This morning in class, after your Scrabble debriefing, you and two or three of your classmates will discuss your individual notes on “Scrabble is a Lousy Game” and “The Depths of Scrabble,” then collaboratively compose answers to a series of questions about the final essay and the annotated bibliography.
Among the questions to consider are these: How and where might the writer of “The Depths of Scrabble” have incorporated additional points from the opinion piece, “Scrabble is a Lousy Game,” into his essay or his commentaries in his bibliography?
Tomorrow’s blog post will serve as a follow-up to our examination of “The Depths of Scrabble” and provide more details about its content and form.
Next Up
On Wednesday, you will have the class period to devote to additional research and writing for your final essay and annotated bibliography, and at the end of class, you will submit a summary of the work that you completed.
Also, I will distribute a checklist for you to refer to as you finalize your revisions over the next week.
In class on Monday, I noted that the writer of “The King of Storytelling” mistakenly refers to Marc Hye-Knudsen’s article “How Stephen King Writes and Why” as his primary source. If you are researching an author, such as Stephen King, your primary sources are pieces of writing composed by that author–in King’s case, short stories and novels–as well as published interviews with the author. If King is the subject of your final essay and annotated bibliography, your primary source–or at least one of your primary sources–is “Strawberry Spring.” Hye-Knudsen’s article “How Stephen King Writes and Why,” other critical essays devoted to King’s writing, and reviews of his fiction are secondary sources.
If you are researching blogging in the classroom, Matt Richtel‘s New York Times article “Blogs vs. Term Papers” would be a primary resource because it is a firsthand report on the practices of the platform’s supporters and detractors in higher education.
For research on writing longhand, the Atlantic article “To Remember a Lecture Better, Take Notes by Hand” serves as a secondary source because its author, Robinson Meyer, reports on the research by Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer published in the journal Psychological Science.
Similarly, if you are researching smartphone use, “A Break from Your Smartphone. . .” serves as a secondary source because its author, Allison Aubrey, reports on the research published in PNAS NEXUS, a publication of the National Academy of Science.
If the subject of your research is writing longhand or smartphone use, you are welcome to include both the primary source and the secondary sources listed above as two of your four print sources.
If you are researching limiting screen time beyond smartphone use, Maryanne Wolf’s “Skim Reading is the New Normal . . .” serves as your starting place. Wolf’s article is a hybrid of sorts; it’s an opinion piece that serves as a secondary source for research conducted by educators and researchers in psychology and humanities, including Anne Mangen and Ziming Liu.
The interview that you conducted with your classmate is a primary source because it is the interviewee’s firsthand account of his or her experience with the subject that serves as your focus.
Theoretical Frameworks
As part of the conclusion of your final essay, you will identify a theoretical framework that would guide your research if you chose to develop your final essay and annotated bibliography into a larger project for an upper-level course. To offer examples of how to apply those frameworks to your subjects, I created the table below and distributed copies in class.
The table is by no means comprehensive, but it demonstrates how your essays and annotated bibliographies can develop into larger projects for a variety of disciplines. I did not include “Strawberry Spring” in the table, but I asked you in class what theoretical frameworks you might apply to a research project on King’s fiction. A literary framework is an obvious choice–you could analyze one or more of the narrative’s elements–but three others to consider are these:
History: a study that examines “Strawberry Spring” as commentary on the Vietnam War.
Psychology: a study that explores King’s depiction of his narrator as a prototypical serial killer.
Business: a study that explores King’s active role in the marketing of his fiction and the ways that his authorpreneurship can serve as a model for writers and entrepreneurs in other fields.
Today in class you will use the HPU Libraries website and Google Scholar to locate, read, and annotate additional sources for your final essay and annotated bibliography. The work that you submit at the end of class today should include at least one handwritten MLA-style annotated bibliographic entry. The sample entry that I composed as a model for you appears below.
Cardell, Kylie, and Victoria Kuttainen. “The Ethics of Laughter: David Sedaris and Humour Memoir.” Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal, vol. 45, no. 3, 2012, pp. 99-114. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44030697.
“The Ethics of Laughter: David Sedaris and Humour Memoir” explores the implications of the blending of truth and artifice in David Sedaris’s writing. In the words of the authors, Sedaris’s “memoirs have attracted controversy for their blurring (or, as we argue, contesting) of boundaries between fiction and non-fiction” (Cardell and Kuttainen 100). While some critics, such as journalist Alex Heard, believe that “Sedaris exaggerates too much for a writer using the non-fiction label” (qtd. in Cardell and Kuttainen 103), Cardell and Kuttainen assert that Sedaris’s use of hyperbole, a staple of his prose style, is ethical in the context of the humor memoir.
Cardell’s and Kuttainen’s essay would serve as a useful source for a study of Sedaris’s mingling of the real and what he refers to as the “realish” in his writing (qtd. in Cardell and Kuttainen 99). It could also play a significant role as a source for a comparative study of the writing of Sedaris and other memoirists who blur the line between fiction and nonfiction.
Kylie Cardell, Ph.D., author of Dear World: Contemporary Uses of Autobiography, is Associate Professor of Humanities at Flinders University. Her co-author, Victoria Kuttainen, Ph.D., author of Unsettling Stories and The Transported Imagination, is Associate Professor of Art and Creative Media at James Cook University.
Note that the blog format of the annotated bibliographic entry above is different from MLA format, which features paragraph indentations and double spacing.
The bibliographic entry above and the three paragraphs that follow total 241 words. The minimum word count for the entire assignment (essay and bibliography together) is 1,800 words.
If you compose five annotations of the length of the one above, you will be well on your way to completing your 1,800-word minimum, and your bibliography may be longer than your essay.
Next Up
Wordplay Day! To up your game and increase your word power, revisit the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website, and review the blog posts devoted to Scrabble tips.
Yesterday’s class focused on a review of the sample student essay and annotated bibliography “The King of Storytelling,” an exercise that should continue to serve as a guide for you as you develop and revise your own essay and bibliography.
The notes that follow address points of content and form, some that we addressed in class, others that we didn’t. As you continue your own research and writing, revisit these notes.
Content
The essay’s introduction does fulfill its basic requirements: It addresses the writer’s purpose for compiling it, clarifies what drives the research and what interests the writer in the subject, and also states what questions the writer seeks to answer.
The body paragraphs of the essay do include a minimum of two quotations from two of the five sources; however, the student does not mention all of the sources in the body pargraphs. In the introduction, he lists the five sources, but two of them are simply referred to as “two other articles” (par 1).
The student misses the opportunity to draw on lines from “Strawberry Spring” as examples of the writing strategies that King recommends. In the third and fourth paragraphs, the student mentions King’s advice to avoid using adverbs that end in ly and to avoid passive voice but offers examples of neither.
Consider again the examples that I projected on the screen:
“‘He got another one,'” someone said to me, his face pallid with excitement” (273).
“He got another one,” someone said excitedly.
The first sentence, which is King’s, is more effective than the second one because the ly-ending adverb “excitedly,” which modifies the verb “said,” contributes virtually nothing to the story or to the reader’s experience of it. “Excitedly” is abstract; it isn’t something readers can see. They can, however, see a “face pallid with excitement” (273), an image that indicates that the speaker’s heightened state of emotion isn’t all together pleasant since “pallid” is a paleness associated with illness.
Springheel Jack . . . “I saw those two words in the paper this morning” (269).
Springheel Jack . . . Those two words in the paper this morning were seen.
Springheel Jack . . . Those two words in the paper this morning were seen by me.
The first sentence, which is King’s, is more effective than the second and third ones because it is written in active voice. Because the narrator is performing the action in the sentence, seeing the words in the paper, readers are looking over his shoulder, seeing the news story for themeslves. In the second sentence, no one performs the action. In the third, the narrator is present but is the recipient of the action. Both the second and the third sentences distance the reader from the narrator, making them passive observers of a passive narrator.
Including such examples would enable the student to enhance his essay in several ways: (1) he would demonstrate his understanding of active voice, passive voice, and ineffectual ly-ending adverbs, (2) he would illustrate how King draws on his own writing advice in his fiction, and (3) he would synthesize information from a secondary source (Marc Hye-Knudsen’s “How Stephen King Writes and Why”) with information from a primary one (Stephen King’s “Strawberry Spring”).
Such enhancements are always the products of revision. Only after rereading your sources and annotating them can you begin to see how they complement one another.
Form
The parenthetical citations include only the author’s last name, and in some cases only part of the last name. The only quotation that should not be followed by a parenthetical citation is the one from the student’s interview with his classmate.
The bibliographic information for two of the three scholarly sources is incomplete and the entries are marred by errors of mechanics and style.
Wherever the parenthetical citation (Knudsen) appears, the student should have replaced it with a (Hye-Knudsen 8) or (Hye-Knudsen, par. 12), depending on whether the source is paginated. Additionally, if the words are actually Stephen King’s, the student should attribute those words to him with a parenthetical citation for an indirect quotation: (King qtd. in Hye-Knudsen 8) or (King qtd. in Hye-Knudsen, par. 12).
Neither the bibliographic entry for Brown’s article or Hye-Knudsen’s includes the title of the journal where the article was published. The absence of the titles coupled with the absence of page or paragraph numbers in the parenthetical citations may lead readers to wonder whether the student actually accessed and read the articles or simply read abstracts or excerpts. More troubling than the omission of the journal names are the references to Brown’s short article as a book. No careful examination of a text would lead the reader to conclude that it’s a full-length book if it’s only a few pages long.
Next Up
Tomorrow you will have the class period to continue your research and writing. Although you will be working on your laptops and tablets, you will still be required to submit a handwritten exercise at the end of the class period. It will consist of a bibliographic entry for a source that is not one of the articles distributed in class; in other words, one that you have located on your own. To ensure that you have ample time to complete your bibliographic entry–including the publication information, the summary, the commentary, and the author’s credentials–give yourself a head start by completing part of the entry before Wednesday.
Some of you have probably located an additional source on your own and drafted a bibliographic entry for it. If that’s the case, you will simply have to transcribe it for tomorrow’s exercise, which means that you will be able to devote class time to locating, reading, and/or taking notes on additional sources.
This morning in class, after your Scrabble debriefing, you and two or three of your classmates will discuss your individual notes of “The King of Storytelling,” then collaboratively compose a two-paragraph response that addresses at least two specific details in the project: one in the essay and a second in the annotated bibliography.
You are not required to quote “The King of Storytelling,” but your response should offer concrete particulars. You should not write in general terms about the project’s form or content.
As you review the essay and bibliography, keep in mind two crucial differences between “The King of Storytelling,” written in 2024, and your own project in progress: (1) the assignment did not require students to address a larger project that might develop from it and what would serve as its theoretical framework, and (2) the assignment required annotations of two pargraphs rather than three. In the earlier version of the assignment, the second paragraph consisted of both the commentary and the author’s credentials.
Tomorrow’s blog post will serve as a follow-up to our examination of “The King of Storytelling” and provide more details about its content and form.
Next Up
At the beginning of class on Wednesday, we will discuss locating sources and will review a model annotated bibliography entry. After that, you will have the remainder of the class period to work on an annotation of your own
Tomorrow morning, before you begin work on your final essay and annotated bibliography, we will revisit Stephen King‘s “Strawberry Spring” and discuss the answers to your collaborative exercise on the story.
For that exercise, I asked you to determine whether you could identify any details that indicate why the narrator may have murdered any of his victims. Although there is no indication that the narrator knew Gale Cermann, Adelle Parkins, or Marsha Curran, he did know Ann Bray, which he reveals after he tells the readers that she was editor of the school newspaper: “In the hot, fierce bubblings of my freshman youth I had submitted a column idea to the paper and asked for a date–turned down on both counts” (275).
I also asked you to identify words and phrases that illustrate how the story is not only a horror story but also a commentary on war, the Vietnam War in particular, and the Vietnam era. I offered these examples as models:
King’s description of the snow sculpture “caricature of Lyndon Johnson” (269) signifies the derisive responses to the President’s Vietnam War policy.
The description of the snow sculpture “caricature of Lyndon Johnson” (King 269) signifies the derisive responses to the President’s Vietnam War policy.
Some of the words and phrases you may have identified include these:
In addition to those questions on your assignment sheet, I asked you to try to identify the two literary allusions in King’s story. The first is an allusion to J.R.R. Tolkein‘s The Lord of the Rings trilogy: “You half expected to see Gollum or Frodo or Sam go hurrying past” (269). The second is an allusion to a poem by Carl Sandburg, titled–perhaps unsurprisingly–“The Fog” (272).
Noteworthy Blog Images and Embedded Links
Kudos to the twelve students who took the initiative to respond to Thursday’s blog post and detail their selections for the most effective images and embedded links in the analyses. For their efforts, those students, whose names are listed below, have been credited with a bonus assignment.
The image featured above, from Reese Danback’s post of her analysis, “Seventy-Four Classroom Pets Later,” does not include a page of her handwritten draft or her journal notes. However, the act of writing the names of the tombstone can be construed as part of her writing process–and it may have inspired her to craft a title that emphasizes the multitude of deaths that Edgar and his students experience.
Embedded Links
These students’ embedded links in their analysis posts were mentioned by their peers as particularly effective choices:
When you add a link to your blog post, be sure to embed it in a word that is part of the sentence; otherwise, the link name will create a faulty line of prose.
The link in Chloe Freeman’s analysis, “Fingers to Freedom,” a page devoted to Helen Keller on the website for the eye research foundation named for her, is a model I recommend. The link is embedded in Keller’s name in its first appearance in the analysis.
Next Up
At the beginning of tomorrow’s class, we will continue our discussion of “Strawberry Spring.” Afterward, you will have the remainder of the period to devote to your preliminary work for your final essay and annotated bibliography. Details TBA.
Today in class we will read Stephen King‘s short story “Strawberry Spring,” which was published in Ubris magazine in 1968 and included in King’s first short story collection, Night Shift (1978).
For the collaborative exercise that you will complete after we read the story, I will ask you to determine whether you can identify any details that indicate why the narrator may have murdered any of his victims. Although there is no indication that the narrator knew Gale Cerman, Adelle Parkins, or Marsha Curran, he did know Ann Bray.
I will also ask you to identify words and phrases that illustrate how the story is not only a horror story but also a commentary on war, the Vietnam War in particular, and the Vietnam era.
Lastly, I will ask you to try to identify the two literary allusions in King’s story. We will address these questions near the end of class today or at the beginning of class on Wednesday, and I will post the answers on my blog.
Next Up
We will review “Strawberry Spring” at the beginning of Wednesday’s class, and you will have the remainder of the period to begin your initial work for your final essay and annotated bibliography.
At the beginning of class tomorrow, I will collect your blog response assignments. If you were absent when I distributed copies or you have misplaced yours, refer to the directions below.
Directions
Go to the class blog page, and click on the link for the blog of the classmate whose name precedes yours on the roster. If you are first on the list, go to the blog of the student whose name is last on the list.
If the student’s blog is not accessible, choose another student’s analysis for your response.
Read the classmate’s analysis and compose a response (75 words, minimum) that addresses one or more of these elements: the title, the thesis, the support for the writer’s claims, the conclusion, the image documenting part of the writing process away from the screen, the embedded link to a relevant website.
Does the blog post include an image that documents part of the blogger’s writing process away from the screen? (yes or no)
Does the post include a relevant embedded link? (yes or no)
Bonus Assignment
Consider how the images and embedded links included on your blog enhance your posts; the pictures offer readers a glimpse of the writing process that isn’t evident from the typed words on the screen, and the embedded links provide readers with valuable additional information about your subject. View your classmates’ posts of their analyses, and carefully examine the images and the pages they have linked to their posts.
Directions
Determine which of the images and which of the embedded links are most effective. Consider what draws your attention to the picture. Does it include anything in addition to the required element (a portion of the blogger’s handwritten prose)? If so, what is that additonal element? To determine your choice for the most effective embedded link, ask yourself what further information it offers about the subject of the analysis–the essay, article excerpt, chapter, or chapter excerpt–or the author of the text. You are welcome to choose among the posts of analyses by students in both sections eight and eighteen.
Compose a comment of two complete sentences or more that includes (1) the titles of the analyses enclosed in quotation marks, (2) the first and last names of the students, and (3) a brief explanation of the image’s and embedded link’s effectiveness.
Post your comment as a reply to this blog entry no later than 9 a.m. Monday, October 27. (To post your comment, click on the title, and scroll down to the bottom of the page. You will then see the image of an airmail envelope with a leave comment option.)
I will approve your responses (make your comments visible) after the 9 a.m. deadline on Monday. Commenters will earn a bonus assignment credit in the course work/short assignments category.
This morning in the first half of class, you will deliver your group presentations, and in the second half, you will compose reflections. Directions for your reflections are included below.
Directions
Compose a short piece of writing (two paragraphs, minimum) that reflects on your individual preparation and delivery of your portion of the presentation and your group’s presentation overall. Elements to address include the following:
The roles of your reading and writing: How did the processes of rereading the text and writing and rewriting your remarks contribute to the effectiveness of your delivery?
The introduction of your group members and opening remarks
The examination of points in the article or textbook
The conclusion
Poise, eye contact, and avoidance of filler words
After you complete your reflection on your group’s presentation, compose an additional paragraph that addresses a presentation by one of the other groups. Choose the one that stands out the most to you. What element or elements of that presentation made it particularly effective (or not) and why?
As you continue to prepare for your presentation, be mindful of the valuable roles that reading and writing play in the process. Although the final product is your group’s three-to-four-minute oral presentation, your work began with reading and writing: reading the article or textbook sections that serve as your subject, and writing the plan that you composed in class yesterday.
Have you read more than once the article or textbook sections that serve as your subject? If not, turn back to the text itself at least two more times before Wednesday. Chances are, on a second or third reading, you will notice details you didn’t notice before, ones that you may want to add to your presentation.
In addition to recording key words on your notecard, write out your portion of the presentation in your journal. Though you will not be permitted to have your journal in hand during your presentation, the act of writing down your remarks and rewriting them will help you commit them to memory.
As you practice delivering your presentation, be sure to limit the time that you look down at your notecard and your copy of the reading. Your ability to limit those glances will be greater if you spend ample time rereading the text and writing and reviewing your remarks in your journal.
Next Up
In class tomorrow, you will deliver your group presentations. Afterward, in the second half of class, you will compose a short essay that reflects on both your own presentation and one by another group.
Jane Lucas 