Click on the graphic representing classnotes (above) to get a closer look.
[43 words]
Friday, December 17, 2010
Writing Studio Bulletin: WSB 2-01 (Fall 2010) - BRs
This bulletin contains reminders about book reviews for 2nd semester. If you have concerns or questions about the content of this bulletin, please spell them out in comments on this post.
Click on the graphic representing classnotes (above) to get a closer look.
Click on the graphic representing classnotes (above) to get a closer look.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Quotations and references for book reviews
This post recap's a series of quick demonstration posts I made on pab's potpourri today (2010.12.08) to show how to quote short passages from books that you're reading and reviewing. After each snippet from a potpourri post, I'm adding brief explanations.
The snippets below represent short quotations, or what I call "tasty morsels" to whet readers' appetites for books that you're reviewing, sandwiched between brief introductory and follow-up remarks of a personal nature. That is, from the reviewer's point of view.
The list of references at the end of this post also comes from pab's potpourri, as do the labels I suggested for reviews of ... [the] two books [I've listed]. Green highlights flag publication information that appears both in short references immediately following quotations, and in complete, APA-style references to list at the end of book review posts.
Bronte, Emily. (1989). Wuthering Heights [Longman Classics series]. Harlow, Essex: Longman Group UK.
Cox, Teresa. (1990). Wild America. Harlow, Essex: Longman Group UK.
The snippets below represent short quotations, or what I call "tasty morsels" to whet readers' appetites for books that you're reviewing, sandwiched between brief introductory and follow-up remarks of a personal nature. That is, from the reviewer's point of view.
The list of references at the end of this post also comes from pab's potpourri, as do the labels I suggested for reviews of ... [the] two books [I've listed]. Green highlights flag publication information that appears both in short references immediately following quotations, and in complete, APA-style references to list at the end of book review posts.
My favorite line in the book is when Heathcliff says, "I have to remind myself to breathe – almost remind my heart to beat!" (Bronte, 1989, p. 65). It reminds me how strongly our thoughts can influence our bodies. (BR 2-16: Emile Bronte's Wuthering Heights, 2010.12.08)The underlines I've added to the first quotation from Wuthering Heights (2-16, above) are to show how I've sandwiched the quotation between remarks in the present tense. That is consistent with the present tense in the quotation itself.
The most impressive passage for me was when Heathcliff ... [said], "I have to remind myself to breathe – almost to remind my heart to beat" Bronte, 1989, p. 65). That made me realize how much our thoughts and emotions influence our lives. (BR 2-19: Wuthering Heights, 2010.12.08)
The underlines I've added to the second quotation from Wuthering Heights (2-19, above) are to show how I've sandwiched the quotation between remarks in the past tense. For most practical purposes, either present or past tense will do, as long as you are consistent in context.
I hadn't been consistent during the second demonstration, so after class I removed "says" from the post, and replaced it with "... [said]." Spaced periods ("...") mark the removal point, and square brackets frame the word that I added.
The labels I proposed for reviews of Wuthering Heights (Bronte, 1989) were: books, classics, fiction, and reviews. Bold typeface here indicates required labels.
Now let's move on to the other examples, in this case quotations from a piece of non-fiction. Please note that below, as well as for the examples from a piece of fiction above, I've use superlative... forms ("most ...").
In this book there were lots of surprises. The most surprising bit of information about the U.S. was that there are literally hundreds of "national parks, national seashores, national forests, and [national] recreation areas" (Cox, 1990, p. 4). I've seen some of them already. I really want to go and see more of them soon! (BR 2-17: Wild America by Teresa Cox)To sandwich the first quotation from Wild America (2-17, above), I used past tense at first, reflecting a while[-]reading perspective, followed by present perfect and present tense expressions, suggesting a transition to personal experience and a current state of mind. Square brackets, this time within the quotation, frame a word added to clarify wording from the original.
This book is full of surprises. I was most surprised to learn, "There are more than three hundred national parks, ... seashores, ... forests, and recreation areas" in the U.S. (Cox, 1990, p. 4). I have visited some of them already. Reading this book makes me want to visit some more. (BR 2-18: Wild America)
To sandwich the second quotation from Wild America (2-18, above), the sequence of tenses I used is rather (or too) complicated. It ranges from present tense, to past, to past perfect, and back to present tense. What was I thinking?
Actually, I was trying to shorten and clarify the quotation, by removing words from the original, rather than adding words to it. [Strings of] spaced periods (ellipses), this time within the quotation, mark removal points. In spite of the wobbly time frames around it, the shorter quotation from Wild America in snippet 2-18 is easier to read than the extended one in snippet 2-17.
Actually, I was trying to shorten and clarify the quotation, by removing words from the original, rather than adding words to it. [Strings of] spaced periods (ellipses), this time within the quotation, mark removal points. In spite of the wobbly time frames around it, the shorter quotation from Wild America in snippet 2-18 is easier to read than the extended one in snippet 2-17.
The labels I proposed for reviews of Wild America (Cox, 1990) were: books, geography, non-fiction, and reviews. Bold typeface again indicates required labels.
References
Bronte, Emily. (1989). Wuthering Heights [Longman Classics series]. Harlow, Essex: Longman Group UK.
Cox, Teresa. (1990). Wild America. Harlow, Essex: Longman Group UK.
[738 + 5 words]
Monday, November 29, 2010
Rick's KGU Writing 2010: English Games
In a quick post, English Games (2010.11.29), Rick points out three [fun] pre-intermediate grammar games from Oxford University Press. There are [plenty] more games where those come from.
[26 + 2 words]
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Peer-to-peer comments survey
Thank you again for your responses to my questionnaire about peer-to-peer comments on essays. By the time you read this, I will have invited you to view the underlying spreadsheet and data collection, but as of this morning (Tuesday, November 16, 2010), I stopped accepting responses.
Now I would like to encourage everyone to browse all of the responses, especially those to free response items 8-10 (currently in columns I-K). There you should look, in particular, for common qualities and types of comments that you, your classmates, and your peers appreciate, and ways that you all like to respond to eachanother.
While you are browsing the entire data collection, there are a number of points of interest and concern to which I would like to direct your attention. I have flagged a few of those points with colors that I've explained in the Color key (currently column M). I'll also explain some of them here.
First of all, you need not be concerned about responses in column B or F that look like dates (B2-B10, F2-F10). Those early responses came in before I realized the spreadsheet automatically changed responses like 1-5 and 6-10 into to a date format that displays 1/5/2010 and 6/10/2010, respectively. Anyone who plans to create surveys with Google Forms should remember to reset formatting on columns for responses like that from "Normal" to "Plain text."
Second, URLs are critical for internet research and formal written references. Even for less formal computer-mediated communication, it is essential to provide URLs pointing exactly where readers of your writing expect to go when they follow links that you give them.
However, in columns C and H there are a few URLs that reflect searches within blogs (for labels) rather than pointing directly to essay posts, for example:
Next you may notice a number of text clippings in columns D and G that include Japanese characters. I believe that the owners of blogs they use for an English writing course are doing themselves, their classmates, and their peers a disservice by leaving their blogs set to display Japanese. So I urge you all to set your blogs to display English most if not all of the time (except perhaps when you are tweaking blog settings), in order to provide yourselves and each other with ample opportunities for English reading as well as writing in this course.
As with URLs, research and written references depend upon accurate and complete data collection from various resources. Yet also in columns D and G are a number of clippings that omit the comment authors' names (blog handles), date stamps for those comments, or both.
Although those omissions are not a major problem for a simple survey such as this one about peer-to-peer comments on essays, the data collection and referencing habits that you start or develop in the Writing Studio will make a difference for future writing assignments and business tasks. It is quicker and easier to get the information readers need or want, and to record and share it accurately once and for all, than it is for you or anyone else to retrieve that information over and over again.
Last but not least is the matter of communicating your ideas in free response items not only clearly and completely yet economically, but also accurately. Machine translations, by and large, fail to produce accurate reflections of anything longer than words or phrases, or other than short simple sentences. So by all means, avoid dependence on machine translations; write short simple sentences that you can check yourselves.
Anything else that you are planning to post (that is, other than brainstorms, quick comments, or quickposts), you should check for grammar and spelling faults in a word-processing program – before you post it. Examples without explanations, or before brief explanations, also may fall flat. For a counter-example, please see: "Second, …" (above). If you approach surveys like this one for coursework as you might approach an online job application for a full-time position in a prestigious company or an important organization, I think you'll have the right mindset for online writing.
Now I would like to encourage everyone to browse all of the responses, especially those to free response items 8-10 (currently in columns I-K). There you should look, in particular, for common qualities and types of comments that you, your classmates, and your peers appreciate, and ways that you all like to respond to each
While you are browsing the entire data collection, there are a number of points of interest and concern to which I would like to direct your attention. I have flagged a few of those points with colors that I've explained in the Color key (currently column M). I'll also explain some of them here.
First of all, you need not be concerned about responses in column B or F that look like dates (B2-B10, F2-F10). Those early responses came in before I realized the spreadsheet automatically changed responses like 1-5 and 6-10 into to a date format that displays 1/5/2010 and 6/10/2010, respectively. Anyone who plans to create surveys with Google Forms should remember to reset formatting on columns for responses like that from "Normal" to "Plain text."
Second, URLs are critical for internet research and formal written references. Even for less formal computer-mediated communication, it is essential to provide URLs pointing exactly where readers of your writing expect to go when they follow links that you give them.
However, in columns C and H there are a few URLs that reflect searches within blogs (for labels) rather than pointing directly to essay posts, for example:
- ....blogspot.com/search/label/essays
- .....blogspot.com/2010/10/my-language-learning-experience_24.html#comments
- ...blogspot.com/2010/10/essay-2-02a.html?showComment=1289352477130#c7270187716401701175
Next you may notice a number of text clippings in columns D and G that include Japanese characters. I believe that the owners of blogs they use for an English writing course are doing themselves, their classmates, and their peers a disservice by leaving their blogs set to display Japanese. So I urge you all to set your blogs to display English most if not all of the time (except perhaps when you are tweaking blog settings), in order to provide yourselves and each other with ample opportunities for English reading as well as writing in this course.
As with URLs, research and written references depend upon accurate and complete data collection from various resources. Yet also in columns D and G are a number of clippings that omit the comment authors' names (blog handles), date stamps for those comments, or both.
Although those omissions are not a major problem for a simple survey such as this one about peer-to-peer comments on essays, the data collection and referencing habits that you start or develop in the Writing Studio will make a difference for future writing assignments and business tasks. It is quicker and easier to get the information readers need or want, and to record and share it accurately once and for all, than it is for you or anyone else to retrieve that information over and over again.
Last but not least is the matter of communicating your ideas in free response items not only clearly and completely yet economically, but also accurately. Machine translations, by and large, fail to produce accurate reflections of anything longer than words or phrases, or other than short simple sentences. So by all means, avoid dependence on machine translations; write short simple sentences that you can check yourselves.
Anything else that you are planning to post (that is, other than brainstorms, quick comments, or quickposts), you should check for grammar and spelling faults in a word-processing program – before you post it. Examples without explanations, or before brief explanations, also may fall flat. For a counter-example, please see: "Second, …" (above). If you approach surveys like this one for coursework as you might approach an online job application for a full-time position in a prestigious company or an important organization, I think you'll have the right mindset for online writing.
[722 words]
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Where had all my comments gone?
As I was updating my Proto-Portfolios the other day, I got a strange feeling that the numbers of comments I'd sent out were much lower than they should be (row five). Indeed they were. Although I expected to have missed counting a few odd comments here and there, the total displayed in cell 5K turned out to be off by over a hundred!
What was the problem? I'd been doing my best to remember to toggle the follow-up comment option ON, whenever I started to write a comment on someone else's blog. When that option is ON, before you preview or post, it looks like this if the page display is in Japanese.
 |
| Comment window: "Follow-up comments ..." ON |
Not only do I get a copy of my out-going comments sent to me by mail, to collect and count monthly for entries on row five [of] Proto-Portfolios spreadsheets, I also receive mail notification of answers to questions or responses to suggestions that I post in comments on other people's blogs. Mail notifications include links that make it easy to follow-up on follow-ups. Forgetting to select that option a few times a semester wasn't the problem.
The problem was searches that I'd used to retrieve mail messages to remind me of comments on other people's blogs were missing a large proportion, more than 80%, of previous comments from first semester. A typical monthly search started like this:
Today it finally dawned on me why that kind of search had missed so many recent comments. Such searches failed to retrieve mail reminding me of comments that I'd left on blogs whose owners set them to display in Japanese. Sifting through All Mail archives by hand, I discovered numerous automated mail messages with Japanese lead-ins that had been slipping through my searches.
The following search, using the Japanese message lead-in, turned up over a hundred more comments to add to Proto-Portfolio tallies for first semester.
Granted, it may be possible to refine each of those two searches with additional words or characters, for example, "... new comment [on]" (blogs set to display in English). Nevertheless, I'm satisfied that combined search results reflect the bulk of comments of which I've elected to get follow-up mail notifications.
The key to gathering info. automatically for entries on row five of Proto-Portfolios is still the same: Remember to switch follow-up comment notification ON before posting comments on classmates' and peers' blogs. The same is true for following up easily on written exchanges started or continuing in comments on blog posts: Switch follow-up comment notification ON before posting!
The problem was searches that I'd used to retrieve mail messages to remind me of comments on other people's blogs were missing a large proportion, more than 80%, of previous comments from first semester. A typical monthly search started like this:
 |
| Search terms from English notification message |
The following search, using the Japanese message lead-in, turned up over a hundred more comments to add to Proto-Portfolio tallies for first semester.
 |
| Search terms from Japanese notification message |
Granted, it may be possible to refine each of those two searches with additional words or characters, for example, "... new comment [on]" (blogs set to display in English). Nevertheless, I'm satisfied that combined search results reflect the bulk of comments of which I've elected to get follow-up mail notifications.
The key to gathering info. automatically for entries on row five of Proto-Portfolios is still the same: Remember to switch follow-up comment notification ON before posting comments on classmates' and peers' blogs. The same is true for following up easily on written exchanges started or continuing in comments on blog posts: Switch follow-up comment notification ON before posting!
[442 words]
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