Works Cited Lists

If you are uncertain about how to cite a source or how to format your bibliography or works cited list, you can get help by following the link on the right side of the class blog main page to go to the St. Martins Handbook. Once you enter the handbook site, you will find links that take you to listings of different major accepted methods of citing sources and compiling reference lists. Use the handbook samples to get answers to questions you have about how to format a citation.

To see a sample of citing an article from Lexis-Nexis, follow THIS link.

Final Assignments for English 1102

Your last major essay is due to be turned in as hard copy by the end of class on 28 April. Please don't ask to submit your work by e-mail. If you have any questions about turning in the paper due on this date, please be sure to pose your questions in a timely way. Please be aware that I am available to comment on drafts of this paper as long as you get them to me (drafts ok by email) NO LATER THAN Monday, 23 April 2007. If you send me a draft later than that, I shall not have time to review it.

Your final exam will be held in class on Saturday, 5 May 2007. The exam schedule is as follows: the 8AM class has exam from 8AM until 10AM, and the 11AM class has exam from 12PM until 2PM (please note the special time for the 11AM exam--noon and NOT 11AM--go figure).

You final exam will count 10% of your grade (see class syllabus). It will be an in-class essay composed on a topic to be assigned by me. In fact, I shall give you a choice of topics on which to write. Your final exam essay is due to be turned in at the end of the exam period as hard copy.

I am required to submit your grades no later than 8 May by 10AM. As soon as I post your grades, you should be able to view them online by logging into OWLNET using your KSU ID and password. If you are uncertain as to how to log in to view your grades, you should contact the campus help desk at extension 6999.

I hope all goes well for each of you. I have appreciated your effort, and I am hopeful you will take something of value with you from all the practice you have done this semester. I encourage you to keep writing, to read widely, and to not shy away from thinking about important ideas. I believe that the more you do to find your own true voice, the closer you come to finding your true place in the world.

Assignment for 14 and 21 April

I have thought about what I would like to do for the last few sessions--whether we need to do more reading from the Norton Reader or whether some other source material might be a good choice. While thinking about all this, I have come across another film that relatively few people have seen, but that I think is worthy of a close look. The film is "Turtles Can Fly," a film about life in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Like "Born into Brothels," this new film focuses on the lives of children.

Because "Turtles" allows children to tell their own story, I think it's a good piece with which to end the semester. Given my own tendency to look for what's being left out, minimized or avoided, it occurs to me that in all the discussions we hear and read about what is important in the world (including what our textbook offers), it's often true that what is happening in the world most affects children, and yet we give them relatively few opportunities to say what they have to say about what they see in the world and what it means to them.

The fact that we so rarely allow children to speak--and that so much of what happens in the world affects them more than anyone else--seems to me to be a gross oversight, a terrible hole in the grown-up view. On the one hand we idolize children and try to remain like them as long as we can; on the other hand, we don't pay much attention to what children have to say about the world. Thinking about all this, I'd like to end the class by looking at what these children have to say.

Here, then, is my plan: on 14 April we will see "Turtles Can Fly" in class, and we'll have time to talk about it afterwards. Then you'll have time to write about it in class, but I don't want you to turn in your in-class writing until the following class, which is to say at the end of class on 21 April. on 28 April, your only job is to finish your fourth major essay and turn it in as hard copy by the end of the class.

Like "Born into Brothels," "Turtles Can Fly" is a difficult film; it is also beautiful. I hope you will find something of value in viewing it.

Here is another link to a site that gives information about "Turtles Can Fly".