Required Workshop Discussions

Click here for: A discussion of the workshop structure/logic for the course.

Click Here for: More on how the workshops work

This semester you are required to send your first essay to the entire email list of students. You are, optionally, encouraged to send your second, personal, turning-point essay, to the class. (You will NOT send the third essay or any fourth, optional essay to your fellow students. Please don't. I want to deal only on a one-to-one basis with you when we do the personal, turning-point, essay and sending it to everyone is likely to violate a feeling of privacy.)

REGARDING THE OPTION TO SEND YOUR SECOND ESSAY: Because I want you to do a serious, sincere job, and because turning-point essays are often deeply personal, you are trusted to decide if you want to send your story to others. The benefit would be that you can gain a variety of reactions that will help you write better.

Each time you write an essay, you must also pick out at least two (2) students' essays for you, yourself, to revise, edit, proofread and help perfect. You will send your workshop edits/rewrites only to the author of the essay itself (not the whole class) and to me. I will check off your two required comments for each essay/section of the course.

You will do workshops for the first assignment only--your persuasive paper. Hence, in total, you will send two (2) workshop comments for the term (to 2 students you pick for the first assignment).

THERE IS A CERTAIN WAY I WANT YOU TO DO YOUR COMMENTS: Make them right in the work itself. Do not just make a comment at the top or bottom. Comments must be "interlinear"--line by line within your fellow student's essay. I explain more below at the "How to" link!

Don't forget that you need to send me both copies of your own work and copies of the comments you make on the work of other students.

That means on or before your deadlined due-date, you will send your first, persuasive essay to me and to every one of your fellow students. Soon after that, you will send two fellow students and me comments on two student essays.

PLEASE! Please label your comments when you send them to me to check off as requirements you completed for the course:

Your email label when sending me comments should be

RE: EG 201 WORKSHOP COMMENTS RE: EG 201 WORKSHOP COMMENTS RE: EG 201 WORKSHOP COMMENTS

Artists may create art for themselves. Essay writers, however, are writing with a very specific audience and purpose in mind. Hence, you must be completely aware of what is required to do the job correctly and completely polished and professional when you produce your work. You should learn to revise, to eliminate all errors.

You will send your work to your fellow students and together you will form a workshop, a self-improvement society! Writing is infinitely variable--it can be written or revised in an unending number of ways.

The test of good writing you will apply here is whether your writing gets the desired effect. To know that you will ask others to read and react to your work. They will suggest edits and changes, catch any typos.

Click Here for: Sample workshop comments (for Turning Point).

Click Here for: Sample workshop comments (for Persuasive Essay).

HERE ARE SOME SUGGESTIONS/RULES REGARDING YOUR WORKSHOP EXCHANGES:

Click here: RULES

Instructions:

1. Send a copy of your writing to your instructor and also to the other students whose email addresses are listed on our Students page.

2. In turn you will receive comments back from me. You may or may not get comments back from your fellow students. They only have to pick two essays to comment on so you can't be sure yours will be essay that other students pick!

3. Send workshop comments only to the students who wrote the essays and, of course, to me (to record your credit for workshops in my grade book). Be sure to properly label workshops, as above, RE: EG 201 Workshop Comments. Make sure you spend a lot of time on workshops, showing corrections and revisions in either italics or bold face (a different style/color) within the actual essay text that you are workshopping!

In total you will send three assignments via email, for comment.

You should, in turn, pick at least two other students' work to comment on--for a total of two (2) comments, with copies, of course, to your instructor as well. You may comment on more work (for extra credit) as evaluating the writing by other students is a great way to learn!

Note that the work is due within four days of the deadline for each category of essay. Don't save up and try to do all the commenting at the end of the term!

SEND COMMENTS BY (or before...) THE DEADLINE FOR WORKSHOPS!