1a. Look at this website listing various types of essays. It's quite comprehensive and it opens up those initial categories found in the reading on Genre last week. Read through some of the essay types; you can even click some types for further descriptions about that particular style of essay. Then, in your journal for the week:

1b. Pick at least 3 different styles of essays from this list, write down some basic facts about these 3 types of essays that you've chosen (For example, from our discussion on writing elements: what is their purpose/s, and who would be their intended audience/s; is there anything specific about the form (grammar + mechanics) ?), and write some notes as to why these 3 styles of essay would interest you the most.

1c. Write a brief comparison between your 3 selected types of essays above, and those 5 genres you picked last week by answering these questions:

• Do any of your 3 selected essay types fall into the 5 genres you chose last week?
• If all, some, or none of your 3 selected essays fall into your previously chosen genres, do you think that your genre interests match your writing interests, and why or why not? (For example: "I don't have time to indulge myself in writing something more creative and less scientific..." or, "I would like to challenge myself to write something new and different from what I'm used to writing for other classes.")  

Upload your journals to the journaling homework vault below, in the folder with your first and last name. You should all have access to your own folders now - if you do not, email me and let's sort out that problem.

Homework vault:

2. Your second Metalanguage quiz is due next week (Week 4). Please complete the worksheet, and upload it to the homework vault below for Metalanguage Quizzes. Upload this to the same folder you created last week in the larger folder for these Metalanguage Quizzes (MLQs). We will review the answers to this quiz in class next week, so please bring your work with you to class (printed or on your computer). Next week, I will ask you to review your answers in small groups just before we go through them in class. That way, if you're unsure about one of your answers, you can talk about it with your group before answering aloud in class. I've also posted the answers to the first quiz below, in case you would like to check this again.

Answers to MLQ 1:

Homework vault:

Next week is "creative genres" and Narrative Essays focus week - we'll start with this one, as I believe it may be the most difficult or the least familiar genre for many of you (though, I may be just assuming...)

3a. After the page Part 1 (you can click this in the table of contents), read the next 5 pages of The Perks of Being a Wallflower - you can stop when you reach the letter "September 18th, 1991"

3b. Read at least the first 4-5 pages of "For Esme -- With Love and Squalor" but you would enjoy the story much more if you choose to finish the full 11 pages. 

3c. Read "The Tell-tale Heart" (it's 4 pages).

3d. And lastly, read the poem "The Rival" by Sylvia Plath.

OPTIONAL:

1. If you would be interested in looking into some other creative pieces, I recommend Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (it's quite long, you don't need to read the whole thing unless you'd like to...).

2. A playlist of songs I put together quickly that have what I consider to be well-written, or at least interesting lyrics that give a listener more to think about than just the music itself. Yes, they're mostly romantic songs...but I tried to keep the lyrical content mostly PG ;) I couldn't find lyrics videos for all of these, so you may need to google some of the lyrics on your own.

Notes: Next week I will post the requirements/template questions for the writing project proposal in the interactive syllabus, and we will briefly go over it in class to be sure that you understand it. You will then have 2 weeks to complete this proposal, as it's not due until Week 6 - October 23rd. Over those 2 weeks before your proposal is due, we will also review "social sciences genres"/Persuasive Essays (and other types)...and "hard sciences genres"/Scientific articles, thesis papers, etc. (what students usually think of as "academic writing" before they learn otherwise).

Finally, a comic via The Oatmeal: