As you know, the purpose of this course if for you to become a better writer. Therefore, for each essay you upload for me to evaluate, you will have the opportunity to reflect upon the process you went through to produce the piece.

• You also should recall that when you turn in your portfolio, you will be writing a reflective essay that explains why you chose the essays you did and how they exhibit good writing.

• Therefore, these reflections will help you to prepare for this final writing assignment, and of course to help you become better writers.

Please answer the following questions about your third essay. For some of the questions you will need to reread parts of your essay, audience responses, SL chat transcripts, notecards, online conversations or texts, while others you will need only to rethink what you did.

• Also, please, copy the questions,

• paste the questions into a blank page of your word processor and

• write the answers under each question.

1. Besides the change in topics, how is this paper different from the last essay? Again, what surprised you about the essay and/or the process of writing the essay?

2. What, specifically, is the best part of the essay? Why?

3. In what ways do you relate this essay to your audience, this class? Specifically, how do you use our SL articles from Angel Resources? How did the online conversations in the Writer's Café and the chats you had with class members influence your approach to the topic?

4. How did the audience responses you received influence the changes you made from the early draft?

5. And how did the responses you made to other class member drafts influence (or reflect) the changes you made to your essay?

6. What suggestions did you receive from class members that you chose not to follow? Why?

7. What other changes did you make from your first draft to the draft you're submitting to me? (Don't include any mechanical changes, such as punctuation or spelling.) Why did you make the changes you made? What from our readings in CEL influenced or reflects your revision in this paper? Please note the page or pages you refer to. (By the way, telling me nothing from your reading influenced you or reflects your work suggests to me that you're not adequately studying the texts.  Hence, not an effective response.)

8. What was the most difficult part of writing this essay? (Please avoid saying, "All of it was difficult--which part was the most trying?) What was the easiest part?

9. How many paragraphs does your essay contain? Explain the order of your ideas by summarizing each paragraph, one sentence each. Note: don't forget the rest of the question after the summary example!

Here's an example of how author Gary Burns might do so with his article "Marilyn Manson and the Apt Pupils of Littleton": First I tell an anecdote about an interview I had with a Detroit radio station reporter wondering if I found Marilyn Manson to blame for the killings in Colorado.  I found the question peculiar since I had not heard it established the killers had listened to Manson; and I still haven't seen conclusive evidence they had. Instead I found more obvious the fact that the date of the killings was Hitler's birthday and the anniversary of the Waco and Oklahoma City tragedies. I tried to direct the reporter to the wider issue of these anniversaries, even though reporters rarely want to hear a contrary view. Mainstream media in general does little to expose the rightwing culture of guns, militarism, and government and antigovernment violence in the U.S., such as the influences upon the behavior of Timothy McVeigh. I  then show some possible influences on McVeigh, such as rightwing talk radio.

After you've summarized, tell me why the order of your paragraphs makes sense.  Or does it?

• Is there a clear reason why you move from one paragraph to the next, especially in the body of the essay? How would you explain the reason you order the paragraphs as you do?

• Or are your essay body paragraphs in a random order, where it wouldn't make much difference whether or not a paragraph were in 3rd, 4th, 5th, or 6th position? What might you do to rearrange so that there is a good reason why you move from one paragraph to the next?

10. If you were to choose this essay for your portfolio, what would you do to improve it? (And please avoid saying, "I'd take into consideration whatever Dan says when he responds to it."  That's obvious. What parts of the essay do you see where you could make it stronger with a little more time to work on it?)

Where to submit?

1. Paste your reflection onto the end of your essay three, after the works cited page.

• By the way, this is not a suggestion. If you send me your reflection in a different file than the essay, it will not be read or scored.

• Make sure there is a clear separation between the essay and the reflection.

  • I suggest using a page break at Insert>Break>Page Break.

2. By 3/20/10*, Saturday midnight, send your Essay 3 as an RTF file through the essay drop box (in the week 9 folder). (Send ODT if you're using OpenOffice.)

*Do note, though, that you have a 24 hour grace period, so you can submit the essay and reflection by Sunday midnight with no penalty.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to call me or e-mail me. My phone number and office hours are right above the Table of Contents on the Online Syllabus. I do have voice mail for my phone if I'm not in.

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Created 10/13/1997
Revised 19 Mar 2010 12:56 PM -0500