English I at Straighterline (review)

[vsantos316]

irnbru (or anyone that has taken English II):
I am currently taking English Comp. II, I have not completed any essays yet. Does English Comp II have the same problem as English I, in regards to the inconsistent grading of draft 1 and draft 2?
-Viv

[toddsbiyj]

What about the SL buisness communication course? Im geting ready to finish up Eng Comp1 and think im going for it rather than comp 2. Any input, suggestions, etc?

[irnbru]

irnbru (or anyone that has taken English II):
I am currently taking English Comp. II, I have not completed any essays yet. Does English Comp II have the same problem as English I, in regards to the inconsistent grading of draft 1 and draft 2?
-Viv

Provided you follow the general 'five paragraph essay structure' I've posted elsewhere, English Comp II should be much easier than English Comp I. Obviously extend the structure for longer essays but I was regularly scoring 19s-21s once I realised the best requests to make when asking for drafts evaluations were for word choice and grammar rather than structural recommendations.

The course set novel, Shelley's Frankenstein, is both a good read and I think there is a significant exam worth 100 points.

Essentially, if a student takes the lessons learned from English Comp I and applies common sense to this course, they can fly through it.

Although I can still remember re-writing one of the very short, initial papers for English Comp I where, after amending my paper with the suggested improvements the final marker returned a 14/21 score with a snarky comment about an obvious theme of pantomine, overall the Straighterline English courses are excellent for developing generic paper-writing skills and clearing written-English credit requirements.

[vsantos316]

Thanks! Found this in a past message you wrote:

Read the instructions and identify the type of essay you are being asked to write (Proposal, argument, comparison, close reading analysis, classification, etc.)

Introductory paragraph
-Introduce topic
-THESIS STATEMENT (Natural sentence, not a statement of intent)
--List supporting argument paragraph topics as part of thesis statement; you can use a semi-colon to put two complete sentences together and make sure the list of paragraphs one, two and three are included in a single thesis sentence

First argument topic paragraph
Use transitional phrase, e.g. "Firstly, ..."
-First sentence states topic
--Body supports argument topic stated in first sentence
---Final sentence restates argument topic and sets up next paragraph

Second argument topic paragraph
Use transitional phrase, e.g. "Meanwhile/Next/Moving on..."
-First sentence states topic
--Body supports argument topic stated in first sentence
---Final sentence restates argument topic and sets up next paragraph

Third argument topic paragraph (possible inclusion of counter-argument)
Use transitional phrase
-First sentence states topic
--Body supports argument topic stated in first sentence (i.e., refutation of counter-argument)
---Final sentence restates argument topic and sets up next paragraph

Conclusion paragraph
"In conclusion..."
-Recap argument topics
-Recap thesis statement
-Close on a nice line

If you have time, check your grammar and punctuation. Five sentences per paragraph is enough.