The purpose of the writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself
— Bernard Malamud
Find information and strategies on how to write and edit papers.
Diana Hacker is the author of the Bedford Handbook and she has also been helpful enough to deliver a very useful website, especially for the purposes of documenting research. If you like using the we
This link will take you to OWL (Online Writing Lab) at Purdue University. There is a link to the old site (once you arrive at the URL above), but both places offer an array of helpful handouts coveri
Taking an online class at WNC? These links should help you get started!
From WNC's home page: "WebCampus classes (Blackboard/WebCT) are not usually available for student access until the first day of the semester.
This link will take you to instructions on how to access an online class in WebCT.
Students who are having trouble logging in to their web classes should call the library reference desk at 775-445-3227. You can review the library's hours by visiting this link.
Make sure that you have the proper plugins and that your computer is ready for online learning at WNC.
This page lists supported operating systems and browsers for use with WebCampus. Other browsers and operating system may work; however, the listed configurations are the only configurations t
I use Turnitin for all essay assignments in my classes. If you want to find out more about this technology, you can visit this link which answers frequent questions asked by students. Y
An overview page for online learning at WNC and related pages. This will give you a list of other helpful pages for getting started in an online class.
This page provides links to tutorials from UNR for your WebCampus experience. These presentations will help you understand how to use specific tools while taking an online course at WNC.
If you are taking one of my online classes, this guide may come in very handy. I use Wimba to conduct live classroom sessions with microphophones and Power Point slides. This guide cove
Most students won't experience too many problems when first trying to use the live classroom (just be sure that you run the Live Classroom Setup Wizard before trying to participate). However,
Links to general reference tools on the web. Some of these are community edited sources and should not be used as authoritative texts.
Can't find your old battered dictionary? You can always visit this online dictionary. I like the way this site works better than the Merriam Webster's online dictionary (http://www.m-w.com/), but you could use either. These online dictionaries (like a traditional dictionary) are useful for close reading (don't ever use the excuse "I didn't know that word" for your lack of understanding a text). You can also use the dictionary to ensure that you don't misuse that new vocabulary word in your own writing. Get a language p
MLA, APA, Chicago style? Get help at these sites.
One of my English 101 students suggested this nifty web tool. You can visit this link and enter relevant information for a variety of sources that you may want to cite for an academic project or paper. The web site then gives you a citation in the proper format. Just make sure you choose the appropriate style (MLA, APA, or Chicago) before entering your information. You still need to take good notes about the source material so that you can enter the right information (the website won't read your book for you yet... grin).
This is a fine companion site to the Bedford Handbook and Hacker's other writing guides. It contains a wealth of information on how to properly cite research for various disciplines and documentation styles.
Find official college information by following these links.
I use this online service to collect papers, provide feedback, and verify the originality of student work. Check your syllabus for details on how I do this. Typically, I use Turnitin assignments in Blackboard, so you will only need access WNC's Blackboard learning system to submit your papers to Turnitin. For other instructor's classes you may have to sign up to a Turnitin class. For this procedure, see the student video for information on how to create an account: http://www.turnitin.com/static/videos/student_ppm.html.
The place to start on the web if you are looking to find information about WNCC.
This is the home page for the college library. From this page, you can begin exploring the resources available to you.
Find pages concerning authors of fiction and the craft itself
Celtx is open source and free to download. The homepage for this application claims that the software features an industry standards compliant screenplay editor. So, if you want to write screenplays (and don't want to spend a fortune), this may be a helpful tool. I have taken this for a test drive and it works like a charm!
From Glimmer Train: "Glimmer Train welcomes the work of established and upcoming writers. We especially appreciate work that is both well written and emotionally engaging. Please let us read yours!
I like this site, in part, because I've thought of creating something similar to expose my own efforts at writing a longer work. Afterall, if you tell the world you are writing a novel, it mig
Have you run out of money and reading materials at the same time? Or do you want to read a classic but you don't want to exchange cold, hard cash for it?
From Rosebud's website: "Rosebud, a magazine dedicated to creative prose, poetry and visual art is available at over 1000 bookstores in the US, Canada and Great Britain. Published in April, August and December."
From the All Story Website:"In 1997, Francis Ford Coppola launched a magazine devoted to supporting the brightest young voices in fiction.
A magazine of fiction for West Coast writers.
Find information and pages concerning poetry and poets.
Virginia Commonwealth University's literary journal. The place I first discovered an audio recording of Larry Levis reading one of his poems, "In 1967." I had never heard his voice bef
The Poetry Foundation offers a large selection of poetry to its visitors. You can browse poetry by category, title, and even by occasion.
Don't confuse poets.org with poetry.com. Poetry.org is full of essays, interviews, information on poets and poetry. This site also features some wonderful audio of poets reading their poems.
Humanities Links for CH 201
Okay, it's not the game of human existence, but it is an early example of Ancient Egyptian Culture (a preview of next week). The original rules for this game were lost, but this web version i
Or you can see the images of these caves set to Coldplay (if you prefer)
English 231/CH 201: Week 1
Think you know everything there is to know about early human ancestors? Read about the tiny, 18,000 year-old, hobbit-sized people that researchers recently found near Australia.
There are several discussions and videos of Paleolithic cave art on the web. This link provides offers the most helpful commentary I found, focusing mainly on the Lascaux caves.
There have been considerable discoveries since the printing of the latest edition of our textbook.
While Stonehenge may indeed be a giant clock, new revelations have perhaps solved this great mystery, or at least moved researchers several steps closer to an explanation.
This video on the Chauvet Cave may be worth watching just to see the image of the hand on the cave wall (it gave me chills for some reason-- it's probably worth trying to figure out why it had this
Consider for a moment an archaeological discovery of a body that's just about as haunting as anything you will see on CSI: an ice mummy of a man (the interesting guy pictured above) who lived befor
In 2008, archaeologists even found a new pyramid that belonged to a Sixth Dynasty queen. You can see the story here.
Just within the last few years (2006), a new tomb was discovered in the Valley of the Kings. You can visit an interactive map and article about the tomb here.
For the sake of analyzing a single artifact, it's helpful to watch Bob Brier's lecture on the Narmer Palette
There is an ongoing debate as to whether the ancient Egyptians voyaged to the Americas. Researchers recently uncovered traces of cocaine and tobacco on Egyptian mummies.
Researchers are puzzled by these very strong ropes which were discovered in 2005. Artifacts such as these are very rare, as these materials usually decay over time. However, these were
Explore an interactive version of Khufu's pyramid.
This link will take you to a video explanation and dramatization of the Isis and Osiris story.
From this page, you can read about "the new face" of King Tut, as revealed by modern technology and forensics. This National Geographic site also includes an interactive experience of King Tu
An interesting overview, covering parts of the New Kingdom.
Another discovery in 2007 erased previous theories about the Temple at Karnak.
A BBC video that covers the glories and destruction of ancient Minoa.
A story that covers a Stanford historian who is exploring links between mythological creatures and fossils.
A good overview of the Minoan palace of Knossos in pictures and text.
Use this online translation to read selections from the Iliad.
Another translation of the Iliad that is available online.
A public domain audio book of the Iliad. The voice talent might not be as magnificent as more recent renditions, but it's still useful to hear this work read aloud.
An online, digital copy of the Odyssey, translated by Ian Johnston.
An online digital copy of the Odyssey as translated by Samuel Butler.
For the Iliad, this humanities page contains a useful map of Homeric geography and a timeline, among other helpful resources.
A Discovery Channel video on the lost city of Atlantis.
Ancient Greek embalming evidence discovered and examined.
Ian Johnston's translation of the ancient Greek poem.
A good overview of Greek civilization and its influences on Western Culture
The second part of the Discovery Channel's presentation on Ancient Greece.
Another New York Times account of the Valley of the Golden Mummies. This discovery is interesting in how it reveals a blending and synthesis between civilizations from the Egyptian to the Rom
Ancient text of Greek poetry found with an Egyptian mummy ("the most significant discovery in Greek literature in several decades").
New research on the origins of the Greek god, Zeus.
Mesa Community College's rather useful page that collects the various facts and theories about Atlantis's existence.
This page discusses the possible influence of Thera on the story of Moses from the Bible, among other things.
A New York Times story on the Valley of the Golden Mummies (large burial site of both Egyptian and Greco-Roman mummies)
Browse a digitized version of the oldest copy of the Iliad!
An amazing written account of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius by Pliny the Younger. This video slide show uses images to dramatize the writer's original words.
You can download Google's software and install it from this page.
It is haunting to see the images of lives that were suddenly affected by the natural disaster at Pompeii.
One of Sophocles greatest tragedies.
Could Arthurian legends be derived from the historical reality of a Roman outpost that was left after the collapse of the Roman empire? This document discusses this possibility among others.<
You can now tour ancient Rome in Google Earth and in three dimensions. You will need a fairly robust computer to run this, but there is something to be said for experiencing ancient Rome as a
A highly imaginitive work from one of Greek's greatest satirists.
Complete and unexpurgated translation by W. C. Firebaugh
Imagery of Pompeii set to music.
Read these two poems by Sappho found by following the provided link.
A recently unearthed Roman battlefield in Germany has changed the timeline that we find in our textbook.
A video explaining the recent discovery of a previously unknown Roman battlefield.
A presentation (with a two part prologue) on new evidence regarding the shroud. All five parts of the presentation and the two part prologue are available for viewing online.
A news story on the earliest known example of Hebrew writing discovered in June 2008
A new find that raises doubts about the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin.
This link will take you to chapter 1 of Genesis, with a link to the next page and Chapter 2. Follow along until you have read all three chapters.
Israel Antiquities Authority officialy denounces James Ossuary as a fake.
The professor's recreation of the shroud suggests that it could be a medieval forgery.
This film goes even further with the limestone burial boxes as evidence, suggesting that the family tomb of Jesus has actually been found. A certain dose of skepticism is certainly warranted
Luke Chapter 10, from the New Testament. Read verses 25-37.
Luke Chapter 15, from the New Testament. Read verses 11-32.
A 2003 article discussing the authenticity of the James Ossuary.
This article shows that the trial to determine the authenticity of the burial box of James continues into 2010.
An amazing copy of biblical text; the oldest known to exist. The Library of Congress page on the scrolls is certainly worth a look.
Is this clear evidence of the life of Jesus, a forgery, or an artifact with a common name that is impossible to clearly link to Jesus? The debate continues, and the artifact itself cont
A rather good overview of the controversy and accusations surrounding the authenticity of the alleged biblical relic.
The first part of the general discussion of the alleged burial shroud of Christ. Part two is also available. This presentation is more show than science, but it still provides some inte
