Tips for Writing a Better Paper

Dear Students,

I had an e-mail exchange with a student today, in regard to how she might improve her essay-writing for the next round of submissions.

Allow me to quote from the e-mail, as I think that my advice to her may prove pertinent to others of you:

"...The short answer would be that for a better grade, some use of primary sources should be exhibited. In other words, the paper should be more than a rehearsal of what is in the textbook.

Secondly, the paper should be free of all but the most minute of grammatical errors, and give evidence of having been rigorously proofread; asking a peer to do this would be best, as others will pick up on things that you miss.

Finally, I am looking for some "sparkle": a sign that the material has been engaged on a personal level, with your own thoughts and experience being brought to bear upon the topic at hand. It should be YOUR essay, not one substitutable for that of another student, while still focussed on the information gleaned from the textbook and other sources."

As I mentioned in class, both style and substance are of import in the humanities. To keep yourself on track with respect to content, I highly recommend making an outline that incorporates the desiderata itemized in this document, to which a link was also given in an earlier post. Another helpful practice is to make your thesis statement your first statement. This will ensure that both you and your reader know where you are going with your paper.

Due Date for Short Essays & Correction Symbols

Dear Students,

Please be advised that Short Essay #1, due tomorrow, must be submitted electronically--if either Shannon or Greg has given permission for this method of submission--by 8 am tomorrow morning.

For my students in my tutorial, and for all those who have not received explicit permission from Shannon or Greg, the Essay must be submitted in hard copy at the BEGINNING of the lecture.

The point of this stipulation, as you can appreciate, is to spare you the ignominy of skipping the lecture in order to complete the required assignment! We would miss your presence too much!

This same protocol will apply for all the Short Essays.

I will be using these correction symbols in reading your work; please proofread ahead of time, as marks will be deducted for poor grammar and orthography!

Our Class ID for MyHumanitiesKit & Link to SYLLABUS

A reminder, for those students who may still be confused (or new to the class), that the correct CLASS ID for our course, for use in accessing the MyHumanitiesKit, is the following:

cm317038

Note that you also require an access code, packaged with your textbook; the Class ID allows you to join HUM 101W and submit your quiz results for marking.

N.B. The syllabus, which can be accessed on-line through the MyHumanitiesKit ("Class Info") has also been modified. It can also be retrieved here.

Update on Short Essay Writing

Here are a few odds and ends that have come to my attention, relevant to your written work:

One student asked about how to cite Sayre in the body of the text; the following will suffice:

...(Sayre, p. #)

Secondly, Shannon has requested that her students also, along with Greg's, submit their assignments using the MLA format. I appreciate everyone's co-operation in this respect.

Thirdly, the following is the best site to consult, for those wishing to incorporate primary sources into their first short essay:

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/

It has a collection of classical (Greek and Roman) texts, in translation, that is without peer.

Finally--and I should have said this at the start--I would like to thank Shannon for having taught me how to set up a blog. It is a very recently-acquired skill for me (and, as you can see, one that is still operative at only a rudimentary level!)

On-line Quizzes

A few people have drawn my attention to the fact that some of the questions in the on-line quizzes require answers that are either overly particular, i.e., "red-figure" instead of "red figure,"--in one of the fill-in-the-blanks from Chapter 1--or else simply wrong, as in one of the questions from this week's quiz, where the system requires "Hannibal" as an answer to the question "[what] is a Latin word translated as “dutifulness” and considered to be essential to Roman family life?"--when the correct answer is "pietas."

These discrepancies reflect the fact that the technology we are using is still new, and there are glitches to be worked out. I appreciate Shannon and Sarah, respectively, pointing the above examples out to me, and I will inform Pearson Ed of such instances, so that they can rectify/improve the website. You are all "guinea pigs" of a sort, since this textbook is new (and thus its website also)! Please continue to advise me of other errors you notice...

In light of the above, for the sake of your evaluation, I have decided the following:

All submissions of 90% or more will be counted for full marks.

In other words, when you do a quiz, you may rest content once you have scored at least 90%, and submitted your mark for grading. The full 2% per chapter, therefore, will be given to those who:

1) complete and submit all three of the pertinent exercises (Multiple Choice, Fill-in-the-Blank & Key Terms) for a given chapter
2) do so on time (midnight of the Wednesday before that material is covered in class)
3) achieve at least 90% on each quiz

I hope this resolves any confusion, and calms any apprehension!

Writing Resources

You may wish to consult the rich selection of writing helps available here. Credit is due to SFU sessional instructor Dr. Greg Polakoff for compiling this list, and to Shannon, for directing my attention to it.

Schema for Grading of Short Essays

Dear Students:

Please follow this link for a one-page guide to how to write a successful essay. Citations of the textbook may made by indicating the page cited in brackets. If and when other sources are used, however, they should be referenced in footnotes, according to the Chicago Manual of Style.

N.B. Students in Greg Scutt's tutorial should employ MLA rather than Chicago.

It is advisable to use other primary sources where pertinent. In other words, try to have recourse to the larger original texts from which excerpts are provided in the text boxes of Sayre.

If, for example, you are working on question no. 3 from Chapter 2 (The Greek World), concerning Aristotle`s vision of the good life, you may wish to look up some of Aristotle`s writings on-line, using the title of the work given in the relevant text box as a starting point, and read a more substantial section of it--to which you can then refer in your essay.

Please make use only of primary sources; in such short essays, references to Sayre will suffice as a secondary source.