finishing the course

Last week!!! Yippy! Some things to help you through:
1. I will getting grading done throughout this week. You will not have an opportunity to revise and resubmit wp#3.
2. You may submit all late work (expect drafts and peer reviews) through midnight this Saturday, August 4th. However, there are no "the technology blitz" excuses for this Saturday. If your computer crashes and you don't get work in by Saturday, too bad. Therefore, I highly suggest you get work submitted earlier.
3. I have emailed you all (gmail accounts) an extra credit opportunity.
4. I will be leaving town on Thursday evening and not getting back until Sunday afternoon. I will NOT be checking email during that time. If you have questions, ask before Thursday.

Feel free to email with any questions. I look forward to reading your wp#3 submissions.

some announcements

I'm grading everything that has been submitted to date. I will be done with everyone by the end of today. Be sure to check your email inboxes as well as your gradesheets. Before checking your gradesheets, consider the following:

1. Use firefox (firefox.com). Don't use IE, its not secure!
2. Once you are committed to using Firefox, get the firefox "better gmail" addon (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4866). This will make sure you always log into gmail (and therefore Google docs) in the "https" secure mode. You really want to do this so I can continue to share your gradesheets with you in a secure environment.

Many of you may decide you want to revise and resubmit wp#1 or wp#2. To do so, you must:

1. submit a cover sheet explaining what you changed and why (you need to do more than what I suggested!)
2. email both the new document and the cover sheet to me by midnight August 2nd at the latest!

To get full credit on peer reviews you really need to engage your classmate's drafts. Don't just give copyediting feedback. Be sure to address all the questions I gave you in the peer review prompt.

For the final paper make sure you are distinguishing between reasons and evidence. If you can't specifically identify what is a reason in your argument, and what is a piece of evidence that supports your reason, you need to figure it out...fast! And remember, usually people provide multiple pieces of evidence per reason!

Finally, please, please, please make sure that you spend some time working on the integration of your quotes, as well as other sources, into your papers. With quotes you should have, as part of the same sentence, an introduction or conclusion that connects to what you are saying in the surrounding text. Check out:

• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/563/01/

• http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/researchsources/usingsources/index.cfm

drafts and peer review

Ok folks, think this through. For me to see the peer reviews, you have to share your drafts with your classmates and me. For me to grade the peer reviews, you can't change your drafts after your classmates comment on them. If you want to work on the same document, open it, go to "file" in the upper left hand corner and select the "copy" option. Don't go erasing your classmate's comments...they won't get credit for peer review.

Hopefully this all makes sense!

drafts & peer reviews

Folks, the vast majority of this work you can be a day or two late on; however, there are two assignments you can NOT be late on:
1. drafts
2. peer reviews

Your classmates need these materials to be about to do their work; therefore, you can't post a draft or a peer review late. I will allow you to earn credit for posting your drafts of wp#1 if you get them up by midnight, tonight (7/10). After this...no late credit on drafts or peer reviews!

Connecting the Course Outcomes in Your Reflections

I would also like everyone to refocus their various reflection assignments a bit more. Take a moment and read the assignment prompt for writing project #4. Hopefully you’ll now realize that all the reflection assignments are homework that will help build your draft for wp#4. However, for the reflection assignments to be useful towards wp#4, you all need to spend a little bit more time on them. Specially, you need to look at the course competencies/outcomes (see below), and systematically think about how the work you read/did for that reflection helps you to gain more knowledge the competencies/outcomes. For example, generically any peer review session should help you gain skills for outcome #7 (using feedback). However, to really demonstrate that you’ve learned that skill, you will want to be able to point to a specific piece of feedback and a specific piece of writing you revised based on that feedback. Use the reflections to help track those details of learning. Refer to specific outcomes and specific pieces of reading/work that demonstrate your learning skills related to that outcome.

ENG102: Course Competencies/Outcomes

1. Write for specific rhetorical contexts, including circumstance, purpose, topic, audience and writer, as well as the writing’s ethical, political, and cultural implications.

2. Organize writing to support a central idea through unity, coherence and logical development appropriate to a specific writing context.

3. Use appropriate conventions in writing, including consistent voice, tone, diction, grammar, and mechanics.

4. Find, evaluate, select, and synthesize both online and print sources that examine a topic from multiple perspectives.

5. Integrate sources through summarizing, paraphrasing, and quotation from sources to develop and support one’s own ideas.

6. Identify, select and use an appropriate documentation style to maintain academic integrity.

7. Use feedback obtained through peer review, instructor comments, and/or other sources to revise writing.

8. Assess one’s own writing strengths and identify strategies for improvement through instructor conference, portfolio review, written evaluation, and/or other methods.

9. Generate, format, and edit writing using appropriate technologies.

APA Citations

I want to spend a little time “chatting” about APA full bibliographic citations. First, some common mistakes people make:

1. Author’s first names are not included, just first initials.
2. If you can not find an author for your resource, consider the following:
   
1. Really search for the author. On websites the author’s name may be listed on a different page. Take some time and really search.
2. Please realize that government agencies, organizations, and corporations can be authors. Check out: http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c09_s2.html#3
3. And if you really can’t find an author, do not start your citation with the date. Check out: http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c09_s2.html#4
3. The titles of the works do not have every word capitalized. Basically you should only be capitalizing the first word, proper nouns, and if there is a colon/subtitle, the first word of the subtitle.
4. Titles of major works (books, films, television shows, not episodes, etc.) and periodicals (magazines, newspapers, and journals) are italicized. Specific articles, chapters, television episodes titles are not italicized.
5. Do not include periods at the end of a full bibliographic citation with a URL.
6. If your source is from a website, provide the full URL (website address). If it is from a database, only give the database name. If it is from a very large website with a good search engine, like a newspaper website, provide the general URL. See the detailed examples below.

Tawnee is a college student in New York City. She is taking a biology class that has gotten her to think a lot about sustainability. On December 10, 2006, while sitting at the local coffee shop, she picked up The New York Times and read an article about eco-tourism and being carbon neutral. If she were to write a full bibliographic citation about that article, based on the one she read in the physical newspaper, it would look like:

Higgins, M. (2006, December 10). Carbon neutral: Raising the ante on eco-tourism. The New York Times, section 5, p. 12.

Once Tawnee started the spring semester, she email a couple of her friends about the article. She just gave them the name of the article, the name of the author, and that it was in a December issue of The New York Times.

Sarah, one of Tawnee’s friends looked for it at The New York Times website. Sarah’s full bibliographic citations would look like:

Higgins, M. (2006, December 10). Carbon neutral: Raising the ante on eco-tourism. The New York Times. Retrieved February 13, 2006, from http://www.nytimes.com/

Notice that Tawnee does not have the section and page number; this is because that information is not provided on the website. However, if the section and page number had been provided, she should include it in the citation as well. (See: http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c09_s2.html#E).

Teresa, another of Tawnee’s friends, looked in one of her library’s databases for the article. Her citation would look like:

Higgins, M. (2006, December 10). Carbon neutral: Raising the ante on eco-tourism. The New York Times, section 5, p. 12. Retrieved February 13, 2006, from LexisNexis.

Notice, Teresa did include the original print page numbers because that information was included with the electronic copy in LexisNexis. If LexisNexis tracked every individual source in its database with a code, Teresa would have needed to include that code as well (see: http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c09_s2.html#20).

Folks, any citation style is complex. Basically, you need to leave yourself enough time to double, and triple check. Always feel free to ask your instructor for help.

PLEASE NOTE...THE CITATIONS ABOVE ARE NOT INDENTED AS THEY SHOULD BE (IT CAN BE VERY DIFFICULT TO DO IN A WEB ENVIRONMENT). IN APA, ALL BUT THE FIRST LINE SHOULD BE INDENTED.

Catch up!

Folks, to be honest. I don't really expect you all to be caught up (after having figured out all the tech, getting the book, etc.) until Monday. This doesn't mean leave everything to do until Monday...it just means you have time to get confused, play around, and figure things out. So...if you missed anything in deadlines #1-3...do get them caught up and submitted prior to deadline #4.
Shelley

SS#2 after the first deadline

A good chunk of you got your first round of stuff to me. With those who got me materials, I shared a google doc with you that includes emails, delicious urls, and blog urls. As more people send me stuff, I'll update that list.

For those of you who finished deadline #1 (or almost did, don't forget about HW#1), get movin on deadline #2.

For those of you who didn't do deadline #1...you better get going folks! It is almost impossible to get caught up in a 5 week course!

I'm out of town, so don't call my office phone! Email me with any questions/concerns. And with the technologies, don't be afraid to spend some time playing and/or hit the "help" links!

Starting Summer Session 2

Dear MCC ENG102 Sections for Second Summer Session,

Welcome to ENG102 Online! I look forward to getting to know you over the next five weeks. This is a writing intensive course with specific deadlines you will have to meet. I suggest you get started as soon as possible.

• The course website is a blog at Blogger.com : http://mcc-eng102-sm07.blogspot.com/
• The course handbook/syllabus is located at : http://www.box.net/shared/q077gdx71e
• The due dates for each deadline are on the right hand side of the course Blog page.

You will be responsible for obtain the following materials (there are more listed in the syllabus):

• Kirszner, Laurie G., & Mandell, Stephen R. (2005). The concise Wadsworth handbook. Boston: MA: Thomson Higher Education. ISBN: 1-4130-1030-X
• Please notice “concise,” not “brief.” There is a “Brief Wadsworth Handbook” as well, that is NOT our textbook!

• Access to the American Psychological Association style guide:
  
• http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c09_o.html
  
• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
• Access to a computer with an internet connection (preferably high-speed)
• MyMCC Account: http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/mymcc/
• A Gmail Account: http://mail.google.com/ —I would use this email while you set up all your accounts
• Blog account at Blogger: https://beta.blogger.com/start —user your Gmail email to set up
• Bookmarking account at delicious: http://del.icio.us/
• Student account at Turnitin: http://turnitin.com/
  
• Session 2: Course name: mcc-eng102-sm2 (Course ID: 1906379 ; Course password: eng102)
• MS Word or other word processor that can export to RTF (rich text file):
  
• Open Office: http://www.filehippo.com/download_openoffice/
  
• Google Docs: http://docs.google.com
  
• Zoho Writer: http://www.zohowriter.com/jsp/home.jsp
  
• Think Free: http://www.thinkfree.com/

For those of you with AOL accounts, sometimes AOL does not work well with these programs. If you do not already use Internet Explorer as your browser, you may want to download a copy of Firefox to use your web browser (http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/). Firefox is a relatively small, and fast download.

You will also need the following browser players/readers to get started:

• Adobe Acrobat Reader: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
• Flash: http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/alternates/#fp
• Shockwave: http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/alternates/#sp
• Java: http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp

If you have not used either delicious, Blogger, or Turnitin before, I suggest that you play around in all the environments. By play, I mean taking the time to hit every button to get a feel for what the programs can do. I also suggest you wander and hit every button in the course website. Do not wait until an hour before a deadline to figure out how everything works.

If you have any questions or concerns about the course, please feel free to email me shelley.rodrigo@gmail.com. If you email me, please be sure to include the course and course line number you are enrolled in. I am teaching multiple sections of different courses. I do not keep copies of the rosters near my computer, so you need to clue me in who you are when you email me.

Again, I look forward to working with you all,

Shelley

PS--Second Summer Session students, ignore the postings "below" this one! That was material for first summer session!

Summer Session 1

Summer Session 1 folks...I'll be posting your final grades today in your shared gradesheet. Feel free to email me with any questions!