This is Not Your High School English Class: What You Really Need to Know to Succeed in First Semester English Composition I

By Eugene Ortiz

This is Not Your High School English Class has three goals. It seeks
1. to dispel the myth that Comp I is the same as high school English;
2. to help students avoid making the mistake of writing like they did in high school only to be shocked at the grade they receive on that first essay; and
3. to help instructors help their students build a strong foundational understanding of the mission of the academy (scholarship and the collaborative making of new meaning) and their place in it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eugene Ortiz
• Release date: Sep 21, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466050150

Eugene Ortiz

Eugene Ortiz is a freelance writer, rhetorician, and technical communicator currently living in Lockport, IL. He began teaching undergraduate writing in 1993, has presented papers on the subject at academic conferences, and was a pioneer in using online communication as a heuristic for undergraduate writing students.Before he began teaching undergraduate writing, Ortiz was Editor and Publisher of The Writer's Nook News, a nationally circulated, quarterly newsletter for freelance writers.Trivia: Ortiz has a black belt in Aikido and occasionally does background acting (a.k.a. 'extra' work). While living in Texas, he had a recurring non-speaking role as a Houston police officer on the hit NBC show, "Chase".

Book preview

This is Not Your High School English Class:

What You Really Need to Know to Succeed

in Second Semester English Composition II

Eugene Ortiz

www.EugeneOrtiz.com

Published by Eugene Ortiz at Smashwords

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© Copyright 2011 Eugene Ortiz

Table of Contents

Not Your High School English Class

Stopping to Smell The Roses

The Roses And You

The Roses And Your Reader

Arranging the Roses

Avoiding Pitfalls

Finding Resources

Advice From Professors

Advice From Students

Summary

Final Thoughts (A Second Introduction)

Index of Key Words

Not Your High School English Class

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I have good news and bad news.

The good news is that if you did poorly in High School English Class, you can do great in Composition I.

The bad news about that is you have to work to earn the grade. I know, right?

The good news about that is you bought this little book and I wrote it to help you work smart.

More bad news. If you did great in High School English, that is no guarantee that you will do great in Composition I.

That's because High School English teaches you how to follow all the rules and write a correct composition (getting grammar and format right), but not necessarily a composition that shows anything about your relationship with the subject matter and how it is significant to the greater community.

Being correct is no longer good enough. Being correct may not even get you a passing grade! This semester is about taking the first step toward transforming yourself from a student (a gatherer of information) into a scholar (a dealer in, and creator of, knowledge).

High School English teaches you how to show your teacher that you can learn the rules, not necessarily that you can use what you have learned to help you navigate unknown scholarly frontiers.

This semester is about taking the first step toward looking at school as an opportunity to do more than simply gather information to show your teacher on an exam that you memorized everything correctly and then just forget it all after the assignment is complete and still do well in the class.

Your professor will expect you to have learned how to be Correct while in your High School English Class.

Correctness refers to the basic rules of grammar and format. Your professor will review this, but if you weren't paying attention in High School and really don't know this stuff, you will need to find time outside of class to catch up. Correctness is necessary, but by itself, is superficial.

This semester is about sharing