ENC 1101 Lecture 1 Knowing What to Expect

ENC 1101 – Lecture 1 Knowing What to Expect Reduces Anxiety Why? Why are you doing this to me ? ! ! !

From the Course Description on the Syllabus: Our primary focus will be the personal essay, the production of which will allow each student to develop an authentic and interesting writing “voice. ”

Why do I need an “interesting” and “authentic” writing voice?

Technology allows more people to be heard — in email, on blogs, with “citizen reviews” at Amazon or i. Tunes. So you need to stand out, especially in the word-rich digital world of the future.

So what is a personal essay, and how do I develop an authentic voice?

Use first-person pronouns in a personal essay. § § First person = I, me, my, mine, myself [singular] or we, us, ours, ourselves [plural]. Use personal experience to support what you say. Write about people you know, things you’ve experienced, places you’ve been. No one wants to hear about people or things in general—really! Personal essays are shared, so keep in mind that you are not the audience for your work —your reader is.

Yeah, but some of my high school teachers said never to write about myself — never to use I in an essay!

They were wrong !!! I’m an interesting person, so writing about me and my experiences should be fun!

Develop an authentic voice when you write. § § Realize that many paper topics will be vague and general. Your job is to transform those topics so that you write an interesting essay. Narrow the topic as much as possible. Good papers cover one thing well instead of many things in a superficial manner. Anticipate what your colleagues will write about or what your readers expect, and then choose a different approach.

Narrow a topic like this: Topic: A place that minors should avoid unsupervised 12 -year-olds malls My nephew Maurice The Florida Mall

An Award-Winning Thesis Statement The Florida Mall is the wrong place for my twelve-year-old nephew Maurice to spend time because he foolishly blows all of his allowance, hangs out with friends who shoplift, and eats too much junk at the food court.

Can you show me some samples?

Topic: A time in history that you would like to visit A student writes: I would love to return to November 1980 to stop the conception of my baby sister Tonya.

Topic: A time in history that you would like to visit A student writes: People should travel to the prehistoric era so that they can see the dinosaurs, learn to make fire, and see an unpolluted environment.

Topic: A time in history that you would like to visit A student writes: I would love to visit ancient Greece to meet Socrates, the 1770 s to see the American Revolution, and the 1960 s to hang with the hippies.

Topic: A good place to shop for bargains A student writes: I have found many free outfits in my brother’s bedroom closet—I just have to make sure that he’s left for work before the “shopping” begins!

Topic: A good place to shop for bargains A student writes: I save my family money by shopping at the Dollar Store, Kmart, and Wal. Mart.

Topic: A good place to shop for bargains A student writes: The restroom shelves at school are the best place to “purchase” textbooks. The selection is limited, but the prices are a steal!

Topic: A reason to live or not to live to 100 years old A student writes: Old people smell bad, look like shriveled prunes, and hold up traffic by driving too slowly. No one in their right mind would want to live to be 100.

Topic: A reason to live or not to live to 100 years old A student writes: Knowing that my spoiled, ungrateful son Kenny will have to change my soiled, stinky diaper is the most important reason I want to last until I am 100 years old.

Topic: A reason to live or not to live to 100 years old A student writes: If I live past 90, I worry about bad health. I don’t want my bones to break like twigs, my lungs to wheeze when I breathe, or my friends to scream so that my bad ears can hear what they are saying.

Topics for the Diagnostic Essay § Write a thesis statement [just one or two sentences] for each topic below: • A pressure that was difficult for me to handle • An event or person who challenged me to be someone I’m not • An expectation that was shattered by reality • A time when my lack of skill, experience, connections, or credentials kept me from something that I wanted to do. § See the syllabus for the format guidelines!

So how should I organize the essay?

Know your organization options. § To meet the 500 -word minimum requirement, many students write a five-paragraph essay. Less than 500 words = F. § The five-paragraph essays is a form, like a sonnet or a haiku, like a Big Mac or an Oreo cookie. § No professional writer uses the fiveparagraph format. § The format is, however, an appropriate pattern of organization for some college papers, including essays in Freshman Composition I.

The Five-Paragraph Essay Introduction Body paragraphs, one for each restriction in thesis statement Conclusion The most important sentence is thesis statement: Because of A, B, and C, X is so. All about Point A from thesis statement All about Point B from thesis statement All about Point C from thesis statement This paragraph must do more than restate thesis statement.

Whether you have five paragraphs — or seven or four — every essay has an introduction, a body, and a conclusion — or the beginning, the middle, and the end.

A good introduction does these things: § § Contains at least 5 to 8 sentences. Has a clear and correct thesis statement. [Read Writing Tip 1. ] Uses an appropriate strategy to interest the grader. [Read Writing Tip 2. ] Makes a good first impression. [Read Writing Tip 5. ]

Good body paragraphs do these things: § Address each of the restrictions from thesis statement. [Read Writing Tip 3. ] § Contain plenty of specific detail and concrete language. [Read Writing Tip 4. ] § Interest the reader with information that is fresh and unique. § Use personal experience rather than vague, boring generalizations.

Follow this formula for a foolproof conclusion: § Write a sentence that briefly restates the main idea of your essay. § Write a sentence that summarizes the first body paragraph. § Write a sentence that summarizes the next body paragraph—and then the one after it, etc. § Cleverly, humorously, or thoughtfully conclude the essay.

So how will you grade my essay?

Know the scoring method. § Essays will receive an objective grade calculated with a score sheet. § Every student will be evaluated in the same manner and in the same areas. § Always read the score sheet carefully and know what you must do for the maximum number of points!

What do you want to see in the essay so that it gets the highest possible grade?

Know the four areas that the score sheet will evaluate. § § Organization Coherence Support Sentence Correctness

To evaluate the organization, ask yourself these questions: § § § Do I understand the topic and know what to write? Have I kept the topic singular? Does my essay remain on topic?

To evaluate the coherence, ask yourself these questions: § § Have I used transitions between paragraphs to signal my intentions? Have I used transitions between sentences so that my ideas flow? Have I used correct transitions? Have I avoided using the same transition over and over in an annoying and redundant manner?

Transitions are like road signs that tell your reader where to turn. Ack ! ! ! Where do I turn? Where’s my exit? Which way do I go? Where the bejeebus am I ! ? !

To evaluate the support, ask yourself these questions: § § § Is my support appropriate for a general audience? Is my support specific? Have I used plenty of concrete language that puts specific pictures into my grader’s head? Is my support personal? Have I avoided writing about people and things in general?

To evaluate the sentence correctness, ask yourself these questions: § § Are there any major errors? • • Fragments Comma splices or fused sentences Subject-verb agreement problems Verb tense errors How many less serious errors are there? How often do they interfere with the points the essay is trying to make?

So how many sentence errors are allowed? Five? Twenty three? Fifty?

Having more than ten sentence errors in the first two paragraphs means the essay starts at a low C!

Like Olympic judges, the score sheet does not count all four areas equally.

Organization and coherence—easy things to control—are not as impressive as good support and correct sentences.

Let me make sure that I have heard all of this correctly!

Lecture 1 Review § § § Essays in ENC 1101 must demonstrate your unique writing voice. Narrowing the topic effectively and using first person are the most important steps to success. Writing a five-paragraph essay will satisfy your reader. More important than the number of paragraphs is that the essay has a strong introduction, body, and conclusion. Everyone’s essay will be evaluated with the same score sheet. These are the four areas of evaluation: organization, coherence, support, and sentence correctness.

I can do this, and I can prove it!

Evaluation, Part 1: The Diagnostic Essay § § § Using what you have learned from the handouts and lecture, write your diagnostic essay. Your goal is to demonstrate an authentic writing voice while you tell a story from your life. You must write a rough draft [in class] and a final draft [out of class]. Be sure to follow the format guidelines on your syllabus!

Evaluation, Part 2: The Quiz § § § This quiz will cover all handouts [including the syllabus], all reading assignments, and all of the information from this lecture. You can use anything that you have in your portfolio while you take the quiz. You must take the quiz on a scantron. You must use a #2 pencil with a good eraser. You are responsible for marking the scantron so that the computer correctly scores your work. There are NEVER make-up quizzes. If you miss the quiz, you will receive a zero. No excuses! No exceptions!

Always, always carefully read and follow directions. Your grade will suffer if you don’t.

The END.