week 2

This week, you begin writing your journal entries. This journal is designed to give you practice in academic writing, which is very different from the personal essay writing that you have been practicing. Academic writing entails making a point and supporting that point with information from a reputable source. There are three ways to support a point with information from a source: quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing. This week, you will practice quoting a source and citing that source in your journal entry. Please be sure to read and review the “Example Journal Entry – Quotes” document, which describes how to integrate quotations. You should also review Guidelines for Quoting Sources and English Composition I: Integrating Quotations into Sentences.

Note: The journal assignment should not be confused with a personal journal. This activity requires organization, effective stylistics and grammar, and proper source incorporation. It is not a free-writing or reflective writing exercise.

Both of the personal essays we have read this week, “Sister Flowers” and “I Want a Wife,” use narrative and/or descriptive elements (refer to sections 6.3 and 6.4 in Essentials of College Writing), and each has a clear purpose.

Write about one of the essays assigned in this week’s readings. In 250 to 500 words

• State the purpose of the essay.
• Describe one descriptive writing pattern being used in the essay (refer to section 6.4 in Essentials of College Writing).
• Explain why you think that descriptive writing pattern is used well by the writer.
• Incorporate a quote from the essay and properly cite the essay.
• Explain how you plan to use the same descriptive writing pattern in your personal essay.

When submitting your journal entry, make sure to

• Proofread your work for errors in grammar, mechanics, and style.
• Format the journal according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Refer to the “APA Template” handout for guidelines on formatting a title page in APA style.
• Provide an in-text citation for the section of the essay you quote. Refer to the Ashford Writing Center’s Comprehensive APA Reference List Models for guidelines on in-text citations in APA style.
• Provide a reference for the essay you quote. Refer to the Ashford Writing Center’s In-Text Citation Guide for guidelines on citing sources in APA style.
• Perform a word count check to make sure the journal is 250 to 500 words in length.