Students will:

1. Use agreed-upon rules for informal and formal discussions in small and large groups.
2. Pose questions, listen to the ideas of others, and contribute their own information or ideas in group discussions
    or interviews in order to acquire new knowledge.
3. Make oral presentations that demonstrate appropriate consideration of audience, purpose, and the information
    to be conveyed.
4. Understand and acquire new vocabulary, and use it correctly in reading and writing,
5. Analyze standard English grammar and usage, and recognize how its vocabulary has developed and been
   influenced by other languages.
6. Describe, analyze, and use appropriately formal and informal English.

Students will:

7. Understand the nature of written English, and the relationship of letters and spelling patterns to the sounds of
    speech.
8.  Identify the basic facts and main ideas in a text and use them as the basis for interpretation.
9. Deepen their understanding of a literary or non-literary work by relating it to its contemporary context or
    historical background.
10. Identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the characteristics of different genres.
11. Identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of theme in literature and provide evidence from the text to support
      their understanding.
12. Identify, analyze and apply knowledge of the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from the
      text to support their understanding.
13. Identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the purpose, structure, and elements of nonfiction or informational
      materials and provide evidence form the text to support their understanding.
14. Identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the themes, structure, and elements of poetry and provide evidence
      from me text to support their understanding.
15. Identify and analyze how an author's words appeal to the senses, create imagery, suggest mood, and set tone
      and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.
16. Identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the themes, structure, and elements of myths, traditional narratives,
      and classical literature and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.
17. Identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the themes, structure, and elements of drama and provide evidence
      from the text to support their understanding.
18. Plan and present dramatic readings, recitations, and performances that demonstrate appropriate
      consideration of audience and purpose.

Students will:

19. Write with a clear focus, coherent organization, and sufficient detail.
20. Write for different audiences and purposes.
21. Demonstrate improvement in organization, content, paragraph development, level of detail, style, tone, and
      word choice (diction) in their compositions after revising them.
22. Use knowledge of standard English conventions in their writing, revising, and editing.
23. Organize ideas in writing in a way that makes sense for their purpose.
24. Gather information from a variety of sources, analyze and evaluate the quality of the information they obtain,
      and use it to answer their own questions.
25. Develop and use appropriate rhetorical, logical, and stylistic criteria for assessing final versions of their
      compositions or research projects before presenting them to varied audiences.

Students will:

26. Identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the conventions, elements, and techniques of film, radio, video,
      television, multimedia productions, the Internet, and emerging technologies, and provide evidence from the
      works to support their understanding.
27. Design and create coherent media productions (audio, video, television, multimedia, Internet, and emerging
      technologies) with a clear controlling idea, adequate detail, and appropriate consideration of audience,
      purpose and medium.

Style is a writer's individual way of writing. Just as each of us has a particular, unique way of presenting ourselves, writers have unique ways of presenting themselves. Our personalities shine through the way we talk, the words we choose, the gestures we use, the clothes we wear, etc. A writer has only language to express his/her personality. The qualities below are the basic elements of a writer's style. Study them carefully when you read a text, and you will gain a deeper understanding of the author's purpose.
Diction
What kinds of words, phrases, and clauses does the author use? Compare his/her word choice to what another person might use. Figure out the rationale for the word choices and what effect these choices have on the work as a whole.
ex. Author 1: Bill was unintelligent.
ex. Author 2: Bill, who couldn't add two and two, was a Neanderthal zipperhead with a pea-sized brain.
Images
What images does the author use? What does he/she focus on in a sensory way? The kinds of images the author puts in or leaves out reflect his/her style? Are they vibrant? Prominent? Plain? Figure out what effect is created by the imagery or lack of it.

"A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie."- Tenneva Jordan

"The best medicine in the world is a mother's kiss."- Anonymous

"My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it."- Mark Twain

"My mother is a fish." - William Faulkner
Details
What details does the author include and exclude in the story? The kinds of details the author puts in or leaves out reflect his/her style? Sometimes piling on details creates and effect. Sometimes not mentioning things that you would expect to be mentioned forces a shift in focus.
ex. An author describing a battlefield might include paragraph after paragraph of details about the stench of rotting bodies, but he might just say that soldiers died, or he might not even mention death. Each method creates a specific effect. Look closely at what's there and what's not there. Figure out why.
Language
What is the overall impression of the language the author uses? Does it reflect knowledge? A particular profession? Intelligence? Is it plain? Ornate? Simple? Clear? Figurative? Poetic? There is a big difference between the flavor of the language in Huckleberry Finn and the language in The Sound and the Fury. Figure out what the effect of the language is on the meaning of the work.
Sentence Structure
What are the sentences like? Are they simple with one or two clauses? Do they have multiple phrases? Are they choppy? Flowing? Sinuous like a snake? Are they loose, periodic, inverted? What emotional impression do they leave? The huge sentences and paragraphs in Crime and Punishment reflect the guilt of Raskolnikov. The short simple sentences in The Sun Also Rises reflect the lifestyle of the characters. Figure out why the structure is as it is. If it shifts, note that and figure out why.

Before you can write an essay, you need to have an idea as to what you will write. The problem is that sometimes you do know what you want to write about, but you do not know how to begin or how to go about it. This is the point where FREDCCDD can come in handy because it gives you directions. It works by taking advantage of the fact that there are only eight ways in which humans can explain anything. What you do is brainstorm how you might write about a topic from each of the eight ways listed below. When you finish with your list, pick the best avenues of expression and begin freewriting about them. You'll probably have more than you need so pick the most interesting points and begin writing. Later, you can revise and edit.
Facts: Think of all that you know about your topic. Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? List the key points.
Reasons: Explain why you think your topic is significant and valuable.
Examples: Come up with as many examples (short and long) as you can that illustrate your topic.
Definitions: Define any aspects of your topic that may be unfamiliar to your audience.
Comparisons/Contrasts: Make connections between your topic and things that the reader may know well.
Causes/Effects: Explain what the effects of dealing with your topic are .
Descriptions: Give sensory details about your topic or aspects of your topic - smell, touch, taste, hearing, sight.
Details of Incidents: People love stories. Think of any stories that you know that are associated with your topic.

Poems can be very difficult to interpret because a lot of what they have to say is not written but is implied. A major problem that students have with interpreting poetry is that they read the poem once, assign it a personal meaning and try to get their meaning to match the information in the poem. Instead of jumping to conclusions, it is important for students to gather significant data about the poem before committing to an interpretation. This is the only way to get at the poet's meaning. Students need to look for clues, piece them together, and then interpret. The acronym below will help with this process.

Title: Ponder the title before reading the poem.
Paraphrase: Translate the poem into your own words.
Connotation: Contemplate the poem for meaning beyond the literal.
Attitude: Observe both the speaker’s and the poet’s attitude.
Shifts: Note shifts in the speaker’s and the poet’s attitude.
Title: Examine the title again, this time on an interpretive level.
Theme: Determine what the poet is saying.

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Vocabulary Study:"Doing Words"

In order to get the most understanding from the words we study, we research our words and present them to the class in the most helpful ways we can. The goal is to get everyone to understand the meanings and the usage. Below are 12 activities we can do with words to learn them well. We will not always be able to do all of these things to every word, but we should be able to do most of them. What is important is that we don't just memorize definitions but that we "do words" - that is we work with them in a variety of ways until we assimilate them.

Sample Word:     "abridge"

1. Meaning:   to shorten

2. Usage notes from the entry sharpen the focus of the meaning:  "abridge" usage notes: reduce the scope of but keep in the main points

3. Part of speech: adjective or verb - make sure you use the word the correct way in a  sentence:  "I  read the abridged version." not "I read the abridge."

4. Antonym:    Thinking about the opposite of your word will help you to understand what it means -  The antonym for "abridge" is "extenuate"or  "to make longer"

5. Analogy:  Making up an analogy will force you to really think about the angles of your word's meaning: abridge: extenuate:: shorten: lengthen

6. Sentence Completion: Making up an SAT- like sentence with a clue phrase in it helps you to sharpen your understanding of your word's usage: Since his version was thinner than mine, it was probably an "abridged" version.

7. Mnemonic: Building a sentence from a familiar word that sounds like your vocabulary word can give you a memorable clue to the word's meaning - A bridge abridges travel time over the river -  shortens it. When you think of the word "bridge," you will be prompted to think of the meaning of "abridge."

8. Origin: Sometimes an origin with yield a clue to meaning - "abridge" is from the Latin "abbreviare" which sounds like "abbreviate" meaning to shorten

9. Root/Prefix/Suffix: Pieces of the word can give solid clues as to meaning:
      "a" = one piece of/ singular
      "bridge" = a structure spanning and providing passage over an obstacle

10. Category of Word: Thinking of a category to house your word will help you to see the bigger picture - for example, the category:"Overkill" could house words such as "redundant," "exorbitant," and "superfluous."

11. Users: Thinking of people who would tend to use the word in typical conversation will help you to get the meaning of your word down - "abridge" would be used by an author or a reader

12.  Confusing Similar Words: words such as "umbrage" that might sound like "abridge" could be confused with it. Try to think of words that would confuse your understanding of the word that you are studying and make sure that you have the differences between the words down.

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Homework Rubric

Criteria

	Excellent	Very Good	Fair	Unacceptable
Assignment Completeness	All parts attempted.	Most parts attempted.	At least 1/2 of the parts attempted.	Less than 1/2 of all parts attempted.
Accuracy	All parts are correct.	Most parts are correct.	At least 1/2 of parts are correct.	Less than 1/2 of all parts are correct.
Demonstrated Knowledge	Shows complete understanding of the materials.	Shows substantial understanding of the materials.	Shows some understanding of the materials.	Shows a complete lack of understanding.
Requirements	Goes beyond the requirements of the assignment.	Meets the requirements of the assignment.	Meets a few of the requirements of the assignment.	Does not meet the requirements of the assignment.
Legibility	Legible handwriting, typing, or printing.	Marginally legible handwriting, typing, or printing.	Writing is not legible in places.	Writing is not legible.
Effort	Extra time and effort are evident.	Much time and effort are evident	Some time and effort are evident	Little time and effort are evident
Usefulness	Materials will enhance class understanding.	Materials will contribute to class understanding.	Materials go along with what the class will be doing.	Materials do not go along with what the class will be doing.

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Overall Quality:

Exceeds Expectation	Meets Expectation	“Not Yet”
Materials are clearly organized and easy to follow.	Organizational pattern is evident, but some materials are difficult to find or difficult to follow.	Poorly organized; materials missing
Clear evidence exists that student followed process as requested; deadlines met and documented.	Evidence suggests that the student generally followed the process, but some deadlines were missed.	Little or no evidence exists that the student followed the process guidelines.

 Item Checklist:

ITEM	YES	NO
A.  Log of workdays
B.  Log of time expended
C.  Working bibliography
D.  Research notes
E.  Gathered materials identified individually
F.  Other notes/materials

Item Details:

	Less Proficient	Proficient	Very Proficient
Coverage:
	Less than 4/5 categories recorded correctly	4/5 categories recorded correctly	5/5 categories recorded correctly
Purpose / Problem:
	Explained inadequately - not detailed or clear	Explained adequately - some detail and clarity in places	Explained well - detail and clarity in all parts
Research:
Web Sites-	Identified a URL correctly	Correctly identified URL; correctly identified a few sites	Correctly identified URL; correctly identified several sites
Printed Materials-	Correctly identified title	Correctly identified title; Correctly identified author	Correctly identified title; Correctly identified author; Identified pages used
Activity- (Circle Activity Selected) Presentation, Interview, Speaker, Media, or Other	Identified type of activity	Identified type of activity; explanation of observation(s) is adequate	Identified type of activity; explanation of observation(s) is of excellent quality
Reflection:
Response Needed for the following: What answer did I get to the question I was trying to answer?	Identified few points learned; response to reflection question is inadequate	Identified several points learned; response to reflection question is of sufficient quality	Identified many points learned; response to reflection question is of excellent quality

 

Journal Rubric

OUTCOME ASSESSED	FAILING	LIMITED	SATISFACTORY	HIGH	VERY HIGH
Awareness of Structural Context	Is not aware that a text is constructed in a particular way	Demonstrates an awareness of the structure surrounding a text, but does not explore it	Demonstrates an awareness of the structure surrounding a text, and makes some minimal comment about it	Demonstrates an awareness of the structure surrounding a text and how this influences its meaning	Makes original, insightful comments on the impact that structure has on the production of meaning and how it influences interpretation
Scope of  Analysis	No personal response is made to the issues/concepts raised in the  texts	Analysis conveys little evidence of a personal response to the issues/concepts raised in the text.	Analysis conveys some evidence of a personal response to the issues/concepts raised in the text	Analysis conveys clear evidence of a personal response to the issues raised in the text.	Analysis conveys extensive evidence of a personal response to the issues raised in the text.
Proof for Analysis	No examples are provided	Examples provided are minimal	Examples are provided for some major aspects of the text	Provides varied examples addressing most major aspects of the text	Demonstrates a range of varied, pinpoint examples that address all major aspects of the text
Connections to  Other Contexts	Student makes no reference to similar issues discussed in  class and/or encountered  elsewhere	Student makes minimal reference to similar issues discussed in class and/or encountered elsewhere	Student discusses some issues similar to those discussed in class and/or encountered elsewhere	Student alludes to many significant  similar issues discussed in class and/or encountered elsewhere	Student consistently utilizes different contexts to illuminate and enrich what is read
Quality of Understanding	Is not comprehending or reflecting on what is read	Demonstrates some basic comprehension of text but does not make connections to self and society	Comprehends the surface level meaning of texts and begins to relate issues to self and society	Is able to make inferences and comprehend deeper meaning on most occasions and relates texts and issues raised to self and society	Is able to make inferences well and comprehend deeper meaning consistently while demonstrating insight and understanding the relevance of the text to self and society
Effort	Very little effort was made to accomplish the task	Little effort was made to accomplish the task	Some effort was made to accomplish the task	Much effort was made to accomplish the task	Effort was made to accomplish the task with originality, completeness, and extra initiative

Expository Writing Rubric:

Creative Writing Rubric

Research Writing Rubric

1. Divide the subject into its defining parts, its main elements or ingredients, and consider how these parts are related, both to one another and to the subject as a whole.
2. When you analyze a subject, ask not just "What is it made of?" but also "How do these parts help me to understand the meaning of the subject as a whole?"
3. Seek to understand the subject you are analyzing before moving to a judgment about it.
4. Analytical writing makes explicit (overtly stated) what is implicit (suggested) in both your subject and your own thinking.
5. The thesis of an argument is usually some kind of “should” statement. The thesis of an analysis is usually a tentative answer to a “what”, “how”, or “why” question.
6. A key part of any kind of writing is defining your terms. A key part of responding to any question is to analyze the question.
7. Like analysis, summary requires you to gain perspective on your subject as a whole by explaining the meaning and function of each of the subject's parts. But a summary stops short of analysis, because a summary typically makes much smaller interpretive leaps.
8. Analysis often operates in areas where there is no one right answer. Like summary and argument, however, it requires the writer to reason from evidence.

1. Begin analytical papers by defining some issue, question, problem, or phenomenon that the paper will address. The initial version of your thesis, which usually appears somewhere in the paper's first or second paragraph (depending on the conventions of the discipline you are writing in), should offer a tentative explanation, answer, or solution that the body of your paper will go on to apply and develop (clarify, extend, substantiate, qualify, and so on).
2. Move into the body of your paper by querying your tentative thesis and other opening observations with the question "So what?" which is shorthand for questions like "What does this observation mean?" and "Where does this thesis get me in my attempts to explain my subject?"
3. Test the adequacy of your initial claim (tentative thesis) by seeing how much of the available evidence it can honestly account for. Expect to encounter evidence that doesn't fit your initial formulation of the thesis.
4. When you encounter obstacles, try other ways of responding to your subject and other terms for talking about it. This is how a thesis evolves, by assimilating obstacles and refining terms.
5. Arrive at a conclusion in which you reflect on and reformulate your paper's opening position in light of the thinking your analysis of evidence has caused you to do. Culminate rather than merely restate your paper's main idea in the concluding paragraph. Do this by getting your conclusion to answer the question "Why do I care?" which, in the conclusion, is shorthand for questions like "Where does it get me to view the subject in this way?" or "What are the possible implications or consequences of the position the paper has arrived at?"

1. Start with questions rather than preconceived or obvious answers. Don't settle for your first response or idea.
2. Experiment with prewriting. Find out what you think by seeing what you say.
3. Use your interest to open up the subject, not yourself.
4. Analyze the topic by uncovering unstated assumptions and questioning key terms. What, for example, does “good” mean in the question "Is feminism good for Judaism?"
5. Seek out uncertainty and complexity. Look for multiple and competing possibilities to negotiate, rather than a single "right" answer.
6. Find ways to move beyond passive summary (“what” questions). Use information to develop some idea (“how” and “why” questions) rather than just repackaging what others have written.
7. Drastically reduce scope. Concentrate on what seems the most important or revealing part of your subject (ranking) rather than trying to cover everything.
8. Develop your observations by asking yourself "Why do I care?" Why is what you have noticed significant?
9. Complicate binaries: get past either/or formulations. Explore the gray areas in between by determining "the extent to which" each side of the binary is true.
10. Avoid turning comparisons into pointless matching exercises. Set up similarities and differences only to discuss the significance of that comparison.
11. You needn't devote equal space to both sides of a comparison. If one side is used primarily to illuminate the other, a 30/70 ratio (or 20/80 or 40/60) makes more sense than 50/50.
12. Rather than answering a question of definition with inert summary, test the definition against evidence and/or explore its competing parts.

1. A thesis is an idea that you formulate and reformulate about your subject. It should offer a theory about the meaning of evidence that would not have been immediately obvious to your readers.
2. Look for a thesis by focusing on an area of your subject that is open to opposing viewpoints or multiple interpretations. Rather than attempting to locate a single right answer, search for something that raises questions.
3. The body of your paper should serve not only to substantiate the thesis by demonstrating its value in selecting and explaining evidence but also to bring the opening version of the thesis into better focus.
4. Evolve your thesis-move it forward-by seeing the questions that each new formulation of it prompts you to ask.
5. Develop the implications of your evidence and of your observations as fully as you can by repeatedly asking, "Why do I care?"
6. When you encounter potentially conflicting evidence (or interpretations of that evidence), don't simply abandon your thesis. Take advantage of the complications to expand, qualify, and refine your thesis until you arrive at the most accurate explanation of the evidence that you can manage.
7. Reason forward (scaffold) to conclusions by reasoning backward to premises.
8. Arrive at the final version of your thesis by returning to your initial formulation- the position you set out to explore-and restating it in the more carefully qualified way you have arrived at through the body of your paper.
9. To check that your thesis has evolved, locate and compare the various versions of it throughout the draft. Have you done more than demonstrate the general validity of an unqualified claim?

1. Your thesis should make a claim with which it would be possible for readers to disagree. Find some avenue of inquiry rather than defending statements your readers would accept as obviously true.
2. Be skeptical of your first (often semiautomatic) response to a subject. It will often be a cliché or too broad. Avoid conventional wisdom unless you can qualify it or introduce a fresh perspective on it.
3. Convert broad categories and generic (fits anything) claims to more specific assertions. Find ways to bring out the complexity of your subject.
4. Submit the wording of your thesis to this grammatical test: if it follows the "abstract noun + is + evaluative adjective" formula ("The economic situation is bad"), substitute a more specific noun and an active verb that will force you to predicate something about a focused subject ("Tax laws benefit the rich").
5. Treat your thesis as a hypothesis to be tested rather than an obvious truth. Examine and question your own terms and categories rather than simply accepting them.
6. Always work to uncover and make explicit the unstated assumptions (premises) underlying your thesis. Don't treat debatable premises as givens.
7. As a rule, be suspicious of thesis statements that depend on words such as “real”, “accurate”, “believable”, “right”, and “good”. These words frequently signal that you are offering personal opinions-what "feels" right to you as self-evident truths for everybody.

1. The introduction seeks to raise the issue, not settle it.
2. Engage your readers by articulating why, in terms of existing thinking on the subject, your topic matters. Avoid "catchy" introductory gimmicks in academic writing.
3. Always introduce a working hypothesis, frame it with background or other context, and indicate your method or angle of approach. Cite relevant sources.
4. Don't try to do too much. Offer only the most relevant context, the most essential parts of your road map, and a first rather than last claim.
5. Experiment with different opening types. Challenge a common view, use your second best example to set up the issue, or exemplify the problem with a narrative opening.

6. Don't just summarize; culminate. Offer your most qualified statement of the thesis or your final judgment on the question posed in the introduction.
7. Come full circle. Revisit the introductory hypothesis and context. This strategy will unify your paper.
8. Accept the limitations of your discussion or study. Don't assert more than your evidence has established.
9. Give your conclusion a send-off. Leave the reader with implications or speculations to think about further. Avoid closing the conclusion with a concession.
10. Let your conclusion gradually escort the reader out of the paper. Like the introduction, it is a social site, so leave the reader with a positive last impression.

1. Support your assertions with evidence. Locate the details that have led you to your conclusions.
2. Interpret the evidence for your readers, rather than leaving examples to speak for themselves. Make details speak.
3. Make explicit what is implicit in both your evidence and your claims.
4. State the connection between the evidence and the claims, rather than just putting the evidence next to the claims. Explain how each example supports, refines, or extends the point you are making.
5. Allow your evidence to shape your claim, rather than trying to force the evidence to fit a preconceived and overly broad generalization.
6. Give yourself the chance to discover a workable idea by narrowing your focus. Say more about less rather than less about more, allowing a carefully analyzed part of your subject to provide perspective on the whole.
7. It is generally better to make ten points on a representative issue or example than to make the same basic point about ten related issues or examples.
8. When writing about a number of examples, explore the significant differences among them, rather than just pointing to a general similarity.
9. Use your best example as a lens through which to examine other evidence. Your analysis of subsequent examples should test and develop the conclusions derived from your best example, rather than just confirming that you are right.
10. Argue overtly that the examples on which you focus are representative. Be careful not to generalize on the basis of too little or unrepresentative evidence.
11. To test the representativeness of your evidence and qualify your claims, seek out and address the single piece of evidence that most effectively opposes your point of view.

1. Avoid the temptation to plug in sources as "answers." Aim for a conversation with them. Think of sources as voices inviting you into a community of interpretation, discussion, and debate.
2. Quote, paraphrase, or summarize in order to analyze. Explain what you take the source to mean, showing the reasoning that has led to the conclusion you draw from it.
3. Quote, rather than summarize or paraphrase, when the actual language is important to your point. Then analyze the important terms directly, bringing out their implications.
4. Quote sparingly. You are usually better off centering your analysis on a few quotations and branching out to aspects of your subject that the quotations illuminate.
5. Put your source in a context that will give your readers perspective on its concerns. Which of its points does the source find most important? What positions does it want to modify or refute, and why?
6. Attribute sources ("According to Einstein, . . .) in the text of your paper, not just in parenthetical citations. Such attributions (a) help your readers evaluate the source material as they read it and (b) distinguish source material from your remarks about it.
7. Look for ways to develop, modify, or apply what a source has said, rather than simply agreeing or disagreeing with it. Ask yourself, "If we accept this position as true, then what follows?"
8. If you challenge a position found in a source, be sure to represent it fairly. First give the source some credit by identifying assumptions you share with it. Then isolate the part that you intend to complicate or dispute.
9. Look for sources that address your subject from different perspectives. Avoid relying too heavily on any one source.
10. When your sources disagree, consider playing mediator. Instead of immediately agreeing with one or the other, clarify areas of agreement and disagreement among them.

1. Strive for distance as you edit: place yourself in the position of the reader, not the writer.
2. Check the diction. Is it precise? Have you pondered your definitions of terms? Is there sufficient balance between abstractions and concrete details?
3. Cut the fat. Don't use five words (due to the fact that) when one will do (because). Root out expletives that needlessly subordinate (It is true that . . .). Avoid redundancy.
4. Tighten the syntax of your sentences by energizing the verbs. The active voice generally achieves directness and economy; it will promote clarity and cut fat.
5. Look for potentially strong active verbs "lurking" in sentences that use a form of “to be”. Beware of habitual use of “to be” and passives, since these forms tend to blur or submerge the action, omit its performers, and generally lack momentum.
6. Look at the order and arrangement of clauses. Are ideas of equal importance in coordinate constructions? Have you used subordination to rank ideas? Have your sentences exploited the end as a position of emphasis?
7. Look at the shapes of your sentences. Do they use parallelism to keep your ideas clear? Where do you find opportunities for composing periodic and cumulative sentences that revision can bring out?

1. In correcting grammar, seek to discover the patterns of error in your writing, and unlearn the logic that has led you to make certain kinds of errors recurrently.
2. Check the draft for errors that obscure the boundaries of sentences: fragments, comma splices, and run-ons. Begin by isolating the simple subject and predicate in the main clause(s) of every sentence (to make sure they exist); this check will also help you to spot faulty predication and errors in subject-verb agreement. Then check to see that each independent clause is separated from others by a period, comma plus coordinating conjunction, or semicolon.
3. Check your sentences for ambiguity (capable of being read in more than one way) by deliberately trying to misread them. If your sentence can be read to mean something other than what you intended, the most common causes are misplaced and dangling modifiers and errors in pronoun reference.
4. Fix errors in pronoun reference and misplaced modifiers by making sure that every pronoun has only one clear antecedent and that every modifying word or phrase is placed as close as possible to the part of the sentence it modifies.
5. Avoid dangling modifiers by making sure that the noun or pronoun being modified is actually present in the sentence. Avoid broad reference by adding the appropriate noun or noun phrase after the pronoun this. (You can greatly improve the clarity of your prose just by avoiding use of the vague “this”, especially at the beginnings of sentences.)
6. Check that commas are separating dependent clauses, long prepositional phrases, or other modifying elements from the main clause. A comma is not a pause; its function is to help readers locate your sentence's main (independent) clause(s).
7. Enclose nonrestrictive modifiers placed between the subject and predicate of a sentence in a pair of commas or-for more emphasis-in a pair of dashes. A nonrestrictive modifier is a phrase that can be deleted from the sentence without changing the sentence's meaning.

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Writing on Literature Rubric: