Keables+concepts


 * Instructions for Keables Charts :) **

Please create a chart on your computer that is easy and effective for you to use. Only use the chart for errors marked by a code or by “Awk” or for spelling errors. Thank for carefully following these instructions to enable me to help you. :)

Write the code in this column.
 * __Create a Code Column__**

Write out the rule. Please be sure to write out the part of the rule that applies, and make sure you write out enough of the rule to make clear what the rule means**. Please don’t take shortcuts here or you look lazy and/or insufficiently interested in improving.** ** :) ** For example, don’t just write “Subject-Verb Agreement” for SV; write out the part of the rule that says what that means.
 * __Create a Rule Column__**

If a rule has many parts, write out only the part that applies to the error you made.


 * If your error is a G, do not write only “Glossary of Usage.” That says nothing! :) Write out the entry within the Glossary of Usage that applies to the underlined error.**

In this column, write the improved version of the part where you had an error. If “Awk” appears on your paper, that is not a Keables Code, but you still should put it in the chart as follows: write “Awk” in the Code column. Write the original awkward sentence/phrase/passage in the Rule column (there is no rule to write for this type of error). Then write the improved version in the Correction column. __**Special Case - "VWA"**__ Write “Sp” in the Code column. Write the misspelled word in the Rule column. Write the correct spelling three times in context (a couple of words before and after) in the Correction column.
 * To save yourself from doing unnecessary work:** If your paper has several errors for the same code, write out the rule only once and then enter all the instances of that error from your paper before moving on to errors for other rules. //This requires that you look over the whole paper before starting the Keables Chart to see which codes show up more than once.// ** :) **
 * __Create a Correction Column__**
 * To save yourself from doing unnecessary work:** Provide context by starting your improved version a few words before the spot of the error and ending a few words after the spot. That should be enough to enable me to figure out what the error was, how you changed it, and why. However, if the error is about the structure of a whole sentence, or even a whole passage (in the case of codes Var and Ch), write out the whole sentence or passage. **Please don’t take shortcuts here or you look lazy and/or insufficiently interested in improving.** ** :) **
 * __Special Case – “Awk”__**
 * If you have a "VWA" marked on any of your papers, do not look in Keables for it. It is not a Keables code.** **Instead, look for it in "Unorthodox But Valuable Writing Advice," which you can find in our wiki on the "Writing Advice and Principles" page. Scroll down to it and search for the word or phrase that I have underlined and marked "VWA." :)**
 * __Spelling__**

**Keables has some great advice on crafting an essay, not just on grammar, mechanics, word usage, and sentence structure. See below (we usually cover this in class, too, but here it is for reference).**

**Essay Writing Tips from the //Keables Guide//**

TOO BROAD: The influence of sports on society BETTER (SPECIFIC): Sneaker ads as a mirror of America MECHANICAL: This essay will compare and contrast sneaker ads. BETTER: Sneaker ads provide a disturbing mirror image of contemporary American values. WRONG (PHRASE): The failure of gun regulation. RIGHT (STATEMENT): Attempts to regulate firearms have so far failed to achieve their goals. INAPPROPRIATE: AIDS kills many people. (a fact) INAPPROPRIATE: Animal abuse is wrong. (too widely accepted to need proof) BETTER: Some common ways of treating dogs amount to unintentional cruelty. WRONG (TOO VAGUE): Democracy and communism have similarities and differences. WRONG (TOO SWEEPING): Gun regulation is a failure. BETTER: Attempts to regulate firearms have so far failed to achieve their goals. The most common flaw in student writing is the failure to include the second feature. A list of insights (into, say, symbolism in //The Great Gatsby// or irony in "A Rose for Emily") is not enough. The thesis must explain why the insights are important and how they advance our understanding of the work as a whole. Features 1 and 2 appear in the following example: THESIS: In his poem "To Althea, From Prison," Richard Lovelace defines true freedom as a quality of a person's soul. <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">ASPECT (A THEME): Lovelace's concept of freedom. <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">STATEMENT ABOUT MEANING: true freedom, Lovelace feels, is a quality of a person's soul. <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">1. Although the main characters in "A & P" and "Araby" have many differences, they are basically similar. <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">2. In //Animal Farm//, pigs revolt and take over a farm. <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">3. The gods play an important role in Homer's //Odyssey//. <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">4. In his poem "To His Coy Mistress," Andrew Marvell looks at the theme of time. <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">5. Mark Twain's use of an innocent narrator in //Huckleberry Finn// enables him to reveal the hypocrisy of civilization. <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">6. Robert Frost's poem "Design" uses much symbolism, irony, and rhyme. <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">7. Through a series of contrasting marriages in Zora Neale Hurston's //Their Eyes Were Watching God//, Janie discovers that happiness lies in an unexpected place. After analyzing these theses, practice below writing a sample thesis of your own on a literary work you have read recently:
 * ETop or ETh: TOPIC and THESIS.** Writing assignments and projects usually begin with a general subject area which the writer must narrow to a specific topic.
 * Subject area**: a general field of study, like genetics, criminal justice, or Japanese history.
 * Topic**: a specific topic to be discussed in an essay.
 * Thesis**: the central argument of an essay; a proposition an author advances and offers to prove or demonstrate. The plural is //theses// (it rhymes with //species//).
 * Thesis statement**. Not a part of an essay, but an assignment which your teacher may require in advance of your essay, in order to see if you are making good progress.
 * Location of the thesis**. Readers expect to learn within two paragraphs where an essay is going. A good location is the last sentence of paragraph one, but there is room for variety. Essays may begin, for instance, with a brief anecdote or evidence to clarify the issue to be discussed. Keep the writing situation in mind. For a short assignment or a timed essay, you should get straight to the point.
 * Composing the thesis.** It is usually a mistake to make your thesis the first thing you write. If your topic is complex, your first thought is not likely to do it justice. Be patient. Let your ideas grow while you weigh the evidence. Many a bad essay has been produced by writers who sit down with preconceived ideas that they are determined to prove at all costs.
 * Rules for topics and theses:**
 * 1. A good topic is specific.**
 * 2. A thesis is not an announcement of the topic.** It should express a stance or attitude.
 * 3. A thesis is a statement, not a phrase.**
 * 4. A thesis is a judgment, not a fact.** It must be arguable; there must be room for disagreement.
 * 5. A thesis must be clear and precise.**
 * Theses in essays about literature.** Besides observing the rules for topics and theses on the previous page, a good thesis for an essay on literature usually includes two features:
 * 1. An aspect of the work:** a theme, character, part, writing technique, or issue.
 * 2. A statement about the meaning or effect of the work**, usually pertaining to character or theme. Such a statement is often a generalization about life or some abstract idea.
 * Exercise**: Judge the theses below. Which are the most effective? Which are less effective? Why?

**<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">4. ****<span style="color: #ff33cc; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">L Sum ****<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">: avoid plot summary and paraphrase. **<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Assume that your readers have read the work. Your task is //not// to tell them what happens in a story, or to paraphrase a poem. Your task is to //interpret// the work--that is, to explain what the work says and to analyze the way the work says it. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">SUMMARY: Sammy is a convenience store clerk. One day three girls walk into the store wearing swimsuits. When the manager scolds them, Sammy decides to quit his job. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">INTERPRETATION: Sammy's reasons for quitting are more complex than he realizes. . . . <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">You may need to remind your reader of factual details in a particular passage in order to comment upon it, especially if you are writing about a long novel. If so, keep the summary brief--a sentence is usually enough--and go on to the commentary you want to make. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">WRONG: Huckleberry Finn //ran// away from home and //rafted// up the river. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">RIGHT: Huckleberry Finn //runs// away from home and //rafts// up the river. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Often writers using the present tense inadvertently shift to the past after using a quotation: <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">WRONG: Gulliver //is// shipwrecked in a strange land. When he //awakens//, he //makes// a startling discovery: "I //found// my arms and legs //were// strongly fastened on each side to the ground" (17). He //was// a prisoner of tiny people called Lilliputians. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">There is no error until //was//, which should be //is//. Influenced by the past tense in the quotation, the writer mistakenly shifts tense. There are two exceptions to the present-tense rule. One is the occasional situation in which you talk about two different times in the work: <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Huck now //is// sorry that he //played// a trick on Jim. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">The other is the situation in which you talk about historical facts pertaining to the work. In the example below, the first verb is in the present tense because it refers to fictional events within the novel; the other two verbs are in the past tense because they refer to historical facts. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Dr. Frankenstein //conducts// experiments involving electricity, which still //seemed// mysterious in 1818 when Mary Shelley //wrote// the novel. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">DULL: "The Road Not Taken" Essay. Comparison Essay on //Huckleberry Finn.// <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">BETTER: Wise Passiveness: William Wordsworth's Religion of Nature. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">BOASTFUL: Although Frost's poem seems on the surface to be about two roads, on a deeper level it is really about choices in life. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">OBJECTIVE: The roads in Frost's poem are symbols of the choices everyone faces in life. **<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">13. ****<span style="color: #ff33cc; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">L Org ****<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">: avoid mechanical organization. **<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> Insightful essays may have monotonous organization: <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">PARAGRAPH 2: In the first stanza the poet says, [quotation]. By this she means. . . . <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">PARAGRAPH 3: In the second stanza the poet says, [quotation]. By this she means. . . . <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">PARAGRAPH 3: The poet writes in stanza three, [quotation]. These lines say. . . . <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Next year the same student, studying novels, will probably write, "In the first chapter. . . ." Your essay is your own argument and should be ordered by its own logic. There are many possibilities: move back and forth between contrasting characters or conflicting attitudes toward death; build an argument that proves the hero's tragic flaw is pride; illustrate ways the first-person narrator is made the object of irony. The organization need not be predictable and dull. **<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">14. ****<span style="color: #ff33cc; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">LA ****<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">: refer clearly to the author. **<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> Two errors are common. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">1. The first time you mention an author, use the full name: //Robert Frost//. In later references use the last name only: //Frost//, not //Mr. Frost// or //Robert//. Writers unsure how to refer to the author produce awkward phrasing: <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">AWKWARD: Symbolism of roads is used to talk about choices. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">BETTER: Frost uses roads to symbolize choices. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">2. Use terms like //speaker, narrator// and //persona// only when poems and stories are clearly written from an ironic point of view. Otherwise they are usually unnecessary. Although Andrew Marvell may not have addressed his poem "To His Coy Mistress" to a real person, and may never even have had a coy mistress, nothing is gained by saying, "The speaker urges his mistress to seize the day." <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">If you write "the narrator," the error is worse, because "To His Coy Mistress" is not a narrative poem. Just write, "Marvell urges. . . ." On the other hand, Thomas Hardy wrote poems using the voices of a naive young soldier, a dead man, and a dog. To refer to such a poem, use //the speaker// or a term like //the soldier:// "Hardy uses irony to reveal the speaker's uncertainty." //<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">In the play, //<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Romeo is in love with Juliet. The third stanza //of the poem// uses a metaphor. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">MECHANICAL: Emily's cane has "a tarnished gold head" (27). //This shows that. . . .// <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">MECHANICAL: Emily's cane has "a tarnished gold head" (27), //symbolizing that. . . .// <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">BETTER: The "tarnished gold head" (27) on Emily's cane is a symbol of. . . . <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">BETTER: Like the "tarnished gold head" (27) on her cane, Emily is. . . . <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">FIRST DRAFT, WITH WEAK TRANSITIONS: //<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">The first example of a religious teacher is Mrs. Ryan. //<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">She teaches religion <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">every day after school, emphasizing sin and punishment instead of love and charity. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Rarely mentioning heaven, she gives Jackie the impression that "hell had the first <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">place in her heart" (614). Her idea of making good Christians is to use superstitious <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">tales and threats of physical pain to terrify impressionable children. The result of her <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">bad teaching is not surprising: Jackie "was scared to death of confession" (615). //<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Another example of a religious teacher is the priest. //
 * <span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Essay Writing Tips from the //Keables Guide// **
 * <span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">1. ****<span style="color: #ff33cc; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">LO ****<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">: avoid mystery openings. **<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> Include early in your essay--usually in the opening sentences--a phrase like "in Jane Austen's novel //Pride and Prejudice.//" Even if your teacher gave everyone the same topic, and your title includes the title of the work, you should indicate your subject.
 * <span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">6. ****<span style="color: #ff33cc; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">LVT ****<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">: use present tense. **<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Although most fiction is narrated in the past tense, and although stories and plays may be set in the past, it is conventional to write about the action that takes place in them using the present tense.
 * <span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">7. ****<span style="color: #ff33cc; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">LT ****<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">: avoid dull titles. **<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">"Hamlet" is not an appropriate title for an essay about //Hamlet//. Make your title a statement //about// the work. One useful pattern is a creative title or quotation followed by a colon and an explanatory subtitle. If the title or subtitle is long, center them on separate lines, with one blank line between them.
 * <span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">8. ****<span style="color: #ff33cc; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">LI ****<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">: avoid the irrelevant "I" and "me." **<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> Do not write "I feel the poem means . . ." or "When I first read the story. . . ." Readers will assume that any argument you present is your own, unless you explicitly state otherwise: "Some commentators have argued that Twain's novel is racist." You need no apology for offering an opinion, but you do need to support it with evidence and reasoning.
 * <span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">9. ****<span style="color: #ff33cc; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">LB ****<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">: do not boast. **<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Avoid phrases like "deeper meaning" or "hidden meaning." They sound like boasting, and they give the false impression that writers set out to deceive readers. Be more objective. Sometimes students who write "deeper" or "hidden meaning" are really talking about the difference between figurative and literal meanings:
 * <span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">15. Omit unnecessary background information. **<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> Do not write, "William Shakespeare, a famous English poet born in 1564. . . ." Assume the reader knows who the author is.
 * <span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">17. ****<span style="color: #ff33cc; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">LR ****<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">: do not repeat "in/of the poem/story/play." **<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">After your initial paragraph names the work you are talking about, there is no need to remind readers. Omit phrases like the ones italicized:
 * <span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">18. ****<span style="color: #ff33cc; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">LSh ****<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">: do not rely on the "this shows that" pattern **<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">. Students who learn to ask good questions ("Why does the writer include this detail? What does it reveal about the character?") may fall into mechanical and awkward patterns of commenting on evidence. They can afford to be more creative. For more information, see sections 8 and 9 of [|Quoting Literature] in Part Five.
 * <span style="color: #ff33cc; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">ETrans ****<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">: provide effective transitions. **<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> Avoid abrupt transitions. Avoid weak, overused phrases: "another example is," "also," "in addition," "secondly." Show the relation of your ideas. Do not make the last sentence of a paragraph the topic sentence of the next paragraph; save it for the next paragraph. The example below is from an essay on Frank O'Connor's story "First Confession":

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">REVISION, WITH BETTER TRANSITIONS: //<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Fear is an easy way to motivate children, but it is a poor way to instill a love // //<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">of truth and goodness. //<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> Mrs. Ryan, who teaches religion every day after school, <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">emphasizes sin and punishment instead of love and charity. Rarely mentioning <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">heaven, she gives Jackie the impression that "hell had the first place in her heart" <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">(614). Her idea of making good Christians is to use superstitious tales and threats of <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">physical pain to terrify impressionable children. The result of her bad teaching is not <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">surprising: Jackie "was scared to death of confession" (615). //<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">The priest is a much better teacher, for he understands children. . . . // ** EC : Provide an effective conclusion, not a rewording of your opening paragraph **. Avoid overused phrases ("in conclusion," "to sum up," "finally"). Tie your essay together.