Avoiding Plagiarism

The Purdue OWL site provides a good overview on referencing sources and avoiding plagiarism.

Click here for that site.

A 5-Minute Poem to Kick Start Your Week

Use this site to create your own list poem based on your biography:

http://ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/listpoem.htm

Notes:

• A list poem may appear random but it is not
• The poem should end with something surprising, insightful, or important.  One way to do this is to move from the literal to the figurative (see example poem below).
• Once you have made your initial list, consider re-arranging the order of the items.  Also consider adding more detail.  Use precise and concrete language as much as possible.  Provide your reader with a clear image of what you see.

Sample below:

________________________________________________

What’s in the canoe
a sharpened axe with a battered wooden handle
a weathered tent green with mold
a bag of pea flour
a plug of tobacco
three long poles with metal boots
four damp wool blankets
a refusal to turn back
a lot of heart 

--based on the book Great Heart:  History of a Labrador Adventure

Extending, Revising, Polishing Genre Pices

I've spent time reading over your draft genre pieces.  Here are some general suggestions that will help strengthen your pieces:

1. Develop your headings and titles.  A fully developed heading may be 2 - 3 sentences or more.  A title is generally short -- but make the most of it.  "Waris Dirie"  or "Waris Dirie -- One Determined Woman"   The 2nd title is stronger, yet it still doesn't "cost" that much.  Agree?
2. Among your 5 pieces, include at least 3 pieces about specific events or moments in your biography.  General pieces that give an overview of a person and that person's accomplishments can be useful, but don't stop there.
3. Aim for at least one piece from the point of view of a "contemporary" of your subject -- someone who knew your subject and had a relationship of some kind with him or her.  That person undoubtedly had an opinion on your subject and a way of voicing that opinion.

Resource of the Day: ProQuest

ProQuest provides access to news stories not found on Google.

Proquest is accessible via Wirthportal / the Student Research Center .  
Scroll down once you reach that page.

An additional benefit of ProQuest is that it provides ready-made source information for your bibliography,

Getting Started with Your 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 the 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 Wirthportal (also on the right sidebar link of this site) and check out Marvel, Internet Public Library, Google Search tools such as "Related Searches" and Time Defined Searchs, Google News, and Google Blogs.

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

Biography Project Resources

Sample Feature Article 1
Sample Feature Article 2

Sample Interview

Sample Character Sketch

How to Write a Haiku

Sample Annotated Bibliography

Easybib.com 

Plan to complete your biography and the reading sheet by March 8.

Hamlet Project

The steps of the project include:
1. Choose a partner.
2. Choose a theme.
3. Collect 5 quotes on your theme & save them to a word document.
4. Write a statement that explains and interprets each quote.  (The statement should explain in a general sense what the quote might add to our understanding of the theme; it should not be specific to the play and its characters).
5. Choose an image to go with each quote & statement.
6. Put quotes, statements, and images together in the form of a slideshow, prezi, poster, or other.
7. Present to the class.


The full text of Hamlet is here.  You can locate quotes with your theme by using the "Command F."

The rubric for the project is here.

"There is the story of the woman who read Hamlet for the first time and said, 

'I don’t see why people admire that play so. It is nothing but a bunch of quotations 

strung together.'”             –Issac Asimov, Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare

Lists of Biographies

bi·og·ra·phy [bahy-og-ruh-fee, bee-] noun, plural -phies.
1. a written account of another person's life: the biography of Byron by Marchand.


25 Fascinating Biographies Every College Student Should Read (from Best Colleges Online)

Best Biographies (A list of 10 books from an Amazon.com contributor)


Top 10 Inspirational Biographies (An Amazon.com List)

Hamlet Journal

Click here for the Hamlet Act I Journal template.
Click here for the Hamlet, Act II Journal template.

Then copy and paste the template to your favorite word processing program.  Then save it as a document.

Hamlet on Facebook:
 If only Elsinore had Wifi:
Click here to view.

Hamlet Resources

 Resources:
Hamlet -- Full Text online

Enjoying "Hamlet" 
Shakespeare Resource Center
Hamlet: The Undiscovered Country

Reading for Variety

Standard 2 in English reads: "Students will read a wide variety of literature from many periods and genres to build an understanding of the dimensions of human experience."

It's a worthwhile standard and one that we hope you continue to build on through your lifetime.

Your Quarter 2 online reading journal, which is due by Jan. 20 (no penalty for getting it done early!), should include a personal reading list of books you have read during high school. It's ok to include a few favorite titles from your earlier years as well. Details, as well as a sample list, are below:
The goal is to list 12 or more titles that you have read in entirety during high school. These can be assigned texts or independent reading. If you have read dozens and dozens of books, it is ok to list only the top most memorable titles in your post. If you have read fewer than 12 books, it is ok to list books that you have read at least in part.

Listing author names is also a nice touch.

Sample List:
The Adventures of Ulysses
Monster
The Outsiders by SE Hinton
To Kill a Mockingbird
Romeo and Juliet by Wiliam Shakespeare
Night
Speak
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
After the First Death by Robert Cormier
Where the Heart Is
The Crucible
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Scarlet Letter
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Where Men Win Glory by John Krakauer --IR
Into the Wild by John Krakauer --IR
Great Heart: The History of a Labrador Adventure --IR
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race
the World Has Never Seen --IR

*IR= Independent Reading

Beowulf Resources

Beowulf -- Easy to read version

Beowulf -- Hypertext version

Beowulf -- Greene Hamlet Resources 

Beowulf Translations.net

Tim Romano Translation


Beowulf -- Translations.net zip file
(This valuable site with dozens of translations of Beowulf from different time periods is now available in the form of a Google-hosted zip file that can be downloaded, expanded, opened, and then used as a website that will be private to your own computer.  To download, click the link above and then click the download link on the top right corner of the page.)

Do's & Don'ts for the College Essay

Athough we've officially completed the college essay in English 12, many of you are still putting finishing touches on their essays before sending them off to colleges.  In light of that, the following link might be useful.

A source which includes a list of 10 things to avoid in your college admissions essay is at:

www.college-admission-essay.com

A Common Inheritance

Inheriting something is usually thought of as a good thing.  Literature is a common inheritance we receive from earlier generations.  Let's see if we can appreciate and learn from that inheritance.

We'll be reading excerpts from The Things They Carried and Beowulf in the coming weeks.

After that, we'll read some poetry from different time periods and then will move on to Hamlet, which is rather poetic in itself.

Themes we will be discussing include:

• good and evil
• heroes and villains
• courage and fear
• the story of how English came to be what it is today.

Resume and College Essay Humor

An extensive list of resume bloopers and blunders is at jobmob.co

A list of bloopers from actual college admissions essays is at ems.psu.edu/