LAB SIX-A

1. Routine Startup

• the first browser shows these instructions. Press Control-N to open a second browser and use it to follow links and carry out the instructions.

2. Writer Ping-Pong

1. Introduction

   This is an interactive way to practice improving both grammar and style -- and to get to know your reference text. You will be sending out and receiving examples of incorrect grammar or weak style. By email reply, you will rewrite those examples and confirm in your textbook what was suggested as an improvement.

   The replies to your messages may take some time -- so just do your part and check your mail later. Just like this exercise, questions of grammar and style will always pop in and out of your writing efforts. Make a habit of consulting a writer's reference.

   For this exercise, you will be using Lunsford's The Everyday Writer (make sure you're choosing "e-Book").

   • If your access is not working, tell me and I will sign you in temporarily.

    

2. Writing Ping-Pong: the exercise

1. PING

1. choose any chapter in Sentence Style or Sentence Grammar, Chapters 24 to 37 (expand the listing at the left)
    
2. email the person whose name is alphabetically immediately before yours in "classlist" on our course homepage (remember to sort the classlist alphabetically by clicking on the triangle at the top of the "Threads" column).  Send to only one person at a time.  In your email, include:

2. PONG

1. when you receive messages with an original example, reply to the sender with the changes you think are best – without looking at the text. We’ll call this reply a PONG.

3. POINT

1. when you receive an answer (a PONG), check the suggested changes against the version in the text and let the sender know by email how well he/she did (include the title of the sub-section if it's not already clear). You could add Lunsford's explanation, if she gives one -- preferably in your own words.
    
   • include the text of both the preceding messages and replace the subject line with writing POINT
      
   • IMPORTANT: send a copy to me at the same time
      
   • you may need to check your email near the end of the class to see if you have PINGs or PONGs that arrived late
      
   • I will give you credit for this exercise when you have sent me three of these copies
      
   • if, by the end of the lab, you have not received three Points back from other students, send me copies of three of your Pongs (they should be in your Sent Mail folder)
      
     • if you're REALLY unlucky and don't have three Pongs by the end of the lab, forward three of your Pings to me from your Sent Mail folder

1. Introduction: Making the Best of It

   Rhetoric in writing is the means by which your reactions as a reader are influenced (at least) and controlled (at most).  Alert, responsible readers always question what the motivation is, not only for the content of statements, but for the way they are expressed.  Does the language have a 'spin'?  Is the language neutral, positive, or negative?  Who stands to gain by the particular way in which the content is expressed.  With advertisements, the motivation is very clear -- the company paying for the ad wants to sell the product or service.  However, rhetoric is a part of all writing, and the motivations on the part of the writer can be conscious and designed, or unconscious and ingrained.

   The best way to see how your responses are influenced by rhetoric is to briefly take on the role of a writer using rhetoric for a purpose.  The following exercise will give a 'spin' or slant to a number of statements.  In this case, you are changing negatives to positives, but you could also be starting with positives and changing them to negatives.

   Note that, if done well, none of the statements will become a lie -- you will either suppress information or reinterpret it for your intended effect.  For a short time, use language like a politician!  After doing so, you'll be more sensitive to both levels of rhetoric -- the blatant using loaded words and hidden agendas, and the subtle using mild connotation and nuances in emphasis.

2. The Ghastly Resort Hotel: the exercise

1. Start a new document in Word and save it as hotel_yourlastname
    
2. Open the online document (click on the link below after reading these steps).  Read the whole section before beginning, including the intro and the remarks following the twelve observations.
    
3. As described, rework the observations into positive statements (don't omit any of the twelve, though you can suppress details within each) AND into clearly organized paragraphs that read well as  a complete piece of advertising copy
    
4. When you have finished, save your finished exercise in the shared folder.  If you run out of time, send it to yourself or save to your flashdrive and complete before the next class.