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Welcome to the Purdue OWL News!
This is an online newsletter about happenings in the Purdue University Writing Lab and the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL). We're always glad to hear from you at owlnews@owl.english.purdue.edu!
Here's our writing question of the week, brought to you by the Online Writing Lab Tutors here at Purdue.
I don't know if I should say "This affects Lori and me" or "This affects Lori and I."
Here's the answer.
The technical answer is that "I" is a subject and "me" is an object. So if you are doing something in the sentence, you should use "I." But if you are the object of a verb, then you should use "me."
The not-so-technical answer is that you can figure out what word to use by covering up the other person's name. To use your example, would you say "This affects me" or "This affects I"? So obviously, the correct sentence is, "This affects Lori and me."
Another example, "Lori and I will develop a plan." In this case, you would not say, "Me will develop a plan," so you should say, "Lori and I." Again, the technical reason is that "I" is a subject in this verb.
For more help with this, see our handout on pronouns: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_proncase.html
Many of our readers write to us with questions or requests for help with their writing. Readers also write to us with suggestions about how to help people learn more about writing. In this section of the newsletter, we'll try to bring together both the people looking for help and the people who can help them.
Each week we'll publish a request for advice or information. If you have information or advice about this topic, please write to us at owlnews@owl.english.purdue.edu. Please let us know if you want us to include your name and/or your email address when we publish your information or advice. The following week, we'll publish the best information and advice that we receive in the newsletter.
Here's our request for this week.
Here's some advice sent in by readers . . .
"Assume you are writing a professional letter or a professional paper. Don't ever get chatty in e-mails to professors, teachers, co-workers, or your boss. This would mean that your e-mail should have a date, professional greeting, correct paragraph format, and "signature." Later, when the person responds, if they respond informally, or get "chatty," then you can do so. But it's always best to assume that an e-mail at school or at the work place is professional format first. I hope this helps. It certainly helped me!"
- from Lisa Boushehri
"The biggest tip I can think of is to take advantage of the feature offered by most e-mail software to save a message for delivery later. Any time I have to send an e-mail that might be misinterpreted, I try to compose it ahead of time, save it as a draft, and then review it after a few hours or the next morning. It's easy to write something in the heat of the moment, press the 'send' button, and then immediately regret it. Use the same tools to revise your e-mail that you use to revise other written work.
"Another tip is to create templates for messages that you send frequently. If you find you're typing the same thing over and over, a template will save a lot of time. Just make sure that you personalize it as appropriate."
- from Brian Ogilvie
"There can be no better tip than to be positive your spelling is correct. Use caution when using spell check, the computer cannot tell if you are spelling 'assistance' or 'assistants'; it will see both as correct. Be aware of 'affect' and 'effect,' and other such frequently confused pairs. Use proper grammar in your correspondence. If you're not sure of the proper form use a handbook such as "Harbrace College Handbook" or other such aids. Rely on your dictionary and thesaurus, they can be your best friend."
- from James A Pearl
Thanks for all the great responses!
Here's our next request from some of our readers.
What advice do you have for writing in the job search? Any favorite sites? Recommendations?
Got some help for our readers? Send it to owlnews@owl.english.purdue.edu. Your advice and information about this will appear in next week's newsletter. Got a question for our readers? Send it to us at owlnews@owl.english.purdue.edu and we'll try to include it in the newsletter as soon as possible.
This approach to teaching writing is based on the understanding that each discipline has its own conventions of language use and style and that these conventions must be taught to students so that they might successfully participate in academic discourse. Reports, article reviews, and research papers are the most commonly used assignments in a WID focused course.
If you are interested in utilizing WAC and/or reading further on the subject, you might wish to explore Purdue OWL's resources:
General information: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/wac/index.html
Annotated bibliographies: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/wac/bibintro.html
These include resources for class assignments, pedagogical theory, and writings on the use of WAC, WID, and Writing to Learn in particular disciplines.
Resources for citing sources in the disciplines: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_docsources.html Citing electronic sources: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_docelectric.html
Although there are plenty of reasons to visit the Lab, most students come for a tutorial. We offer half-hour tutorial appointments as well as drop-in help on a first-come, first-served basis. All of our tutors are graduate students in the English department.
Our goal in the Lab is to provide one-to-one interaction with writers who make appointments or drop in to see us. In tutorials we talk with writers planning their papers or in the midst of writing them. We hear a lot of questions such as "Does this fit the assignment?" or "How should I start this paper?" Don't be surprised if we ask a question in response. That gets the conversation going and helps the writer think. Remember that you are in control of your tutorial. After all, it's your paper. You are the reason we're here.
On our tutorial page you will find out what happens in a typical tutorial and how to make the tutorial best suit your needs: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/lab/tutorials.html
To schedule an appointment, call (765) 494-3723 or stop by 226 Heavilon Hall.
Thanks for reading our newsletter, and please email us any suggestions you might have! We really enjoy hearing from our readers. You can mail us at any time at owlnews@owl.english.purdue.edu. You can also email the OWL coordinator, Geoff Stacks, at coordinator@owl.english.purdue.edu and the webmaster, Erin Karper, at webmaster@owl.english.purdue.edu. (Erin and Geoff take turns writing the newsletter.)
Tell your friends about the Purdue OWL News! They can sign up to receive this newsletter by visiting http://www.topica.com/lists/purdueowlnews/.
If you want to unsubscribe from the newsletter, just visit http://www.topica.com/lists/purdueowlnews/ and follow the instructions to unsubscribe.
This newsletter is copyright (c) 2001 the Purdue University Writing Lab and Purdue University.
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