Organizing Songs

When you are writing an essay, the number of paragraphs depends upon what you are trying to say.

Imagine you are organizing the months of the year, for example. If you are organizing by the seasons or number of syllables, you would have four categories, but if you are organizing by number of days, you would have three.

Let's think about this by organizing songs:

1) Write down your three favorite songs.
2) Get the three favorite songs of everyone in your row and add them to your list.
3) As a group, come up with three different ways to organize your songs. Be creative!

How to Evaluate Sources: The Death of Christopher McCandless, aka Alexander Supertramp

To get a general idea about who Christopher McCandless (aka Alexander Supertramp) was, look at the Wikipedia entry. 

There are a lot of different questions that could be asked about Christopher McCandless: 

Was his death an act of suicide or an accident?
What was his exact cause of death? 
How did his upbringing influence him?
How did his reading influence him? 
Was he “crazy”?
How did his death influence others? 

All of the following could be used for sources, but it depends on which direction you decide to go in for the paper. 

There is a movie called Into the Wild, directed by Sean Penn, which is based on the book by Jon Krakauer, which was originally written as an article for Outside. 

There is also a documentary about Chris’s life called Call of the Wild in which the filmmaker, Ron Lamothe, follows in Chris’s footsteps and interviews many of the people from Chris’s life. He found a lot of things wrong with Penn’s movie and Krakauer’s assessments, which are detailed in part of his website. 

Another book is in the works, due out the end of this year, called Back to the Wild. Here is the author's website. 

Other sources: 

“The Cult of Chris McCandless”

Chris’s S.O.S. note

“Mother Nature’s Restless Sons”

An interview with a man who met Chris on the road. 

"Come to Alaska, but please don't go 'Wild'"

Excerpts from Chris’s own writing in his college newspaper: 

“10 True Facts about Chris McCandless, or Alaska scores another point for natural selection”

“Into the Wild: The False Being Within”

In which situations might these different sources be useful? What might make you not want to use them? Think about what you have learned about different kinds of sources.

"In the Eyes of the Beholder: The Comparative Cruelty of Cockfights and Happy Meals"

In your notebooks, please respond to one of the quotations in the epigraph at the beginning of the chapter:

"The people who set one animal against another haven't got the guts to be bullies themselves. They're just secondhand cowards."
-Cleveland Amory

"Cockfighting is the most humane, perhaps the only humane, sport there is."
-Captain L. Fitz-Bernard

Brainstorm Possible Topics

After you have come up with three possible topics, take 15 minutes to research each of these topics. Because you are trying to figure out which of these topics interests you most, you don't need to worry about the quality of the information you are finding right now. Right now, you are just trying to find out general information so you can choose which of these three topics you will end up researching for your final paper.

At the end of class, we will regroup and discuss what you have found and how to proceed.

Rough Schedule:
8-8:15am: Research Topic #1
8:15-8:30am: Research Topic #2
8:30-8:45am: Research Topic #3
8:45-9am: Regroup and Discuss as a Class

"Extra Crunch With Lunch"

Our reading for Thursday, "Extra Crunch With Lunch," discusses entomophagy, or the eating of insects.

Question #1

To what does the term “harvest day” refer? Why does Kingsolver think the term “harvesting” is appropriate? What is her problem with the word “killing” in this context?

Question #2

What are some examples of how animals are affected by a human vegetarian diet? 

Question #3

What are some potential consequences of freeing farm animals? 

Question #4

What does Kingsolver mean when she refers to farm animals as “human property, not just legally but biologically” (223). What do you think about this argument? 

Question #5

What are your thoughts on the description of the harvest?

Compare/Contrast

A Venn diagram is a tool that helps you compare and contrast things. In the diagram below, a dog and a cat are compared and contrasted. 

Dog	Both Animals	Cat
Range from very small to very large Wide variety of breeds Bark Eat dog food Can be trained	May be pets Usually have fur Need proper care	Generally the same small size Only a few breeds Meow Eat cat food Difficult to train

The same can be done for characters in a book.

The Wine of Astonishment by Earl Lovelace

Ivan Morton	Both Characters	Bolo
Schoolteacher/politician Moves to a big house on the hill Rich	(Kind of) community leaders Date Eulalie In a position to help the problem with the church	Stickfighter Lives in the village Poor

Practice:

To practice using a Venn diagram, compare and contrast the Gerbie and the Furbie. Record how each is different. Then, write what is the same about them. 

Gerbie	Both Items	Furbie

Once you organize ideas in a Venn diagram, you can more easily write about those ideas. When writers write to compare, they must present information in a way that makes sense to readers.

___________________

There are two ways to organize a written comparison. One way is to talk first about one object, then about the other. This is called a whole-to-whole comparison. In this whole-to-whole comparison, information about an orange is in regular type. Information about a lemon is in italics.

This orange has a slightly bumpy, orange skin. When I peel the rind off, I can easily pull apart the sections. The taste is sweet. The lemon also has a slightly bumpy skin, but it is yellow. Inside, the sections are not quite so easy to pull apart. It is the sourest thing I have ever put in my mouth.

If you were doing this in a longer essay, you might consider having one paragraph about oranges and one paragraph about lemons.

The other way is to talk first about one feature, or characteristic, as it relates to both objects. Then, go on to another feature, and so on. This is a part-to-part comparison. Here is an example. Again, information about an orange is in regular type; information about a lemon is in italics.

This orange has a slightly bumpy, orange skin. The lemon also has a slightly bumpy skin, but it is yellow. When I peel the orange’s rind off, I can easily pull apart the sections. Inside the lemon, the sections are not quite so easy to pull apart. The taste of the orange is sweet. The lemon is the sourest thing I have ever put in my mouth.

Now, look back at the details you recorded about the Gerbie and the Furbie in your Venn diagram. Write a paragraph in which you compare and contrast the two items. Decide which method of organization you will use: whole-to-whole or part-to-part. Then, write the paragraph.

MLA Format (Update for New Version of Windows)

There are a number of MLA format requirements that we still need to review. I have the directions for how to do them in the old version of Microsoft Word, but the computers we use in the computer lab have a newer version of Word. This is where you come in...

1) Get together with the people in your row.
2) Get a copy of Ms. Uzzilia's formatting directions for the old version of Word and review together.
3) Figure out how to update these instructions for the new version of Word (the kind we use in lab).
4) Create a short document showing step-by-step directions. You can do this with screen shots of all the steps (CTL+ALT+Print Screen, or at least that's how to do it in the old version of Word). An amusing cartoon might work as well, as long as it's informative.
5) Email me a copy of this document. Make sure to include the names of everyone who worked on it.
6) Have one or two people come up to demonstrate to the class using the overhead.

Later, I will combine your directions into one document and distribute them to the class.

MLA Style Citation

(Books with One Author)

Example: 

Fiedler, Leslie. Freaks: Myths and Images of the Secret Self. New York: Simon, 1978. Print.

Author (last, first.)

Title (in italics, include subtitles after colons, period at the end)
City of Publication (followed by colon)
Publisher (followed by comma, abbreviated)
Date of Publication (followed by period)
Medium of Publication (“Print.” for book, “Web.” for online book (slightly different format),  CD, Film, DVD, Performance, etc.)

Any line after the first line is double-spaced and indented on-half inch or five spaces. This is called a “hanging indent.”

(Selection from an Anthology or Collection)

Give the author and title of the selection, using quotation marks around the title. Then give the title of the anthology, in italics. If the anthology has an editor, note the name or names after the “Ed.” Give the page numbers for the entire selection as shown.

 

Mabry, Marcus. “Living in Two Worlds.” Between Worlds: A Reader, Rhetoric, and Handbook. Ed. Susan Bachmann and Melinda Barth. 6th ed. New York: Longman, 2010. 109-111. Print.

(Two or More Selections from the Same Anthology or Collection)

To avoid repetition, give the full citation for the book once, under the editor’s last name. Then list all articles under the individual authors’ names, followed by the title of their work. After each title, put the editor’s name as a cross-reference to the complete citation.

Bachmann, Susan, and Melinda Barth, ed. Between Worlds: A Reader, Rhetoric, and Handbook. 6th ed. New York: Longman, 2010. Print.

Holman, M. Carl. “Mr. Z.” Bachmann 133-134. 

Staples, Brent. “Black Men and Public Space.” Bachmann 181-185.

What Do You Eat?

There are a number of ways you can answer the question, "What do you eat?" In the comments, please post at least one answer to this question. Here are some ways you can think about it: 

What did you eat this morning before coming to class? 

What do you eat for dinner most of the time? 

What is the best thing your mother/father/sister/brother cooks for you? 

If you were on Death Row and had one last meal, what would it be? 

What is the most exciting thing you've ever eaten? 

What would you never eat? 

What would you eat only on a dare? 

What do you wish you could eat? 

Theme #2: Animals as Food (Essay #2 Assignment)

In recent years, we have becoming increasingly concerned with the way we eat, and the question of eating meat usually arises. (Last year, for example, LaGuardia started promoting a “Meatless Monday” menu in the cafeteria.) “My Son, My Compass” by Janna Malamud Smith, “The Fruits of Family Trees” by Jonathan Safran Foer, and “Six Rules for Eating Wisely” by Michael Pollan each discuss different reasons for why we eat the way we do. How should we decide what to eat? How should our relationships with animals affect how we eat, if at all?

Use specific examples from at least one of the readings (Smith, Foer, and Pollan) and at least one outside source of your own choosing to support your position. Make sure to include at least one quotation sandwich from each reading. You can also include examples from your personal life or from other readings as well.

Your final draft needs to be at least 700 words, in MLA format, with a “Works Cited” page.

Dates:

Th, March 29^th: “My Son, My Compass” (Smith), “Six Rules for Eating Wisely” by Michael Pollan

T, April 3^rd:  “The Fruits of Family Trees,” from Eating Animals (Foer)

Th, April 5^th: Essay #2 Rough Draft Due (11:59pm by email)

T, April 10^th: No Class (Spring Break)

Th, April 12^th: No Class (Spring Break)  

T, April 17^th: [Essay #2 Rough Draft Returned], “Delicious, Dangerous, Disgusting, and Dead,” from Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat (Herzog)

Th, April 19^th: Last day to officially withdraw from a course with a “W” grade, “You Can’t Run Away on Harvest Day,” from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (Kingsolver)

T, April 24^th: “Extra Crunch with Lunch” (Schmidt)

Th, April 26^th: Essay #2 Final Draft Due (11:59pm by email)

T, May 1^st: [Essay #2 Final Draft Returned] “Grub” (Goodyear)

Th, May 3^rd: Midterm

T, May 8^th: [Midterm Returned]

*Subject to Change

My Dog: An Unconditional Love Story

What were your thoughts from the documentary we watched on Tuesday? Did you hear any ideas about humans and their pets that had come up before in any of our readings? Did anything new come up?

Please post your thoughts in the comments for this post.

Writing a Paragraph with a Quotation

1. Figure out if you want to argue that the Herold family was or was not responsible for Travis’s behavior.

The Herold family was / was not (chose one) responsible for Travis’s behavior because (add a reason why) ____________________________________________________.

Use some version of this sentence the topic sentence for your paragraph. A topic sentence expresses the central idea of a paragraph.

 2. Locate three quotations from the text as examples that support your point.

3. Choose one quotation from these three that would be the best quotation to include in your paragraph.

4. Write a paragraph that includes the following:

·         Your topic sentence

·         Your quotation (the one you chose)

·         Other examples from the text that support your point

One person can type this in Microsoft Word and send it as an email attachment to me at suzzilia@lagcc.cuny.edu. Make sure to include the names of everyone who worked on your paragraph. 

Rough Draft Concerns

Because this is the first paper, you might feel some anxiety about writing your rough draft. In the comment section, please write any questions, comments, or concerns you have about your rough draft. (You can post anonymously if you'd like.)

Essay #1 Checklist (Rough Draft)

These are some general MLA format requirements. As you write your rough draft, make sure you have done as many of these as you can.

General

q Typed

q 1” margins

q Times New Roman 12

q Double-spaced

q Last name and page number in upper right corner of each page

q Essay is left aligned (not justified)

q Beginning of each paragraph is indented (one tab)

q Only one space between sentences

Heading

 

q 4 lines long

q    left aligned

q double spaced

q 1^st line: your name

q 2^nd line: your instructor’s name (Ms. Uzzilia)

q 3^rd line: your course (ENG101.0761)

q 4^th line: the date in “day month year” format with no punctuation (15 March 2012)

Title

 q Centered

q No underline

q No bold

q No italics (except when referencing the titles of longer works in your title)

q No quotation marks (except when referencing the title of shorter works in your title)

q No period at the end

To see an example of the first page of an MLA-style paper, see the Purdue OWL website (scroll to the bottom of the page).

Dropbox

Over the weekend, you should have received an email from me inviting you to join our class Dropbox folder. If you did not, check your junk mail folder (the email is from my hotmail account). There is the possibility that I copied your email address wrong as well.

If you did receive this email, please join this Dropbox folder. I will use it to put our extra readings (those that are not from the Herzog book), PowerPoint presentations, and our assignments.

If you are not sure what to do, check with one of your classmates who have already joined the folder (Alexandra, Kamil, Shanae, Alan, or Sean).

If you are still having trouble, email me and I will try to invite you again.