Instead of authoring a new paper, I invite you to revise any
paper you have authored during your undergraduate career—here at UNG or
elsewhere. One helpful writing skill to develop is to take an idea and form it
into different genres for different audiences. For example, you might have a
strong traditional academic essay on MLK’s "I Have a Dream" speech that you wrote
in Advanced Comp. But a traditional academic essay doesn’t reach a broad audience.
How can you take the ideas from your essay and then write an op-ed for the
local newspaper, give a talk at the library, post something to your blog, or
send of a well-crafted tweet? That’s tough but it shows you know your topic and
are connect your important ideas to many different audiences.
Right now, I am working through this challenge. I have a
traditional academic book coming out, but I am also writing two blog posts
about my book (just 600 words each), I have a talk planned at the library and
Rotary Club, and I have been tweeted about my findings. It ain’t easy.
For this assignment, you have two options:
·
Migrate any previous academic essay to a
600-word blog post for NCTE
·
Migrate any previous academic essay to an
article submission to one of two undergraduate research journals: Queen City Writers or Young
Scholars in Writing.
The first option certainly is shorter but by no means
easier. The second makes more sense if you want to apply to graduate school
and/or have an interest in trying to get something published.
NCTE blog post
The National Council of Teachers of English is the largest
professional organization for all levels of English teachers. They host a blog;
here
was my post.
Blogs are unique: shorter paragraphs, shorter sentences.
Often no works cited—just add a link for your source. Keep the direct quotes
are a minimum. Stick to one clear idea and get there really quickly. Connect
your main idea to something that is going on right now. Read over the blogs at
this site to get a feel. And you gotta observe the 600-word count limit. Also
consider adding pictures. You do not submit this piece.
Journal Submission
On my website, I
have a document that talks about submitting to a journal. Look it over. The
pick either YSW or QCW and check out their submission guidelines. Make changes
to your writing based on a new audience (this journal) and their submission and
style guidelines. Print off the submission guidelines and print out your new
paper and hand them both to me by the end of the semester. You are not required
to submit, though I am unsure why you would not after doing all this work. A handful of my previous
students have published their work. You can too, if you wanna.
Be sure to include either the blog post or article in your
portfolio. Due date is the day of the final exam when the portfolio is due.
This assignment does not receive a separate grade; it is a part of your
portfolio.
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