Information on how to read poetry or how to stalk your boyfriend can be found on an Eastern student-run Web site.

The “How To” Web site shows how to do everything from the absurd to the academic, said assistant English professor Daiva Markelis.

Markelis assigned a “How to” paper to her students based on their college experiences. Upon completing the assignment, it was discovered the papers contained a wealth of knowledge that could be shared with the rest of the world.

“The contributions to the Web site came from students in my English 3001 class, which is Advanced Composition,” Markelis said. “I’m a big fan of the ‘process’ or ‘how-to’ paper.”

Markelis said it’s one of the oldest genres in American writing and can be seen in textbooks written in the 1880’s when students were asked to write papers on such topics as “How to Tame a Chipmunk.”

Crystal Deisher, a junior family and consumer science major, wrote “Drinking 101.”

“Some of the topics were serious, but some were joking,” Deisher said. “I wanted a topic that was kind of funny, but related to college life.”

Deisher said to put the Web site together, everyone had an equal amount of work to do, but there were different areas.

“Students at all levels enjoy writing these papers,” Markelis said. “Some choose serious topics. Several years ago I had a student from Bosnia write ‘How to Leave a Country during Wartime.'”

Markelis said she gave her 3001 students free reign with their topics, and since they enjoyed reading each others’ essays, it was decided as a class to do a Web site. Markelis put the students in groups: one group for technical work; another editing and another designed the publicity posters and posted them on campus.

“I’m a bit of computer idiot, but my colleagues in English, (assistant professors) Ray Watkins and Tim Engles had done some very interesting stuff with their classes, and I was kind of inspired by their approach to do something a little different,” Markelis said. “The class, I think, also enjoyed this project.”

As for favorite entries, Markelis said she found the one that deals with the Walk of Shame, walking back the next morning after spending the night away from somewhere other than home.

“The Walk of Shame existed when I was a college student almost 30 years ago – though I think we called it something else,” Markelis said.

Markelis said she likes the site because of its balance of the practical and the humorous.

“I think it is a reflection of the many interests and concerns of EIU students,” Markelis said. “I’ll probably do a similar site when I next teach ENGL 3001.”

The of Markelis and her students can be found at www.eiu.edu/~process.

Campus editor Jennifer Chiariello can be reached at [email protected]