Can you help me
Laquinda1
ENG111week2.docxRemember, make sure to email me and let me know if you are attending. TCC requires me to drop students who have not made contact. I have to hear from you. If I have not received an email, you may be dropped from the course. Also, if you email me and do not receive a confirmation stating that your email was received, and this also goes for papers and assignments, then I have not received your email, papers, or assignments. Many of you have already emailed me, which is good, but many have not emailed me yet, and I really need to hear from you. Lastly, make sure to post and reply to a post in the discussion board each week throughout the semester. Posts will not count if they are posted all at once at the beginning or end of the semester. One final note: A discussion board post does not count as contacting me. You have to email me at [email protected] . This lets me know that you are in the course, that we can email each other, and it also makes sure that you can send work and assignments to me. Again, it is very important that you email me to let me know you are in the course.
Here is some extra information. For emails and questions, make sure to email before Thursday at 5 pm. Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays are usually not the best times to email, but I occasionally check my email over the weekends. Basically, if you have a question, make sure to contact me before 5 pm on Thursdays; otherwise, you might not receive a response until Monday or Tuesday. In addition, I will post once a week, normally on Monday before 5 pm. The occasional post might happen if Canvas goes down or if something happens, but, for the most part, after Thursday of each week, you do not have to worry about checking Canvas. Lastly, remember, academic papers do not use slang, do not use contractions, have no spelling errors, are cited properly, and are written in third person. Therefore, if you have I, me, my, us, our, we, you, your, in my opinion, I believe, or I think, you should fix this. As stated in the syllabus, do not use 1st or 2nd person in papers. They will not be graded or accepted if they have 1st or 2nd person in them. Your only assignment this week is to send me a topic and thesis for approval and suggestions, start the readings, get used to Canvas, and work on the first paper.
A question has come up concerning the usage of dialogue. I want everyone to avoid dialogue. The reason for this is because normal spelling and grammar may not apply when using dialogue. Also, I am trying to get everyone into the habit of not writing in first and second person. Most college and research papers are written in third person, not first or second person. Third person requires the author of an essay to see all sides equally and to be objective. First and second person limit an author’s perception and perspective on a subject. Therefore, we definitely do not want to use first person or second person. Write from the third person perspective. Sometimes, when I tell people that they may not use first person, they try to write their paper using dialogue to, in a way, skirt around the first person rule. Concentrate on using third person. Write in third person.
Some people have sent in drafts with the words ‘things’ and ‘stuff’ in them. These words should be stricken from your vocabulary, for they do not give information and lead to empty sentences, being sentences with little or no meaning. Each sentence should be filled with information and specific detail, not empty or redundant constructions. Sentences that do not contain critical information and/or detail are called deadwood constructions or empty sentences. Some college instructors and students also use the terms 'filler' or 'fluff'. The words ‘things’ and ‘stuff’ are also deadwood. For example: Jane likes to do many things with her family, like bicycling, fishing, and gardening, and all of this stuff makes her happy. See the issues? One: the sentence is unnecessarily wordy and long. Two: It does not sound or look like a college level sentence. Three: If she likes it, then she is happy; like and happy are basically the same in the above sentence. Here is the same sentence, only reworded: Jane smiles and laughs when bicycling, fishing, and gardening with her family. See the difference? It is shorter, sounds more professional, is not redundant, and it still portrays the same idea.
For the thesis statement, remember, there should be no characters in a thesis statement.
A solid thesis is needed in a paper, with an essay map. The thesis should be the last sentence in the introductory paragraph, not the first, should only be one sentence, and it should never be a question or a quote. Also, thesis statements never have characters in them. Make sure to always have a thesis statement in a paper. The essay map has three points (blanks in the examples below). They should be filled with points that can be looked up, supported, and researched, not feelings, emotions, or personal opinions.
Examples:
Washing hands is a good solution to the Coronavirus because of ____, _____, and ____.
Social distancing helps to prevent the Coronavirus because of ______, ______, and ______.
The thesis is for the audience reading the paper, not for the characters in the paper. The characters in a story only convey the lesson and/or moral, but the overall lesson, purpose, and/or moral of a paper is for the audience. The thesis should also not have points in it about emotions or feelings. For example, fun, stress, anxiety, happy, confused, frustrated, sad, or any other emotions or feelings should be left out of thesis statements. Emotions and feelings cannot be tested or measured and they are personal and subjective. Everyone deals with emotions and feelings differently. For instance, what might stress one person will not stress another and meditation might work to reduce stress for one person and might create more stress for another person. In short, feelings and emotions are not points, explanations, examples, arguments, reasons, refutations, and they are too personal to be used in papers or as points in a thesis statement. The points (parts placed in the blanks) should be able to be objectively tested, measured, or verified in some way.
This is not an acceptable thesis:
John learned not to text and drive because of ________, ________, and ________.
Or:
John learned not to text and drive because it made him worry, he did not like to worry, and it caused stress. (These are not measurable points)
This is an acceptable thesis:
Texting and driving should not be done because of _________, ________, and ________.
Or:
People should not text and drive because of ________, _________, and _______.
Or:
Texting and driving should not be done because of large fines, it slows reaction time, and causes accidents. (These are measurable points)
Also, in the conclusion, you should not be talking about the characters. Focus on the lesson and/or moral of the story for the audience. The audience does not really need to know about the lesson or moral that the characters learned. The lesson/moral is for the audience, not the characters. Therefore, leave the characters out of the conclusion and focus on the lesson/moral that the audience should take away from the story after reading it.
Lastly, some people are sending drafts, which is okay. However, I will not correct a draft, send it back to you, have you make corrections, and then have you send it back for an A grade. In other words, if you send me a draft or part of a paper, I want a direct question, such as, “How is my thesis? Could you check my topic sentences? Is this sentence a fragment? Is this sentence a comma splice?” I will help and guide you, but I will not write a paper for you. If I totally correct your paper, then I have, basically, written your paper for you. Also, I want you to start critically looking at your work, which means thinking specifically about issues with it and then formulating questions for me to ask about it. Therefore, for everyone who sent a draft, please re-read your draft or section of it and re-send it to me with a question or two.
Remember, your topic and a thesis statement are due this week.
