September 17, 2007 Archives

Workbook 4 may be found in J-Web.  There is nothing to submit to Turnitin.com for this workbook.

WB4 is a chance for you to review what we have learned so far. I am also introducing active and passive verbs. (See a handout and slideshow.)

CRAFT

• Clear
• Relevant
• Accurate
• Fair
• Timely

Recall the story about the UMass Dartmouth student who claimed to have been visited by federal agents after he ordered a book through inter-library loan. The story hit all the right buttons with the student's professors (one of whom expressed worries that the feds were watching him) and journalists (who zealously guard First Amendment privileges, which seemed to be threatened when a student was harassed for wanting to read a book). As it happened, that story was full of holes and quickly fell apart. "The feds ate my homework" is just the kind of juicy story that will attract attention.

On Constitution Day, I thought we would look a little more at the First Amendment to the Bill of Rights, which guarantees five freedoms -- press, speech, religion, assembly, and petition.