In order to begin exploring the ways in which written language works, we're going to need some examples to consider. In order to make it clear that we can use a wide range of real examples as objects of study, I'm going to do what I'll do fairly regularly in this course: invite you to find some examples, and choose one, or a few, to focus our attention on. To begin with, I want to attend to a fairly common kind of language, one that allows us to look at a number of different ways language is constructed. For this, a really useful source is reporting of current events, especially current events that are controversial (non-controversial ones, like traffic accidents and announcements of public policies, will work as well for this, but usually most people find them much less interesting).

So, here's what you need to do between now and class time Tuesday. Go to any of the following sources:

• Any serious online news site (some examples: CBC News, The Globe and Mail, The New York Times, The Guardian; there are lots of others, but you need to be sure they're edited and published)
  

• Any newspaper found in the library's "Press Display - Newspapers from Around the World" page (you can get there by clicking on www.lib.unb.ca, then Journals & Newspapers, and then Newspaper Packages)

Select one item that you find of interest, and which reports on or deals with an issue or event about which people you know might have different opinions. The only rule is that anything you bring back should should be substantial -- more than a couple of paragraphs -- but not more than a couple of pages. And, most important, it needs to be from a professionally edited publication, not simply a Web posting by an individual. Make sure it's at least a couple of hundred words long (yes, count them to be sure; less than that will give us too little to work with). Print it out (you can print using any of the University's public printers: if you have a problem, ask the folks at the Help Desk. Make sure your name's at the top, and make sure you know exactly where it comes from -- that is, where to find it again. Bring it to class Tuesday afternoon.

Keeping house

Moodle profile: By the end of this week, everybody's profile in Moodle should have their STU address (in the form hijkl@stu.ca) rather than an off-campus one. You can change this by clicking, from the main Moodle page, "Settings," and then "My profile settings," and then "Edit profile." Check yours; if your profile has an off-campus email address, change it. Do this by Sunday night. (While you're at it, make sure everything else in the profile is as you want it.)

Email handling: You need to make sure you can receive and send email from your STU address. This is because the email list for this course will have only STU addresses on it, and in order to post to it you'll need to be identified as hijkl@stu.ca (with your ID, of course), since the list is set up to handle mail only from those addresses. The staff in the lab in Dunn Hall can help with this if it's a problem.