Author Archives: Jennifer Sears

Infographic: “The 69 Rules of Punctuation” from Brainpickings.org

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The infographic above offers  “69 Rules for Punctuation.”  Though 69 rules may seem overwhelming, they are organized by type, such as commas, parentheses, exclamation marks (don’t overuse these in college writing), and quotation marks.  If punctuation challenges you, print the infographic out and put it on your notebook this semester! Here it is again:

http://ebookfriendly.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/The-69-rules-of-punctuation-infographic.jpg

Transition Words: A Categorized List

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The attachment below contains a list of transition words that many students have found helpful when working on making your essay more graceful.  Make sure you practice these words before the exam!  Some of the words have subtle differences, and, as always, you want to be sure the word you choose says what you want it to mean.

Transition Words for the CATW

 

Six Online Resources to Build Vocabulary

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Photo: Jennifer Sears

Photo: Jennifer Sears

Below are online resources to help you build your vocabulary as you prepare for the CATW. Note: A few of the sites my require you to provide your email address. If you are not comfortable with that, choose another! None of them require payment

  1. One of my favorite sites is from the New York Times. This source offers tests, tips, and techniques based on articles in the New York Times, which is a great source for students in Developmental English courses because many of the essays are drawn from Times pieces or their educational equivalents in other media. Many instructors at NYCCT suggest students preparing to take the CATW become regular readers of the Times, and this might get you started:
    http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/08/12-ways-to-learn-vocabulary-with-the-new-york-times-2/  Remember, you have a free subscription to the Times online as a student at City Tech, but you have to activate it. Here is information how to do this:http://library.citytech.cuny.edu/content/new-york-times-digital-online-access
  1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/the-english-we-speak  This fun site from the British Broadcasting System (BBC) offers a regularly updated tutorial on popular phrases in the English language, particularly those that appear on the BBC. Note: You should practice these phrases in your writing in class before you use them on t he CATW! A few may be Briticisms (how’s that for a vocabulary word?) that don’t work as effectively in American English.
  1. http://www.vocabulary.com/  This site helps you building vocabulary with an interactive vocabulary quizzes: (Note: You have to give your email address to continue with the tests they give on this site.)
  1. http://www.snappywords.com/ This funky, interactive site allows you to type in a word and find synonyms, much like a Thesaurus (but funner).
  1. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/list-of-descriptive-adjectives.html – adjectives-describing-appearance  From Buzzfeed comes a list of descriptive adjectives in different categories such as appearance, shape, touch, and duration:
  1. http://www.writesite.cuny.edu/grammar/general/spelling/index.html  The CUNY “Write Site” also has lists of words and spelling tips.

 

Handwriting: What Is and What Isn’t Important?

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From the 1853 "Grammar of Ornament" by Owen Jones

From the 1853 “Grammar of Ornament” by Owen Jones

Many students worry about handwriting. Some believe handwriting is why they didn’t pass the test! Typically this is not the case; however, here are some small things you should know.

1. Capitalize: If your handwriting is such that all of your letters are the same size, pay extra attention to capitalizing the first letter of each sentence.

2. Use correct punctuation: Make sure that your comas look like comas and your periods look like periods so that you don’t end up accidentally creating sentence fragments. A coma must reach below the line that you’re writing on. A period is as dot that sits on the line that you’re writing on.

3. Inverted Letters: Avoid writing letters backwards, even if it’s just one letter, you don’t want the reader to be confused.

4. Writing big: It’s okay if you’re handwriting happens to be big, but make sure that your reader is able to distinguish between the capital letters and the lower case letters. Do not write your entire essay in capital letters.

5. Indent the first line of each paragraph so that it is clear to the reader when one paragraph ends and the next one begins.

“I Can’t Relate to This Essay” (A Popular Defense Mechanism)

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"Related" by Gemma Stiles Flickr/Creative Commons

“Related” by Gemma Stiles Flickr/Creative Commons

Students often feel like they “can’t understand” and essay or come up with a response because the topic doesn’t immediately relate to their own lives. It’s important to recognize this as a defense mechanism.  For the sake of preserving ego, it’s easier to believe the cards are stacked against us or that we could have passed the test brilliantly if we’d actually tried.

Don’t fall into this habit!  Recognize that students who respond this way are often frustrated, denying the fact they haven’t prepared, or are nervous they will fail.

As the CATW is actually testing you on how well you CAN relate to a topic, by deciding you “can’t relate” or respond to the provided essay, you are deciding to fail from the outset.  It’s like sitting down to take a math test and refusing to do any problems involving math.

Instead, think: how CAN I relate to this topic? Among the many ways to address this “I can’t relate to this” tick, here are two:

  1. Slow down! Read carefully before you immediately “react” to a subject or essay.  Put your thoughts aside when you “preview” and/or read  your essay a first time. Students who suffer from the “I can’t relate to this” syndrome often jump to this conclusion immediately, perhaps even as soon as they see the title. This is because the assumption is NOT REAL. Push it back.  Some students have visualized a giant stop sign to keep the “I can’t relate to this” creature at bay.
  2. “Grow” the subject matter.  Instead of “me,” consider the topic in terms of your immediate community, the city, or the environment. Two examples:
  • There is an essay on bicycle laws, and you don’t own a bicycle. As a pedestrian or car driver, consider where you most often see cyclists in your neighborhood and why you see them there; or, as someone who breathes, relate cycling laws to environmental concerns about clean air for the city and beyond.
  • There is an essay about reducing sugar in the American diet, and dietary habits do not immediately impact you or your extraordinarily healthy family.  Consider the places in your neighborhood where people fall into the habit of eating too much sugar (convenience stores or ice cream shops) and consider who you see there and why.  Or, relate the sugar problem to the city: how do concerns about sugar and diet affect choices available in high school cafeterias or vending machines?  What was the result?

The bottom line is that you are being tested on your ability to relate to the topic given to you.  And if you let yourself, you can.

Welcome to Words Have Lives Fall 2014!

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Photo: Brooklyn Eagle from Flickr Creative Commons

Photo: Brooklyn Eagle from Flickr Creative Commons

This site on Open Labs contains information relevant to writing skills geared to writing strong college essays and geared to helping students confidently pass the CATW!

Throughout the semester, you will get reminders about tutoring services from wordshavelives@gmail.com.  These emails will also include links to this site, providing resources available to you on or off campus.

Link for Writer’s Block

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"That Old Problem with the Double Negative: Williamsburg Bridge" by Jennifer Sears

“That Old Problem with the Double Negative: Williamsburg Bridge” by Jennifer Sears

Taking the CATW is stressful!  Think about how you will tackle the stress during practice exams so you have a strategy. The Online Writing Lab at Purdue University offers some “cures” for common symptoms of “writer’s block,” such as “You’ve been assigned a topic which bores you” and “You are so stressed out you can’t seem to put a word on the page.”

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/567/01/

Six Reading Strategies

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"Williamsburg Bridge: April 1, 2014" by Jennifer Sears

“Brooklyn 4 Life (Williamsburg Bridge): April 1, 2014” by Jennifer Sears

In CATW tutoring sessions, many students have expressed concerns about reading strategies and writer’s block.  There are many approaches to reading well and reading as a writer who must write a response essay.  I’ve italicized this last sentence because you must keep your task in mind even as you read and analyze the essay you are given. “Reading as a writer: means you are constantly in conversation with the writer.

Here are six reading strategies that have worked well for previous students:

Reading Strategies for Writing a Response Essay:

1.  Identify the writer and title? What questions arise when you read the title?

2.  Preview the beginning and ending of the essay quickly the first time to identify the topic of the essay and to get a sense of the writer’s argument. You might ask:

  • what situation or conflict is described in this essay (topic)?
  • Is there a change or response to this conflict suggested by the writer (thesis)?

Note your answers to these questions (in “notation” form) in your margins.  Remember the writer’s argument (not the topic) is his/her thesis.

3.  Read the whole passage slowly.  As you have already considered the thesis, use this reading to understand how the writer is actively supporting his/her argument from the introductory paragraph all of the way to the concluding paragraph.   You might ask:

  • What specific points are made?
  • Which ideas best legitimize the writer’s argument?

Underline and annotate in the margins your findings.

4.  Note argumentative strategies used in the essay.  How and where does the writer use comparison and contrast, description, exemplification, division and classification, cause and effect, and/or narration? How are examples being used to support the author’s ideas? (Remember: you can use similar strategies and transitions are learned by reading and noticing how other writers use them.)

5.  Decide and write and the top corner of the essay whether you find the writer’s argument a legitimate argument.

6.  Freewrite/brainstorm on the bottom of the essay or in the margins. You might:

  • Respond with a few words that describe the problem or situation the author presents in the essay in your own words.
  • Respond with a few words that explore the cause of the problem or situation.
  • Respond with few words that trigger comparison: can you relate to the issue discussed? Could a story of someone you know relate to the issue discussed?
  • Respond with a few words or sentences that will help you remember how you might change the situation.

art = Article (Misused or Omitted)

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From Flickr Creative Commons (Credit: http://farmanac.com/)

From Flickr Creative Commons (Credit: http://farmanac.com/)

“The,” “a,” and “an” are called articles in English.  Many student writers are aware that “the” is specific (or “definite”) while “a” and “an” are both non-specific (or “indefinite”).  For example:

She ate a hot pepper. (indefinite: any hot pepper.)

She ate the hot pepper. (definite: the reciever knows the hot pepper she ate or perhaps there was only one)

The “indefinite” an is used before a word that begins with a vowel:

She at an orange-colored hot pepper.

Plurals: no article is used with indefinite articles whereas an article is used with the definite article.

She ate hot peppers every morning. (indefinite)

The hot peppers she ate every morning contributed to her ulcers. (definite)

Non-count Nouns: no article is used with indefinite articles; an article is used with the definite article.

Spicy food is hard to avoid in our globally-influenced cuisine.

The spicy food on the menu reflects the influence of the Indian population in our neighborhood.

Need more? Visit the Purdue Online Writing Lab regarding this issue.

 

 

 

 

Capitalizing Words in Titles (= = Capitalize)

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From Flickr Creative Commons

From Flickr Creative Commons

In academic writing, ideas are constantly being exchanged.  Writers credit intellectual sources to show both the path and development of their ideas and to avoid plagiarism.  Academic writers also identify sources because sharing ideas and making connections between your ideas and the ideas of others is a means of entering the academic playground.  You must become fluent in crediting sources and showing clearly which ideas are yours and which ideas belong to others.

There are many factors involved in crediting sources.  One factor is properly capitalizing titles of essays and articles.

STRATEGY:

Most words should be capitalized in titles including:

  • The first and last words
  • Words of four letters or more
  • All words of titles of three words or fewer

Words that SHOULD NOT be capitalized in titles are:

  • Articles (a, an, the) that do not appear at the beginning or end of the title
  • Coordinating Conjunctions
  • Prepositions of 3 letters or fewer
  • “To” when part of a verb phrase that is not at the beginning of the title

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