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Here are some general interpretations of the comments I make on weekly papers:
- when I circle grammatical and punctuation errors, look in your Rules for Writers books to find the way to correct this error; the purpose of me highlighting these errors is to show you where something needs correction, and you finding the rule on your own will make you learn it better than me simply telling you what is wrong or correcting it for you
- bracketed and circled things on papers means some sort of error; check Rules for Writers to see how to correct that error; ask me if you are unsure of what the error is or if you can't read my writing
- paragraphs should contain related information, but sometimes multiple paragraphs can have related information broken into numerous paragraphs; places where new paragraphs should be started are marked with a "/" and sometimes the paragraph symbol (¶)
Paper Guidelines
Your weekly papers will count for 60% of your final grade (6% each). Each will be a one-page paper on a given topic relating to the readings we discuss in class. The purpose of these papers is to provide you with continuing practice in writing that will enable you to learn to expand and elaborate upon your arguments while forcing you to write concisely (to fit within a single page).
In order that I can easily read your papers, I have some guidelines for you to follow in formatting any weekly paper. I will have to read over 50 papers each time you have to write 1, so I will require that your papers adhere to the following guidelines:
- use 8 ½" x 11" paper - you pretty much have to
- minimum of 10 point font size - any smaller hurts my eyes
- Times New Roman font typeface - don't choose fonts that look like a Dr. Seuss book or a 1950's typewriter
- not right justified - this makes reading the paper difficult
- no staples - I want to be able to place the papers in nice, neat stacks
- no dot-matrix papers - these printers have awful quality; I could write better in crayon
Do not alter any of these, or I will not read your paper.
Late Papers
I will not accept these weekly papers late, so do not procrastinate. You know when each of these is due, and you will have ample time to write each paper. Therefore, I will accept no excuses. Papers will be collected at the beginning of class, so showing up late will make your paper late, and not acceptable. Don't wait until just before class to print your paper.
My advice would be to make sure your paper is printed before you go to bed the night before the paper is due...
Paper Topics