Posts Tagged ‘resources’

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Canadian Content

Monday, July 5th, 2010

0176103627

Canadian Content (6th Edition), by Sarah Norton and Nell Waldman

I know, I know, not all of you are Canadian.  That’s alright; this isn’t a book about grammar rules, so you won’t get confused.

I’ve had this book for many years (I have the 4th edition, actually), and use it several times per week.  It’s a book full of examples of essays, e.g. persuasive essays, comparison essays, cause-and-effect essays.  Each chapter begins with an explanation of the type of essay, goes on to an annotated essay (”here’s the introduction”, “here’s the thesis”, “here’s the first supporting point”, “here are some good transition words”, etc), and ends with several really good sample essays of that particular genre.  Each of the sample essays comes with a glossary, some reading questions (structure and strategy, and content and purpose), and some suggestions for writing.

This would, obviously, be a good book to have hanging around a writing or tutoring centre, but my students also find it useful to read when they need an example.   What does the professor mean when he requests a Classification and Division essay?  Have a look at the book and you’ll get some ideas.

Now, those of you who live in warmer climes may not get much out of Paul Quarrington’s essay Home Ice - which can be found in the Process Analysis: Explaining “How” section - if you don’t have a lot of experience with backyard skating rinks; however, essays like George Carlin’s Baseball and Football (Comparison and Contrast: Explaining Similarities and Differences) and Stephen King’s Why We Crave Horror Movies (Cause and Effect: Explaining “Why”) will have general appeal.  Neil Bissoondath’s I’m Not Racist But… (Definition: Explaining “What”) will be - regretfully - relevant to everyone.

You should be able to find a copy in your library; if not, I easily found cheap second-hand copies online.

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Parallel Structure

Monday, May 10th, 2010

Okay, I’m the first to admit that I’m not fond of following the rules; straight lines are for the birds.  However, when you have signed yourself up to follow the lines, it seems counterproductive to deliberately cross them.

Parallel structure is one of those things that is de rigueur in formal writing (though you’re welcome to toss it out the window when it comes to poetry and informal dialogue).  It’s difficult to explain in detail: do you understand what I mean when I say just make it all the same?  When you have several words, phrases or clauses strung together with commas and/or conjunctions, make sure all the verbs and all the articles follow the same pattern.

Here’s The OWL’s page on parallel structure, and another nifty little page from Bellevue College with some exercises on the bottom.

If you already have parallel structure under your belt, at least look at the Really Great Example they have on the Bellevue page: a mark, a yen, a buck or a pound.  Try saying that 10 times and see if it gets stuck in your head. :)

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Cure for Copious Bleeding

Monday, April 19th, 2010

From my close observation of writers…they fall into two groups: 1) those who bleed copiously and visibly at any bad review, and 2) those who bleed copiously and secretly at any bad review. - Isaac Asimov
Asimov was not likely referring to the student who can be found in a little puddle in the corner of a room yet the sentiment applies.  Even if the course you’re taking has no stake in your future, red pencil marks, low numbers or high letters, or comments such as “Smith, what the heck is this?” do tend to have an effect on your self-esteem.

I bleed.  (I’m one of the secret bleeders.)

My students bleed.  They’re the visible ones in the corners of my room.

The problem with being a secret bleeder is that it’s hard to stop bleeding.

The visible bleeders will always be picked up off the floor - even if it’s just to get them off the footpath -  given strong coffee and a sympathetic ear.  By doing this, they end up getting help.  Whatever problem caused the bleeding is soon fixed (soon being a relative term, of course).  Secret bleeders continue to bleed.  It starts with the first assignment and gets progressively worse with each consequent red mark.  The problems accumulate and morale goes right down the toilet.

Sometimes secret bleeders figure out the problem and are able to fix it themselves; I remember spending several hours in the library reading book reviews until I figured out what my Grade 8 teacher was talking about.  I was too embarrassed to ask the teacher to explain himself, too embarrassed to ask for help.  (You see, if you’ve always had A++ in English, getting an A- is devastating.)  I took a chance that the difference between my review and the ones I was reading was the thing my teacher wanted.  I got lucky.

The problem arises when you’re a secret bleeder who doesn’t understand what the red marks/low grades/snarky comments are for.  It’s almost the end of the year, and bleeding is not going to help you on the final exam.  NOW is the time to a) find a bandaid (stop making a mess :) ) and b) stop the cause of the bleeding.

Are you lucky enough to have a friend or roommate who is good at writing and understands all those red pencil marks?  If so, bribe them with chocolate and get them to help you.  If not, there is a long list of people who get paid to help you (and you may have already paid for them so you might as well use them): teachers, professors, teacher’s aides, tutors, etc.  There are writing centres and study groups.   Sentenceworks will be able to help if your red pencil marks are all about grammatical or spelling errors.

You’ll have to decide what works best for you.  In any case, the ultimate goal is to end the copious bleeding altogether, which means you’ll have to just stop getting bad reviews.

I wonder if Mr. Asimov ever had that pleasure….


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Evaluating Your Sources

Monday, April 12th, 2010

One of my students became rather frustrated with me this week: “Exactly how much do you expect me to do for this essay?!”

I don’t expect you to do anything.  I’m just the tutor.  It’s your professor who expects it of you… because that’s what you’re paying him to do.

The student was writing a paper on astronomy.  One of the sources the student used was an encyclopedia; an excellent source of information in most cases.  However, in this case, the encyclopedia was older than I am.

A lot has been discovered about the planets over the last 40 years.  Heck, some planets are not even planets anymore.

Okay, I guess I do expect some things of you: write the essay, and check the relevance of your resources.

Clearly, this will apply to subjects like the sciences where new discoveries are being made daily.  It also applies to other subjects - even Shakespeare (don’t look so surprised :) ) - in that new people are offering new opinions daily.  If you look hard enough, you’ll always find fresh information on your subject.  This may take more than a cursory google of the internet, or a 3-minute scan of the library shelf.

It’s not just the dates which should be checked.  Have you found an author which has written volume after volume on your subject?  Excellent.  Now, you need to find out what other people think of that author.  Particularly on the internet, though also in print, people are free to write anything they like.  Does anyone agree with the prolific author?  Are they just (dare I use the word) a quack?  If they have a minuscule following, is it because they have no idea what they’re talking about or because the world is just not able to accept the radical truth?  If they have a humongous following, is it because they’re right or because they’re charismatic?

The purpose of assigning you an essay on a particular subject is so you learn about it.  It’s a way of having everyone learn about the same thing, but each person gets to choose his/her own way of approaching that subject.  You can focus on the aspects which interest you the most.  By quoting some random author or using expired data, you’re defeating the purpose of the assignment.

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Bloopers

Monday, April 5th, 2010

Your mind should be starting to spin ’round about now; students are getting to the beginning of the end, and the reality of culminating activities and final exams is looming.

This weekend, my son was prattling on about Martin Luther nailing 95 theologians to the door - he really likes that one - while I was marking essays (fortunately, before the teachers and professors got to see them) and reading out some of the more amusing bloopers.  I appreciated the entertainment; some of the more, um, traditional readers might not have been quite so tickled….

Thought you could use a little light reading to keep you thinking about writing but not fry your brain too much:

English Bloopers and Blunders

Ode To The Spell-Checker (this is one of my favourites)

Rules For Writing Wicked Good Papers

50 Rules for Writing Good

Happy reading!

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Writing Argumentative Essays

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Writing Argumentative Essays

This is a really cool little website from Australia.  It focuses solely on how to write argumentative essays; it won’t help you much if you’re writing an opinion piece.

However, the thinking process is one which could be applied to any number of situations….

The website covers every step of the essay-writing process from planning the argument to word choice.  It gives outlines for paragraph structure (introduction, several choices for the body, conclusion), and a couple of models to choose from.  There is even a section about converting informal text to formal text.

I recommend this website for anyone who is learning English as another language, as well as for anyone who has to write argumentative essays.

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Adios, Strunk and White

Monday, March 15th, 2010

Adios, Strunk and White, by Gary and Glynis Hoffman

There are three chapters in this marvellous book: Style, Form, and Critical Thought and Research. After the first column of the Table of Contents, it gets interesting. The sub-chapters for Style are Flow, Pause, Fusion, Opt and Scrub. Form contains Time Warping, Encircling, Layering and Bursting. Critical Thought and Research involves Peel, Filter and Press.

I suppose if the titles don’t amuse you, you’re not likely to be interested in the rest of the book. This book is about writing well, and it doesn’t deal with the basics. These are the things you might consider after you’ve finished writing your paper, when you’re ready to polish it into something beautiful and gleaming.

My favourite sub-chapter is Scrub. Within Scrub, you can choose Facial Pack, Metal Mask or War Paint. Scrub is about purging your writing of euphemism, offensive language, and weak or indirect writing; you can choose your preferred level of attack. (There are papers when a Facial Pack will be sufficient, but other occasions warrant full-on War Paint. Being of obsessive personality, I do like the idea of War Paint.)

Are you ready to give up on formulaic writing, ready to branch out into brilliant thought and communication? This book is likely to be on every library shelf, waiting for you to pick it up. You might even find it in a second-hand store. Personally, I believe it’s worth every penny, even if you have to buy it new.

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Using Prepositions

Monday, February 15th, 2010

In the last two months, I believe I’ve corrected enough essays to kill a horse.  A lot of the teachers and professors send notes back with my students, listing the particular grammatical sins of the student:

I never want to see a contraction again!

Semi-colons are not commas!

If I were able to do such a thing, I would issue warnings about

PREPOSITIONS.

They’re my pet peeve.

Learn to use them properly, please.

Now, because we are discussing English prepositions, this is not a light-hearted remark.  English prepositions don’t like to follow rules.  The only way to learn to use prepositions properly is to practice them.  Filling out page after page of cloze exercises is not going to help very much.

Read.  Listen to people talk.  Speak.

If you are new to the English language and are having problems with basic prepositions, do, by all means, fill out some cloze exercises.  Here are some decent ones to start with:

Dave’s ESL Preposition Quiz 1

Dave’s ESL Preposition Quiz 2

Dave’s ESL Preposition Quiz 3

Dave’s ESL Preposition Quiz 4

The Hares And The Frogs

When it comes to idioms, you’ll have serious problems making the prepositions follow the rules.  Here’s a short list of examples.  As you can see, it’s beyond the average ability to memorise them all.  There is nothing for it but to throw yourself into the English language and learn to enjoy the quirks and eccentricities of prepositions.  They are funny little things, and can be enjoyable when you learn to make them work for you.

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Academic Writing: How to Read and Write Scholarly Prose

Monday, January 11th, 2010

Before we start, I should warn you: this book is out of print.  The prices for a second-hand copy are probably not within the budget of the average student.  Hightail it to the library and grovel at the feet of your librarian.

Janet Giltrow has written several book on academic writing, including Academic Writing: An Introduction, and Academic Writing: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines.  These are very good books but the one you should get try to get your hands on is Academic Writing: How to Read and Write Scholarly Prose.  For the tentative writer, this book is the best of the lot.

This book is full of wonderful explanations, such as when it’s acceptable to use and at the beginning of a sentence, and how to position a topic within an essay and “flesh it out”.

The Table of Contents looks like this:

1: summarising what you’ve read (part one)

2: summarising what you’ve read (part two)

3: topics and readers

4: topic and meaning

5: quotation and documentation

6: descriptive definitions

7: reader-friendly styles

8: scholarly styles and scholarly arguments

9: making presentations and writing exams

I’ve been writing essays for some 30 years now, and I still re-read this book on a regular basis, refreshing my memory as to what my literary goals should be.  The book is written in a nice, easy style, and has cartoons which are just as explanatory as the chapters themselves.

If you can’t get hold of a copy, you’ll have to make do with the other two books.  They’re fine: they contain much the same information but it’s not presented quite so nicely.

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Weird Red Editing Marks

Monday, October 12th, 2009

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When your (utterly brilliant) paper is handed back to you, are you filled will trepidation?  When you peek through your fingers to look at the paper, does it take you another half hour to understand what the professor or proofreader thought of it? Does it look like a bunch of aliens stepped in red ink and ran all over your essay?

The alien prints are called “editing marks”. While it may seem a little ironic that someone will write sp. in order to tell you to spell something out, editors have a reason for using these marks. Not only do the editors generally have hundreds of papers to mark but they also have limited space; full sentences crammed into the 2 ½ inches on either side of your paper would make it difficult to read.

It’s not all that difficult to understand editing marks. Some marks are pretty obvious; awk. means the sentence sounds awkward and should be re-written so it sounds a little more natural. Marks such as ¶ are a little more disconcerting: it’s a pilcrow and it means you need to start a new paragraph.

A simple search for “editing marks” should come up with a range of websites which will guide you, or the writing centre at your institution will have a print-out available. Barring that, this website has most of the marks you’re likely to see:

http://wadsworth.com/english_d/templates/student_resources/1413001890_burnett/UsageHandbook/edit_marks.htm

Code-breaking is a very useful skill….

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