#2123 Watch Spelling and Grammar

Watching spelling and grammar is something that you have to keep the look out for while writing your paper. Yes mistakes happen and they really can’t be helped. But there are many ways that you can make sure that your paper has perfect spelling and grammar. Having people read over your paper for you and mark what they notice is wrong. Going to see a tutor and asking them to look over it. Hand in a draft to you teacher and asking if they would make corrections. Even going to the dictionary to find words that you are not sure on will help you out. Some people don’t notice that grammar and spelling are important that is something that you use daily in your job or just for yourself.

When typing your paper it is also important to stay away form short terms or ‘internet slang’ some people would like to call it. I really don’t think that teacher appreciate it. Many people have troubles with this in my case I really cant spell so having many people look over my paper to make sure that I had all mistakes taken care of instead of leaving them just to sit their and be deducted points.

People also are dependent on spell check on your computer. Which works you just have to make sure it’s the right word some of the spell checks like to put another word in place of the one you had. So to make sure it is right, read over the sentences and also read paper once over.

By: Brianne Minard

#211 Making Sure Punctuation is right!

Making sure that your punctuation is right in your paper is very important. If punctuation is not right then your paper is not very good. It helps many people to go through their paper and reread what they wrote to make sure that they have everything in order. Also they are having punctuation right as well. Teacher can take off many points if many things are wrong like punctuation, spelling, grammar and so on. While reading through your paper make sure that you don’t have any run-on sentences if you do. Try to figure out how you can change it or rewrite the sentences. Some of the main problems people have with punctuation are Apostrophes for Plurals, Comma Splices, Quotation Marks, Multiple Punctuation Marks, Punctuation Outside of Quotation Marks, and Missing Comma After Introductory Elements. These punctuation marks can really help some people with their paper. Not many think about how punctuation helps with their paper.

First Apostrophe for Plurals- apostrophe is used to form contractions and indicate possession, but never to form plurals.

Second Comma Splice- the comma is used to separate independent clauses, there must be a conjunction connecting them.

Third Quotation Marks- is mainly used to quote speech, sentences or words. Sometimes they can be used to denote irony.

Fourth Multiple Punctuation Marks- limit yourself to one exclamation point. Exclamation points are not used that frequently in business and formal writing.

Fifth Punctuation Outside of the Quotation Marks- punctuation should go inside the quotation marks, even if it is not part of the quotation itself.

Sixth Missing Comma After Introductory Elements- don’t forget to place a comma after that introductory element. Notice that an introductory element can be a sentence or a single word.

Making sure that all these are in place in your paper should really help you out on your paper!

By: Brianne Minard

#7 Speling Doezn't Matter

One of the fundimental things I lerned in Compisition class was speling doezn’t matter. Mr. N is an Inglish teecher and he nver speled nything corectly. Just make shur that your punktuation and grammar is rite and you’ll be fine. I no this just sounds absird but that’s just how it is. You wuld think that speling wuld be one of the most emportant things to have corect on an inglish paper but its not. I was nver a very good speler to begin with so its fine with me. Now you won’t evr hav to worr-e about uzing spel check or nything. I just want to thnk Mr. N for opening up my eyes to this. If it wazn’t for him and the Compisition class, I’d still be worr-eing too much on speling airors.

Since were on the subjekt of speling, it brings me to think of a speling bee. I always hated thos things. I meen who cares who can spel a really long, complikated word that no one evr really uses in day to day conversasion. I was in a speling bee once and I won. I don’t know how I did tho. I think the other kids just gave up becauze they’re boreing. But I gess it’s cool tho becauze I can say I’ve won a speling bee before.

So the nects time you go to spel check your paper, rethink and remember, speling doezn’t matter.

Come at me bro! :)

Brittany Parlee

Writing tip #9809468 Writing as a recursive process

Mike Hertz

Comp2 MWF 12:20-1:15

Writing tip #9809468 Writing as a recursive process

Writing as a recursive process is a major process in writing which every writer should use after every draft. My composition one teacher was the teacher he taught me this and kept preaching it to me. Writing as a recursive process is when after completing a draft or part of the writing process. Writing as a recursive process means your always circling back and looking at what you have written.

With writing as a recursive process starts with as soon as the first draft was written. When you back and look at what you have written your checking it for, grammatical errors, spelling errors, narrowing topic down, and proof reading. Peer review is also another way of using writing as a recursive process. With peer review other people are looking at what you have written and spell checking it and giving suggestions on how they think that you could improve your paper. With their suggestions and your corrections to your errors you then can write a second draft thats even better with less errors and that is written better. When you complete your second draft you then look back at your second draft and see what you improved on and what still needs improving on. You look at your topic and make sure you stuck to it and that it’s narrow enough for the paper.

I like using this writing step because it ensures that you have kept you topic narrow and that your paper will likely be free of most errors. The recursive process is helpful in many ways and here is the way to do it.

Mike Hertz

Comp2 MWF 12:20-1:15

Writing tip #8459734 Annotated Bibliography

Mike Hertz

Comp2 MWF 12:20-1:15

Annotated bibliographies are now a major part of my writing. This year my composition two professor had us make annotated bibliographies for our sources for our paper. When he first gave us the assignment I had no clue what an annotated bibliography was. I quickly learned what an annotated bibliography was though after we were given the assignment.

Annotated Bibliographies are when you use the sources that you found for your paper and cite them, summarize them, evaluate them and lastly reflect on the source. Bibliographies are a very useful tool when writing papers. If you have a good annotated bibliography that is most of your paper right there. The major part of your bibliography is summarizing the sources. Summarizing the sources will help you to read them completely and pluck as much information as possible out. When you start writing you paper you will be able to use the bibliographies as your information for your paper beings it will be what came from you sources. Bibliographies are basically the frame work to your paper. Before you start writing you can cut up you bibliographies and organize them essentially as your outline to help guide you through writing your paper. They will give you all your information that you would want to use in one spot so that when you have a good writing flow going you won’t have to stop and search through your information in order to cite it. When writing us bibliographies they will help you in writing your paper tremendously. Here are some examples of bibliographies.

Mike Hertz

Comp2 MWF 12:20-1:15

#5456 Messing Around

Messing with people. There are people out there who find amusement in messing with other people. There are many ways to mess with people whether it is vandalism, pranks, being annoying, or just making them look like a fool. Everywhere you go you will find people who don't care what other people think of them but as long as they can get a laugh at other people. There are plenty of T.V. shows that do exactly that such as Jackass. I couldn't think of a good topic to "blog" about for my third post so I'm just going to write about different ways to screw with people, Using morph suits are great for making people confused. Just walking behind people at Walmart with a morph suit on can be very entertaining too watch someone turn around and look at what seems like a member of the blue man group. You can also mess with people on the internet by trolling. This is when you just try to offend or make fun of a certain person or group and force them to respond to you. The reactions of people is what makes messing with them the best part, whether the reactions are hostile or friendly, the reaction is what makes messing with people so much fun.

Trey Lovell

#3003

Writing tip #945958 Finding as much information as possible.

Written by Mike Hertz

Comp2 MWF 12:20-1:15

Finding as much information as possible when writing a paper.

Have you ever tried to start writing a paper and you just can’t start? Or how about have you ever been in the middle of writing a paper and ran out of information? Lastly what about have you ever been writing a paper and just kept rambling on bull spitting the paper in order to finish and meet the required length?

There is a simple solution for this common problem that people have when writing papers when they get stuck and don’t know what to write or they run out of ideas. The solution is called research people and lots of it. Writing a paper is easy when you have all the information that you need in front of you that you can just look at as you need it instead of having to stop writing and go look for that piece of information or more information. Writing can be a complicated process and if your not ready to write in that you don’t have enough information writing can be a real pain in the rear. Before you start writing that term paper or research paper go to the internet, books, articles or any source of information and find as much information as possible. Your paper needs this information otherwise it will lack content. Also, quite frankly a good professor will pick up that your just bull shitting your way through the paper and they will dock you for it. So before you start that paper. Find as much information as possible!

Here are steps in finding information for that research paper that you have to write.

Written by Mike Hertz

Comp2 MWF 12:20-1:15

#29 Top 10 Writing Errors

Here is a list of the Top 10 Common Errors made in the English writing world. I will explain what the error means if it is not already self explanatory, give you an example that is incorrect, then show the correct way.

Top 10 Errors:

1. Comma Splice - put two complete sentences together into one sentence.

Incorrect: I was up all night studying I am tired this morning.

Correct: I was up all night studying, and I am tired this morning

2. Run on sentence

Incorrect: Mr. N was hit by a school bus he was late for class.

Correct: Mr. N was hit by a school bus. He was late for class.

3. Incomplete sentence

Incorrect: After Composition class

Correct: After Composition class I have Chemistry.

4. Intro clause comma missing - putting a comma after an introduction.

Incorrect: Before I went to DMACC I went to Southeast Polk

Correct: Before I went to DMACC, I went to Southeast Polk

5. Semi-colon misusage

Incorrect: The paper was finished I had spent hours writing it.

Correct: The paper was finished; I had spent hours writing it.

6. Misplaced Modifier

Incorrect: I nearly wrote this blog in six hours.

Correction: I wrote this blog for nearly six hours.

7. Singular Plural Disagreement

Incorrect: There are a book on the table

Correct: There is a book on the table.

8. Verb Tense Shift

Incorrect: I wrote the paper then turn it in

Correct: I wrote the paper then turned it in

9. Missing Apostrophe

Incorrect: Hes not going to be in class today.

Correct: He’s not going to be in class today.

10. Comma missing from items in a series

Incorrect: Mr. N likes double rainbows mice hair and school bus drivers

Correct: Mr. N likes double rainbows, mice hair, and school bus drivers.

Brittany Parlee

#300 If you get frustrated take a break

When writing a paper if you have been writing for a long time and start to get frustrated it is fine to take a fifteen minute break. Taking a fifteen minute break is good for you to take because then you can clear your head and have a fresh start to writing. It’s a good idea to take a fifteen minute break ever hour when you are writing a paper so you don’t get frustrated and then just get mad about what you’re supposed to be writing. Getting frustrated when writing a paper doesn’t help you get the paper done any faster it just makes you more irritated and not wants to do the paper anymore. When you take breaks ever so often it helps you concentrate so you don’t get frustrated and so you will want to finish writing your paper. If you start to get mad about writing walk away from your computer for fifteen to twenty minutes get something small to eat or get a drink and cool down. Once you have taken a short break go back and sit down and start writing again.

Katie Betsworth

#401 Have someone read your paper for you!

After you write a paper it is best to have someone read it for you before you turn it in. After working on a paper for so long you don’t notice the small mistakes you could make. A lot of people don’t have anyone read their paper before they hand it in and once they get it back they realize how many mistakes they made. So it is best to just let someone read it before handing it in that can fix the mistakes for you. Or have more than one person look over your paper and make sure it sounds good and that you have used the right grammar. So it is better to have fresh eyes look at it and catch what you could have missed or spelled wrong. When you have someone read your paper for you make sure it is someone that you can rely on that knows what they are looking for and isn’t just going to tell you that you did a good job. Having someone read your paper as you write it is also good because then you can fix the paper as you write it and make sure that it is up to your standards and that it is going to be an A paper. So remember as you write your paper to have someone read your paper before you hand it in. If it helps have more than one person read your paper for you because then you know what can be fixed before handing in the paper.

Katie Betsworth

#400

When it comes to writing a paper it’s a good idea to make an outline first. After the outline is done then it will help to write the paper and make it have a better flow. When writing an outline you can then decide what the main points are going to be and be able to have other points that will all tie together. Outlines help in many ways because of the fact that some points have better luck writing an outline before they write the paper. Writing an outline can help when you’re not really sure what you want to write about because you can always change and add more into the paper if your outline isn’t exactly what you want it to be. When making an outline you should make at least 3 main points for your 3 main paragraphs you should have a main point on your outline for every main paragraph you are going to have. Outlines are the best way to write your paper because then you don’t get as frustrated if you don’t have it wrote out already. Outlines can also be useful because it will then be easy for you to write your paper since all you really have to then do is write out the paper and add more words. When writing an outline for a paper it is better to use several smaller points and use key words so that you know exactly what you want to say in your paper.

Katie Betsworth

#6969 How to save money

As we all know, if you don't have money you won't be able to do much in this world. So start saving your money at a young age. It will add up quick.

There is plenty of ways to save money. First, you need to open a savings account at your local bank. Every pay check you should put at least 20 to 30 percent of it in the savings account and the rest into your checking account. Doing so allows you to build money up just in case you need money to fall back on. Like if you get sick one week and have to miss work. Well then you have money to fall back on, or you could be saving for a down payment on a car or house.

Now lets talk about food. Always go shopping for food when your in a hurry or when your full. It will save you a bunch of money. Also watch for expiration dates. Sometimes the food may go bad in two days. When eating you should try and eat at home, not going out every night. Pack a lunch 4 days out of the week, on the fifth day give yourself a present and go out to eat for lunch with some co-workers.

We all know that debt is a bad thing. When in debt always try and pay off your loan as quickly as possible. Make your payments on time and avoid late fees. I have a room mate that overdrafts his bank account like 3 times a week. Each time he over drafts it cost him 30 bucks. He is a complete dumb ass! That is exactly the opposite of what you should do to save money.

Here is a website to help you save money ONCE AGAIN IT WONT LET ME HIGHLIGHT!!!http://www.dumblittleman.com/2008/01/30-easy-ways-to-save-money-and-no-you.html


By Jason Schuttler

#567 Always Have an Outline

The purpose of an outline is to put your ideas about the topic on paper, in a organized layout. This doesnt mean you have to have put the ideas in the order of the outline, you can always change your order.

The first part of making an outline is writing your topic down. After that the put roman numerals down the left side of the paper I, II, III ect. Next to each number put your main ideas about your topic. If you have more information on the subtopic then tab over and but a lower case a, then write your information.

The reason why outlines were created is to keep the writer from going all over the place during writing. Otherwise your paper might come out and be on big peace of pizza dough.

Overall outlines are one of the most important part of writing a paper. Why? Because of the reasons stated above. Its the skeleton of the paper. If you don't have the skeleton then it will just but a big blob of pizza dough. Speaking of pizza here is the best recipe pizza.. and once again it wont let me highlight the word so here is the link. http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001199.html

By, Jason Schuttler

#787878 Peer Reviews

By: Garrett Mengler
One of the more important things that help me in my writing
process is having one of my peers review my paper. It is nice to get other
peoples feedback on how I am doing when I am in the middle of writing one of my
papers. I do not always think that a paper is as good as it really is until I have
someone read it and tell me if it really is good or not. It is very satisfying
and good knowing that I have someone who will review my paper and to pick out
all of the flaws in it. I am not very good at putting commas in the right spot
so it is reassuring to have someone else look through my paper and point out
all of the spots where I messed up. I enjoy getting my papers back with a ton
of red marks so I actually know they tried and looked at the paper to great lengths
and “hopefully” did a good job at correcting all of my mistakes. If I had the
choice of getting my papers reviewed by a certain person it would always be the
teachers because not only do they have the most experience but they also know
exactly what they want in the papers and what they do not want in them. These are
all great examples of why having people read over your papers is a great idea. Not
only do they give you a different option but they can also catch some simple
mistakes.

#-402 Annotated Bibliography

My least favorite part about writing is bibliographies. I remember when I was in high school and whenever the teacher said that we needed to do a works cited page (bibliography page) I thought of nothing nice in my head. As with all things academically, it got worse in college. I was then required to write an ANNOTATED bibliography!? What the heck is that?!

Well, we all have a very good idea of what a bibliography is: author's last name, first name. Book title. etc... Most of us have been doing those since we started writing any sort of significant research paper, as it is the law to cite your source (don't want to get in trouble for plagiarism! That's just no fun...)

So, what is an annotated bibliography, and why do we use them? An annotated bibliography is simply a bibliography with additional description of the source. They are used to help assist the reader with whether the source is relevant, or even to assist the writer with what he wants to use.

Do not get an annotation confused with an abstract, as they are not the same thing. Let me rephrase that: abstracts are not annotations, but annotations can be abstracts. Does that make sense? If not, read on.

An abstract is a short statement summarizing the original work, not including an evaluation of the work. An annotation could summarize the original work or evaluate it. Annotations could also do both summarizing and evaluating.

If you would like to read any more about annotated bibliographies, please visit this site.

Written by:

Michael Wilson

4-26-12

#227 Wikipedia is free

Wikipedia is free, so why not use it when is needed. How to search popular people or authors for MLA Format on Wikipedia has been a challenge. First step what I will do is to get on Google and search for any article on Wikipedia, and use Google cache; I don’t know why I always make that first steps. Must people will go straight to Wikipedia web. Then I click on Wikipedia remember fill free to choose your languages you wish to use. Click on Wikipedia home page on the right hand, you will see Arts, Biography, Geography, History, etc.


Wikipedia articles generally have many authors, different dates. For this reason, it is recommended that citations of Wikipedia give the author as "Wikipedia contributors".Always use your judgment when deciding whether to use any source. Wikipedia sometimes can change date so be careful.


At the top of the article is a tab that says "history". Click on it and you will see all the revisions of the article over time, along with who did them or write your author’s name you wish to fine on Wikipedia search box or type the book name along. There you will find background information on the subject of your paper. Have hyperlinks in the text, so you can find it out about related subjects. Many articles have cited references that you can follow for more information. While Wikipedia may not be reliable, the sources that editors cite are often reliable. For most assignments, your instructor will want you to use sources for your citation.
Than you will look on your right hand you will see the picture of your author, name, or book cover.

1 author(s) or editor(s)
2 the complete title
3 editions, if indicated
4 place of publication
5 the shortened name of the publisher
6 date of publication
7 pages

Wikipedia has helped me a lot over school assignments. I will always use it, because it makes it easy for me.

By: Monika A