Composition II-ENG 1121-5441 Reading, Revision, Rhetoric

Hi Students,

In case you need a copy of “Intelligence” or “Where I Learned to Read”:

Scibona-onepage-NYorker

Intelligence-Isaac-Asimov-image

Here is an example that might help:

Thesis and Topic Sentences

Hi Class,

Go to “Readings” in the menu bar to find the student example for Essay 4–parts 1 and 2.

Best,

Sean

Hi Class,

The OWL is linked–under Helpful Links.

Cheers,

Sean

Hi Class,

Sorry I’m a bit tardy in posting the Essay 4 assignment details. Go to the “Assignments” tab and you will find a link. Please print out the details (2 pages) and bring them to class.

Best,

Sean

Remember to read Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner” and write sentences for these 13 words:

-acumen

-bellicose

-circumlocution

-deletorious

-evanescent

-facetious

-gauche

-homogenous

-impeach

-kinetic

-lexicon

-metamorphosis

-notarize

Cheers,

Sean

Hi Class,

Students often ask me: “Prof. Scanlan, since I am going to be an engineer (or nurse or programmer or chef), why do I need to read and write about literature? It has nothing to do with me or my career.”

I’ll use Ngugi Wa Thiong’O to answer this question, as he puts it so eloquently:

Language as communication and as culture are then products of each other. Communication creates culture: culture is a means of communication. Language carries culture, and culture carries, particularly through orature and literature, the entire body of values by which we come to perceive ourselves and our place in the world. How people perceive themselves affects how they look at their culture, at their politics and at the social production of wealth, at their entire relationship to nature and to other beings. Language is thus inseparable from ourselves as a community of human beings with a specific form and character, a specific history, a specific relationship to the world” (Lead, Follow, or Move Out of the Way 215-6). 

I like this answer, though I can think of many other answers as well. What do you think? Is language, literature, and certain arts useless or useful?

For homework due on Monday:

Read Larsen, Baldwin, and Chopin. Then, for each of the three literary pieces, write up the 5-point Literary Analysis tool. Typed.

Also, print out Essay 3 assignment details.

Cheers,

Sean

Hi Class,

For Wednesday, go to the “Readings” tab and print out the Danielle Steele and Helen Keller readings. Read them over carefully and bring them to class.

Also, don’t forget to submit your work to the Literary Arts Festival!

Best,

Sean

Hi Class,

As promised, here is a handout on commas:

Comma_Confidence_Comp2_spg2013

Hi Class,

Please read:

1. Bidpai’s “The Camel and His Friends”

2. Aesop’s “A Lion and Other Animals Go Hunting”

3. Mark Twain’s “The Lowest Animal”

Then, in your notebook, write down what you think the moral of the story is for each. Yes, I realize that the first two readings already have a moral written for you, but you can do better. Homework points will be awarded, so make sure to write all three down.

Make sure to bring your books, please.

Best,

Sean