Common Online Writing Situations
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Instructor's Notes
To assign the questions that follow the instructor messages and online threaded discussion in this section, click “Browse More Resources for this Unit,” or go to the Resources panel.
The expectations for your college writing may be the same whether you hand in a printed paper during class, send the file to your instructor, or post your work in a CMS or LMS. Some assignments might specify required, encouraged, or accepted online features such as links for references or multimedia components. For other online writing, consider the conventions—accepted practices readers are likely to expect—and the class directions.
Messages to Your Instructor
Learning online requires a lot of communication. Because you aren’t meeting—and communicating—face-to-face, you need to engage actively in other types of exchanges. First, welcome available communication by reading posted assignments and directions that advise you about how to meet expectations successfully. Next, initiate communication, asking specific questions online about what to do and how to do it.
When you e-mail your instructor with a question, practice respectful professional communication. Think about your audience—a hardworking teacher who probably posts many class materials and responds to many questions from students in different courses. You can guess that a busy instructor appreciates a direct question from a motivated student who wants help. Ask specific questions well before deadlines, and give your instructor plenty of time to reply. Consider your tone so that you sound polite, interested, and clear about what you need to know.
| VAGUE | I don’t know how to start this assignment. |
| SPECIFIC | I’ve listed my ideas in a scratch outline, but I’m not sure what you mean by . . . |
If your class uses a CMS or LMS, send your message through that system (unless your instructor asks you to use his or her campus e-mail address). Right away your instructor will know which class you’re in and, in a small composition class, recognize you by your first name. If you e-mail outside the CMS, send the message from your campus account, and use the subject line to identify the course name or number and your problem: Deadline for Comp 101 Reading, or Question about Math 110 Study Guide.
If you are unsure how to address your instructor, begin with “Hello, Professor Welton” or “Hi, Ms. Welton,” following the instructor’s preference if known. Avoid too much informality, such as greeting your instructor with “Yo, Prof” or “Hiya, Chief,” asking “Whatzup with the paper?” or closing with “Later.” Conclude with your name (including your last name and a section number if the class is large).
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Proofread and spell-check your message before you send it so that your writing does not look hasty or careless. Consider setting it to return an automatic “read” confirmation when the recipient opens it so that you do not need to e-mail again to check its arrival. Avoid e-mailing from a personal account that might be mistaken for spam and blocked from the campus system. Remember that your instructor’s relationship with you is professional, not social; do not send social-networking invitations or forward humorous stories or messages about politics, religion, or other personal topics.
Learning by Doing Finding a College Voice
Learning by Doing
Finding a College Voice
Working with a small group in person or online, list at least a dozen popular greetings, closings, and other expressions currently part of your (or your friends’) informal voice in text messaging, social networking, or other informal electronic communication. Translate each expression into a clear, polite version without abbreviations, shortcuts, or unconventional spelling or grammar—in short, a version appropriate for a message to an instructor in your “college” voice.
Learning from Other Writers: Messages to Your Instructor
Here are two requests sent to the students’ instructor in an online composition class, one asking about how to cite an assigned reading and the other about the instructor’s comments on a draft.
STUDENT QUESTION ABOUT AN ASSIGNMENT
From: Heather Church
Subject: Reading Response
Hi, Ms. Beauchene,
I want to make sure I am doing this assignment correctly. Is the source an online newspaper article? Also, I can’t find out how to cite part of a sentence included in my response. If I quote “binge drinking,” for example, do I have to say the page number next to it? I thought that I would cite this as if it is an article with no author. Is that correct?
Thank you.
Heather
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STUDENT QUESTION ABOUT COMMENTS ON A DRAFT
From: Arthur Wasilewski
Subject: Comments on Last Paper
Hello, Professor Beauchene,
I would like to ask you a question about your corrections. You changed the last sentence of the last paragraph. I was wondering if you could explain the change. Is it something structural or grammatical? Or was it changed for the sake of style or flow?
Arthur
Questions to Start You Thinking
Meaning
Why is Heather Church contacting the instructor? What does she want to know?
Why is Arthur Wasilewski contacting the instructor? What does he want to know?
Writing Strategies
What impression on their instructor do you think that the students wanted to make? What features of their messages indicate this?
Learning by Doing Contacting Your Instructor
Learning by Doing
Contacting Your Instructor
Write an e-mail to your instructor requesting information. For example, you might have a question about requirements, assessment criteria for your first essay, procedures for activities such as timed quizzes, or policies such as penalties for late work. Clearly and briefly specify what you want to know. As you ask your question, also try to show your instructor that you are a thoughtful, hardworking learner. Exchange drafts with classmates to learn what they would suggest to make your question clearer or your tone more appropriate.
Online Profile
Because you may never meet your online classmates in person, you may be asked to post a brief online profile introducing yourself to the class. You also might be asked to interview a classmate so that each of you can post an introduction of the other. Such assignments are intended to increase online camaraderie. However, if you feel shy or wish to retain anonymity, cover suggested topics such as academic interests or writing experiences, but stick to general background with limited personal detail. If you prefer not to post a photograph of yourself, consider an image or icon of a pet, possession, or favorite place. If the class already has much in common—for example, all in the same discipline or program—you might include your career plans. Avoid overly personal revelations, gushing enthusiasm, and clipped brevity.
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The following profiles, illustrating a personal post and an interview, combine some personal background with academic and career interests.
From: LaTanya Nash
Subject: My Profile as a Future Nurse
After almost a month in the hospital when I was six, I knew that I wanted to be a nurse. That’s when I found out how important nurses are to patients and how much they can add to a patient’s recovery. I’ve had after-school and summer jobs in an assisted living center for seniors and a center for children with disabilities. Now that I’m starting college, I’m ready to work on my nursing degree. I’m glad to have this writing class because I’ve learned from my jobs how important it is for nurses to write clearly.
Learning by Doing Reflecting on Your Social Media Presence
Learning by Doing
Reflecting on Your Social Media Presence
Carefully review the content of your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Tumblr account(s), trying to see it from the point of view of a college instructor. Then imagine that your instructor has asked you to create a profile on an online platform for your course. What information seems appropriate for a personal profile for a course, and what information might be irrelevant or off-putting to instructors or fellow students? Write a brief reflection about content you would include in the profile and content you would omit from it, explaining the reasons for your choices.
From: Lainie Costas
Subject: Interview of Tomas
After interviewing Tomas online, I want to introduce a classmate who has just started college this semester. He has been working since high school—doing everything from washing dishes to making pizzas. Now he’s planning on getting a business degree to help him start his own restaurant. He already knows what employees need to do, but he wants to learn about things like business plans, finances, and advertising. Like me, he’s a little worried about starting with a writing class, but I know from his messages that he has plenty of interesting things to say.
Online Threaded Discussions or Responses
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When you add your response to a topic in a threaded discussion, an interactive forum, or a class reading blog, follow your instructor’s directions, and also read responses from classmates to clarify how to meet the assignment. Because everyone participating already understands the writing situation, you don’t need to write a full introduction as you would in an essay. Instead, simply dive in as requested—for example, add your thoughtful comments on a reading, identify and explain a key quotation from it, or reflect on your own reading or writing processes. If you comment on a previous post, do so politely; clarify how your ideas differ without any personal criticism. Follow length guidelines, and be sure to proofread and spell-check your post.
Learning from Other Writers: Threaded Discussion
The following string of messages begins with the instructor’s explanation of the assignment—responding to an assigned reading in one of two specific ways—followed by a few responses of students. Notice how each writer responds personally but sticks to the focus by extending the “thread.” Directions for other discussions might emphasize different ways to extend the thread—for example, responding specifically to a preceding comment, summarizing several comments and adding to them, synthesizing and then advancing ideas, raising a different but relevant line of consideration, comparing or contrasting possible responses, tracing possible causes and effects, or other paths that apply your critical thinking skills.
STUDENT ONLINE THREADED DISCUSSION
Instructor Kathleen Beauchene and Students Cristina Berrios, Joshua Tefft, Leah Threats, Arthur Wasilewski, and Joel Torres
Discussion of Writing Processes
Message no. 2706
Author: Kathleen Beauchene (ENGL1010_600_Beauchene)
Date: Saturday, October 10, 2:37pm
In the attached file, you will read about one author’s writing process. In your post, you may either comment on a point he makes or share your own writing process, what works or doesn’t work for you.
Message no. 2707
Author: Cristina Berrios
Date: Saturday, October 10, 4:02pm
I find that the author’s writing process is similar in many ways to how most write, but I do not always have time to write and rewrite and organize and write and so on. . . . Of course I can see if you are a professional writer rewriting and making sure that your work can be produced to sell, but in my eyes I only need to make sure that my story is interesting, consecutive and progressive, and grammatically correct to the best of my ability. . . . Luckily I work in an office where I can interact closely with colleagues who are willing to listen to my “draft” (some of them are college students as well) and give me feedback.
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Message no. 2708
Author: Joshua Tefft
Date: Saturday, October 10, 4:43pm
My writing process, like most people’s, is similar to what the author does, given I have a lot of time anyway. I really have trouble with not erasing initial drafts, that is, incomplete drafts. I always find myself too critical of my work before it is anywhere near the final stages. But I’ve begun to learn to receive outside criticism before I put my own on it; this usually gives me a more open-minded perspective on my writing. But I’ve realized it’s a long process to get the results one wants.
Message no. 2709
Author: Leah Threats
Date: Saturday, October 10, 11:49pm
My writing process includes a lot of thought process before I go anywhere near writing a first draft. Then I begin to write and reread it a few times while in the first paragraph, change wording, cut and paste all over the paper. Then I will move on to the middle of the paper, make sure my introduction has enough to it, and the mid section is full of “beef.” Then in the ending, I try to make sure I don’t leave the writer thinking, What else? . . . I do take the time to make sure I am not shortchanging my reader. As a person who LOVES to read, I want to be able to draw the reader into whatever it is I am writing to them.
Message no. 2711
Author: Arthur Wasilewski
Date: Sunday, October 11, 1:41pm
I approach the writing process with a shoot-from-the hip mentality. Whatever comes to my head first is usually the right idea. I’ll think about the idea throughout the whole day or week, and transcribe it to paper after I’ve gone through a few mental iterations of my original idea.
Message no. 2713
Author: Joel Torres
Date: Sunday, October 11, 8:21pm
After reading this attachment I realize there are some things I sort of start to do in my own writing process, but stop halfway or do not go through thoroughly. I have used the outline idea from time to time. I should go into more depth and organize the ideas in my papers better in the future though. The whole concept of sleeping between drafts does not sit well with me. I find that when I sit down and write a paper, it is best when I dedicate a couple of hours and get into the “zone” and let the ideas flow through me. If the paper is a research paper, I usually do best when I type it directly onto a word processor. When the assignment is an essay or something along the lines of a written argument or a literary work, I like to handwrite and then go back and type it after. Distractions for me are a huge issue; TV, other Web sites, and just lack of focus definitely hurt my writing and are obstacles I must overcome every time a written assignment is due.
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Questions to Start You Thinking
Meaning
What did the instructor ask the class to do in the discussion?
Highlight or jot down a few key words to sum up the approach of each student in the threaded discussion.
Writing Strategies
In what ways do the students show that they are focused on the “thread” that connects their contributions to the discussion?
Learning by Doing Joining a Threaded Discussion
Learning by Doing
Joining a Threaded Discussion
Read the preceding sample online discussion of writing processes. Write your addition to the string, explaining your process—what works or doesn’t work.