Window(s) - or Mac - Shopping

In this week's blog entry, students will evaluate a commercially available product or service using online comparative shopping tools. They will present their research in reviews that consider several evaluative techniques:

• Assessing the rhetorical situation,
• Stating an overall claim about the subject,
• Clarifying their criteria for evaluation,
• Stating a judgment for each criteria,
• Supporting each judgment with evidence, and
• Balancing their evaluation with both positive and negative comments.

 Their evaluations and reviews will feature products ranging from trucks to shoes to vacuum cleaners.

E-Journaling: Real Writing, Only Digital!

courtesy David Niblack
@ Imagebase (CC 3.0)

Students in Dr. Nichols' English 101 class are keeping their journal entries in digital format for the Fall 2011 term. The students' blogs (listed at the right of this column) will be directed reflections on course content, research topics and on the art of writing itself. (Yes, blogging IS writing - with all the requisite demands for clarity, correctness, and communication excellence through the processes of research, drafting, revising and publishing!)

The first journal entries will involve looking at the revision and editing process that took place in producing the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence. Students will collect their content from research assigned in the text and online, and will produce a first draft for their blogs, and then will revise and edit and post the finished results online at the sites linked at the right. This format allows for an engaging publication environment that can be accessed from any computer, and fosters collaborative learning as students read their colleagues' blogs and share comments.

Welcome to the new frontier of writing, class - I'm looking forward to sharing in your learning experience in English composition!