"Only connect! . . .Live in fragments no longer.” E. M. Forster, Howards End (1910), ch. 22
‘One
day when I was twenty-three or twenty-four this sentence seemed to form
in my head, without my willing it, much as sentences form when we are
half-asleep, ‘Hammer your thoughts into unity’.
For days I could think of nothing else and for years I tested all I did
by that sentence [...]” William Butler Yeats (Nobel Prize 1923; cited
in Frank Tuohy, Yeats,
1976, p.51 )
PROJECTS
WHAT EXACTLY IS THE PROFESSOR LOOKING FOR IN THIS ASSIGNMENT?
PERFECTION
First of all, I am looking for the perfect grammar and punctuation the world expects from an English major. That is the minimum. Secondly, I am looking for someone who can write. What I mean by that is someone who has a sense of organization, unity, flow, and, especially, perfect word choice, the best possible word in the best possible place.
How do you achieve these results? Well, Hemingway was asked a related question.
Paris Review: How much rewriting do you do?
Hemingway: It depends. I rewrote the ending to A Farewell To Arms, the last page of it, thirty-nine times before I was satisfied.
Paris Review: Was there some technical problem there? What was it that stumped you?
Hemingway: Getting the words right
Rewriting is the secret of great writing. To get perfect grammar and punctuation you need to be able to "proofread" the writing carefully, often by reading it backwards sentence by sentence. When you read it forward multiple times unity, or the absence thereof, becomes apparent. Revising becomes discovery learning as you radically revise your ideas to make the writing more coherent and organized. All this requires the ability to see your writing new, as if you were someone else reading it. For most people, the only reliable way to attain this perspective is to let time lapse before re-reading. Thus the secret of writing becomes time management. You may ask, but how can I make time for rewriting when I am so busy? Ah, now we are at the heart of the problem, I reply. Time Management becomes a question of Motivation. We are at the key questions: Why Are You Here? What Are Your Goals? Are You Ready to Create a New Self? Are You Emotionally Mature Enough For College? Would It Be Better to Tell Your Parents that Have No Real Goals Here except to Have a Good Time? If You Do Have Some Goals But They Don't Involve College, Would It Not Be Better to Take Some Time Off to Do What You Really Want to Do?
requirements:
Project One.
3. The project must be concise, and have correct spelling and punctuation, consistent tense usage, logical transitions between sentences, and above all, the best word and best punctuation in the best place (see below). We will NOT use MLA parenthetical documentation. Documentation is to be by footnotes (not endnotes) using the format indicated in the section from the University of Chicago Style Manual in your course anthology. Grades are based not only on content but also on number of errors and infelicities in writing style. The smart thing is to try to write technically perfect papers.
4. The number of words is to be specified at the end of the project, after the final sentence (use “word count” under “tools” in Microsoft Word). The minimum for a project is 1400 words; for a revision (Project 1B) it is 350 additional words. Quotations from others and citations of references are not to be included in your word count.
5. You must include at least two quotations from your sources. Extra points will be given also for incorporating additional quotes from relevant readings in our packet or elsewhere (with identification of author and title and page numbers)
6. You must include pictures. This requirement is usually met by inserting electronic files of pictures or photographs into your text (see “Insert” in Word or Dreamweaver). The purpose of the pictures is for you to become acquainted with the integration of verbal and visual rhetoric that has become common these days and to gain some practical experience in preparing a multimedia web site. Pay special attention to ”Effective Visual Design” in your anthology.
a.) Using Photoshop* or a similar program, reduce the size of the pictures of to the size of those you see in the MOO. Reduce the size of any character symbols or pictures (ghosts) you include to the size of those you see in the MOO. (*This program is available in our classroom and in Parlin 102 for your use.)
b.) Insert pictures in text where they belong, not in a gallery or in footnotes at the end. Make sure to identify or title all pictures (in other words, supply captions with footnotes).
c.) Pictures can be taken from the internet if you supply the URL for each internet picture in a footnote or in a List of Illustrations at the end, provided the picture is not copyrighted.
d.) For pictures from print media, you will need to digitize them (make them into a computer file) with a scanner. If you are going to use them on the web 72 dpi is sufficient. There are scanner stations in our classroom, the Student Microcomputer Facility, FAC 212, and in the Rhetoric multimedia lab: PAR 102.
7. Finally, make sure you proofread the essay carefully for every kind of error, including typos.
8. Get help if need be: for more specific help feel free to email me, or call me on the phone to make an appointment to meet in my office. Alternatively, take advantage of the services you have paid for in the Undergraduate Writing Center and Jester Learning Center.
9. Convert your projects into web (htm) files. If you have not written your project in a web-site-creation program such as Dreamweaver or Front Page you will need to convert your file(s) into web files, that is, "htm" or "html" files. Most students use Microsoft Word for word processing, so we will use that as our example. After you have written your project and inserted the pictures, with captions, find the “Save as Web file” option in Word. (If your word processing program does not have this option, see the instructor.) Use the “Save as Web file” option. Make sure your file ends in "htm" or "html," not "mht" or "doc" or "wps." (You can not just type "htm" at the end of the file name because that alone won't make the file accessible to the web.)
10. Converted projects are to be uploaded to a web site. If you do not have your own web site, you can use your webspace account. See Putting Pages on the Web Using Webspace in your anthology. Now follow the instructions written by Brooks Antweil:
1. Go to http://webspace.utexas.edu and log in to your personal page.
[2a. check out the "web folder" option and use that rather than the direcitons below if you can]
2b. To make it easier, I made a separate folder just for my project.
3. "Share" the folder that will contain your project (instructions in the course packet).
4. Now go into the new folder. Click the "Upload" button in the tool bar. Find the file (not the folder) that your project is saved under. This will most likely be in your "My Documents" folder in Windows. The one you're looking for is "(filename).htm," so if your file is called "project1," the file you want is called "project1.htm." When this file is uploaded, you will have uploaded the written part of the project, but not the pictures.
5. When you saved the project in ".htm" format, Word also created a folder with the same name as your project to hold the multimedia files (read "pictures"). The default name of this folder is "(filename)_files"; (using the previous example it would be "project1_files"). In the same directory as your "project1.htm" file in webspace, create a folder with the same name as the one that Word created for you. You have to do this because Internet Explorer will not let you upload the entire folder. To do this, click "New Directory" in the webspace toolbar and type in the exact name of the folder that word created. Make sure that all spaces and underscores are there, and all words are spelled correctly, because the name of this folder is going to be "sensitive."
6. After you have created a folder called "project1_files" (just an example), click on this folder to open it. NOW, you can upload all of the files that are in the folder Word created. Make sure to upload every file that is in your Word folder. In other words, click the "Upload" button in the toolbar, and then upload each individual file from the "project1_files" directory on your computer.
Once you have uploaded your complete project you need to make sure all files related to the project have their permissions set to "share" in Webspace. Then you need to make sure they all work together properly by accessing them on a different computer and checking the results. If you use a PC check your webspace file on an internet-accessed Mac or vice versa. This is the only effective way to make sure your site is working properly.
11. To post projects, for others to see and comment on, go to Blackboard (courses.utexas.edu) and choose our course. Choose Discussion Board and then Project One (or Two as the case may be). Then post the webspace URL of your project in proper HTML format so that the respondent need only click on or select your project title and the project pops up without the respondent being required to type in your whole URL into a separate window. In other words, type in actual HTML code like this:
<a href="http://www.la.utexas.edu/users/bump/E603B/index.html">Return to Course Page</a>
Of course, you will subtitute the correct webpace URL for "www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/E603B/index.html" and your own project name for "Return to Course Page."
12.
(a) When it is time to hand in the “hard” copy of your project, make all the
changes in your text and your
website suggested by your peers that seem useful to you. Then make
all the changes necessary to make them fit the requirements specified above:
not only those concerning word count, pictures, citations from books, and quotations,
but especially those concerning word choice, documentation, punctuation
and proofreading. Remember that Revising is discovery learning,
especially when you
"Getting the words right" applies to every word, including even the little prepositions that accompany verbs. Concerning the latter, consider, for example, the phrase "My curiosity triumphed in convincing me": the best preposition would be "by" rather than "in." In the past you would know this automatically because of the amount of reading you had done, but now, apparently because many of even the best students don't read as much, you might have to look it up. Where would you look it up? In the kind of dictionary that gives detailed definitions and examples, such as the Oxford English Dictionary. If you were to look up the verb "triumph" you would see that using the preposition "in" is usually reserved for objects as in Shakespeare's "Which triumpht in that skie of his delight" and "triumphing in their faces." When you refer to an action such as "convincing," the most appropriate preposition is "by," as in Scott's "triumphed by anticipation over their surrender." When you use the "wrong" preposition the knowledgeable reader is halted in his or her reading and the effectiveness of your writing is weakened.
"Getting the words right" also applies to punctuation, as we know from our excerpt from Eats, Shoots, and Leaves. Footnote numbers, for example, should not be put in parentheses, should be set above the line, and follow any punctuation marks except a dash. Citations and footnote placement are to follow the U. of Chicago rules (see the course anthology). There is no need for a bibliography if full information is provided in the notes.
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(12 b)Then, when you have polished the project to the best of your ability, made it as "perfect" as possible, save it as a web file as you did before and upload it to replace the old file on webspace. (If you neither added nor subtracted pictures you should have to repeat the uploading of the picture file only if you change the file name of the project.)
(12c.)Returning to your latest version of your word processing file (the one that matches exactly the text that is on the website) print out the text with pictures, double spaced, with wide margins and page numbers; and with the word count and the U.R.L. (address) of the website at the end.
(12d.) Place this document in a pocket folder with your NAME ON THE OUTSIDE.
13. ALSO IN THIS FOLDER, include
[1] All the suggestions for revision of your project by your peers on the Discussion Board, highlighting the suggestions you incorporated in your essay. You do this NOT by printing out each suggestion separately but by copying and pasting them into a single Word document.
[2] ALSO IN THIS FOLDER, in the same format, include all the suggestions you made to other students. This is the only way you will get credit for them. You do this NOT by printing out each suggestion separately but by copying and pasting them into a single Word document.
(3) REMEMBER, all documents are to be in A POCKET FOLDER WITH YOUR NAME ON THE OUTSIDE.
GRADING
TIME MANAGEMENT
Late penalties. Because the secret of good writing is allowing time to read and revise: DO NOT PROCRASTINATE.
a. For posting late on webspace and the Discussion Board: -10 pts. for each day (not each class day) that the project is late.
b. For turning in hard copies to me late: -10 pts. for each class day late.
*Printer and other computer problems are not acceptable excuses (= my dog ate my home work). EXPECT unanticipated problems; you need to do your work in advance so that you can deal with such problems before the deadline.
HOW YOUR PROJECT WILL BE GRADED:
-- "Good" in margin = +3 or more
Inadequate research: up to - 20
Weak unity, coherence, thought progression: up to - 20 (ONLY CONNECT: HAMMER YOUR THOUGHTS INTO UNITY)
Quote included +2, well integrated +3 or more; up to +20 points total for quotations
Pictures on the website: with labels, +2 each, IF also referred to in the text +3 each; up to + 10 points total for pictures (beyond the required picture)
audio well integrated +10 or more; video well integrated +20 or more
Major errors first project: -3, minor errors -2, infelicities –1. Same errors repeated in revision of first project –7, -4, -3. This system is employed to strongly encourage you to master time management, a secret of rewriting.
If you are deliberately making mistakes to make speech or writing more authentic you must follow each mistake with "sic" or I will assume the mistake is yours rather than the speaker's.
When you quote within a quote remember to use italics or single quotation marks to set off the actual quotation from the rest of the words ascribed to the speaker.
No word count –10
Inaccurate word count –25
Word count inflated by counting quotations or references: -5 to -20, depending on the amount of the inflation.
Less than 1400 words: 1300 words or so –10; 1200 words or so –15 etc. Obviously, the more words you write the greater the risk of error. Thus some may be tempted to write as little as possible and thereby expect a better grade than those who wrote more. Hence the penalty must be fairly heavy because we don’t want to penalize those who do the assignment and reward those who do not.
No working URL - 5
No pictures - 10
1 or more pictures not working on site: -5
No captions on pictures: -2 per picture
No source information for pictures: -2 per picture
Endnotes rather than footnotes on the website -5
MLA parenthetical documentation instead of footnotes - 10
Citations not following U of Chicago style manual - 2 per citation.
No student suggestions to you - 10
Wrong format for student suggestions to others -5
Wrong format for student suggestions to you -5
Student suggestions to you that you used not highlighted. (At least one must be highlighted.) -5
No page numbers -5
Not double spaced -5
No books cited -20
Only one book cited -10
No folder -10
No name legible on the folder -5
-10 changes not highlighted in Project 1B or 2B.
Numbers in the margin refer to the chart on the inside of the back cover of Bazerman, except for
-- "UC," which stands for the selection from the University of Chicago Style Manual in our course anthology, &
-- the symbol of the inverted V, which stands for “transition needed between these sentences” (more coherence, more unity needed)
N.B.: Bazerman, of course, insists on American, not British, punctuation.
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