Saturday, February 25, 2012

More Mary Shelley

If you want to know more about Mary Shelley, one of the more prominent members of John Polidori's circle of friends, see her illustrated biography here:

http://exhibitions.nypl.org/biblion/outsiders/shelleys-ghost/illustrated-biography-mary-shelley

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

 Okay well let start with today. My teacher Ms. Hodges did a fantastic time today in class by showing my fellow classmates and I two scene of the movie Northanger Abbey. I can say for myself that although the book is one of good interest, to follow the language for someone who was born in the 21st century was a little difficult. So by sing the a small fraction of  some of the scene was quite helpful. Fellow classmates and readers what do you think?

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Blog entry 4

If you're not sure what to write about for your fourth blog entry, try reading chapter 4 of the St. Martin's Handbook, which talks about how to review, revise, and edit a piece of writing.


  1. Read the definitions of reviewing, revising, and editing on page 72. Have you ever thought about  these terms as different actions? How did you review, revise, and edit your work in high school, and have you changed your methods in college?
  2. Do you have peers look over your draft before you turn it in? What helpful or unhelpful advice have you received from others? How would you like your peers to help you with your writing?

Blog entry 3

If you're not sure what to write about for your third blog entry, try reading chapter 5 of the St. Martin's Handbook, which talks about developing paragraphs.


  1. From your reading for this or another class, identify a paragraph that seems to be particularly effective. Post it on your blog and try to explain what you think is effective about it.
  2. In most academic writing situations, you are expected to provide a topic sentence at the beginning of a paragraph. Can you think of any writing situations you have been in when a topic sentence at the beginning of a paragraph isn't a good idea?

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Blog entry 2

If you're not sure what to write about for your second blog entry, try reading chapter 3 of the St. Martin's Handbook, which talks about how to explore, plan, and draft a piece of writing.

  1. When you're working on a major assignment for a class, what are the first steps you take? Are there some strategies in this chapter that you would like to try out, especially if you had enough time?
  2. Procrastination is a problem that many (if not all) writers have. Why do you think you procrastinate when you're faced with a deadline? What strategies have proven successful in the past, and what strategies would you like to try out?

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Blog entry 1

If you're not sure what to write about for your first blog entry, try reading chapter 1 of the St. Martin's Handbook, which talks about the expectations for college writing.

  • When you first starting writing in college courses (either English or another discipline) did you feel like you were prepared to meet your instructors' expectations? If you were to advise a high school senior about writing in college, what would you tell him or her?
  • Do you think about the expectations of your readers when you are writing informally - for example, on Facebook, Twitter, or another social media website? How are those expectations similar to or different from the expectations that your college instructors have? 

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Welcome and Blog Guidelines


In order to foster and reflect upon good writing habits, students in this course are required to keep a weekly blog.  This blog may be hosted at the social networking site of your choice, and the privacy and audience of this blog is up to you. (Just remember that at least one of your audience members is your instructor.)

On your blog, you can post about any topic related to the course. If you get stuck, here's a list of things you could do:
  1. Tell your readers about your experiences drafting or completing a writing project for one of your classes. 
  2. Provide a link to an interesting article you have read about any of the course topics (writing, Twilight, Gothic literature, etc.) and write a short response to the article. 
  3. Explain your reaction to any of the works of literature that we have read this semester.
  4. Show your readers what kind of writing you want to be able to do or want to be able to do better.
  5. Post a video (either yours or someone else's) and connect the material in the video to the course.
  6. Respond to any of the blog topics I will post during the course of the semester.

Over the course of the semester, you should choose at least 3 of your best posts and upload them to this blog. I will email instructions at a later date. 

Additionally, this course seeks to foster a participatory culture, so you will provide at least 5 insightful comments on your classmates’ posts on this blog. Inflammatory posts and comments will be deleted and will not count towards your blog grade. 

Questions? Email amhodge at uark dot edu.