Blog Post #2: Summary and Review

As your second blog post you will be writing two short concise paragraphs about what you have read, or are currently reading.

Start by finding, saving and uploading a picture of the cover of your book. I am currently reading a novel called The Paris Wife by Paula McLain, pictured here:

 Source: http://seattletimes.com/html/books/2014583721_br27pariswife.html

Once you have found a cover picture online, you will need to: 

1.   Use the "SAVE AS" command to save the photo in your "PICTURE" folder of your "H drive". 

2.   Click on the "INSERT IMAGE" (little Picture) on the tool bar.  Upload the file from your H Drive.

    Make sure you copy and paste the source for the cover art - we want to credit any work that is not our own. I obtained the original image of this cover from searching Google Images. I then clicked on "Website for this image" in order to find the source of the picture. You CANNOT CITE GOOGLE IMAGES as the source for graphics, images, photos etc. Cite the website from which Google found the image.

(ANOTHER OPTION: I have also made the cover a link by adding the original site of the cover, using the "Link button"  on the toolbar.  Click on the cover and see where it takes you.

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Once you have posted your picture you can begin Blog Post #2:

INTRODUCTION: In your first sentence identify the title and author of the book. Please note that you need to properly punctuate the title of your novel - use italics.

A SUMMARY: Your first paragraph should be a 50-60 word summary of the book. If you haven't finished reading your book yet, summarize what you have read so far. A summary is a brief description of the major events of the book. It is general and does not contain specific examples of any of the plot. Look Here for some examples of concise and precise summaries).

A REVIEW: Your second paragraph should be a 50-60 word review of the book. I would suggest that you take a look at the format and style of some reviews before you begin to write. You only have 50-60 words, so use them wisely. Your main purpose is to explain, with specific reasons, your views of the book.

Blog Post #1: My life as a Reader

Today we will begin blogging.

Please remember that all of your posts should go on your own blog, rather than the class blog. The class blog will be used only for instructional purposes.

Before you get started, have you done the following?

1. Read the pages on blog basics, etiquette and guidelines for blogging? (These are located at the top of the class blog home page, identified with tabs)?
 
2. Checked out the page entitled "Posts: Achieving a Level Four"? 
 
3. Added me as a reader to your blog? If not, go into your dashboard and select "Settings" and then "Permissions". Make your blog private, but add me as a reader with the email address msjraleigh@gmail.com. 

4.  On the layout page, have you added the gadget entitled, "Blog List" and added the class blog (eng1d2012.blogspot.ca).  This will allow you to access the blog each week with a mere click of the mouse! 

NOW, find a quote on the internet that displays well your feelings about books, or your relationship with books. Once you have found a perfect quotation, add it as the  subheading of your blog (give credit to the author of the quote as well). In my "Links" list, I have given you two websites that have lots of quotations.

HOW TO ADD THE QUOTATION:  You will need to go your dashboard where you will find your "'Settings" button. This will allow you to change your title and add the quotation as the description of the blog.

THEN as your first blog post , explain why you selected the quotation you have chosen.  Make a personal connection to the quotation and what it tells your readers about you and your relationship to reading. Be sure to include the quote itself as well as the author and a link to the source you borrowed it from.

Here's an example of a level four response to this assignment:

"In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but how many can get through to you." -Mortimer Adler 

I do not read books as if it's a competition to see who can get to the end the fastest. It doesn't even have to be books; they can be articles, myths or anything written. For you can read something quickly countless times, but still know nothing of what it is saying. Instead ,why don't you take a few extra moments, read it more slowly, then you take in all of what the words are saying to you and then later you don't keep having to flip back to the text saying: "I read this in this part, but what did it say"? Then you have to spend more time on it. I know people who race through many books a week and enjoy them, but then you ask them what it meant, and they don't know. Some people are okay with not knowing exactly what the book was trying to convey, but that's not me. I would rather read one book and take it apart word for word. If I don't do that, then I don't see a point. Books are written to serve a purpose. If books don't tell you something or if they don't give you that feeling that hits you deep down, then it's not the author's fault, it's yours. So search for it, and then let the meaning get through to you .

http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/22395.Mortimer_J_Adler