"Electronic Textbook" English 112: Class Resources and Learning Links

Prof. R. Dollieslager at Thomas Nelson.

Email me at dollier@tncc.edu

Essay Writing

• Similarities in the Reading and Writing Processes
• The 5-pararaph essay (10 min.)
• Introductory paragraphs video (4 min.)
• Thesis statements video (4 min.)
• Intrductory Paragraphs: Do's and Don'ts
• Concluding paragraphs--what to do.
• Concluding paragraphs--what NOT to do.
• Sample research paper: This shows the format of an academic essay including the works cited section. It is what your papers for English classes should look like.
• Purdue University OWL videos on writing, editing, revising, and researching.
• Grading Criteria for Essays (and other projects)

Editing and Style

• "OWL" links OWL stands for Online Writing Labs. An excellent on-line "textbook" is also linked here.  It is the Guide to Grammar and Writing.
• Grammar Bytes. Grammar Instruction With Attitude: Daily grammar work out, grammar glossary, grammar exercises, MOOC (enroll in a free Massive Open Online Course), handouts, Power Point presentations, grammar videos, tips and rules--and it's actually FUN! Great stuff for teachers and for students alike.
• W. W. Norton (Publisher) On-line Handbook, 2nd edition
• W.W. Norton's Exercise Central
• "Wrules for Writers"   When in doubt, check this style sheet. (Irony alert: But don't take it too seriously.)
• Purdue University OWL videos on writing, editing, revising, and researching.

• Why I hate YOU!! Avoiding 2nd-person point-of-view in academic writing

Researching and Documenting

• Little Seagull Handbook with InQuizitive lessons.
• Sample research paper: This shows the format of an academic essay including the works cited section. It is what your papers for English classes should look like.
• Avoiding plagiarism by citing (videos):
  1. Avoiding plagiarism and using MLA documentation style (16 min.)
  2. What do I need to cite? (1 min.)
  3. Plagiarism: You can't just change a few words! (1 min.)
  4. Quoting and paraphrasing (3 min.)
  5. Citing without quoting (3 min.)
  6. Citing websites (2 min.)
  7. Punctuating in-text citations (3 min)
  8. How to cite a Youtube video.

• The Congressional Record: Track daily debates and search for your representatives' and senators' voting records.
• Fact Check.Org A Project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center: In an era of ever-increasing "fake news" sources, unreal "reality TV," entrenched political bias, science deniers, and rampant propagandizing, check your facts before you espouse your opinions or quote falsehoods.
• Fact Checker. A service of The Washington Post
• Library of Congress The largest repository of primary sources of information aside form the Internet itself--but much easier to find.
• Snopes "Welcome to Snopes.com, the definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation."
• Urban Legends "Where you'll find the most popular urban legends and be entertained with email rumors, recent internet hoaxes and stories you swore actually happened to your friend's, cousin's, pet sitter's, roommate, when she was in college."
• "Fake Or Real? How To Self-Check The News And Get The Facts" NPR, 5 Dec. 2016

• The "Speak" function in M.S. Word
• Speechnotes Google Chrome browser and cell phone voice-to-text app
• Read Aloud: A Text-to-Speech Voice Reader for Google Chrome browser. To install it, just click on the "Add to Chrome" tab. This can also be downloaded to mobile devices from the App Store.
• Natural Readers reads texts aloud by drag and drop or download.
• You will find Paper Rater useful in providing computer feedback on your papers
• Grammar/spell check with M.S. Word, Grammarly and Canvas, which has a good grammar checker built into the Turnitin documentation checker.

Log-in Links and Communication Ettiquette

Login Links

• Little Seagull Handbook
• InQuizitive lessons.
• New York Times in Education.
• New York Times newspaper.
• Canvas direct log-in

Communication Ettiquette

• Email ettiquette and protocols: Prof. Richardson's advice. (2:30 mins.) Professor DeCoster's advice (10 mins.)
• E-mail Do's and Don't's poster created by Eng 111-03 Fall 2015. Follow this ettiquette and these protocols when emailing and texting your professors and everyone.