On Monday we will discuss the intersection of reading and writing, in particular how active reading skills help you write things like your Essay assignment.  Here are some notes on Reading to Write to help you prepare for this discussion.

Here are some notes on Writing Essays.

Here are links to the readings you can use as the basis for the Essay assignment:

• The Seven Things You Must K now About Pubic Speaking
• It Could Be the End of the Cell Phone as We Know It
• Twitter and Status Updates

Your final assignment is to write an Essay that responds to one of the readings we have looked at in class recently. Briefly summarize the reading and then respond to the author, agreeing or disagreeing with the main idea and relating it to your own experience.

The audience for this assignment is the author whose writing you are responding to, as well as other college students who may have encountered this reading. Your purpose is to present your opinion and experience in the context of the author’s argument.

Your Essay needs to present a clear and direct main idea and then support that idea with logical and persuasive details from both the reading and your own experience. You Essay needs to be organized logically and include sufficient detail to help your audience understand your opinion.

We will hold workshops in class on Wednesday, November 18, and Monday, November 23, to work on your assignment. Bring your brainstorming materials and draft to class to work on drafting and revising your work. Your final draft is due at the beginning of class on Wednesday, November 25.

I will grade your Essay and return it to you in class on Wednesday, December 2. At that time you may revise and resubmit your Essay for a higher score at your convenience.

For this Wednesday, please do the following:

1. Finish your Instructions; they are due as a hard copy at the beginning of class or via email by 8pm Wednesday
2. Catch up on old participation credit exercises and revise old assignments as needed.

Here are some sample visuals to look at in learning how to use visuals effectively.  Some of these are part of a set of instructions, but most are separate documents:

1. CNM Organizational Chart
2. Bus Route
3. Installing a Ceiling Fan
4. Library Floor Plan
5. Employment Data

For this week’s participation credit, write a paragraph explaining the topic and audience for your Instructions.  What process are you going to write about?  Who would read and use these instructions?  What kind of familiarity would this audience have with the process, and what would they not be familiar with?

Post your paragraph here as a comment by 5pm Friday, October 30, to earn this week’s one-hour participation credit.

On Monday we will spend some time discussing how to use visuals effectively, especially in terms of how to use visuals in preparing a set of instructions.  In preparation for that discussion, please take a moment and look over these notes on Using Visuals.

To earn this week’s participation credit, look over the details of the Instructions assignment–as well as the notes on Writing Instructions–and begin working on it.  Then post a comment here explaining the topic you are considering writing about for the assignment.  Post your comment by 5pm Saturday, October 24, to earn this week’s one-hour participation credit.

As I mentioned in the email I sent out this morning, I’m am home sick today (sore throat, stuffy nose), so class is canceled today.  I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused, especially if you found yourself driving to campus in poor weather this morning.

This will, of course, force us to make some changes to our schedule.  Check back here later today for more details.  But for now I can tell you this: Your Summary assignment is still due, but I am extending the deadline a bit.  You can put a hard copy of your assignment in the box on my office door (MS 519) or email your work to me at rdturner@cnm.edu.  Since I won’t be to my office until tomorrow, you have until noon Thursday, October 22, to submit your Summary and have it count as being on-time.

Submitting your Summary by noon tomorrow will earn you today’s two hours of attendance credit.  I will have a different participation credit exercise posted here by tomorrow, so check back for that.

As always, feel free to email me if you have any questions.  I will see you Monday.