ENGL079 - Lecture 2 - Writing about Writing and Sentence Structure

Writing experience is diverse and closely intertwined with reading history, often beginning with early childhood exposure to books.
Emotions like interest, anxiety, or discouragement significantly influence writing development.
Growth Mindset: Defined by Davis (2019) as the "belief that our basic abilities can be developed and improved through dedication and hard work."

Writing Anxiety: According to UNC (2020), this is a way of thinking when approaching a task rather than a psychological trait.
Coping Strategies: - Get support by communicating with instructors or using writing tutoring. - Recognize that writing is a complex process and avoid comparisons with others. - Celebrate the Wins: Acknowledge progress to maintain motivation.

Writing is broken into three main stages: Prewriting, Drafting, and Revision.
According to the Scribbr (2020) video, "5 Steps of the Academic Writing Process," significantly more effort should be allocated to prewriting and revising than to the actual drafting phase.

Ideation: The initial stage of coming up with a topic.
Freewriting: Suggested by OWL (2020) as writing constantly for a timed period (e.g., $5\,minutes$ ) without concern for grammar to discover interests.
Mind Mapping/Clustering: A visual brainstorming technique from Empire State College (2020) using lines and circles to show relationships between ideas.
Outlining: An alphanumeric organizational guide: - $I, II, III$ : Major categories/body paragraphs. - $A, B, C, D$ : Major details. - $1, 2, 3, 4$ : Minor details. - $i, ii, iii$ : Specific facts or examples.

Subject: - Simple Subject: The noun or word the sentence is about. - Complete Subject: The noun plus all modifiers.
Predicate: - Simple Predicate: The main verb and necessary modifiers. - Complete Predicate: The verb plus all adverbs and prepositional phrases.
Compound Structures: Occur when a coordinating conjunction connects two subjects or two verbs (e.g., Janice and Erica).
Objects: - Direct Object: Recipient of the verb's action. - Indirect Object: The noun/pronoun that receives the direct object.
Subject Complement: A noun, pronoun, or adjective following a linking verb (e.g., was, feels). The "equal sign test" ( $\text{Subject} = \text{Complement}$ ) helps identify them.

End Punctuation Types: - Period: Ends declarative (statements) or imperative (commands) sentences. - Question Mark: Ends interrogative (direct questions) sentences. - Exclamation Point: Ends exclamatory sentences to show emotional stress; use sparingly in formal writing.
Sentence Structures: - Clause: A group of words with a subject and a verb. - Simple Sentence: Contains $1$ Independent Clause ( $IC$ ). - Compound Sentence: Contains $2$ Independent Clauses joined by a comma and Coordinating Conjunction ( $FANBOYS$ ), a semicolon ( $;$ ), or a semicolon and Conjunctive Adverb ( $IC; CA, IC$ ). - Complex Sentence: Contains an Independent Clause and a Dependent Clause ( $DC$ ). Punctuated as $DC, IC$ or $IC \, DC$ . - Compound-Complex Sentence: Contains at least $2 \, ICs$ and at least $1 \, DC$ .

Self-Interview Reflection Questions:

Did you have a favorite writer or book growing up?
Did you ever write something you were really proud of?
Do you remember a time when you were really discouraged with some writing you did?
Have you ever written for fun?
Have you ever experienced anxiety or stress about writing something?

Video Reflection Questions:

Scribbr Video: Which stages of the process do you feel confident in, and which areas could you strengthen?
Schoolhouse Rock Video ("The Tale of Mr. Morton"): What actions does Mr. Morton perform? (Examples: grew, opened, knew, was shy).
Sentence Variety Video: What is a key point about sentence variety? (Summary: Variety in sentence length and structure makes writing stronger and more melodic).

Check Your Knowledge Highlights:

Identifying the subject and verb in "Cassie loves rainbow hamsters" (Subject: Cassie; Verb: loves).
Differentiating simple vs. compound subjects (e.g., "Will and Susie" is compound).
Identifying direct and indirect objects (e.g., In "We brought Sally a dozen roses," Sally is the indirect object and roses are the direct object).