Mistakes to Avoid

This is my second post regarding the upcoming English 1080 essay (there's another one below).

I just have a few last thoughts that might help you get better grades:

1. Very important: Avoid plot summary. Don't just tell me what happens in the story. Discuss the implications of those details and events in the story. This can make all the difference in your grade.

2. Write your essay in present tense. Avoid tense shift (i.e. back and forth between past and present).

3. Avoid cliches and colloquial language (slang).

4. Use quotation properly. All quotes should be introduced or set up properly. Use phrases such as: "As the narrator says,...".

I truly hope this helps. I'd like to see these be the best first-time essays I've ever graded. That would be great for you and fantastic for me.

May the fates be with you.

GC

If you’re in one of my English 1080 classes this semester, you’ll be writing an in-class essay on Monday. While my expectations are realistic, I genuinely want you to succeed on this, and every essay this semester. With that in mind, you should come to class on Monday prepared to simply write your heart out, but in an organized kind of way. The thing is to write things that are true, not just what you think your prof wants to hear. I only want to hear if it sounds like it's coming from you, from a place of honesty and integrity. Believe me, it shows.

The hardest part of writing an in-class essay is that there are so many unknown factors—matters that are beyond your control. For most of you, it will be the first English assignment you’ve written in a long time and the first in university, period. My goal is to ease your anxiety (if you have any) by suggesting what to do about those unknowns, either by eliminating them or accepting them and just working with them.

It’s no secret that a lot of first-year students don’t do very well on their first English assignment. I approach the first assignment as a bit of a diagnostic: our common goal (you and I) should be to find out what your level of writing is at this point. Some of you will come in with great expectations, having gotten wonderful marks in high school and assuming that will be the case throughout university. That actually can happen and, for your sake, I hope it does. But it is rare. The key is to take what you learn from working on this assignment and having it graded and use it to improve next time, and each time after. Eventually, with hard work, your grade should ascend to the point at which you’d hoped to arrive.

Preparing For The Essay
The key to success in almost any area of life is preparation. That means different things for different people, so prepare in a way that has brought you success in the past. But if you find that you haven’t had much success recently, then you have to be willing to try different tactics, such as studying at different times and in different ways, or even mixing up your routine to find what works for you and gets you mentally prepared.

You can start by studying, of course. In the case of English, the best thing you can do for yourself is to KNOW THE STORY (or poem). That means you have to have read it multiple times and to have gotten to know it intimately. Having read it, you should go through it line by line, looking for hints of the author’s tone or symbolism, or something that you can interpret as having some meaning beyond itself. That is, the author’s choice of words is usually very precise and serves the purpose of a) telling the story, b) denoting action or dialogue, and c) adding to, or reflecting, the story’s theme(s). In other words, the words on the page denote exactly what they appear to denote, but they might also connote something more complex. Or not. Your job is to see if that connection is there, and the only way to do that is through close reading.

Sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it? Well, welcome to first-year university. This might not be how you are used to working. You might prefer to read for pure enjoyment’s sake, in which case I suggest you join a book club rather than doing a degree in higher education. But it’s really not that hard, and the work you put in on close reading now will pay huge dividends when it comes to writing the essay, contributing to class discussions, and writing future essays. There is also the added benefit—one that is probably far more important—in that you are teaching yourself to evaluate the words of others, to look closely at details, and process them, understand them, be able to argue with them or agree with them. If you’re not at least trying to tune into the overtones and undertones of language, then you’re just along for the ride. That’s okay up to a point, but like any bum ride, it’ll only take you so far. After that, you’re a pedestrian.

Okay, so besides studying and understanding what you’re reading, what else can you do? You can get your thoughts organized. After you’ve written all your notes, asked yourself about the characters’ motives, goals, desires, and fears, try to organize your thoughts. You might want to begin by making a list of character traits for each character, along with a note of HOW YOU KNOW. That is, what was it in the story that made you think this particular quality was inherent in the character you’re studying? For every opinion you posit, or put forward, you need some evidence to back it up. Otherwise, your case will be thrown out of court. You can’t, for example, say that a character is impatient towards her husband, as in “The Chrysanthemums,” without following up with some evidence from the story. Something in there must have told you the character was impatient, so what was it, exactly? Or if you say the ending of a story (as in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”) is ambiguous, be prepared to briefly say why you think it ambiguous, or open to interpretation. Present both possibilities and say what it was in the story that made you think it could go either way.

I could go on and on about the specifics of the essay and organizing your essay, but really you have to do what works for you. Brainstorming on paper for each character, then brainstorming about setting, point of view, imagery, and symbolism will take you a long ways towards truly understanding the complexities of the story. If you’ve got a solid handle on those ideas for each story, then you’ll at least be able to talk about the story in detail. And detail truly is the key to a good essay.

What an essay should look like:
Most students seem to know about the so-called “five paragraph rule” of essay-writing. Granted, some students have never written an essay at all in high school, so that’s a whole other discussion. But the “five-paragraph rule” isn’t really a rule at all. An essay, obviously, can have more than five paragraphs or even less than that. The idea is to show you how to STRUCTURE your essay. It should look like this.

Introductory paragraph
Body paragraph #1 (sub-topic #1 discussed).
Body paragraph #3 (Sub-topic #2 discussed).
Body paragraph #3 (sub-topic #3 discussed).
Concluding paragraph.

You can have as many paragraphs in between as you like, but the Introduction and Conclusion are beyond negotiation. You must have them both in order to give your essay structure and a feeling a completion.

The introductory paragraph should include a THESIS STATEMENT, which is crucial to the success of your essay. Your essay lives and dies with your thesis statement. Does it have to be your first sentence? Not necessarily, but it’s almost always the right way to go. You can never go wrong by starting with your best, clearest statement of what your essay is about. The point is to be understood, not to have the reader guessing as to what your intentions are. So why not start with the thesis statement, since the main idea is to be a good writer rather than a mediocre one or a poor one? Clarity is everything.

So, your thesis statement should tell me exactly what your essay is about. If you’re saying “The Brain-Eaters” is a story about how space aliens are all evil, then don’t give me a thesis statement that says: “As everyone knows, people from Mars intend great harm to the people of Earth.” The essay isn’t about space aliens in general; it’s about space aliens in “The Brain-Eaters.”So a much better, more comprehensive thesis statement would be: “William Spigot's short story, “The Brain-Eaters,” depicts space aliens as evil, while also suggesting that some visitors from certain planets mean Earthlings no harm.” Now you are free to go on proving that Spigot’s depiction of aliens is predominately negative, but also to show that some depictions of them are not so bad. The point is that your thesis statement ought to reveal what your ENTIRE essay is about, not just the first half of it. If you intend to talk about other things related to your main focus, then you need to hint at that, even with a word or two.

And that’s just your first sentence. It requires a lot of thought, for sure, and most thesis statements need revision as you go on, so there’s no pressure to write a good one the first time out. It rarely happens. Most first lines need to be changed once the writer knows exactly what they are talking about, and it’s hard to know that until you’ve actually finished writing the essay.

Next, still in your opening paragraph, follow up your thesis statement with an explanation, or elaboration, of your first sentence. Just give a hint as to where you’re going with this main idea of yours. How do you intend to proceed and what exactly will you be covering? That is, what are the parameters of your essay?

After that, it’s easy. Your paragraphing will reflect the pattern you’ve laid out in your opening. If, for example, Spigot depicts three different kinds of space aliens (or, say, three different kinds of images you want to discuss) then perhaps you can give each one a separate paragraph. The main thing to remember is that you should show what each of these paragraphs has to do with the main idea you outline in your thesis statement. Show a connection of the ideas in each paragraph to the main idea (or mother ship, as it were).Then, when you’ve written each paragraph, finish with a concluding paragraph that reiterates your main points, using different words than before. Don’t introduce any new ideas or evidence at this point.That, generally, is the best way to approach, and design, your essay.

How To Approach The Questions
I don't want to tell you what to write, so I won't. But, to be fair, I thought I should give you some idea of how to go about getting some thoughts on paper. Really, it's mostly about asking the right questions about the questions.What follows are the notes I alluded to in class today regarding each question. There might be some repetition, but I was brainstorming (as you should do) and therefore not censoring myself:

1. In “The Chrysanthemums,” Elisa Allen experiences a shift in her thinking. Discuss the significance of that shift.(Approach: What is the shift? How do you denote/see change? How was she before? How do you know? What was life like for her? What are the signs of what she was thinking before? What is the moment of the shift? How did it occur, and what is its significance? What happens to her thinking after that? How do you know? What are the implications of that shift, re: what the story is about?)

or

2. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” might be described as either a coming of age story or a tale of warning.

Discuss.(Approach: What do you mean by coming of age? A simple tale of a girl growing up, from innocence to experience, becoming a young woman. Does this happen in the story? How do you know? What are the signs? Who was she before Arnold Friend came along? What does she do? What do her actions, thoughts, and dialogue signify that she is? When does she change, exactly? How do you know? What do those actions signify/symbolize/mean in the context of the story? What was she like before versus what was she like after? What brings about that change? How can you see a change? Or can you? What would be the signs of someone becoming more “experienced” versus “innocent”? Furthermore, if this is a tale of warning, what is the warning? What does it pertain to? Who is the warning for? How do you know? Who or what are we being warned about? Ultimately: you can choose one or the other, or combine the two. Say something like, it is a coming of age story that comes with a warning against… There is no right and wrong here, only how well you present your argument.)

or

3. Discuss the significance of a major character in either Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” or John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums”.

(Approach: Choose one of the characters—e.g. Elisa, Henry, the tinker, or Arnold Friend or Connie—and discuss their role in the story. What do they represent/signify/symbolize? What is their function in the story. E.g. Arnold’s role is to jolt Connie from a state of innocence to one of experience. Or: Henry’s role is to protect Elisa from the outside world. Or: Henry’s role is to be kind to his wife, even though he doesn’t understand her or what she wants. Go on then to discuss what she wants, desires, fears, and how he reacts to that. You are told these things in the story. It’s up to you to interpret/analyze what the characters say and do to each other and to themselves.

Brainstorm on this one, asking yourself what do you think of when you think of these stories? What actions, decisions, words, and/or images and descriptions do you associate with them?

General notes for preparation:
This will be an in-class, fifty-minute writing exercise, but there are many ways to ensure that you write an effective essay and reduce your stress level.

1. Make sure you understand the question and what is expected of you. If you have any doubt at all, ask your instructor to clarify.

2. Brainstorm. Gather ideas. Analyze the facts. Re-read the story and make notes on what you see, especially that which relates to your chosen topic. Always dig deeper for an understanding of how the smaller details are related to the whole. Remember to go beyond the facts and opinions discussed in class, if you can. The very best papers do this.

3. Simplify your ideas into an argument or statement of opinion, which you will defend, or prove, in your essay.

4. Organize. Make sure you write an introductory paragraph, a concluding paragraph, and a separate paragraph for each part of the main subject you discuss. All that you will discuss should be hinted at in the opening paragraph. All that you have discussed—and no new information—should be summarized in the conclusion.

5. Know the story really well.

6. Get a good night’s sleep. Sleep rocks.

In the exam room:

1. Arrive early if you can, but definitely on time. If you are late for some reason, enter the room as quietly and unobtrusively as possible. Others will already be writing and in the zone.

2. This is not an open book exam. Leave your textbooks closed and hidden away.

3. I will provide you with paper for writing on, as well as an exam script, when you have cleared your desk of all books and paper.

4. No dictionaries allowed.

5. You may use pen or pencil—your choice, but make sure your handwriting is easily read.

6. Start writing when your instructor gives the signal to do so.

7. You have 50 minutes. Take five minutes at the beginning to get your thoughts organized, remember your outline and thesis statement, and so on. Leave five minutes at the end to go back over what you have written, looking for mistakes or things to add or revise.

8. Double-space your answer.

9. Don’t forget to breathe during all of this, starting now. It helps.

I wish you all good luck. Try not to stress over this. Just know the story well. Know the basics of writing a good essay and just let it flow. Show me what you know. Show that you can go beyond what was said in class and show that you can write really well.

In the end, you can at least say you tried.

And, hey, you're writing you're first university English paper. How cool is that? Till next time.

GC

I wanted to give my students in 1080 a chance to see Bob Dylan. We talked about "Mr. Tambourine Man" a fair bit in class over the past few days, so I figured it would be only right post it here, mostly for fun, but also to give you an idea what the song is about and what Dylan was all about. It's a remarkably clear piece of footage and a great portrait of a young legend-in-the-making.

Ladies and gentleman, Bob Dylan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXwynAlYNS0

I should also I saw Dylan in concert a short while ago, and he didn't sing this song or hardly anything anyone knew. In fact, he hardly even looked at audience at all.Still, this is more like the Bob Dylan of my imagination.GC

English 1080: "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"

Since I don't usually have time in class to show feature-length movies, I thought I'd share this with those of you in my English 1080 class.

First, there's a movie trailer for a 1986 film of Oates's story, starring Laura Dern.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXvmkCVbrBk&feature=related

There's also a series of clips from the film strung together. There are, of course, lots of differences from the story, "Where Are You Going, Where Have you Been?" but it's similar in essence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co9bfNOlSRQ

Also, I wanted to remind you that we start "The Chrysanthemums" on Monday, and there will, as always, be a quiz.

GC

It's a new dawn, a new day, a new life...

Okay, so what happened to summer? I woke up this morning to find that everything was cold, just a couple of degrees away from frost on the ground and ice in the toilet. Seems I went to sleep in summer and woke up in autumn. It’s been cold for over a week now, and my brain has already clicked into autumn mode.

And so yesterday was the first day of classes at Memorial University. The strangest part about being back on campus was that it felt as if I’d never left. The summer was brutally short—I just have vague memories of a lot of writing and some family events, interspersed with cold weather and occasional warmth.

Walking from my office on the fourth floor of the Science Bldg. to my first class on the fourth floor of the Education Bldg., I was thinking about what I would say to my students. I mean, you walk into a class and see all these new faces, some eager to be starting something new and challenging, a new chapter in life, and others wishing to God they’d stayed in bed and maybe applied for the military or a Academy Canada. Sometimes, you get both, of course—the person who knows this is a great experience but already wishes it was Christmas so they could just go home and be with their families.

But it’s the same every fall. Mostly, the students have trepidations and yet are in this for the long haul, ready to get something out of it, knowing that—unlike high school—these really are the best years of most people’s lives. They really are. I don’t mean that every person’s experience is completely positive. Some people even go through some pretty serious stuff. But everything you do in first-year university is heightened and seen somewhat through a glass, darkly at times. It’s a bit like Christmas in that it doesn’t feel quite real to be here doing all this cool stuff and scary stuff and all the amazing thing you ever dreamed of, planning the rest of your life and hanging out with people of your choosing, rather than just the ones you happened to find yourself sharing a locker with or living next door to.

I know I’m an optimist, but I’m old enough now that I know it’s a permanent condition. Sure, I’m a realist and a skeptic. For example, I take a wait-and-see attitude towards ghosts, aliens, and the Maple Leafs ever winning the Stanley Cup again. And yet I’m optimistic enough to think that both ghosts and aliens could be out there somewhere. I just need to see for myself because I don’t rely much on other people’s experiences to inform my own reality.

But I do believe the best in people, and just from looking at the groups I have in my classes this year, I can already tell it’s going to be fun. It won’t all be great and there will be plenty of times of worry and concern, both for me and for my students, but I’m looking forward to an extremely enjoyable semester. Plenty of students smiled as I called their names and a lot of them stopped and said a few words or, again, just smiled on their way out the door. That lets me know that they’re at least not scared of me or of the situation—or if they are, they are at least willing to give it the old college try.

I’ve been told a lot in my teaching career that you should “never let them see you smile on the first day”. Well, you know what? That’s the most foolish piece of advice I’ve ever heard. To me, the best advice is to try to be natural and yourself, and that way you don’t have anything to make up for, or apologize for, later. Being yourself is probably about the hardest thing there is to be, especially in a public situation—and I’m not just talking about me. I’m mostly thinking about people in general and students in particular.

The hardest thing about it, really, is just figuring out who you are in the first place. And sometimes that is exactly what you’re supposed to be doing at this point, in first-year university: figuring out who you are. Sure, you have a good idea by now, or at least I hope so. But you’ll encounter a lot of course options, people options (should I sit near the same crowd as last time or find a crowd that at least has something in common with who I think I am?), credit card options (to apply, reject, spend, over-spend, pay the minimum, or pay it off completely each month), and what to do with your time (studying, working, playing, relaxing, movies, and any number of adult-type activities). It’s all up to you. And every choice you make, and how you ultimately react to the consequences of that choice, decide not only who you are, but who you are on your way to becoming.

I always pose a question to my students on the information sheet I asked you to fill out and pass in: “Why are you here?” Most just say they want to get an education and get a job. Many say they want to learn to be better writers. Others say they haven’t a clue while others say the course was recommended by a friend or family member. The occasional student says something about wanting to find out what to do with their lives and to experience as much as possible in life, including talking about great literature and great ideas. It’s all good. What I mostly look for is how you interpreted the question and whether you acknowledge or recognize that there are multiple possibilities available to you: choices. How you interpreted it says more about you than what you said.

The answers might change in time; they usually do. But the questions are often eternal.

Have a truly great semester.

If you’re one of my students this semester, keep checking back here now and again. There’ll be lots of stuff on here that might interest you or help you out a little in your endeavours to become a better writer and thinker.

If you’ve been following all along and are no longer a student of mine (or never were), hang in there. I’ll still be riffing on everything from why anyone should care about Jon and Kate marathons to why is Bob Dylan doing a Christmas album. Or maybe the questions themselves serve my purpose. Maybe it’s best not to dwell on certain subjects. Could lead to a headache.

Talk to you soon.

GC

Could be fun.

"Summer has come to pass/the innocence can never last/ Wake me up when September ends."

Yeah, I guess that's my mood at the moment. Where the heck did summer go?

Oh yeah, I was busy. Can't believe I never did take a vacation this year. I started out with good intentions. Back in early May, I had eye surgery to make me see better, but that didn't quite work out. For two months, I couldn't drive and, worse, wasn't able to read. The driving has come back, but the reading is still pretty iffy, though it's a lot better than it was. Might still need reading glasses when all is said and done just to get through all those essays and, of course, the literature itself when I start teaching next week. It's a bummer, but that's life. So now I can see the color of a mosquito's irises 100 yards away, but if he comes up close I can't even tell what kind of creature he is. Sort of a good news/bad news situation.

Somehow during June, I was able to finish my short story collection. I wasn't able to read/revise/edit my own work very well, but I managed, and I hope prospective editors will forgive any grammatical and spelling errors. First time in my life I've ever really had to contend with those. But I feel good about getting the collection (called Moonlight Sketches, as I've mentioned before) out to publishers. It makes for a good summer's work.

The novel is coming along, but it obviously won't be done before Sept. 9 when I start teaching, so I'll be working on that as the semester goes along (yeah, right).

Other than that, I did do some acting this summer. I spent one entire 11-hour day on the set of The Republic of Doyle, doing some stints as a security guard. It was kinda cool, dressing in the uniform, wearing the bulletproof vest (might like to have one of those for those really hard days), the walkie-talkie, the big ol' hat, and all the rest. They shot me in a couple of scenes that included Shaun Majumner from "This Hour Has 22 Minutes"), but I have no idea if they'll actually use them. They promise they'll call again, but they've only called once and I wasn't able to make it. The best part was hanging out on the set all day, though it was pretty long and occasionally boring. I met lots of new people who all had different reasons for trying their hand at being an "extra" on a nationally broadcast t.v. show. Some were serious actors while others were just looking for a cool experience. As for me, I was just looking for the experience and to see if I liked it enough to want to do more. I did like it and, in fact, spent an entire week this summer rehearsing lines for an audtion for a speaking role. I didn't get the part (for various reasons, I'm sure) but it was fun to try and to stretch myself in that way. I've always wanted to give it a go, wondered if I even had to capacity to remember lines and to give them the proper inflection and facial expression to be an "actor". Now I don't have to spend the rest of my life wondering if I should give it a try. The answer is: of course.

I'm also working on a short film for a director-friend, but that has yet to really start shooting. Probably this fall.

So for those of you wondering what I did all summer, now you know: writing, acting, hanging out, lots of barbecues, beaches, long walks, playing some music, and, of course, running. Love running in warm weather. Not so fond of the cool weather jogging. It makes me wish I was wearing mittens and a snow suit.

So now it's September, and it's back to teaching. What a bizarre transition that will be, not just for me but (I'm sure) for all my students as well. More to say on that next week. But for now, I just thought I'd say hi to all of you who've been reading this blog all summer--despite my neglect of it-- and welcome to autumn. It's my favorite time of year, so that makes up for a lot. Plus, I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of the old familiar faces and a multitude of fresh, mostly eager faces as well.

Could be fun.

GC