Pangborn's Pages

In addition to the course pages and the "Tips and Advice" indexed below, I have posted a page on Sentence Combining Techniques and one on my view of What Composition Class Is For. Interested students (and teachers, for that matter) might also want to peruse the Composition Learning Goals set forth by the NCTE, one of the major professional organizations in this field.

Tips and Advice on college writing:

Thinking Through Writing

Grades and Grading

Introductions and Conclusions

Going Around in the Right Kind of Circles

Understanding How Language Works

Coping with Ignorance and Uncertainty

How to Handle Open Assignments in a Literature Course

Writing and Professionalism

Writing and Disillusionment

Dealing With Really Hard Research Sources

Stress-Related Writing Problems

(By the way—visitors to this page might wonder what's up with the Zen guy ripping up the scroll. His name is Hui Neng, and he would sometimes tear up sacred scrolls in front of his followers in order to make the point that the real truth is not contained within some piece of paper. This picture always reminds me of a different Zen master, though: Teh Shan, who spent years and years writing a book on one of the most sacred texts of ancient Buddhism, the Diamond Sutra. (It's a difficult and strange book, this Diamond Sutra, and one of my personal favorites.) Teh Shan realized one day, with the help of an old woman who worked in an inn near the temple, that his book about the Buddha's book was totally unnecessary, and pretty soon he very publicly burned up his years of hard work. Students should note the look on Hui Neng's face: it's not anger and disappointment, it's a wicked sort of joy. He's having a blast! He is doing it because he realizes a higher truth. That's what I call editing: anything that does not contribute to the writing's purpose gets mercilessly, gleefully cut. I invite all students to experience the same joy by cutting all the dead weight from every one of their papers.)