Procrastination Test

Take the 10-Question Procrastination Test at psychologytoday.tests.psychtests.com/

Just don't put it off until tomorrow!

You can read more about procrastination here.

According to the article, "Procrastination is, in fact, an emotional issue, not a time-management issue. It is about the fear of losing, the fear of guilt and the fear of making a mistake."

Sample Critical Review

A sample critical review, together with suggestions and an outline, is here.

Sample Character Sketch

Several sample character sketches as well as suggestions about writing a character sketch are at:
http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/Character-Sketch.htm

• Annie Dillard's Sketch of Her Childhood Friend Judy Schoyer
  "My friend Judy Schoyer was a thin, messy, shy girl whose thick blond curls lapped over her glasses. Her cheeks, chin, nose, and blue eyes were round; the lenses and frames of her glasses were round, and so were her heavy curls. Her long spine was supple; her legs were long and thin so her knee socks fell down. She did not care if her knee socks fell down. When I first knew her, as my classmate at the Ellis School, she sometimes forgot to comb her hair. She was so shy she tended not to move her head, but only let her eyes rove about. If my mother addressed her, or a teacher, she held her long-legged posture lightly, alert, like a fawn ready to bolt but hoping its camouflage will work a little longer."
  (Annie Dillard, An American Childhood. Harper & Row, 1987)



• Dave Barry's Final Sketch of His Father
  "It was time to go have my last words with my father. He was dying, in the bedroom he built. He built our whole house, even dug the foundation himself, with a diaper tied around his head to keep the sweat out of his eyes. He was always working on the house, more than 35 years, and he never did finish it. He was first to admit that he really didn’t know how to build a house. . . .
  
  "The doctor told us he was dying, but we knew anyway. Almost all he said anymore was thank you, when somebody brought him shaved ice, which was mainly what he wanted, at the end. He had stopped putting his dentures in. He had stopped wearing his glasses. I remember when he yanked his glasses off and jumped into the Heymans’ pool to save me.
  
  "So I go in for my last words, because I have to go back home, and my mother and I agree I probably won’t see him again. I sit next to him on the bed, hoping he can’t see that I’m crying. 'I love you, Dad,' I say. He says: 'I love you, too. I’d like some oatmeal.'
  
  "So I go back out to the living room, where my mother and my wife and my son are sitting on the sofa, in a line, waiting for the outcome and I say, 'He wants some oatmeal.' I am laughing and crying about this. My mother thinks maybe I should go back in and try to have a more meaningful last talk, but I don’t.
  
  "Driving home, I’m glad I didn’t. I think: He and I have been talking ever since I learned how. A million words. All of them final, now. I don’t need to make him give me any more, like souvenirs. I think: Let me not define his death on my terms. Let him have his oatmeal. I can hardly see the road."
  (Dave Barry, "A Million Words." Dave Barry's Greatest Hits. Ballantine Books, 1988)

Biography Project Research

The goal is get started on researching topics related to the biography you are reading.  Don't worry about what the research will be used for.*  Follow your interests.  Find some sources.  Save the source information so you can easily go back later.

1. Identify topics for research, using instaGrok the this handout

2. Set up a place to save and organize all your bookmarks.  This could be a folder with Safari or Firefox Bookmarks.  Or you may choose to set up an account on Delicious or Diigo.

3. Start identifying sites that are potential resources.  Don't just rely on Google.   See the Biography section of  Wirthportal (also on the right sidebar link of this site) and check out Marvel, Internet Public Library, Biography.com, and Google Search tools such as "Advanced Search" and Time Defined Searchs, Google News, and Google Blogs.  New and Recommended:  For deeper search (and an introduction to college level research) see NoodleTools.

4. Save your sites you find within your bookmarks folder (or on Delicious or Diigo).

*Some of your research may be later incorporated into a review of your biography. Some of your research may help you write genre pieces and may become part of your presentation. Even if your research is not directly used, it may help you have a better understanding of your biography and -- importantly -- you will get credit for each source you include as part of your bibliography.