Weeks 16 & 17: The End

Class,

Your final ENG 215 assignment requires you to try something new. Instead of completing a draft of an essay that's to remain in word processor form, you'll be writing with attention to multimedia presentation.

How do you finalize an essay that reads with the interest and charisma of modern blog writing? One way to create that type of interest is to include visual data. Think, as you write, about what kind of images you could use that would add texture, information, and persuasion to your essay. After finalizing a draft on a word processing program, you'll copy and paste the text into a blog post, then re-format it to look professional and persuasive. Choose, also, a voice and style that works in the context of a blog post. Skim popular blogs on the internet to become acquainted with blog writing about news or issues, as a way of becoming familiar with strong ways to craft your essay. Focus on editing. Your post should be worthy of publication before it's uploaded to the blog.

Your full assignment instructions can be located under "Tuesday, November 30th" on your calendar. To clarify the instructions, I have several more points. For one, since blog writing is rarely (if ever) double-spaced, you ought not leave your text double-spaced when copied from word processor to post. Do cite your research in Works Cited, but choose formatting that looks good on the webpage. For instance, you might choose to use a smaller font or a different font to distinguish the text of the essay from the citations. Also, be sure to cite your image sources. Since a minimum of 3 sources and 3 images are required for this assignment, it's likely that you will have 6 citations or more. If you have any other questions for clarification, send me an email and I'll be happy to reply.

By tomorrow night, everyone should post a completed rough draft of your final essay. On Wednesday or Thursday, you can offer peer review to your group members so they can continue to edit their work.

Anytime after Thursday, and until Tuesday, December 7th (there's an error on your calendar that says Tuesday is the 8th), you are welcome to post your final essay to your blog. By Tuesday the 7th, remember to visit Blackboard's Discussion Board to post your HW assignment for the final day. Besides posting your final essay project to your blog, you will post a reflection letter and an appreciations letter to Discussion Board. The former will be a note to yourself, and the latter will be a note to the class. Details appear under "Tuesday, December 7th" on your course calendar. You may also have received a course evaluation form via email; filling these out will give the university a sense of my effort this semester. Please take the time to submit the course evaluation, and thanks for that.

As you finish out the semester, I'd like to thank you for sharing your wonderful writing with me. I hope your practice of expository academic writing in this course gives you confidence with writing in future courses. I also wish you the best of luck with finals.

Happy Holidays and enjoy a well deserved Winter Break!

Sincerely,
Professor Patel