Welcome to Seminar 9CM107 – Wednesday, August 29th@ 7:00 PM

ESTWe’ll begin on time.

Meanwhile, have fun chatting.“Those who bring sunshine to the lives

of others cannot keep it from themselves.”

James Matthew Barrie (creator of Peter Pan)

Reading: The Kaplan Guide to Successful Writing, ch. 21 and ch. 27

(sample essays/reviews) Review the 3 WC links on editing strategies

No Journals this week!

Part 1: Read chapters 21 & 27 of our textbook, and select one of the essays in either chapter.

Write a short paragraph reviewing the essay for: thesis, organization, grammar, source incorporation. Then note how reading this sample essay helped you with make final revisions on your Final Project essay (200-250 words)

Part 2: select 2 or 3 sentences from your essay to edit. Post both the original and the revised sentences. Note what revision strategy you applied and why the revisions were successful. (150 words)

Respond to two classmates with constructive criticism. (100 words per peer response)

750-850 words + title page + reference page

Must be informative (not persuasive or argumentative)

Needs a clear intro, thesis statement, body paragraphs, and conclusion

Use 3 credible sources, 1 from the Kaplan library

All 4 components are present: intro + thesis + body paragraphs (at least 3) + conclusion.

12 pt. Arial or Times New Roman font. 1 inch margins all around. Double spaced. Should contain an APA-style formatted title

page. All pages should have header and page

numbers. Correct parenthetical (in text) citations for

all quotes and paraphrases.

All direct quotes have either page or paragraph numbers listed in the parenthetical citation.

Should contain 3 credible sources (minimum). All cited sources have dates of publication (use

n.d. if no date is present). Titles of books/journals/websites/newspapers

are italicized on the reference page and in the paper.

Article titles are placed in quotation marks within the body of the paper (not on the reference page).

Quotes over 40 words are block indented.

You have now worked through the revision process and have

strengthened the: organization, development, clarify of ideas and use of research evidence in your

paper.

So what comes next?

Now, it’s time to work on EDITING.Remember that you have been

learning about major grammar concerns for the last several units. You learned about how to avoid fragments, how to use commas, how to write strong, clear sentences. It’s now time to apply what you learned to editing your own paper.

What are some editing strategies that have been

successful for you in the past?

SPELL CHECK/GRAMMAR CHECK. Spell Check is a start, but it won’t tell you to use their rather than there. Grammar Check is notoriously wrong. It will even create grammar errors.

SO, how do you edit, then, if Grammar Check isn’t good enough and if you are not a grammar expert?

Try strategies like DIRECTED EDITING and REVERSE EDITING

We are creatures of habit. If we have problems with fragments in one essay, chances are, we will have them in another.

Look back at your unit 3 and unit 6 projects. Make a list of any grammar and punctuation errors your instructor has noted.

Review your draft for THOSE errors only, rather than just reading through and HOPING to find errors.

If you have problems with fragments, read each sentence for that issue. Is each sentence a complete sentence?

Don’t rely on old wives’ tales like “put a comma in each time you pause when you read out loud.” They do not work. Use your KNOWLEDGE you have learned through the Writing Center videos and workshops to help you to apply RULES of grammar and punctuation.

WHAT ERRORS do you know you have trouble with? How will you look for them and correct them?

Reverse editing allows you to isolate each sentence, rather than reading them in context. If you read each sentence in isolation, you read what is there.

Open your paper to the last page. Look for the last sentence. Read it and it alone out loud. Listen to what you hear. This may be the best technique around for finding fragments and run on sentences and comma splice errors.

In isolation, you can tell is ideas are clear.

Once you read that sentence and correct any errors, move up to the next sentence. Repeat until you read the whole paper.

Try this with your paper. If you can find 1, 2 or 3 errors even, that would be 1, 2 or 3 errors that your reader is not distracted by.

How do you edit? Reading out loud? Printing the paper and reading it away from the

computer? Having other people read it and point out errors? Remember, you are VERY close to and familiar with

each and every sentence at this point, so you may not be objective. That’s why your teacher may find errors you didn’t think are there. It makes sense to you because you know what you want to say. That doesn’t mean the errors are not there, just that you may not see them. Someone else might, so let someone else, a friend or family member for example, read it.

How do you feel about what you have done so far? What are you most proud of? What do you still have

left to do and how will you make that happen?Now is the time for you to ask specific questions

about your final project.

Seven Steps to Easy Revision(The Kaplan Guide to Successful Writing, pp. 196-204)

1. Choose verbs carefully--they convey the action in your paper and should be vivid and compelling.

Highlight being verbs (am, is, are, was, be, etc.). Try to eliminate as many as possible since they are considered "weak" verbs. Highlight "to have" verbs (has, have, had). Again, try to remove those. Try to choose active, vigorous verbs whenever possible.

2. Take out unnecessary prepositions.

3. Make sure sentence lengths vary. You don't want too many very long or very short sentences.

4. Make sure all pronouns (it, they, everyone, etc.) have a clear reference.

5. Try to limit the use of pronouns who, which, and that.

6. Limit the use of "qualifier" words like really, every, very.

7. Take out cliches (children are our future, etc.)

No second person (you, your) point of view is present in paper.

No first person (I, me, my, mine, our, we, us) point of view is present in pape.r

No contractions used in formal writing. The term “thing” was not used (try to find a

more descriptive term). Pronoun tenses are correct

Let’s open the seminar up to any questions you may have about the final project requirements.

Remember that there is NO seminar in unit 10, but we will have a final chance to share projects and discuss the final projects.

The final paper is due: Tuesday, Sept. 4th. I will accept late work until, Saturday, Sept. 8th If you would like me to review your work before

submitting for a grade, you can email me your project. Please do so by Saturday, Sept. 1st so that I will have time to provide you with feedback.

THAT’S ALL FOR UNIT 9!

THANK YOU all so much for attending!! I have enjoyed working with you all this term.

I can’t wait to read your final projects!If you think of questions later, please email me at:

jdahlbeck-bunch@kaplan.edu