Click To Edit Master Subtitle Style
Click To Edit Master Subtitle Style
es and paragraphs Revising evaluate and rewrite by adding Click to edit Master subtitle style ,deleting, rewording, and rewording Editing check for grammar, spelling, punctuation and mechanics Proofread read to determine any errors
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Not all topics are suitable for ACADEMIC WRITING. Topic has to have enough ideas and issues meaty enough to demonstrate your thinking and writing ability
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Think of writing as a process: a set of activities you go through to produce a finished product. This process has three distinct stages: Planning and Shaping, Drafting, and Revising/ Editing.
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Chapter 2
Freewrite write nonstop Brainstorm list everything you can about a topic. Words, phrases, whatever comes top mind Journalists questions who, what, when, where, why, how Mapping - visual brainstorming Talk it over Read and Browse
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CLARIFYING GOALS
AUDIENCE: Who are your readers? PURPOSE: What do you want the What is their approximate as a reader to know, do, or feel age/ result interest and knowledge level/ of reading your text? educational level inevaluating, your subject? Are Are you informing, they experts, general public, your persuading, or entertaining? peers or fellow students?
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Find a focus that fits your purpose and audience before you start. Gather ideas:
Keep a journal. Brainstorm or jot down lists of ideas. Free writing - let your mind go. Mind mapping / idea trees. 5 Ws - (Who, What, When, Where, and Why)
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WRITING OR DRAFTING
Prioritize your ideas. Write complete sentences. Divide text into paragraphs. Organize paragraphs into Introduction, Body and Close.
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EDITING: EVALUATING YOUR DRAFT CRITICALLY AND MAKING CHANGES Large-scale changes: adding text, cutting, replacing words/phrases, rearranging parts. Editing: checking the correctness of grammar, spelling, punctuation and mechanics. Proofreading: are there any typos?
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Think of the most unusual or eccentric person you have ever met. In 20 minutes, write a paragraph describing this person to your classmates. Concentrate on getting each sentence right as you go. Do not rewrite your paragraph.
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PLANNING AND SHAPING: PART I About your person, answer these questions:
When/where did you meet? What does he or she look/sound like? Face/ clothing/ hair/ body/ language/ accent? What are his or her tastes in movies/ books/ music/ food/ cars? How did he or she surprise/ teach/ inspire you?
Close your eyes and imagine X doing something he or she typically does. Imagine every detail. Freewrite for 5 minutes about your image.
Write quickly. Dont edit as you go - just put down the words as fast as you can. If you get stuck, just write Im stuck, Im stuck until you think of something.
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DRAFTING
DRAFTING: FOCUSING:
Write a your free writing paragraph. Look at paragraph developing the idea you just wrote down. Take a new page and write down in one Use any relevant details from your sentence Xs single most striking/list or free writing. unusual feature.
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REVISING: Your classmates are the audience. Will you need additional detail for them to visualize what you mean? Make those additions now. EDITING: Check your paragraph for correctness of sentence structure, grammar, spelling and punctuation and correct errors now.
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REVISING
DETAIL: How have the details you mentioned helped create the central impression of the painting? ORGANIZATION: Is your paragraph organized? Is it coherent? Does it support your core sentence? WORD CHOICE: Are your words precise? Replace any vague words with more precise ones.
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Chapter 2
Thesis Statement
Thesis statement is the central idea of your essay. It states the essays subject It conveys the essays purpose, informative or persuasive It indicates your focus the assertion that presents your point of view It uses specific language It may be briefly state the major 4/22/12
Which of the following thesis sentences are effective? Ineffective? Explain what is wrong with each of the ineffective theses and revise them. Assume an essay of 500 words and an audience of generally educated adults whom you do not know personally.
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SAMPLE THESIS #1 ORIGINAL: George Washington was the first president of the United States. REVISED: As the first president of the United States, George Washington had to resist those who wanted to turn him into a king.
The original sentence is a statement of fact, something accepted as true rather than a worthwhile assertion.
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SAMPLE THESIS #2
ORIGINAL: Student government at my university is worthless. REVISED: Student government at my university has no money, no power, and no mandate.
The original sentence is unrestricted, with a vague predicate. It sounds like what will follow will be an emotional tirade rather than sound reason.
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Introductory paragraph Thesis statement central message and appears in the introductory paragraph Background information provides a context for understanding the points Points of discussion supports the thesis statement
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Concluding paragraph
Chapter 2 Outline
Outline shows the relationship among ideas in a piece of writing. Use complete sentences Start with Roman numerals Big ideas Indent and go to Capital letters subjects under the big ideas
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Valuable tool for timed writing, such as exams, as well as for writing with a deadline. Can take any shape the writer finds useful. Checks organization of what has been written. reveal flaws and show what needs
Useful in revision.
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Use consistent numbers for headings and subheadings. Follow either topic, sentence, or paragraph style throughout the outline. Use parallel structure. Avoid vague headings such as Introduction, Body, and Conclusion. sure to state your thesis at the top
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OUTLINE FORMAT THESIS STATEMENT I. First main idea A. First subordinate idea 1. First reason or example 2. Second reason or example B. Second subordinate idea II. Second main idea
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Paragraph is a logical unit that develops a single idea, often expressed as a topic sentence. Each sentence contributes to the papers thesis.
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Read the following paragraph carefully. Find the main idea, state it in a single sentence (topic sentence). Revise the paragraph to support that idea. Omit irrelevant details. Rearrange and condense material as necessary.
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SAMPLE PARAGRAPH #1
Now 97, Margaret Prescott remembers that the friends she made in her childhood were people who lived within two or three blocks of her house, and that was it. Today, we visit people who live 10-100 miles from where we are located on a daily basis with no problem. She remembers when McKinley was shot in the third grade; the newsboys who ran through the streets shouting Extra! Extra! Extra! she went to Mt Holyoke College in south Hadley, Massachusetts. Getting to the college was a chore: To get to South Hadley you had to get yourself to Boston by train, transfer stations, catch the train for Springfield, take a trolley car to the nearest town, which was Holyoke, and then get from there to South Hadley by horse and wagon and unload your bags. Once you were there you were lucky if you got to go home for Thanksgiving. Her husband worked for a family-owned firm which was a blacksmith shop. They made steel rims which would go around wooden spoked wheels on horse-drawn carriages and some other various parts. Then, as cars came with time, they made custom parts and did interior work. The first car they ever had was made by Ford and was called a Falcon Night; it was made in 1919 and had fold-out rumble seats in the back. 4/22/12
Descriptions are easier to follow when organized according to a coherent spatial order: top to bottom, left to right, inside to outside, and so on. Revise the following paragraph. Place sentences in a coherent spatial arrangement so your reader can stay located.
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Paragraphs can often be made more coherent and more emphatic by arranging details or examples in order of increasing importance - saving the best for last. Revise the following paragraph. Position the sentences and parts of sentences in climactic order.
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SAMPLE PARAGRAPH #3
Parents should spend more time providing their children with guidance and assistance, as opposed to punishment and criticism. Part of ensuring a childs mental and physical well-being is letting her know she is loved for what she is. But parents all too often place conditions on their love. Children learn to understand that they will be loved only if they get good grades. A B grade may be all right, but well love you more if you get an A. As Kathie Durbin points out in her article Grappling with Grades, children are an investment in time. Knowing the child and her abilities and limitations takes time and care. That means time spent just talking about anything thats important in the childs eyes. It means time spent together learning for fun. And it means time at the library and at home reading together. These are the things that can motivate a child, i.e., mold a 4/22/12 childs positive attitude toward learning at an early
Comparison (which usually implies contrast) is a strategy of development that allows you to emphasize your point by inviting the reader to see how it is like (or unlike) something he or she is familiar with. Revise the following paragraph, strengthening the point by introducing comparison to the roles expected of boys.
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SAMPLE PARAGRAPH #4 Sex role stereotyping begins in early infancy and develops into outright discrimination by the age of puberty. Right from birth, certain prejudices and preconceptions are telegraphed to girls. Girl babies are coddled and cooed over. Toys are also chosen with specific connotations in mind. Girls get Barbie dolls, tea sets, nurses kits, ministoves. Later they go to ballet classes, piano lessons, and bake brownies with mom. Girls are isolated at home and learn to fear the world at large. 4/22/12
When you find yourself trying to explain why something happened, or happens, you are probably thinking about cause and effect relationships. Recognizing that you are doing so may help you to sharpen the focus of an otherwise sprawling paragraph. Revise the following paragraph, emphasizing the various causes of the American tendency to take sports seriously. 4/22/12
SAMPLE PARAGRAPH #5
One might ask: why are people so serious about sports? The answers to this question could be many. For one, people can release their aggressions through sports. Kicking a ball, hitting it with a bat, punching another man in the face can feel good for both participants and spectators. Just think, one man can get in a boxing ring with another and beat him up and its perfectly all right. All right, people love to see it. They cheer them on, Yeah, Ali, get him on the left, the left. Ah, hes down, hes down! Some people make bets on the game. If they win, great, but think of the risk people are willing to take on a boxing match or a horse race. Sports can be healthy. Its good exercise, and again a good way to get out some aggressions, its legal, you can almost always find someone else who wants to play. Sometimes I think sports can be political. When judges announce the score in Olympic games, why is it certain countries that are allies will give the same scores to a country they are not friendly with? Americans are always more aware of U.S. against U.S.S.R. than U.S. against 4/22/12 Canada.
INTRODUCTORY STRATEGIES: SOME GUIDELINES FOR INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPHS Provide relevant background information. Tell a brief interesting story or anecdote. Give a pertinent statistic or statistics. Ask one or more provocative questions. Use an appropriate quotation. Make a useful analogy. Define a term used throughout the essay. CAUTION: Dont open with a dictionary definition of a term your audience already knows the meaning of - unless you intend to disagree with the 4/22/12 dictionary.
In this paper I will discuss the causes of falling oil prices. My assignment is to discuss Hamlets indecision.
Apologizing: Im not sure Im right, but here is my opinion. Clichs: Haste makes waste, War is hell, etc.
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Use the devices suggested for introductory paragraphs; avoid using the same device in the introduction and the conclusion. Summarize the main points of the essay. Call for awareness and/or action. Point to the future.
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Avoid going off track: Dont introduce a new idea or fact that belongs in the body of the essay. Avoid rewording the introduction: If the two parts of your essay are interchangeable, you need to revise. Avoid announcing what you have done: e.g., In this paper I have tried to show the main causes for Avoid making absolute claims: This proves that Use This seems to prove that Avoid logical fallacies: Conclusions are vulnerable to errors in reasoning.
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Get started. Dont wait until you have every detail. Your plan is likely to change as you write. Remember that
There will be a second draft, and perhaps a third or fourth. Press on. Dont try to solve every problem as you go.
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Put aside all your notes from planning and shaping. As you write, be open to discovering ideas and making connections. Click to edit Master subtitle style When you finish a Discovery Draft, you can use it as your first draft or as part of your notes.
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Use your notes from planning and shaping as you write. Work through all of your material. Draft either the entire essay or one or two paragraphs at a time, depending on the length of your essay.
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COMBINE APPROACHES
When you know the shape of the material, write according to that structure. When you feel stuck about what to say next, switch to writing as you would for a Discovery Draft.
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HOW CAN YOU GET THE PERSPECTIVE TO REVISE YOUR ESSAY WELL?
Use an outline to revise: number each paragraph, then write a word/phrase that summarizes the paragraph. If you cannot summarize it, you probably have too many ideas in one paragraph. Ask yourself:
What central idea (thesis) do your phrases add up to? Are there repetitions of ideas?
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While one early draft may be a profusion of detail without order, another may be fairly well organized, but empty, lacking concrete detail or evidence. Remember that your reader cant follow you to your conclusion if you havent given them enough of the evidence that got you there. Read your copy of the first draft of Role Your Own and ask yourself:
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Anne was a young girl with two children. Pregnant with her first at sixteen, she dropped out of school. At this point it was obvious her life was going to have some drastic change. She would not graduate from high school as her friends would. With no job, she lived off welfare in a tenement. After two years, she had a second child. This one she sold on the black market. Anne had lost all sense of direction in her life. What she was living with was a role she hated. She wanted to make a change in her life, but couldnt.
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ROLE YOUR OWN (cont) In the film, Diner, Beth is what the society of her time (the fifties) considered a fulfilled woman because she was married. At that time the role of women was on the verge of change with still a long way to go. Women were not nearly as career-minded and rights-oriented as their sixties counterparts were to become. Instead, a womans aspiration was to be married. But Beth is not so sure this is her aspiration. She questions her status.
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Women are a prime example of how a group of peoples roles can change with time and thought. Up until recently, women had limited rights and specific duties. Then, there seemed to be an awakening consciousness to the opportunities that could exist for women. Maybe Beth couldnt change; perhaps she lived too early. But I changed and so did Anne, who went on to become an investment broker. Once a person can realize what is most important to them in life, they can begin to mold their own role outside of what society may expect of them.
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Anne was a young girl with two children. Pregnant with her first at sixteen, she dropped out of school. At this point it was obvious her life was going to have some drastic change. She would not graduate from high school as her friends would. With no job, she lived off welfare in a tenement. After two years, she had a second child. This one she sold on the black market. Anne had [lost all sense of direction] in her life. What she was living with was a role she hated. She wanted to make a change in her life, but couldnt.
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Though society may dictate roles to those who have no identity of their own, with time and thought, one can choose his (or her) own role. Some people may show this in a large and obvious way. Others do it a little at a time. My first two years in high school were [a complete disaster]. I was not happy in the schools I was placed in. I skipped a lot of classes and was labeled a delinquent. Then I went through a metamorphosis. I went to a new school where I proved that an individual, along [with a little help from friends], can [pull him/herself together] and take on a new and better role.
3.
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In the film, Diner, Beth is what the society of her time (the fifties) considered a fulfilled woman because she was married. At that time the role of women was on the verge of change with still a long way to go. Women were not nearly as career-minded and rightsoriented as their sixties counterparts were to become. Instead, a womans aspiration was to be married. But Beth is not so sure this is her aspiration. She questions her status. 4/22/12
5.
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