Due Monday

The final copy of your colonial authors paper is due Monday, 10/30. Please bring in a hard copy and submit through Turnitin.

Resources are available below.

Colonial Authors Editing
Edwards Feedback
MLA formatting

Colonial Authors Rough Draft Due 10/26

Please use this slide show to help you in writing your rough draft for the colonial authors comparison essay.

Due Friday, 10/20

For Friday, you will be completing a chart on what will turn into your next full paper which will analyze how revolutionary era authors (Henry, Jefferson, Paine) used various devices to persuade their audience to separate from the English. The chart format is available here, but you can complete this by hand if you choose. All of these documents are available in your red book. Devices can include, but are not limited to:

Appeals to logos, pathos, ethos
Sub appeals: religion, fear, authority, fact, etc.
Rhetorical fallacies
Diction
Imagery
Appeal to anecdote (haven't talked about it yet)
Periodic Syntax
Parallel Structure
Allusion
Epanorthosis

Important Note: We have not had a chance to discuss Paine yet, so we will work with him in class on Thursday. Therefore, I recommend that you make progress on outlining Henry and Jefferson tonight, so that you can fill in the Paine part of the chart after Thursday's class.

Due 10/18

Please take your white book home and read all about appositives from 535-541. Then complete exercise 3 (sorry, I think I said E in class) which will have you combine 8 sentences using an appositive. This will be handed in on paper.

The information about dependent and independent clauses is available in white book starting on page 336 if you are feeling like you need a little grammar review.

Please bring your red book to class for Wednesday.

Weekend Reading and PSAT info

Your weekend reading assignment is posted below. I am also including links to the usage powerpoint we did in class, as well as some of the other usage guidelines.

Usage slides
Usage words 1
Usage words 2
Usage words 3




You will be reading poetry, letters, and essays on Phillis Wheatley, an 18th century American poet. They are located in White Book from pages 506-534. You should take notes and gather quotations that help you address, either by support or refutation, what you will develop as your opinion on the question below.

Background Information:

(Please also read the background information on 506-507)

Phillis Wheatley was born in Africa and sold into slavery at a young age. She was brought to America and purchased by John and Susannah Wheatley. In addition to her duties as a slave, Wheatley was taught Latin, mythology, and various other subjects and converted to Christianity. She began writing poems, many of which became quite famous, and she traveled to London where her work was published with support of a local countess, becoming the first African American woman (and only second American woman) to have a book published in this young nation.

Many of Wheatley's poems bear a strong resemblance to the other traditional poetry of her time period and use elevated language, classical allusions, strict rhyme scheme, and rhythm and meter. They often celebrate important American religious and patriotic figures and at times express her gratefulness that she was brought from what she deems "a Pagan land." Understandably, this last idea generates a lot of the controversy about the legacy of Wheatley as many people struggle with a desire to celebrate Wheatley for her accomplishments but struggle to process the notion that she praises and emulates the culture that enslaved her and millions of others.

This brings us to our question which should guide our reading:

To what extent should the legacy of Phillis Wheatley and her poetry be perceived as a triumph or tragedy?

Our discussion on Wheatley will take place on October 17th, so make sure that you divide up your reading appropriately and don't save it all until the last minute. Please create a chart of your own design that helps you categorize the evidence in response to the question above.

Book reminders and weekend reading

Please remember to check out your white book, Conversations in American Literature, from the library.

You will be bringing red book on Friday and Monday, and white book on Tuesday.



Your Columbus Day reading project will be due next Tuesday, 10/10.

Our question is: Should the United States celebrate Columbus Day as a holiday?

You will need to read the following passages in the WHITE BOOK!



198- Momaday
286- Image
291- Berliner
293- Mankiller
296- Connell

You will also be creating a chart (for turning in) that identifies quotations or supports for the texts that are in support of Columbus Day as a holiday, opposed to Columbus day as a holiday, and any other interesting ideas or thoughts that the passages generate for you. You can determine the style of chart that works best for you as long as it clearly distinguished this information.

Practice Quiz and Usage

Below are links to the two sets of slides we looked at today in class. Your grammar quiz on Thursday will cover parts of speech, types of phrases, types of clauses, sentence type identification, and comma rules.

Practice Quiz
Usage slides

Also remember to check out the Sprague Online Writing center (available off of the Sprague homepage) for additional grammar practice exercises.