1 CM107 UNIT 9 SEMINAR Instructor: Jen Leary

REVIEW OF UNITS 1-8 You are close to finishing the course. You will complete the FINAL PROJECT this unit and then reflect on your experience in unit 10 (no seminar that week). You have learned about the Journey of the Hero and how this is related to your own journey as a writer. Along the way, you have learned the importance of building your writing strength through practice and even making mistakes. You have received and given help and now you are about to finish the final draft of an essay aimed at helping people. What questions do you have about this process? How do you see yourself growing as a writer?

What is next? You have hopefully worked through the revision process and have strengthened the organization, development, clarity of ideas and use of research evidence in your paper. Now, it’s time to work on EDITING. Remember that you have been learning about major grammar concerns for the last several units. You learned about how to avoid fragments, how to use commas, how to write strong, clear sentences. It’s now time to apply what you learned to editing your own paper.

EDITING Remember that editing is the FINAL step. If you have worked on avoiding editing while drafting and revising ideas, that is EXCELLENT. Many people edit while they write, but that is not productive. In fact, it slows the thinking process down and shifts your focus away from ideas. Editing is about sentences, not the bigger picture, and it should only be done once the bigger picture is taken care of. (It’s better to have strong ideas and a few spelling errors than to have a grammatically perfect paper that doesn’t say anything.)

EDITING STRATEGIES SPELL CHECK/GRAMMAR CHECK. Spell Check is a start, but it won’t tell you to use their rather than there. Grammar Check is notoriously wrong. It will even create grammar errors. SO, how do you edit, then, if Grammar Check isn’t good enough and if you are not a grammar expert? Try strategies like DIRECTED EDITING and REVERSE EDITING

DIRECTED EDITING We are creatures of habit. If we have problems with fragments in one essay, chances are, we will have them in another. Look back at your unit 3 and unit 6 projects. Make a list of any grammar and punctuation errors your instructor has noted. Review your draft for THOSE errors only, rather than just reading through and HOPING to find errors. If you have problems with fragments, read each sentence for that issue. Is each sentence a complete sentence? Don’t rely on old wives’ tales like “put a comma in each time you pause when you read out loud.” They do not work. Use your KNOWLEDGE you have learned through the Writing Center videos and workshops to help you to apply RULES of grammar and punctuation. WHAT ERRORS do you know you have trouble with? How will you look for them and correct them?

REVERSE EDITING Reverse editing allows you to isolate each sentence, rather than reading them in context. If you read each sentence in isolation, you read what is there. Open your paper to the last page. Look for the last sentence. Read it and it alone out loud. Listen to what you hear. This may be the best technique around for finding fragments and run on sentences and comma splice errors. In isolation, you can tell if ideas are clear. Once you read that sentence and correct any errors, move up to the next sentence. Repeat until you read the whole paper. Try this with your paper. If you can find 1, 2 or 3 errors even, that would be 1, 2 or 3 errors that your reader is not distracted by.

OTHER EDITING STRATEGIES? How do you edit? Reading out loud? Printing the paper and reading it away from the computer? Having other people read it and point out errors? Remember, you are VERY close to and familiar with each and every sentence at this point, so you may not be objective. That’s why your teacher may find errors you didn’t think were there. It makes sense to you because you know what you want to say. That doesn’t mean the errors are not there, just that you may not see them. Someone else might, so let someone else, a friend or family member for example, read it.

FINAL PROJECT REMINDERS The final project must be submitted on time. NO late final projects will be accepted. They are due by the END of unit 9. Review the project instructions again. Review the project rubric. Focus on the A grade in the rubric. What is required for an A? If you know what is expected, then you can make that happen.

YOUR TURN How do you feel about what you have done so far? What are you most proud of? What do you still have left to do and how will you make that happen? Now is the time for you to ask specific questions about your final project.

General questions? Remember, no seminar in unit 10. You will PUBLISH your final project in unit 10 DB and let everyone see what a great job you have done. CONGRATULATIONS!