students—even strong students—can “drift” away from the ostensible purpose of a given assignment and write something vastly different.

10.4 Pitfalls in social science writing Students should avoid compartmentalizing, vague writing, failing to address the question, writing with little evidence, confusing facts with opinions, confusing expository and analysis assignments, dumbing down complicated issues, and failing to take grammar, usage, and mechanical issues seriously when writing in Area E.

10.4.1 Compartmentalizing For students who are struggling with various classes and adapting to various professors’ teaching styles, it is perhaps understandable to think that classes have little to do with one another. Assuming good writing practices are something only for English 49 class is an example of this compartmentalizing. Rest assured, professors in Area E and the other areas as well care just as much about sound writing practice as English professors do.

10.4.2 Vague writing Somewhere along the line, students got the idea that by holding back specifics and keeping their comments general, they could avoid making mistakes. The result has been a virtual epidemic of vague writing. For example, imagine a writing prompt such as, “describe the weather on last Tuesday.” If the student researched the prompt thoroughly, he or she could have replied, “Last Tuesday, the twenty-fourth, the weather was partly cloudy with a slight chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon and a high of eighty-eight degrees. The low temperature was sixty-four degrees.” A vague writer might settle for, “It was OK,” confident that the short and vague sentence contained no mistakes. Such a position might be free of mechanical error, but it is not a strong response to the question. For the record, not saying something—to most professors—is akin to saying something wrong.

10.4.3 Failure to completely address the question Another similar problem is failure to completely answer the question. Writing, which is essentially the process of putting our non-linear thoughts into the linear shape of sentences and paragraphs, is vulnerable to “drift”—we start about writing about one issue and we “drift” into another. For example, a student could receive a prompt asking the how the completion of the Transcontinental Railway in 1869 changed Americans’ perceptions about the frontier. The student could start with an introductory paragraph about a railway trip she took from Dallas to Santa Fe in 2012. Then instead of turning back to the Transcontinental Railway, she could talk about other memorable family vacations: Disney World in 2009, the Grand Canyon in 2011, New York in 2013. Such an essay might be interesting and might be well-written, but it would not answer the question very well. A good way to guard against this “drift” is to re-read the question or prompt after completing an initial draft.

10.4.4 Lack of evidence The saying “everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion” is well-known. But the saying should not be interpreted to mean that all opinions should be given equal consideration. In fact, opinions based upon and supported by facts have to be given more weight than opinions based on whim. Area E writing assignments, like most other writing assignments in the academic world, will privilege writing that backs up its contentions with evidence—not just with the author’s say-so. For example, a student writer could contend, “Everyone knows that the most inexpensive place to buy gasoline in Barnesville is at the Ingles on Highway 41.” Such a thought is all well and good, but it is much more convincing when the student writer brings evidence to bear. Consider the following: “weekly collection of data indicates that the regular unleaded gasoline at the Ingles on Highway 41 averaged six cents a gallon less than its closest competitor between the period of February 12 and April 13, 2014.” Students in Area E classes should strive to support their contentions with evidence.

10.4.5 Differentiating between facts and opinions We have become a nation of very opinionated people. What is more, we are strongly committed to our opinions. Sometimes, we are so committed to our opinions that we think of them as uncontestable; that is, we think of them of facts. Differentiating between facts and opinions is an important element in Area E writing assignments. One way to think about it is like this: opinions are what a person thinks, facts are why that person thinks that way. Facts tend to be those things that come from the library; therefore, they are verifiable and can be cited. If something’s source is just you, then it is probably an opinion.

For example, “Breaking Bad was television’s best show” is an opinion. “Breaking Bad has a user rating of 9.5 out of 10 possible according to Internet Movie Database” (“Breaking Bad”) is a fact. Breaking Bad was nominated for one hundred ninety-two major industry awards and won one hundred eighteen of them, including Best Dramatic Series, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Actor” is another fact. The opinion (TV’s best show) can rely on the facts (IMBd ratings, number of awards) for support.

Savvy students are aware of when writing assignments are asking for facts, when assignments are asking for opinions, and when assignments are asking for opinions backed up by facts.

10.4.6 Differentiating between narrative and analysis Earlier in this work, the difference between expository writing and analysis was discussed (see Sections 10.1.5 and 10.1.6). To be successful in Area E, students should avoid confusing expository writing (or narration) with analysis. At the risk of over-simplification narrative asks, “What happened?”. Analysis, on the other hand, asks, “Why did it happen?”. Students should always differentiate between the two and plan their responses accordingly.

10.4.7 “Dumbing down” A cousin to “Failure to completely answer the question” (see Section 6.3.3) “dumbing down” occurs when a student writer strips a complicated question of its nuance and fine distinctions in an effort to avoid mistakes. For example, an essay question such as “Describe in detail why Germany lost the Second World War” could be answered by something like “Germany lost the Second World War because it was unable to fight successfully on two fronts.” This response might technically be correct, but would not be a very strong essay examination answer because it leaves much unsaid—American industrial output, Allied bombing of major German cities, ability of the Red Army to withstand unthinkable losses, Italy’s early exit from the war, etc.

10.4.8 Grammar, mechanics, usage and the “ten strike” rule Sometimes students think that worrying over issues such as proper comma use, subject-verb agreement, and pronoun referents is something only for English 1101 and English 1102. Such students are often very disappointed when their papers are returned splashed liberally with professorial red ink. For the record, grammar, mechanics, and usage “count” in Area E classes just as much as they do in English classes. How many

51 errors are too many? That’s hard to say, but one Area E professor reports that he feels he cannot in good conscience pass any paper with more than ten serious mechanical errors. He calls this his “ten strike” rule.

11 Writing in mathematics classes On first glance, students might think that this is a misprint. Why would a guide to writing need a section on mathematics? But in fact, there is a sizable amount of writing in Gordon State College mathematics classes—more than many students would imagine. Furthermore, the skills necessary to write well in lower mathematics classes differ from the skills fostered in upper division mathematics classes. 11.1 Writing skills fostered in general mathematics classes (MATH 2501 and lower) Lower-level mathematics classes look to foster five key attributes in writing. Successful writers in 1000- and 2000-level mathematics classes will be able to demonstrate writing marked by: originality, precision, clarity, brevity, and accuracy.

11.1.1 Originality Students in 1000- and 2000-level mathematics classes should go beyond what the “book says” and answer the questions that they are presented with in their own words and in their own way. That way, students demonstrate that they have internalized the concept. Rarely, if ever, will a mathematics professor ask students to copy a line or phrase from the textbook verbatim. If students find themselves merely parroting back what is in the book, then they should stop and re-read the question.

11.1.2 Precision In mathematics classes “almost” or “kind of” understanding is not enough; student writing needs to demonstrate an exact mastery of the concept involved.

11.1.3 Clarity Although in literature a writer might occasionally see the benefit of having a story with an indeterminate ending, there’s absolutely no place for vague writing in the world of mathematics. Clarity is of paramount importance. Of course, clear writing needs to come from clear thinking.

11.1.4 Brevity The importance of brevity marks another key difference between writing for mathematics classes and writing for English classes. In English classes, a student writer might want to leisurely begin an essay with a memorable quotation or short anecdote, but in mathematics it is important to get to the point quickly. Mathematics professors encourage their students to state answers in such a way that they cannot be confused with any other answer and then move on. There is little reason to “beat about the bush” in mathematics writing.

11.2 Skills fostered in higher-level mathematics classes (MATH 3001 and higher) Although the five attributes that are important in lower-level mathematics classes are still needed in upper-level classes, they all pale to one—clarity.

11.2.1 The importance of clarity in higher-level mathematics writing Upper level college writing is marked by absolute and unfailing commitment to clarity. The student writer in an upper-division mathematics class should be prepared to sacrifice everything—even the niceties of grammar and usage, if necessary—to clarity. It is important that that sense of clarity be reader-based—that is, the writer should always be thinking “will this seem apparent to my reader?” not “does this seem clear to me?” Whether or not the concept or answer is clear to the reader—be that reader the instructor or another student—is always the benchmark that the student writer should keep in mind. For example, student writers in higher-level mathematics classes should not blanche at repeating their underlying assumptions when writing out a proof. Reminding the reader of the assumptions underlying the student writer’s thinking is not repetitive in mathematics writing, because it helps with clarity.

11.2.2 Pitfalls to avoid in higher-level mathematics writing Definitions, pronouns, and the difference between what, why, and how are all sites of potential confusion in mathematics writings. Students should be aware that an example and a definition are two different things: they should not provide an example when a definition is asked for; nor should they provide a definition when an example is asked for. Students should also be aware of their use of pronouns and avoid problems with vague pronoun referents. (In some ways, pronouns are the natural enemy to clarity.) Finally, students writing on mathematics tests should be very cognizant of the difference between what, why, and how. Although those three words could all be used to begin a question on a mathematics test, they are asking for three very different answers and should never be used interchangeably.

12 Writing in health sciences Whether students are part of the ASN program, the BSN program, or merely taking one of the required Health Sciences classes, writing and writing-related activities form a substantial portion of their curriculum.

12.1 Health and Wellness for Living and Physical Fitness for Life Gordon State’s two institutional requirement classes, Health and Wellness for Living and Physical Fitness for Life are both often taught without requiring students write a major research paper—though students should check with their individual professors as individual requirements can vary. Despite the lack of a research paper, writing plays an important part in these classes due to professors’ reliance on short answer question on tests and examinations.

12.1.2 The short answer question on tests and examinations A key element of health class test is the short answer prompt. Students should note that although the question calls for a “short” answer, it does not call for a vague or incomplete answer. Sometimes students approach the short answer prompt by 53 haphazardly jotting down anything vaguely related to the topic in the slim hopes that something they write might address the prompt. Such a scattershot approach is grossly inefficient and often fails to bring about the desired result. Instead, students should focus on specificity and accuracy and tailor their responses to the prompt as written.

12.1.3 Definitions and examples Professors in Health Sciences classes find it particularly vexing when their prompts ask for a definition and they receive an example from a student; or conversely, when the prompt asks for examples and the professor receives definitions. For example, if a prompt asked a student to “define the term carcinogen” and the student responded, “asbestos fibers,” such an answer is incorrect and is unlikely to receive even partial credit. (Of course, if the prompt had asked the student writer to list an example of at least one suspected or known carcinogen, the matter might be different.)

12.1.4 Critical thinking and Health Sciences classes Students should be sure to model the precepts of good critical thinking practices when composing their Health Science short answers. See Section on Colloquia in this work for a detailed explanation of critical thinking, but basically critical thinking refers to the practice of supporting ones contentions with reasons and evidence—especially evidence in the form of observable and quantifiable data.

12.1.5 Scenario-based tests in Health Sciences classes One venue for the Health Sciences student to demonstrate his or her critical thinking skills is with the scenario-based test. Scenario-based tests present a situation and ask the student to interpret what has happened, adapt to environmental factors, and apply what has been learned to a “real world” situation.

12.2 Writing in a Health Sciences Colloquium Writing in a Health Sciences Colloquium, such as Global Health Perspectives, will offer new challenges for the student writer. Both the assignments given and the writing qualities looked for will differ from the writing done in Physical Fitness for Life or in Health and Wellness for Living classes. A key difference is the policy brief assignment.

12.2.1 Writing a Global Health Perspectives policy brief The policy brief assignment asks the student to pretend that he or she is a public health official of a particular nation and has been asked to advise the nation’s leaders regarding one health issue. For example, the student could work with “HIV-AIDS” as the health issue and “Senegal” as the nation. After careful research, the student would select a course of action for the government and then use the policy brief to convince the government to adopt the selected course of action.

12.2.2 Attributes of an effective Global Health Perspectives policy brief A strong Global Health Perspectives policy brief will be convincing, well-researched, and succinct.

12.2.3 A convincing policy brief Students writing the Global Health Perspectives policy brief should remember that at its heart, the policy brief is meant to convince someone (government officials) to do something (adopt a specific course of action). In this manner, the policy brief is not all that different from the argument or persuasion essay students write in English 1102.

12.2.4 A well-researched policy brief Of course, readers are more likely to be convinced if writers use quality sources to back up their contentions. Students should avoid “just Googling it,” or infamously unreliable sources such as Wikipedia. Instead students should use reliable academic sources like The Lancet, The World Health Organization website, and the UNICEF website.

12.2.5 A succinct policy brief “Succinct” is an often misunderstood term. It does not mean “short,” as many people seem to think; nor does it mean “vague.” According to Meriam-Webster’s Dictionary, “succinct” means “marked by compact precise expression without wasted words” (“Succinct”). So a succinct answer uses every word it needs to completely answer the question without any extraneous “fluff.” Being able to express complicated thoughts in a succinct manner is a vital skill for success in college and beyond.

12.3 Writing in the nursing program Strong communication skills are a vital asset to a successful nursing career; therefore, it is probably not surprising that writing forms a significant part of the study of nursing. In many ways, however, writing in the Nursing program is significantly different from writing in other areas of the curriculum.

12.3.1 Documentation One key difference between writing in the Nursing program and writing in the Humanities is in the documentation system used. English, the Humanities, and much of the rest of the GSC community use MLA-style documentation. But MLA is far from the only documentation system in use throughout the academic world. In nursing, APA format is used. APA and MLA have a few similarities, but they also have many differences. For example, APA differs from MLA in the way that it privileges dates; the year is listed in every parenthetical reference. Such a difference is rooted in the very differences between the two disciplines: whereas a twenty-year old comment on Hamlet might still be useful, a twenty-year old idea on cancer prevention might well be considered ancient. Hence, the documentation system used in Nursing reflects the academic needs of those in the profession.

12.4 Writing in the ASN program and writing in the BSN program Not only does writing for the Nursing program differ from writing in other programs on campus, but expectations in writing for the ASN program differs from the expectations students face when writing for the BSN program. In accordance with nationwide QSEN standard competencies, writing assignments in the ASN program are given to promote growth and are evaluated primarily on content; grades take a back seat to the student’s

55 academic growth. In the BSN program however, writing “counts” as part of a grade. The BSN program classes will feature a major written paper in every course.

12.5 Good writing in the nursing program Good nursing writers demonstrate proficiency in writing strong sentences, paragraphing, strong source selection practices and responsible use of sources.

12.5.1 Sentences Strong writing—in the Nursing program or elsewhere—is built on a bedrock complete sentences. Nothing marks a neophyte writer faster than the occasional sentence fragment or fused sentence (aka “run-on” sentence). Students should check their written work carefully and make sure that it is free of both fragments and fused sentences. In addition, students should make sure that their work carries a variety of sentences: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences should all be represented.

12.5.2 Paragraphing Another aspect of good writing is paragraphing. To review, a strong paragraph is composed of a topic sentence (often the first sentence of the paragraph), three to six sentences expanding on that topic sentence and, when appropriate, a transitional sentence leading to the next paragraph. A good paragraph is four to seven sentences long and is never longer than ten sentences.

12.5.3 Source selection The digital revolution of the past few decades has dramatically changed academic research. Today’s students simply do not carry out research the way that their teachers did when they were students. Therefore there is sometimes a gap between students and professors about what constitutes responsible research. “Just what is it that makes a ‘reliable’ source reliable?” is the topic of a long and detailed conversation that every student should have with her professor when embarking upon a research project. Despite the changes in research in the wake of the digital revolution, the essence of what constitutes a “good source” has not changed all that much. Good sources are timely, peer-reviewed, and written by experts in the field—that much is true whether a source appears in a paper-based or in an online-based journal. The MEDLINE database (available through Galileo) is a generally reliable locale to start most research projects in Nursing.

12.5.4 Responsible use of sources Just finding quality sources is not enough to ensure success in Nursing writing assignments. Students also should use their sources responsibly. Responsible use of sources includes knowing the difference between quotation and paraphrase, using quotations judiciously, and understanding plagiarism.

A key part of using sources responsibly is understanding the difference between quotation and paraphrase. Quotation refers to a word-for-word repetition of exactly what appears in the original source. Quotations are set off from the remainder of the

56 student writer’s text by use of quotation marks and are cited parenthetically. A good paraphrase changes every (or almost every) word in the original passage as well as the original syntax. Although quotation marks are not used with paraphrases, they are cited parenthetically. Struggling students sometimes become over-reliant on quotation. Generally, no more than ten percent of a student’s paper should be composed of quotations.

Students need to take the concept of plagiarism seriously, but at the same time they should not be so afraid of plagiarism that they cannot use sources effectively. Plagiarism literally means “an act of copying the ideas or words of another person without giving credit” (“Plagiarism”) and, when the plagiarism is intentional and/or repeated, can carry punishment up to and including expulsion from the institution. But the plagiarism spectrum can also include such relatively minor infractions as failure to cite a particular statistic or submitting an incomplete list of references. Nursing faculty members are trained to recognize these various levels of plagiarism and are quick to differentiate between an offense that requires disciplinary action and a teachable moment. Additionally, students should be aware that the Nursing School at Gordon State College uses the Turnitin.com plagiarism detection service on a school-wide basis.

13 Writing in the Education program Students in GSC’s Education program may find themselves required to produce numerous written assignments including bibliographies and research papers. Many professors in the Education program adopt a process-based approach to student writing; that is, professors are not only interested in the finished product that a student submits but will also want to see evidence of the various steps (drafts, pre-writing activities, etc.) that lead to that finished product.

13.1 Bibliography Students in the Education program may be assigned a large bibliography assignment that can require up to fifty sources. Students will need to both summarize and critique the works on the bibliography. Obviously understanding the difference between summary and critique is a key component of doing well on the assignment. In short, “summary” refers to distilling the book’s content into a couple of sentences or paragraphs; “critique” refers to looking critically and ranking the work’s merits and faults.

13.2 Research paper At the risk of stating the obvious, a good research paper is based on research, not the writer’s opinion. Students should follow the directions carefully. They should collect strong sources—and it should be noted that many education professors do not accept general websites as sources—synthesize (that is, put together) what the sources say on a topic, and organize the paper in a logical, coherent, and organic manner. Additionally, many Education professors strongly encourage students to make use of the Student Success Center. Finally, ever-mindful of the way that teachers and would-be teachers need to model strong educational habits, Educations students should proofread their papers carefully before submitting the papers for evaluation.

13.3 Pitfalls to be avoided when writing in the Education program There are a number of pitfalls students should try to avoid when writing in the Education program. Some of the pitfalls include failure to follow directions, failure to properly understand synthesis, poor organization, poor transitions, verbosity, and a lack of attention to grammar, mechanics, and usage.

13.3.1 The failure to follow directions pitfall It has been said that one-half of life is simply following the directions. Although we could, perhaps, quibble with the exact percentage, it is undisputed that following directions is important. Yet good students often do poorly on easy assignments for precisely this reason—they have failed to follow directions. Why is this so? Perhaps over-confidence is part of the reason; the student, having read the directions early in the unit fails to read them again to double check. A good way to guard against this is to make sure to read the directions at least twice: once when the assignment is distributed and once again when the assignment has been completed, but before it has been submitted.

13.3.2 The synthesis pitfall Some education professors have noted that the synthesis step trips up many students. Synthesis should not be confused with summary; nor should it be confused with analysis or critique. Synthesis is a putting together of disparate ideas. For example, if a student asked fifteen colleagues where the best place for lunch around campus was and six of them replied “Highlander Hall,” four of them insisted that it was Subway, three suggested the pizza restaurant and one each liked the Chinese restaurant, and the Mexican restaurant, the student could synthesize that information and conclude that Highlander Hall was a popular—but by no means unanimous—choice for lunch among Gordon students. Remember: synthesis is a putting together and it differs from both summary and analysis.

13.3.3 The organization pitfall A second pitfall for Education students is the organization pitfall. Although professors can often be tolerant of a variety of organizational strategies, every paper should have an organizational strategy. New paragraphs should not come as a surprise to the reader; in fact, a paragraph should be placed in such a way that it cannot logically go anywhere else in the essay. There are many different organizational strategies: temporal—from the earliest to the most recent, from the general to the specific, from the specific to the general, from an argument’s weakest reason to its best reason, but all essays need an organizational pattern

13.3.4 The transitions pitfall Closely related to the organizational pitfall is the transitions pitfall. Most students know that every paragraph needs a topic sentence—a sentence that announces the purpose of the paragraph. But paragraphs also need transitional sentences—a way to guide the reader from the paragraph he or she is reading to the new paragraph. For example, in a paper touting the advantages of attending Gordon State one paragraph might be about

58 its ample parking and the following paragraph might be about its new and modern student housing. A transitional sentence at the end of the first paragraph might say something like, “Of course, not every student is a commuter; for those who want to live on campus Gordon offers many attractive options.”

13.3.5 The verbose pitfall Education students should be careful not to confuse quantity with quality. More is not always better and students should not labor under the assumption that merely piling on more extraneous information will save a weak writing assignment. The best advice seems to be, “make your point; make it fully and then move on.” Good Education writing is succinct.

13.3.6 The grammar mechanics and usage pitfall Sometimes students writing in the Education program are surprised and disappointed to learn that poor grammar, mechanics, and/or usage habits can derail otherwise strong efforts in writing. It is important to remember that things like subject/verb agreement, proper comma usage, and appropriate tone are not just for English classes, but should stay with the student during his or her entire career. This is especially true for teacher candidates who will be looked on to model appropriate academic behavior.

Section F: Supporting Documents

14 Tips for success in college No-one plans to flunk out of college. And yet people—far too many of them—do so. Why is that? Although there is no one simple answer to that question nor is there one simple step that will guarantee success, by adhering to the following basic steps students can greatly increase their chances of graduating. 14.1 Actively attend class Most people have heard the adage, “Fifty per cent of life is just showing up.” There is a great deal of truth to that saying: success without regular attendance is impossible. Hard and fast rules regarding attendance are difficult to come by, but most professors would agree that students who miss more than three sessions per semester risk failing their class on attendance alone.

However, to “actively attend class” means much more than being physically present. Students should arrive at class well rested, well-prepared and ready to learn. Sit in the first row if at all possible and stow electronic equipment (including cellular telephones) out of sight before class begins.

14.2 Always Alert (aka Early Alert) Gordon State is a steadfast participant in the “Always Alert” program. Under this program, struggling students are notified that their performance is unacceptable long before final grades are posted. Targeted students will be required to attend a brief but mandatory meeting with an academic counselor in order to develop a plan to improve student’s academic performance.

14.3 Asking questions/class participation One of the characteristics of high-performing students is that they show an eagerness to ask questions and to participate in class. Teachers might interpret silence as understanding, so don’t hold back: if something isn’t clear, ask about it.

14.4 Be prepared for class Being prepared for class means having the necessary materials, but it also means keeping up with the syllabus so the student knows what will be covered in that day’s meeting. Homework assignments from previous class meetings should be completed well before class begins and all readings should be completed. Notes from previous sessions should be reviewed before all class meetings.

14.5 Be alert Good students arrive at class early having read their syllabus and knowing what is planned for that day. Students should sit as close to front center as possible and keep their eyes on the professor throughout the class meeting, taking careful notes as needed. The best way to avoid the temptation of distracting devices such as cellphones is to store them out of sight throughout the class meeting.

14.6 Dropping classes Although there are some good reasons to occasionally drop a class (e.g., change in student’s major area of study, or a change in student’s transportation resources); students should be careful not to over-use or mis-use the drop option. Dropping should not be looked at as a “magic wand” to make poor grades disappear. In fact, dropping classes can have severe effects on a student’s academic eligibility and financial aid standing. Students considering dropping should, at the very least, meet with the class’s professor and their advisor before taking that step. The last day to drop is published on the “Approved Calendars” page available under the “My Gordon” tab on the college’s website.

14.7 Electronic devices Unless your teacher specifically requests you keep your phone, i-pad, or kindle at hand, it is probably a good idea to power down the item and store it tucked away for the class period. Students who divide their attention between an electronic device and the classroom’s agenda tend to see their grades suffer.

14.8 Emailing a professor An electronic correspondence with a professor should be short, to the point, and professional. Avoid slang, excessive or unusual abbreviations, overly familiar endearments, and “net-speak.” Use capital letters, proper grammar and appropriate punctuation marks.

14.9 End of the semester reviews Some professors provide end of semester reviews; some don’t. Students should remember that an end-of-semester review, no matter how thorough, is no substitute for regular studying.

14.10 Following directions It has been said that half the secret of success in life is following the directions. It is probably more like sixty or seventy per cent. Simply by scrupulous adherence to the rules a student can almost guarantee a limited amount of success. Don’t assume anything and when in doubt, clear up foggy instructions during professor’s office hours. When you’re asked to write a two-hundred fifty-word paper, do not assume that one- hundred ninety-five words is close enough. Don’t assume “Comic Sans” is an appropriate font for an academic paper unless your professor says so. When you’re asked to read to page sixty, read to page sixty –not to page fifty-eight.

14.11 Grade forgiveness One of the most student-friendly policies at GSC is the one that is known as “grade forgiveness.” Under this policy a student may re-take a class he or she did poorly in. The student’s new grade effectively “erases” the earlier poor grade from GPA computation—though the earlier grade remains on the student’s transcript.

14.12 Native-speaking students and ESL faculty As we all know, it is a global world and it is almost as likely that your teacher could come from Shanghai in the People’s Republic of China as from Valdosta in the state of Georgia. Even though speakers of English as a Second Language are carefully vetted for their knowledge of English, it’s possible that some learners might occasionally have trouble understanding their foreign-born professors. If that happens there are some simple steps that you can take to ensure can understand your professor: avoid distractions, concentrate, sit close to the front, watch the professor’s mouth, and, when confused, ask the professor to repeat him or herself.

14.13 Midterm grades At Gordon State College, the only grades that are published on Banner Web are failing grades, so “no news is good news” –a blank space on your “Midterm Grade” column means that you are at least passing the course. However, it is probably a good idea to use the midterm juncture to take stock. The important thing is this: if your grades aren’t where you want them by midterm, you are going to need a new plan. Meet with your advisor, meet with the class professor, but assuming you can get different results by utilizing the same strategy is foolish.

14.14 Note taking Before class begins, prepare your materials: you’ll need a pen and at least one or two pieces of paper. Try to take at least one full page notes for every class meeting. At the very least write down definitions for key terms, names, dates, and places (especially the ones that are unfamiliar to you). The Student Success Center sometimes provides workshops on note taking techniques. Check with them for details.

14.15 Prioritize Knowing how to prioritize is an important part of developing good academic habits. Knowing due dates, what percentage of final grades assignments are worth, and knowing what deserves painstaking attention and what can be done quickly are valuable tools for the GSC student.

14.16 Students with special needs Students with a documented disability should register with Accessibility Services during the first days of the semester. Accessibility Services is located in Room 212 of the Student Center.

14.17 The Gordon State College Student Success Center Imagine if the GSC administration gathered a group of talented teachers, administrators, counselors, and students together and told that group to begin working on boosting graduation rates. Imagine if the administration built an attractive, bright and modern space for this group to work in. Imagine if they filled that attractive space with state-of-the-art computers. Imagine if the group began tutoring sessions, holding presentations and in general doing everything that they could think of to help our students. Of course, this place is not imaginary, it is real; it is the Gordon State College Student Success Center. 62

14.17.1 Location The Student Success Center is centrally located on campus on the second floor of the Student Center, directly above the GSC bookstore.

14.17.2 Hours of operation SSC hours can vary on a semester by semester basis, but typically the Center operates under two sets of hours. Tutoring is usually available from around 9AM to around 6PM M-Th. The Center is usually open a bit longer for computer work and for printing. See the SSC staff for this semester’s hours.

14.17.3 Cost All SSC services—tutoring, skill sessions, faculty presentations, and computer usage are free to Gordon State College students.

14.17.4 SSC computer lab The SSC features some of Gordon State’s newest, fastest, and most state-of-the art desktop computers as well as high speed printing. Note: SSC computers are designated for academic use only. Access to social media and other non-academic websites is restricted.

14.17.5 SSC tutoring: what happens Tutoring in English and math is at the heart of the Student Success Center’s work. Tutoring sessions feature student tutors and run anywhere from five to thirty minutes. Student tutors strictly abide by the principle that the “pen stays in the client’s hand” that is, tutors will help students write for themselves, but the tutors will never write for the student. Tutoring sessions can focus on any aspect of the writing process: grammar, mechanics, usage, thesis, organization, research, or getting started. Students using the Center’s tutoring services are strongly encouraged to bring their professor’s assignment sheet with them to the tutoring session.

14.17.6 SSC tutoring: what does not happen Tutors will not write papers, proofread documents or research papers for students. Tutoring at the GSC SSC is an active process. It is not like hiring a private chef to cook for you; it’s like going to cooking school yourself. Moreover, students should make plans to visit the SSC well before their deadline. There is very little tutors can do for a student who has a paper due in an hour.

14.17.7 Benefits of tutoring Statistics indicated that students who make frequent and regular visits to the SSC pass their Area A classes at a substantially higher rate than those who do not visit the SSC.

14.17.8 Other SSC services: professor-hosted workshops In addition to its tutoring work, the SSC sponsors frequent professor-hosted workshops on such disparate areas of interest as using Galileo, good study skills, time management and many more.

14.17.9 Other SSC services: student-hosted workshops The Gordon State College Student Success Center also host hands-on participatory workshops on such “meat and potatoes” issues as subject verb agreement, comma use, and MLA form. See the Center for this semester’s schedule.

14.18 Study smarter Despite its obsequious presence in movies and TV shows about college, the all-night cram session has been proved to be the worst way to study for a test. Instead, educators agree that students should review their notes for just five minutes every night beginning with the first class meeting and continuing all the way until the final exam. That way, they can succeed without the long sleepless night before the exam.

14.19 The syllabus Early in the semester, your teacher will make his or her syllabus available to you. Read the syllabus carefully and re-read it periodically throughout the semester. Many professors report that the majority of teacher/student misunderstandings could be prevented if the student had only read the syllabus closely.

14.20 Take advantage of opportunities Many unsuccessful academic careers could have been saved if students had just taken advantage of every opportunity they were given. For example, if a professor assigns a major project on October 7th, it is because he or she thinks it will take that students two months to complete the project successfully. Students can—and do—begin the project much later, but they do so at their peril. Students should also begin projects early. Office hours are another great opportunity for students and should be the first stop for any student who is struggling. Extra credit opportunities, when offered, should be seized upon whether or not the student thinks he or she will “need” the points: you never know. Forming study groups with two to four other like-minded students is also very beneficial.

14.21 What to call your teacher In high school addressing your teachers was easy; “Mr.” or “Ms.” fit most; others might have preferred “Mrs.” or even “Coach.” But in college we have all those titles, plus new ones like “Professor” and “Doctor.” At first, knowing how to address your professors can be confusing.

In fact, it is pretty easy: the term “Professor” can refer to anyone who teaches in a college (that is, one who speaks; one who “professes”); on the other hand, “Doctor” is title bestowed on one who has completed a PhD or its equivalent. So, “Professor” refers to the job and “Doctor” refers to a level of education. Moreover, although everyone who teaches at a college can be addressed as “Professor,” only some can rightfully be

64 addressed as “Doctor.” One final hint: when in doubt, check the teacher’s syllabus; how he or she refers to him or herself is probably the preferred way of being addressed.

14.22 Where to sit in class Part of your final grade is determined by first decision you make upon entering a classroom—where to sit. Maybe it is true that cool kids sit in the back of the classroom. If it is true, then they pay a high price for that coolness: statistics show that students who sit in the back of the classroom score lower than students who sit in front. Our advice: sit as close as possible to the front row center. Doing so will result in fewer distractions, an easier time concentrating, and, ultimately, a higher grade.

14.23 The 2:1 ratio Some high school classes are arranged so that most of the work happens within the classroom period. Therefore, students can be successful doing little or no homework. That is not true for college classes. A college class is devised so that two hours of work outside of class is required for everyone hour of classwork. Therefore, a typical three- credit course requires six hours of homework per week.

15 Strategies for timed writing assignments

15.1 The importance of defining terms Just what is meant by “timed writing assignment”? The definition, “a writing project with a deadline” doesn’t really tell the whole story. In fact, in the larger sense, all writing assignments are timed writing assignments—the semester itself is a time limit. For that matter the human life span itself is a deadline (no pun intended); we are allowed “x” number of years to writing something great and no more.

But for our purposes in this book, let us refer to timed writing assignments as academic composition projects where the student writer is limited to ½ hour, hour, or two hour period. Such assignments include college in-class essays, midterm examinations, and final examinations. These assignments provide their own special challenges for the writer.

15.2 Step one: forget everything Well, maybe not everything. But in some ways, in-class timed writing assignments ask the student writer to re-think some of the most dearly-held principles of writing. For example, one thing that many writing teachers—including the authors of this book— strongly encourage is the practice of taking some time, say, twenty-four hours or so, between the completion of the first draft and the beginning of the revision process. Obviously, that’s not possible in a two-hour timed writing assignment. Use of the Student Success Center tutors is generally not going to be an option either. Depending on the assignment and the time allowed, substantial re-writing might not be possible either.

15.3 Timed writing assignments: before, during, and after The special nature of timed writing assignments requires adjustment to the student- writer’s plan of attack. Those adjustments should take place before, during, and after the timed writing assignment has been executed.

15.3.1 Adjustments made before the timed writing assignment When approaching a timed writing assignment, the student writer should ask two questions:

“Will I have access to the question before the writing period begins?” “Will I be writing an argumentative essay or an expository essay?”

15.3.2 Having access to the question before the writing period Sometimes the professor will give the students the question a day or two before the in- class writing assignment; sometimes students will not see the question until the timed writing period begins. Being able to see the question in advance is undoubtedly an advantage –students can think carefully about the topic, do a little light research, and pre-write at their own pace. However, in some ways, access to the question in advance puts an onus on the student writer.

Think about it this way: if you have access to the question in advance, so do the other students. The professor is going to evaluate the essays with the idea in mind that the students had access to the question in advance. Therefore, such a professor is apt to hold students to a higher standard than the professor who withheld the examination question until class time. It is important to take advantage of the question and sketch out a few ideas in advance–your classmates (with whom you’re in competition with, after all) are doing it, so you should too.

So, when having access to the question in advance, at the very minimum the student writer should complete a number of activities before the class meets. The student writer should develop a working thesis (complete with subtopics), have two salient examples for every subtopic, and have some idea of what the essay’s conclusion will cover. The professor may (or may not) allow students to bring notes or source material into the examination room; students should also prepare accordingly. Blue books or notebook paper, if needed, should also be procured and set aside along with pens (at least two, blue or black ink) and a dictionary. It is usually a good idea to put this material together in a corner somewhere a two to three days in advance of the exam—the morning of the exam is NOT the time to be searching for an errant ballpoint pen.

15.3.3 No access to the question before the writing period When the student writer is not given access to the examination question in advance, there is still plenty to do. In fact, there’s arguably more work to do when access to the question is withheld. The first thing a student should do in that case is to ask the professor whether or not the professor allows students access to previous semester’s exam questions. Many professors save exam questions (or “prompts” as they are sometimes known) and will allow students access to the prompts—usually in the

66 professor’s office and during regularly scheduled office hours. By examining a number of old prompts, the student-writer will get a strong idea of what to expect when the examination time arrives.

If accessing old prompts is not possible, the student writer should sit down and ask his or herself a series of questions like, “If I were the professor, what would I ask on the final examination?” “What has been important to the professor?” “What has been mentioned more than once during the semester?” “What did the professor say about the subject on the very first day of class?” (Some professors love to “bookend” the semester by referring back to something that was mentioned on the very first day of classes.)

15.4 Argumentative timed writing essays After determining whether or not the student writer will have access to the prompt before the writing period begins is to determine whether the essay prompt directs the student to write an argumentative essay or an expository essay. Many worthwhile academic efforts have been torpedoed by argument essays being mistaken for expository essays or expository essays being mistaken for argumentative essays. The difference can sometime be subtle, but it is always present: an argumentative essay seeks to change the mind of one who feels differently; expository essays merely present information in an unbiased may. To use the daily newspaper as a metaphor, an expository piece would be in the “news” section and an argumentative piece would more likely be found in the “opinion” or “editorial” section. It is important to realize that the identical topic can yield two very different essays and a good expository essay is likely to be a very poor argumentative essay. All too often students argue when they are not expected to and fail to argue when they are expected to do so.

An argumentative essay seeks to change the reader’s mind about an issue. Usually an argument needs a claim. The claim is what you want and is often expressed as a sentence that begins with “We should….”. Then use reasons and evidence to convince the reader of the validity of your claim. Reasons should reflect the audience’s values. Evidence, on the other hand, should be sufficient, credible, and accurate. Also: a good argument usually anticipates counter-arguments and refutes them.

As an example, imagine trying to convince a friend that the friend should become a public elementary school teacher. The writer would collect all of the best things about being an elementary school teacher: e.g., it is important work, it is fairly secure, it allows for ample time off, etc.

15.5 Expository timed writing essays In an expository essay, the writer is not asked to take a side; in fact, the writer should not take a side in the issue at all. The writer should simply gather all relevant information and present it to the reader in an unbiased way so that the reader is capable of making the best possible decision. The writer’s biases, if any, should be hidden so well that the reader should have no idea how the writer feels about the subject. The writer of an expository essay should also take pains to present all aspects of the question –both good and bad. So the writer of an expository essay on being an

67 elementary school teacher would present all the positive aspects of teaching, and also all the negative aspects: e.g., students are often underprepared, parents tend to blame teachers for their students low grades, many schools are under-funded, etc. The writer of an expository essay on teaching would need to present both sides of the issue, not only the advantages to teaching, but the disadvantages as well.

15.6 Reading essay prompts Teachers do not often identify their essay topics by mode: they don’t tell you, for example, to “write a compare and contrast essay about the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812,” or “write a process essay that explains how to conduct the dissection of a frog.” (See Sections 2.3 and 3.2 for more information about the writing modes.)

Instead, the mode will be indicated in the wording of the question. Remember, it is best not to think of it as writing “a compare and contrast essay” so much as writing about the Revolutionary War or about a method of dissection in the compare and contrast or the process mode.

Below is a table that illustrates some of the ways common writing modes are presented in essay prompts. Mode Common associated words and phrases in essay prompts cause and effect “why,” “for what reason,” hypothesize, “suppose will happen” classification “which,” “best,” “most,” superlatives generally (-est) compare/contrast “which,” comparatives (-er) definition “what does it mean,” “essentially” description one or more of the five senses, “signifies” exposition “explain” narrative “story” process “how” summary “essentially” synthesis “altogether”

(Also, be sure to consult the “Modal features” section of Section I for a more detailed look at the similarities and differences between and among the modes.)

16 Sets of words you just might be mixing up affect and effect We tend to use these words interchangeably, but they do not mean the same thing. In most cases affect is a verb, as in the sentence, “Sad movies affect me deeply.” Effect is usually a noun, as in the sentence, “The drug has a side effect associated with it.”

accept and except To accept is a verb and it means to receive or to take. Except is a preposition meaning “not including.” So, for example, a testy hot dog vendor might say, “I accept [verb with an ‘a’] all US currency; except [preposition with an ‘e’] for big bills, and wheat pennies.” allusion and illusion To make an allusion is to refer back to something, often to a cultural product like a book or a movie. If someone grumbled in an Irish-accent, “you’re a wizard, Harry; and a thumpin’ good one, I’d wager,” that person is make an allusion to the Harry Potter series. If that same person seems to pull a rabbit out of a hat, he is making an illusion. bemused and amused Although some might think that bemuse is similar to amuse, the words are actually quite different. Most are comfortable with the definition of amused: it means to be entertained or to smile. But to be bemused is to be puzzled, or bewildered. Although a student might be bemused by a Calculus test, he or she would probably not find such a test amusing. breathe and breath Breathe (with an ‘e’) is a verb; breath (no e) is a noun. So we might say, “Donna breathed [past tense verb] deeply. She took a deep breath [noun].” capitol and capital The words are both nouns, but a capitol [with an ‘o’] is a building; a capital [with an ‘a’] is a city. A person could write, “Our capitol [the US Capitol building] is in our capital [Washington, DC].” complimentary and complementary This one is a tiny bit trickier as complimentary is an adjective with two definitions. It can mean “to give praise,” as in, “Susan liked my new tie; she was quite complimentary.” Or, it can mean “to be given free of charge,” as in, “We got complimentary tickets to the Motörhead show since my uncle is Lemmy’s podiatrist.” Complementary refers to something that works well with something else, as in, “Notice how the bass line is complementary to the guitar solo in this song.” converse and conversate This one is easy: to converse means to talk with someone. To conversate is a recently made-up word that has no recognized meaning in Standard Academic English. Simply avoid using “conversate” and use converse in its place. e.g., and i.e. We can thank English’s Latin roots for this pair of confusing words. E.g. means “for example,” and i.e., means, “that is.” A writer could state, “Look at any state in the Mid- Atlantic region; e.g., [for example] Maryland.” Similarly, another writer might state, “I

69 found what I needed to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, i.e., [that is] peanut butter, bread, jelly, and a knife.” eminent and imminent To be eminent is an adjective meaning famous and well-respected. Imminent is an adjective meaning about to take place. For example, if the famous astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson was scheduled to speak at 7:30 PM and it was 7:25 PM, we could say that the talk by the eminent astronomer was imminent. farther and further Both words are adverbs, but they are used in different ways. In most cases farther refers to distance and further refers to time. A person might live “farther down the road,” but he or she might refer to the elementary school years as “further back in time.” fewer and less

To understand the difference fewer and less the concept of count nouns must be understood. Not surprisingly, a count noun is a noun that can be counted: concrete things like people, trucks, and Phillips-head screws. Non-count nouns are abstract things that cannot be counted: honor, love, fun. With that in mind, fewer is used solely for count nouns and less is used solely for non-count nouns.

NOTE: That means that the signs at the quick checkout lanes of most grocery stores are, in fact, wrong: they should read “ten items or fewer” since “items” can be counted. Feel free to bring that up the next time you visit the Barnesville Ingles. flaunt and flout To flaunt is to show something off in an obvious way as to draw attention to it. For example, if an athlete is awarded a championship ring and he constantly waves his hand as to draw attention to the ring, he could be said to be flaunting the ring. To flout something is to boldly ignore a rule or law. If students light cigarettes right under a blue “No Smoking” sign, then they could be said to be flouting Gordon’s no smoking policy. imply and infer The difference between these two verbs is simple: implying is done by the speaker; inferring is done by the listener. For example, if one roommate notes, “That’s your third dessert tonight,” the dessert lover could reply, “Are you implying I eat too many sweets?” The speaker could then retort, “No, I think you are inferring too much from my statement.” its and it’s Its [no apostrophe] is an adjective meaning “belonging or relating to a certain thing.” It’s is a contraction for “it is.” Therefore, we could state, “It’s [contraction meaning ‘it is’] true that the dog broke its [the leg belonging to the dog] leg.” lay and lie

Arguably the toughest pair of words to keep straight, correct usage of lay and lie depends on what verb tense is being used. In the present tense it is important to remember that lay is a transitive verb, so it needs an object. Therefore, we would write: I lay the book on the desk. Lie is an intransitive verb, so it cannot take an object. Therefore, we would write: “I feel woozy; I need to lie on the bed.”

NOTE: Of course, lie can also mean “to tell an untruth,” but let us put that aside for now. Even if you struggle with lie and lay you are in good company. Grammatically, Eric Clapton’s song “Lay Down Sally” means that he wants someone to pick Sally up and put her down somewhere—probably not what he meant. Similarly, Bob Dylan’s “Lay Lady, Lay” should be “Lie Lady, Lie.”

As complicated as lay and lie are in the present tense, unfortunately it gets even more confusing when we move to the past tense. The past tense of lie is actually lay, so even though “I lie in bed” is correct in the present tense, in the past we would have to make it “As I lay in bed earlier this morning…” The past tense of lay is laid: for example, “When Dr. Venus laid down my second draft, I could tell by his smile it was better. The past participle tense does not make things any easier. The past participle of lay is lain. One could write, “Crumpet the cat has lain in the kitchen’s sunniest spot for over two hours.” The past participle of lie is lay (just like it is in the past tense) so we would write, “She had lay in bed since the accident.” literally and figuratively If a writer uses literally, he or she should do a quick double check and ask, “did this actually happen; or am I exaggerating?” This is because literally means actually. If a person states, “When I heard that they broke up my head literally exploded,” that person is either using the word incorrectly or dead. Figuratively means “emblematically” or “metaphorically;” in other words, not literally.

NOTE: It should be noted that this definition of literally seems to be in the process of changing. A recent version of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary lists a secondary definition of literally as “in effect,” or, “virtually.” However, formal academic English should keep to the original definition for the foreseeable future. In academic writing, it is almost always better to adopt the “old fashioned” approach. Lie.” me, myself, and I As Beyonce taught us, this trio of words all mean the same thing. However, they function in radically different ways in a sentence. I is always a subject, as in the sentence “I went to the movies.” Me is a pronoun and it always forms an object as in “she’s with me.” Myself is an objective pronoun and its use is limited to the writer or the speaker referring to his own person as in, “with all the increases in college fees, I do not have enough money to feed and clothe myself.” NOTE: This same principle can be applied to the difference between him/her and himself/herself.

principle and principal Principal is an adjective meaning “most important.” With that in mind it is easy to see how the term became associated with a school’s boss –the principal is the most important educator on a high school campus. Principle with an ‘e’ is a noun meaning “moral or ethical rule”. Therefore one could have a principal principle—say, treating all with respect and kindness. set and sit Standard usage of set and sit, like that and who, differentiates between human beings and objects. People sit (an intransitive verb); objects are set (a transitive verb). Although you might hear, “I am going to set myself down and read the paper,” that construction is actually a non-standard one and should be avoided while writing in Standard Academic English. Since set is a transitive verb, it has to have an object: “I set my coffee cup on the table.” than and then Than is a conjunction used to show a relationship between two other nouns as in the sentence, “Steve is taller than Marty.” Then is an adverb meaning “at that time” or is used to describe what happened next. For example, “The 1980s were an interesting time; then a portable phone was as big as a shoe box.” Then came the 1990s, with less expensive and more powerful cell phones.” that and which The problem with these two pronouns is not so much their meaning, but when to use them. That should be used in independent clauses. Which is parenthetical—the sentence could exist just fine without it. that and who That is only used for things; who is only used for people. This can be tricky because in informal contexts, we use that for people all the time. But in Standard Academic English we should write, “Are you the person who (not “that”) sits behind me in Western Civilization?” their, there, and they’re There is an adjective meaning, “of or relating to certain people.” We could say, “Atlanta residents love their Falcons.” There is an adverb meaning, “at that location.” If we were standing across the street from the Georgia Dome, we could say, “The Falcons play over there.” They’re is a contraction of two words: they and are as in “They’re going to win the NFC South this year.” too, to, and two Too is an adverb meaning “to an excessive degree” as “the music was too loud for me.” To is a preposition used to indicate direction or location as, “We drove to my house.” Two is an adjective representing the second as, “I have two part-time jobs.”

We can even use all three of them in the same sentence: “By two o’clock [the hour after one] in the morning Steve was too drunk [that is, excessively drunk] to [where? home] drive home. whether and weather Whether is a conjunction used to introduce. Weather is a noun used in reference to meteorological phenomena. your and you’re Your is an adjective meaning “of or relating to you.” You’re is a contraction of two words: you and are. We might ask, “Is that your car?” meaning, “is that the car that belongs to you?” Similarly, we might state, “So you’re [meaning you are] a SUV owner.” One way to avoid confusion when using these tricky words is to take the contraction out the equation and think of you’re as you are.

17 Paper-wasting words and phrases that add nothing to your writing (so you should probably stop using them) Sometimes student writers are so intimidated by minimum length requirements in essays (“Oh my goodness, how am I ever going to think of one thousand words!) that they, perhaps subconsciously, try to “fatten up” their prose by using three words when one will suffice or using phrases that don’t add anything of merit to the writing. Below are some of the most common examples of Paper Wasters from the last couple of years of Gordon State English essays.

“all things considered . . .” As the name of a National Public Radio news program, “All Things Considered” is just fine. In a student essay, it seems to be just a slightly more long-winded version of “in conclusion . . .” and could easily be shortened to “in conclusion” or simply eliminated altogether. After all, it should be obvious that the essay has reached its conclusion.

“a lot” Really this one doesn’t waste all that much space because it can usually be substituted with another word that is more specific to what the writer actually means and is longer anyhow.

“at this point in time” (or “at the present time,” or “at this moment in time”) For starters, these phrases are redundant (what is the difference between “at this time” and “at this point in time”?). But even the shorter “at this time” is rarely needed as the reader of a student essay that was composed earlier that semester is not likely to think that the writer is referring to some distant past.

“at the end of the day…” This phrase is a bit too casual for formal academic writing, but even its more formal cousin, “in conclusion” is usually not needed. The reader should be able to see he or she has reached the conclusion of the essay.

“each and every…” Since “each” and “every” are synonyms, using “each and every,” rather than “each” or “every” alone is a waste of paper space. Such usage is tantamount to writing “every and every.”

“having said that….” This is a meaningless transition. Think about it this way: you have just “said” that (or, perhaps, written that); reminding your reader that you have written what you’ve already written is a colossal waste of time and paper space.

“I, personally, . . . ” There is no difference between “I like country music,” and “I, personally, like country music” so “personally” can always be cut.

“in today’s society…” Readers will assume that the writer is talking about twenty-first century America unless the writer states otherwise. “In today’s society…” does little other than burn precious paper space.

“in my personal opinion” Opinions are personal. There is no such thing as a “civic opinion” or a “corporate opinion.” Therefore, “personal opinion” is redundant: “in my opinion” works fine.

“it is to be thought…” A needlessly wordy and passive way of saying, “I think,” “it is to be thought” demonstrates the tortuous things writers are willing to do to avoid the first-person personal pronoun.

“it is what it is” This tautology has infected our language very quickly within the last few years. Like like, or y’know? the phrase it is what it is really has no meaning and serves no purpose except to fill space. One might respond: of course it is what it is; how could it be what it is not? It is probably best to leave this phrase out of formal academic writing.

“just sayin’” Although this space waster is much more common in informal spoken English, it is beginning to infect formal academic writing as well. Like others on this list, it simply restates what should be obvious to a reader and contributes nothing of value to the writing.

“let me begin by saying…” If the writer begins, does he or she have to inform the reader the essay is beginning? Can the essay just begin?

“on this planet of ours…”

Like many of the paper-wasters on this list, this one is obvious if we think about it from the reader’s perspective. Since there is little or no chance that the reader thinks you are writing about life on Neptune or Pluto, reminding the reader that we are talking about Earth is pointless.

“thanks in advance…” Written after asking the reader for a favor, “thanks in advance” is not only paper- wasting, but seems to take the ability to say “no” away from the recipient.

“to begin with…” (and its cousin, “in conclusion,”) Like others on this list, the phrase “to begin with” demonstrates a lack of audience awareness. If a paragraph is on the first page and at the top of a writer’s essay, it’s pretty obvious that it is situated in the beginning. In short, the reader knows the writer is beginning; there is no need to re-inform the reader of that fact. Similarly, the last paragraph is (or should be) the conclusion and there is often little need to restate the obvious.

“totally” Oh, Moon Unit Zappa, the troubles that you have caused. The problem with totally—as with many others on this list—is that it does not add anything to the sentence. Consider this: what is the difference between “I totally got an “A” on my American Literature quiz.” And “I got an “A” on my American Literature quiz.” If there is no difference, then the word adds nothing and can be eliminated.

“we, as human beings” In addition to sounding a little pompous, this is obvious. Yes, we are human beings. We are not muskrats or doggie chew toys or number two pencils with bite marks. But since the reader knows (or at least suspects) that we are human beings, reminding them of the fact is superfluous.

“with all due respect…” This phrase serves little purpose even when the writer has respect for the person being addressed. But an even bigger problem might be this: it is usually used just before showing a total lack of respect to the reader. Consider the sentence: “With all due respect, Dr. Provolone, you’re an idiot.” In that sentence the writer clearly has NO respect for poor Dr. Provolone; after all, the writer just called him an idiot. If writers wish to demonstrate respect, they can certainly do so. But feigning respect and then immediately showing contempt seems a bit twisted—as well as wasting precious paper space.

18 Top 8 Errors at Gordon State College This section lists the most common errors your professors identify as the most commonly made at Gordon. The purpose is to explain what these errors are, how to identify them, and how to avoid them. The explanations are succinct, so look in the Glossary to this book for further explanations and examples of each term that you find in bold.

18.1 Comma splices, fragments, run-ons These errors occur very commonly, and in many ways they often originate as punctuation errors as much as anything else.

18.1.2 Comma splices A comma splice is a sentence structure error where a writer places a comma alone to join together two independent clauses.

Comma splices often occur only because the writer sensed that some punctuation mark was required in the space where the comma was put, but it should have been a period, semicolon, or colon.

Take the following examples to illustrate the point. The subjects and main verbs have been underlined for the sake of convenience: I decided to run for Secretary, it’s the job I’m most suited for. She thought she’d just pour water on it, she forgot to turn off the power.

Both cases feature a comma placed where a conjunction should have been placed, at least, or where a period or semicolon would have worked as well. Consider first how the sentences would look with periods where the commas were:

I decided to run for Secretary. It’s the job I’m most suited for. She thought she’d just pour water on it. She forgot to turn off the power.

The four clauses could easily have been individual sentences. Consider also how the clauses would look with coordinating and subordinating conjunctions between them:

I decided to run for Secretary, and it’s the job I’m most suited for. She thought she’d just pour water on it, but she forgot to turn off the power. I decided to run for Secretary because it’s the job I’m most suited for. She thought she’d just pour water on it, though she forgot to turn off the power.

These changes do affect the meaning of the sentences, but that is also what conjunctions are for – they indicate how a reader should relate one idea to another.

NOTE: Do not confuse the comma splice with other comma errors. Though it does involve a comma, it is more on the order of a sentence fragment or run- on sentence because it is a sentence-level error. (See level error in the Glossary.)

18.1.3 Fragments A sentence fragment is a sentence structure error where a writer joins together a group of words, concludes them with an end-sentence punctuation mark, but the sentence is incomplete. The fragment can occur for any number of reasons:

 it is missing a necessary part of its subject or predicate,  it begins with a subordinating conjunction and contains no independent clause, or  it is actually only a lengthy relative clause.

18.1.4 Run-ons A run-on is a sentence structure error where a writer joins together two clauses into a sentence without any mark of punctuation at all. They are very similar to the comma splice, but they involve the absence of punctuation altogether.

18.2 Improper thesis statements An argumentative thesis statement should be a statement of opinion on some debatable point or issue. Generally it appears at or near the end of the introductory paragraph, and ideally it should include a statement of reason.

NOTE: It is best to get a general idea from your teacher before you write your essay what his or her stipulations are about the form and placement of a thesis statement. Some teachers have more particular requirements than others.

18.3 Misplaced punctuation This is a very large topic, and it is addressed in various parts of this handbook, but the idea behind misplaced punctuation as an error is that a writer understands that a mark of punctuation is required, but places the wrong one in that place.

18.4 Subject-verb agreement Subject-verb agreement errors usually occur when a writer fails to connect an action (the verb) with the performer of the action. The result is that there is a plural subject and a singular verb-form or a singular subject with a plural verb-form.

The guys who helped my dad gets too much credit. That tree behind the azalea bushes were planted ten years ago.

There are many reasons why this may occur, but most often it is because the writer put so much distance (several words or even phrases) between the subject and its verb, as in the examples above. A writer might make the verb agree with a noun that stands between it and the subject of the verb. In the first case the writer forgets that “guys” is the subject of the sentence and is trying to make the verb (“to get”) agree with “dad.” Likewise, in the second example, the writer is trying to make “to plant” agree with “bushes” instead of the true subject (“tree”).

18.5 Pronoun-antecedent agreement Pronoun-antecedent errors occur when a writer fails to make a pronoun’s number or person agree with the number or person of its antecedent. Often this is because the writer loses track of what pronouns are referring to what antecedents. Since any noun in a given sentence can be an antecedent, this is easy to do. During the editing and

77 proofreading phases of the writing process, an effective writer should take special note of his or her pronouns, wherever they occur, and make certain that no other nouns in the vicinity of each pronoun could be construed as the antecedent except the intended antecedent.

18.6 Improper indication of possessives There are many ways to indicate the possessive, depending on the word itself – on the type of word it is and sometimes on the sound the word makes.

With pronouns, each person has its own singular and plural forms. This form of possessive is probably the easiest to understand. The following Table illustrates common examples of the possessive pronouns in each form:

Person Singular Plural First my our Second your your Third his, her, its their

Nouns will have a possessive inflection, usually, taking the form most often of an -’s, and this is the part of possessives that can get complicated. If it is a noun or a proper noun, it will likely take the -’s inflection. The name “Arnold,” for example, would be changed to “Arnold’s,” and the word “dog” would be changed to “dog’s.”

Further complicating things is the possessive plural noun, especially if the original word already ends in an -s. Suppose, for example, there is a family of people with the last name “James,” and as a group, they own something. Is the possessive “James’,” “Jameses’,” or “James’s”?

18.7 Quote integration mechanics (See Section 21.2 for further information on this topic.)

18.8 Their, there, and they’re These errors are common, obviously, because they are words that sound alike to the ear, but their meanings are almost entirely different.

 Their is a possessive, plural, third-person determiner. Writers use it to indicate that something belongs to a group of people.  There is a demonstrative adverb. Writers use it to indicate that the position of something in relation to themselves is somewhat distant.  They’re is a contraction of they and are.

19 Top questions students have regarding English usage This section lists the questions teachers at Gordon find students asking most often. The purpose is to give a succinct answer to each of them, so students are encouraged to look in the Glossary to this book for further explanations and examples of each term that you find in bold.

19.1 “Can I ask questions in my essay?” Well, of course you can ask questions, but generally speaking, no, you may not ask questions in your essay. (See auxiliaries in the Glossary.) There are several factors at play here, the first of which is voice. Asking questions in an essay is more a matter of appropriateness than correctness. It depends on whether or not your teacher will allow it, but as a general rule, it is best to avoid asking questions.

The second factor is that asking questions influences the structure or organization of the essay, and often in a negative way.

19.2 “Why can’t I use second person (‘you’)?” In many ways, the answer to this question is an extension of the first. When a writer uses second person in his or her essay, the reader is being addressed directly, which is not usually appropriate in an academic writing context.

More often than not, however, when a writer uses second person pronoun in an essay, the antecedent of the pronoun is not made clear or is interchangeable with another pronoun nearby (often a first- or third-person pronoun).

19.3 “I know I need a conclusion paragraph, but what goes in it?” After writing a full essay, it can be difficult to decide what to put into the conclusion to it. Many writers ask at that point, “what new information could I add?” It might be helpful to ask yourself two questions – “So what?” and “Who cares?”

19.4 “What’s the difference between a semicolon and a colon?” Before thinking of the differences between semicolons and colons, it is helpful to note their similarities. Both punctuation marks really should only occur at the end of a clause.

19.5 “When I am writing my essay and reporting other people’s words or ideas, how do I know when to use present tense and when to use past tense?” This can be a very difficult question to answer without practice. The best way to begin understanding the difference between using present tense and past tense is to think about the difference between spoken and written language. Spoken language is ethereal and impermanent, while written language is more or less static and fixed. If a person writes a story, publishes it, dies, and the story is read about one hundred years later, the story goes on after the writer dies saying the same thing forever. If that same person has a conversation with someone, then dies, then it is correct to refer to that conversation in the past tense (what that person said) because there is no written account of it one can refer to. (And even if there were, it would be most accurate to say that the written account says something about what the people in it said to one another.) This being the case, it is most accurate to refer to anything that occurs in writing in the present tense and anything that does not in the past tense.

The main problem with this is usually not that a writer misunderstands so much as that he or she is not accustomed to writing in present tense for something he or she read, 79 resulting usually in inconsistency, as the person carelessly switches from one tense to the next.

19.6 “In punctuation, how do I know when to use a dash and when to use parentheses? What’s the difference between them?” This is a case where tone becomes important because there are many cases where a dash and parentheses are both correct to use, but one or the other is more appropriate to what message you want to send.

19.7 “How do I write better transitions?” The best way to improve transitions is to remember what it is that transitions really are and what they can be. Once a writer understands their function in an essay, then the possibilities open up. Writers use transitions to help readers understand how information that follows them should be understood in relation to information that comes before them. In truth, transitions are just as simple and as complex as that.

19.8 “How do I get started with this essay?” (See Section 5.2, “Invention,” for further information on this topic.)

19.9 “What’s the difference between quotation marks and italics?” There are many areas where the use of quotation marks and the use of italics overlap. In many instances the differences are most apparent in documentation mechanics. (See Section 21.6 for explanations on the proper usage of italics and quotation marks in documentation.) But this section focuses more on the non-documentation-related differences between quotation marks and italics.

19.9.1 Italics Apart from the documentation uses, italics should be used to indicate the names of aircraft, ships, spacecraft, and trains

Hughes H-4 Hercules RMS Lusitania Voyager Crescent words and phrases of foreign origin that have not become a part of the English language Festina lente habeas corpus scientific names of plants and animals Cladrastus kentuckia Enteroctopus dofleini words used as words or letters used as letters emphasis No you are not telling me this again!

Note also when italics should not be used, but often are:

 words and phrases of foreign origin that have become a part of the English language  clichés  a writer’s own essay title

19.9.2 Quotation marks Apart from the documentation uses, quotation marks should be used to indicate  informal titles  an unstable term (a term with a meaning or applicability that has not been established)  words spoken by someone, as in dialogue.

NOTE: One useful (though not universal) rule to follow with quotation marks is to use them as some people do in speech, when they describe something while making quotation marks with their fingers. This is a tendency people have in speech that generally carries over to writing as well.

Note also when quotation marks should not be used, but often are:  a writer’s own essay title

NOTE: A good illustration of the difference between using italics and using quotation marks can be found in one of the italics examples above: the Hughes H-4 Hercules. This was an aircraft designed by inventor Howard Hughes. Hughes had been so ambitious in his plans for it and materials used to build it that members of the press took to calling his plane by a disparaging nickname, “The Spruce Goose.” Note that the official name of the aircraft is given in italics and the nickname is given in quotation marks.

 Book titles

 Movie titles

19.10 “What’s the difference between lay and lie?” Many people who try to understand this one find it difficult, and it is hard to find a concise answer that is easily understood. Perhaps the easiest answer is this: to lay is a verb in need of an object, and to lie is a verb that does not take an object. Here are two examples to illustrate the point: Please lie down for a while. Now I lay me down to sleep.

Both sentences have similar constructions – lay or lie for the verb, followed by down to indicate manner. The difference is with the inclusion of me in the second sentence: in the first sentence the thing (or in this case the person) being set down is not mentioned,

81 and in the second the person (“me”) being set down is specifically mentioned in the form of a direct object.

To complicate matters, however, lay actually is the past tense form of the verb lie. That being the case, the following sentence would also be correct:

Usually, we would lay down for a while.

20 Tips to improve your writing style The following is a list of suggestions for improving your writing style. Bear in mind that style differs from grammar in that it has less to do with “correctness” than it has to do with “appropriateness” and to some extent “effectiveness.”

20.1 Close up the distance between subject and verb After writing a sentence initially, take a moment to consider what is the subject of the sentence and what is the beginning of the sentence’s predicate. The relationship of subject to predicate is important for understanding the sentence’s meaning because the subject indicates what the sentence is about, and the predicate indicates what the subject does or is. More often than perhaps any other issue, writers tend to insert language between the subject and predicate that obscures this connection.

A common stylistic issue writers have is that they insert a prepositional phrase between the subject and the predicate, when that phrase could have been converted into a modifier that came before the subject. Consider the following example:

The King of Spain from Castile

Note that the two underlined phrases are both prepositional phrases, modifying “King,” by giving a reader more information about who the King is. Remember that prepositional phrases are modifiers of something, and the more that are tacked on after the word they are modifying, the more redundant they can be. Also note that modifiers can go before the words they modify, as well as after. The above example can be reduced and enlivened in this way:

The Castilian King of Spain OR Spain’s Castilian King OR even Spain’s King is a Castilian

In the third case, more than merely converting a prepositional phrase into an adjective, a linking verb has been added, making the term “Castilian” the subject complement. (Also see Section 20.4 for more information on converting prepositional phrases into modifiers)

20.2 Close up verb phrases Verbs occur in phrase form more often than on their own. They can be accompanied by auxiliaries to indicate additional information about a verb’s tense and mood. Writers often insert words between the individual parts of verb phrases, to the detriment of the meaning in their sentences.

The first and easiest way to deal with this issue is to be mindful of verb phrases to begin with.

20.3 Close up the distance between modifiers and the words they modify It can be confusing for a reader when it is unclear what word in a sentence an adjective is modifying, and it can be confusing for the writer, too. This is especially true of adverbs because they are so moveable.

20.4 Convert prepositional phrases into modifiers where possible Prepositional phrases are modifiers in their own right – they give further information about the nouns, verbs, or adjectives they are connected to. That being the case, the object of each prepositional phrase is the most essential information contained in it and can usually be converted into an adjective or adverb.

Consider this sentence as an instructive example:

The man from Castile in my garden loves geography.

The underlined sections “from Castile” and “in my garden” are prepositional phrases. The sentence itself is correct, but the prepositional phrases make it unwieldy. One easy approach the writer of this sentence could have taken would be to convert one of those phrases into a modifier of some kind. Here is an example:

The Castilian man in my garden loves geography.

In this case the object of the preposition from the first sentence (“Castile”) has been converted into a modifier for the word “man,” and the meaning of the sentence is made more clear.

20.5 Reduce the usage of empty constructions Many writers have a tendency to begin sentences with subject-and-verb constructions that have very little inherent meaning. Sentences that begin with “It is…” or “There are…” are good examples of this. In the case of “It is…,” a construction is created of a pronoun (“it”) with no clear antecedent and the linking verb to be without a complement. Those details will be made apparent later in the sentence, but even so, the readers have already read the subject and the verb of the sentence without knowing who or what the sentence is about or why they are reading it to begin with.

20.6 Reduce over-reliance on linking verbs As the Appendix notes, a linking verb is a verb used to “link” the subject of a sentence with its subject complement. There is very little difference between the complement and an adjective, however.

20.7 Be mindful of word order in restrictive and non-restrictive elements Often also called “essential” and “non-essential” elements, restrictive and non-restrictive elements follow nouns and give more information about them. They most often occur in the form of a phrase. They occur often, but not much attention is often paid to the word order within them, which can be cause for some grammatical awkwardness. Simply put, a restrictive element narrows the reader’s understanding of the noun it modifies, and a non-restrictive element adds information to the noun without narrowing the reader’s understanding. (See “comma” in the Glossary, usage rule #4, for examples of sentence with restrictive and non-restrictive elements.)

The most common word-order error in a restrictive element is placing the preposition at the end of a prepositional phrase.

20.8 Be mindful of voice This is a large topic, so be sure to look for the bold-faced terms in the answer for much fuller explanations. A writer’s voice is the features of his or her writing that indicate his or her attitude or relationship with the subject matter, and these features can range from the sentence level to essay level.

Often, when a student hears the word “voice,” their mind goes to the term “passive voice.” This is one of those sentence-level elements of voice. A sentence is written in the passive voice when the subject of the sentence is not performing the main action of the sentence.

One important factor in voice is to remain consistent with it. A writer can easily slip from one voice to another.

20.9 Be mindful of diction This is an area where a thesaurus might be effective if used responsibly, though thesauruses are more often used ineffectively and inappropriately. Diction is the word selection a writer uses – his or her vocabulary – and since it is a topic of style, it is a question of whether the word choices made are appropriate to the situation or not.

Section G: MLA, APA, Citation, and Academic Integrity

21 Citation Basics Citation is the part of writing that involves giving credit where it most properly belongs. When a person speaks using his or her fingers as quotation marks (“air quotes”), that person is actually acting on the same impulse he or she should be following when correctly citing someone: quotation marks are what we use in language to establish some kind of distance between our own ideas and opinions and others’ ideas and opinions.

For example, when a person uses his or her fingers as quotation marks to say

Stacy said she was “too sleepy” to do any work that person is communicating to a listener that the words enclosed in quotation marks are Stacy’s words and not necessarily the words the speaker him or herself would use to describe Stacy’s true frame of mind. Consider how that sentence would look without the quotation marks:

Stacy said she was too sleepy to do any work

In this case the words “too sleepy” may or may not be Stacy’s, but the speaker’s frame of mind doesn’t seem to be any different from Stacy’s: the speaker isn’t skeptical about whether or not Stacy really was as sleepy as she said she was, or about whether or not “sleepiness” is a legitimate reason for not doing her work.

This is one of the many ways quotation marks can be used. It is important when it comes to citation because quotation marks differentiate one person’s words from another person’s words. The speaker in the first example doesn’t want the listener thinking that he or she actually believes Stacy’s excuse.

These examples illustrate the basic point, but it does get more complicated than just putting quotation marks around other people’s words. In most writing contexts, people are thought to have more or less a trademark on their ideas and on the clauses and phrases they use to express those ideas. (See the Glossary for further information on clauses and phrases.) Writers who borrow from other people’s ideas are expected to keep an appropriate and respectful distance from other people’s ideas so that it is clear what thought or expression of a thought belongs to whom.

Unlike the example above with Stacy, a writer could actually share another person’s frame of mind and still need to quote them word for word:

I agree with Stacy that “being too sleepy is reason enough to get out of performing open-heart surgery.”

In this case the quotation marks enclose words containing Stacy’s point of view and the words Stacy used to describe it. This is an expectation both Stacy and the listener have every right to expect from the speaker or writer because it clarifies who said what.

21.1 A case for academic honesty It isn’t just for clarity that writers should do this, though. It is an issue of academic honesty that they should. (See Section 21.1 for a fuller discussion of academic honesty.) If Stacy is not present to defend herself in a conversation about her work ethics, for example, then she has reason enough to expect that the person using her words to describe her frame of mind will do so as accurately and as faithfully to her original intent for them as he or she possibly can.

The best way to think of academic honesty might be to say that when a writer uses someone else’s ideas or words in an essay, it is something like borrowing that person’s personal property. This is why we use the term “intellectual property” to describe someone else’s intellectual work. (And we put the term “intellectual property” in quotation marks because it is not a term that we coined.) When a person allows us to use their property outside of his or her presence, they expect us to use it responsibly and for the purposes for which it was intended. It is illegal to do otherwise, and part of the reason for that is that since the owner is not present to protect his or her property, abuse of that property is an abuse of that person’s trust that we will use it correctly. The owner put a good deal of work into acquiring that property (or into producing it in the case of intellectual property), and that is important to respect.

A person does have limitations to the use of his or her intellectual property, however, so long as the person using it is not making money off of it.

In academic writing and in some other forms or purposes of writing, the expectation is that a person will use other writers’ words or ideas responsibly and respectfully through the use of citation. Depending on the field of study a person is writing for, there are several different formats for citing, but this chapter will focus specifically on MLA format in its examples. In any citation format, crediting other sources occurs in two places in the essay: in the in-text citations and in the list of works cited. The in-text citations occur in the body of the essay and may appear something like this:

I disagree with one critic who says that “a floor lamp’s design should always be a function of its utility” (Jenkins 37).

As above, this is a quote from someone. We know this because of the quotation marks and because of what is called the parenthetical citation following it. What goes in the parentheses is a name and a number. Format enables a reader to understand the significance of that name and that number. Knowing that this essay is written in MLA format, a person knows that “Jenkins” is the last name of the author who wrote this statement, and “37” is the page number on which that statement can be found in Jenkins’s source.

Suppose a reader wants to know more about Jenkins’s comment on the design of floor lamps? Suppose a reader wants to see it in the larger context in which it was stated? (After all, another part of the reason citation is important is because it literally means you are taking someone else’s ideas out of context and putting them into your own, somewhat different context.) In that case, a person who knows this is written in MLA format knows how to find out more by going to the list of works cited at the end of the essay. There the interested person will find a list of all the sources cited in the essay. In that list the reader will find something that might look like this:

Jenkins, Al. Event Horizon: An Intellectual Primer on the History and Design Intricacies of Western Floor Lamps, Marvin, 2009.

All of the details in this list entry are important to a reader in finding the information he or she wants to see. A reader is able to identify this as the entry he or she is looking for because it has “Jenkins” as the first word, and that reader will remember that “Jenkins” was the word given in the in-text citation. (The in-text citation should always be the first word of the entry in the list of works cited.) From this entry a reader knows also the title of Jenkins’s book and the publisher and year of publication. All a person would need to do now to find the quote from the in-text citation is find Jenkins’s book and turn to page 37 (the number in the in-text citation).

21.2 Integrating quotes (In-text citations) The important thing to remember about in-text citations is that they must be grammatically integrated into your own essay. This is a part of MLA documentation that many readers find very frustrating, but it is a necessity nonetheless. Grammatical integration means that, when quoting and citing other people’s material, a writer must incorporate not only a person’s ideas, but his or her language as well. Integrating quotes grammatically is another level of involvement with another person’s material, and it is in additional way of putting another’s ideas into a new context with the writer’s. (See Section 21.4 on paraphrasing and summarizing for an additional perspective on this.) Take this quote on page 186 from a book called The Ashley Book of Knots as an example:

“As the line or rope that provided the knot is no longer in use, the Bowline Knot is nowadays very apt to be termed merely the ‘Bowline,’ the word knot being dropped” (Ashley 186).

The quote itself is a complete sentence from that book, but if a writer were incorporating the quote into an essay of his or her own, it would be inappropriate to drop it into the essay as it appears above. This is because it is inappropriate to include a quote from someone without establishing a context for it. While the above example provides a reader with all of the information he or she might need to find the quote (i.e. the author’s name and the page number), it does not indicate the relevance of the quote to the point being made in the essay writer’s argument.

Often, the solution to the problem can be as simple as writing

One writer argues that, “As the line or rope that provided the knot is no longer in use, the Bowline Knot is nowadays very apt to be termed merely the ‘Bowline,’ the word knot being dropped” (Ashley 186).

There are many more descriptive and imaginative ways to integrate quotes than this, however. For example, one might say

One expert argues that the material used to tie a knot can affect the way that we think of the knot itself: “As the line or rope that provided the knot is no longer in use, the Bowline Knot is nowadays very apt to be termed merely the ‘Bowline,’ the word knot being dropped” (Ashley 186).

In this case, the quote is the same, but the essay writer’s material is separated from the quoted material by a colon. This allows the writer to expand his or her commentary to the level of an independent clause. (As discussed elsewhere in this guide, there are some limitations to the use of a colon to introduce a quote, though. (There are many rules of MLA documentation, but they leave a great deal of latitude for a writer, still. For example, a writer could incorporate the same quote by moving the author’s name out of the citation:

Clifford W. Ashley, an expert on the art and science of knot-tying, says that “As the line or rope that provided the knot is no longer in use, the Bowline Knot is nowadays very apt to be termed merely the ‘Bowline,’ the word knot being dropped” (186).

Notice in this case that the two critical bits of information for a reader who wants to find out more about this quote are there for him or her to see. The name of the author has been made the subject of the sentence, and the page number has remained in the citation. The most important thing is that a reader will understand that the source can be found in the essay’s works cited page by the surname “Ashley,” and the quote itself can be found on page 186 of that source.

21.3 Verb choice and tense A careful reader will already know a great deal about the source used in the example above without even reading its entry on the works cited page. The author’s full name is given, as is the title of the book, the page number the quote is from, and a little bit of what the book is about. A works cited entry for this book would appear this way on the works cited page:

Ashley, Clifford W. The Ashley Book of Knots, Doubleday, 1944. Print.

One important detail a reader might notice about this book is that it was published in 1944. The author himself (Clifford W. Ashley) died only three years afterwards. These things being the case, it seems odd to some readers and writers that the examples above use the verb “says” or “argues” to describe quotes from Ashley’s book. “He wrote the book decades ago,” they will say, “and he’s no longer alive to say or believe these

88 things.” So, they will wonder, “why would you say that he says these things, rather than said them?”

The rules about verb tense can be tricky when it comes to documentation. (See the Glossary for more information on verb tense in general.) Take this quote from the same book as an example:

Ashley says that “A knot is never ‘nearly right’; it is either exactly right or it is hopelessly wrong, one or the other; there is nothing in between” (18).

The verbs in this quote are all set apart to emphasize an important point about verb tense. Both the essay writer’s and Ashley’s verbs are in present tense for the same reasons. Ashley put his comments in the present tense because he believed his statements about knots and correctness would be true whether he was alive or not. Likewise, the essay writer uses the present tense (“says”) to describe Ashley’s comments about knots because the book in which the comments can be found has continued to “say” the same thing long after Ashley passed away. The idea to remember is that, so long as a quote can still be found, a writer should always think of it in the present, even when the author of the quote wrote it down long before.

The only circumstance in which a quote should be referred to in past tense (“said,” for example), would be if the essay writer is referring to a source that no longer exists. For example, if a quote comes from a book that is no longer available to anyone because it has been destroyed or permanently lost, then details from the book only exist in memory or lore. This does not happen very often, though. It is more common for a person to quote from a web site that has been taken down or altered from a past form. It also happens even more often that an essay writer cites a comment or statement (in a speech, for example) that has been unrecorded. In each of these cases an essay writer will refer to those comments in the past tense (as being “said”).

This being the case, is it most appropriate to state that an author says something when it is more accurate to say that it is written down? This is a very good point, but in academic writing “to say” is an accepted term to describe something in writing, and that is mostly because other, perhaps more accurate, terms (writes, declares, etc.) can seem archaic and draw unnecessary attention to themselves. For the sake of accuracy, it is acceptable to use terms like argues, states, claims, posits, or a host of others, but a writer should have good reason for doing so when a more straightforward choice like says will suffice.

When making verb choices to integrate a quote grammatically, it is also important to select a verb that accurately describes the action you are describing. For example, writers often use the term discusses to introduce a quote, though it is a poor choice since “discuss” implies an ongoing debate that is larger than a single quote.

Rule of Thumb: In making word choices, it is worse to be inaccurate than to be redundant.

21.4 Paraphrasing and summarizing There are other circumstances where the handling of other people’s intellectual property may involve the use of the paraphrase or summary. (See Section 21.1 for further information.) It may be best to think of the use of other people’s information in terms of length and exactness:

 While a quote, as described above in this section, involves the incorporation of someone else’s words, exactly as they are written, with the use of quotation marks,  a paraphrase involves the incorporation of someone else’s ideas, without omissions, but converted into language suited to a different context, and  a summary involves the incorporation of someone else’s ideas, but including only the most relevant or important ones.

The system is based on the idea that a person’s intellectual property rights extend not only to his or her ideas, but also to the words used to express those ideas.

21.5 Citation mechanics --An in-text citation should provide the first word of its entry on the works cited page. --A parenthetical citation hardly ever has a comma in it. The only circumstance where this is acceptable is if there is more than one source cited by the same author. --There should be punctuation of some kind following each parenthetical citation. This may be a period, but it also may be a comma. --There is no rule that citation should occur only at the end of a sentence. If a writer finds a circumstance where the first half of the sentence is a quote, but the second half is information that is original to writer, then he or she should put the citation before the original ideas begin. (See the Glossary for further information on basic sentence structures.)

For example, if this sentence were to appear in an essay –

I disagree with one critic who says that “a floor lamp’s design should always be a function of its utility” (Jenkins 37).

– and the essay writer wanted to explain a little more about why he or she disagreed with Jenkins’s position on floor lamp design than just that he or she disagreed, then the writer might revise it this way:

One critic says that “a floor lamp’s design should always be a function of its utility” (Jenkins 37), but this point of view does not take into account reductions to form and color done in interior design by the school of neoplasticism in early twentieth-century Holland.

This example illustrates how the placement of documentation is important to communicating the difference between a writer’s original ideas and a cited critic’s. If the

90 writer were to have put the documentation at the end of the sentence, it would have looked like this:

One critic says that “a floor lamp’s design should always be a function of its utility,” but this point of view does not take into account reductions to form and color done in interior design by the school of neoplasticism in early twentieth- century Holland (Jenkins 37).

And in that case, a reader might think that he or she was looking at a sentence that first provides a direct quote from the source written by Jenkins, followed by a summary or paraphrase that is also by Jenkins, all of which could be found on page 37 of that source. In that case, not only would the writer not be taking credit for his or her own original ideas, but also the writer would seem to be implying that Jenkins wrote or thought something very different from what Jenkins thought or believed.

Quotes can also be integrated with the use of colons, particularly if a writer wants to incorporate a quote in clause form. It enables the writer to attach more commentary to the quote, and it is less invasive to the quote itself. Consider the following example:

One critic considers lamps from an ultra-pragmatic standpoint: “a floor lamp’s design should always be a function of its utility” (Jenkins 37).

21.6 Italics and quotation marks MLA handbooks don’t say much about when to use italics and when to underline, but MLA does treat underlining and italicization interchangeably. A writer should therefore understand that, in circumstances where it is clear that underlining or italicization is called for, he or she should do one or the other each and every time: either italicize every time, or underline every time. It is usually best to italicize if the technology is available to do so.

Rule of Thumb: If the source being cited was published in standalone form, it should be cited in italics; if it was published as a part of a larger publication, it should be cited in quotation marks.

21.7 Authors’ last names instead of first Sources should be cited in-text by their last names only. It is a mark of professionalism to do so. It is inappropriate to refer to authors by their first names or by their titles (Dr., Prof., Mr., Mrs., etc.)

21.8 Reference markers It can happen that a writer refers to the specific details of a source, but instead of given in print, those details occur in some other, non-linguistic medium. In cases like that, spatial or temporal reference markers are acceptable.

In other cases, the source might be a print source, but there are more specific reference markers available than page numbers. This is especially true in the case of a poem or some plays. In cases like that, where a line number or act, scene, and line number are available, those numbers ought to be given instead of the page number because they are more specific reference points.

Likewise, in the case of more formalized poetic forms, like the Sonnet for example, a writer may refer to its individual parts. “In the second quatrain,…” for example, or “In the sestet, …”

21.9 A guide for the works cited page Most of the material above is relevant to the material here. As suggested above, the MLA documented essay has two dimensions to it – the in-text citations and the works cited page.

21.10 The basic works cited entry The basic format of any type of works cited entry is this:

Author’s Name. Title. Publication information. Medium.

Any works cited entry – regardless of its type – will follow this basic pattern. Note the punctuation of this example and the background colors of each section. A period is used to signify the end of each section. A works cited entry should not have this colors included, but the colors are provided here to assist in the examples in the following pages.

The author’s name, if it is given, should be included first, with the last name first, first name last, with a comma separating the two followed by a period. Sometimes things are written by more than one author, and sometimes no author is listed at all. If there is more than one author, and no more than three, it would appear this way in the author’s name section of a works cited entry:

Jenkins, Al, Reggie Davis, and Amy Anthony.

Notice that the names are not alphabetized. This would be because Al Jenkins was listed as the primary author of the book being cited, and that can be determined by carefully reading the first page of the source. Generally speaking, publishing follows the same rule as movie studios follow for billing a film: the biggest star gets his or her name featured most prominently or listed nearer the top of the movie poster. The same for academic writing – the primary author is listed before the others on the first page. The format for title and publication information varies greatly depending on the type of source, so see the following subsections of 2.7.3 for further information on how to cite those. The medium, however, is easier to determine: it is the method by which the content of the source is delivered.

21.11 Books The basic works cited entry for a book will be very similar to the example in the previous section, but the title will be given in italics. Here is a basic example of a works cited entry for a book:

Jenkins, Al. Lamplight: Lighting the Way, New York, 1997. Print.

Other information may be added, depending on the type of book. This might include the edition number, additional authors, graphic novels, etc. Most of all of this information can be found on the book’s title page, while some of it can be found on the book’s copyright page.

The title of the book should be given in italics. (See Section 21.6 for further information on the rationale for this.) As this example shows, the subtitle should be given in italics, also, with a colon between it and the main title.

The publication information generally will list an abbreviated version of the publisher’s name, followed by a colon, followed by the city of publication, followed by a comma, followed by the year of publication, concluding with a period. The year of publication will be the most recent year listed on the publication page. It is acceptable and expected that the publisher’s name will be abbreviated.

Generally, the medium will be listed as “Print” unless it was accessed electronically, in which case the medium will be listed as “Web” or “Kindle file” or whatever the case may be.

21.12 Articles The basic works cited entry for an article will be a bit different, mainly because there are two titles involved: the title of the article and the title of the journal it was published in. The basic principles are the same, though. Here is a basic example of a works cited entry for an article in an academic journal:

Mallory, Steven. “Flora and Fauna on the Yucatan Peninsula.” Journal of Mexican Wildlife Studies, vol. 36, no. 2, 2005, 17-36. Print.

The title of an article should be given in quotation marks, and the title of the journal should be given in italics. (See Section 21.6 for further information on the rationale for this.)

Also, the example includes the journal title in the blue highlighted area, rather than in the green highlighted area, where the title goes. This is because the article itself was published in this particular journal, making it a part of the publication information.

21.13 Other documentation formats Documentation formats are reflections of the academic disciplines that produce them, and what is most valued or important will be reflected through its emphasis in the documentation format.

21.14 What do people mean by “MLA” style? “MLA style” refers to a set of guidelines for writing from the Modern Language Association, or MLA. Most of its members are college professors. The MLA undertakes a variety of activities –it advocates for better pay and working conditions for its membership, encourages research in literary studies, and seeks to unite job-seekers with colleges and universities that are hiring.

The MLA also sets standards for how student papers should look and how those papers should back up their contentions with source material. Before going too much deeper, two things should be made clear: MLA style is neither stagnant nor does it have a monopoly on the way that scholars document their sources. MLA form changes every couple of years—the most recent update came in 2016. So what is the “right” way to do something today, will not necessarily be the correct way to document a source tomorrow. In fact, as of this writing, MLA style is undergoing a major change. Your professor may or may not embrace these changes and want you to incorporate them into your writing. When in doubt, see your professor for clarification. Moreover, MLA is prevalent in the Humanities, but other disciplines use other systems: APA, University of Chicago, Turabian all have their devotees. (Many students at Gordon would be well- served to learn APA format as it is used in the health professions. A section on APA format can be found following this section.)

21.15 Three components of MLA style The Modern Language Association serves as the “rule book” for the way many college papers appear and are written. MLA style has three elements: paper format, the works cited list, and parenthetical documentation.

21.15.1 MLA style: paper format At its most basic level, MLA format guides the student writer in the basics of pre-writing questions: where to put his or her name (upper left corner), how to write the date (European or “military” style fourth line from top), whether or not to use a title page (no). Before trying to submit your own paper in MLA form, try studying the example below:

Student 1

Susie Student

Professor Windbag

English 1102

30 February 2013

The Only Band that Mattered

They were only together a handful of years. They never produced

a Grammy-winning record or had a top ten hit. They never were asked to

compose the music for a big Hollywood film or had a Broadway musical

based on their music. They never had a lunchbox, Saturday morning

cartoon, or pinball machine produced in their image. However, the

1970s-80s punk band The Clash….

Or, if you’re just getting started, try using this fill-in-the blank version of MLA form for a paper’s header:

Your last name: ____ 1

______(your first name) (your last name) ______(Prof/Dr./Mr./Ms.) (your professor’s last name) ______(class name) ______(date) (month) (year) ______

(Paper title centered first, last and important words capitalized)

In MLA form everything is double spaced, the student’s name appears twice, once in the upper right hand corner with the page number and once in the upper left corner, the date appears in a European format and the title is not underlined, put in quotation marks or otherwise ornamented. Savvy students have their papers examined for MLA form by a qualified tutor from GSC Student Success Center.

21.15.2 Works cited At the end of every MLA style paper there is a list of “Works Cited.” Works Cited is an alphabetized list of every source that appears in the paper. Every entry on the “Works Cited” page should be mentioned parenthetically in the paper at least once. (Texts that are examined, but not cited directly, can be included on a separate list called “Works Consulted,” but most professors do not require a list of “Works Consulted.”) Works Cited has been called a “road map” to the paper’s thinking and a good works cited list answers the question, “what sources did you utilize to reach your conclusions?”

21.15.3 Formatting entries on paper’s works cited In 2016, the MLA drastically changed the way it suggested entries are listed on Works Cited pages. In short, it streamlined and simplified it as well as creating a “one size fits all” methodology for formatting entries. Prior to 2016, the MLA suggested a variety of formats for the variety of sources—books were cited one way, websites, another. After 2016, the following format system was to apply to all sources:

Author. > Title of Source. > Title of Container, > Other Contributors, > Version, > Number, > Publisher, > Publication Date, > Location. > Title of Secondary Container, > Other Contributors, > Version, > Number, > Publisher, > Publication Date, > Location. (MLA Handbook, p. 37)

We can almost hear our student readers thinking, “What in the heck does the MLA mean by “container,” anyway?” But before we explain these terms individually, perhaps two things need to be mentioned. One, not every one of these element is going to apply to every source. A new Stephen King novel, for example, is unlikely to have a

96 secondary publication date. Whenever any element is missing, simply leave it blank and move on to the next element. Secondly, pay careful attention to the punctuation separating each element in the box above. That is the punctuation to use when filling out a works cited entry.

21.16 A word about electronic bibliography generators You may be thinking, “I don’t have to learn this; there’s a machine to do this for me.” Well, you’re only half right. Yes, there are a number of “bibliography generators” available online that can work reasonably well most of the time. Some of the better- known ones include: EasyBib, BibMe, and Citation Machine. Even if your teacher allows you to use an online bibliography generator, you still need to know the information below as these resources only work when the student understands what the database is asking. When students lack a clear grounding in the fundamentals of MLA form, the wrong item gets put in the wrong place and the works cited entry is ineffective. In other words, “garbage in; garbage out”.

21.17 Elements of a works cited entry: “author.” The name of the primary creator of the work, or “author,” appears in reverse order (first name last/last name first) in the works cited entry. It is followed by a period. So, for example, if a student writer wished to cite the author of Great Expectations, her citation would begin with:

Dickens, Charles.

When two authors are responsible for the creation of a work, only the first listed author’s name gets inverted; the other name(s) appear as they usually do. So, if for some reason you wanted to cite this work, the authors’ names would appear:

Venus, Wesley and Mark King.

That method works well for resources with a modest number of authors, but some texts have dozens of authors. To avoid the drudgery of having to cite numerous authors, the MLA recommends using the Latin phrase “et al.” [literally, “and others”] for any work with four or more authors. So, for example, if Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippin, Dennis Rodman, and Phil Jackson all collaborated together on a book and Jordan’s name appeared first on the title page, a proper citation might look something like this: Jordan, Michael, et al.

Sometimes the author is a person at all, but rather a collection of individuals. If a book’s title page lists the “US Department of Agriculture” as its primary author, then use that just like you would any other author –but don’t invert it.

Department of Agriculture. “South Carolina Corn Yields in Drought Years.”

Finally, sometimes texts lack authors all together. When that happens do not use awkward phrases such as “No Author” or “Anonymous;” simply skip the author category

97 and move straight on the title. The medieval play Everyman is a good example of this kind of work; its citation would begin without any author listed, like this:

Everyman.

21.18 Elements of a works cited entry: “title of source.” Immediately following the author or creator is the source’s title, followed by a period. Short works—periodical articles, songs, television episodes are put in quotation marks. Longer works—novels, collections of poetry, television series are put in italics (underlining is usually not used anymore). The first letters of the first, last, and all important words in the title are capitalized So, for example, that student wanting to cite from Dickens would start her citation like this:

Dickens, Charles. A Child’s History of England.

Notice the “of” in Dickens’s title is not capitalized: it is neither the first, the last, or an important word in the title, so it stays in the lower case. “A” is not an important word either, but it is capitalized here because it is the first word of the title. (Highlighter is for demonstration purposes only; works cited lists submitted for evaluation do not contain highlighted passages.)

When referring to a shorter work, such as a short story, use quotation marks and not italics. The work is followed by a period and the first letter of the first, last and all important words are capitalized.

Dickens, Charles. “To Be Read at Dusk.”

21.19 Elements of a works cited entry: “title of container,” The image of a “container” is perhaps the trickiest element of MLA style to grasp. In short, a container is something that “holds” something else. For example: a short poem might be contained in a book or poetry anthology. A short story might be contained in a short story collection in book form or an individual television episode might be contained within a television series. In each of the following examples, the Title of Container is set off from the rest of the entry in highlighter (we do that only to draw attention to the container in this context; do not box the title of containers when devising a works cited list for submission). The container is separated from what follows it by a comma. A newspaper article is “contained” within the newspaper itself:

Castle, Stephen. “An Untested Leader Ascends to Manage ‘Brexit’s’ Aftermath.” The New York Times, 13 Jul. 2016, pp.1+

Similarly, a journal article is “contained” within that journal --

MacDuffie, Allen. “The Jungle Books: Rudyard Kipling’s Lamarckian Fantasy.” PMLA, vol. 29, no. 1, Jan. 2014, pp.18-34.

An individual episode of a television series “contained” within the series--

“Say My Name.” Breaking Bad, created by Vince Gilligan, perf. by Brian Cranston and Aaron Paul, season 5, episode 7, AMC, Aug. 26, 2012.

21.20 Elements of a works cited entry: “other contributors,” This rarely-used category includes anyone who, although not the principle creator of the work, contributed in significant way to the work’s production. A good example is a translator or the writer of a work’s introduction. In the example below, the translator’s name is highlighted for demonstration purposes. Other contributors are separated from what follows by a comma.

Molière. L’ecole des femmes. Translated by Ranjit Bolt, Oberon Books, 1998.

When discussing collaborative arts such as film, video, and theatre performances, use “Other Contributors” to list the name of the person (or persons) whose contribution is the focus of your inquiry. For example, in our Breaking Bad example (above), we listed the performance of the series’ stars, Brian Cranston and Aaron Paul. One could assume that the focus of our inquiry would be a scene between the two or a discussion of the character choices they made. If, on the other hand, we had wished to discuss the way the episode was shot we might have listed the episode’s director.

21.21 Elements of a works cited entry: version, Sometimes individual versions of the same work can have significant differences: for example, the King James Version of the Bible and the Good News Bible differ greatly in their wording. A “director’s cut” of a Hollywood movie can be quite different from the version that played in theaters. This can be noted in “version” and separated from what follows in the entry by a comma. (Again, the highlighter is used for demonstration purposes only.) The Bible. American King James Version, American Bible Society, 2012.

Scott, Ridley, director. Alien. Performances by Sigourney Weaver and John Hurt, director’s cut, 20th Century Fox, 1979.

21.22 Elements of a works cited entry: number, Sometimes sources are number sequentially. There are various reasons for this: editions, journal number, long works split into multiple parts or volumes, but MLA form insists all numbers be listed followed by a comma. (Highlighted passages are for demonstration purposes only.) Cohen, Michael C. “Poetry and the Thought of Song in Nineteenth-Century Britain.” Nineteenth Century Contexts, vol. 38 no. 4, 2016, pp. 290-292.

Kermode, Frank. The Oxford Anthology of English Literature. vol. 2, Oxford University Press, 1976.

21.23 Elements of a works cited entry: publisher, The publisher is the organization responsible for bringing the work to the public. One way to think about this category is that is composed of the people who are paying for the artistic endeavor. In cases of books, it is a publisher; in cases of film and video it can be a studio; for songs, a record company. The publisher’s name is separated from what follows it in the entry by a comma. Common terms in publishing are often shortened; for example, “UP” usually is substituted for “University Press.” (Highlighter is merely used for demonstration purposes and should not actually appear in a citation.)

Amis, Martin. The Information. Harmony, 1995. Toole, John Kennedy. A Confederacy of Dunces. Foreword by Walker Percy, Introduction by Andrei Codrescu, Louisiana State UP, 1980.

21.24 Elements of a works cited entry: publication date, What you are looking at depends a lot on when you’re looking at it: this is especially true of digital sources that can be changed between original publication and the time they are being read. F .or this reason, the date that source was published is often included. Note that MLA style calls for abbreviating most months. The date is separated from what follows by a comma. If the date is the last piece of the works cited entry, then a period is used. (Highlighted passage is for demonstration purposes only.)

Schmidt, Peter. “What’s Next for Students Who Backed Bernie?” The Chronicle of Higher Education, Jul. 11, 2016, p. 1.

21.25 Elements of a works cited entry: location. For a printed document that can be held in hand, “location” usually refers to the page numbers where the source can be found. For an online source, it usually refers to url. (Earlier versions of MLA form discouraged using urls; the present version encourages using them if the writer thinks that they will be of help to the reader in locating the source.) If the “location” is the last element in the works cited entry, it is followed by a period. If there is more information, a second container perhaps, it is followed by a comma.

Browning, Robert. “My Last Duchess.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., vol. 2, ed. 9, pp. 1261. Cortes, Ryan. “David Ortiz Plays in His Final All-Star Game.” The Undefeated, Jul. 13, 2016, http://theundefeated.com/features/david-ortiz-plays-in-his- final-all-star-game/.

21.26 The last parts of a works cited entry or, “lather/rinse/repeat”: Did you ever notice that the directions on a bottle of shampoo (“lather/rinse/repeat”), if followed literally, would carry on infinitely? The same is true for the last few steps of a works cited entry. Notice that steps ten through sixteen simply repeat steps three through nine. That is because a work can have more than one container. When, for example, a work (television show) is a part of one container (a series) and that container is part of another container (boxed set of best shows of the era) another set of

100 container, contributor, version, number, publisher, publication date, and location are used. The same type of citation would be called for if a book is re-published within another book. “Turkeys Away!” WKRP in Cincinnati. Perf. Gordon Jump, Gary Sandy, and Loni Anderson, episode 7, Oct. 30, 1978, The Best of MTM Comedies, CBS/Mary Tyler Moore Productions, disc 6, 2012. Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Longrass and Green, 1888. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, eds. Stephen Greenblatt, et al., vol. 2, ed. 9, Norton, 2009, pp. 1432-59.

21.27 Parenthetical documentation A works cited list does a good job of informing the reader about the number of and types of sources that the writer examined to during the research phase. But the works cited list cannot inform the writer what particular bit of information was supplied by what particular resource. In order to do that, the student writer needs to use parenthetical documentation.

21.27.2 What is parenthetical documentation? Parenthetical documentation is the practice by which the source author of every fact, claim or contention is credited in an academic paper. Most often, this communication is in the form of a parenthetical phrase consisting of the original source author’s last name and the page number where the data can be found.

According to some researchers, gender is learned behavior (Butler 233).

Notice that the period follows the parenthetical citation; it does not precede it.

21.27.2 What if there’s more than one author? In cases of two or three authors, use all names in the order they appear on the title page followed by a page number, if available.

According to some researchers, gender is learned behavior (Greensborough and Simpkins 278).

If there are four authors or more simply use the first author’s last name and the Latin phrase “et al.” (meaning and others).

Still others disagree and insist there are strict biological differences between the sexes (Jennings et al. 291).

21.28 What if there’s no author? If no author is listed, simply use a shortened version of the title:

Although his teammate’s admired his talent, Michael Jordan was not particularly popular in the Bulls’ locker room (Basketball Legends 173).

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21.29 What if I refer to the author in my sentence; should I repeat his or her name in the citation? No. When the student author uses the source author’s name in his or her sentence, that name does not need to be repeated in the parenthesis. In fact, many readers (and some instructors!) prefer this method as it does interrupt the text quite as much as the other method.

According to Judith Butler, gender—and perhaps even sex—are actually learned, not “natural” (233).

21.30 What if there’s no page number? If no page number is available, simply leave it out and rely solely on the author’s name:

According to the latest census, Barnesville has over three thousand year-round residents (Geiger).

21.31 What needs to be cited? In an MLA-style research paper, quotes, paraphrases and summaries all need to be cited. This means that in many undergraduate expository research papers, a parenthetical reference will follow almost every sentence.

21.32 What does not need to be cited? Common knowledge and the writer’s own work do not need to be cited. “Common knowledge” can be defined as uncontested information known by all or almost all of your readers. “Common knowledge” passes the “man on the street test;” if you ask the first person you come up to on a busy street, would he or she know the answer? If you’re reasonably sure that he or she would, then it’s probably common knowledge. When in doubt, cite it anyway: rarely will a student lose points for “over citing;” under citing, on the other hand, can lead to all sort of trouble.

22 APA Documentation 22.1 A brief overview of APA style documentation The American Psychological Association (APA) first published what is now known as The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association as a seven-page article in 1929 (Breitenbach, 2016). It was originally intended as a time and money saving guide for publishers of manuscripts as a standard of procedure. Today, it has evolved into a sixth edition with expanded content and standards that embrace the original intentions for guidelines and procedures (Breitenbach, 2016). APA style is revered as the standard for published and unpublished scholarly and professional scientific writing and is considered valuable towards the ends of uniformity and consistency within the behavioral and social science disciplines.

The APA writing style has general formatting rules that are specific to typography, spacing, margins, and indentation. All documents written in APA style must be double- spaced and should also contain equal 1” margins on the top, sides, and bottom.

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Exceptions to this general rule are made for the last page of a text. Paragraphs should be indented no more than seven spaces or ½ inch. Lastly, spacing twice after punctuation marks at the end of a sentence is required for manuscript drafts. The Publication Manual provides further instructions on how to deal best with spacing involving internal periods in abbreviations. Other specifics concerning APA style formatting relate to the title page and content of the written manuscript.

22.2 An APA style title page The title page is a fundamental element of an APA style manuscript and must include essential information. This essential information includes the title of the work, a running head, the author’s name, and institutional affiliation. College students may sometimes be asked by their college professors to include course information and the semester and year that the work was created in on the title page however, it is important to note that this type of title page formatting is not outlined specifically in the Publication Manual. Nonetheless, a course professor reserves, within their discretion, the right to request that a student provide such information on a scholarly work that is not intended for publication. A sample of an APA-title page is provided below.

Running head: EFFECTS OF DEPRESSION ON RESILIENCE 1

Effects of Depression on Academic Resilience and Persistence Martha K. Bivins and Martin G. Travis Gordon State College

Note: The running head should contain all capital letters in the title and should be an abbreviated version of the complete title. The formatting for the running head is best created using the footer/heading function of a word processing document program. Subsequent pages of the manuscript should not contain the words “RUNNING HEAD” as a part of the title that appears on every page in the header section thereafter.

22.3 Drafting the APA style abstract The purpose of the abstract is to capture the essence of a manuscript in a concise, yet comprehensive manner. The abstract is often a reader’s first impression of the manuscript and can be considered a key part of the literature search. The abstract provides a brief synapsis as to a manuscript’s contents and can be useful in helping writers with similar research interests locate the author’s work. The inclusion of abstracts in works that are not intended for publication are not common, yet it is important to note that the abstract can be assigned by individual faculty members at their discretion. Normal word count ranges for abstracts can be anywhere from 150 to 250 words. There are four key elements that should be captured in every abstract:

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Accuracy: the abstract should be a reflection of the manuscript’s contents and should only include information that was presenting in the body of the paper.

Objectivity: elaborations on report findings or conclusions drawn in the manuscript should be reserved for the body of the manuscript and should not be exhausted by any means in the abstract of the paper.

Cohesion and Readability: writers should use verbs in a clear and concise manner when drafting the abstract. Furthermore, writers should also observe tense variations when describing conclusions drawn or when describing specific outcomes observed or measured.

Precision: writers should use the abstract to describe the four or five most important concepts of the manuscript. Each sentence used should be informative and should be reflective of an important part of your paper. In other words, think of the abstract as a way to summarize the most important parts of your paper, using as less words as possible.

Further information on specific types of abstracts can be located in Section 2.04 of the Publication Manual (APA, 2016). See the sample abstract below.

NOTE: Remember, some faculty members may not require the use of an abstract for an APA style paper. Always be sure to consult your course instructor for specific information that should be included in a non-published abstract.

Sample Abstract:

Abstract Utilizing a single-group interrupted time series design (Creswell, 2003), this pilot study examined the relationship between academic achievement, school bonding, and the extracurricular activity participation of “uninvolved” students (n=11) who participated in a voluntary support group at a suburban high school in the southeast. Results indicated that while involvement in the voluntary support group did not have a significant effect on the school bonding of students, involvement in the voluntary support group may have had a significant effect on the academic achievement of the students. These findings suggest that school counselors, school officials, and community agencies can collaborate and use extracurricular activities to help target the academic achievement of other uninvolved or off-track students.

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22.4 Grammar and usage in APA Essential to any written form of expression are the mechanisms used to convey the author’s message. To be effective in conveying messages in academic discourse, students must adhere to basic grammatical rules that not only aid in message clarity, but also help with precision, continuity in the presentation of ideas and the smoothness of expression. Correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure are important to this end. The next part of this handbook offers suggestions concerning some areas of grammar and usage when adhering to APA style. A section related to mechanics follows.

Subject and verb agreement. Verbs should always agree in number with its subject. Simply put, singular verbs require singular nouns and plural verbs require plural nouns. Words or phrases between a subject and its verb can be ignored.

Example: One of the issues is the lack of available funds needed to further the research.

Pronoun and noun agreement. Pronouns are used in the place of nouns and should clearly refer to nouns and antecedents. When using singular subjects, writers must use singular pronouns.

Example: Subjects in the control group were not asked to complete the survey.

22.5 APA mechanics Punctuation, spelling, and capitalization. It is very important for writers to be able to clearly articulate thoughts and ideas when engaging in academic writing. Punctuation relates to the structure of a sentence and imitates speech in writing. It establishes the rhythm of sentences and can impact a sentence’s readability. Correct spelling is necessary to convey a message of clarity and should adhere to American English standards as represented in standard dictionaries of the English language.

Capitalization should be consistent with the rules of standard English. All proper nouns and trade names should be capitalized. An uppercase letter should be used for the first letter of a word beginning a sentence. Other capitalization exceptions concern the use of capital letters in titles and headings and capitalization of nouns followed by numerals or letters. Further instructions on these exceptions are provided in the Publication Manual.

Numerical expressions. APA style outlines specific rules for the presentation of numbers, metrics, and statistics in scholarly writing. Adhere to the following rules when numbers must be expressed in writing:

Use numerals when expressing numbers greater than or equal to 10 (e.g. 112 cues, 718 surveys)

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Use words when expressing numbers that begin sentences, titles, or text headings (Students are encourage to re-write sentences to avoid beginning sentences with numbers) When expressing a combination of numerals and words, use a combination of words and numerals for the expression of modifiers (e.g. first 12 items)

22.6 “And I quote…” Quotations are used to demarcate words from an outside source. The best use of a quotation is paraphrasing however, when a quotation must be used, APA identifies specific guidelines to follow. To paraphrase, students will take the ideas of an outside source and will put those ideas into their own words. A citation however, is still needed so that the When using a quotation that contains fewer than 40 words, writers should use quotation marks around the entire passage followed by the proper in-text citation format.

Proper use of quotation. Example: “The Freudian psychoanalytic school emphasized people’s destructive tendencies” (Griffin, 1991, p. 124).

Anything that entails more than 40 words in length should follow the guidelines for block quotation. Instead of placing quotation marks around the cited material, an indentation is used to indicate that the material originated from a direct quote. It is highly recommended that writers use signal phrases to let the readers know that they will be integrating borrowed information from another source. Signal phrases can be thought of as transitional phrasing that introduces a passage and informs the reader of the source and author(s).

22.7 In-text citations and reference lists The Publication Manual provides a wealth of information on in-text citations and references so that writers can ensure that supplemental resources for written work are cited appropriately. Citations serve as formal acknowledgements of how the works of others have contributed to your manuscript. All references contain general information such as the author’s name, publication information, and title of the work.

When using in-text citations, per the APA Publication Manual, writers should include the source author’s last name and the year the work was published at a minimum. There are specific guidelines that should be followed when multiple authors are to be credited for a works. Examples concerning reference components follow below:

When paraphrasing, the in-text citation should adhere to the following format: (Author’s name, year of publication) Example: There is limited research citing effective interventions specific to homeless youth and their caregivers (Altnea, 2010).

When the author’s name appears in the citation, only the year should be included in the citation.

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Example: According to Mackavey (2011), there was minimal brain activity in patients who suffered from traumatic brain injury.

When using a direct quotation, include the page number in parenthesis after the citation. Example: Patterson (2012) maintains that the “degree of intergenerational attachment within a person’s interpersonal relationships is directly related to life-satisfaction” (p.19).

When the work cited has two authors, each last name of the authors should be used in the citation. Example: Howell and Stephens (2001) found that children of abused parents were more likely to become victims of childhood abuse and neglect. (*Note that if this same information was structured differently, then the writer could simply use (Howell & James, 2001) at the end of the paraphrased sentence.)

When citing a work with several contributors, further guidelines are provided: If the work being cited is authored by three to five individuals, then all authors must be referred to in the first citation. Subsequent citations should only include the first author’s last name followed by “et.al.” First citation: (Jenkins, Jamison, Wright, 1998) Second citation: (Jenkins et.al., 1998) If the work being cited is authored by six or more authors, only the first author’s last name followed by “et.al.” should be used in all citations. All citations: (Stephenson et.al., 1997) When citing group authors, refer to the company name instead of an individual’s name. Subsequent citations can use abbreviations.

Example: 1st citation (American Psychological Association [APA], 2012) Subsequent citations (APA, 2012)

Reference lists. The gist of a reference list is to help readers locate the resources cited within your work. Reference entries provided specific information about the sources used in your writing and offer the reader additional details that can be used to locate referenced materials. Each manuscript should always include an APA style reference page which provides additional information about the works referenced by the writer while drafting the manuscript. Manuscripts should always include a reference page anytime that a writer refers to the works of others. Reference pages should always start on a separate page and should follow the last page of written information for the manuscript. Reference pages should be positioned before tables and appendices.

22.8 Basic formatting rules When creating a reference list, all references should be listed in alphabetical order, double-spaced on a new page located at the end of the paper. The hanging-indent

107 method should be used to differentiate each individual citation. Other basics that must be considered include the following:  Only the titles of journals and books should be italicized  Major words in journal titles should be capitalized  Invert the authors’ names (beginning with the last name and initial of first name)  If you have to cite multiple works by the same author, be sure to list those works in order by year of publication starting first with the earliest work  Only capitalize the first letter of the first words of a title, the first words after a color or dash, and proper nouns when referring to web pages, books, articles, or chapters.

Examples:

Book With One Author: Last Name, First Initial. (Year of publication). Title of book. City of publication, State of publication: Publisher. Example: Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: the exercise of control. New York: Freeman & Company.

Book With Multiple Authors: Last Name, First Initial. & Second Author’s Last Name, First Initial. (Year of publication). Title of work. City of publication, State of publication: Publisher. Example: Catalano, R., & Hawkins, D. (1996). The social development model: A theory of antisocial behavior. In D. Hawkins (Ed.), Delinquency and crime: Current theories (pp. 149-197). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

References for Encyclopedia or Dictionary Entries: Editor’s last name, first initial. (Ed.). (Year of Publication). Title of reference (edition number ed., Vols. Volume number). City of publication: Publisher. Example: Martin, S. (Ed.). (1995). The petit encyclopedia of counseling and theory (5th ed., Vols 12-15). London: Macmillan.

Journal Article: Author’s last name, first initial. (year of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, Volume (issue), page numbers. Example: Wentzel, K. (1998). Social relationships and motivation in middle school: The role of parents, teachers, and peers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90, 202-209.

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Sample Reference List:

References Akos, P. (2006). Extracurricular participation and the transition to middle school. Research in Middle Level Education Online, 29(9), 1-9. Retrieved September 7, 2008, from Academic Search Complete database. Bowers, J. and Hatch, T. (2005). The ASCA national model: A framework for school counseling programs (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association. Carolina Population Center. (1998). National longitudinal study of adolescent health: In School Questionnaire Code Book. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved July 22, 2008 from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/other_resrch/eval_data/reports/ common_constructs/com_ch5_ntnl_ado_health.html. Covey, S. (2003). The seven habits of highly effective teens. Boston: Fireside Books.

NOTE: Be sure to remove all hyperlinks from the reference page. The presence of hyperlinks is often evidenced in word-processing documents via a font color change.

Online sources The general rule of thumb for formatting online sources follows the citation format that captures author and publication information. The following are examples of citation formats to follow when citing non-print materials.

Article in an Online Periodical: Author’s last name, first initial. (year, date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, Volume (Issue). Retrieved date, from address of source. Example: Parks, C. (2016). Five signs of dementia. Freedom’s Journey, 150. Retrieved from http://www.freedomsjourney.com/articles/5signs

Online journal articles with and without digital object identifier [DOI]: With DOI Appleseed, J. (2016). How to plant apples across the country. National Apple Adventurer, 10 (1), 12-18. doi: 19.1037/1234-5678.09.01.311 Without DOI Muffett, M., & Peep. L.B. (2016). How to make millions sitting on a tuffet and raising sheep. The Home Designer, 23, 34-39. Retrieved from http://ojs.muff.nurs.edu

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Online Newspapers or Magazines: Online Newspaper Article Cried-Wolf, T. (2015, January 1). The truth about lying. The National Nursery Rhyme Herald. Retrieved from http://www.nurseryrhymesherald.com Online Magazine Article Nolastname, J. (2008, May). Hill climbing and brain chemistry: Dopamine reward pathways revisited. Monitor on Psychostuff, 34(7). Retrieved from http://www.nurseryrhymes/pscyhostuff/ Newsletter Article No Author Truth about vanity and narcissism. (2012, April/May). NRN News. Retrieved from http://www.nrn.com/html/topstory.html

NOTE: This work will still be alphabetized in the reference list by the significant word in the title.

Organizations and Entities: Corporate author, government report U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Justice. (2016). Healthcare fraud and abuse control program annual report for fiscal year 2015. Retrieved from https://oig.hhs.gov/publications/docs/hcfac/FY2015- hcfac.pdf

NOTE: When available, be sure to include the issuing organization’s assigned report number or other designating information after the title.

Blogs and Commentary Blog post The general format is as follows: Company or Username. (Date of post which includes year, month, and day). Title of blog post [Blog post]. Web address of blog post Example: Freakonomics. (2010, October 29). E-Z-Pass is a life-saver (literally) [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/e-zpass-is- a-life-saver-literally/ In-text citation example: Mertblog suggests the use of many online platforms to follow trading schemes in NASDAQ (http://expertrader/mertblog.com).

Social Media Social media can be cited via the use of the url, as a personal communication, or utilizing the general APA formatting rules. Examples follow: General mentions with an url This example was supplied on the APA Style blog (http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2013/10/how-to-cite-social-media-in-apa-style.html): News agencies like CNN provide breaking news coverage to millions of people every day on their website (http://www.cnn.com) and Twitter account (http://twitter.com/CNN).

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In our first investigation, we analyzed the content of CNN’s Twitter feed during the year 2012. Personal communication Metter (personal communication, November 1, 2015) stated that she felt that her research involving laboratory rats and organic vegetables was beneficial to her understanding of the digestive system’s functioning. Twitter Post example:

Reference listing: Obama, M.[Flotus]. (2015, April, 15). Our prayers are with the missing Nigerian girls and their families. It’s time to #BringBackOurGirls. – mo. [Tweet] Retrieved from https://twitter.com/Flotus/status/234897988u0 In-text: (Obama, 2015).

Other Unauthored Materials Place the title of the material in the place of the author When citing in-text, use a few words from the title if the title is lengthy in place of the author name Example: Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary (11th ed.). (2005). Springfield, MA: Merriam- Webster In-text: (Meriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 2005). NOTE: Whenever the author’s name is missing, the title of the work moves to the author position.

Non-Blog Entertainment Sources Photograph When using an image from a website or other source, utilize the following format: Owner/Author. (Date of Publication). Title of image in italics. [media type-]. Retrieved from URL Television episode

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Show writer’s name (Writer), & Director’s name (Director). (Year). Title of episode [Television series episode]. In First Initial and Last name of Executive Producer (Executive Producer), Name of Show in Italics. City and State of Production: Broadcaster’s Information. Example: Kang, K. (Writer), & Fryman, P. (Director). (2006). Slap bet [Television series episode]. In Bays, C. (Executive Producer), How I met your mother Los Angeles, CA: Columbia Broadcasting System. Video blog post Video Owner/Creator’s Name. (Year, Month, Day of video). Title of video [Video]. URL Example: Campbell, W.K. (2016, February 23). The psychology of narcissism [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arJLy3hX1E8 TedTalk. Speaker’s Last name, and First Initial. (Year of Talk, Month). Title of talk in italics [Video file]. Retrieved from URL Example: Breel, K. (2013, September). Kevin Breel: Why we need to talk about depression [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=- Qe8cR4Jl10

Heading Levels Headings are used as an organizational elements of a manuscript and are used to help communicate logical order and precision in ideas. When used effectively, headings can aid manuscript readability and can also help communicate how the writer has organized the paper into sections that complement their thought flow and processes. The APA Manual has identified five types of headings for manuscripts which are presented with examples below: Level Template Example 1 Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Making the Decision to Lowercase Heading Attend College 2 Flush Left, Boldface, Uppercase and Choosing the Right Major Lowercase Heading 3 Indented, boldface, lowercase paragraph STEM vs. Non-STEM heading ending with a period. Majors 4 Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase Job Outlook of STEM paragraph heading ending with a period. vs. Non-STEM majors. 5 Indented, italicized, lowercase paragraph STEM major job heading ending with a period. forecasts. *Note: Headings should not be sure for Introductions.

Tables, Figures, and Appendices Tables and figures are used to provide visual representations of data and supplemental materials. Tables and figures should be incorporated into papers when requested by your course instructors. Your use of data tables and figures will largely depend on the type of manuscript you are drafting. See the most recent version of the APA manual for specific instructions on the use of tables and figures within your manuscript.

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The appendices of a manuscript are used to capture elements that are brief in content. Students may use appendices to present supplemental material that would be inappropriate or distracting if presented elsewhere within the body of the work (APA, 2010). Examples of materials that may be presented in an appendix include equipment descriptions, interview protocols, and detailed demographic information to name a few. All appendices should include a title and may include headings, subheadings, tables, figures, and equations. Each appendix table or figure should be presented on page separate from the general manuscript. The following rules should be adhered to when using appendices:

Number of Appendices In-text Reference Label 1 Appendix Appendix 2 or more Appendix A, Appendix B, Ex) Appendix A etc. *Use capital letters to represent order in which it is mentioned in the manuscript

Examples: In the example appendices presented below, two manuscripts were referenced in-text using the following statement: The group sessions were outlined to entail various, pre-selected topics related to school success during the three-week period (see Appendix A). The students were then required to completed the pre/post-test questionnaire concerning attitudes towards school (see Appendix B).

Appendix A Academic Resilience: Overcoming Your Troubles at School Session One: Welcome Objectives: To become familiar with the purpose and expectations of group To begin thinking about one’s individual hindrances to school success To begin the process of brainstorming ways to become more successful in school To become familiar with academic resilience and how it applies to the group discussion

Session Two: “How I feel About School Reflects My Performance” Objectives: To think about how personal attitudes can affect school performance To think about behaving emotionally can influence our decision making To discuss past and present school experiences in order to link them to present day behaviors

Session Three: Self Advocacy in School – Defining the Problem Objectives:

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To define self advocacy and how it can be used in the school setting To be able to distinguish between school problems, teacher problems, and “me” problems To learn ways to use problem solving strategies to address school, teacher, and “me” problems To briefly introduce how to problem-solve using pre-existing school structures and “chains of command.”

Appendix B Jenkins (1997) based on Hirschi’s Social Bonding Theory (Pre and Post Test)

School Bond Items Time: 25-30 minutes Yes=1; No=2

Commitment Do you care if your homework is done correctly? Do you think that most of your classes are important? Do you think most of your classes are a waste of time? Have you been on the honor roll this year? Does it matter a lot to you what your grades are? Would you like to quit school now? Do you think education is important? Do you think you will fail no matter how hard you try? Are you failing any courses this school year? How much education do you want to have before you stop going to school?

22.9 Annotated bibliography The annotated bibliography contains a list of documents, articles, and citations that are used to inform the reader of the importance, accuracy, and relevance of the sources cited. Professors often ask students to complete annotated bibliographies prior to the completion of a major manuscript and to aid in the development of literature reviews.

The selection of sources that are appropriate for annotated bibliographies involves a process which should entail analytical and critical thinking skills. Annotated bibliography entries should include a summarization of the central tenants of the document, article, or book, and explanations for the unique contributions of the work to the bibliography.

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Additionally, the annotated bibliography should also compare or contrast the work with other works you have cited.

The following example, which was presented on the Cornell University Library website (http://guides.library.cornell.edu/annotatedbibliography), exemplifies an annotated bibliography entry for a journal article:

Abstract Waite, L.J., Goldschneider, F.K. & Witsberger, C. (1986). Nonfamily living and the erosion of traditional family orientations among young adults. American Sociological Review, 51 (4), 541-554 The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that nonfamily living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of nonfamily living.

22.10 References American Psychological Association. (2009). Publication manual of the American psychological association (6th ed.). Washington, DC. Breitenbach, A. (2016, July 14). The origins of apa style [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://blog.apastyle.org/ How to prepare an annotated bibliography: The annotated bibliography. (2015). Retrieved from http://guides.library.cornell.edu/c.php?g=32342&p=203789. Lassiter, S., & Richardson, J. (2013). APA made easy. Unpublished manuscript, College of Education, Ashford University, Clinton, IA.

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Section H: Glossary Wherever a term appears in bold anywhere in this handbook, in the main body or in the Appendix, further information can be found here in the glossary, where each term is defined and explained, with examples given.

Special care has been taken in this section to be specific in this section about things that are commonly assumed by all composition teachers. In cases where teachers have differing points of view, a comment is added about what and how to ask teachers for guidance.

A. academic dishonesty: intentionally or unintentionally passing off someone else’s academic work as your own. It occurs when a reader is misled into thinking that what he or she is reading is what the writer originated and wrote. (See Section 21.1 for further information.) active voice: (See voice.) adjective: A word used to describe, or modify, a noun or a pronoun.

Adjectives in the example phrases below are underlined:

A slippery slope A hungry hippo The royal we Poor, pitiful me

Adjectival inflections can include the comparative and superlative degree. Inflections from the following examples are underlined:

He’s even stupider than that. (Comparative) That’s the brightest one. (Superlative)

Adjectives can also be intensified or qualified, often with an adverb (ex. “He seemed particularly annoyed.”). adverb: A word used to describe, or modify, a verb, an adjective, or another adverb, giving further information about time, place, reason, manner, etc.

Adverbial inflections can include the comparative and superlative degree, often by the addition of more or most. Adverbial inflections from the following examples are underlined:

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He ran more hastily than usual. (Comparative) This was the most hotly debated election in years. (Superlative)

Adverbs can also be qualified. (“The machine works especially poorly.”) agent: The person or thing performing the action of a sentence.

The agent should not necessarily be confused with subject, however, because the performer of an action may not be the sentence’s subject and may not even be named. For example, in the sentence “Mistakes were made,” the sentence has “mistakes” as its subject even though mistakes cannot do anything, and it does not name the person(s) who made the mistakes.

Identifying the agent is especially important when it comes to using active voice and passive voice. (See voice.) analysis: a writing method that involves the careful scrutiny of some subject for the purpose of establishing its meaning or its greater relevance.

This is an assignment that will appear often, particularly in ENGL 1102. (See Section 3.2.) antecedent: In grammar, the word or idea reflected in a pronoun. For example, if one uses “this” in an essay to refer to “a reason,” then “this” is a pronoun and “a reason” is that pronoun’s antecedent.

Often, a pronoun may appear without any obvious antecedent. In those cases, the antecedent is considered to be “understood.” Errors can occur when an antecedent is meant to be understood, but really is not. This often occurs when writers use the second-person pronoun “you” because it is unclear to the reader if the antecedent of “you” is a hypothetical person or the reader him or herself. (See “pronoun- antecedent agreement” in the list of “Top 8 Errors at Gordon State College,” Section 18, for further explanation and examples.)

Another occasion where antecedents come into play, but their pronoun referents are not obvious, is with the relative pronoun. antonym: a word that means the opposite, or nearly the opposite, of another word. In that case, one word is said to be the antonym of the other. apostrophe: A mark of punctuation used to show possession or contraction and sometimes plurality.

In the case of possession, the apostrophe is used to connect the possessive ending -s with the word itself. There are, however, some stipulations to this rule:

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 If it is a singular noun ending in -s, the possessive can be shown by leaving off the possessive ending -s, but it is not required, particularly in a circumstance where pronouncing the added -s would be difficult or awkward. Alcibiades’s story (vs. Alcibiades’ story)  If it is a plural noun ending in -s, an apostrophe only is correct. His miracles’ effectiveness  If it is a plural noun not ending in -s, both the apostrophe and the extra -s ending are required. Children’s toys  If it is two or more nouns with shared ownership, the apostrophe and the extra -s ending are required. John and Nicole’s home In the case of contraction, the apostrophe is used to indicate where some information has been removed, on occasion resulting in the combination of two or more words. For example, “can’t” is the appropriate contraction of “cannot” because the “o” sound in “not” is replaced with an apostrophe.

NOTE: The important thing to remember about using an apostrophe to indicate a contraction is that it must be placed where the letter sound is removed. The abbreviation for the word “little” often appears as “l’il” or sometimes as “lil’”. The first abbreviation is common (though inaccurate) convention), but the second has some grammatical reasoning behind it: the apostrophe is placed where the silent “e” was removed. Even so, it is correct to put the apostrophe between the i and the second l because it is the sound made by the two t’s that has been removed. It does happen that more than one sound is taken out of a word, as in “o’clock,” and in that case the apostrophe usually replaces the consonant sound.

Similarly, in a circumstance where a number is abbreviated (usually in reference to a year, as in “The winter of ’45”), an apostrophe is placed where the numbers are taken out.

In the case of plurality, an apostrophe should be placed to avoid confusion. With vowels particularly, this is important to consider. Without an apostrophe, A’s, I’s, and U’s would look like As, Is, and Us. argument: in writing, an extensive commentary on a debatable issue, where the writer (1) clearly describes the issue and its context, (2) clearly states his or her opinion on the issue, and (3) carefully supports that issue with factual reasoning. article: in grammar, a word used before a noun to indicate information about its number and specificity.

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The distinction between definite and indefinite articles is an important one to understand. When a definite article is used, the writer has a specific idea in mind, and when an indefinite article is used, the writer has a hypothetical or generalized idea in mind. Likewise, while there is only one definite article possible (“the”), there are two indefinite articles possible – “a” and “an.” The choice between the two is based on sound.

Vowel Consonant Definite the the Indefinite an a

With indefinite articles, the use of a or an is determined by the first sound the noun makes, and not necessarily whether the first letter in the noun is a vowel or a consonant. For this reason you will often see terms like “history” indicated with the article “an.” artifact: a term used in some instances in reference to a written document. It is similar to text, but unlike text, it emphasizes the media-related factors pertaining to it. audience: the term commonly used to describe that person or those persons whom a writer or author targets or envisions as the prime readers of a text, though readership would be a more accurate descriptor. author: a writer who has published a written text. auxiliary verb: a word or words added to indicate further information about a verb, particularly including correct forms of to have and to be. Sometimes these are called “helping verbs.”

Generally, there are two types of auxiliary verbs:

1. Modal auxiliaries are given to add nuance to the meaning of the main verb, usually with reference to probability, possibility, obligation, etc. Most often they are one of the following – can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, and would – but any word used to add nuance in these ways might be a modal auxiliary.

A few of the common modal auxiliaries include

can may must shall will could might ought to should would

Modal auxiliaries are used to indicate

 ability: I can do that. 119

 advisability: I ought to do that.

 necessity: I must do it.

 permission: May I do that?

 possibility: Can I do that?

 uncertainty: Should I do that?

One common issue with modal auxiliaries is the tendency to use them when no auxiliary is needed. For instance, many writers will write “this would be my reason for…” or “this could be a contributing factor…” when they might have written “this is my reason…” or “this is a contributing factor.” For this reason, it might be helpful for a writer who tends to use modal auxiliaries unnecessarily to consider substituting a “to be” verb for any of the auxiliaries listed here.

NOTE: One error many speakers make that finds its way into their writing is the use of the double auxiliary “might could” – as in “I might could do that.” The use of it is fairly understandable, as the writer and speaker means to say something like “I might be able to…”; but the construction is in error, as both auxiliaries communicate essentially the same thing.

2. Conditional auxiliaries are used to indicate whether what is being described is real or possible, while indicating information about the time of the event.

B. body: in academic writing, that part of an essay that typically occurs between the introduction and the conclusion. Generally, it elaborates upon whatever is established generally in the introduction, and if the essay is an argument, it is the substantiation of the thesis statement. brackets: marks of punctuation (“[” and “]”) resembling an angular parentheses used to enclose information that is not original to what is being reported.

The most common use for brackets is the “editorial brackets.” This is when brackets are used to enclose information that has been adjusted in some way from the original version, to suit the needs of both the writer and the reader. For example, if a writer takes a quote that reads “He walks with me,” but it would not be clear to a reader who “he” is, then the writer might change the quote to “[Frederick] walks with me,” to clarify for the reader who is the antecedent.

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Likewise, editorial brackets can be used to make necessary adjustments to capitalization and verb tense:

“There it is” becomes “He said, ‘[t]here it is.’” “She has gone that way” becomes “He told me, “[s]he [went] that way.”

There is also the “editorial correction,” which enables a writer to use the exact language of an external source, but notifying the reader that any mistakes are the source’s mistakes and not the writer’s. To accomplish this, after the error, the writer places a “[sic].” In practice, it looks like this:

As Jourdan says, “I am an acomplished [sic] speller.”

C. capitalization: rules governing the use of capital letters (versus lower-case letters) in a written text. Generally, only nouns are capitalized.

The following is a list of some circumstances where capitalization should be used:

1. The first word of any sentence or question should always be capitalized. 2. The first letter of a person’s first, middle, and last name should always be capitalized. 3. The first letter of any language, place, direction, religion and its practitioners, self-identifying groups, institutions, historical documents, historical events, holy books, and titles preceding people’s names generally should be capitalized. 4. Words indicating family relationships when used in place of the formal name. (Also see #2 in the list below.) 5. Each letter in an acronym. The following is a list of some circumstances where capitalization should not be used (but often is):

1. Seasons should not be capitalized, unless they are part of an official title or concept.

this summer the fall semester will graduate Spring 2020

2. Words indicating family relationships when not used in place of the formal name. (See #4 in the list above.)

He’s my dad Tell Mom I miss her

121 case: features in nouns and certain pronouns that indicate their grammatical function.

All nouns have a case inflection, but there is only one possible – the possessive. That inflection depends on the noun itself – whether it is plural or irregular (See apostrophe.)

Certain pronouns have case distinctions, in the form of subjective, possessive, and objective. Whatever the pronoun’s function in the sentence determines this, depending on the pronoun’s person. Consider the following table to illustrate the point:

Person Subjective Possessive Objective First I, we, who my, our, whose me, whom Second you, you all your you Third they, it, he, she their, his, her, its them, him, her, it

clause: a group of words that contains a subject and a predicate, but does not express a complete thought.

It is helpful to think of a clause as an otherwise complete sentence joined with another clause, but that definition can be limiting. It is most accurate to think of the clause as not expressing a complete thought because it is the joining of it with at least one other clause that makes them work together as a single complete thought. Here is an example of two sentences:

Hector is thoughtful. He brings me things I need.

In this case there are two sentences, both with a subject and a predicate. If they are joined together with a conjunction, they might appear this way:

Hector is thoughtful, and he brings me things I need.

By joining the sentences with a conjunction, the writer has made one sentence with two clauses. What were sentences previously now are clauses because they function as clauses do – they express one complete thought instead of two separate ones.

(Also see phrase and sentence.) cohesion: a concept of writing that involves the clarified arrangement of pronouns in such a fashion that their antecedents are always clear. collusion: receiving excessive help from another to the point that a work can no longer be the product of a single author. Collusion is a serious form of academic dishonesty. 122

colon: A mark of punctuation used to separate two clauses of one sentence, the first of which makes a general statement that the second one elaborates upon. (See “What’s the difference between a colon and a semicolon?” in the list of “Top Questions Students Ask,” Section 19, for further explanation and examples.)

A good rule of thumb to follow is that a colon is often called for if (1) it separates two clauses, and (2) if the colon could be replaced with the phrase-conjunction “that is” and still make sense in the way that it is intended. To use a previous example from above (in clause), another appropriate way to punctuate the two clauses

Hector is thoughtful and He brings me things I need

would be to join the two with a colon:

Hector is thoughtful: he brings me things I need.

Joining the two clauses this way communicates not only that Hector is thoughtful and brings things the writer needs, but also that Hector is thoughtful and bringing needed things is a specific example of that.

It is also a common misconception of the colon that what follows it must be a list, more often than not of three things. This does not have to be the case, however. comma: A mark of punctuation used to indicate meaning in the larger context of a sentence. Its function is distinguishable from other punctuation marks by its specialized use (see below). In the following few sections, the correct and appropriate uses for the comma are outlined and explained.

1. The comma is used with a coordinating conjunction to punctuate compound sentences.

When coordinating two clauses, a comma is used along with a coordinating conjunction placed between them.

I would have volunteered, but you beat me to it.

Note that without the coordinating conjunction “but” the sentence would be a comma splice, a significant grammatical error.

2. The comma is sometimes used in complex sentences to join together dependent and independent clauses.

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If the dependent clause comes before the independent clause, then a comma should be used to separate them.

When you say you loathe me, what is it that you mean, exactly?

If the dependent clause comes after the independent clause, then no comma is necessary.

What exactly is it that you mean when you say that you loathe me?

If the dependent clause comes after the independent clause, then a comma can be used to separate them if the subordinating conjunction is “although” or “though.”

You say that, although you say you love me.

3. The comma is used after some introductory words, phrases, and clauses.

NOTE: There is a common perception that a comma should be used after introductory phrases that are at least a certain number of words in length. (The number depends upon the person, usually.) In truth there is no reliable formula for this. The most reliable rule of thumb is to consider whether adding the comma will improve on the sentences clarity or detract from it.

4. The comma is used with non-essential words, phrases, and clauses.

If a word, phrase, or clause could be taken out of a sentence and the sentence would still make sense in the context of the sentences around it, then the word, phrase or clause is non-essential and should be enclosed in commas.

Consider the following two examples:

The guy who stole my purse went that way. The guy, who stole my purse, went that way.

The presence of the commas affects the meaning of the sentences. With the commas left out, the sentence indicates that there are several “guys” in question, but it specifies which guy the speaker is referring to. The element “who stole my person” is essential to understanding the speaker’s meaning. With the commas included, however, a non-essential element is added, and “who stole my purse” gives additional information about the “guy,” but the meaning and purpose of the sentence would be clear without it.

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Also consider these examples and how their meanings differ through the placement of a comma:

Several inventions are mentioned in the videos which make the source factual and interesting.

Several inventions are mentioned in the videos, which make the source factual and interesting.

5. The comma is used to punctuate series and lists of three or more items.

When listing two or more grammatical elements (a word, phrase, or clause), each is distinguished from the others by a comma. The most common usage of the comma in these cases looks something like this:

I love him for his kindness, generosity, and ingenuity.

NOTE: There seems to be no consensus on the question of whether or not a comma should be placed before the final conjunction in a series. For example, in the expression, “this, that, and the other thing,” should there be comma after “that”? That comma holds a place of honor in the English language – it is called “The Oxford Comma,” and no one has made a convincing, final case for or against it. The best policy to follow, then, is to follow the conventions of the discourse community for which you are writing.

6. The comma is used to separate two or more adjectives modifying the same noun.

Abolitionist Wendell Phillips said of Abraham Lincoln that he was “a first- rate, second-rate man.”

7. The comma can be used for certain issues of clarity.

This goes back to the question raised in comma usage rule #4 – when using a comma will help a reader understand the statement and when it will make a statement more confusing. comma splice: a sentence structure error where a writer places a comma alone to join together two independent clauses. (See “comma splice” in the list of “Top 8 Errors at Gordon State College,” Section 18, for further explanation and examples.) community: in writing, the people or types of people who participate in ongoing conversations on certain topics, and though they may not agree in their opinions, they converse in similar ways, using similar methods.

125 comparative: in adjectives and adverbs, an inflection that indicates degree in comparison with other nouns, pronouns, or verbs being modified, but not in terms of absolutes. (See degree for further information and examples.) completion: a term often used to describe the extent to which an artifact of writing is in a condition to be submitted or published.

(Also see quality.) concern: term used to describe a potential problem with something written that is not necessarily a matter of “correctness”: the concern may involve a single, “correct” solution, or it may involve several “appropriate” solutions, any of which would be correct. (See level errors.) conjunction: a word or phrase used to connect the material that comes before it with the material that comes after. In making this connection, it will indicate to a reader how he or she should relate what comes before the conjunction with what comes after it.

There are many types of conjunctions, a couple of which are listed and described below, using the same two clauses to illustrate how a conjunction can change the meaning of a sentence:

1. Coordinating conjunctions join together two clauses so that no one clause is emphasized over the other in importance. There are only seven coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so)

I bought a new sofa, and it is also blue. I bought a new sofa, but it is also blue.

Either sentence would make sense in a given context, but the conjunction used would determine the sentence’s meaning.

NOTE: In academic writing, it is generally expected that a sentence should not begin with a coordinating conjunction.

The clauses created by incorporating coordinating conjunctions are called independent clauses because they do not depend on one another to determine their general meaning.

2. Subordinating conjunctions join together two clauses so that one clause is emphasized over the other as the main clause of the sentence. There are quite a few more subordinating conjunctions than coordinating conjunctions. Most lists of

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subordinating conjunctions include (but are not limited to) although, because, before, if, since, though, unless, when, whereas, and while.

I bought a new sofa because it is also blue. I bought a new sofa, although it is also blue. Though I bought a new sofa, it is also blue.

NOTE: Notice the punctuation in these examples. First, see that there is a comma before although in the second example, but not before because in the first. Generally, subordinating conjunctions are not preceded by a comma, but an exception is made in the case of although because it indicates a reversal in meaning from the first clause to the second. Second, there is a comma in the third sentence where the subordinate clause ends and the main clause begins. This is because subordinate clauses that begin a sentence always are concluded with a comma.

The clauses created by incorporating subordinating conjunctions are called dependent clauses because the clause that begins with the conjunction has no independent meaning.

3. Conjunctive adverbs join together two clauses as a coordinating conjunction would, but the punctuation differs: conjunctive adverbs are preceded by a semicolon and are followed by a comma. Most lists of conjunctive adverbs include (but are not limited to) consequently, furthermore, however, meanwhile, and therefore.

I bought a new sofa; however, it is also blue.

(Also see transition and note the difference between it and the conjunction.) content: term used to describe what is within (the contents of) a written document. It is non-specific otherwise, as “content” can be used to describe anything from the words and phrasing of the document to the ideas contained within it. More often than not, however, content is usually used to describe ideas, and terms like grammar and style are used to describe the low-level concerns of content.

Content is not limited to linguistic content, however. Students of writing often refer to an essay’s emotional content, its ethical content, etc. In circumstances like these, content is not what is explicitly stated in the essay, but what is implied. contraction: a feature of language where some letters or sounds have been omitted, often but not always resulting in the combination of two or more words. The letters or sounds omitted are often replaced with an apostrophe.

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NOTE: Generally speaking, a contraction is inappropriate to use in an academic context. conversation: in the context of academic writing, the concept that all written statements are crafted in response to previous statements on similar topics and also in anticipation of subsequent topics. coordinating conjunction: (See conjunction.) copyright page: that page in most published books immediately following the title page that contains information useful for composing a works cited entry. correlative conjunction: a method for joining two clauses together that incorporates a specified term at the beginning of each.

D. dash: a mark of punctuation used to set apart some word or group of words from the main part of a sentence.

Dashes are often used in ways that are similar to commas and parentheses. Take the following example, which is the same sentence punctuated with each of the three marks of punctuation:

He made a mistake, he said, because he hadn’t slept the night before. He made a mistake (he said) because he hadn’t slept the night before. He made a mistake – he said – because he hadn’t slept the night before.

The distinction between these three examples is a difference in tone: the reader understands the words differently because of the way they are punctuated.

(For further information on two punctuation marks that are often confused with the dash, see explanations for the semicolon and ellipses.) degree: a variation of an adjective or adverb that indicates how one should relate the noun or verb being modified to other nouns and verbs of its kind.

These variations can be simple, comparative, or superlative, as illustrated in the following three sample sentences, with the varied degrees indicated in italics:

1. Jake is a hungry man. (SIMPLE) 2. Jake is hungrier than most men. (COMPARATIVE) 3. Jake is the hungriest man of all. (SUPERLATIVE) 4. Arnold ran fast. (SIMPLE) 5. Arnold ran faster than his classmates. (COMPARATIVE)

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6. Arnold ran fastest of all his classmates. (SUPERLATIVE) demonstrative pronoun: pronoun used to indicate proximity of its antecedent to the writer. (Also see pronoun.)

“Proximity” can be construed spatially or temporally, and the form of a demonstrative pronoun is determined by the number of the antecedent.

singular Plural Proximate this these Distant that those

In English, we have only two basic dimensions of proximity, and we rely upon modifiers to clarify proximity further. dependent clause: (See clause.) design: the visual features of a written text. (Also see designer.) designer: a broader term sometimes used for “writer” to describe a person who creates a written document. The idea behind this is that the act of writing, especially when using a computer, involves the use of more than just the use of linguistic elements. (Also see design.) detail: in writing, the specific aspects and features of an essay. Detail typically occurs in the form of support-type features: data, facts, opinion, commentary, etc. development: the phase of the writing process when a writer has established the general idea of an essay and is expanding upon it in order to help the reader to understand it more fully or to be more receptive of it. diction: that part of writing that involves the selection of appropriate words to communicate meaning.

Diction is an element of style in part because it has to do with the selection of words most appropriate to a given writing context. direct object: (See object.) documentation: the method a writer uses to attribute certain ideas and the expression of those ideas to those who originated them.

(The subject of documentation and the standard methods or styles for proper documentation are treated fully in Section G.)

129 draft: a term used to describe a distinct version of an essay. The idea behind it is that no essay is ever “complete” and that what a student turns in for a grade is really just a “final draft” or a “submission draft.” It is safer to say that a published essay is in final form because, once it has been published, there is little the writer can do to change it (though one could just as easily say that this version is the essay’s “published draft.”

E. effectiveness: a term used to describe how well an essay achieves its purpose. To the extent that an essay accomplishes what its writer intended to accomplish, it is said to be effective. ellipses: the correct mark of punctuation for indicating a deletion. It has the appearance of three periods, though its purpose is nothing like the period’s.

It is important to understand the difference between ellipses with brackets and ellipses without them. end-sentence punctuation: the correct marks of punctuation for concluding a sentence. Generally, these are limited to the period, the question mark, and the exclamation point. error: in writing, a feature that is considered “incorrect,” usually for some grammatical or format issue.

NOTE: The descriptor incorrect should not be confused with the term inappropriate, which is usually related to some stylistic, structural, or developmental issue. essay: a written document composed for some small, specific purpose. They are often relatively brief (contrasted with a book) and, unlike a paper, are not written for publication. In college writing, many professors use the terms “essay” and “paper” interchangeably. exclamation point: an end-sentence punctuation mark used to designate the completion of a sentence if that sentence carries with it some sense of surprise or outrage. Given the academic tone expected of most college writing, it is generally advisable to write without the use of an exclamation point. exigence: those details of an essay that are required or demanded through the writing context. extrinsics: those details of an essay or argument that originate from someone other than the writer.

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F. fact: some detail of a written text that has been satisfactorily established as a “given” for the text’s intended readership. (Also see opinion for the counterpart to a fact.) font: the graphical characteristics of the words in a document, including particularly the size and shape of the letters.

In academic writing, font is expected to be standard in size and non-decorous in shape. Some disciplines have strict requirements for which font-types and font-sizes to use. Some professors have even more specific guidelines than that. format: in writing, the rules governing the appearance of a document. Margins, heading, line spacing, font specifications, and indentations are a few examples of factors that contribute to an essay’s format. fragment: a sentence written without a complete subject or predicate (or both). (See “fragment” in the list of “Top 8 Errors at Gordon State College,” Section 18, for further explanation and examples.)

G. gerund: an -ing verb functioning as a nominal does.

That is, the suffix -ing is added so that what was formerly a verb now acts as a noun or the beginning of a noun phrase.

(Also see participle.) grammar: those elements of language use that take “correctness” most into account. (Also see error.)

H. heading: in formatting, the information in an essay that goes above the title, but below the header that includes certain required information.

In MLA, the heading should include, in this order, the following items of information: the writer’s name, the teacher’s name, the course number, and the date on which the essay is submitted. All should be double-spaced.

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NOTE: Most disciplines require students to their names and their teacher’s names in their essay headings, and students are often confused about how to write their teachers’ names without offending them somehow. (Is she “professor” or “doctor”? “Mr.” or “Mrs.”? Is it okay to use his formal first name or the nickname he has?) In circumstances like that, it is often a good idea to consult the syllabus: teachers generally state their names on their syllabi in the way they want their students to think about them. (Note that this is not a universal rule, but it generally works.) header: in formatting, the information in an essay that goes in the upper right-hand corner of every page to inform the reader of the author’s name and the page number. high-order concern: (See level errors.) hook: a feature of many essays included to gain a reader’s attention or designed to compel a reader to read further. It most often appears in an essay’s introduction, but it can appear elsewhere.

There is nothing inherently “right” or “wrong” about the use of a hook, and teachers have a variety of perspectives on it. hyphen: a mark of punctuation used to join together words that would otherwise have been separate. This can be done for many reasons:

1. To join two or more words

If two or more words are acting as a grammatical unit, they should be attached to one another with hyphens.

father-in-law cul-de-sac first-year three-year-old

NOTE: When making a hyphenated word combination plural, it is not necessarily acceptable simply to put an -s or -es at the end of it. Usually it is the primary word in the word combination that gets pluralized. For this reason, “father-in-law” becomes “fathers-in-law,” “cul-de-sac” becomes “culs-de-sac,” etc.

2. To join words with prefixes, suffixes, and letters

pro-league anti-American

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Vice-President

3. To deal with potential ambiguity

A hyphen can make the difference between two completely different words or between a word and a nonsense word.

re-rent (to rent again) vs. rerent (a nonsense word)

4. To divide words

If a writer, for whatever reason, finds the need to divide a word by syllables, then a hyphen can be placed at the point between two syllables.

NOTE: It is common practice in publishing to divide words with the use of a hyphen to conclude the line of a paragraph. This enables the printer to save space and make the words seem more uniform by making the alignment even on both margins. To achieve this, the printer places a hyphen between two syllables in a word. Student writers should note, however, that this is not common practice in academic writing.

(Also see dash and note the significant differences between the dash and the hyphen, though visually they are very similar.)

I. imagery: elements of writing designed to call sensory details to the mind of a reader.

Though the term implies concepts which we can see, it is often used in reference to concepts described by any of the five senses. There are terms that differ for each part of speech, as illustrated in the following table.

hearing auditory Imagery related sight visual to one’s sense smell …is called… olfactory …imagery. of… taste gustatory touch tactile

independent clause: (See clause.) indirect object: (See object.) inflection: a suffix added to a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb for the purpose of changing its grammatical role.

Noun inflections -s and -’s are added to indicate number and possession. Examples include 133

desks (to indicate more than one) desk’s (to indicate something belonging to a desk)

Verb inflections -s, -ing, -ed, and -en are added to indicate tense and case.

She runs (to indicate simple present tense) Taking a walk is healthy (to make the verb a gerund, nominative case) He failed (to indicate simple past tense) It was given to me (to indicate past perfect tense)

Adjectival and adverbial inflections -er and -est are added to indicate comparative and superlative degree.

smaller and smallest faster and fastest intensifier: modification to a verb for the purpose of emphasis. introduction: in medium-length academic essays, the paragraph that prepares a reader for the main part (or “body”) of the essay. If the essay is an argument, usually the final sentence of the introduction will be the essay’s thesis statement.

There are many approaches to writing an introduction, and most of them depend on teachers’ requirements and on students’ preferences.

One approach is to introduce with what is called a “hook.” This involves the inclusion of some astonishing fact, profound or provocative statement, or some other method for the purpose of compelling a reader to continue reading the essay.

Another approach is what is called the “telescoping method.” This involves starting from a wide perspective – the idea being to establish the writer’s view of “the big picture” – and narrowing the focus until the thesis is reached.

Yet another, even simpler method of introduction is what might be called the practical approach. The idea in that case is that, if the thesis statement is the most important sentence in the essay, then what comes after the thesis is the substantiation of it, and what comes before the thesis is whatever information the reader will need to be prepared to understand it. invention: a term often used to describe the early stages of the writing process, when the writer is making decisions about what he or she wants to say and how it should be said. (See Section 5.2 for further discussion of this idea.) irregular: term used to describe a verb that changes its base form when used in different tenses and cases.

134 issue: in a written argument, the debatable point being addressed: it is the point of disagreement between two or more reasonable and well-informed individuals. italics: a feature of most writing fonts that alters the form, but does not add to it (as bold-face and underlining do).

A good rule of thumb to follow when it comes to italics is to remember that if you are citing a source that exists or has ever existed as an independent publication, it should usually go in italics, and if it has never existed as an independent publication, its title should be given in quotation marks. There is no threshold of word length where if it falls below that length it should be in quotation marks and if it falls above it italics should be used. A good example to illustrate this point is Samuel Clemens’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This book was originally a novel, published independently, so it goes in italics. The novel is also sometimes included in anthologies of American literature. (Also see Section 19.9.)

Italics can also be used for emphasis, but should be used sparingly in academic writing for that purpose.

Italics are also used to indicate that a word is of foreign origin or to indicate the taxonomy of a species of flora or fauna:

Folie à deux Ornithorhynchus anatinus

L. level error: a term used to distinguish errors or concerns by their “level” of relevance to the overall writing context.

There are several ways that teachers and editors think of the level error. One common way is the distinction between what are called high-order and low-order concerns. Another is to distinguish between sentence-level, paragraph-level, and essay-level concerns. Yet another is to distinguish between grammatical, stylistic, structural, and developmental concerns. logic: thought and reason made valid through structure rather than content.

(See Section 5.7 for further information on this topic.) low-order concern: (See level errors.)

M. main verb: the verb in a sentence which is the main action performed by the subject. meaning: the significance attached to what is read or seen.

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(Also see theme.) mechanics: in writing, the rules governing typographical and transformative features, including the use of abbreviations, italics, and numbers. medium: the form or method used to communicate meaning.

In MLA medium is an important consideration as one of the parts of any MLA works cited entry. Each source should be identified in its works cited entry by its medium. method: the way in which something is done.

When talking about writing, “method” usually refers to a tested, systematic, and commonly understood way of doing something related to writing. modal auxiliary: (See auxiliary verb) mode: in writing, the generic pattern used to develop or communicate an idea or topic.

Writing “modes” are generally named according to their purpose and sometimes their structure: the “compare and contrast” essay, the “cause and effect,” the “narrative,” etc. Writers should not confuse “purpose” with “mode,” however: a writer can write in a mode – personal narration, for example – to persuade or to inform; likewise, regardless of what a writer’s purpose is, he or she has several modes available to achieve that purpose.

Often, a student-writer is not specifically asked to write a “process” essay, so it is important for that student to be able to understand what writing mode is being implied in the writing prompt. This can be accomplished by reading the prompt carefully and critically. (See “Modal features” in Section I for more detailed information and advice on how to do this.) modify, or modifier: a word used to clarify or give more information about another word.

(Also see adjective and adverb for further information on specific forms of modification.) mood: that aspect of a verb that indicates something about the purpose of the sentence. Often it is accomplished through diction, but not always. It can also be accomplished through the use of auxiliaries.

Verbs can be expressed in the indicative, the imperative, and the subjunctive mood.

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 Verbs in the indicative mood communicate statements of simple fact or opinion.  Verbs in the imperative mood communicate a command or advice.  Verbs in the subjunctive mood communicate an idea that is not necessarily true. One way to illustrate mood is to examine statements that are very similar but differ only in mood. Consider the following set of examples.

You need to wash the dishes. (indicative) Wash the dishes. (imperative) I had hoped that you would wash the dishes. (subjunctive)

It is clear that the verb (“wash”) is the same in each of the three sentences, but in the context of each usage, the purpose differs. Notice how the similarities outline the differences in tone: in each case, the sentence is stated by a person who wants his or her reader to wash the dishes, but the writer is using different means to achieve that end. In the indicative mood, the writer is noting (i.e. indicating) a state of affairs, taking for granted that the ultimate responsibility belongs to the reader: the reader will wash the dishes because it is the responsible thing to do. In the imperative mood, the writer is leaving out even the pretense of choice on the reader’s part and simply commanding that it be done. In the subjunctive mood, the writer is taking a much more passive approach, but again, the purpose is the same. It is up to the situation as a whole whether the reader will wash the dishes or not, but the writer uses his or her best judgment in determining which of these moods will be most effective.

N. narrative: term used to describe the events of a fictional story as they are explained or described. (Also see plot and note the differences between it and narrative.) nominal: a word or phrase that functions as a noun would function in a sentence. A nominal can be a noun, but it might be many other things, such as a gerund phrase. noun: a word used to express a person, place, thing, or idea. Generally, these can be divided into two types:

 common nouns are nouns that apply to people, places, things, or ideas that are of a certain classification.  proper nouns are nouns that apply to things that are usually unique.

For example, the statement “Milwaukee is a city,” the word “city” is a common noun because, while it is a place, it is a term that is applicable to many places, and the

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word “Milwaukee” is a proper noun because it is the one and only place on earth with that name. number: those features of a noun or pronoun that indicate whether it is one or more than one. (Also see inflection and plural.)

O. object: in grammar, that noun in a sentence that is the direct or indirect recipient of an action or observation. The difference between direct object and indirect object is implied in their names. The following example illustrates that point:

She gave me a flower.

In this case, “me” is the indirect object and “flower” is the direct object. This can be confusing, since “me” is the recipient of the gift, and by the definition here, the direct object is the direct recipient of the action. The reason “me” is the indirect object is this: in the most literal sense, the flower is the thing that was given, not “me.” In this sentence, “me” is the recipient of the flower.

The object of a preposition is the noun or pronoun that is the focal point of a prepositional phrase. opinion: some detail of a written text that has yet to be satisfactorily established as a “given” for the text’s intended readership. (Also see fact for the counterpart to an opinion.) organizing principle: the method by which an essay is structured. oxymoron: the grammatically concise juxtaposition of two seemingly contradictory ideas, usually for the purpose of accentuating something contradictory in the nature of one, the other, or both.

Some people confuse oxymoron with paradox, but there are a few important distinctions.

Here are a few examples:

Quiet Riot jumbo shrimp

P. paper: an essay written for more formal (usually public) presentation than an essay submitted for a class grade. A paper, then, is a type of essay. There is little distinction otherwise, though many think of a paper as being longer or written for an advanced course.

138 paragraph: a sentence or group of sentences that function as a single rhetorical unit. parallelism: a principle of grammar and style that involves the construction of sentences in such a way that parts of equal significance are also explained in ways that are grammatically similar. paraphrase: the incorporation of someone else’s ideas, without omissions, but converted into language suited to a different context. parentheses: marks of punctuation used to enclose information. (Also see brackets.) participle: the form a verb takes when it is used to modify another word, generally as an adjective or an adverb would do.

NOTE: Many people confuse gerund with participle because both involve the conversion of a verb to some other part of speech and especially because this change often involves the addition of an -ing ending to the word. The best thing to remember about this difference is that a gerund is when the verb is acting as a nominal (ex. “I enjoy running.”), and a participle is when the verb is acting as a modifier (ex. “The running man enjoys himself.”). passive voice: (See voice.) period: an end-sentence punctuation mark used to designate the completion of a sentence if that sentence expresses a declaration or a command. person: the aspect of pronoun usage that signals an antecedent’s position relative to the person speaking. The following statement illustrates this point, with the pronouns underlined:

I introduced you to her already.

In this case, the antecedent of the first pronoun (“I”) is the person writing and is called first person. The antecedent of the next pronoun (“you”) is the person to whom the writer is addressing or “speaking” (the reader) and is called second person. The antecedent of the final pronoun (“her”) is the person about whom the writer and the reader are discussing and is called third person.

Of course the order in the sentence does not matter, and person differs depending on number and case, as the following example statements indicate:

You all need to give those back to us. They gave me yours.

Not all sentences will necessarily include one of each person.

139 phrase: two or more words acting together as a single grammatical unit, but not incorporating a subject and a predicate or expressing a complete thought.

NOTE: It is tempting but inaccurate to say that “a phrase has either a subject or a predicate, but not both” because a subject cannot be a subject without a predicate, really, and neither can a predicate be a predicate without a subject. The terms subject and predicate are functional terms – meaning, they are terms we use for nouns, verbs, etc. when they are functioning grammatically in some specific way.

(Also see clause and sentence.) plot: term used to describe the events of a fictional story as they occur.

NOTE: there is an important distinction between plot and narrative. While plot describes the events of a fictional story, narrative describes the events of a fictional story as they are explained or described. plural: term used to describe a noun where more than one of its kind is implied, usually through its inflection.

The term plural is also used occasionally to describe a verb, but for different reasons. In the case of verbs, it is said that a verb is in its “plural form” if it takes the form of that verb when it is referring to the action or state of being of a plural noun. possession: those elements of writing that indicate ownership, on the part of some person, persons, or object or idea.

Possession can be demonstrated by several methods:

1. The use of a possessive apostrophe. 2. The use of the possessive pronoun (case). predicate: that part of a sentence that contains the main verb and any objects or complements that go along with it.

There are few stipulations on the length of a predicate. Where there is an intransitive verb, for example (“You stink.”), the predicate may be only one-word long. prefix: a letter or group of letters, with no independent meaning, that when affixed to the beginning of a word, modify its meaning. preposition: a word used to relate its object to some other word (usually a noun or pronoun) in its sentence. The preposition combined with its object is called a

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prepositional phrase. Typically, a prepositional phrase will act as a modifier of the word to which it relates.

(Section 20.4 gives further specific advice on working with prepositional phrases.)

Any list of common prepositions will usually include

about behind from since above below in, inside through according to beneath instead of throughout across beside into to after between like toward against beyond near under along but of until among by off up around despite on upon as down out, out of, outside with at during over within because of except (for) past without before for

NOTE: It is generally considered good style to avoid concluding a sentence or a clause with a preposition. This can feel awkward to a writer who is out of the practice of doing it, but it is an expected feature in formal writing. print: term used to describe the medium which features language represented on paper by some mechanical method. It is the medium most conventionally used in college essay submission.

This term is important to note because of the importance placed in documentation upon citing a source by its proper medium. process: in writing, a term used by many to describe the methods and techniques employed for the purpose of completing a writing “product.” product: in writing, a term used by some to describe the state of an essay when it is submitted for a grade. It is the outcome of the writing process. prompt: in academic writing, the term used to describe the instructions given to students on how to write an essay. pronoun: a word used to stand in the place of a noun when the noun is not specifically named.

The personal pronoun is used exactly as a noun is, to express a person, place, thing, or idea.

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I don’t know what gave you that idea. (personal pronouns in subject case) Give me a minute to tell her. (personal pronouns in object case)

The relative pronoun is used to stand in for a subject in a dependent clause.

The lady who painted my house is moving to Jonesboro. He grew his hair out, which was a mistake because of the shape of his head. Paul Pecquet du Bellet is the scoundrel who is libeling me in the papers. Barnaby, whom I despise, has arrived back in town. I sometimes wonder why I even bother.

NOTE: The relative pronoun is a common cause for sentence fragments because the writer senses a subject in the pronoun, but it cannot function as a subject does because a relative clause is a modifier.

The possessive pronoun is used to demonstrate ownership on the part of the antecedent.

the child is mine that tree of yours its bark

The demonstrative pronoun is used to refer to things in relation to the writer or speaker, through time or through space.

This monkey has a rash. That era is my favorite. These paintings are all of possums. Can you hand me those pliers?

The interrogative pronoun is used to stand in for the answer to a question.

Just who do you think paid for all of this? Whose turn is it? To whom should I address my reply? Which turkey is the smartest? What kind of a person would demean himself this way?

The indefinite pronoun is used to make reference to people or things which are unclear or not yet determined.

Can anybody tell me what I am doing wrong? Give me some of your meatloaf. Everybody knows what he is like by now. 142

He threw up everything. Please, just keep doing nothing. Which one is a walrus? Somebody help me with this, please.

The reflexive pronoun is used to intensify another noun or pronoun in the sentence (usually from the subject). They always end in -self or -selves.

Oh, by all means, help yourself to everything! She covered herself in pine sap. I festooned myself with purple flowers. They indulged themselves in a game of King Oil.

The reciprocal pronoun is used to refer to the individual parts a plural antecedent.

We should all learn to love one another. Please, help each other out with this.

(Also see cohesion.) proper noun: (See noun.) punctuation: in writing, non-verbal marks used to better or more effectively communicate meaning.

This definition describes these marks as “non-verbal” because they carry with them no inherent meaning or sound.

(See Section 18.3 for further information on punctuation and on avoiding punctuation errors.)

Q. quality: a term often used to describe the extent to which an artifact of writing achieves its stated or intended purpose.

(Also see completion.) question: a group of words, ending in a question mark, that set the parameters for an anticipated response. question mark: an end-sentence punctuation mark used to designate the completion of a question if that sentence anticipates an answer, or response. The nature of the answer is usually established in the wording of the question.

143 quotation marks: marks of punctuation used to enclose the exact words of someone else in order to clarify the distinction between one person’s words from the writer’s own.

NOTE: It does happen on occasion that the words of someone else will be enclosed in quotation marks, but those words also have quotation marks as well. In that case – in what is often called “a quote within a quote” – the writer should enclose the quote in quotation marks and enclose the word or words previously given in quotation marks with single quotation marks.

Quotation marks are also used to signal to a reader that the word or words enclosed in them are unstable, informal, imperfect, or inaccurate. Here is one example:

She told me she was “sleepy.”

This is the type of statement where a speaker would make quotation marks with his or her fingers as the word “sleepy” is pronounced. The instinct in writing is the same.

(Also see Section 21.6.) quote: the incorporation of someone else’s words, exactly as they were written, with the use of quotation marks.

R. readership: the person or persons whom a writer envisions as the prime readers of a text.

(Also see audience.) relative clause: (See clause.) relative pronoun: (See pronoun.) research: the work a writer does to discover knowledge that he or she did not know beforehand or information that he or she did not discover independently. resource: a tool used for the discovery of source material.

(Also see source.) run-on sentence: (See “run-on” in the list of “Top 8 Errors at Gordon State College,” Section 18, for further explanation and examples.)

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S. semicolon: A mark of punctuation used to separate two independent clauses of one sentence without the aid of a conjunction. The semicolon is very similar in function to the colon, but the colon has a more specialized usage.

Many people place a colon where a dash or an ellipsis would be more appropriate. It is important to remember that the length of a pause does not necessarily translate into the punctuation mark that should be used.

NOTE: There is a secondary usage of the semicolon that does not quite fit the definition given above, though it is rather rare and often overly complicated. In a circumstance where a writer makes a list of clauses or phrases, one of which contains a comma within it, a semicolon should be used to separate each item of the clause or phrase list.

The following sentence provides an example. “He thought better of it for several reasons: he knew he would look guilty; Gilmer County, which is where he was from, didn’t have a place to store it; and no one wanted to have anything to do with it.”

Here, the relative clause “which is where he was from” is a clause nested within one of the items in the list of reasons given. That being the case, semicolons are used to distinguish the main structural features of the larger sentence, while commas are used to set off a non-essential element, just as they normally would be. sentence: a group of words that contains both a subject and a predicate and expresses a complete thought.

The difference between a sentence and a clause can be difficult to understand. If you have read the definition of a clause also, you know that the clearest distinction is that a sentence expresses a “complete thought” and a clause does not.

It all hinges on what is meant by a complete thought, then. (Also see clause and phrase.) shift: term used to signify some change in number, person, or verb tense. The shift might be appropriate or inappropriate, correct or incorrect, depending on the circumstance. singular: term used to describe a noun where only one of its kind is implied.

The term singular is also used occasionally to describe a verb, but for different reasons. In the case of verbs, it is said that a verb is in its “singular form” if it takes the form of that verb when it is referring to the action or state of being of a singular noun. sound: in writing, the term used to describe the quality of language to the “mind’s ear.”

145 source: material used for the support of an argument or observation.

(Also see resource.) spatial: descriptor used when a thing or idea is understood in terms of physical arrangement and properties. style: those elements of sentence-level language use that take “appropriateness” most into account, as opposed to grammar/mechanics, which take “correctness” into account.

Style is one of the four main headings used to describe the qualities of a written “product.” (The others are content, organization, and grammar/mechanics.) structure: a term often applied to grammar as well as to an essay’s organization. subject (content): the person or idea about which an essay is written. subject (grammatical): the person or idea about which a sentence is written. It is the thing about which the predicate of the sentence is stated.

There is an important aspect of subject also in voice because voice has so much to do with the relationship between the subject of a sentence and the information contained in the sentence’s predicate. subordinating conjunction: (See conjunction.) subtitle: a kind of second title to a written text, often appearing below the main title or following the main title and a colon. The subtitle is a writer’s opportunity to cast his or her title in different terms. suffix: a letter or group of letters, with no independent meaning, that when affixed to the end of a word, modify its meaning. summary: the incorporation of someone else’s ideas, but including only the most relevant or important ones. superlative: in adjectives and adverbs, a variation that indicates degree in comparison with other nouns or verbs being modified, to the extent that the noun or verb being modified is more of something than any other noun or verb of its kind. (See degree for further information and examples.) synonym: a word with a meaning that is similar enough to another word to suit the purposes of the context in which the words could be used. In that case, the words are said to be synonyms.

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T. temporal: descriptor used when a thing or idea is understood in terms of time and in relationship with things that occurred before and after it. tense: that aspect of verb usage that involves the clarification of when the action or state of being referred to by the verb takes place.

Generally, there are three timeframes (past, present, and future), each of which has four tense distinctions (simple, progressive, perfect, and perfect progressive), making twelve typical tenses altogether. In all three time frames these four tense distinctions indicate certain things about the actions or states of being indicated by their verbs:

 simple tenses indicate habitual or completed events or states of being occurring independent of other events or states of being,  progressive tenses indicate ongoing events or states of being in relation to other events or states of being within the same time frame,  perfect tenses indicate completed events or states of being occurring in relation to other events or states of being within the same time frame, and  perfect progressive tenses indicate ongoing but completed events or states of being occurring in relation to other events or states of being within the same time frame. These descriptions can only be helpful with examples. First consider the following chart where an example is given for each of the twelve tenses:

Past Present Future Simple I worked I work I will work We worked We work We will work Progressive I was working I am working I will be working We were We are working We will be working working Perfect I had worked I have worked I will have worked We had worked We have worked We will have worked Perfect I had been I have been I will have been progressive working working working We had been We have been We will have been working working working

Notice in this example all of the forms taken by the verbs and their auxiliaries and how the differences you see indicate different meanings.

Make a special note to understand the difference between habitual action and ongoing action because that is essentially the difference between simple and progressive. Statements such as –

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I worked I work I will work – describe habitual actions (and are therefore simple tenses) because they describe actions performed by a subject regardless of the circumstances being described, whereas statements such as – I was working I am working I will be working – describe ongoing actions (and are therefore progressive tenses) because they describe actions performed by the subject to establish the context of other actions that are mentioned as well.

NOTE: In writing, it is important to take note of the conventions of verb tense, particularly where the use of quotes is concerned. text: the arrangement of words, in a given medium, taken into direct consideration.

The method of consideration of a text can vary. For example, one might analyze a text, while another might read to understand it.

NOTE: It can be helpful to think of text as one might think of forensics. The idea, in either case, is that there is some object (in the case of writing an arrangement of words, and in the case of forensics an actual dead body) for consideration and scrutiny. theme: This is a term used most often in literature to describe a repeated or pervasive concept, either in an individual work of literature or in an individual author’s body of work.

This is not to be confused with plot because, while plot is a description on the events of a story, theme is a commentary on the larger significance of those events. (Also see meaning.) thesis statement: a sentence, usually at or near the end of the introductory paragraph, that very clearly states the writer’s position on an issue or is a summary of the essay itself (depending on the teacher’s requirements for the essay).

The thesis often, but not always, includes a brief comment on the reasoning behind the opinion stated.

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It is a common practice to include in the thesis a “map” of the structure of the essay. Statements of this type incorporate the structure of the essay’s body into the essay’s thesis. For example, an essay’s thesis might read –

Euthanasia should be legal because it allows one to escape intolerable pain, it gives loved ones solace, and it affords sufferers a degree of control over their own bodies.

An essay with such a thesis might have a body paragraph dedicated to each of the three underlined clauses. There are drawbacks to statements of this type, and there are benefits.

NOTE: The thesis is an essential part of the essay for any composition teacher, but there is not much consensus on its form and function. For this reason, it is helpful for students to get a clear idea from their teachers exactly what they expect to find in a thesis statement, using the ideas that are given here. title: in essay writing, a group of words (usually in phrase or word form) used for the convenience of the reader to understand the contents of the essay.

In publishing, the title is the group of words used for the convenience of the reader to understand the contents of the book, article, etc.

NOTE: When formulating a title, it may be helpful to think of it this way: if the thesis statement is a one-sentence summary of the essay, then the title is a summary of the thesis. title page: the page very near the beginning of a book that includes the book’s title and other useful information. Apart from the title, this page usually includes the book’s subtitle (if any), its author’s name, the publisher’s name, and the city of publication (among most other things needed for an MLA works cited entry).

NOTE: One bit of crucial information not often found on the title page is the year of publication. This can almost always be found on the copyright page. tone: an aspect of voice that indicates the writer’s attitude toward the subject. topic: in writing, the narrowest view of an essay’s scope, but before an issue or a purpose is determined.

Though they can be closely related, topic is distinguishable from subject and issue: The topic will be some facet of the subject at large that the writer intends to address in his or her issue – and the more specific that topic, the better.

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So, for example, if a writer intends to write about gardening as a subject, there are many topics within the larger subject of gardening that could be written about, but “gardening” is far too broad to handle in the length of an essay. As topics, the writer might choose “trees” or “shrubs” or even “ground cover” as a topic, but even in those cases, while they are manageable, they are still very broad. Either way, once a topic has been settled upon, as an issue, the writer has only to choose some aspect of that topic that is not universally agreed upon and then craft his or her issue to address it. transition: a word, phrase, clause, or even a sentence used to help a reader understand the connection between one point in a written text and the point previous to it.

(See conjunction and note the difference between it and a transition.)

V. verb: a word used to express an action or to connect the subject of a sentence to its complement.

For the most part, the type of verb used affects the factors needed to make a sentence complete. There are transitive, intransitive, linking, and “to be” verbs:

 transitive verbs are verbs that require an additional noun (usually) to be acted upon in order to complete the sentence He smells dinner.  intransitive verbs are verbs that do not take an object, though they may have words following them. He smells. He smells awful.  linking verbs are verbs that connect the subject of a sentence to a complement to it: they are followed by a complement to the subject. He smells dirty.  “to be” verbs are verbs that are any version of the infinitive to be. He is smelly. His sense of smell is awful. video: (Also see medium.) voice: those features of writing that establishes the relationship between a subject and its predicate. Voice is an aspect of style, but it has aspects of grammar in it as well.

One of the most common issues related to voice is the use of active voice versus passive voice, and the distinction between the two is fairly simple: a sentence is

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written in active voice if the subject of sentence is also the agent, and it is written in passive voice if the agent is in the predicate or, in some cases, is not mentioned at all. Take the following sentences as examples.

1. Donald borrowed $100 from Gary. (ACTIVE VOICE) 2. Someone borrowed $100 from Gary. (ACTIVE VOICE) 3. Gary loaned $100 to Donald. (ACTIVE VOICE) 4. Donald was loaned $100 by Gary. (PASSIVE VOICE) 5. Donald secured a $100 loan from Gary. (ACTIVE VOICE) 6. Mistakes were made. (PASSIVE VOICE)

W. word: a letter or a combination of letters used to designate a sensible concept. writer: a person who is responsible for the composition or design of a written text.

“Writer” is distinguishable from “author” in that “author” designates a person who has not only created a text, but also has published it, whereas “writer” designates a person who writes, for whatever purpose.

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SECTION I: SUPPLEMENTS The following section contains material written and designed to give students and teachers something to focus on as a supplement to what is already elsewhere in the Handbook. Section I contains “sidebars” of information and suggestions on topics that could not be examined as thoroughly in the main part of the book. Section II contains writing samples at various stages of quality and completion.

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1: Sidebars The following is a group of “sidebars.” These are topics of special concern for writers and are mostly made of material that easily could have been included in the main body of the Handbook, but were too detailed or lengthy to include without interrupting the “flow” of the book.

Know your reader The importance of this cannot be overstated. To know your reader is to know what that person’s needs and wants are, particularly to make him or her most receptive to what you have to say.

In academic writing, this can be tricky because the reader can be pretty abstract.

It can be helpful to remember that the most “solid,” clearly defined reader is your teacher. (It is also your most impactful reader because your teacher is the one assigning you a grade for what you have written.)

Things student-writers commonly include, but teachers don’t usually want or need… A plot summary This usually occurs in literature classes. Teachers don’t need to be told what a book is about because they already read it. (They taught it to you.) They usually take plot summary as a sure sign that you haven’t got anything original to say. A concept- This occurs when a writer describes some concept ostensibly for the description benefit of the reader. It normally is an unwelcome feature of an essay if it is a description of a concept that has already been covered in class. A definition Like the plot summary and concept-description (above), defining a term can seem like you are merely trying to come up with words to take up space. It can also frustrate the teacher who has likely taught the term to you to begin with. A hook A hook can be a very useful and powerful tool when your reader isn’t required to read what you have written, but teachers do have to read every word of your essay. It therefore can make a hook seem inappropriate to the circumstance, which in turn makes the hook seem awkward and artificial. Second-person These are “you,” “your,” “yours,” and any other derivative. It can cause pronouns confusion for a reader who does not understand if “you” is referring to him or herself or if it is referring to some other, perhaps hypothetical, person. Asking questions This is actually an extension of second-person pronouns (above) because the understood subject of any question is “you.” Many use this as an organizational device, and when limited to the invention phase of writing an essay, it does just fine, but it can also be a serious distraction when used to excess (and “excess” is determined by your reader’s tolerance for them). Figure I1

Still, a teacher probably will not want you to address him or her directly. (Some might.)

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Words to avoid, words to use This table contains a list of words writers often use that are limiting to them in some usually unintended way. The second column offers some explanation of how and why these words are often limiting.

Word Nature and reason of limitation a lot This term implies a number, but it is too unspecific for academic purposes. Hardly anything is ever always one thing or another. It is particularly limiting always because to say that something is always true reduces a writer’s opportunities to find argument and rational discussion. This is an “essentializing” term, meaning that it reduces something complex basically into something simpler than it really is. just This word is very often followed by an overly reductive statement. This word is basically the opposite of always, and the nature and reasons of its never limitation are essentially the same. Writers often use this word when use would have sufficed. If a writer does not understand the difference between use and utilize, it is probably best to go utilize with use. (There truly is a difference, though.) Another, underused synonym for use is employ. Figure I2

In many ways, when writers use the words in this table, the words are too often accompanied by overly generalized statements, which often lead to simplified arguments. (For even more examples of words to use and avoid, also see Section 20.)

The legend of Bigfoot Take the legend of Bigfoot as an illustrative example. Examining that idea can shed some light on the process of drawing up an effective argument.

Issue

We call Bigfoot a “legend” because it exists more in imagination than fact. Still, the fact of its existence remains an issue in the minds of some people, and an issue can always be answered.

First, recall that an issue is a question of some controversy that can be answered in more than one way by rational people. Also note that, in all cases, an issue does not imply a “correct” answer – it is only a question of a rational and defensible answer.

Heuristics

The first two (conjecture and definition) are more abstract than the other two (policy and quality), which are far more practical.

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Conjecture

Questions of conjecture speak to the existence of a thing.

 “Does Bigfoot exist?”  “Has Bigfoot ever existed?”  “Will Bigfoot ever exist?”  “Could Bigfoot ever have existed in the past?”  “Could Bigfoot ever exist in the future?” Questions of conjecture can seem almost too obvious to even ask, at first glance.

Definition

Questions of definition speak to the characteristics or features of a thing. In the case of Bigfoot, the most obvious questions would be,

 “What do we mean when we say ‘Bigfoot,’ anyway?”  “What distinguishes Bigfoot from other animals most like it?”  “If Bigfoot exists, under what biological classification would we place it?”  “Is there a difference between our concepts of ‘Bigfoot’ and ‘Sasquatch’?” This can be more complex than it would seem. It can be easy to say Bigfoot is a hairy and reclusive mammal, similar in appearance to humans, but since no confirmed Bigfoot sightings are available, we must rely on consensus to determine Bigfoot’s physical form.

The argument has been put forth that while Bigfoot does not exist in a classical sense (a creature secretly roaming the wilderness), it is possible that it exists among us, as it were, “in plain sight”: perhaps it is the vestiges of a Neanderthal colony, or perhaps a Bigfoot somehow mated with a human (ugh!) and its genes, which are a form of itself, have been passed along.

Questions of definition can be difficult to distinguish from questions of conjecture.

Policy

Questions of policy speak to the actions (practical or conditional) taken in response to a thing.

 “What should we do about Bigfoot?”  “How should we respond to allegations of Bigfoot sightings?”  “Should we regard and speak of Bigfoot as if Bigfoot were a lone creature (an ‘it’), or should we speak of Bigfoot as enumerated, gendered creatures (‘he’ or ‘she’ or ‘they’)?” Quality 155

Questions of quality speak to the degree of a thing’s significance.

 “How seriously should we take the legend of Bigfoot?”  “How likely is it that Bigfoot does exist?” Bigfoot and logic

Logical proofs

In order for us to talk about Bigfoot rationally, we have to understand its nature. We have to have a shared understanding, that we are both or all talking about the same thing.

There are at least two skeptical positions that a rational believer in Bigfoot must answer:

1. If Bigfoot exists and is skilled at hiding, how is it that a dead one has never be found? 2. Assuming that Bigfoot has lived on over the course of centuries as an animal species, how is it that Bigfoot has been able to survive, unverified, over the span of so many generations? Consider the following syllogism:

P1. All living things on earth are mortal. P2. Bigfoot is of the earth. C. Bigfoot is mortal.

Does it invalidate the possibility of Bigfoot altogether? No, but in order to reject the conclusion (C) of this logic, a person would have to invalidate one of the two premises. P1 cannot be invalidated because it has been demonstrated to be overwhelmingly true: because no other plant or animal has ever been proven immortal, we can easily infer (see inductive reasoning) that if Bigfoot is a creature indigenous to the earth, he must be mortal. Granted, there is a small chance that Bigfoot could be the one creature on earth who does not die, but it is miniscule. Bigfoot would be a mammal if it does exist, and mammals are far less long-lived than many species from the plant kingdom, and they are all mortal as well. The longest-lived known mammal is the bowhead whale, which has an average lifespan of around two hundred years, and the longest-living human (the species which Bigfoot seems to resemble most) died at the age of 122.

With P2 there is some potential to be disproven, but it is scant. In order to invalidate P2 (that Bigfoot is of the earth), the person hoping to reject this conclusion (C) would need to establish in the minds of his or her readers two new premises:

P3. Bigfoot originated from a place other than earth, and P4. Immortal life exists elsewhere in the universe.

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In truth, to accept the fourth premise (P4), the believer would have to establish two more premises:

P5. Intelligent life exists in the universe in places other than our own, and P6. Immortality is possible for living beings.

In this case, P5 would have to be established before P6 ever could. Note also that the qualifier “intelligent” has been included in P5 to describe “life.” This is because it would require a far greater intelligence than even our own to establish a creature on another planet in addition to the premise that immortality is possible in our universe (P6). In fact, one would almost have to come up with a new concept-term to replace “life” because “living” almost precludes the possibility of “immortality” since “life” also implies “death.”

Logic: The Fermi paradox Not everything can be logical, especially when we have questions our knowledge cannot answer. In cases like that, we often encounter a paradox, where logic delivers us to a question instead of an answer.

What scientists call “The Fermi Paradox” is an excellent example of this point. The paradox begins from the following premises:

1. There are billions of stars in the universe, many of which are much older than the Sun. 2. Planets circling these stars might conceivably have forms of intelligent life on them also that are capable of traveling to earth. There are a few additional wrinkles to these premises, but this is the basis. We call them premises because we know that Premise #1 is true and that Premise #2 is very likely to be true. The paradox arises out of the observation Fermi made when he asked, if these premises are true – that is, if intelligent alien life is likely to exist in a far more advanced form than our own – then “Where is everybody?” Fermi was asking, essentially, why haven’t these far older civilizations found their way to us.

There are a number of resolutions to the paradox. (They are called resolutions because they potentially solve the puzzle.)

A. Extraterrestrial life is so unusual that it is unique to Earth. This one is simply about playing the odds.

B. Intelligent extraterrestrial life is so rare that it exists only on Earth. Some may even argue the point that intelligent life has yet to develop on Earth, also. Even without the jokes, it depends on what is meant by “intelligent.” This one is far more likely than A. because it is less exclusionary.

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C. There is intelligent extraterrestrial life, but it is as advanced or less advanced than we are. The idea here is that, because efficient interplanetary or intergalactic travel is so far ahead of our capabilities now, the odds are that there are no other civilizations that are appreciably further along than we are. That would mean that we haven’t made contact simply because no one currently can. (Also see I.)

D. It is the fate of all civilizations to die by natural causes. This is an intriguing one for several reasons. For one, “natural causes” seems to imply something that is out of the hands of the people dealing with it, no matter how advanced they are. That being the case, the rule of probability shows that, the longer a civilization exists, the more likely one of these natural “extinction events” will occur.

E. Older civilizations have already suffered the fate of our own: self- extinction. The idea behind this one is that it is the fate of all intelligent life to acquire the technology to destroy itself eventually, and inevitably, it always happens; it just hasn’t happened to us yet.

F. Older civilizations have already suffered the fate of our own: external destruction. This is the idea that other worlds have been destroyed by some malevolent alien race that simply has not gotten around to destroying us yet. This one is no more uplifting or optimistic than D., but that does not make it any less likely.

G. They know we are here, but they don’t want to contact us. One does not have to know a whole lot about people to imagine why this could be the case. Even a person can see why people are hard to be around. To be fair to ourselves, though, this may not necessarily be because they never want to contact us (though we certainly cannot rule it out).

H. They are already here, but we haven’t noticed. This is not say that we are too stupid to notice, necessarily: it might just be that they are so fundamentally different from us in some way that we wouldn’t even think to look for them where we would find them. Perhaps, for example, they are deep under the sea or so microscopic that we haven’t noticed. Or perhaps they do not exist as we think of things existing: they aren’t perceivable through the five senses. Perhaps they are something like what we call ghosts – ethereal and somewhat out of time and body.

I. We are so remote from them, it isn’t worth the bother.

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Among all of them, this one requires a more “science-y” explanation because it assumes another premise of its own: there are absolute limitations to movement through time and space. (Also see C.)

J. We are being protected or set aside for some purpose. It could be, in this case, that they are protecting us from something like what F. is describing.

Until one of these resolutions is proven, it remains a paradox. Once one is proven, it simply becomes the explanation – or in this case, the correct answer to Fermi’s question. The likelihood that any one of them is the resolution depends upon how reasonable or plausible it is as an explanation.

There are a few questions to ask to help understand paradox:

 Of the resolutions listed above, which do you think is the most likely answer? Why?  Of the resolutions listed above, which do you think is the least likely answer?  What others?

Modal features As we have seen in Section 15.6 and in the Glossary, the writing modes can be appropriated for different purposes. Figure I3 outlines a few general features of each mode that are helpful to understand.

Purpose Mode General Inform Persuade event-based, selection from among selection from among cause and effect consequential established causes or competing causes or effects effects classification evaluative demonstrability appropriateness compare/contrast evaluative accuracy suitability definition evaluative accuracy suitability description evaluative, “what?” objective impressionistic exposition event-based, descriptive, fact- descriptive, interpretive narrative dramatized, character- focused (“why?”) based, subjective action event-based, “how?,” process ideal or theoretical action

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evaluative, selective generic or established tenuous or unique summary selective principle selective principle synthesis evaluative Figure I3

Again, writing in a mode is less about how an essay is organized as it is about method and, to some extent, purpose. There are really no “cause and effect” essays, so much as essays that, if writers are writing them as they are expected to be written, are written in the mode of cause and effect.

It also happens that a writer can be writing in more than one mode at once. Figure B4 illustrates this point: essay prompts are given that straddle the line between and among more than one mode.

Multimodal essay prompts Modes “What is the most appropriate way to hug a colleague?” process, classification “What is the most plausible explanation?” cause and effect, classification “What do you see that signifies this change?” description, compare/contrast Figure B4

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2: Writing Samples The following is a group of writing samples, on various subjects, and of varying degrees of quality and completion. These are for you and your teacher to examine – not necessarily as samples of “excellent” or even “good” writing, but of writing, generally, for good and for bad. Each sample includes with it a few comments and questions that might be useful to examine, but the discussion on each of these should not be limited to what is given here.

Fish slap The following is an example of an essay written originally, as its author notes, for his own amusement. It is mostly fragmentary.

There are certain things – certain actions, images, and circumstances – which

many regard as inherently funny. That is, there is some essential element of them

that strikes the average human mind as “funny.” One such example seems to be

the idea of a person being slapped in the face by a fish. Monty Python recognized

this.

The reality of fish slapping is a far cry from the idea, though, which is clear

from even a cursory glance at the physics and anatomy of it. The body of a fish,

as it turns out, does not stand up well to the kind of impact that the collision with

a human face produces. All kinds of things will escape through the gills upon

such an impact, and if the species is particularly wide, the soft tissue at the

underbelly is wont to split. There is nothing funny about either of these images.

For it to be funny, the fish needs to remain intact and the blow needs to be

moderately forceful.

Certain species can be dismissed out of hand. The catfish (of the order

Siluriformes), for example, has barbs under its gills, which can be particularly

161 painful, and does not seem to be a part of the comic effect.

The goal, then, is to find the ideal fish – one that will retain its fishy form, but will also produce in the target the best comical reaction. It is not just a matter of tossing at someone a box of Gorton’s Fisherman frozen fish fillets, after all. The best guarantee of physical integrity is to choose a species of fish that is particularly bony, but by that same token, it would be harmful.

Practically any member of the suborder Pleuronectoidei is a good place to start. The common name for each of the species in this suborder is “flounder.”

Despite the name, this is a noble order of predatory fish that has been dated back to at least fifty million years – a fact which of course adds to the comedy. The benefit of these fish to the purpose of fish slapping is in the ratio of surface space from height and length to girth. The typical female of these species grows to a maximum length of about 23.6 inches, with a width of about half that amount and a height of about half as well. They also grow in weight to a size upwards of five pounds. These details are important to the physics of the action. The average human face is around 9.2 inches from the back of the head to the tip of the nose and 9.4 inches from the top of the head to the tip of the chin. It is within this physical range of space (86.48 in2) that the blow will be struck. The average length of a female Gulf flounder is about 18 inches, with a height of 9 inches and a weight of about 3.3 pounds, while the average adult human head is 9.9 pounds, with a width of 6.3 pounds. All of these factors taken into account, the collision of a typical Gulf flounder with a typical human head would involve the active

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force of 0.0023 psi against the resistance of 0.0182 psi.

The added potential bonus of a flounder is that, by the time it reaches

adulthood, both eyes are on one side of its body. These eyes also are situated

close enough to the front edge of its body that there is a less likely chance that

they will protrude or separate entirely upon impact with the side of a human face.

Also, their mouths are especially open, allowing for the release of kinetic energy

upon impact, potentially reducing the undesirable “splatter effect.”

The downsides to the flounder, however, are primarily aesthetic. Because they

are demersal predators, their primary advantage is that they camouflage

themselves to catch their prey off guard by ambuscade. This being the case, they

generally look a lot like the sea floor, and it seems that “shininess” is a factor in

humor.

The sound is a factor as well.

Factors to consider here include, but are not limited to –

 What information given is in need of documentation? What information isn’t?

Analysis of e. e. cummings’s “[i carry your heart with me (i carry it in]” As it is given here, this selection is probably the most conventional and “complete” of the group: it is what many people call a “literary analysis,” which is closest to what students write in their classes covering English literature.

In some ways, every poem about love ever written can be summed up into

163 three words: “I love you.” They are all unique, however, and that is because everyone has their own way of saying it, and the way those poets express these feelings tells us a few things about the poet, about the object of the poet’s love, and if we are paying careful attention, a few things about ourselves, also. e.e. cummings’s “[i carry your heart with me (i carry it in]” is a good example of this.

The way cummings communicates this emotion is a practical blend of unconventional form and semantic ambiguity that is reflected thematically in the general effect of the poem, making it a statement not only about love, but about expansiveness, mystery, and complexity.

Light and understanding bring knowledge and clarity, but they also dispel mystery and possibility. He says “you are whatever a moon has always meant”

(emphasis added), and in so doing establishes the impression that he does not know what a moon means, nor does he particularly care to. For that matter, “a moon” is temporally static, meaning what it meant eons before now and will continue to mean long into the future.

For cummings here, he is more focused upon absence than presence.

Punctuation is missing where it would provide clarity if present, and simple nouns and descriptors are replaced with interrogative clauses (“whatever a sun will always sing”). A “deepest secret” is alluded to, but in a manner that indicates that it is stated somewhere in the poem, only implied in the poem, or that it is a secret that not only he knows himself (“the deepest secret nobody knows”). He refers to the sun and the moon with indefinite articles.

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The poem is about possibility vs. understanding and is simultaneously

expansive and intimate.

[Ambiguous pronouns, flexible sentence structure owing to lack of definitive

punctuation, reflective construction in ll. 7-8.]

[“Poetic license is the privilege of the good poet and the excuse of the bad.”]

Factors to consider here include, but are not limited to –

 What would you say is the difference between this analysis of the poem and a summary of it?  What of the two paragraphs at the end? These are “editorial comments,” or fragments of thoughts the author had but did not develop. Is there are any promise for them? Where do you think the author was headed with them?

The Fate of Sullivan Ballou: A Forensic Analysis The following example is a fragment written by an Associate Professor of English here at Gordon. He says, “I really didn’t know where I was going with this. It was something interesting that I noticed, so I thought it was worth putting down.”

The main characteristic of this example is the surprise it contains in the juxtaposition. Where is something like that appropriate?

In 1861, on the eve of battle, Major Sullivan Ballou of the 2nd Rhode Island

Infantry regiment took the time to write a letter home to his adoring wife. An

abridged version of his letter is featured as a conclusion to the first episode of

Ken Burns’s landmark documentary series The Civil War:

My very dear Sarah: The indications are strong that we shall move in a few days –

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perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write again, I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more… I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. […] And I am willing – perfectly willing – to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt… Sarah my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me unresistibly on with all these chains to the battle field. The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them for so long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when, God willing, we might still have lived and loved together, and seen our sons grown up to honorable manhood, around us. […] If I do not my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battle field, it will whisper your name. Forgive my many faults and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have often times been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness… But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the gladdest days and in the darkest nights … always, always, and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath, as the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again… Soon after writing this letter, Ballou’s anxieties were confirmed, and he was killed at the First Battle of Bull Run. Because the battle was a Confederate victory, Ballou was buried hastily by his comrades, and the rebels held the field.

Burns has justifiably called this letter one of the greatest love letters of all time.

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This is not where Sullivan Ballou’s story ends, however, nor should it end there

because his ultimate fate underscores some hard facts about war that romance

and sentimentalism should not obscure.

By many accounts, a group of revenge-minded soldiers from the 21st Georgia

regiment, mistaking him for his colonel (who also was killed), disinterred the

body of Sullivan Ballou, the father of two young sons and an adoring and

devoted husband, decapitated and mutilated it, and burned the remainder of it to

ashes. The head was boiled to separate the bone from the flesh, muscle, and

brain, and after an investigation conducted personally by the Governor of Rhode

Island, William Sprague, the skull was the only thing left unaccounted for.

Presumably it is quietly moldering away as a macabre relic in some Georgia

family’s basement.

This is stern stuff, for sure, but it is a reflection of how dramatically

nineteenth-century ideals contrast with nineteenth-century historical realities.

Factors to consider here include, but are not limited to –

 How would clarifying this essay fragment’s purpose affect the way it is revised?  How well is the transition handled from the letter to the description of Ballou’s ultimate fate? How can it be improved?  How would a clarification of this essay’s purpose affect the way the transition is handled?

A critical analysis of the character “Glinda” of The Wizard of Oz The following essay is more in a state of completion than many others of this section, but many readers will note its non-academic tone. This essay was written by an English professor here at Gordon to illustrate how a “critical analysis” of a scene from a film might look.

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There is a very telling scene near the end of the 1939 film adaptation of L.

Frank Baum’s children’s classic The Wizard of Oz. The scene features the character of Dorothy, freshly experiencing the grief of being left behind by the

Wizard’s runaway balloon and the embarrassment of having to experience it publicly, and the second visitation of Glinda, who is universally regarded in Oz as The Good Witch of the North. Glinda’s image in this story is too often accepted at face value, and a more critical examination of her actions may indicate a much darker role. When viewed through a certain lens, Glinda is a character who appears in this scene to be far more twisted and depraved than even her “wicked” counterparts do.

The generally accepted view of Glinda is that she transfers the ruby slippers from the feet of a dead witch to Dorothy’s feet so that in the end Dorothy will learn a lesson about the value of home through the hardships that come from flying monkeys and phony wizards. Still, Glinda could have transferred the slippers to her own feet or even to a Munchkin’s feet because, in either case, that person would at least be a citizen of Oz and have a much better sense of the local cultural politics than Dorothy does – a hick who literally just flew in from

Kansas. Glinda doesn’t. Instead, she saddles Dorothy with the slippers and floats away in her bubble. “There they are,” she says, “and there they’ll stay.”

The payoff to this scene in Munchkinland is the scene here in question – where Glinda reappears in the Emerald City, only after Dorothy has finally lost hope of ever returning home. You have had the power to return home all along,

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Glinda tells her. All Dorothy ever had to do, she says, was click her heels together three times and say “There’s no place like home.” That’s all. Thanks for the tip, Glinda. If it hasn’t been apparent until this point that Glinda is criminally indifferent to Dorothy’s plight, it seems difficult to ignore it now. Granted,

Glinda turns out in the end to be a product of Dorothy’s own imagination, but whether Glinda’s actions are self-imposed or objectively performed is irrelevant:

Dorothy experiences them as reality.

And lay aside Glinda’s disregard for Dorothy – there is ample evidence of her negligence elsewhere. She seems wholly unconcerned with the threat the bad witches pose to the Munchkins, laughing off the Wicked Witch’s threats made before their very eyes. Heaven only knows how the Witch of the East was terrorizing the Munchkins just before the tornado deposited Dorothy’s house right on top of her. Glinda certainly doesn’t know – she wasn’t even there. She also must know that the Wizard is a charlatan, running a confidence game on an entire nation – a magocracy of which he has no one to hold him accountable. Yet she stands by, laughing, while scarecrows stand by brainless and helpless to do anything for themselves, while tin men molder away in the woods and lions terrorize only themselves. It is shameful.

This view of Glinda indicates either a flaw in the theme of the story or in the telling of it. At best, Glinda appears to embody the “daffy dame” image of the era

– shallow, silly, and hopelessly unaccountable. At worst, she is a kind of sadist, blithely disregarding Dorothy’s safety, ostensibly to teach the girl a lesson,

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though its truth Glinda makes so nebulous that it is a wonder that Dorothy

learned anything at all. What lesson could we expect her to learn, given the

evidence she sees? – that loyalty and sacrifice can’t accomplish things that a

goofy witch can? In fact, in contrast with this new view of Glinda, the Wicked

Witch of the West almost seems noble. She is wicked, for sure, but she certainly

makes no secret about it. In fact, if there are two things we can rely upon about

the story – things we can know for sure – they are that the Wicked Witch wants

those slippers, and she is zealously dedicated to the cause of wickedness, simply

for the sake of being wicked. There is a kind of nobility to that, and regardless of

the very serious dangers she poses to Dorothy, unlike Glinda the “Good” Witch,

Dorothy always knows where she stands with the Wicked Witch.

Factors to consider here include, but are not limited to –

 For what publication (if any) is this essay’s tone most appropriate?  How persuasive is this argument?

The Glock 22 This draft is more fragmentary than perhaps any of the others here. It was also written by a professor here at Gordon who had far grander plans for it than is present here.

The Glock 22 weighs as little as 1.6 pounds. It has a magazine capacity

typically of fifteen rounds, the projectiles of which are two-fifths of an inch in

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diameter and travel at a muzzle velocity of 1,180 feet per second, generating

between 350 and 500 foot-pounds of energy, depending upon their weight, which

ranges from 135 to 200 grains. Some loads of the .40 S&W are capable of

inducing hydrostatic shock, which is a condition caused by an object penetrating

a body with such force that it induces wounds in areas not directly affected by the

trajectory of the object. Brain hemorrhages, for example, are said to have been

caused by shots to the chest as a consequence of the concentrated energy

transferred from the projectile to the human body. Hydrostatic shock is regarded

by many in the scientific community as an unproven hypothesis, but it is a

noteworthy phenomenon.

The better part of its advantage in weight comes from its chemical

composition: parts of it that are metal in many other handguns are polymer-based

in the Glock.

All of this is not to celebrate the Glock 22 as the pinnacle achievement in

handgun development. In fact, what makes this weapon so ordinary today is part

of the point of this essay.

Factors to consider here include, but are not limited to –

 Going on what little you can see, what are some of the directions in which this essay might go?  The essay mentions that hydrostatic shock is “an unproven hypothesis,” but also that it is “a noteworthy phenomenon.” Why do you suppose that is? Do you agree with the statement?  How, if at all, should the information in the first paragraph be documented?

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