Resources and tips for teaching writing
in this issue of Writing Points

• Zucchini season is fast approaching

• Anthropologist sifts the dirt on plagiarism

• 3 letters + picture = cool vocabulary game

• New pages focus on live student courses

• A note from Linda

Zucchini season is fast approaching

The snow is still piled high as I write this, but I'm thinking about zucchini anyway: zucchini in zero gravity, that is.

Zucchini in Zero Gravity is my 8-session introduction to academic writing for students. It introduces the conventions of writing research papers without the research element.

I've scheduled three iterations of this eight-session class.

March Madness sessions are marked in zucchini green on the calendar at the left. The live sessions will be held on those dates from 4:10 to 5.p.m, which is late afternoon in my Eastern US time zone.

The Merry Month of May sessions are held in early afternoon, 1:10 to 2 p.m. Dates of the live online sessions for May are marked in zucchini green on the May calendar at the right.

Just so students don't get totally bored over summer vacation. I've scheduled a session for eight July Midsummer Nights. The July sessions will be 8:00 to 8:50 p.m

I plan the courses for 8-15 students; it's not fun with fewer and it is difficult to give students adequate attention if the classs are larger.

Anthropologist sifts the dirt on plagiarism

A Cornell Univeristy Press book published this month looks like it might be one to put on your summer reading list.

My Word! Plagiarism and College Culture is by University of Notre Dame anthropologist Susan D. Blum. She investigated why students plagiarized despite all the training and all the resources available.

The book is supposed to include a chapter or two on what teachers can do about plagiarism. I suspect her recommendations are going to look a lot like those I discuss in my workshop on preventing plagiarism. The number of preventive measures that actually work is pretty small.

Before you ask, scheduling workshops for teachers is top of my to-do list. Look for a list of sessions in the next Writing Points.

3 letters + a picture = cool vocabulary game

February 2010: This resource is no longer available. I've removed the hyperlink.

Despite the awful name, GetThePicSure is both an educational and entertaining vocabulary development tool.

You select three letters at random. The software comes up with a word that contains those three letters. It shows you only the placement of the three letters you chose. You have to quickly fill in the other letters using only the visual clues to help you. (Vanya White does not help.)

I chose v, t, and g. My clues were photos and diagrams of the human eye. My word turned out to be conjunctiva. (Applause, please. I got the right answer.) Click on the image above to try it for yourself.

Students don't need huge vocabularies to play. They work from a sense of the most commonly used letters and letter combinations.

GetThePicSure would be more appealing to visual learners than most word games. Having to beat the clock ads a challenge. The game would be a great accompaniment to study of word roots. In situations where you have more students than computers, you could have a two or three students playing together if you don't mind elevated noise levels.

The game, unfortunately, doesn't define words after it reveals them. It sends players to Wikipedia for a definition. I suppose the developers couldn't afford a tie-in to a big-name dictionary.

New pages focus on live student courses

I had no intention of offering courses for students, but so many homeschoolers asked about them, it seemed silly not to make some available. For the last month, I've done little but work on the courses.

In addition to the Zucchini in Zero Gravity course, which could be used in other venues than just homeschools, I offer:

Preparatory College Composition is 25-weeks long and carries an unmatched guarantee. Get the details in a printable PDF.

Writing a Humanities Source Paper FAQs and printable PDF.

Writing a Technical Source Paper FAQs and printable PDF.

Each of these is a real-time, instructor-led course, not DVDs or "correspondence" type lessons.

A note from Linda: New Writing Points format

I hope you like this new Writing Points format. It will take me a while to figure out the coding tricks that will let me give loyal subscribers members-only benefits, but I'm working on it. Please bear with me: I was born blonde, and I'm going gray.

Do you know someone who could use the tips in this ezine? You can share the link to this issue of Writing Points with a friend so they can read the issue before it is available to the public.

The next issue of Writing Points should be released March 15, no providence preventing.

Until then, keep your pencil sharp.

Linda