The Winsome Scholar

For all your bibliography needs:

The trick is to move your indentation markers all the way to the left (make sure your margins are set to 1″!), then, with the cursor on the citation you want to change, move the bottom marker (looks like a little house) over 1/2″.

Note: This assignment called for an annotated bibliography, so there is a sentence or two between the citations explaining how the source was used. Check your assignment instructions (or ask your teacher) if this is necessary for your assignment.

All:

The format for any essay in my class (and the works cited page) can be found here. How to head your paper is over here.

Read through chapter 20 for Monday. (See the reading schedule for the rest of the week here.)

Third Hour:

Use the following prompt to guide your first essay over the novel. While we have not finished the book, you should have more than enough information to support your claims.

The following quotation comes from John Donne’s “Meditation #17”:

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

In your paper, create and support an argument about how theme of About a Boy compares or contrasts with the theme of John Donne’s “Meditation #17.” Remember that the actions and thoughts of the characters contribute to the theme of the book, so your support will primarily come from the characters’ thoughts and actions.

Put another way, you should do the following:

1. Decide what you believe Donne’s message is in “Meditation #17.”
   1. Write it down so you can reference it as you begin writing your paper.
   2. Remember the short paper you wrote over Donne’s piece? That might help here…
2. Read through your notes over the book, and skim through previous chapters.
   1. Which characters interact like Donne says he does?
   2. Which do not?
   3. Mark passages that answer these questions.
3. If a character changes his or her actions over time, definitely mark the passages that show this.
4. Create an outline.
   1. Write your overall explanation of the characters’ actions in relation to “Meditation #17” at the top. (This would be your thesis.)
   2. Group together similar (or contrasting) scenes together in your outline. (These would be your paragraphs; include as many paragraphs as necessary to make your point.)
5. Use your outline to write a rough draft.
6. Type it.
7. Be proud.
8. Bring it to class Monday.

This may seem like an awful lot, but break it down into manageable parts. For example, do #1-4 Saturday morning and #4-5 Sunday afternoon, and edit it as you type it Sunday night.

Fifth Hour:

Follow the format guidelines at the top of this page; bring your rough drafts to class Monday.

As always, email or post questions below.

Found this post at The findingDulcinea Blog (our blogs were meant for one another!).  Contains some good links to start your college search.  Don’t forget to check out the comments, too.  Apparently eNotes has a "Get Answers from Real Students" section.

Happy Spring Break.

…by popular demand:

• Font: Times New Roman or Calibri, 12pt
• Paragraph: Double-spaced, half inch indentation
• Page Layout: One inch margins all around; last name and page number in Header section (see below for explanation); student name, etc. same size and spacing as Paragraph; no space before or after Essay Title (original, not the name of the work you’re writing over)
• Quotations Shorter Than Three Typed Lines: Quotation marks around all words pulled verbatim from the work, citations after direct quotations and paraphrasing, citation (author’s name and page number in parentheses) before the final punctuation
• Quotations Longer Than Three Typed Lines: No quotation marks, citation in parentheses after final punctuation, indented 1″ (see illustration).
• Adding Last Name/Page Number to Header:
  • 1.  Double click in header area (or click View in the toolbar, then Header/Footer)
  • 2. Align your text to the right side (Click : )
  • 3. Type your last name (no first name, comma, or other punctuation)
  • 4. Hit the spacebar once
  • 5. Go to View in the toolbar, then Header/Footer, then Insert Page Number:
  • 6. Click Close on the Header/Footer toolbar or double click in the body of your paper to return

[This post was WinsomeWiki'd on 4 Jul. 2009.]

We will be discussing DeLillo’s White Noise through chapter 34 on Monday.  We will write over this in about a week, so please keep up with your reading journals.

Another great discussion (From the Board below) over the censorship!  The debate was heated at times, so we’ll be writing our own argumentative articles this weekend.  By now you are all familiar with the basic structure of an argumentative article, but here’s a quick outline to help you with your writing:

• Know your position.  Begin with a basic argument, such as "Apples are good."
• Begin gathering support for your basic argument.
  • "Apples are healthy"
  • "Apples are all-American"
  • "Apples are portable"
  • "Apples can be eaten many different ways"
• Then, begin supporting each claim, adding statistics and quotations from other sources as necessary.
  • "Apples are healthy"
    • Food and Drug Administration
  • "Apples are all-American"
    • All-American Apple Council
  • "Apples are portable"
    • Relevant personal anecdote
  • "Apples can be eaten in many different ways"
    • Recipes
    • How-to guides
• After that, make sure your sources are credible and your claims are relevant and logical.
  • "Apples are all-American" (Appeal to emotion, but not a major point.)
    • All-American Apple Council (Biased source)
• After you are certain you have a logical argument, begin writing your article.  Draw your audience in with a "hook"—something to draw them in, give them interest in your article. (Look over your previous articles for examples.)  Also, because this is such a heated topic, don’t forget to appeal to those on the other side of the issue.

Post questions below for the good of all.

Legend: Black: from the articles, Blue: From you, Green: From me.