EY 592
Spring 2007
Section 004
353856
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Title |
Judicious Sentencing |
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Course Description |
Even the biggest ideas in ecology
are communicated by strings of relatively small, simple words. Clear
packaging of ideas into word strings requires skill in designing sentences
and paragraphs. This seminar will sharpen your ability to craft clear
and graceful sentences and paragraphs. Each week we’ll have a series of
sentences (and later, paragraphs) for you to polish and share with other
students. We’ll discuss how the various revisions enhance clarity, and
why. We’ll try to learn from some of “When the passive-voice verb tries to drain the energy from your sentences, you must rescue the sentences and bring them back to life with active verbs.” “Words hate it when you ask them to convey unclear thoughts or not thoughts at all. The are very uncomfortable when readers ask them, ‘What on earth are you trying to say?’ and they have no answer to give.” “Weak subjects and verbs tremble and strain to hold up under the weight of important content. Kindness often requires their author to relieve them of this impossible task and replace them with strong subjects and strong verbs.” “When you ask a group of sentences to form a paragraph, they expect to arrive in the paragraph and find that they have a lot in common. They expect, moreover, to find that one sentence is in charge…” |
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Instructor (s) |
Dan Binkley |
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E-mail |
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Phone Number |
970-491-6519 |
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Credits |
1 |
|
Academic Restrictions or
Recommendations |
None |
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Meeting Times |
First meeting, Thurs. Jan 18 3:10-4:00; regular time might shift to accommodate student schedules |
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Classroom |
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First Meeting Date |
Thurs. Jan 18 3:10-4:00; |
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Section ID |
Will be published |
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Will this course be cross-listed
or cross-enrolled |
No |
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Enrollment Limit |
15 |
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Background |
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Text to be used |
None |