Ellipsis (plural ellipses) deserve some discussion. Check out the following sources: wikipedia Purdue’s online writing center the JCCC writing center on ellipsis In prose, ellipses are not generally needed at the beginning or end of a quote. The rule is…
in-text citations the basics
Duke has a great guide to parenthetical citations with MLA – and as a KU alum it’s hard to praise Duke. St. Cloud U. Writing Center also has a guide which points out how to cite when the author’s name…
Semicolons and colons
One of the punctuation issues that recurr most often involves the use of semicolons. This matters because – the way a semicolon functions – if one uses a semicolon where a comma or colon are needed, it creates a sentence…
On word count and length requirements
I’ve never understood when students turn in work that doesn’t meet the word count or length requirements, especially on the papers after the first turned in for grade. If you’ve played a sport – or studied a martial art –…
Technology expectations in the classroom
Had a couple students balk at using the Learning Management System – and even computers in general – in an English class. Teaching writing has always been about teaching technology, and inventions from the printing press to the typewriter and…
Protests in China?
Several reports have come out of China alluding to unrest similar to what we’ve seen in Egypt, Libya and Wisconsin. Boingboing.com blog on the 26th (Saturday) noticed the censorship and detention of bloggers who used the word “jasmine revolution” online.…
Manners and Higher ed.
The image comes from one of my guilty pleasures – a meme themed blog on graphs and images (original found here). I’ve edited it for my more sensitive and/or delicate audience. Much of what we teach – particularly in comp…
Chinese Tiger Mothers
There’s been a lot in the news recently about the “Tiger Mother, ” Amy Chua, who has written an apology for an Asian Stereotype. In short, she defends remorseless and aggressive parenting defined by denial of silly things like art…
Facebook Perils: Article summary and comment
Facebook relates to the specific composition objectives of developing the awareness and understanding of voice and audience. LaRoche and Flanigan (2009) note that students enter college and work discourse communities with unrealistic expectations regarding their rights to free speech, and…
Managing distractions
I like the options that teaching in a computer lab brings to writing classes – afterall, writing today is done on computers, but they offer so much distractions. Students aren’t the only ones. In presentations to teachers and business people,…