G9+2010+Writing

Welcome to the G9 English 2010 Writing Page!

The LAST Project is the AUTOBIOSTORIA! Check out AGORA, the G9 Magazine

The first writing assignment we did for this year was our Summer Homework.

This involved the writing of two Book Reviews.

Click the link above to find two examples of reviews, one good and one not so good, written by Mr. OC. You can also find the rubric used to evaluate the reviews, as well as all of the reviews posted by G9 students.

Our second writing assignment was creating a 5-paragraph Inspiration Essay.

Here is the Outline which helped us organize our writing, as well as the rubric used to evaluate the essays, based on the 6 Traits of Writing.





The next thing we're going to be doing in writing is creating a Magazine!

Everyone will have different jobs, based on their application through writing a cover letter in the business letter format:



Check out all of the different Magazine Jobs:

Cover letters should be written to:

Mr. Ted O'Connell G9 English Teacher Escola Beit Yaacov 1748 Av. Marques de São Vicente Barra Funda, São Paulo, SP 01139-002

Also, check out the discussion questions to help me out!

BIAS/SLANT

You will also have to, when you are doing research, be able to know the difference between Fact and Opinion, to understand how OBJECTIVE your source is.

Here is an activity designed to help us better understand BIAS in Journalism.

Articles about Mr. OC's friend, Brian Deese



Brian works at the White House as Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy. One of his jobs is to figure out how to manage the automobile company known as General Motors, one of the largest in the country, which is collapsing financially.

New York Times (liberal) []

Fox News (conservative) []

Examiner.com (a car-lovers' website) [] //Note: according to the examiner, a "car guy" is a person who is very interested in cars.//

Read the three articles, and as you read, make a chart differentiating the facts in the article vs. the opinions of the writers.

Also, figure out how the author views Brian Deese. Be able to back up your answer with specific evidence from the article. Use QUOTATION MARKS!!!

RESEARCH

We will be doing research to write our articles.

How to do research: []

RELIABILITY Each article needs to include at least three sources. How do you choose a source? You choose it if it is RELIABLE. What does it mean that a source is reliable? In order to answer that question, you should evaluate the following items:

1. Who is the author of the Source, and is he/she clearly indicated? Is he/she affiliated with a college or university? 2. Does the author provide Citations, bibliography or general indication that they have backed up what they are saying with evidence? 3. Who is the site that the article is found on affiliated with? The URL is the best indication of this, .edu, and .gov are the most reliable as well as .org (sometimes). 4. Is the site sponsored by a particular organization? If so, is this site biased in any way? 5. What is the purpose of the site? Inform, sell a product or persuade a particular audience? 6. Is the information correct? Does it seem to coincide with what you have learned in previous classes? 7. When was the site last updated? The more current the better. 8. Are their links to other websites? Are these links working and the websites reliable? (2007, 17)

Sites that can help us evaluate RELIABILITY are:

[]

[]

Extra Credit: For homework, research the answers to these 7 questions, and explain which site was more RELIABLE and why. (post the answers on the Discussion section of the page).
 * Use the following list of websites. **
 * 1) **Do bears hibernate?**
 * **@http://www.pa.msu.edu/sci_theatre/ask_st/021898.html**
 * **@http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/01224.html**
 * 1) **Where is the country of Melchizedek?**
 * **Dominion of Melchizedek: http://www.melchizedek.com/ **
 * **Dominion of Melchizedek: http://quatloos.com/groups/melchiz.htm **
 * 1) **Which one is the real website of the World Trade Organization?**
 * **World Trade Organization @http://www.gatt.org/**
 * **World Trade Organization @http://www.wto.org/**
 * 1) **Where is New Hartford, Minnesota?**
 * **Go to Yahoo and do a search.**
 * **Now try an online encyclopedia.** eg. @http://encarta.msn.com/encartahome.asp
 * 1) **How many people live in Ruritania?**
 * **@http://homepages.udayton.edu/~ahern/rurhist.htm**
 * **Search for updated numbers from the CIA World Fact Book**
 * 1) **How would you like to go to Mankota, Minnesota for a holiday?**
 * **@http://lme.mankato.msus.edu/mankato/mankato.html**
 * **@http://www.ci.mankato.mn.us/**
 * 1) **Which one is the official website of the United States Whitehouse?**
 * **The White House**
 * **The White House**

An overview of the reliability of [|wikipedia]:



CITING SOURCES

When you use a source as part of your work, you must CITE it. Here's a guide for how to cite sources: []



PLAGIARISM When we are taking notes and then writing our outlines and articles, it is IMPERATIVE that we avoid PLAGIARISM. Plagiarism involves both using someone else's words without giving them credit, or paraphrasing what they say inappropriately without giving them credit. Here are some sites below that can help explain the problem to use better.

How to [|Recognize Unacceptable and Acceptable Paraphrases] The OWL at Purdue: Avoiding Plagiarism []

Writing a Summary: Delta--here is the Yahoo News article so you can write a summary: [] Sorry it took so long to get here!

**Steps involved in writing a magazine article:**

1. Submit ideas for articles/interviews/editorials to your Editor-in-Chief (Tati, Ana Paula, D. Khafif)

2. Once an article is approved, note how long it should be, and in what format.

3. Take notes: from THREE reliable sources. - You must show your notes for all three separate sources. - You may take notes in any form you wish: using bullets, using dashes, using arrows, using outlines, etc. You decide what works for you. If you need help taking notes, please let an Editor/Publisher know. - Your notes may be electronic, but they must be glued/stapled into your writing notebook if you take notes on the computer. NO COMPLETE SENTENCES SHOULD BE COPIED, unless you are planning to use the sentence as a quote in your article. - NOTE: You should always write down the source you are using at the top of your notes page. Make sure you have all the information you need to cite your source. (See above document/link to help you).

4. Draft your article. If you need a graphic organizer, see an adult. If you can draft without an organizer, go ahead.

5. Revise your article for Ideas, Organization, Word Choice, Sentence Flow, and Voice. NOTE: Editors are not responsible for revising others' work.

6. Edit your article to the best of your ability for Conventions: Spelling, Capitals, Punctuation, and Grammar.

7. Submit your article for Editing/Publishing.

When you are done writing your magazine article OR ARTICLES, you can choose to A) write a Letter to the Editor based on one of the Opinion pieces known as Editorials, or B) you may work out of the Just Write box or the Writing Fix prompt jar, or C) you may start writing another article for this issue or the next.

Your grade will include the effective use of your time.

WRITING AN INFORMAL BUT POLITE LETTER



Post your own work below!

For poetry, essays or random writing hit their links. Poems Essays Random Writing

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