English Showcase

This week in class we have been working on the final project for English 106. Mary has been kind enough to give us time during class to work on the projects. The last few classes we have spent discussing the digital maps that we plan to display, of our work, on the tri-fold.

This week there was an ICaP (Introductory Composition at Purdue) Showcase where students from last semester had displayed their projects. The projects were very well displayed and helped me visualize my final project. The project displays were so clear that just by looking at the display I could understand the whole project. I have selected India as a theme for my project, but now I am afraid that like those displays I might not be able to explain by projects as well and easily through the display. Most of my audience is not as aware of India as I am so I will be difficult for them to understand my display, but by using some of the tools that we have been introduced to in English class, I will be able to achieve this.

technorati tags: final project, english 106, ICap

Time Management

The semester is coming to and end, the finals are around the corner, the last set of exams just got over. This week with all the exams and assignments due just before the end of the semester, has made be realize how important it is to manage time. I have always left thing undone until the last minute but now with all the different assignment due at the same time this is not a very good idea. Last week for me has been one of the most exhausting, with multiple assignments and exams this week. Being busy with other subjects I have ignored writing blogs for English. I know this is not a good idea especially if I want a good grade in English. As Mackenzie mentioned her conversation with Mary I know I must write more often this week, but sometimes it is just so hard at the end of the day when there is and exam and so much pending homework for the next day.

With this week coming to an end I will try and write a little more than I did previously. Hope I can keep my word.

technorati tags: time, exams, writing

Final Project

The final project for English 106 is a presentation of my digital presence. It is a presentation of everything that we have done throughout the semester. During the course of this semester I have registered myself at so many places online, I don’t even remember keeping a track, and following up on some of them. In class when I made list of all the places, I came up with a list of over twenty such places. For the project I have to choose ten of these that reflect me. The project seems really interesting, and from the examples we looked at this Monday it requires me to be creative with the presentation of the project. Mary has been empathizing on the importance of this project; also it reflects all we have done through the semester so it definitely is going to be the most important, and time consuming of all the projects.

technorati tags: final project, english 106, digital presentation

World 66

create your own visited country map

This is map of all the countries that I have visited.

After looking at this map I noticed how I had not really visited as many countries as I thought I had. I have visited at least one country in each of the continents, except Antarctica of course.

technorati tags: world, countries, visited

The 10 Grammar Rules

Here are the 10 rules that I find I should pay particular attention to. I will check for them while writing for project #2.

1. F.A.N.B.O.Y.S
The suitable use of the comma where needed and particularly before FANBOYS.

2. Economy of Phrase
Eliminate as many unnecessary words from a sentence as possible.

3. Sentence complexity
Join sentences using conjunctives.

4. Paragraphing
Organize and divide the paper into paragraphs.

5. Commanding words
Do not use words like feel and believe.

6. Citation
Cite the resources in the right format.

7. Redundancy
Avoid repeating words and sentences.

8. Standard pronoun
Use “She” when generalizing.

9. Diction
Use the most appropriate words.

10. The Rule of 24
And finally proofread your paper after 24 hours and look for all these rules.


technorati tags: rules, writting, grammer

The library of congress and cybermapping

The library of Congress is yet another website that we were introduced to in English class. It is an excellent place to find resources for the 2^nd project. Navigating through the site, I found it very similar to the Purdue libraries site. The site consists of a lot more information, not just in the form of books, but even audio and pictures.
An atlas of Cyberspaces was one of the other sites that we looked into in class today. Cybermaps are like real maps, they help us to navigating through the site. The maps help in visualizing the cyberspace in ways other than how they are represented on the computer screen. I found most the maps rather abstract, and did not quite understand them, but here is one that I liked because it made a lot of sense.

C map and Free Mind are programs through which these cybermaps can be created. I downloaded C map, and tried playing around with it for a while. It was really useful in organize information and create a map. The program is very user friendly and fun to work with.



technorati tags: Library of Congress, Atlas of Cyberspace, C map

Paragraphs

When I normally write, I divide my paper into paragraphs instinctively without analyzing it in detail. Today in class Mary talked to us about paragraphing and how to organize a paper. This was the first time I realized the important function that paragraphs play in a paper. Different paragraphs of a paper separate main points of a bigger idea that the paper is conveying.

A paragraph should follow a pattern similar to that of the overall paper, creating a rhythm for the reader. It is important for a paper to have a rhythm as it keeps the reader interested by making the paper easy to follow. Using a standard pattern is also a good idea as it is easier to establish a rhythm with something that the reader id already familiar. The standard pattern begins with an introduction or topic sentence followed by the body of the paragraph or the paper and then of course the conclusion.

A strong paragraph thus can be enhanced by making is more readable, this can be done by establishing a rhythm. One of the other things that can enhance a paragraph are the sentences used. A sentence can be improved by making the sentence more complex, this can be achieved by using conjunctives to combine sentences, getting rid of unneeded words and using commanding words. Following these simple rules increases the sophistication of the writing.


technorati tags: Paragraphs, Writting, Improve

The Difference between a Research Paper and an Essay

The English 106 class today was just as informative and interesting as always. Like always I learned something new and useful in English class. The class today was a discussion about the differences between a Research Paper and an Essay. I never really thought about the two such different things until class today.

A research paper is where you gather information through the research you conduct, and then draw a conclusion stating your opinion based on the information collected.
An essay on the other hand is where you have an opinion and you conduct research to support your opinion. The body of the essay is more like an argument to support your opinion.

One of the important things in both the essay and the research paper is to support your opinion. Thus the research conducted needs to be thorough, from reliable sources and appropriately sited. According to Mary, my English teacher a good paper is one in which the truth has been established beyond question.


technorati tags: Research Paper, Essay, opinion

Contributions to The Read and Write Web

For a while now I have been writing on this blog space, this has been one of the ways in which I have learned to contribute to The Read and Write Web. In class we also learned about how there are websites that we can edit without needing to know any computer languages or being an inventor of the site. Yesterday, we were assigned to explore two such sites and contribute to their content.

Urban Dictionary is an online dictionary for slang. Almost any possible words that you have remotely heard of has a meaning there. I even tried some Hindi (Indian language) words, and was surprised to find that some of the commonly used Hindi slang words were listed .I contributed to the dictionary by adding to their list of Hindi slang.

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia online that can be edited by anyone. The website is regularly checked and updated, this I can say very confidently as just to test this I even put in something that I knew was wrong, and then checked again the next morning to discover that it had been edited. The encyclopedia covers a wide Varity of subjects in every field. Finding something to edit on the encyclopedia, when I first started looking seem an almost impossible task, until Mary helped me realize that I needed to search for something that I was confident I knew more about than anyone else. I found a search result for my religious group, Namdharis. My religion is among the minority religions in India, so I was really surprised to find anything about it online, I decided to edit some of the information that I thought was wrong.


technorati tags: Urban Dictionary, Wikipedia, Contribution