Welcome to class. As you know, the final exam, a 350-500 word essay of three-five paragraphs in length, is scheduled for this week. Any students who miss class this week must make certain to come next week to make up the essay exam, or contact me to discuss some other accommodation. Next week also offers all who take the exam today a chance to retake it, if necessary.
I'm confident you can pass this exam. If you have been applying yourself throughout the quarter, you have done by now at least half a dozen formal assignments, and numerous practice and free-write exercises. We have practiced the form of the paragraph and multi-paragraph essay each week, along with basic sentence structures–the simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentence types. We have reviewed the use of standard punctuation and grammar, and ways to pare a sentence, make it more concise and readable. We have modeled the primary modes of presenting information and organizing a paragraph or an essay–description, narration, illustration, and definition. We have discussed and practiced the necessity of having a thesis idea–the point that unifies and gives direction to the essay, the one central thing you want your essay to express. And we have practiced building paragraphs organized around a single clear topic idea, each paragraph serving, if part of a larger essay, to advance the thesis idea in one or another supporting way.
We can spend a little time on review, and in preparing a checklist for the editing process to follow as you review your final draft. Thus will you have time to compose and a format to edit for the major errors that occur in grammar and punctuation.
The essay topics will be given in handout before the exam begins.
Note: Use of the Internet is not allowed during the exam.
See you in class, then. And lest I forget to say, thank you all for all your hard work and attention in class. Happy holidays!
