Reflection: What kind of writer am I?

It is time to look at yourself in the mirror...well, sort of. Look at your writing, and the rubric we use in class to evaluate your writing. What are your strengths? Do you have a strong voice when you write? Does your personality come through on the paper? Or, in your quest to sound professional, are you sounding dry and formal? Do your sentences have strong verbs or do you find yourself using the passive voice too often? Do you structure your essay so that your argument grows ever more forceful, like a piece of music, reaching a crescendo and then resolving sweetly at the end? Or does it all sound the same? How are your conclusions? Your introductions? Are your sentences varied or are they all the identical length? Do you pause for effect? Make use of rhetorical questions? How often do you include descriptive adjectives and other modifiers---to make the words come alive on the page? What are your weaknesses? How is your grammar? Where would you like to see yourself go next (as a writer)? What do you have to do to get there?

10 Important Reminders

Things Fall Apart


Typed revisions due Friday with originals attached. Please adhere to MLA guidelines.

General Notes for Class:


1) Introductions—stick to your thesis statement. If you promise you are going to write about setting, imagery, and point of view, that’s what you need to write about. Don’t go off topic UNLESS you are using the subtopic as a means to prove your thesis statement.

2) Novels are underlined, short stories get “”quotations. A novel is “entitled.”

3) Not a bad idea to start off the intro with the quote and then paraphrase its meaning and then explain how it is related to TFA.

4) Avoid 2nd person pov when possible

5) Don’t be afraid to take a stand in your essay. This book has an agenda –to show you the African pov, don’t be afraid to vehemently articulate this.

6) Citations must be in the proper, MLA format. “ blah blah blah,” (Achebe, 62).

7) Try to neatly embed your support rather than an awkward insertion.

8) Pay attention to your verbs. If you are using lots of helping verbs,--there is a hint that your verbs aren’t strong enough.

9) Choose a tense and stick with it. Generally, the present tense is stronger.

10) Don’t forget to address the ambiguities and the complexities. Nothing is simply black and white in a text. Achebe is both a powerful warrior and a misogynist. The Christians destroyed a culture in the belief that they were “saving” it. Be sure to define your terms and the questions those terms may provoke.

Paper Revision Policy

When it comes to writing, nothing is perfect and I want to encourage you to look back at your work and see it with fresh eyes. There is nothing like time to allow us to see mistakes and chicanery in our writing.

I have added a category to your overall grades for revision work. This will be an area where you are allowed to earn as much extra credit as you are willing to work for. I can't think of a better way to encourage you to re-visit your writing again and again and again and again and again and...well, you get the idea I hope.

All revisions must be typed, spell-checked, and submitted with the original(s) and/or additional copies of revisions. I would also appreciate a title page. I do not mind if you do the same paper 100 times! I will add additional ways to earn points as your papers continue to teach me the types of errors you are making and as I see how often and who decides to take advantage of this extra credit opportunity in AP.

Here are ways to earn points on revision work:
1) correcting MLA citation errors and grammatical errors (10 points).
2) revise/enhance/rethink order of paragraphs to enhance flow (10 points)
3) revise thesis statement and body paragraphs to reflect the new proof (10 points)
4) explain on a separate page what the overall focus of your changes consisted of and why you made them. (10 points)
5) a one-on-one conference with me about your paper (10 points--must be arranged in advance and is your responsibility)
6) revising for errors in logic (10 points)
7) revising to enhance flow, vary sentence length, include transitions (10 points)
8) revising to avoid repetition, misinterpretation, or inappropriate tone (10 points)
9) revising to incorporate voice (10 points)
10) revising introduction, conclusion and topic sentences--this will likely mean re-visiting the text to try to answer the "so what" (10 points)

Writing Tips Part 2

1. Choose a tense and stick to it. If you begin your essay, "Wordsworth wrote," you have chosen the past tense. Your next sentence can't be "Wordsworth writes."

2. Do not switch to the 2nd person point of view. Example, "In the poem, the author chooses words to show how constraining the form of the sonnet is. Therefore, you can't be as creative if you only have ten syllables to a line!" Instead, revise the line to say,"ten syllables is too rigid a constraint to place on a form of writing intended to express creative thought." Or something like that.

3. Use topic sentences!

4. Stick to proving whatever your topic sentence promises to defend. For example, if your topic sentence says "Wordsworth uses imagery to elaborate on the restrictions of the sonnet." The rest of the paragraph should have examples and analysis of how the images are restrictive and NOTHING ELSE.

5. Use transitional phrases to move from one paragraph to another. For example, while Wordsworth seems to dislike the Sonnet, Keats on the other hand, seems to admire the form.

Writing Tips

1. Don't flatter, wax poetic, or languish praise upon the text you've read. When you say something about how "amazing" the poem was, an AP reader thinks you sound disingenuous and indicates that you lack precise words to analyze and discuss the poem.

2. Don't use a word unless you know how to use it and what it really means. So, don't say ironic when you mean sarcastic.

3. DO pre-write, outline, and generally sketch out your thoughts BEFORE you begin your essay. The more organized and clear you are about what you will say, the better your essay will flow and the more sense it will make.

4. Remember that paragraphs need topic sentences. Topic sentences should come from a clear thesis statement. Your essays should not feel like journals or thoughts on paper. They should sound formal and well thought out.

5. Don't preach. No one wants to read platitudes, aphorisms, or sermons. Instead we want to read how the author achieves something and what that something has to do with a universal question (perhaps the human dilemma).

Advice for Revision of HAMLET papers

Since most of you chose the "corruption" theme, I am going to use that to offer suggestions of how to revise your papers. First of all, attack the question in chunks. What images of corruption do we see in the play? Well, the play starts off with the country in a state of war or post war. The King appears to have wrongfully claimed some land. This opens up the audience and the reader to the idea that this is a devious King.

Next, a ghost shows up. Ghosts don't show up when things are all good and happy. Right? I mean, this is no Casper. So, explain that and what it might mean.

Next, the use of poison--it was used to kill twice in the play and is a symbol of corruption,no?


Snake/serpent imagery--look for it, it is there and for a reason too.

Disease==madness kiddies, is a disease. Who is mad, goes mad, feigns madness or by faking becomes mad is all tied up in the idea that if you are not honest and real, you are corrupt and deceitful and you will pay a price. Who is guilty of this in the play? Almost everyone. Ros & Guil take the King's side and aren't honest w. Hamlet, Hamlet fakes madness lots, the Queen is false to herself, her son, and perhaps in her love of Claudius, etc, etc.

Loss of virtue--if you'd like you can use Ophelia and the Queen in this arguement but there is also Hamlet who sinks pretty low to trap King Claudius.

Now, think of levels
There is corruption of the state and thus society--important to remember that the King represents the country and his actions reflect directly on what happens to the people both inside and outside the royal family
corruption of the individual--ones actions lead to condequences, one small immoral step might lead down a rocky road
corruption of another through deceit--what you say or do to someone else might mess them up.

Finally, when you quote, do it like this:
Summary of scene in play, quote, analysis, tie analysis to theme. Also use (IV, iii, 323-326) as your citation format.