Straighterline English Comp I - Essays, Advice/Info

[bluebooger]

I'm in the course right now

you do not need that specific book

any book will do

go to a used book store or to amazon and buy the cheapest rattiest English Composition or Writer's Guide book you can find (make sure it covers how to reference and do footnotes with MLA or APA)

in fact, you don't need a book at all

I'd say 75% of the assignments are to read from this site

The Purdue OWL: Grammar

The Purdue OWL: Punctuation

The Purdue OWL: The Writing Process

Purdue OWL: Research Papers

Purdue OWL: Argument Papers

yes, every assignment is
"go here and read every link on grammar"
The Purdue OWL: Grammar

there are no questions from the readings in the book

each quiz will have a long passage (about a page) that you will have to read and answer questions about (this passage is included in the quiz, so again, you don't need the book)

some essay topics are totally up to you, but a couple in the beginning are assigned;
I guess it allows the course to be more structured and and get everyone started at the same level

I gotta say, I hate composition, I absolutely hate it

I love courses like math where the answers are either right or they are not

but composition is so subjective;

example: the first assigned essay is to figure out the thesis for "Little Red Riding Hood" and rewrite a part of the story they specify

not too difficult, but come on...
how do you know if it's right ?

Don't get me wrong.
It's a good course and I'd definitely recommend it.

It's got to be better than going to class and sitting through this nonsense and doing "peer reviews" and corrections of other students drafts ! YUCK !

and its probably better than taking Excelsior's comp exam just because there's less pressure

I just don't like writing in general, but I'm very happy with the course and with straighterline.