Transcript Welcome to the Unit 9 Seminar for KU 121!

Welcome to the Unit 9
Seminar for KU 121!
Topic: Polishing and Editing your
Autobiography
Professor: Ann Meek, PhD.
Completing the Revision and Editing
Process
In Unit 8, we received feedback from the
Writing Center on our rough draft of our
autobiography project. This week, we will use
that feedback to make the final changes to our
project, do a final proofreading, and submit our
completed autobiography to the Unit 9 Final
Project dropbox.
Project Timeline
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Unit 3: Identify your dream job in discussion and complete and
post your Pre-Writing to the dropbox.
Unit 4: Write and post your outline to the dropbox
Unit 5: Write and post your autobiography introduction to the
dropbox
Unit 6: Write and post your 3 autobiography body paragraphs to
the dropbox
Unit 7: Submit your completed Rough Draft to the dropbox and
send a copy to the Writing Center
Unit 8: Submit Writing Center feedback report to the dropbox
Unit 9: Complete and post Final version of your autobiography
to the dropbox
Five Paragraph Essay
I. Introduction – this is your identification (location, company, job
title, etc.) Thesis sentence is the last sentence of paragraph one.
II. Body paragraph 1: Personal details (professional level) – age,
family, hobbies and interests. Remember – do not include any
overly personal or inappropriate details.
III. Body paragraph 2: Educational background – include program
at Kaplan (pretend you already have received your degree)
IV. Body paragraph 3: Professional experiences and background –
any related work you have done or achievements and awards
V. Concluding paragraph – the final paragraph in the essay,
wrapping up your overall topic.
Making Final Revisions
The key to successfully polishing your
writing – eliminating grammar errors,
spelling mistakes, typos, etc. – is time.
Here are some helpful techniques to
ensure your editing is complete…
First, take the time to use the
tools at your disposal. Most word
processing programs have
spelling and grammar checks. Set
the spelling check to formal and
make corrections as you go. After
each edit, run the spelling check.
Second, print a hard copy to review.
Double or triple space this copy.
Read it carefully then put it aside for
at least twenty-four hours. Move a
ruler down one line of the text at a
time and read what is on each line.
You will be amazed how many
additional mistakes you find after
that time.
Third, take your hard copy and
read it out loud. You can read to a
friend, coworker or peer or just
read it to yourself. Many times we
will hear mistakes and logic
errors more quickly than by
reading them silently.
Fourth, print another hard copy and have a
highlighter in hand. Starting with the last
sentence on the last page, read this sentence
out loud. If it sounds grammatically correct
and logical to you, highlight it and move on to
the sentence just preceding this one. Proceed
on until you end up at the first sentence on the
first page. The goal here is to “break up” the
sequence of thoughts and focus only on the
sentences themselves. Those sentences that
you didn’t highlight are those you need to
focus on to improve clarity.
Revising and Editing Your Essay
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What to look for…
Proper topic
 A correct thesis sentence
 The five paragraph format
 Clear connection between thesis sentence and three body
paragraphs (thesis is the last sentence in 1st paragraph)
 Appropriate word count (500 words for this essay)
 Complete paragraphs of no less than five sentences each
 Appropriate transitions between paragraphs
 Third person (no “I” or “you)
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More to Look for…
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Double spacing
12 point black font
Indent paragraphs 5 spaces
Run-on sentences
Sentence fragments
Subject-verb agreement
Clarity of sentences
Misspelled or misused words
Correct use of commas and other punctuation
Sentence-Level Editing
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Do I have any short, choppy sentences?
Do I have any excessively long, hard-to-understand
sentences that lose focus?
Do all my sentences have clear subjects and verbs?
Do all my sentences have capitalized beginning words?
Do all my sentences have correct ending punctuation?
Do I have any comma splices, fragments or fused (runon) sentences?
Word-Level Editing
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Do I have any misused words or words with
unclear meaning?
Do I have general nouns that I could replace
with more specific nouns?
Do I overuse any words or phrases?
Have I run spell check on my essay?
Are all proper nouns and names capitalized?
Editing for Format
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Is the entire essay in double spacing format?
Do I indent all paragraphs 5 spaces?
Are my name, my essay title and my class/section
clearly identified on the first page?
Did I avoid using bullets, numbered items, lists and
other non-paragraph forms within the essay?
Are there no odd spacings, misused italics, or other
non-standard formattings?
Is my font in 12 point in black?
Is my essay saved to a Microsoft Word document?
Unit 9 Project Grading
This project is the final version of your
essay. It is worth 250 points, which is 25%
of the total number of points available in
the course.
From the Unit 9 Project Grading
Rubric:
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Content: Worth 100 points
These are the “A” level requirements for Content:
Includes 5 well-developed paragraphs of 5-7 sentences
each (introduction, body and conclusion); paragraphs
have appropriate topic sentences, transitions, and
supporting details; paragraph topics and order adhere
to the project description; length totals at least 500
words.
From the Unit 9 Project Grading
Rubric:
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Organization and Formatting: Worth 100 points
These are the “A” level requirements for
Organization and Formatting:
Should be very well-ordered and logical; main
concepts are easy to understand; included a title
page; double-spaced text, Arial or Times New
Roman font, and 12 point font size.
From the Unit 9 Project Grading
Rubric:
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Mechanics: Worth 50 points
These are the “A” level requirements for
Mechanics:
Final Draft is free of errors; grammar,
punctuation and spelling helped to clarify the
meaning; student’s meaning is clearly
communicated; slang, text language, and other
non-standard language is avoided.
Common Grammatical Errors
Commonly Confused Words
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Then/Than
Accept/Except
Now/Know
Knew/New
To/Too/Two
There/Their/They’re
Your/You’re
Threw/Through
Sit/Set
Affect/Effect
Who/Whom
Find the Correct Word
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Roses are prettier (than, then) weeds.
I (accept, except) your proposal.
I (now, know) you will be with me.
Nick said Mary will be going (to, two, too).
(They’re, Their, There) not telling the story.
We are having a party for (your, you’re) birthday.
I have something for you when you get (threw, through).
Please (sit, set) the vase on the table.
The final (affect, effect) of the drug was positive.
(Who, Whom) told you we were coming?
More Commonly Confused Words
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Seen/saw: these verbs are often used
incorrectly. Incorrect: “I seen him last night.”
Correct: “I saw him last night.”
A lot/alot: “a lot” is not one word, it is two
separate words.
Use/used: it should be written as “We used to
have fun”, not “We use to have fun.”
Nowadays/now and days: the correct term is
“nowadays”.
More Commonly Confused Words
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Don’t/doesn’t: use “don’t” with plural nouns
and “doesn’t” with singular nouns. “I don’t; he
doesn’t.”
May/can: may expresses permission, can
expresses ability. “May I have a cookie?” “She
can bake cookies.”
Good/well: good is an adjective telling “what
kind”; well is an adverb telling “how”. “She is a
good cook.” “She bakes well.”
More Commonly Confused Words
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Bad/badly: bad is an adjective used with linking
verbs; badly is an adverb used with action verbs.
“That apple is bad.” “We played badly.”
Beside/besides: beside means “by the side of ”;
besides means “in addition to”. “The car is
parked beside the house.” “Besides the car, she
owns the house, too.”
Try to/try and: “try to” is correct, “try and” is
incorrect. “I will try to take care of it.”
Types of Sentence
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Declarative sentences make a statement and
are followed by a period.
Interrogative sentences ask a question and are
followed by a question mark.
Imperative sentences express a command or
request and are followed by a period.
Exclamatory sentences express strong emotion
and are followed by and exclamation point.
What Type of Sentence?
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For each sentence below, indicate whether it is
declarative, interrogative, imperative, or exclamatory.
What do you consider a fair price
Do not leave books lying on the floor
What a cold day it is
Roger, where have you been
I bought this shirt in Florida
How did I manage to reach this goal
My desk is always cluttered
Would you please call me back
Parallel Construction
In correct parallel construction, related ideas are presented in a
similar, balanced, or parallel way. Ideas that are parallel should
be expressed in the same grammatical form.
Correct: I like swimming and playing tennis.
Incorrect: I like to swim and playing tennis.
 When comparing or contrasting, make sure that your
comparison is clear and don’t leave out words.
Correct: Some people think that drinking alcohol is worse than
taking drugs.
Incorrect: Some people think that drinking alcohol is worse than
drugs.
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How would you correct these?
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We like eating, dancing, and to go places.
I got the job because of my ability, experience,
and I could be assertive.
I like walking better than to run.
Yesterday I went shopping and rode a bicycle.
I would rather live in the mountains than living
at the beach.
Double Negatives
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These words: no, not, hardly, scarcely, seldom,
non, and nothing – are negatives. If you use
two negatives, you make a double negative.
Example:
Correct: There wasn’t anything left for us.
 Incorrect: There wasn’t nothing left for us.
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Which is Correct?
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We couldn’t see (nothing/anything) there.
We didn’t have (no/any) supper.
There weren’t (no/any) clouds that day.
Wasn’t (anybody/nobody) home?
I haven’t done (any/none) of my work.
Hardly (nothing/anything) pleases her.
Grammar Practice: Possessive
Pronouns
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The following pronouns indicate possession or
ownership. You do not use an apostrophe with them.
My, mine
His, her, hers
Their, theirs
Whose
Your, yours
Our, ours
Its
Rules for Using
Possessive Pronouns
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Use a possessive pronoun before a verb ending
in ing which is used as a noun in a sentence. For
example “I don’t object to his coming to the
party.”
Use mine, yours, his, hers, ours, or theirs when
the possessive pronoun is used as a noun. For
example “Mine is vanilla.”
Which is Correct?
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(Him/His) swimming of the English Channel
won him a good bit of money.
(Who’s/Whose) turn is it to wash the dishes?
They disagreed with (me/my) telling the full
story.
Will you review (mine/mines)?
Object Pronouns
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These pronouns – me, us, it, you, them, whom,
and him – are used as objects. They usually
follow a verb or preposition in a sentence. For
example “The club asked her to join.”
Don’t use an object pronoun after the verb “to
be” in any of its forms (be, is, are):
Correct – “The victim could be he.”
 Incorrect – “The victim could be him.”
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Object Pronoun Practice
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The teacher greeted (me/I).
The winning team could be (them/they).
Mary went to the store with (me/I).
Are you as happy as (she/her)?
The new supervisors are John and (me/I).
It is (me/I).
Thank you for coming, and
thanks for your hard work and
effort throughout the course!
Good luck to all!