Wednesday, March 20, 2013

ENGL 102 Student Posts-A Little Help from Your Peers

At DACC, students in ENGL 102 are offered the opportunity each semester to further their understanding of the academic research process through a guided project before undertaking independent research projects for the remainder of the semester.  The topic of the guided project is usually determined by the instructor, although some instructors leave it to the students to choose a topic they wish to explore as a class.

This spring the students in my ENGL 102 classes looked at literacy--both the denotative and connotative definitions of it.

Image retrieved from Flickr. Used with permission through Creative Commons license.

Through the reading of source materials and their own narrative writing, they explored how literacy in its variety of forms leads to inclusion or exclusion in different social, economic, and academic communities.
Image retrieved from Flickr. Used with permission through Creative Commons license.

At the end of their investigative and reflective period, each collaborative learning group created a research based argumentation paper covering an interest of theirs which was related to our overall topic as well as an informative blog post appropriate for their peers which is related to their academic paper topic.

This project not only helped students practice their research and writing/editing skills, but also their skills and expand their knowledge in critical thinking and reading, source evaluation, and source citation/copyright. 
Image retrieved from Flickr. Used with permission through Creative Commons license.
The students hope, that by sharing their blogs, the process of writing and what is expected in a college level course is more transparent to their peers so that the experience of DACC students will be less like this:

Image retrieved from http://www83.homepage.villanova.edu/richard.jacobs/apa.html . Used with permission through Creative Commons license.

And more like this:

Image retrieved from Google Images. Used with permission through Creative Commons license.



Tuesday, March 19, 2013

How to Prepare for College Writing




Google Images - teachers.bcps.org

            Have you ever noticed that it is almost impossible to be grammatically correct when writing an English paper? Whether you’re writing for college or high school, each instructor seems to teach a different thing. By narrowing down your writing to the important guidelines, it can be ensured you will write a paper to the best of your academic ability. The complexity of college writing is much stricter compared to the writing you will experience in your high school career. In this post, we will explain to you what you need to write a college level paper and how to do it.
Helpful Hints
            The first thing you need to have in order to write a paper successfully at the college level is a solid debatable research topic. Your topic should be easily arguable and easily defendable on the facts that you provide throughout the body of your paper. Be sure to get the opinion of your professor so your topic is broad enough to cover the assignment given. Your topic should be interesting enough to grab your audience’s attention and keep them interested in what you’re saying, but be sure not to slam them with facts that you acquire in the research that you or your group does.
            During your research of the topic, be sure to cite all informational sources you receive. You can cite your sources using noodletools.com, which is recommended through the DACC rhetoric programs. It is important to credit the facts and ideas you receive to the original authors so that plagiarism is not a factor in your paper. Plagiarism can be one of the worst charges ever put against you at the college level. It can result in serious academic penalty or even expulsion.
            The format of your paper is just as important as any other part of the assignment. Depending on what style you are assigned, usually MLA or APA based on your instructors preference, there are different guidelines to the outlook of your paper. For instance, MLA is always double spaced, with one inch margins all around your paper. The header in MLA is different from APA which requires a cover page. All papers generally require a size of 12 fonts using either Times New Roman or Calibri.
            The first thing you need in a well written paper is a thesis statement. Your thesis should be a well-argued statement or a question that you will answer throughout your paper. A thesis is the most important because it outlines your paper on what you feel about the topic.
            The body of your paper is all of the facts, opinions and quotes that you put into your paper and defend your thesis. The main body needs to answer your thesis question as well as provide facts and opinions based on the information and research you acquired. It is important to defend the side you have taken in your body to make your paper well rounded and informative but also argumentable. It would be highly advised to have someone proofread your paper to make sure you did not make any silly mistakes that could lower your grade.
            The conclusion sums up your entire paper by repeating what you have already said and explaining one last time how your side of the argument is correct, and how the opposing side is incorrect. It should bring your paper to a halt and answer your thesis indefinitely.
 
     The citations of your paper are just about the most important part of the paper. If done correctly it shows you have done your research well and will not be charged with plagiarism and will not be kicked out of school. Without good cited sources, your paper is nothing, it cannot be trusted and may not be believed. As we mentioned before, you can use noodletools.com to cite your sources in an easy, fast way and we strongly recommend it. 



 Clay Wright - I'm a Freshman at DACC and my major is undecided.
 Joey Gremore - I'm a Sophomore at DACC and my major is Sport Management.
 Matt Owens - I'm a Sophomore at DACC and my major is Criminal Justice. 
Jordan King - I'm a Freshman at DACC and my major is Criminal Justice.

Syllabic Emphasis and Rhythm


How many times have you wondered what the most important characteristic of poetry is? Maybe during an assignment or while reading a book you’ve wondered just what makes poetry, poetry. The most important parts of poetry when analyzing, writing, and reading it are syllabic emphasis and rhythm. They are in fact the literary glue that hold the work together and make it possible to be realistically interpreted while analyzing.
Syllabic emphasis is especially helpful to the flow of a poem. It creates volume and a sense of humor.When reading poetry, whether out loud or in your head, certain syllables are emphasized to keep the rhythm of the poem consistent. Without syllabic emphasis, the rhythm would change throughout the entire poem and it would be very difficult to read. A poem needs to flow in your mind as easily as the ocean water flows onto the sandy beach. In “Delirious Bulldogs and Nasty Crockery: Tennyson as Nonsense Poet,” Anna Barton talks about a limerick by Edward Lear.
            There was a young lady of Corsica,
Who purchased a little brown saucy-cur;
Which she fed upon ham, and hot raspberry jam,
That expensive young lady of Corsica (qtd. in Barton 317).
The verse makes absolutely no sense when just the words are read, but the rhythm and syllabic emphasis are very apparent. Consequently, it is easy for the reader to keep time with the verse of the poem when reading it out loud or even in his head. If there is no rhythm in a piece of writing, it can not be considered poetry.

Image from Illinois State University. Appropriate Use Copyright

 This image visually shows syllabic emphasis. The accented syllables are the one that are emphasized. The unaccented ones are said as the background.
A good example of a poet using syllabic emphasis and rhythm to determine and convey the tone of a piece is “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe. He uses words with the same endings, as well as partial rhyme, to give the work an ominous tone. He uses a trochee, which is a poetic form that follows a syllabic pattern of one stressed followed by one unstressed syllable. When read correctly, the piece flows with a steady rhythm and it is easy to feel the portentousness around the room, no matter where you are at. When the poet makes you feel what he wants you to feel, he has accomplished his goal.
When writing your own poetry, whether on your own or as an assignment, you will need to add many things to the piece, such as shape and word choice. However, the most important parts you need to add will be syllabic emphasis and rhythm. Without these two aspects, a piece of writing can not be poetry because there will be no flow. Reading the poem needs to be easy and steady with a set pattern of syllables being accentuated.


Using syllabic emphasis when writing poetry not only makes the poem relatable, but it also helps to form a more realistic kind of writing. So the next time you read or write a poem, make sure you pay special attention to the syllabic emphasis and rhythm. Those are the most important parts.


We chose this topic because we all have an interest in poetry, which is uncommon in today's youth. Two members of our group actually write poetry. We want others to realize how important syllabic emphasis and rhythm are in poetry. 
Alexis - I am a freshman in college. I graduated early last December. I plan on transferring to a school in Chicago to graduate with a Creative Writing degree. 
Ashley -I am also a freshman in college. I love to write poetry, but I am currently majoring in nursing.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Sometimes, you can't just Google it...

      So, you’ve got a big assignment due for your class, and you have a lot of research to do, but where do you start? Naturally, you might turn to the internet to do your research. The internet is a big and informative place, full of great information that might have been otherwise out-of-reach for some students, like you, but it can be a little overwhelming and hard to navigate at times, so here’s a few helpful hints from SweetSearch.
    
     Sometimes, the internet isn’t always the best place to start. Check to see if your school has a database of specialized search engine that can be sued to sift through material already in your library. These may be harder to use but will most likely provide you with a more specific and useful source. Also, consider asking a librarian, a teacher, or a friend if they know of any website or databases that can be of any help. This can save you a lot of time, because you won’t have to sift through all the junk that comes up through a typical online search. (SweetSearch n.p.) DACC’s own 1Search through the library is an excellent place to start. 

 
Screenshot by Kaleb Smith
****The link to the 1Search DACC Library page is: http://dacc.edu/library/

     Using a school-based database will provide you with already vetted information and credible sources, and you will be able to more accurately eliminate unwanted sources, like this:




Screenshot by Jaquonte Sanford

Using an online search engine, however, will return with results that are not suitable for college level work, such as Wikipedia, videos, photos, or non-credible work, such as this:




Screenshot by David Ames

     Specify what you’re searching for. Don’t include nonessential words, make sure grammar and spelling is correct, and try to search for the term most likely to appear on a website. For example, don’t search “what to make with chicken,” but rather “chicken recipes”. Certain terms and punctuations can also adjust the way the search engine will search for terms and phrases. Here are links to a few search engines’ help pages.

Google: http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=136861
Bing: http://onlinehelp.microsoft.com/en-us/bing/ff808438.aspx
Yahoo: http://help.yahoo.com/kb/index?page=content&y=PROD_SRCH&locale=en_US&id=SLN2242&impressions=true
Ask.com: http://about.ask.com/en/docs/about/search_tips.shtml


     Check when the source you found was published originally, not just when it was uploaded. As events unravel daily, something reported last week may be found inaccurate the following week. Stories change quickly due to new discoveries with technology so a source's information may instantly become false within weeks, days, and maybe even minutes, so it's a good idea to check when the articles were originally written. (SweetSearch n.p.) This NY Times article was published on February 17, 2013, but appeared in print on February 18, 2013








Screenshots by Kaleb Smith, Jaquonte Sanford, and David Ames

This is not an extreme example of time difference, but in some cases it may be, so it’s always a good idea to check.

       When searching online, through a database, or other by other electronic means, follow the ten minute rule. If your search does not get you any useful or valuable information within 10 minutes, stop, reevaluate your search phrase, and then either revise it or consider using a different search engine. Most commercial search engines may turn up similar results, but the differences between them may be the source you were looking for. Checking results and comparing them between multiple search engines can help to find the best sources and find which search engine is most suited for you. (Carlson n.p.) Here are some common and not-so-common search engines you can use.

Image retrieved through Google Images and used through a creative Commons license.

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 Hi, my name is Jaquonte Sanford and I am a current freshmen at Danville Area Community College. I wanted to write this blog because this is something that I would of benefited from knowing. 

Hey, my name is Kaleb Smith. I'm 16 and a Dual Enrollment student here at DACC. I'm currently a Junior at Westville High School. I wanted to write this blog because this is something that I know can help a lot of people and is an issue that many people deal with when they are trying to research anything, not just school work.

Hi, my name is David Ames and I am a current freshman at Danville Area Community College. I wanted to write this blog post simply because it is something that people do not spend a lot of time on and it has a impact on the quality of the papers we write.