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My Professional Writing Papers

Technical Writing ·  Exposition & Argumentation ·  Non-fiction Creative Essays ·  Grammar and Usage of Standard English ·  The Structure of English ·  Analysis of Shakespeare

Analysis of Literary Language ·  Advanced Professional Papers ·  The History of the English Language ·  First Internship: Tutoring in a Writing Workshop ·  Second Internship: Advanced Instruction: Tutoring Writing

Visual Literacy Seminar (A First Course in Methodology) ·  Theories of Communication & Technology (A Second Course in Methodology) ·  The Writer's Guild

Journalism

UMBC'S Conservative Newspaper: "The Retriever's Right Eye" ·  UMBC'S University Newspaper: "The Retriever Weekly" ·  Introduction to Journalism ·  Feature Writing ·  Science Writing Papers

The Shipka Spaces: Language in Society

Communicative Objective #1 (CO1): A re-contextualization of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED)

Communicative Objective #2 (CO2): A hyper-modest proposal for two un-researched communicative practices within the study of language in society

The History of "this" Space: "Welcome to the Anti-Apathy Club: A study of UMBC student culture within the Shipka Spaces"

Blackboard Weekly Posts (A Bulletin Board Community)

Presentation/Activity: "Back to the Little Red Schoolhouse:
A re-articulation of the index card method of organization for research papers"

An Explanation of How to Read "This" Presentation/Activity ·  The Original Presentation/Activity Parameters for "Back to the Little Red Schoolhouse": The task order sheet ·  The Original Readings that Frame and Inspire the Presentation/Activity

Photos of the "Back to the Little Red Schoolhouse" Artifacts ·  Audio Tape of the Presentation/Activity "Back to the Little Red Schoolhouse" ·  The Initial Index Card Ordering (Before) and the Index Card Ordering by Each Group (After)

Flow Chart of the Presentation/Activity "Back to the Little Red Schoolhouse" ·  Goals, Choices, and Process Narrative-Sketch for the Presentation/Activity "Back to the Little Red Schoolhouse"

Back to the Little Red Schoolhouse Blackboard Community Post

The Rolling Credits for Back to the Little Red Schoolhouse: Who Contributed to "This" Objective.

Rolling Credits
First a heartfelt thanks goes out to Shipka for her input and guidance in reigning in this presentation activity. I found myself in a trying position and she worked with me making it possible for this presentation/activity to take off.

Thanks goes out to Dr. Carpenter for reminding us that index card organization still has a useful place especially in the digital age in large papers for the purpose of experimenting with structural organizations.

I have to extend thanks to Professor Diane Putzel who also insisted in the UMBC Exposition and Argumentation class that the index card method of organization even if it was taught by “some old guy” in Freshman Composition class.

Elizabeth Piccirillo and Donald M. Murray add to the presentation by enlightening us with the “clipping method” of organization. “Print out the document cut it up into individual paragraphs and shove them around on the table to visually see the organization. Cutting up the text in my mind is the same thing as the index card method, just without index cards.

Jonathan Deane receives thanks for his big black marker method of editing. One just reads through and slaughters the “little darlings” (looking for sentences that really add nothing to the paper and are just noise. If there is nothing left in the end or very little, here's an opportunity to expand the content.

Also a special thanks goes out to Steven Norfolk for his explanation of purposeful design in stating why a host wears a light color suit. His statement lent support to my re-design decision.

Last, a special thanks goes out to the entire 407 class. I think what happened is that I loosened the reigns enough that my peers began to tell me what they wanted this presentation to focus on: a discussion about their own writing processes. Bill Chewning, Elizabeth Piccirillo, Philip Hartman, and I did this in ENGL 395 as a Blackboard post but we never had the opportunity to discuss the writing process face to face and at the time we were thinking with the “frame of the computer screen,” not where the process really occurs which is inside the mind and externally due to stimuli from the outside world. Anything can act as a trigger for an idea, association or a concept. Something I said in the presentation triggered a spark and the entire discussion took off from there without further prompting.

Thanks all, without you none of this would have been necessary!