ENG 227 - local poetry readings

Here's a listing of local poetry readings during the first part of April. Remember, you need to attend and write a response to THREE poetry readings or events during the semester.

ENG 121 - to join MyCompLab Beta Testing

1. Go to the MyCompLab Beta site.
2. Log in using the username and password that were emailed to you.
3. Click on the “Join a Course” button.
4. Search for our course by looking for my last name.

ENG 227 - Sestina formulas

• Here's the "sestina creator."
• Here's Daniel Ari's brilliant sestina on using Excel to create a sestina.

ENG 122 - audio essays and slide shows

If you are interested in creating an audio essay from your own perspective or the perspective of someone else, listen to some audio essays on the This American Life Website and/or the This I Believe Website first to get ideas. Be sure that your endnote explains why you decided to speak from your own or someone else's perspective.

If you decide to record on your own, you may find Audacity, a free sound editing software product, helpful.

The story I played in class about the Woolworth's lunch counter sit in is here.

Here's the link to the free download of Photo Story 3.

ENG 122 - Writing Group Report

Here is the Writing Group Report. Be sure to begin the form when the group first gathers and finish it at the end of class. Then, email it to Liz.

ENG 122 - comics for Thu.

• No Country for Old Men
• Review the Situation

ENG 121 - handouts for second third

Here are handouts you'll need for the second third of the semester:

• Portfolio 2 Assignment
• Advanced Revision Worksheet
• Audio Essay Assignment
• Audio Essay Analysis Worksheet
  
  
  
  

ENG 121 - Audio Essay assignment

To prepare for class on March 3, go to http://thisibelieve.org/aboutus.html and read “About This I Believe.”

Then go to http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4566554 and read Edward R. Murrow’s 1951 introduction to the This I Believe series.

Finally, go to http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4538138, scroll down to “Essays New and Old” and listen to five of the audio essays. To listen to one, you’ll need to click on its title and then click the Listen icon.

REQUIRED BLOG ENTRY to do before class on March 3: Write 150+ words in response to at least one of the audio essays you listened to. Be sure to include the name of the audio essay(s) you are responding to. Consider how listening to an essay is different from reading an essay. Consider how the essay authors used their voices to create intimacy and immediacy.

Optional: I recorded my own audio essay in Fall 2006 when I first gave this assignment to my students. You can listen to it here, if you are curious.

ENG 122 - for 2/26 blogs

These questions are from page 320-321 in cda:

1. What are the piece’s purpose, audience, and context?
2. List everything about the piece that seems to you to be a choice. If something stands out, it probably is an important choice the author made. Ask why the author chose the thing that catches your attention.
3. How are the choices used strategically?

ENG 122 - what to do with primary research tool drafts

To do with the primary research tool drafts:

Send an email to the author of the draft (and cc me) that answers the questions on the handout I gave. If the answer to a question is “no,” elaborate. Send your emails between now and Tuesday’s class.

ENG 122 - citing primary and visual sources

**Note that the bibliographic entries should use hanging indentation but the gosh darn blog won't let me do that.**

Interviews

Bibliographic entry:

Last name of interviewee, First name. Personal interview. Date of interview.

That’s it. Don’t include the title of the interviewee or any other information. If you conduct the interview by phone, use “Telephone interview” in place of “Personal interview.”

In text citation:

If you use the interviewee’s name in an attribution phrase, you need no parenthetical citation. If you don’t use the interviewee’s name in an attribution phrase, put her or his last name in parentheses, like this:

Concern was expressed about confidentiality (Jones).

Observations

Bibliographic entry:

Your last name, first name. Observation. Place of observation. Date of observation.

Be specific about the place of the observation. For example, if you observe at Cherry Creek Mall in Denver, write “Cherry Creek Mall, Denver, CO.” If the observation takes place over a range of dates, indicate that like this: “10-24 Feb. 2008.”

In text citation:

Use an attribution phrase to indicate that the information you are presenting is from an observation, like this:

I observed that stores at the mall were busier after 6 p.m.

Surveys

Bibliographic entry:

Your last name, first name. “Topic of the Survey or Questionnaire.” Survey (or questionnaire), Place of survey or questionnaire. Date of survey or questionnaire.

For example, here’s I would cite a questionnaire I administered to my RRCC students about how much time they spend on their homework:

Kleinfeld, Liz. “Time Spent on Homework.” Questionnaire. Red Rocks Community College, Lakewood, CO. 15 Oct. 2006.

In text citation:

Use an attribution phrase to indicate that the information you are presenting is from a survey or questionnaire, as in the observation example above.


Also, remember that visual sources, including images you find online, must be cited. You will find information about citing visual sources in Writing @ RRCC.

ENG 122 - for 2/14 - research methodologies

Here is a definition and explanation of quantitative research methods:
Quantitative research is the systematic scientific investigation of quantitative properties and phenomena and their relationships. The objective of quantitative research is to develop and employ mathematical models, theories and hypotheses pertaining to natural phenomena. The process of measurement is central to quantitative research because it provides the fundamental connection between empirical observation and mathematical expression of quantitative relationships.

Here is a definition and explanation of qualitative research methods.
Research involving detailed, verbal descriptions of characteristics, cases, and settings. Qualitative research typically uses observation, interviewing, and document review to collect data. Simply put, it investigates the why and how of decision making, as compared to what, where, and when of quantitative research. Hence, the need is for smaller but focused samples rather than large random samples, which qualitative research categorizes data into patterns as the primary basis for organizing and reporting results.

Now think about the peer reviewed journal articles you've read. Do they seem to be using qualitative or quantitative methods? How can you tell? What about your book?