This term’s Literacy Reflections impress me. We have some bright and thoughtful classmates. I’d like to note that for the first time in my almost-2-decade career in higher ed. about 90% of the class got the MLA heading right! What happened? I’ve never seen more that 30% get the heading even close on the first paper. I ‘m verklempt.
Then, as is too often the wont of composition instructors, I get distracted by less than optimal usage and rhetoric. Too often it looks like students merely type rather than compose their papers. Most often, waiting until the last minute and rushing through a paper, then neglecting to proofread causes this. This may be the root cause of the following:
- over-use of passive verbs: while it didn’t affect the grade on this paper, excessive use of passive voice will be considered in all subsequent papers. Passive voice is the “to be” verbs: is, are, was, were, be, being, been, am.
- passive language occasionally betrays a lack of responsibility or involvement with the educational process in expressions such as, “I received _(good/bad)_ grades in high school.” Didn’t you earn them? If they were unfair didn’t someone give them to you? Also seen repeatedly, “the classes I was enrolled in.” Did the student have a choice? Was there parental or institutional pressures that aren’t being directly communicated? Passive verbs hide agency – the “who was responsible for what”ness of good writing.
- use of semicolons (;)Technically it acts like a period – which means it should be followed by an independent clause. Too often fragments (dependent clauses_) follow. If that’s the case use a colon (:) or comma. Really a trivial issue – but I’m glad to see people using semi-colons and I want to see them used correctly, so as not to diminish their effect.
- 5 paragraph essay – legit for this assignment but overused. Be willing to try new and more sophisticated forms of organization.
- Conclusions not summaries. Summaries come across too often as redundant.I know someone somewhere once said, “Tell ’em what you’re going to tell ’em. Tell ’em. Tell ’em what you’ve told them” but that was an oversimplification and/or questionable advice. I read quite well and remember what I’ve read. I expect more nuanced and sophisticated rhetoric (congrats to AH for being the first to use the word in class).
Several writers appear to have gone down the list of possible ideas to respond to found in the assignment prompt, and then addressed them one at a time in that order with little or no attention to transitions or organization, rather than adjusting the suggestions to the individual student’s experience and crafting a coherent approach to organization. (Wow that was a long sentence).
These issues commonly, if not always, appear early in a semester. Let me reiterate that the content and reflection was exceptionally good.
