Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Fully Integrating Your Quotations

Here is an overview of what we covered in class. Remember, our goal is to include - in our sentences - all of the pertinent information of our source. This could mean several  bits of info, depending on our source:


  • publication title (such as The Chicago Tribune, CNN.com, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc.)
  • article/short piece title ("Why Joking Matters," "World Cup of Fraud," "Life Is Fine")
  • author/song writer character/person being quoted (if needed)
  • context of who this person is (Are you quoting the author? A 17th century British poet? A French biologist? Who?)
  • condensed and integrated quotation


Here's an example of what we're talking about. First e have a small bit of an online article, and then we have the fully integrated citation/quotation. (It's color coded with the list from above.)


In an article entitled "How Anti-Virals Exploit The One Weakness That Every Single Virus Has," published on the science blog IO9.com, author Esther Inglis-Arkell explains how, for "the people who make anti-virals," a "newly discovered protein could allow them to take control of viruses like puppeteers."

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Beatty Essay



In a thoughtful, thorough, one-page essay, answer the following question. Be sure to use the One Page Essay Rubric version 5.0 when drafting and revising.

Does Beatty have a point?

You must answer this question thusly:

While Beatty is correct when he claims __________, he is incorrect when he claims __________.


The two blanks should be SUMMARIES of Beatty's points. In the essay itself, however, they need to be DIRECT QUOTATIONS, properly cited and integrated.

Remember, you will be using Rubric 5.0 for this essay, so be sure to keep it handy while editing. You will be given a copy of rubric 5.0, and there will be one available in your Googledrive.

Here are my notes for the essay. Let me know if you have any questions.



Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Sci-Fi Problems in District 9

This post is for JUNIORS only.



District 9 tackles a variety of real world problems: South Africa's apartheid, South Africa's racist attitudes towards Nigerians, people's willingness to buy into media smear campaigns, immigration issues, the abuse of authority by police, the utilization of concentration camps, and more. 



The film, however, is basically broken into three acts with each act focusing on one basic problem:
  1. The first third of the film deals with MNU's treatment of the aliens and the way they plan to force them into a concentration camp. In other words, the first third of the film explores how horribly governments and corporations can treat groups of minorities.
  2. The second third of the film deals with MNU's inhuman treatment of Wikus and how horribly governments and corporations can treat individual members of society.
  3. The final third of the film deals with how people have a natural instinct for self preservation which often leads to selfish and callous behavior towards others.


Your task is to accomplish the following objectives:
  • Select one of the three acts about which you would like to write.
  • View the clip below that illustrates the act's central real world problem.
  • Write a thoughtful, thorough, grammatically correct paragraph in which you thoroughly explain how the clip illustrates just how the problem exists in the film.
  • Write a second paragraph in which you thoroughly explain how this real world problem exists in either (1) the real world, (2) A Long Way Gone, or (3) another film or book or your choice.


If you have any questions, please ask an instructor. As always, use the following list to edit your work:
  • third person
  • present tense
  • no contractions
  • correct grammar/punctuation
  • correct spelling
  • correct capitalization
  • book titles italicized
  • a creative, original title for your essay 


Act I:  The treatment of the aliens by MNU
(The treatment of minority groups by governments and corporations)




Act II:  The treatment of Wikus by MNU
(The treatment of individuals by a government or corporation)




Act III:  Wikus is ruled by his fear of MNU and his prejudice of the aliens
(Individuals are ruled by instinctive fears and prejudices)




Two more points of interest:

Be sure to bring your Fahrenheit 451 novels the day after break.




If you enjoyed District 9, you might also enjoy Monsters.

Friday, February 27, 2015

ACT Practice Answers

Here they are...

Passage III Humanities "Spaced Out"

21 A
22 H
23 C
24 J
25 D
26 F
27 D
28 F
29 B
30 G


Passage IV Natural Science "Anthopologist on Mars"

31 B
32 F
33 C
34 J
35 D
36 H
37 B
38 F
39 B
40 J

Monday, December 8, 2014

Citizen Kane



We'll be watching a film entitled Citizen Kane. If you miss a day, and if you need to catch up with Citizen Kane, you can find the film online here.