Writing Sample #1

This is a fake document that I am using to show how to use color coding to mark selected areas of the writing sample (below) and to comment on these specific areas more concretely in the margin to the right.  I also describe how to set up a table so that you can comment on specific aspect of your writing and how to change the background color of certain areas of this table.

Below, we can imagine what the actual text of Writing Sample #1 might say and how it might look to a teacher reading this portfolio:
 
 
 
 
 
 

One of the things that I liked the most about Stephenson's work was his use of detail and descriptive language. His descriptions of L.A., for instance took me back to my childhood in Houston, Texas, and as I read Stephenson's prose I could hear the continuous Doppler of tires on asphalt approaching and departing, recall the tangle of freeways that twined aaround the city, and smell the pervasive tang of gasoline and diesel fuel.

Stephenson's use of descriptive language and details is at its most evocative when he writes about people and the places people live.  Here, for example, is his description of Hiro Protagonist's 20 X 30 compartment in the U-Stor-It:

He is spending a little time in reality, as per the suggestion of his partner.  The door is open so that ocean breezes and jet exhaust can blow through.  All the furniture--the futons, the cargo pallet, the experimental cinderblock furniture--has been pushed up against the walls.  He is holding a one-meter-long piece of heavy rebar with tape wrapped around one end to make a handle.  The rebar approximates a katana, but is very much heavier.  He calls it the redneck katana. (171)

 

To set the color of the text or a comment--which can be of any length--first selet the text that you want to change the color of. Then right click on the selected text, and when the menu comes up, click on Character Properties.

To set up a table, pull down "Insert" and work with the dialog box.  This particular table has two cells, with a 1 pixel border around each.  The left cell spans 75% of the table width, the right cell spans 24% of the table width. To see these properties, pull down "Format" and select "Table Properties."  One could create a layout with a Comment Area on both the right and left of the center cell, thus, providing additional room for comments, but limiting the space for the orginal text.

To set the background color, right click anywhere in the table, and click on table properties.  Go to the table tab, and click the box next to the text "Use Color."

Dr Selfe:  note my use of a controlling idea here to organize the paragraph that follows.  I think that I have made a great deal of progress in oragnizing paragraphs so that readers can see their focus more readily. This controlling sentence also indicates how I am now able to make a claim about a text.

Dr. Selfe: Here, I am trying to engage with the text through my own experiences.  Hiro lived in L.A.; I lived in Houston.  In relating my own expriences, I am also trying to increase the level of detail and description in my writing.

Dr. Selfe:  Note my skillful use of quotation.  I think this quotation is well chosen and indicates my ability to use a piece of the original text as evidence for my claim about a text.