1st Quarter Exam

Your first major exam is coming up and you might be wondering what you need to know.  Well, what have you learned so far? =)

The philosophy of quarter exams is to focus on the big things--the main objectives we've been working on so far this year:

Critical reading is the biggest thing.  What is it? How do you do it?  What does Nabokov say?  What does Frost say? What does Perrine say?  Make sure you understand ALL of their main points.  Can you demonstrate your ability to critically read something? All of that class practice, articles of the week, and essay reading has not been for naught.  It was practice and instruction in critical reading.  Look over your reading journal notes for Nabokov and Frost.  Look over the notes you took on Perrine.  Make sure you know how to read something and answer basic rhetorical and interpretative questions over it.

Rhetoric is next.  What is the rhetorical model of writing?  What are logos, pathos, and ethos? What do they look like in an argument?  How do they work? Can you explain them?  Can you use them in your own writing?  Look back at the comments on your Fast Food Nation papers to see what you did well and what you may be misunderstanding.  Read or reread the chapters in your textbook that deal with those appeals if you're still having trouble with them.  Make sure you can not only explain them, but you could analyze an argument for how it uses them.

Writing is last.  You'll have an in-class essay to write. You'll need to show that you can read a short argument and understand it's rhetoric.  You'll demonstrate your ability to do that by writing a 5-paragraph essay that analyzes the argument, being sure to answer the prompt.  "Wait a minute? Did you say 5-paragraph essay?  I thought we weren't supposed to write those." Noooo...you're supposed to write with your audience and purpose in mind.  In an in-class essay, your audience is a teacher and your purpose is to show what you know.  The 5-paragraph essay was invented as a simple, efficient way to do that so definitely use it!

What the Exam Will Look Like:

The first day will be the in-class essay.  You'll have the whole period to complete it.  Go back and look at the post on in-class essay and review the tips to help you. You might consider the comments on your first in-class essay and take into account any problems you had there.

The second day will be a "traditional" exam.  There will be several short answer questions over our course content so far.  Then you'll have two short passages to read with multiple choice questions following.

Should You Study?

You should certainly prepare.  Be ready for the essay.  Review your reading journal notes.  Know the tenets of rhetoric.  But if you've been paying attention in class and actually LEARNING and DOING what we've been covering in class the last 8 weeks, you should be fine.