25 10. Discussion Examples
Examples for discussion comments:
The following are examples of comments and their point values for the discussion areas. Please review. It’s imperative that you participate in the discussions regularly and productively.
These examples are responding to the following prompt:
“What are your writing weaknesses?”
Four-point initial response:
“I believe my weaknesses with writing focus mostly on grammatical issues. I do have a strong understanding of development and organization, but grammar has always been my Achilles heel. For instance, I have always had a problem with the use of semi-colons. I am always misusing them, placing them where they shouldn’t belong or not using them when they are needed. It has always been frustrating for me.”
Three-point initial response:
“Grammer is my main weakness. I do not like to write in general, but trying to remember grammatical rules is always a challenge. Why do we need to know things like how to use semi-colons? I prefer using simple sentences that end in periods, period.
Two-point initial response:
“I have problems with semi-colons. I am not sure how to use them, and I typically try to avoid them when possible, which often gets me in trouble with the English instructors.”
One-point initial response:
“I’ve never been good at putting sentences together. Grammar is my major weakness.”
Zero-point initial response:
“Grammar.”
Four-point reply to a response:
“I agree. Semi-colons are typically useless. When you find yourself using too many of them, remember the basic rule that a high-school teacher once introduced to me: ‘If the semi-colon became extinct, writing would improve 100 percent.’ I think her comment suggests that we find ways to remove semi-colons and use commas or periods appropriately.”
Three-point reply to a response:
“Try using semi-colons to separate complete thoughts that have some kind of connection. It really does serve the same purpose as a period, though sometimes semi-colons can also be used like commas to separate items in lists. Maybe periods and commas are better.”
Two-point reply to a response:
“I have always wondered about colons myself. Why worry about all the extra kinds of punctuation when periods and commas do just fine?”
One-point reply to a response:
“Keep practicing. The handbook has some good examples of proper use of semi-colons.”
No-point reply to a response:
“I agree with you totally.”