Tuesday, March 31, 2015

1. TEST on essays.
2. This is a take-home, open-book test due at the end of the period Wednesday.
3. You are to choose two types of essays.
4. You will select a topic for each of those two types.
5. You will write two essays, each a minimum of one page.
6. Your essays will be written on paper.
7. Be sure to have, in addition to your name and date, the type of essay at the top.
8. Get your idea across. This will be graded as a semi-rough draft.
9. Since this is a take-home test, I may not regulate with whom you talk or work out of the classroom; however, during your time in class, I may require that you work quietly, and I do insist on that. Asking someone a question in a low voice, or softly bouncing an idea off a person is quite alright; but playing around or being loud is not OK. If I have to say something to you about that, realize that you have already lost points for it.
10.  Another thing on which I will insist is the complete absence of any use of technology for anything other than research, unless permission is granted. (For example, no games, videos, or texting). Listening to music is OK, as long as I can not hear it. Again, if I say something to you about it, count on some lost points.
11. This is not a terribly difficult test, and if you find the need to whine about any of the requirements, then see below.




                                   GET
                            IT

Monday, March 30, 2015

1. TEST on essays tomorrow.
2. Catch up on missing essays.

Friday, March 27, 2015

1. Discuss and exchange ideas on various essay types.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

1. Write an argumentative essay. Your essay must be a minimum of one page.

Tips on writing an argumentative essay

Topic Suggestions: Argument and Persuasion

1. Dieting makes people fat.
2. Romantic love is a poor basis for marriage.
3. The war on terror has contributed to the growing abuse of human rights.
4. High school graduates should take a year off before entering college.
5. All citizens should be required by law to vote.
6. All forms of government welfare should be abolished.
7. Both parents should assume equal responsibility in raising a child.
8. Americans should have more holidays and longer vacations.
9. Participating in team sports helps to develop good character.
10. The production and sale of cigarettes should be made illegal.
11. People have become overly dependent on technology.
12. Censorship is sometimes justified.
13. Privacy is not the most important right.
14. Drunk drivers should be imprisoned on the first offense.
15. The lost art of letter-writing deserves to be revived.
16. Government and military personnel should have the right to strike.
17. Most study-abroad programs should be renamed "party abroad": they are a waste of time and money
18. The continuing decline of CD sales along with the rapid growth of music downloads signals a new era of innovation in popular music.
19. College students should have complete freedom to choose their own courses.
20. The solution to the impending crisis in Social Security is the immediate elimination of this anachronistic government program.

1. The primary mission of colleges and universities should be preparing students for the workforce.
2. Financial incentives should be offered to high school students who perform well on standardized tests.
3. All students in high school and college should be required to take at least two years of a foreign language.
4. College students in the U.S. should be offered financial incentives to graduate in three years rather than four.
5. College athletes should be exempted from regular class-attendance policies.
6. To encourage healthy eating, higher taxes should be imposed on soft drinks and junk food.
7. Students should not be required to take physical education courses.
8. To conserve fuel and save lives, the 55 miles-per-hour national speed limit should be restored.
9. All citizens under the age of 21 should be required to pass a driving education course before receiving a license to drive.
10. Any student caught cheating on an examination should be automatically dismissed from college.
11. Freshmen should not be required to purchase a meal plan from the college.
12. Zoos are internment camps for animals and should be shut down.
13. University students should not be penalized for illegally downloading music, movies, or other protected content.
14. Government financial aid for students should be based solely on merit.
15. Nontraditional students should be exempted from regular class-attendance policies.
16. At the end of each term, student evaluations of faculty should be posted online.
17. A student organization should be formed to rescue and care for the feral cats on campus.
18. People who contribute to Social Security should have the right to choose how their money is invested.
19. Professional baseball players convicted of using performance-enhancing drugs should not be considered for induction into the Hall of Fame.
20. Any citizen who does not have a criminal record should be permitted to carry a concealed weapon.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

1. Write an extended definition essay.


Abstract and controversial ideas can often be clarified through extended definitions.

Topic Suggestions: Extended Definitions

1. Trust
2. Kindness
3. Sexism
4. Gumption
5. Racism
6. Sportsmanship
7. Honor
8. Modesty
9. Self-assurance
10. Humility
11. Dedication
12. Sensitivity
13. Peace of mind
14. Respect
15. Ambition
16. Right to privacy
17. Generosity
18. Laziness
19. Charisma
20. Common sense
21. Team player
22. Maturity
23. Integrity
24. Healthy appetite
25. Frustration
26. Optimism
27. Sense of humor
28. Liberal
29. Conservative
30. A good (or bad) teacher or professor
31. Physical fitness
32. Feminism
33. A happy marriage
34. True friendship
35. Courage
36. Citizenship
37. Success
38. A good (or bad) coach
39. Intelligence
40. Personality
41. A good (or bad) roommate
42. Political correctness
43. Peer pressure
44. Leadership
45. Persistence
46. Responsibility
47. Human rights
48. Sophistication
49. Self-respect
50. Heroism
51. Thrift
52. Sloth
53. Vanity
54. Pride
55. Beauty
56. Greed
57. Virtue
58. Progress
59. Karma
60. A good (or bad) boss
61. A good (or bad) parent

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

1. Write an essay about cause and effect.


Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between cause and effect. 

The following are some suggested topics for your essay:

1. Cause and effect of:
2. a bad parent
3. a specific major
4. cramming for an exam
5. students cheating
6. computers
7. not voting in local elections
8. racial, sexual, or religious discrimination
9. exercise
10. having pets
11. cell phones
12. reality shows
13. pressure on students to get good grades
14. teacher or coach influence on your life
15. keeping or not keeping a personal budget
16. noise pollution
17. students not reading newspapers
18. buying a foreign-made car
19. watching animated movies
20. baseball no longer being considered the national pasttime
21. stress on students
22. moving to a new town or city
23. declining DVD sales
24. increased shopping online
25. increased cost for college
26. student dropouts
27. difficulty of mathematics or other subjects
28. incompatibility of roommates
29. adults having more fun than children on Halloween
30. the appeal of junk food
31. children running away from home
32. long-term unemployment of a person
33. the influence of a book or movie on your life
34. 
    
35. 
    
36. 
    

Monday, March 23, 2015

1. Write an essay in which you use classification or division to put things in some sort of order.

Many subjects can be explored through classification: that is, identifying and illustrating different types, varieties, and methods.

Fifty Topic Suggestions: Classification

1. On-campus jobs for students
2. Roommates
3. Hobbies
4. Music on your phone or MP3 player
5. Study habits
6. Stand-up comedians
7. Self-centered people
8. Online educational resources

1. Gardeners
2. Drivers
3. Reality shows on television
4. Sales clerks
5. Television detectives
6. Road trips
7. Dancing styles
8. Video games
9. Customers at your work place
10. Ways of boring people
11. Cheaters
12. Shoppers
13. Rides at an amusement park
14. First dates
15. Videos on YouTube
16. Stores in the mall
17. People waiting in line
18. Churchgoers
19. Attitudes toward exercising
20. Reasons for attending (or not attending) college
21. Baseball pitchers, football quarterbacks, or soccer goalies
22. Styles of eating in the cafeteria
23. Ways of saving money
24. Talk-show hosts
25. Vacations
26. Methods of studying for a final examination
27. Friends
28. Comedians
29. Ways of quitting smoking
30. Attitudes toward money
31. Television comedies
32. Diets
33. Sports fans
34. Attitudes toward politics
35. Ways of coping with a cold
36. Note-taking strategies
37. Attitudes toward tipping in restaurants
38. Political activists
39. Portable music players
40. Different uses of social networking sites (such as Facebook and Twitter)
41. High school teachers or college professors
42. Ways of protecting the environment

Friday, March 13, 2015

1. Catch up on missing work.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

1. Use an analogy to explain an event or concept.

An analogy is a kind of comparison that explains the unknown in terms of the known, the unfamiliar in terms of the familiar.

A good analogy can help your readers understand a complicated subject or view a common experience in a new way. Analogies can be used with other methods of development to explain a process, define a concept, narrate an event, or describe a person or place.

Analogy isn't a single form of writing. Rather, it's a tool for thinking about a subject, as these brief examples demonstrate:

• "Do you ever feel that getting up in the morning is like pulling yourself out of quicksand? . . ."
  (Jean Betschart, In Control, 2001)


• "Sailing a ship through a storm is . . . a good analogy for the conditions inside an organization during turbulent times, since not only will there be the external turbulence to deal with, but internal turbulence as well . . .."
  (Peter Lorange, Leading in Turbulent Times, 2010)


• "For some people, reading a good book is like a Calgon bubble bath--it takes you away. . . ."
  (Kris Carr, Crazy Sexy Cancer Survivor, 2008)


• "Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids as livestock, launch armies into wars, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves. . . ."
  (Lewis Thomas, "On Societies as Organisms," 1971)


• "To me, patching up a heart that'd had an attack was like changing out bald tires. They were worn and tired, just like an attack made the heart, but you couldn't just switch out one heart for another. . . ."
  (C. E. Murphy, Coyote Dreams, 2007)


• "Falling in love is like waking up with a cold--or more fittingly, like waking up with a fever. . . ."
  (William B. Irvine, On Desire, 2006)

British author Dorothy Sayers observed that analogous thinking is a key aspect of the writing process . A composition professor explains:

Analogy illustrates easily and to almost everyone how an "event" can become an "experience" through the adoption of what Miss [Dorothy] Sayers called an "as if" attitude. That is, by arbitrarily looking at an event in several different ways, "as if" if it were this sort of thing, a student can actually experience transformation from the inside. . . . The analogy functions both as a focus and a catalyst for "conversion" of event into experience. It also provides, in some instances not merely the heuristic for discovery but the actual pattern for the entire essay that follows. 

(D. Gordon Rohman, "Pre-Writing: The Stage of Discovery in the Writing Process."College Composition and Communication, May 1965)

To discover original analogies that can be explored in paragraphs and essays, apply the "as if" attitude to any one of the 30 topics listed below. In each case, ask yourself, "What is it like ?"

Thirty Topic Suggestions: Analogy

1. Moving to a new neighborhood
2. Starting a new job
3. Working at a fast-food restaurant
4. Quitting a job
5. Watching an exciting movie
6. Reading a good book
7. Going into debt
8. Getting out of debt
9. Losing a close friend
10. Leaving home for the first time
     
11. Taking a difficult exam
12. Making a speech
13. Learning a new skill
14. Gaining a new friend
15. Responding to bad news
16. Responding to good news
17. Attending a new place of worship
18. Dealing with success
19. Dealing with failure
20. Being in a car accident
     
21. Falling in love
22. Getting married
23. Falling out of love
24. Experiencing grief
25. Experiencing joy
26. Becoming addicted to drugs
27. Watching a friend destroy himself (or herself)
28. Getting up in the morning
29. Resisting peer pressure
30. Discovering a major in college

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

1. Read Process Analyses aloud and discuss.
2. Talk about Clarification Essays.
3. Write a Clarification Essay. (Use examples.)



1. Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. (Murphy's Law)
2. Work expands to fill the time available. (Parkinson's Law)
3. In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence. (The Peter Principle)
4. You’ll never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public. (Barnum's Law)

5. "Adults are merely obsolete children." (Dr. Seuss)
6. Anticipation is often greater than realization.
7. "You don't know what you've got till it's gone." (Joni Mitchell)
8. A friend walks in when everyone else walks out.
9. "Punctuality is the virtue of the bored." (Evelyn Waugh)
10. When life throws you lemons, make lemonade.
11. "When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane." (Steven Wright)

12. superstitions
13. the best or worst movie of all time
14. contemporary slang
15. Facebook friendships
16. your favorite (or least favorite) television program
17. your favorite (or least favorite) commercial
18. tattoos
19. Twitter
20. violence in video games
21. body piercings
22. changing gender roles
23. PowerPoint presentations
24. the most useful (or useless) invention
25. online high school or college courses
26. best or worst job (real or imagined)
27. your favorite (or least favorite) actor, singer, or musician
28. your favorite (or least favorite) fictional character

29. a parent's greatest responsibilities
30. fad diets
31. male or female stereotypes in popular culture
32. superstitions
33. the best (or worst) song lyrics
34. true leaders
35. good manners
36. the value of pets
37. best (or worse) fashions
38. true heroism
39. churchgoers
40. the different roles of a student

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

1. Read narrative essays aloud and discuss.
2. Talk about a process analysis.
3. Write a process analysis.


Choose from the following topics or select an appropriate one of your own:

When developing a paragraph or essay through process analysis, you should keep several points in mind:

• Be sure to include all steps and arrange them in chronological order.
• Explain why each step is necessary, and include warnings where appropriate.
• Define any terms that your readers may not be familiar with.
• Offer clear descriptions of any tools or materials needed to carry out the process.
• Provide your readers with a way of determining whether or not the process has been carried out successfully.

You shouldn't find it difficult to follow these guidelines if you've chosen a topic that you know quite well. These 50 prompts are meant to help you discover that topic.

Fifty Topic Suggestions: Process Analysis

1. How to mow your lawn
2. How to win at Texas hold 'em
3. How to lose weight without losing your mind
4. How to find the perfect roommate
5. How to get rid of a roommate--without committing a crime
6. How to succeed in (or flunk out of) college
7. How to pitch a knuckleball
8. How to plan the perfect party
9. How to survive a night of babysitting
10. How to pitch a tent in the rain
     
11. How to housebreak your dog
12. How to kick a bad habit
13. How to overcome insomnia
14. How to stay sober on a Saturday night
15. How to rent your first apartment
16. How to avoid a nervous breakdown during exams
17. How to enjoy the weekend for under $20
18. How to make the perfect brownies
19. How to keep peace with a spouse or a roommate
20. How to bathe a cat
     
21. How to complain effectively
22. How to survive a recession
23. How to toilet train a baby
24. How to develop self-confidence
25. How to use Twitter
26. How to wash a sweater
27. How to build a great music collection--cheaply and legally
28. How to get along with an instructor without sucking up
29. How to give yourself a haircut
30. How to plan the perfect class schedule
     
31. How to apply the Heimlich maneuver
32. How to end a relationship
33. How to select the best portable media player
34. How to take decent photographs with your cell phone
35. How to quit smoking
36. How to survive without a car
37. How to make the perfect cup of coffee or tea
38. How to save money while saving the environment
39. How to build a great sandcastle
40. How to edit a video
     
41. How to make (and keep) friends on Facebook
42. How to insert a contact lens
43. How teachers make up exams
44. How parents (or children) make us feel guilty
45. How an iPod works
46. How ice cream is made
47. How a cell phone takes pictures
48. How a magician saws a woman in half
49. How a pocket calculator works
50. How to choose a major

Monday, March 9, 2015

1. Read descriptive essays aloud and discuss them.
2. Talk about narrative essays.
3. Write a narrative essay.


You may use one of the following topics or choose an appropriate one of your own.

1. a memorable wedding or funeral
2. one minute of a football game (or other sporting event)
3. your first day at a new school or college
4. your first day at a new job
5. your last day on a job
6. a disastrous date
7. a moment of failure or success
8. an encounter that changed your life
9. an experience that led to renewed faith
10. a strange job interview
11. an experience that demonstrated how labor-saving devices can be more trouble than they're worth
12. an experience that left you disillusioned
13. an embarrassing experience
14. a frightening experience
15. a memorable journey
16. an encounter with someone or something you were afraid of
17. an occasion when you experienced rejection
18. your first visit to the country (or to a large city)
19. the breakup of a friendship
20. an experience that showed how we should be careful of what we wish for
21. a significant misunderstanding
22. a dangerous experience
23. an experience that showed how appearances can be deceiving
24. an account of a difficult decision that you had to make
25. an event that marked a turning point in your life
26. a historic event
27. a memorable encounter with someone in authority
28. an act of heroism or cowardice
29. an imaginary encounter with a real person
30. a rebellious act
31. a brush with greatness
32. a brush with death
33. a time that you took a stand on an important issue
34. an experience that altered your view of someone
35. a trip that you would like to take
36. a vacation trip from your childhood
37. an account of a visit to a fictional place
38. your first time away from home
39. two different versions of the same event
40. a traffic accident
41. a day when everything went right (or wrong)
42. an experience that made you laugh until you cried
43. the day you decided to change your life
44. the experience of being lost
45. an unexpected encounter
46. surviving a hurricane or a tornado (or other natural disaster)
47. an experience that taught you a lesson
48. an important discovery
49. an eyewitness account of an important event
50. an experience that helped you grow up