Class, Tues, 12/06

Some Important Forms

Arcade

Display your Medium essay on your laptop. Walk around. See what other people have done. Talk with them. Jot down the authors and titles of at least five pieces that impress you. Note down some common strategies of digitizing that all (or at least most) of these writers use. But also try to note at least one distinctive aspect of each of the pieces you look at closely.

Digitizing Worksheet

To Do

Nothing! Wait for an email from me early next week informing you of your final grade. Consider taking another writing course, or even enrolling for the Writing Minor. Say hi to me if we pass each other on The Green or in Memorial!

Essays on Medium

Class, Thurs, 11/29

Grades

no-name-e2s

Copyright and Fair Use

Digitizing Essay Two

Email the link to your essay on Medium to the members of your workshop group. Read through at least two of the pieces you’ve been sent, looking for points where the writers might “digitize” their essays through adding:

  • Hyperlinks
  • Images
  • Video clips
  • Audio clips

Note these possible additions on a piece of paper or in an email to the author. Try to make it as clear as you can what you think the author might do. (For instance, “add image from the ad campaign here”, or “insert link to critic’s essay here”.) If you can suggest a specific image or file, please do so. Try to suggest at least five items the author might add to her or his essay.

We’ll spend about 20 minutes with these pieces. When I call time, read through what your readers have suggested, and do some googling to see if you can make those changes.

To Do

No class on Thurs, 12/01.

  1. Mon, 12/05, 4:00 pm: Post your digitized essay as “Public” to Medium. If you wish to apply for extra credit, send me an email in which you (a) provide the URL for your piece, (b) outline the important ways in which you have digitized your essay [10 points], and (c) point to substantive additions you have made to your actual writing [10 points].
  2. Tues, 12/06: Bring a laptop with you to class. We will have an arcade in which we look at one one another’s digitized essays.

Class, Thurs, 11/17

Affordances

An affordance is a suggested use—something that an object or technology allows you to do easily or well.

Digital Writing

Writing on Medium.com

Some Examples

In workshop groups: Look together at one of these essays. How does the writer use the affordances of digital writing to say or do something onscreen that she could not do on the page?

Formatting on Medium

To Do

  1. Class, Tues, 11/29: Post your e1 or e2 to Medium as an Unlisted post. Come to class with your laptop. We will work on your pieces in class.

Digital Writing

For your final assignment for this course, I’d like you to revise one of your two final essays in ways that make thoughtful use of the affordances of writing in a digital space. An affordance is something that a particular medium allows you to do easily or well. The affordances of digital writing include

  • incorporating images into your writing;
  • linking directly to other online texts;
  • quoting audio or video clips in your essay; and
  • adding audio or video clips that you have produced to your essay.

Your task is to use some of these affordances to revise and re-present your second essay on Medium.com.

I will be especially impressed if the changes or additions you make lead to some new writing. If you insert an image into your essay, don’t let it just sit there—comment on it, analyze it. If you link to other texts, tell us what it is you want us to notice about them. If you use audio or video, be thoughtful in editing the clip; go right to the moment in the song or film that you want to focus our attention on.

Be creative. Take some risks. If you try something and it doesn’t work—no worries, your grade won’t be affected. Simply for doing this assignment, you will receive 10 extra points. But if you rethink or develop your essay as you post it to Medium, you will receive 20 extra points.

To post your work to Medium, you will need to set up a free account on the site. I will walk you through the actual mechanics of posting in class—it’s straightforward and easy—and we’ll also look at some examples of what other writers have done on the site. I’ve also posted a brief set of hints on Formatting on Medium. I hope that, like me, you’ll find Medium an elegant and appealing platform for writing.

Post your essay on Medium by 4:00 pm on on Monday , 12/05.. Please email me the link to your essay, and bring your laptop with you to class. If you feel you have significantly revised or developed your piece, please outline what you have done in the body of your email.  I will review your note to see if I agree that you  have earned an extra 10 points.

We will use much of our class on Tuesday, 12/06 to view your digital essays in a kind of electronic “arcade” .

Class, Tues, 11/15

Speed Editing

Each of you will be responsible for reading and editing five essays with regard to only one of the following categories. You will have 4 minutes to read each piece.

Format

  • Document: 1.25″ margins, different first page
  • First page: Name, E110, Assignment, Date, sans serif, 1.0 spacing
  • Title: Bold, centered, sans serif
  • Paratext: Subheads, running head, sans serif
  • ¶s: 0.25 or 0.5 indent, 1.5 spacing, 6 points between ¶s, serif
  • BLQs: Indented left and right, 1.0 spacing

Quotations (In-Text)

  • Author identified
  • Page identified
  • Cross-listed in references
  • BLQ for quotations more than one sentence

References (End-of-Text)

  • Author, date, title, place
  • Alphabetical by author
  • Hanging indent, 1.0 spacing, 6 points between items

Project

  • Read the first page (or so). Mark where the author defines their project in writing their essay. Offer any advice you may have about phrasing or placement.

Take-Away

  • Read the last page (or so). Mark where the author states the take-way of the piece. Offer any advice you may have about phrasing or placement.

Sign your name and the category of your work to each piece you edit. Scan your essay once it has been returned to you. If you have any questions, ask your editors about them.

Titles

Read through your essay. Highlight (a) the names of other writers, artists, or works you discuss; (b) words or phrases you take from someone else; and (c) important words or phrases that you bring to the discussion. Then draw on these words to create the following types of titles:

  • Straightforward
  • Allusive
  • Doubled

Acknowledgments

  • In pairs: Here are two acknowledgments written by UD students. Using these two texts as examples of the genre, identify (a) what both writers do [constraints], and (b) what each does differently [options].
  • Fastwrite: Draft a version of the acknowledgments for your essay. The final version of your acknowledgments should appear after your main text and before your list of references.

To Do

  1. Wed, 11/16:I need to cancel my regular office hours tomorrow morning. If you would like to talk with me, please seem me to set up an appointment for later today or Thursday.
  2. Wed, 11/16, 4:00 pm: Email me the final version of your second essay. This essay should be at least 2000 words long, and include a list of references and a note of acknowledgments. Title your document “lastname e2 final”. Good luck!
  3. Thurs, 11/17: Please bring a laptop with you to class.

Class, Thurs, 11/03

Mapping Your Second Essay

Drafting e2d3

Fill in the map. Draft 500 words of your e2d3.

Moving Forward on Your Second Essay (e2d3 and p3)

Writing Geek

Lower Case in Titles [pdf]

To Do

  1. Mon, 11/07, 4:00 pm: Email e2d3 to me.
  2. Tues, 11/08: Election Day! No class! Vote!
  3. Wed, 11/09, Thurs, 11/10, or Fri, 11/11: Conferences, based on your annotated print version of e2d3. (Your annotations will count as p3.)
  4. Tues, 11/15, class: Bring a print copy of e2d3.9 to class. You will work on it.
  5. Wed, 11/16, 4:00 pm: Email me e2d4, the final version of your second essay.

Moving Forward on Your Second Essay

e2d3

A full draft of your second essay (e2d3) is due on Monday, 11/07, by 4:00 pm. This draft should bring together the materials you’ve created for e2d1 and e2d2. But you should also write a new introduction to your essay (topic, project, map) and a new conclusion. My strong hunch is that you will also want to spend some time making sure the connections between the various ¶s and sections of your essay are clear.

Your draft must

  • Be at least 2,000 words long;
  • Make a meaningful connection to Spelman’s Repair;
  • Have a good title;
  • Include a list of references.

Please follow the guidelines for formatting your document we discussed in class on Tuesday, 10/11. Title your document “lastname e2d3” and email it to me.

Plans (p3) and Conferences

As before, you will want to make the best use you can of the ten minutes we have to discuss your piece. Please bring a printout of your e2d3 with you. If you have worked more on your essay since Monday, that’s great. Bring the version that shows the latest work you’ve done. Please highlight or otherwise mark passages that you plan to

  • Add
  • Cut
  • Move
  • Rework

Write any questions you may have for me in the margins of your piece. Bring a pen to your conference and be ready to jot down some notes on your essay.

Finally, on a separate sheet of paper, please block out a map of your essay as it currently stands, using a format similar to the one we worked with in class today.

essay-map

Your annotations and map will count as p3. You will not receive credit if you do not bring them to your conference.

The final, graded version of your essay (e2d4) is due on Wednesday, 11/16. We will work on editing and polishing these pieces in class on Tuesday, 11/15. Good luck!

Class, Tues, 11/01

Connecting Your Project of Repair to Spelman

Fastwrite: You should have identified three specific passages in Spelman that you might use in your esssay. Pick one. Write about 200 words in which you connect your project to the passage—quoting more than a single word but less than a sentence. Email me this passage as your class work for the day.

Beginning a Research-Based Essay

In groups of three: Read the first two ¶s of the essays in the Arak Journal by Samantha DiUbaldi and Ryan McNulty. As a group, formulate some answers to these questions:

  • Where does the writer say what their essay is about? (Topic)
  • How do they suggest what questions or ideas they have about their topic? (Project)
  • How do they suggest how their essay will develop? (Map)

Writing Geek

The singular they is the 2016 word of the year. When you want to talk about what a writer has to say in his or her text, don’t feel like you have to bend over backwards to describe what he or she is arguing. And definitely what not he says. Or one says. It is okay to write “where does the writer say what their essay is about”.  For backup, see

To Do

  1. Wed, 11/02, 4:00pm: Email me your e2d2.
  2. Thurs, 11/03, class: I will ask you to begin to write the first full draft of your second essay. So, if you compose on a keyboard, come with a laptop with your e2d1 and e2d2 loaded on it. If you write with pen and paper, come with print copies of your e2d and e2d2, and paper to write on.
  3. Mon, 11/07, 4:00 pm: Email me your e2d3.
  4. Tues, 11/08: Election Day! No class! Vote!
  5. Wed, 11/09, Thurs, 11/10, or Fri, 11/11: Conferences, based on your annotated print version of e2d3. (Your annotations will count as p3.)
  6. Tues, 11/15, class: Bring a print copy of e2d3.9 to class. You will work on it.
  7. Wed, 11/16, 4:00 pm: Email me your e2d4, the final version of your second essay.