Did you really learn all you needed to know in kindergarten?

Image from http://www.briarpress.org.

According to Mary Ann Smith of the Bay Area Writing Project, probably not. At least not when it comes to writing, that is.  You probably didn't get it all in high school either. If you're sitting in your first college composition class this fall, you may even feel like you learned very little.  As Smith points out, you aren't alone.  Many freshmen feel as if once they get to college, what they learn about writing in freshman comp. is in direct opposition to what they learned "good writing" is in high school. Smith asserts this is because many writing instructors present the practice and habits of good writing as a monolith when in reality it is nothing of the sort.  Read her full article from The Voice here:

 Are You Ready for College Writing? - National Writing Project

Happy Monday!

It happens to the best of us.  You read what you think is on the page, not what's actually on the page. Your eyes trick you into seeing what your brian...I mean what your brain knows should be there. On really good days, like Mondays tend to be, we don't catch the error until we're in the middle of pressing "send" or until someone else catches it for us. Here are some tips to help you edit more effectively.

1. Read your work aloud. Getting your ears involved in hearing what's on the page will help you find errors your eyes will miss.

2. Read backwards.  Start with the last sentence of your draft.  Begin with what you've indicated as the beginning of the sentence. Read through to the end punctuation. (Yes, out loud.) Make sure it says what you really intend.  This is especially helpful for writers who have problems with run-ons, comma splices, and sentence fragments. It is easier for your brain to see "I try to run every day. Because I like to eat more junk food than I should," as one sentence ("I try to run every day because I like to eat more junk food than I should.") if you are reading the "sentences" in the order in which you've placed them in the draft, even if you are reading aloud.  However, if you read them in reverse order and stop to consider each one individually before moving to the next, you are more likely to see that "Because I like to eat more junk food than I should," is not a complete thought; therefore, it's not a complete sentence.

3. Print and then read.  Always use a printed copy of your work to proofread.  Research shows that we are less likely to catch errors we read on a screen as we are on a printed page. (As a case in point, I did not do this as I was creating this post, and therefore, didn't catch the error in the previous sentence until after I'd already published the post once. It should say "screen than we are" not "screen as we are.") On screen editing is more effective for moving sentences or paragraphs, for resolving organizational issues or for otherwise revising content. For line by line editing, though, using the printed page is more effective.

4. Read with fresh eyes.  Reading your own work objectively (seeing what's there vs. what you anticipate should be there) is a hard skill.  If you are limited (either by practicality or the confines of the assignment) to being the sole proofreader of your work, try to allow yourself enough time to create your draft, organize and refine your content, take a break, and then come back to the draft-perhaps later in the week-to edit.  This will increase the chances of seeing what's really on the page and of catching more errors. You can even employ a modified version of this in a test situation.  If you're composing a short answer or essay answer, write down whatever you want the general content to be for that answer.  Move on to another question or another section of the test.  Then come back to the short answer or essay answer you created to edit it. 

5. Enlist a fresh pair of eyes.  Find someone else who will read your work before you submit it.  The goal here isn't to find someone willing to do the editing/corrections, but rather to someone who will read through your draft and mark possible problems.  For example, you could ask someone to underline or circle anything they think might be an error or to indicate what's confusing to them with a simple "?" in the margin.  This way the work of deciding what needs corrected and how to do that is still left to you, the author.

6. Use other resources available to you.  Yes, this is the part where I recommend you see a WR tutor for help.  However, there are also other resources you can also take advantage of. If you have reoccurring grammar problems, the WR lab has a program (Blue Pencil) that you can use to help strengthen your grammar skills.  You don't need an appointment.  You can simply come by the lab when the WR is open and use one of the computers.   Many college campuses offer other forms of tutoring.  Sometimes former instructors are willing to help or to refer you to someone who can.  Also, if your instructor uses turnitin.com in your class, the GradeMark function can help you with editing. Like other computer programs which assist with editing, it's not fool proof, but using it should at least indicate places you want to double check in your draft for errors.

(Image shared from Grammarly.com's Facebook page.)

Feeling Confused?

 

 

Don't let this be you.  Remember, tutors are available to help you with your writing assignments from 9:00 AM-3:00 PM Monday through Thursday and 9:00 AM through 12:00 PM Friday in CT 205.

Image shared from the Facebook page of NBC's Community.

Two Little Liars?

In this short TED-Ed presentation, Marlee Neel illustrates how using the adjectives "good" and "bad" in our writing make liars of us all.  What do you think?  Is she right? If you were on the jury, would you return a guilty verdict?

The Power of Simple Language

This brief video from TED-Ed illustrates why simple language can be more effective than trying too hard to sound "educated" in your writing.

From Grammarly.com.  A timely share given the recent discussion on deadlines.  Don't let this be you. Plan ahead, and if you need help with your writing, see a tutor in the Writers' Room.  Appointments are available from 9:00-3:00 Monday through Thursday and 9:00-12:00 on Friday.  Many students come in for help once they have a draft together, but tutors can also help you if you are having problems getting that first draft together or understanding what your instructor is asking you to do.

Not So Urban Musings, Part 2-Dead End Deadlines

Concerning assignment deadlines Brooks writes, “In high school and college, teachers stress no-negotiation due dates. If you don’t get your paper or assignment in on time, your grade suffers. While this lesson teaches responsibility, it isn’t as applicable to the working world. Deadlines are important, but for the most part they are also flexible. In the professional world, bosses generally prefer you take more time to create a higher-quality product versus rushing to meet an arbitrary deadline.”  Guess what?  I would prefer my students take more time to create a “quality product” as well. In fact, I was quite amazed at the number of my ENGL 101 students who on this past Monday hadn’t yet started their papers which are due Friday. I was amazed to the point of being practically dumb struck again today-two days later--at how many of them still hadn’t even chosen a general topic. I will not name names. Suffice to say, you know who you are, and so do I, even if I don’t call you out publicly on the fact or confront you about it in class.  I do not understand this. Students say they want to do well.  They comment to their peers that they are afraid of failing, and yet…a scant 48 hours before their draft is due, some have yet to even look over the materials they were supposed to have read to prepare to write the draft.  How do I know this, you ask?  Well, besides my prescient powers, I have the aid of the statistics function on Blogger which tells me that 12, yes 12, yes ONLY 12 people have viewed the sample writing piece (“Urban Musings, part 1”) I directed them to read.  That seems about right. Experience tells me that about 15% of the papers I receive on Friday will really be where they should be. And no, that’s not because of the stellar example I provided.  It’s because those same 12 students have been working solidly all along.  Reading, paying attention and taking notes in class, writing and redrafting. Reading the posted example was just one of the many steps they’ve taken toward crafting a solid paper and meeting the expected deadline.

 Additionally, instructors have their own set of “arbitrary” deadlines we have to meet as well.  Grades come due. Semesters end.  At some point we are all accountable to the constraints we have to work within.  In the ivory tower as well as in the world outside of it.  Instructors rarely set deadlines that are as arbitrary as Brooks would have her readers believe.  All of the instructors I know give a good deal of thought into structuring their classes.  It takes a good deal of consideration and planning when trying to figure out how you are going to set up a schedule that gives your students time to produce quality work yet get through everything you are supposed to in sixteen weeks, creates a manageable work load for them as well as you, and meets deadlines imposed upon us.

 She continues her line of argumentation against deadlines by stating, “It is important to approach every project in a professional and responsible manner and part of that is demonstrating respect for your boss’ timeline. However, if you know that you can produce a better piece with a little extra time, that is something you should bring up.” This seems to contradict what she says earlier about how deadlines in the real world are generally flexible.  This seems to say that if you generally have shown a pattern of acting responsibly in completing work on time, your boss or editor might grant you an extension if you talk to him or her in advance about the difficulty you are having.  I can’t speak for other instructors, but I know that in a similar circumstance in my classroom, I’d try to work with the student as well.  In fact, when we discuss logical fallacies, deadlines are often the example I use to illustrate the slippery slope fallacy.  I ask students how many of them have ever heard a teacher refuse to accept an assignment from a student (none of them of course, but their friends or classmates) because it was late and, the instructor says, if she accepts that student’s work, well then she’ll have to accept late work from everyone.  Hands fly into the air. Nothing more than the old slippery slope logic at work, I tell them.  Most of us who teach writing realize it isn’t an exact science.  We work in a community where we understand what it takes for some of our students to even show up each day is incredible. We know, mainly from our own past experiences, that life often fails to follow the most intricately laid out plans you have for it.  There are always exceptions to the rule, but they should be that.  Exceptions.  And they should be warranted.  I don’t think it’s a matter of instructors being heartless or even unyielding so much as what an instructor feels is a warrant for an extension and what a student feels should be one are sometimes two drastically different things, and like it or not, it’s the instructor who gets to decide if an extension is warranted, not the student.

 However, as Brooks admits, deadlines are there to teach responsibility.  Is teaching responsibility really part of my job?  There certainly are days when I wish I could say no.  I’m just there to teach content.  My job would be so much easier if all I had to do was teach content.  My students’ lives would be so much easier if all they had to worry about was learning content. I know that’s not true though. For either of us.  Brooks oversimplifies the issue, though.  Instructors don’t generally set deadlines for the purpose of teaching students responsibility.  However, students often learn lessons associated with responsibility as a result of them.  In the coming days, some of my ENGL 101 students will be learning those lessons. Some will learn (hopefully) not to put off drafting their papers until the night before because they don’t like the experience of having to sit all night in front of a computer instead of doing something more interesting on a Thursday night, or they don’t like the feeling of panic they experience when trying to locate an open lab to print their papers at the last minute because someone used all the ink in their printer at home. Others will come in ten or fifteen minutes late to class and learn that when I said the beginning of class was when I collected assignments, that’s what I meant and their assignment is late.  A few may wake up suddenly in the wee hours of Saturday morning, startled awake by the realization that they forgot to submit their drafts to turnitin.com. Still more will learn a completely different set of lessons.  They will learn that they could get themselves out of a corner they’d backed themselves into.  They’ll learn that even 48 hours ago they sat in class complaining about how hard the assignment was or how confused they were or (insert an appropriate internal struggle here), they survived.  Better yet, they triumphed. They overcame. Still others will learn the invaluable lesson that they belong here.  Many students already know they do.  Many, though, do not. There are likely to be doubters in both camps at this point in the semester.  That’s how it works.  Writing makes doubters of the best of us—but just as assuredly it makes believers of us as well.  Writing teaches us as much about ourselves as it does the world around us. College is often that way, too, and we learn more than we sign up for.  Ironically, so is the real world which Brooks would have you believe is so foreign to your college experience.

If you still need a little more convincing that deadlines matter in the real world, here are some articles you might want to check out about failing to meet deadlines and the ensuing repercussions:

Four Fired-Ohio Elections Chief Misses Deadline 
350 New Jersey School board Members forced to Resign after Failing to Meet Background Check Deadline 
County Circuit Clerk Ordered to Pay 9.5K to Reimburse Law Firm when She Fails to Meet Filing Deadline