ITW Blogging Assignment

ITW Blogging Assignment--Non-fiction Reporting 50 points
Due Friday October 28th at 11:59 PM

One of the most compelling parts of the novel is how Jon Krakauer builds a non-fictional character using a number of different strategies.
   
As we’re learning in our McCandless Presentation Projects, Krakauer uses setting, actions, writings, influences, effects, different points of view, and family influences in an attempt to explain why Chris does what he does. The effect is a multifacated, intriguing mosaic--a deep picture of a man.  
   
In an attempt to understand this style, I would like you to copy it.  
   
Pick a real person. It can be any person, living or dead, and describe him or her in a compelling way using at least two of the above characterization strategies. If you want to use a characterization strategy that Krakauer doesn’t use, that’s fine, but you should have at least two different ways of “framing” your subject.  
    
You are going to have to do some research. Not academic research, gathering facts in an effort to frame your idea.      
    
This post should be a little bit longer--around 500 words at a minimum. It will also be given a slightly larger grading weight. 50 points.

Grading:
30 Points--Graded as a normal blog post
20 points--How effective are the characterization strategies? Are there two distinct ways of framing the subject? Do the strategies work together or is the piece disjointed and jumbled? At the end of the day, how effective is the piece at presenting the subject?

A post by Eric LeGrand

This is a recent blog post by Eric LeGrand, a Rutgers linebacker who was paralyzed a little over a year ago.  A great example of strong, personal writing.  And just a great story.  Taken from si.com.

     My sophomore year at Rutgers, I bought a black Nissan Altima. I had been saving up for years to buy that car. Over the winters, I had a job hauling Christmas trees. The money I made went toward the car. Over the summers, I worked on the Rutgers grounds crew. Those paychecks, too, went into the "car account."

     The day I finally took ownership of the car, it started to rain. I was driving in southern New Jersey near the dealership and stopped short when the car in front of me screeched to a sudden halt. The driver behind me either wasn't paying attention or forgot that his car came equipped with brakes. He rear-ended me so badly that the hood of his car was practically in my back seat. No one was hurt, thankfully. But after owning that Altima for a grand total of two hours, suddenly it was totaled. My mom was going crazy. I tried to be cool. I told her, "I guess it just wasn't meant to be." And you know what? I was right. A few months later, we got the insurance money and I bought another Altima, silver this time. It was the same price as the first one, but with 30,000 fewer miles.

      I've thought of that story often over the past year. On October 16, 2010, I was a junior playing special teams for Rutgers during a midseason game against Army. We were playing at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., not far from our campus. With the game tied at 17 and about five minutes left in the fourth quarter, I ran downfield after a kickoff and collided with the returner, Malcolm Brown. I hit him pretty good -- I learned later that he broke his collarbone on the play. But I tucked my head. If you have a strong stomach, you can watch it for yourself. (Personally, I do it all the time. It's the last football play I ever made. I figure I might as well watch it.)

The Chris McCandless Project

Your task for the following project is to create a Google Presentation that answers the following question: Who is Chris McCandless?

To do this we must study how Krakauer builds the character of McCandless. In your presentation you need to include a quotation and a close reading from the following elements:

Setting--How a place affects McCandless/How it shows us something about him/How he interacts with his setting/Why setting is important to McCandless/Why does he want to go to the places he does? (3 examples)
Points of View--We get many different opinions on Chris: readers, friends, family members, people who knew him and people who didn’t. What perspective do these points of view add? Be sure to discuss the source’s credibility or lack of credibility. (2 examples)
Writings--What McCandless’ actual words and reflections tell us about him. (2 examples)
Actions--What McCandless’ actions tell us about him. (2 examples)
Inspirations--How the books/ideas/theories shaped McCandless’ life. (1 example)
Influences--How McCandless shapes and influences the people around him/what his friendships, and lack of friendships, tell us about him. (1 example)
Family--How McCandless’ family life, especially his relationship with his sister, mother, and father, formed him. (1 example)



As a summation, include a final slide that draws on evidence from the previous slides, and attempts to answer the question: Why does Chris McCandless travel to Alaska?

Walden Wordle

 Why does Thoreau escape?

Why does Thoreau escape to the woods?  What does he find there?

From Walden (1854) by Henry David Thoreau

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to "glorify God and enjoy him forever.

Peer Editing and Revising via Google Docs

Writing Group Commenting Assignment (30 points)
       Due: Comments are due Tuesday October 10th

1. Write three questions to your own writing that you’d like addressed as comments.
Examples: Could my thesis be worded more clearly? Does my analysis connect to my thesis?

2. Assign roles for each group.

Each editor will look specifically at either structure or grammar. Each paper should have someone in both disciplines, and the editor should switch roles so that he gets a chance to look at both structure and grammar.

Structure
Is the thesis clear/unified/specific/answer a why question/contain all the elements of the paper?
Is the thesis the first sentence of the paper?
Are the quotes introduced? Are they introduced well, in a way that highlights important features about them and provides context?
Does the analysis refer to details in the text and not just restate or paraphrase the quotation?
Does the analysis get linked back to the thesis?
Is there plot summary that can be eliminated?
Are there points that don’t relate to the thesis?

Grammar/Style/Formatting
Does the paper follow the guidelines for title and formatting?
Are the quotes cited properly?
Are there unnecessary long or unclear sentences?
Does every comma relate to a SINIFAC rule?
Are the quotes 5-10 words?
Does the writer repeat his sentence structure?
Are the margins/spacings/font and all that junk the way they should be?


3. Add comments to the document
You are responsible for substantial, lengthy feedback in your area. You should make at least 5 specific comments to both of your peers’ papers (Use the “Comment” feature under “Insert”.)

Avoid making corrections in the actual document. Instead, suggest possible corrections. As an extension, try to avoid being critical without offering a potential solution.

4. The original writer is then responsible for responding to the comments by replying and MAKING CORRECTIONS WITHIN THE ACTUAL DOCUMENT. I want to see actual work, time, and effort spent into perfecting structure and grammar. Note: I can see everything you do within the document.

Grading:
5 specific, helpful, substantial comments for each paper that in your writing group --10 points
Thoughtful revision of your paper -- 10 points
Total -- 30 points


How to Comment on Google Docs