ENGL 250: English 2

Meeting Times During Finals Week

Gordon Reynolds — Fri, 02 May 2008 22:00:58 +0000

A number of students have asked if they can come to my office and get work back next week and/or check on their final grades. I think the easiest thing for me to do is just schedule one office hour during each of our final exam times. You can come to my office during any of these times, regardless of when your class meets, but by using the exam times I can at least be assured that everyone will have an opportunity to come in during a time when they’re not scheduled for another exam.

Monday: 8-9 and 12-1

Wednesday: 8-9 and 12-1

Thursday: 10-11

Again, you can come during whichever of these times is most convenient for you, regardless of when your class meets.

Midterm Grades Updated

Gordon Reynolds — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:44:42 +0000

I’ve updated your midterm grades again. They now reflect all of your required work for the semester. They DO NOT include the extra credit SAN assignment. Even if you’ve already turned yours in, I won’t be grading those until after the deadline on Friday.

Pickup Proposals

Gordon Reynolds — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:21:25 +0000

I am going into my office this evening to finish grading your Proposals. You can pick them up tomorrow (Wed., April 30) during my open conference hours (8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.).

Addendum–Midterm Grades

Gordon Reynolds — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:51:20 +0000

Your revised Midterm Grades also don’t include tonight’s homework assignment from Ch. 13.

Extra Credit Value

Gordon Reynolds — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:24:06 +0000

I just punched in the numbers for the Extra Credit and it looks like the full 10 points is going to be about +4.8% on your final grade. (This is really a little higher than I meant for it to be, but we wound up with not quite as many points overall as I had originally anticipated.)

Anyway, this is just an FYI to help you decide whether you want to do the EC or not.

Midterm Grades

Gordon Reynolds — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:05:40 +0000

I went in and updated your midterm grades. They should reflect your current grade, not including your Proposals, which I will have graded sometime next week. You can review your current grade through MyFSU and that will give you a better idea of whether or not to do the extra credit assignment.

Ch. 13 Homework

Gordon Reynolds — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:00:17 +0000

I just noticed that I gave you Ch. 15 last week, so we’ll be doing Ch. 13 this week. It’s a little out of order, but not a big deal.

As always: Complete all of the following and email your work to me no later than 10:00 p.m. Friday, April 18 23 at the email address given in the syllabus.

Although I prefer that this work be included in the body of your email, I understand that sometimes it’s better for you to send it as an attached file, so I will accept that also.

Remember to include your name and class time at the top of your email.

Reading Questions

What four elements are all part of the thinking and writing involved in synthesis?
Why is synthesis important to research writing?
What are the three criteria for the writing assignment in this chapter?
What are the five thinking steps the authors give for analysis-synthesis writing?
About what percentage of a synthesis essay should be analysis? How much for the synthesis?

Chapter Exercises

Individual Task, page 363, 1-3
Reynolds’ assignment:
1. Read Goodman, pages 377-78, and Buss, pages 378-81.
2. Formulate a focusing question (page 365)
3. Analyze the rhetorical strategies for each (page 368, LLT 2)
4. Identify the main themes and ideas of each (page 369, LLT 3)

Remaining Course Schedule

Gordon Reynolds — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:16:05 +0000

W 4/23: Open Conference Day, 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Turn in Proposals if they’re ready.
F 4/25: Open Conference Day, 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Last day to turn in Proposals without penalty. Pick up Position Papers. Online Homework also (posted on Wed.)

M 4/28: Open Conference Day, 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
W 4/30: Open Conference Day, 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
F 5/2: SAN Extra Credit Essay must be emailed to me do later than 5:00 p.m.

As soon as I have your Proposals graded, I will email you about when you can pick them up in my office. Because this is a writing class, there is no final exam.

Sometime next week I will announce times during final exam week when I’ll be available if students wish to see me about final grades.

Next Week: Self Assessment Narrative

Gordon Reynolds — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:08:45 +0000

A few students (well, more than a few) have been after me to offer some extra credit. I’ve decided to do so, but in the following way. Instead of the Self Assessment Narrative (SAN) being a graded assignment next week, it will be for extra credit.

Read Ch. 25, paying particular attention to pages 727-34, and write a single reflective essay discussing either your Exploratory Essay, Informative Paper, or Position Paper. Follow the guidelines given on pages 732-4 in constructing your essay. Although these are only guidelines, not requirements, you should try to cover all four areas in your essay.

Email your essay to me no later than 5:00 p.m. Friday, May 2nd for UP TO 10 points of extra credit. In order to get the full 10 points your essay must be at least 400 words long and attached to your email as a word processing file (and in the proper paper format as required in the syllabus). If you do less, you will get fewer, possibly even 0, points.

Change of Plans

Gordon Reynolds — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:58:29 +0000

It looks like I’m not going to have your Position Papers graded and back to you tomorrow (Wed. April 23). I had really hoped to get this done, but I’m just a little behind. The plan was to pick up your Proposals, give back your Position Papers, and then discuss next week’s schedule. I’m going to post something here shortly to explain next week, and since I can’t give you your papers back, there’s not much point in meeting in class tomorrow.

So here’s what I’m going to do. Tomorrow I will be in my office from about 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. or so to catch up on my grading and meet with any students who need help with their work. If your Proposal is done, you can turn it in to me during that time. If it’s not finished and/or you need a little extra time, you can turn it in as late as Friday without penalty.

Thus, on Friday I will also be available in my office during that same time frame (from about 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.) so that you can get your Position Papers back, and also turn in your Proposals, if you haven’t already done so.