In the first half of today’s class, we will review the syllabus questions that you answered on Monday and address any other questions you have about the course. In the second half of the period, we will discuss the reflections that you began composing, and you will have an opportunity to continue working on them.

When I return your reflections in class, they will include a copy of the notes on diction, mechanics, grammar, and style that are included in the bulleted list below.

Summary

The reflection that you began on Monday required you to begin with a one-paragraph summary. As I noted in the directions, summaries are by nature objective. If you expressed your opinion about your high school English courses, the course readings, or the writing assignments, you shifted from summary to commentary or analysis.

If you had time to begin a second paragraph, that is where your commentary or analysis should have entered your writing. There you had the opportunity to address such questions as these:

• Were those recent courses similar to or different from your previous English classes? How?
• Did the courses contribute to your development as a writer, as an analytical reader, as both, or as neither?
• How did those courses shape your attitude towards writing and/or reading?
• How do you anticipate that English 1103 may be similar to or different from those courses?

Whenever you are faced with a writing assignment, be sure you understand the requirements. If the assignment calls for a summary to proceed your own take–your commentary or analysis–beginning with your opinions will undermine your credibility. That misstep will tell the reader that you lack rhetorical awareness.

Diction, Mechanics, Grammar, and Style

• &: Do not use an ampersand (&) in place of the word and in formal writing.
• Abbreviations should often be avoided in formal writing. Do not write vocab for vocabulary. On first reference, spell out Advanced Placement in the name of a course. In subsequent references, AP is acceptable.
• A lot: Don’t use a lot a lot. There are a lot of better ways to express that idea, such as many, often, considerable, etc. If you use a lot in your writing, I will mark it with a d, which denotes diction or word choice.
• Compound modifiers are linked with a hyphen. Write twelve-page paper, not twelve page paper.
• Do: What specifically did you do? (There is almost always a stronger verb than do.) Drafted, revised, edited, reviewed, studied, and memorized are all verbs that denote a particular action. Use action verbs whenever possible.
• English and the names of other languages are always capitalized. If you write English with a lower-case e, I will underscore the letter with three vertical lines. Those three lines are the proofreader’s mark that denotes the need for a capital letter.
• Like and such as: Such as is used for specific examples. Like is used to indicate a similarity to or make a comparison. Such as introduces true members of a group; like shows resemblance.
• Modifiers: Place modifiers and modifying phrases as close as possible to the words they are meant to describe. Consider this sentence: As a fifteen-year-old, my English teacher inspired my interest in poetry. In it, the person who is fifteen is the teacher, which makes no sense. (Unless he or she was a child prodigy.) The sentence should be revised to read something like this: As a fifteen-year-old, I was inspired by my English teacher to develop my interest poetry.
• Numbers that can be expressed as one or two words are written as words, not figures, in MLA style, which is the style used in English courses as well as some other courses in the humanities. Write twenty-five, not 25.
• Paragraphs: Business writing calls for block paragraphs, but English 1103 and many of your other classes will require you to indent the first lines of each paragraph five spaces or one-half inch.
• Passive voice should often be avoided in formal writing. The subject should perform the action. Write, we read several nineteenth-century novels, not several nineteenth-century novels were read.
• Separate: an easy way to remember the spelling of this often-misspelled word is to tell yourself, there’s a rat in separate.
• That/Who: The relative pronoun who, not that, refers to people. (That refers to things.) Do not write He is the teacher that taught me how to develop my writing. Instead, write He is the teacher who taught me how to develop my writing.
• That/This: The relative pronoun this refers to something at hand or occurring now. That class is the one you’re writing about in your reflection. This class is English 1103.
• Then/Than: Than is used in comparisons; then refers to a point in time.
• Titles: In MLA style, the titles of book-length works are italicized. If you are writing longhand, the titles of book-length works are underlined. The titles of shorter works—such as essays, short stories, and poems—are enclosed in quotation marks.
• Whether/If: Whether introduces alternatives or a choice. If introduces a condition. Write, I don’t know whether my sophomore or junior English class was worse, and, If my pen runs out of ink, I will write in pencil instead.

Next Up

Wordplay Day! If you haven’t played Scrabble before, this short video tutorial will provide you with a helpful overview of the game. Also, I will be offering a brief introduction to the game at the beginning Friday’s of class and during gameplay I will answer your questions, except these: (1) Is this a word? and (2) Is this a playable word? For the answers to those questions, you must rely on your own knowledge and that of your teammate.

For helpful tips, visit the Merriam-Webster Scrabble Word Finder, and review the blog posts devoted to Scrabble, beginning with tomorrow’s.

Before tomorrow’s class, be sure to complete the following tasks.

Review yesterday’s blog post as well as the syllabus. If you added the class after our first meeting on Monday, you can download the syllabus from Blackboard. In your journal, jot down any questions you have about the course.

Also, if you added the class after our first meeting on Monday, begin composing a reflection focusing on your most recent experiences in literature and/or composition courses. Begin your essay with a one-paragraph summary. Keep in mind that summaries are by nature objective. Do not comment on the courses, simply offer an overview of them.

Follow those paragraphs with your observations on the courses. (Here is where your personal observations enter the writing.) Points to address include the following:

• Were the courses similar to or different from your previous English classes? How?
• Did the courses contribute to your development as a writer, an analytical reader, both, or neither?
• How did those courses shape your attitude towards writing and/or reading?
• How do you anticipate that English 1103 may be similar to or different from those courses?

If you haven’t purchased or rented it already, order the textbook, the paperback edition of Exhalation by Ted Chang. You are required to have a physical copy of Chiang’s book, not the ebook, because your screen time will be limited in class. Your first reading assignment in the textbook is scheduled for October 19, which will give you ample time to order and receive your copy before you are required to have it in class.

Bring your journal to class along with your other required materials, which are listed in the syllabus and pictured in yesterday’s post.

Also, as soon as possible, create a free WordPress blog at wordpress.com, and email the URL to me so that I can link your blog to the class page.

Because writing longhand and limiting screen time are essential components of the class, I am including below some notes that illustrate why those practices, which may seem quaint, are vital to our work.

Writing Longhand

One practical reason for writing longhand: What we mark through remains on the page. Sometimes what we cross out can be useful later on, elsewhere in our writing. More importantly, research in cognitive neuroscience indicates that writing longhand has these benefits:

• We remember more when we write notes by hand.
• Writing cursive activates areas of the brain that remain dormant when we type.

Simply put, writing longhand sharpens our minds in ways that typing doesn’t.

Limiting Screen Time

When we use our phones and laptops, it’s difficult for us to give our undivided attention to one endeavor, but often that singular focus is critical.

When we type on our phones, we often aim to convey as much as we can with as few characters as possible. Texting and emailing–both of which now feature predictive text–do not foster the vital skills of developing our writing and producing original thought.

Limiting our screen time not only helps us improve our writing skills, it can also benefit our overall well-being.

• The blue light of screens disrupts our circadian rhythms more than other light does, making it harder for us to sleep.
• Psychological studies demonstrate a correlation between screen time and both anxiety and depression.

The research cited in the links that I’ve included above isn’t definitive, but it makes a strong case for the value of limiting our screen time and putting pen to paper. I encourage you to continue these practices after the semester ends.

Next Up

On Wednesday, we will review the syllabus question questions that you answered in class, and I will return the reflective writing that you began on Monday.