100 legal sites to download literature - i heart intelligence

Want to start or keep reading electronic books?

Check out the list of sources in this Aug. 31, 2014, post by Stan:

i heart intelligence FREE BOOKS

'via Blog this'

Don't Study Hard; Study Smart!

Tough Guy
Photo by pabeaufait
February 24, 2008, © All rights reserved
Used with permission

"Students need to understand that learning happens not only during reading and studying, but in all sorts of ways, so that they can examine their own habits to know which ones may be helping or not, and [then] make adjustments" (Chen, 2014, Experimenting with Learning Tactics, ¶4).

In a KQED Mind/Shift post, Ingfei Chen introduced a book written by a former colleague and science reporter, Benedict Carey (2014), entitled How We Learn: The Surprising Truth .... Then Chen went on to highlight and give examples of three key take-aways from the book that she['d] gleaned from an interview with the author.

The post included some wonderful tips for self-aware and self-directed learners. Moreover, the voice recording that accompanied the article was of the highest quality imaginable ("Press Play to Listen ..."). Kudos to the unnamed voice artist who made the recording!

References

Carey, Benedict. (2014). How We Learn: The Surprising Truth about When, Where, and Why It Happens. New York, NY: Random House.

Chen, Ingfei. (2014, August 25). How does the brain learn best? Smart studying strategies [web log post]. Retrieved from http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/08/how-does-the-brain-learn-best-smart-studying-strategies/

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BR 1-03: Hairy Maclary (Dodd, 1983)

Another favorite story with animals!

"'EEEEEOWWWFFTZ!' said Scarface Claw" (n.p.).

Hairy Maclary is an animal adventure story from New Zealand (NZ). It was a gift from a friend from . . . , you guessed it–NZ! It's a great story for pronunciation practice because of all of the rhymes. My favorite line from the book, the quotation above (no page numbers), is a bit of a challenge to pronounce. Can you say that big word, and make it sound like a . . .  (a four-footed animal)?

Reference

Dodd, Lynley. (1983). Harry Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy. Wellington, NZ: Mallinson Rendel Publishers Ltd.

[106 words]

BR 1-02: The Cross-with-Us Rhinoceros (Bush & Geraghty, 1988)

Photo of book cover, 2014.04.17

"Poor Tilly was so scared she couldn't speak" (Bush & Geraghty, 1988, n.p.*).

This is a children's book that I've read again and again. It is a great story about four children who went out together and had an adventure. Like the last book I reviewed, BR 1-01: Dear Zoo (2014.04.16), this one features animals. The ending was surprising, but I'm not going to tell you what happened. You'll have to read it for yourself.

Reference

Bush, John, & Geraghty, Paul. (1988). The Cross-with-Us Rhinoceros. London, England: Hutchinson Children's Books.

____________________
* This story doesn't have page numbers. If it did, I'd use "p. #" instead of "n.p." (no page number).

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BR 1-01: Dear Zoo (Campbell, 1982)

I wrote to the zoo to send me a pet.... So they sent me a .... He was too grumpy! I sent him back. (Campbell, 1982, n.p.*)

Dear Zoo is a children's book. It is short and easy to read. It tells a story about animals coming from the zoo. There are little windows to open to see surprising things. If you like zoo animals, or easy books to read, I recommend this story.

Reference

Campbell, Rod. (1982). Dear Zoo. London, England: Campbell Books.

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* This story doesn't have page numbers. If it did, I'd use "p. #" instead of "n.p." (no page number).

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Check out the eBooks @ KGU!

The link below is from the KGU Library site, eJournal[s]/eBook[s] page. It's supposed to point to EBSCO Host listings of a number of Macmillan LanguageHouse ebooks in the university library, 63 as of Oct. 2013 (KGU Library, 電子ジャーナル/電子ブック, 電子ブック).

• http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?profile=ehost&defaultdb=nlebk

However, Mr. T. informed me that "you have to be on our wireless or be using a computer hooked up to the KGU network" (personal correspondence, 2013.11.15). So the next time you're there, I suggest that you check it out.

If you find there are more ebooks (from more publishers) on the EBSCO host list, please post a comment to let everyone know how many (and which publishers) are currently listed.

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A Couple More Model Book Reviews

Check these out to get a good idea of how to compose book reviews.

• Rick's KGU Writing Blog: BR 1-01: Pinocchio (2013.04.15)
• Rick's KGU Writing Blog: BR 1-02: The Little Red Hen (2013.04.15)

'via Blog this'

[36 words]

My Start-Up Labels (2013)

This post is a derivation from a previous post on the Writing Studio Blog, Start-up labels (2012), April 22, 2012.

Here are labels that you will need to use for required posts on your blogs:

• books, brainstorms, drafts, essay prep., essays, fiction, free-writing, graphics, links, media, mind-maps, movies, non-fiction, outlines, quickposts, references, reviews, revisions, typing, websites (20)

For example, on book reviews, you will need to use at least four (4) labels, including:

• books, references, reviews, ... (all comma-spaced values [CSVs]); plus:
• fiction, OR
• non-fiction.

The label "references," and the minimum number "four (4)" for book reviews (above), are new for 1st semester this year. All book review posts will need APA-style references, for which your instructor will provide models and templates, from 1st semester onward.

Please feel free to use other suitable labels, as well. For example, genre labels like "adventure," "biography," or "history" (one or another, without quotation marks) are welcome. That is, as long as they reflect the content of individual book review posts.
For details on how to use other required labels, please see Sheet 1 in the Labels and Links page on the Writing Studio Blog.

Now, to jump-start your labels collections, please:

1. Copy and paste the 20 labels in the first list above into a new draft post on your own blog;
2. Entitle the new draft post, "My Start-Up Labels" (in title case, without quotation marks);
3. Copy and paste the labels in the list above into the Labels field on the draft start-up labels post;
4. Publish the start-up labels post on your blog; and then
5. Add a labels gadget to the sidebar of your blog.

____________________

Note: At present, the maximum number of labels that you can put on a post is twenty (20).

Once you've published your start-up labels posts, with 20 labels in the label field as well as in the body of the posts, the labels will show up in your Labels gadget. Then, when you compose new posts, you will be able to choose appropriate labels for required posts, rather than having to type them in by hand.

[357 words]

Language Hungry! by Tim Murphey

Murphey (2006)

Language Hungry is full of "simple, practical suggestions" for language learners (Helbling online catalog, Language Hungry, 2012.12.21), in bite-sized chunks. I have recommended it to students since an earlier edition came out in 1998.

References

Murphey, T. (1998). Language Hungry: An Introduction to Language Learning Fun and Self-Esteem. Tokyo: Macmillan Languagehouse. 

Murphey, T. (2006). Language Hungry: An Introduction to Language Learning Fun and Self-Esteem. London: Helbling Languages. [ISBN-10: 3-902504-78-1] [ISBN-13: 978-3902504784]

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WSBulletin 2-02 (Fall 2012): Book Reviews & Revised Essays

A couple of quick comments already this a.m., and follow-ups (reminders), for everyone:

pab said...  Hello R...,  All book reviews this semester need an opening quotation to spark readers' interest, and an APA-style reference at the end.  Cheers, PB  December 13, 2012 ...	Everyone: Please review WSBlog posts with the labels "quotations" and "references," especially: WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2010 Quotations and references for book reviews
pab さんは書きました... H...,  You and your group mates need to rewrite your essay in the _third person_, without "I," "We," or "You" [in main clauses]. Cheers, PB  2012年12月13日 ...	Example (from 1C, Dec. 12): Version 2-03a (draft): We chose this actress because she ... and .... Version 2-03b (revision): The reasons we chose this actress were she ... and ....

If you have concerns or questions about either the on-going book review assignment, or the current movie review assignment, please spell them out in comments on this post.

[170 words]

Incorporating quoted passages

This post presents three versions of a filtering and focusing post that I wrote for another blog (The LTD Project Blog, 2012.06.22). I am posting these three versions here to show how to:

1. Sandwich paragraph-length quotations between personal reflections;
2. Shift the balance of content from quotations to reflections, by:
1. summarizing rather than quoting an interview prompt, and
2. adding further reflections; and
3. Quote short, already quoted passages, using nested quotation marks.

---

Version 1

In an exclusive interview for the Library Thing, for the State of the Thing newsletter (June 2012), investigative television journalist Dan Rather responded to a question about his former teachers.

You write in the book about the important role certain teachers played in your life. Tell us about those teachers and what key lessons they taught you that you've put to use in your life and career.

One common thread for many of my teachers is that they believed in me and took the time to treat me as an individual. They taught me that it is not just about the destination but it is about the journey. However we try to reform our educational system, we must allow for teachers to see their students as individuals.

(Dan Rather: LibraryThing Author Interview)

Among other issues he addressed were tenacious, growing corporate interests in control of conventional media.  At the end of the interview, Rather also mentioned new installments to come out this fall (2012) in a series on education (HDNet: Dan Rather Reports).

[174 words]

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Version 2

In an exclusive interview for the Library Thing, for the State of the Thing newsletter (June 2012), investigative television journalist Dan Rather responded to a question about important roles his former teachers had played.

One common thread for many of my teachers is that they believed in me and took the time to treat me as an individual. They taught me that it is not just about the destination but it is about the journey. However we try to reform our educational system, we must allow for teachers to see their students as individuals.

(Dan Rather: LibraryThing Author Interview)

Among other issues he addressed were tenacious, growing corporate interests in control of conventional media.  At the end of the interview, Rather also mentioned developing new installments to come out this fall (2012) in a series on education (HDNet: Dan Rather Reports).

[141 words]

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Version 3

In an exclusive interview for the Library Thing, for the State of the Thing newsletter (June 2012), investigative television journalist Dan Rather responded to a question about important roles his former teachers had played.

One common thread for many of my teachers is that they believed in me and took the time to treat me as an individual. They taught me that it is not just about the destination but it is about the journey. However we try to reform our educational system, we must allow for teachers to see their students as individuals.

(Dan Rather: LibraryThing Author Interview)

Among other issues he also addressed were tenacious, growing corporate interests in control of conventional [news] media. That was in response to a passage the interviewer had quoted from Rather's memoirs, Rather Outspoken: My Life in the News, about "'censorship masquerading as good business'" (2012).

At the end of the interview, Rather mentioned developing new installments to come out this fall (2012) in a TV series on education (HDNet: Dan Rather Reports). I'm looking forward to following those developments.

[180 words]

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The third version of the post on that other blog is approximately the same length that the first version was. However, in the third version, the proportion of quoted text has decreased from about 56% (98/174) to 36% (65/180). Square brackets around the word "news" in the third version indicate that I added that word after publishing the post.

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Suitable Labels for Posts

Here are a couple more comments and follow-up remarks that I'd like to share with everyone:

Comments	Follow-up remarks
pab2012年5月14日 9:02 Hi K..., I note that you've changed your blog title, and started posting frequently.  Now I'd like to ask you to do me a favor. Would you please reserve the label "free-writing" for "essay prep." assignments that I give leading up to composition of complete essay posts?  You can use "homework" or "studies" for a third label on this post. Cheers, PB	For labels on posts, please follow the instructions in the Google spreadsheet in the Labels and Links page on the Writing Studio Blog,
pab2012年5月14日 9:05 PS: Please also share what you learn from this comment about labels with your classmates (1C) and peers (1A). Cheers, PB
pab2012年5月20日 11:58 Hi S..., I definitely recommend getting into healthy eating habits early on. Regarding labels, would you please reserve "essays" and "free-writing" in particular for specific writing assignments that I give in class? Suitable labels for this post would be "food, habits, [and] health" (without the quotation marks or the word in square brackets). Cheers, PB	For labels on posts, please follow the instructions in the Google spreadsheet in the Labels and Links page on the Writing Studio Blog,

I'd like to ask everyone to review and revise their labels, as necessary, especially on:

1. Book reviews:
• "books, reviews, ..." (CSV, without quotation marks);
2. Draft essays:
• "drafts, essays, ..." ( CSV, without quotation marks); and
3. Revised essays:
• "essays, revisions, ..." (CSV, without quotation marks).

Suitable labels on book reviews, essays, and the like, will enable classmates, peers, teachers, and visitors, to browse and find your posts easily, when they click on active labels in labels gadgets in your blog sidebars.

[267 words]

My Startup Labels

books, brainstorms, drafts, essay prep., essays, fiction, free-writing, graphics, links, media, movies, non-fiction, outlines, quickposts, reviews, revisions, typing, websites

[20 words]

BR 1-02: I Can Do It!

Now I can do it. Nearly... ([Watanabe,] pp. n-m).

I chose another Puffin picture book, because they're easy to read. This one is about a bear who is learn[ing] to do things on wheels: a tricycle, a bicycle, ....

This book is very short, and too easy for me. I'm going to try something more challenging next time. I recommend harder book[s] for you, too.

If kids learn like this, maybe they will become motor-heads. If President Obama heard this story when he was young, perhaps he was inspired by the "I can..." parts.

Reference

Watanabe, Shigeo. (1984). I Can Do It. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.

[101 words]

BR 1-01: A Difficult Day

Melinda felt as if she were lost in space[,] and nobody even cared (Fernandes, [n.p.]).

I picked this book because I like the Puffin picture book series. This is a story about a girl who has a real bad day. It was easy to read, and I enjoyed the ending. I think you'll like it, too.

Reference

Fernandes, Eugenie. (1990). A Difficult Day. Harmondsworth, England: Penquin Books.

[64 words]

Book ref.: Metal Magic (Marcosson, 1949)

I used the Material Search link (also in the Writing Studio Blog sidebar) to get details for the following example reference citation. Please note the:

• Order of the author's names: Family, Given; 
• Sentence-like punctuation of the main elements with periods:
• Author, 
• Date, 
• Title, and 
• Source; and
• Use of italics and Title Case for the title and subtitle.

If you have any questions about how to write references for your book reviews, please ask them in class, or spell them [out] in comments on this post.

Reference

Marcosson, Isaac F. (1949). Metal Magic: The Story of the American Smelting and Refining Company. New York: Farrar, Straus and Co.

[115 words]

Flash from the Past: Book Reviews for 2nd Semester

This is a snapshot of 2nd semester book review notes from last year (2010-11). Though the due date undoubtedly will change this year (2011-12), the guidelines and no-no's remain the same.

[33 words]

BR 2-01: Robin Hood (Swan, 1989)

"The king stayed in Nottingham for many weeks, but nobody could find Robin Hood. Nobody knew where he was. Or if they did know, they didn't say" (Swan, 1989, p. 42).

This book has many stories about Robin Hood. They come from folk tales about an outlaw, who was a hero of the people. I like folk stories, and I've watched Disney's animated film version (1973). So I decided to read this book.

At first I was surprised, because the pictures in the book were very different from the Disney's images. Other points were the same. For example, Robin Hood had many friends, but also powerful enemies. The Sheriff of Nottingham tried to catch Robin, and the King of England wanted him dead. I won't tell you what happened. You can read the book, and find out for yourself. I will tell you that I was surprised again.

This book is easy to read. Swan (1989) uses a 500 word vocabulary, and puts New Words in the back (pp. 55-57). You can read one story at a time. Color pictures with many of them show key events in the stories.

I liked this book a lot. I think you will, too. If you do, then maybe we can watch the classic film version (Warner Brothers, 1938) together!

Reference

Swan, D. K. (1989). Robin Hood [Longman Classics, Stage 1]. Harlow, England: Longman Group.

[232 words]

Wow, What Did I Miss? (2nd sem., day one)

In case you're not back from your summer holidays (or forgot classes started today, like I did about this time last year :-), here is a snapshot of class notes reflecting what we did. The main activities and assignments today covered accuracy (labeling issues), fluency (free-writing and extensive writing), portfolio (PF) foundation building, and homework.

To get a closer look, please click on the graphic (above). To find out details, please ask a classmate or peer who attended. If you have questions about classwork and other assignments shown here, questions your classmates and peers cannot answer, please post them in comments on this post. 

Last but not least, please plan to attend every class meeting for the rest of the semester, or to gather this sort of information on your own from now on. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. 

See you next week!

[145 words]

Book Reviews: Factors to Consider

This post is to remind you how factors work in your Proto-Portfolio spreadsheets. The screenshots below show example factor scores for book reviews (BRs) completed at various times during first semester.  

Screenshot 1 shows what the factor score would be for 12 BRs, if you did two each month. Screenshot 2 show[s] the factor score for 10 BRs completed early in the semester. Screenshot 3 shows the factor score for the same number of book reviews (10) completed late in the semester.

The same factors apply on 2nd semester spreadsheets:

• Each BR completed during the 1st two months counts as 1.50 BRs.
• Each BR completed during the 2nd two months counts as 1.25 BRs.
• Each BR completed during the 3rd two months counts as only 1 BR.

So, if you have time to spare this summer, it would be a great idea to get started reading books and writing reviews for 2nd semester.

Screenshot 1: 12 BRs – same number every month

Factor score = 15

Screenshot 2: 10 BRs – early in semester

Factor score = 14.25

Screenshot 3: 10 BRs – late in semester

Factor score = 10.75

[190 words]