Assignments

Dr. Bessie M. Vaughns

English 826 Basic Writing Skills


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Click here for Microsoft Word Fall 2009 Assignments

Assignments
This semester your supplementary reading material consists of two books: The House on Mango Street (Sandra Cisneros) and Always Running: La Vida Loca (Luis Rodriguez). You will be assigned in-class essays, weekly; four outside writing assignments and one final writing project, which is due on the assigned day without exception. Class discussions/lectures on each book are a vital part of your essay content; therefore, conscientious class attendance is important.

Disclaimer
The class assignments and the assigned writing projects are a tentative outlay of a writing schedule this semester. It is quite possible that those assignments may change due to unforeseen circumstances. Those changes will be announced in class.

Please Note: All writing projects are due on the assigned day. There is no exception to this rule. If you know that you will be absent on the day that a writing project is due, then you should turn in your paper before that date. However, if you don’t know that you are going to be absent on that due date, then you should send in your project by someone else. It is futile to try to turn it in after the assigned due date. It will not be accepted. (Please refer to the syllabus concerning make up work.)

Writing Assignments An outside writing assignment is due every two weeks. An in-class writing assignment is assigned every Monday, unless there is a holiday Monday or an outside paper due that week.

	I. Week of August 19 – September 2, 2009 Expository Essay – Please read and follow the instructions in your Student Notes, Page 13, for writing an expository essay. Read Cisneros, Pages 1-9 and explain her meaning in the last line on Page 9: “I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor.” Due September 2, 2009, ONLY.

	II. Week of September 4 – 23, 2009, 2009 Descriptive Essay – Please read and follow the instructions in your Student Notes, Page 11, concerning a descriptive essay. Read Cisneros, Page 33, the first paragraph. (1) Describe her sadness, her butterflies and her sky. (2) Then apply your OWN description and meaning to that same area. Figurative Language will help you to describe the area. Due September 23, 2009 ONLY. Also, the book exam is September 23, 2009.

	III. Week of September 25 – October 14 Descriptive and Narrative Essay – Please read Pages11 and 12 in your Student Notes. Read Rodriguez, Page 36. Put yourself in the author’s place discussing his role of fear. Narrate your decisions and give results/solutions to those decisions. (Mid Term) Due October 16, 2009 ONLY.

	IV. Week of October 16 – October 30, 2009 Argumentative Essay – Read Page 14 in Student Notes. Read Rodriguez, Page 84, beginning with “If you. . .to. . putting it back on.” Write your argument concerning Rodriguez’s views about the “jacket.” Support your discussion and/or argument by using examples and concrete evidence. Due October 30th ONLY.

	V. Week of October 16, November 23, 2009 Final Writing Project. You will be given a handout that discusses the final writing project for this book. Please review the instructions on Pages 11 and 12 in your Student Notes for a Descriptive and Narrative Essay. You will have over seven weeks to complete this writing assignment; it is due on or before November 23, 2009 without exception. It is worth 200 points; therefore, you may risk failing the class if it is not turned in on time.

	Supplement Essay Information After essays are written, corrected, and returned to you, you may have questions regarding those corrections. We may discuss those essays containing faulty mechanics based upon the logic that is in the content of your paper via your examples and the examples given on Pages 14-23 in your Students Notes. Please take notes; those grammar errors should NOT be repeated in subsequent papers. Read the adjective and adverb phrases. Students should be able to recognize all prepositions and know the use of those prepositions. We will review the mechanics of three clauses: the adjective, adverb and noun clauses. The verbal phrases are equally important. Students should learn the difference between a verbal and a verb. Become familiar with college/university evaluations.