During the first part of today’s class, let’s take part in an exercise meant to help you better understand paraphrasing and quoting.

In a comment made to this blog post, write these three things:

1. An APA citation for the article that you read for today’s class. It’s been awhile since our last class, so I hope that you read a very interesting article to use.
2. Choose one paragraph in the article that’s about something interesting. It could be a paragraph about something that the article taught you about. It could be a paragraph defining something. It could be a paragraph that describes a person, place, or thing in detail. The idea is to choose a paragraph with substance to it. After you’ve found it, read it again several times. I mean it. Read it carefully. Load its knowledge into your mind. Then, close your magazine. Put it away for the time being. Next, write a sentence that summarizes in your own words the paragraph that you picked. Now, open the magazine again so that you can write an in-text citation at the end of your paraphrase. You already have the author’s last name and date in your APA citation. You need to find the page number in your magazine that the paragraph appears on. With that information, you can add the in-text citation at the end of your sentence like this example from the Purdue OWL website: APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners (Jones, 1998, p. 199).
3. Now, find a sentence in another paragraph that contains a nugget of information. This means a sentence that tells us something or explains something or defines something. Use all or part of this sentence to create a sentence contained a direct quotation or quote from the article. When you quote something from a source, you should never place a quote in your writing separate from what you have to say. Instead, you should incorporate your quote into your writing. For example: Hugo Gernsback defines his term “scientifiction” as “a charming romance intermingled with scientific fact and prophetic vision” (1926, p. 3). Before it was called science fiction, “scientifiction” was defined as “a charming romance intermingled with scientific fact and prophetic vision” (Gernsback, 1926, p. 3). While some readers might like their science fiction to be “a charming romance intermingled with scientific fact and prophetic vision” (Gernsback, 1926, p.3), I prefer SF to be more focused on the science than the characters.

After you’ve completed these three things, copy and paste them into a single comment made to this blog post. If you have questions as you are working, remember to ask questions, because these skills will help you as your get further in your reports.

View the program here.

You’ve read a number of articles for these beginning of class writing assignments so far this semester. This assignment is a personal reflection on the types and topics of the articles that you’ve selected.

First, mouseover the title of our OpenLab site “ENG1133 Specialized Communication for Technology Students,” right click on “Dashboard,” and left click on “Open in New Tab.” This will leave the OpenLab site open in one tab and the Dashboard open in another tab.

Second, in the Dashboard tab, click on Comments. Then, type in your name or username in the Search box on the right and click “Search Comments.” This will load all of your comments.

Third, look at the titles of the articles that you’ve read for our class. Consider the articles and the topics that they covered.

Fourth, write a brief memo addressed to me with the subject “Article Reflections.” In your memo, describe the article that you read for today’s class and discuss it in relation to the other articles that you’ve read. Do they all share a similar theme? Are articles about different things? How might your reflection help you choose articles in the future to enrich your learning? You do not have to name each article in your reflection, but you should discuss the topics or themes of the articles you read in the past.

Fifth, write an APA bibliographic citation for the article that you read for today’s class at the end of your memo.

Finally, copy-and-paste your memo into a comment made to this blog post. Put your plan into action for selecting your next article. Consider other articles and possibly other magazines than you’ve read in class so far.

City Tech College Catalog

Advanced Liberal Arts Classes (on the page that opens, click link on the right)

Pathways Required Common Core

Pathways Flexible Core

In addition to The New York Times (which you can get for free digitally using your City Tech email address), the Guardian newspaper in the UK is a good source of news–general and specific to the workplace. For example, this article published today reveals how surveillance is becoming an increasing reality in the workplace. As we use our digital devices in the workplace more, employers are using technology to monitor employees.

For today’s beginning of class writing assignment, you will have an opportunity to explain an idea found in your article for today’s class to two different audiences: a 7 year old and a college student.

First, create a new memo addressed to Professor Ellis with the subject “Reaching different audiences.”

Next, find one an idea, concept, technology, or process in your article. Write one sentence explaining that you will write copy for explaining what this is to two different audiences: a 7 year old and a college student.

Then, write two short paragraphs explaining the topic to each age group. Think about what someone in each group will know, what they need to know, and how to explain it using appropriate language.

Finally, write an APA bibliographic entry for your article.

Copy-and-paste your memo into a comment made to this blog post.