Hey, folks.
Hopefully, those research essays are starting to take shape.
I've already explained in class a couple of times what I hope to see in those papers. The last essays I graded from my English 1101 class certainly rank up there as one of the best batches of essays I've ever returned to a class. But I'm hoping there will be a lot more A's and higher grades across the board for the big research essay that's due on April 3.
I promised I'd post something about MLA formatting, so here's the website I have found most useful in recent years. There's not much more for me to add to this regarding how to quote and how to cite sources and list a bibliography. It's all here at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01 . If you find this site helpful in your formatting, please leave a comment to let me know. If you don't think it's sufficient for your needs, again, please leave a comment to let me know. It's important.
Meanwhile, I'd strongly urge some of you to go to the Writing Centre for someone to look over your essay after you've written it.
Good luck on it. I truly hope you get the best grades you've gotten all semester long.
GC
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
English 1101--In-class essay on The Divine Ryans
I'm not going to go into all the various ways to approach the essay tomorrow for my English 1101 class. I've been through some of it in class, given you the questions, and shown you generally how to approach them. I'd like for you now to show me, after doing at least 7 or 8 university English papers (4 of them, plus a final exam in English 1080), what you can do. There are three questions to choose from, either of which should give you plenty to talk about. If you have no idea how to start, do some brainstorming. Come up with ideas. Figure out how the topic might relate to each character.
I will say that if you're talking about "good" and "evil," you really ought to establish what those concepts mean for this novel--not for life outside the novel, but for the world within the novel. Crucial difference. Same with "monsters" and "aliens": what are they in the world of The Divine Ryans? The other question, regarding "loss" and "recovery" will require you to consider what those concepts mean within the world of the Divine Ryans. There is a sort of yin-yang effect in that for every recovery, must have been a loss preceding it. Otherwise, there can be no recovery. So, who are the characters who lose the most and who recover the most, and what exactly is it they have a) lost and b) recovered. Does the novel end with a loss, a recovery, or both?
I'm keenly interested in seeing what you can make of these questions yourselves, though. That's what it's all about at this point. Presumably, you know how to organize an essay and to quote properly. The rest is a matter of coming up with substantial ideas on your own and organizing them in some way that makes sense to you, that argues a main idea and proves it beyond a doubt.
I mentioned thesis statements and quotation method in class on Friday. I won't get into thesis statements again. There's a blog entry below that I posted about a week or so ago on how to write a thesis statement and "save the world". Have a look at that and it should start to make sense to you.
As for quotation method, it's an in-class essay, so you won't likely be doing a whole lot of quoting from the novel. You might remember a line or two or here and there, though, so instead of just pasting them into a paragraph without any lead in, try to incorporate them into the discussion in a way that flows and makes sense.
Don't use a hanging quote:
e.g. Draper talks about his mother's emotional state. "My mother put down her fork and started to cry." This means that she is struggling to keep her emotions inside, but failing.
A better way to phrase this would be:
Draper talks about his mother's emotional state, explaining that she "put down her fork and started to cry," showing how fragile and overwhelmed she has become.
Notice how I didn't use all of the quote, just a part of it. That's the way you incorporate short quotes into your writing (for this and your research essay).
Notice also that I followed the quote with a brief explanation about the quote's significance.
Notice the comma goes inside the quotation marks.
Another way you could have said it was like this:
Draper talks about his mother's emotional state: "My mother put down her fork and started to cry." It is a moment when Linda's insides begin to come out, just as when Draper bleeds after he boxes. Gradually, the family's insides, especially their emotions, ooze to the surface because they can no longer keep their thoughts hidden and their feelings suppressed.
Notice the colon introduces the quote.
Notice I followed the quote with an explanation of the quote's significance without actually having to repeat the quote.
Notice I then make the connections to the novel's bigger themes, to prove a larger point: "the family's insides" are coming "to the surface".
Look back over these quotation examples and study them until the method of quotation makes sense to you. Above all, avoid the dread hanging quote, which is attached to nothing but is simply stuck in the middle of a paragraph because you didn't know how to connect it to what you were saying. It's a bit of a desperate move, and it shows. It might even be understandable, and some people might even say it's okay, but it's not particulary good, or smooth, writing.
Above and beyond all that, just show me what you've learned about this novel, about what you think Wayne Johnston has shown with these characters in their situation. Don't worry so much about what I think or what Johnston wants you to think. What's important is what you manage to divine.
I will say that if you're talking about "good" and "evil," you really ought to establish what those concepts mean for this novel--not for life outside the novel, but for the world within the novel. Crucial difference. Same with "monsters" and "aliens": what are they in the world of The Divine Ryans? The other question, regarding "loss" and "recovery" will require you to consider what those concepts mean within the world of the Divine Ryans. There is a sort of yin-yang effect in that for every recovery, must have been a loss preceding it. Otherwise, there can be no recovery. So, who are the characters who lose the most and who recover the most, and what exactly is it they have a) lost and b) recovered. Does the novel end with a loss, a recovery, or both?
I'm keenly interested in seeing what you can make of these questions yourselves, though. That's what it's all about at this point. Presumably, you know how to organize an essay and to quote properly. The rest is a matter of coming up with substantial ideas on your own and organizing them in some way that makes sense to you, that argues a main idea and proves it beyond a doubt.
I mentioned thesis statements and quotation method in class on Friday. I won't get into thesis statements again. There's a blog entry below that I posted about a week or so ago on how to write a thesis statement and "save the world". Have a look at that and it should start to make sense to you.
As for quotation method, it's an in-class essay, so you won't likely be doing a whole lot of quoting from the novel. You might remember a line or two or here and there, though, so instead of just pasting them into a paragraph without any lead in, try to incorporate them into the discussion in a way that flows and makes sense.
Don't use a hanging quote:
e.g. Draper talks about his mother's emotional state. "My mother put down her fork and started to cry." This means that she is struggling to keep her emotions inside, but failing.
A better way to phrase this would be:
Draper talks about his mother's emotional state, explaining that she "put down her fork and started to cry," showing how fragile and overwhelmed she has become.
Notice how I didn't use all of the quote, just a part of it. That's the way you incorporate short quotes into your writing (for this and your research essay).
Notice also that I followed the quote with a brief explanation about the quote's significance.
Notice the comma goes inside the quotation marks.
Another way you could have said it was like this:
Draper talks about his mother's emotional state: "My mother put down her fork and started to cry." It is a moment when Linda's insides begin to come out, just as when Draper bleeds after he boxes. Gradually, the family's insides, especially their emotions, ooze to the surface because they can no longer keep their thoughts hidden and their feelings suppressed.
Notice the colon introduces the quote.
Notice I followed the quote with an explanation of the quote's significance without actually having to repeat the quote.
Notice I then make the connections to the novel's bigger themes, to prove a larger point: "the family's insides" are coming "to the surface".
Look back over these quotation examples and study them until the method of quotation makes sense to you. Above all, avoid the dread hanging quote, which is attached to nothing but is simply stuck in the middle of a paragraph because you didn't know how to connect it to what you were saying. It's a bit of a desperate move, and it shows. It might even be understandable, and some people might even say it's okay, but it's not particulary good, or smooth, writing.
Above and beyond all that, just show me what you've learned about this novel, about what you think Wayne Johnston has shown with these characters in their situation. Don't worry so much about what I think or what Johnston wants you to think. What's important is what you manage to divine.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Launch of Rig cancelled
Because of the crash of the oil rig helicopter off the coast of Newfoundland today, the book launch for Mike Heffernan's book, Rig, has been cancelled, to be re-scheduled.
GC
GC
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Book Launch
In my 1080 class today, a student (you know who you are, Brad) read a poem from a young man named Greg Tiller who was one of the 84 men who went down on the Ocean Ranger oil rig when it sunk in 1982 off the coast of Newfoundland. It was a day that those who were alive in this province will never forget. It changed a lot, not only in the oil industry but in the lives and the very soul of this place.
Greg Tiller was an extremely young man and a pretty good poet, who dreamed of something better in his life. I had the pleasure of reading some of his poetry as I read the manuscript by Mike Heffernan, who launches his book, Rig, tomorrow night at Bianca's on Water Street (7-9 p.m.). It's an incredibly moving and important book that tells the stories of those who were left behind, those who knew someone and/or was related to someone who went down on the Ranger on that stormy February night. One of the stories told, though, is that of Greg Tiller, and I thought it was either incredible synchronicity or a sign, or both, that Brad read the poem in class today. I was going to mention the launch anyway because I'll be introducing the author (and, of course, it means one night when I won't be grading essays, which means a pretty late night in the hope of getting those 1080 essays back on Friday, a few days before your next assignment). But in the rush of it all, I almost forgot to mention the launch...until Brad steps up and reads his poem.
Amazing. Even more amazing, Brad used to work on the rigs himself in Alberta and has entered university with the hope of a different life for himself than the one he had. I don't know what he thought of life working an oil rig, but I know he wants something different. I admire anyone who can do that for a living. It's hellishly hard work, from what I know. But I also admire anyone who can foresake the good money and dream of something else, then act upon it. Greg Tiller never got that chance. I can't speak for him. I don't know what he would have done. I just know what he could have done, and he had a poetic soul. All that remains, though, are his poems and his story. Ever since I read the chapter in Mike's book about Greg Tiller, I've been planning to write something in his honour. Something about his young, creative spirit connected with who I was around the time of the Ranger sinking, and how different my life, and my future was from his. So maybe this was another sign to me that maybe Greg's story needs to be told in yet another way. Maybe. I just hope to be up for it and worthy of telling it.
So anyway, yeah, fate's a fickle thing. Hope to see some of you at the launch. It's an unusual launch in that it's a celebration of the talent and efforts of the brilliant young writer and editor, Mike Heffernan, but at the same time, it's a commemoration of the souls and lives touched by the Ocean Ranger, and a single night that binds so many together in ways that can barely be expressed.
GC
Greg Tiller was an extremely young man and a pretty good poet, who dreamed of something better in his life. I had the pleasure of reading some of his poetry as I read the manuscript by Mike Heffernan, who launches his book, Rig, tomorrow night at Bianca's on Water Street (7-9 p.m.). It's an incredibly moving and important book that tells the stories of those who were left behind, those who knew someone and/or was related to someone who went down on the Ranger on that stormy February night. One of the stories told, though, is that of Greg Tiller, and I thought it was either incredible synchronicity or a sign, or both, that Brad read the poem in class today. I was going to mention the launch anyway because I'll be introducing the author (and, of course, it means one night when I won't be grading essays, which means a pretty late night in the hope of getting those 1080 essays back on Friday, a few days before your next assignment). But in the rush of it all, I almost forgot to mention the launch...until Brad steps up and reads his poem.
Amazing. Even more amazing, Brad used to work on the rigs himself in Alberta and has entered university with the hope of a different life for himself than the one he had. I don't know what he thought of life working an oil rig, but I know he wants something different. I admire anyone who can do that for a living. It's hellishly hard work, from what I know. But I also admire anyone who can foresake the good money and dream of something else, then act upon it. Greg Tiller never got that chance. I can't speak for him. I don't know what he would have done. I just know what he could have done, and he had a poetic soul. All that remains, though, are his poems and his story. Ever since I read the chapter in Mike's book about Greg Tiller, I've been planning to write something in his honour. Something about his young, creative spirit connected with who I was around the time of the Ranger sinking, and how different my life, and my future was from his. So maybe this was another sign to me that maybe Greg's story needs to be told in yet another way. Maybe. I just hope to be up for it and worthy of telling it.
So anyway, yeah, fate's a fickle thing. Hope to see some of you at the launch. It's an unusual launch in that it's a celebration of the talent and efforts of the brilliant young writer and editor, Mike Heffernan, but at the same time, it's a commemoration of the souls and lives touched by the Ocean Ranger, and a single night that binds so many together in ways that can barely be expressed.
GC
Monday, March 2, 2009
Reminder for English 1101 essays
To emphasize the point I made at the beginning of class today, in writing your essay about Frankenstein, even though it's meant to be an argumentative piece, that doesn't mean you need to write things like "It is my opinion that" or "I think" over and over. In fact, your essay will suffer from the use of such useless language. Such words generally don't mean anything. It is understood that what you're writing comes from your own mind and, as such, represents your opinion.
Consider the difference between the following two statements:
1. In my opinion, Victor Frankenstein is a neglectful father and scientist.
2. Victor Frankenstein is a neglectful father and scientist.
Sentence #2 says the same thing as #1, except the second one is leaner, more straightforward, and more forceful. It packs more of a punch. When you say "in my opinion" and "I think," you are weakening the impact of your statement (or so I believe). See? When I add "or so I believe," it suggests I have doubts about the strength of my position, when I really don't.
There's nothing wrong, per se, with putting yourself into the essay, though I truly don't see why you need to. It's just wasted words, and when you only have 900 words at your disposal, you can't afford to wasted thirty or more of them telling me what is already implied: your words are your own. You don't need to remind me of that.
Or so I believe. :-)
GC
Consider the difference between the following two statements:
1. In my opinion, Victor Frankenstein is a neglectful father and scientist.
2. Victor Frankenstein is a neglectful father and scientist.
Sentence #2 says the same thing as #1, except the second one is leaner, more straightforward, and more forceful. It packs more of a punch. When you say "in my opinion" and "I think," you are weakening the impact of your statement (or so I believe). See? When I add "or so I believe," it suggests I have doubts about the strength of my position, when I really don't.
There's nothing wrong, per se, with putting yourself into the essay, though I truly don't see why you need to. It's just wasted words, and when you only have 900 words at your disposal, you can't afford to wasted thirty or more of them telling me what is already implied: your words are your own. You don't need to remind me of that.
Or so I believe. :-)
GC
Sunday, March 1, 2009
The End is Near
And so it begins: the last month of the semester. February is the shortest month and is followed by what feels like the longest month. But I guarantee that March will go fast, at least for me. Most students will be spending the month writing papers and reading, while I will spend the entire month grading essays every day, pretty much non-stop. Should be called March Madness.
In English 1080, the out-of-class essay is now due on March 6 (Friday). I wanted to have finished those last two stories so you had more material and ideas from which to draw. On Monday (tomorrow), we start "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" and on Friday we'll begin the poetry section of the course.
In English 1101, the short out-of-class essay on Frankenstein is now due one March 4 (Wednesday) because I wanted to have those extra couple of classes on the novel, again giving you more to draw from. I know some people are having a tough time with this novel, but hopefully you will grow to love it for the monster that it is. My hope is that it's already beginning to make sense to most of you. On Friday, we'll be starting The Divine Ryans, which I'm sure will feel like a breath of fresh spring air to many of you.
I want to remind you, though, that the best way to improve on this essay is to look at my comments on your first assignments. There were certainly specific areas that I pointed out as being problematic for you; whatever they were, go over your new essay and make sure you've addressed those issues. If you haven't had time to talk to me, there's always The Writing Centre.
Remember to use the sort of format for essay-writing that we discussed in class. Also, if you're writing an argumentative-style paper (which is always the best way to go, really), make sure you've considered the counter argument. For example, if you say that Victor is responsible for the death of Justine in Frankenstein, you also need to show you considered other possible culprits, such as the creature himself, society, or perhaps even William for being such a little brat.
I've blogged about thesis statements previously, but I'll re-post that one later this evening, if I can get time. Meanwhile, if you do a search on this blog for "thesis statements," I'm sure you'll find something useful to you.
Let the long, hungry month begin.
GC
In English 1080, the out-of-class essay is now due on March 6 (Friday). I wanted to have finished those last two stories so you had more material and ideas from which to draw. On Monday (tomorrow), we start "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" and on Friday we'll begin the poetry section of the course.
In English 1101, the short out-of-class essay on Frankenstein is now due one March 4 (Wednesday) because I wanted to have those extra couple of classes on the novel, again giving you more to draw from. I know some people are having a tough time with this novel, but hopefully you will grow to love it for the monster that it is. My hope is that it's already beginning to make sense to most of you. On Friday, we'll be starting The Divine Ryans, which I'm sure will feel like a breath of fresh spring air to many of you.
I want to remind you, though, that the best way to improve on this essay is to look at my comments on your first assignments. There were certainly specific areas that I pointed out as being problematic for you; whatever they were, go over your new essay and make sure you've addressed those issues. If you haven't had time to talk to me, there's always The Writing Centre.
Remember to use the sort of format for essay-writing that we discussed in class. Also, if you're writing an argumentative-style paper (which is always the best way to go, really), make sure you've considered the counter argument. For example, if you say that Victor is responsible for the death of Justine in Frankenstein, you also need to show you considered other possible culprits, such as the creature himself, society, or perhaps even William for being such a little brat.
I've blogged about thesis statements previously, but I'll re-post that one later this evening, if I can get time. Meanwhile, if you do a search on this blog for "thesis statements," I'm sure you'll find something useful to you.
Let the long, hungry month begin.
GC
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