Extension and Tips about the Homework Assignment

New Deadline for Letter Assignment

Since some of you spent Saturday, Sunday, and possibly Monday digging snow for hours on end, I am extending the deadline for the assignment. You can submit it on Wednesday at 11:59 pm.

Homeword Tip

Again a few students have asked what they need to write about. 

The first step that you must embrace before you can effectively: Writing is not primarily a physical act. Writing is thinking. Writing is the act of transferring what you think to a written format. 

The topic for the letter assignment is Internet marketing. Therefore, you need to read the two essays about advertising and Internet marketing, whose links I have posted on the syllabus: "Marketing and Advertising" and "Internet Marketing."

You should also read the blog entries.

Read the material a second time and take notes. 

(Too many students do not take nearly enough notes of material presented in lectures or about material they read. Remember take notes on what the author says, the facts he/she uses, and the ideas and questions that this information generates in your mind. If the essay does not generate any of your own ideas, then you are not engaging with the material. My guess: You are reading just to get through the assignment. Also do not presume that you will remember the information or even where you will find it again. That form of arrogance defies logic as well as the findings of cognitive scientists regarding learning.)

After you finish taking notes on your second read of all the material and without looking at the material or your notes, write down your ideas as they relate to all the material that you have read. Remember to write your ideas. If you have read carefully and taken notes, you should come up with five to 10 ideas. The quality of the ideas counts, not the volume.

Review your ideas. Read them over and over. Walk away from them for a while if nothing comes to mind. Ideas do not appear magically. Your mind must mix all the concepts and facts that you learned from the readings. That can take time. After giving yourself a break of an hour, three hours, or even after a nap, eventually you should come up with a thesis. In all probability, the thesis will  incorporate many ideas you wrote down. Make sure that your thesis is where you want to start the essay and not where you want to finish the essay. If it is where you want to conclude the essay, then take the idea and think of all the ideas needed for it to be true. You will find your thesis. And yes, it does take work. 

(Remember your thesis should be a declarative sentence of less than 10 words. In other words, no defining, no passive voice, no questions. You do not have to use that thesis in the report. It's your guide.)

Most likely, your thesis will incorporate several of the other ideas that you have already written down. These ideas will make up your propositions. You may discover that your thesis includes an idea that you have not written. Great. Another proposition. (Too many propositions helps with your writing. Why? It makes your argument more logical for the reader and it gives you something else to write about, making writing a 1000 words easier.) 

Arrange the propositions in a sequence that makes logical sense, making sure that each idea feeds into the next idea. If it does not, figure what idea will help. Then add it.

When you finish that process, you can take one of two paths. Some authors writes from the thesis created and the propositions listed. They do not refer to their notes or look up facts or quotations. They create what they would call the core of the essay. Once they finish, they then go to their research hunting for teh quotations and facts that will support their ideas.

The second path: Go back to your research. Look for facts and quotations that support your various ideas. Insert the quotation or fact with the appropriate proposition. In essence you now have an outline. You are ready to write. 

Remember that you cannot quote the blog. So go to the original sources (links or URLs are provided with all the blog entries). Don't forget that you must have at least six in-text citations, and that your sources must appear as a Works Cited page--all in APA format. Make sure that you attribute all ideas that are not yours to a source.

Then you are ready to write. My suggestion: Write the report in a separate file. When you finish editing the report, copy and paste it into one of the letterhead templates. Then make the necessary changes in the template. Remember your Works Cited information.