Author: Sheri Dean Parmelee

How grocery shopping is like writing essay transitions

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

How in the world are transitions in an essay like grocery shopping???? Believe it or not, they are alike.  Work with me here!

When you go shopping for food, you put a lot of unrelated items in your cart. Maybe you get some bananas, a container of cinnamon, and some nonfat yogurt. While you are pushing them around the store, they are three separate things. After taking them home, however, you can combine them in your blender (with a few other things) and make a wonderful smoothie.

It’s like that with essay transitions. You see, your goal is to take three different thoughts and combine them into one essay. You do that through transitions. You will use four different transitions if you have three main points.

Your first transition will be between the introduction and the first main point. You need to go from getting our interest and telling us what your essay is about in your introduction to the first point; you don’t just start in. That would be like holding up the banana in your cart and declaring that it is a smoothie.

Nope, you have some work to do first. Your introduction has told me what to expect in the following pages, so now it is your job to start the first point by telling me that you are telling me about the first point. If you are a freshman, you might say something such as “First, this is abc because of xyz.” More advanced writers will use a more profound sentence, but this works for newbies.

The next transition is between points one and two. Perhaps you will write “not only do we have point a but we also have point b.” Again, this is very basic. As you become a stronger writer, you will write a more complex sentence (but you will still need to be concise).

You will then write a transition between points two and three and another one between point three and the conclusion. It is transitions that make your essay come together; it is the work of your blender to make the banana, cinnamon, and yogurt work together (along with other ingredients) to make those random purchases into a wonderful drink.

(By the way, in case you haven’t noticed, I have been using transitions throughout this blog posting. I hopefully got your attention by making the outrageous statement that grocery shopping is like writing transitions for essays. Then I talked about your first transition, went onto the next transitions, and then the last transition. That’s how it works!)

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Writing the College Essay, Oh, My!

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

A writer’s-blocked student asked me to post a blog on how to write a college essay in today’s blog, so here are some steps that you should find helpful.

First, read the assignment. What does the assignment require you to write about? If there is anything you don’t understand, ask your instructor for clarification IMMEDIATELY! Do not wait until the last minute because your ability to comprehend the assignment will diminish the closer you get to the due date. Panic sets in and it obscures even the simplest of instructions.

Next, gather research about the topic at hand. Make sure that it is legitimate, quality research, not something that you googled. Note that, while many instructors allow you to use Wikipedia these days, my students know that it is just a STARTING point in their research, not the end zone.

After reading and taking notes on the words of the experts, figure out what three main points your paper will have. Now it is time to approach your Word document. Please notice that we did not start with the Word document, because the research MUST come first! Type in your headings for name, course number, and due date, plus the any other information your instructor wants.

Leave a space in your document for the first paragraph, but do not attempt to write the introduction yet. Type in any research you want to be sure to include in the document, placing it in the document as part of the three main points that you will be making in the essay. Here’s an example of what I mean:

The essay is on the importance of exercise, so your three main points might be:

Exercise keeps you young longer.

Exercise helps you maintain a good body weight.

Exercise keeps your heart healthy.

Put your research that talks about youthfulness as a sub-point under point one, research that discusses body weight under sub-point two, and research that mentions heart health under sub-point three. Put your in-text citations in the document as you write it, so that you won’t forget to do so and end up being thrown out of college for plagiarism.

Please note that you no longer have a blank screen staring at you in the face; you are on a roll now. Keep writing.

Put a thesis statement at the beginning of the paragraph on each individual point. Analyze what your research says. Place transitions between the points. Write a conclusion that does NOT introduce any new information but which DOES summarize what you have said in the paper.

Read over your paper closely and fix any typos or poorly worded sentences.  Read it OUT LOUD and you will probably catch more mistakes. When you are totally satisfied with the paper, go back and write the introduction because now you know where the paper “went” as far as its discussion. Do not copy and paste your conclusion into the introduction- instructors find that to be lazy. And boring.

Set your paper aside for 24 hours and then read through it again before you submit it (see why you can’t wait until the day before it’s due to write it? You have to let it marinate for 24 hours). Fix anything that needs fixing and you are ready to print it off and turn it in.  Congratulations, your paper is done!

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Just for fun: Death by Porta Potty

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

I told this story to my face-to-face classes yesterday and they suggested I share it with you, so here goes. BTW, the situation is true and just happened to me yesterday morning.

I was on my way to Prince Frederick yesterday morning, driving down the highway, when I noticed a flatbed trailer holding 8 Porta Potties right in front of me. We were going 55 miles per hour, and I could not get around him, so I stayed behind his vehicle almost the entire way to campus.

Then I started to notice some things about the flatbed. It had no lip that would have kept the toilets from flying off of the back of the trailer, should they become loose. Then I noticed that there was only one rope holding them on the flatbed trailer.

My imagination began working overtime, as I realized what the next day’s headlines would read, if they hit my car: “Death by Porta Potty!” I could just picture myself walking around heaven for all eternity, with folks coming up and asking me, “So, Sister, how did you die?” My reply? “I got hit in the face by a toilet!”

When I was finally ready to leave the road and turn into campus, I felt very relieved that the toilet-toting-trailer continued down the road. My face was flushed with happiness as I realized that no headlines would be necessary. Have a great day!

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Thou Shalt Not Yell At Thy Professor, Part Two

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

I heard from a student recently who demanded to know why she got the grade she did on an assignment. The anger in her email was obvious and she was really very belligerent. I answered her quickly and with as much kindness as possible. [She claimed to have sent me an email three days previously, but probably saved the email as a draft, rather than sending it- this happens from time to time. Still, she considered it my fault that the email had not gone through.]

I went over her document a line at a time. That took a lot of time, time which I would have preferred with someone who was much nicer to me. Did she deserve the grade she had received? Yep. The document was junk, and it was the least amount of work she could have done and still met the length requirements.

What is a better way to communicate? By asking the professor nicely how you could improve your document- the key here is the word “nicely!”  Do not attempt to embarrass the professor by posting your angry comments on the class-wide Ask the Professor area (she did that, as well). Take responsibility for your own work. Do not indicate that the instructor is a total incompetent if he or she gives you anything less than an A.

It’s your call how you make it through college. Let’s make it pleasant for all involved! How do you communicate with your instructors? Do you have any tips for others who are going through school?

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Recalcitrant possessive apostrophes

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

What can we do about apostrophes? We need them, but their proper use often evades our understanding. Here are some tips for their usage:

When you write the word “it’s” you need to understand that this is not possessive. You have written the words “it is.” For example, if you write “it’s a mystery to me,” you have correctly written “it is a mystery to me.” If you write “it’s table,” you have incorrectly assumed that you have used a possessive apostrophe correctly. Nope, you have written “it is table.” That is not possessive of anything.

You see, the word “its” does not use an apostrophe to show possession. You simply write “its table” to indicate that the table belongs to something, like a table, for example. The correctly-written sentence would be: “The room did not have its table in the correct location.” While the room might have misplaced its table, the sentence is correct because it does not read as “the room did not have it is table in the correct location,” which is a horrid sentence.

So please remember, the word “its” does not require a possessive apostrophe. If it has one, it is not possessive, it’s just wrong! (But this last sentence was right because I was saying “it is just wrong!”

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Watch out for typoes and grammatikal errores- yes, that is important

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

So, I guess you can tell what I will be talking about today, given the obvious mistakes in my title. You would not believe what some folks will turn in for me to grade. Today’s list was pretty unbelievable, so here are a few to whet your whistle:

“Staff being arguing about the room….No solutions is found…..” (this gal is a junior in college). What did she write?

Next, “The company I work for provides software that allow us or our clients to medically management their members.”  That sounds painful!

After that, “With having so many varying areas leads to countless barriers in communication.”  Oh, my, this student is writing about communication, but what did the individual actually say????

Another student shared, “This has been the only place of employment, that grew a passion to work with people and customers to reach a common goal.” Huh?????

Still another student wrote about her company, which has “many moving parts.” I am not sure what those parts could possibly be.

Folks, one way these students could improve their writing is to proofread everything before submitting it. These mistakes were not made on discussion boards, which are important but don’t really count for much of the final grade, these sentences came from formal documents that were discussing communication.

Have you ever written something you wish you could change? Have you ever read something that was muddy or unclear? I would love to hear your examples of mistakes you have read!

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Gals who definitely have it all together

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Today’s blog is about two gals who are in one of my classes. These ladies have truly got their college act together. Let me tell you what they do:

They figured out a few semesters that they were majoring in the same thing and would be taking the same classes, so they made the commitment to take the same classes at the same time and become study buddies. This has worked out very well, since they share a common work ethic. They study hard and hold one another accountable.

They show up for class early every day, so that they can organize their study plans, solidify their assignments, and quiz each other for upcoming tests.  The tests may be a couple of weeks away, but they prepare for them early. No late night cramming the night before the exam for them! They have also mapped out their future coursework and talked to the advisers about their next-step plans.

They challenge each other to get the top grade; in my class, their GPAs are .8 different. Needless to say, they are at the very top of the class.  They are already discussing the courses they will take for their master’s degrees, even though they are sophomores right now. They have gotten guidance about what classes they should take at our college and which are best reserved for the future.

They know where they are going, what it takes to get there, and the time frame they need to complete their goals. When success arrives, it will not be a surprise. They have planned and prepared for it all along.

How about you? What preparation have you begun for what lies ahead?

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Success isn’t going to hit you over the head by surprise

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

It’s always a surprise to me when students think that success is going to hit them over the head as they just stand there. Nope, folks, success in college is no accident. You have to work at it.

How can you achieve your goals? By taking college seriously from the very first minute, you can increase the odds that you will do well. What does taking college seriously look like?

For starters, you get the book that is required and you read it, take notes on what you read, and study it. Attend the lectures and ask questions. Be engaged in what you are learning.

So, how do you read the book? Look at the Table of Contents and see what you will be reading about. Use a highlighter to bold certain parts of the text, but do not bold everything! I had a student once who highlighted the entire page…..so what good was that?

Keep in mind that you might be a person who is distracted by underlining and highlighters, so keep this in mind if you plan on reading the book more than once. Also keep this in mind when you go to purchase used textbooks. I used to sit on the floor next to the college bookstore’s used books and flip through them until I found a book with minimal underlining. Sometimes folks only underline or highlight the first few chapters, so you might find that the rest of the book is “clean” which is important to those folks who get distracted easily. Perhaps your instructor will emphasize different ideas from the ones that someone highlighted, so do not depend entirely on a former student’s notes in the book to help you this term.

You might find it more helpful to put notes in the margins, rather than underlining. Try underlining, highlighting, and margin notes until you find what works best for you personally.

After the lecture, try to take time that day and go over your notes, supplementing them from the textbook. Did your professor emphasize certain points more than others? It is important to him or her, so it automatically is important to you! Review throughout the semester, so that you don’t get stuck the night before an exam and have to cram. That’s no fun and it rarely works very well.

Are there any study habits you find helpful? Do you have any questions or topics you would like me to cover on the blog? I am as near as your computer and I am here to help you have success in college! It won’t hit you over the head by surprise, but is the result of hard work and dedication. You can do it!

Best,

Dr. Sheri

“I chose not to do this assignment” or how to fail in one easy lesson

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Picture this: A student walks up to me and says, “Dr. Parmelee, I chose not to do this assignment.” I replied, “What???” She repeated herself and walked away. A few weeks later, she failed my class. She was none too pleased when she got her final grade for the course and sent me an email that said, “How dare you flunk me?”  I replied, “Let’s go over the numbers.”

You see, ladies and gentlemen, college is a numbers game. You make the grades, the numbers are high, and you pass the course. You “chose not to do this assignment” and you fail.  For the sake of understanding, let’s say that she had a potential to earn 100 points in that class. Here are her numbers:

The assignment (a group presentation) she did not do was worth 20 points.

The Team Dynamics paper she could not do because she did not do the group assignment (she did not have a team because no one wanted someone who refused to do any work) was worth 10 points.

The Reflection paper on how she felt about working on a team (which she also could not do) was worth 10 points.

So, those totals are 40 points out of the 100 points she could earn for the entire semester, which left her with a 60. At that particular college, 60 points is a low D. If everything else had been perfect for the entire semester, she would have gotten a D. But it wasn’t. If she had lost only one point all semester, she would have gotten a 59 and that is an F.  But she lost a lot more than 1 point on her other assignments. As a result, she ended up with a middle-range F. That’s how the numbers worked.

What are your numbers saying about your work ethic?

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Oh, no I missed an assignment! What do I do now?????

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Has it happened to you? You have been a studious person all semester long, when suddenly you realize that you missed an assignment. Before you run outside and tear out your hair, let’s take a look at how you should handle this.

First, look at the syllabus. Does your professor have a policy regarding missed assignments or turning things in late? What is it? Do not ask for an exception this ONE time because it has been my experience that a student who does this is merely setting me up to turn everything in late because, after all, I accepted an earlier assignment late without penalty, right? Nope.

Next, email the professor, explaining that you understand the policy that he or she has, that you appreciate the opportunity to turn the assignment in late (but with a penalty), and that this was an oversight, not a case of your blowing off the assignment. Assure the professor that you are working on the document and that you will turn it in as soon as possible.

What have you done by doing all of the above? You have assured the professor that you are not blaming someone else for your mistake, you are accepting responsibility for your own education, and you are informing the professor that the assignment will be turned in soon. This is a good thing.

Finally, complete the assignment to the best of your ability and without panicked emails to the professor asking for an explanation of the assignment. Panic does amazing things to your ability to read. It destroys it and makes the simplest of instructions seem daunting. Breathe, folks. take a good look at what you should have done and calmly begin doing it.

Have you ever missed and assignment during your college days? How did you handle it?

Best,

Dr. Sheri