Nick Mullins
instuctor, De Anza College
e-mail: mullins@nijomu.com

class blog

Spring 2008

EWRT1B section 21
EWRT1B-21 syllabus (pdf)

essay 1 (pdf)
reading response 3
essay 2 (pdf)

helpful handouts
active reading- literature (pdf)
MLA citation- lit papers (pdf)
flow (pdf)
quoting- guidelines (pdf)


helpful links



Winter 2008




Fall 2007
1A 32 syllabus (pdf)




helpful handouts
essay grading rubric (pdf)
essay basics (pdf)
paragraph basics (pdf)

body paragraph development: rhetorical modes (pdf)
thesis statements: the basics (pdf)

thesis statements: common problems (pdf)
thesis statements: going deeper (pdf)
appeals: logos, pathos, ethos (pdf)
logical fallacies (pdf)
flow (pdf)

how to quote effectively (pdf)

De Anza Links
De Anza Writing and Reading Center
De Anza Student Success Center

De Anza Academic Skills Center
Skills Center classes:
reading
writing
grammar
spelling
vocabulary

other useful links

writing
The Bedford Handbook online
More help with grammar, MLA style, doing research, etc.

ClichéSite.com
A complete list of clichés and euphemisms. Use it to learn what a saying actually means or use it to avoid clichés in your own writing.

Dictionary.com
An on-line dictionary. Pretty complete and free to use.

ESL Websites
Julie Madigan, an instructor at De Anza, compiled this list of websites that are geared towards ESL students.

Fallacy Files
A very complete collection of various logical fallacies with many real-life examples.

Indiana University writing tutorials
There is a lot of helpful advice here, such as how to write a good thesis statement and tips on taking an essay exam.

MLA: The Modern Language Association
The inventors of the MLA style.

UCSC Resource Guide- What to Expect in College
This was written for students at UCSC, but the advice on this page applies to any college student. Lots of great tips on how to get organized and be successful.


miscellaneous
Adobe Acrobat Reader
In case you can't read .pdf files (which I use a lot here), you can download a free viewer through Adobe.

This American Life
The NPR radio show about lives in the US. There're a lot of great shows here and you can listen to all of them on-line.

Pedagogy of the Oppressed, chapter 2
Chapter 2 of Paulo Freire's groundbreaking book about education and its relation to freedom.
information about Paulo Freire



What is a reading response?

A reading response is a written analysis of a text. A text can be an essay, a poem, a short story, a novel, a documentary, a movie, etc. A reading response is not simply a summary of what you have read. Everyone in the class has read the text; what we want to know is what you think. That doesn’t mean that you just talk about yourself, though. The goal of a reading response always is to come to a deeper understanding of the text. You can do this in three ways.

  • Analysis: take apart the pieces of the text and show how they work. For instance, you might explore how the examples in a text do or do not support the main idea. Or you might look at how the descriptive details create the mood.
  • Synthesis: combine different ideas to arrive at a new conclusion. Here you combine ideas of the text you have read with ideas from other texts and show what they have in common or show differences of opinion. You could also relate the ideas in the text to events in the world, past or present. You may also explore how your own experience relates to the ideas discussed in the text.
  • Evaluation: judge the ideas brought up in a text. Here you state whether or not you agree with the ideas in a text. Be specific about what you are agreeing or disagreeing with, and be sure to clearly state why you agree or disagree. A good evaluation requires good analysis.

Most often, I will give you a prompt for the reading response. The prompt is a statement or series of questions for you to respond to. Make sure you cover the entire prompt in your reading response. The more specific details you can include in your response, the better.

Reading responses are 10 points each. They are graded on how completely you answer the prompt, the organization of your ideas, the amount of specific detail given to support your response, and the overall depth of analysis. I grade reading responses with a check system:

√+            10 points

√            8.5 points

√-            7 points

–             5 points

In this class, reading responses should always be one page long, typed, and double-spaced. Don’t forget a title.

EWRT100-23 Reading Response 1
How did Tan's various “Englishes” affect her as a child? How does she use them now?

EWRT100-23 Reading Response 4
In "Thirty-Eight Who Saw a Murder…" why don't the witnesses do anything, according to Gansberg? Do you have any other ideas why they behaved the way they did? Do you think that something like this is more likely or less likely to happen today?

EWRT100-23 Reading Response 5
Briefly describe the two categories of education thst Freire describes. Which one does Freire prefer? Why? Have you experienced either of these categories yourself?
EWRT100-23 Reading Response 8
What is Ericsson's purpose in explaining the different categories of lying? Do you agree with her categories? Why or why not?

EWRT1A-65 Reading Response 1
Respond to question 3 on page 218 of Rereading America. Include specific examples from your own experience in your response.
EWRT1A-65 Reading Response 3
Provide examples for the two categories of education that Freire describes. The examples should come from your own experience and/or from essays we've read. Which category of education do you think works better? Why?
EWRT1A-65 Reading Response 5
Respond to question 6 on page 835 of the seventh edition of Rereading America (if you have the sixth edition, respond to question 8 on page 793).
EWRT1A-65 Reading Response 7
After reading chapter one of Leviathan, choose one character to describe, either Benjamin Sachs or Peter Aaron. What kind of person is he? Describe his character. Refer to specific passages in your response. Since we've read "Resistance to Civil Government…", one possibility is to compare Sachs with Thoreau.

EWRT1A-65 Reading Response 8
Analyze the novel Leviathan in any way you wish. Consider looking at character, theme, or style. Make sure you have a clear point about the text and you back that point up with specific evidence. See page 667 of the Bedford for more ideas.




this site was prepared for his students by Nick Mullins, if using this material please provide proper credit