Patterns for College Writing

Quiz 1 (Pages 1-80)

• Writing Process:

  • UNDERSTAND THE ASSIGNMENT

  • Invention

  • Arrangement

  • Drafting and Revising

  • Editing and Proofreading

  • Publishing/Turning it in

• What part of the writing process must occur?

  • UNDERSTANDING THE ASSIGNMENT

  • Drafting and Revising

  • Editing and Proofreading

• True or false? The writing process is a linear model, and all authors write in the order of the steps

• True or false? Most good writing occurs when a writer gets stuck or confused, but continues to work until ideas begin to take shape

• True or false? No two writers approach the writing process the same way

• Critical Thinking: evaluating the ideas of others, to form judgements, and to develop original viewpoints.

• True or false? Readers bring their own ideas to what they read when critical reading occurs

• True or false? All interpretations of a reading are correct due to our differences

• True or false? It is important for each reader to develop an interpretation that the work itself supports

• What are active reading strategies?

  • Approaching an assigned reading with a clear understanding of your purpose and marking the text to help you understand what you are reading

• Purpose: why are you reading this?

  • Will you be expected to discuss what you are reading?

  • Will you have to write about what you are reading?

  • Will you be tested on this material?

• Preview: trying to get a sense of the writer’s main idea, key supporting points, and general emphasis

• What clues should you look for when previewing?

  • Visual Signals

  • Verbal Signals

• Visual Signals

  • Looking at the title

  • Looking for headings

  • Looking at each paragraph’s first sentence

  • Look for words in bold and italics

• Verbal signals

  • Phrases like primary, that show emphasis

  • Repetition of words

  • Time sequencing words

  • Look for words the identify cause and effects

  • Words that introduce examples

• True or false? Annotations suggest questions

• After your questions have been answered, you will be able to answer with:

  • Greater accuracy

  • More confidence

  • More authority

• True or false? When you annotate, you carry on a conversation with the text

• What are visual texts?

  • Photographs

  • Diagram

  • Graph

  • Chart

• True or false? Annotating a visual text can be helpful just like texts

• What are visual elements?

  • Arrangement of shapes

  • Use of color

  • Contrast between large and small or light and dark

• Questions to ask about visual texts:

  • Why was the visual created?

  • What kind of audience is it aimed at?

  • How would you characterize the visual?

• Invention (prewriting): an important and most neglected part of the writing process; here you discover what interests you about your subject and consider what ideas to develop in your essay

• If the assignment is written as a question, read it carefully several times and underline its key words

• If the assignment is read aloud by your instructor, be sure to copy it accurately

• Before writing, what should you consider?

  • What your limits are.

• Limits in Writing:

  • Length

  • Purpose

  • Audience

  • Occasion: situation or situations that lead someone to write about a topic

  • Knowledge

• True or false? Often, your audience is too vast to be categorized and is instead a universal audience.

• True or false? Experts in one field need background information in other fields

• True or false? General subjects do not need to be narrowed to specific topics

• True or false? When you freewrite, you write for a fixed period, perhaps five or ten minutes, without stopping and without paying attention to spelling, grammar, or punctuation.

• Focused free writing or looping: process of writing more and more specific freewriting exercises

• Brainstorming: a way of discovering ideas about your topic

• True or false? Journal entries are more narrow than free writing or brainstorming

• Clustering: a way of visually arranging ideas so that they can tell at a glance where ideas belong and whether or not you need more information

• Informal outlines do not include all the major divisions like a formal outline does

• Thesis: main idea of your essay, its central point

• True or false? A thesis statement can be a fact

• Three Characteristics of an Effective Thesis Statement:

  • Clearly expresses your essay’s main idea

  • Communicates your essay’s purpose

  • Clearly worded

• Implied thesis conveys an essay’s purpose, but does not do so explicitly

• True or false? Most of the time, you should utilize an implied thesis

• In arrangement, it is important to recognize the clues of what an assignment gives and structure it properly.

• True or false? An essay must have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion

• Introduction: introduces your subject, creates interest, and OFTEN STATES YOUR THESIS

  • Begin with background information - this works well if you KNOW THE AUDIENCE

  • Introduce an essay with your original definition of a relevant term or concept - USEFUL FOR RESEARCH PAPERS OR TESTS

  • Begin with a story

  • Begin with a question

  • Begin with a quotation

  • Begin with a contradiction

  • Begin with a fact or statistic

• True or false? Each body paragraph should be unified

• True or false? Sometimes the main idea of a paragraph is not stated but implied by the sentences in the paragraph

  • Professional writers often use this technique because a topic sentence may be awkward

• True or false? Each sentence in a paragraph should develop the paragraph’s main idea, if not, the paragraph will lack unity

• Each body paragraph should be coherent - sentences are smoothly and logically connected to one another

  • Repeat key words

  • Use transitions

  • Use pronouns

• True or false? Support should be documented but not all

• Each body paragraph should be well developed - contain support

  • Details

  • Expert opinions

  • Visuals

  • Facts

  • Stats

• Support should be relevant, specific, adequate, representative, and documented

• True or false? Each body paragraph should support the thesis statement

• Conclusion: very important because it is what your readers remember last

• True or false? Always end your essay in a way that reinforces your thesis and your purpose

• True or false? A conclusion is usually longer than a paragraph

• True or false? A conclusion can introduce points you have not discussed earlier

• What are some ways to conclude your essay?

  • Reviewing your key points or restating your thesis

  • Ending with a recommendation of a course of action

  • Concluding with a prediction

  • End with a relevant quote

• True or false? Formal outlines are detailed, multilevel constructions that indicate the exact order in which you will present your key points and supporting details

• True or false? The complexity of your paper is what decides if you use a formal or informal outline

• What is the purpose of your first draft?

  • Get your ideas down on paper so that you can react to them

• True or false? While drafting, you should begin with a conclusion

• Revision should occur simultaneously while writing

• An outline can show you whether your essay follows a particular pattern of development

• What can clarify the relationship between your thesis statement and your body paragraphs?

  • A formal or informal outline

• How to critique your peers?

  • Positive

  • Tactful

  • Specific

  • Involved

  • Thorough

  • Look at the big picture

• What suggests your essay’s purpose?

  • The occasion

• Formal outlines are for arrangement, informal outlines are for brainstorming (invention)

• Why is it not a good idea to write your introduction until you have already written your first draft?

  • A misrepresentation introduction that does not match the tone of the rest of the paper hurts your credibility

• Formal outlines must use either subjects or topic sentences, not both

• What is one way to narrow your general subject to a specific topic?

  • Question for Probing

    • Who did it?

    • Where did it happen?

    • What happened?

    • How is it made?

Quiz 2 (Narration, 97-108)

• Narration: tells a story by presenting events in an orderly, logical sequence

• Types of writing that follow narration:

  • Histories

  • Biographies

  • Autobiographies

  • Personal letters

  • Diaries

  • Journals

  • Bios on web pages/social networking websites

• True or false? narration also underlies folk and fairy tales and radio and television news reports.

• Anytime you tell what happened = narration

• True or false? Narrative passages may also appear in essays that are not primarily narrative

• What two essays does the textbook list as being alike to narrative?

  • Process Essay

  • Cause-and-effect Essay

• True or false? A narrative essay is more likely to present a sequence of events for the purpose of supporting a thesis

• Although it is usually best to have an explicit thesis statement in a narrative, what is a way you can have an implied thesis?

  • Through your selection and arrangement of events

• What do narratives need to be convincing?

  • Rich, details to create a picture for the reader

• What do details do for the audience of a narrative?

  • Adds interest and authenticity

• What can you do to decrease the monotonous sequencing found in narratives?

  • Vary your sentence structure

• What causes you to either follow or not follow a strict chronological order?

  • The purpose of your narrative

• What are flashbacks?

  • Shifts into the past used in personal or fictional narratives to tell your story

• Why is it important to use correct verb tenses and clear transitional words and phrases in narratives?

  • To help readers follow the order of events in your narrative

• What is extremely important in writing that recounts events in a fixed order?

  • Verb tense

• What verb tense must you use when discussing works of literature?

  • Present tense

• What helps link events in time, enabling narratives to flow smoothly?

  • Transitions

• What are transitions?

  • Connecting words or phrases

• What are the transitions commonly used in narrative writing?

  • First

  • Second

  • Next

  • Then

  • Later

  • At the same time

  • Meanwhile

  • Immediately

  • Soon

  • Before

  • Earlier

  • After

  • Afterward

  • Now

  • Finally

• Where will a narrative’s thesis appear?

  • Introduction

• What do the body paragraphs function as in narrative writing?

  • Recount the events that make up your narrative, clearly and orderly

• What does the conclusion do in a narrative?

  • Give the sense the narrative is complete, perhaps by restating your thesis or by summarizing key points/events

• What ensures your statements in a narrative are easy to understand?

  • Exact details

  • Dates

  • Times

  • Geographic locations

• What should a revision checklist be like for narrative essays?

  • Does your assignment call for narration?

  • Does your essay’s thesis communicate the significance of the events you discusseD?

  • Have you included enough specific details?

  • Have you varied your sentence structure?

  • Is the order of events clear to readers?

  • Have you varied sentence openings and combined short sentences to avoid monotony?

  • Do your transitions indicate the order of events and signal shifts in time?

• What issues are particularly relevant to narrative essays?

  • Mechanics

  • Punctuation issues

  • Grammar

  • AVOIDING RUN-ONS

• What are the two kinds of run-ons?

  • Fused sentences

  • Comma splices

• A ___________ occurs when two sentences are incorrectly joined without punctuation?

  • Fused sentence

• A ___________ occurs when two sentences are incorrectly joined with just a comma?

  • Comma splice

• What are the 5 ways to correct a run-on?

  • Use a period to create two separate sentences

  • Join sentences with a comma and a coordinating conjunction

  • Join the sentences with a semicolon

  • Semicolon and a transitional word

  • Create a complex sentence - adding a subordinating conjunction or a relative pronoun

• Narration checklist for editing?

  • Have you avoided run-ons?

  • Do your verb tenses clearly indicate time relationships between events?

  • Have you avoided unnecessary tense shifts?

  • If you use dialogue, have you punctuated correctly and capitalized where necessary/

Quiz 3 (Description, 151-161)

• Description is used to tell readers about the physical characteristics of a person, place, or thing

• What does description rely on?

  • Sight

  • Hearing

  • Taste

  • Touch

  • Smell

• True or false? Description often goes beyond personal sense impressions

• When you write description, you use language to create a vivid impression for your readers

• What essays does the textbook list as description being used within?

  • Comparison-and-contrast

  • Argumentative

• Through description, you communicate your view of the world to your readers

• True or false? In almost every essay you write, knowing how to write effective description is important

• Description can be objective or ____?

  • Subjective

• In an _________ description, you focus on the object itself rather than on your personal reactions to it

  • Objective

• In objective description, what is your purpose?

  • Present a precise, literal picture of your subject

• True or false? In selecting some details and leaving out others, writers are making subjective decisions

• True or false? Objective descriptions are sometimes accompanied by visuals

  • Visuals - diagrams, drawings, or photographs

• True or false? A visual can introduce new material

• What does subjective description do?

  • Conveys your personal response to your subject

• True or false? In subjective description, your perspective is stated explicitly

• Subjective description should convey not just a literal record of sights and sounds but also their significance.

• True or false? Neither objective nor subjective description exists independently

• The skillful writer adjusts the balance between objectivity and subjectivity to suit the topic, thesis, audience, and purpose.

• Connotation: the feeling expressed by word

• Denotation: direct and literal meaning of words

• What are examples of figures of speech?

  • Simile

  • Metaphor

  • Personification

  • Allusion

• A simile uses like or as to compare two dissimilar things

• A metaphor compares two dissimilar things without using like or as

• Personification speaks of concepts or objects as if they had life or human characteristics

• Allusion is a reference to a person, place, event, or quotation that the writers assumes readers will recognize

• Your purpose and audience determines whether you should use objective or subjective description

• All good descriptive writing, whether objectives or subjective, relies on specific details

• You should not tell readers, but show them

• What factors influence the kinds of details you include?

  • Level

  • Background

  • Knowledge of your audience

• Implied thesis describes a person, place, or thing

  • this conveys an essay’s main idea subtly

• Explicitly stated thesis - supports a particular point

  • immediately what point the writer is making

• Transitions:

  • Above

  • Adjacent to

  • At the bottom

  • At the top

  • Behind

  • Below

  • Beyond

  • In front of

  • In the middle

  • Next to

  • Over

  • Under

  • Through

  • Within

• Dominant impression - the mood or quality emphasized in the piece of writing

• What are the parts of a descriptive essay?

  • Introduction - presents the thesis or dominant impression

  • Body paragraph - includes details that support the thesis or covey the dominant impression

  • Conclusion - reinforces thesis or dominant impression (uses simile or metaphor)

• True or false? The arrangement strategy you choose depends on the dominant impression you want to convey, your thesis, and your purpose and audience

• What do you use in descriptive essays to describe places, people, and objects

  • Modifying words and Phrases

  • Misplaced modifier: appears to modify the wrong word because it is placed incorrectly in the sentence

  • Avoid dangling modifiers: it cannot logically modify any word that appears in the sentence

• Checklist for Description:

  • Have you avoided misplaced modifiers?

  • Have you avoided dangling modifiers?

  • Have you used figures of speech effectively?

  • Have you avoided general words such as nice, great, and terrific?

Quiz 4 (Exemplification, 211-217)

• Exemplification - uses one or more particular cases (examples) to illustrate/explain a general point or an abstract concept

• The most effective exchanges occur when examples are used

  • Generalizations and vague statements are not as effective

• Exemplification is used in every kind of writing situation:

  • Explaining and Clarifying

  • Add Interest

  • Persuade

• What is the benefit of examples when clarifying?

  • Readers know what exactly you mean

• What is the purpose of using examples to add interest?

  • To communicate your ideas

    • Use examples that are pertinent to your subject

• What is the benefit of examples when persuading?

  • Back up your argument/prove your claim

• What is an exemplification essay’s thesis statement?

  • Makes a point that the rest of the essay will support with examples

    • This statement identifies your topic

• True or false? The examples you gather during the invention stage of the writing process can help you develop your thesis.

• True or false? There is a rule for how many examples you should write into your essay?

• The number of examples you use depends on your ______.

  • Thesis statement

• What is a statistical study?

  • collection and interpretation of numerical data representing a great many examples

• True or false? Selecting a sufficient range of examples is just as important as choosing an appropriate number

• What is your objective when using examples?

  • Choose a cross section of examples

• True or false? Do not use transitional words or phrases to introduce your examples

• Transitions help you connect examples to thesis statements or examples to topic statements

• Introduction

  • Thesis Statement

• Body Paragraphs

  • Each has a separate example that develops the thesis

• Conclusion

  • Reinforces main idea of essay, and maybe restates the thesis

• What is the organizational problem with exemplification?

  • Can become too choppy or list-like

• How to organize exemplification?

  • Chronologically

  • In order of increasing complexity (simple to most difficult)

  • In order of importance (less significant to more significant/persuasive)

• What is an issue in editing exemplification?

  • Commas

Quiz 5 (Process, 263-269)

• Process essay: explains how to do something or how something occurs

• True or false? Process presents events in chronological order

• What is important with process?

  • Clarity

• True or false? Clear, logical transitionals need to be provided in a process essay

• Process essays need to present the steps in a STRICT chronological order, an exact order in where they occur.

• What are the two types of process essays?

  • Instructions

  • Process Explanations

• What is the purpose of instructions in a process essay?

  • Enable readers to perform a process

• True or false? An example of instructions would be a recipe: “Add in the flour, crack the eggs”

• What is the purpose of process explanation in a process essay?

  • Not to enable readers to perform a process but rather to help them understand how it is carried out

• A process explanation may use 1st person (I, we) OR the 3rd (he, she, it, they)

• True or false? Process Explanations can use first person (present/past) or third person (present/past)

• True or false? Second person (you) or commands may be used

• What does the style of writing depend on?

  • If the process takes place regularly or one that occured in the past

  • If the writer or someone else carries out the steps

• True or false? College writing frequently calls for instructions or process explanations.

• What is your primary goal with a process essay?

  • Depict the process accurately

• What is an important aspect of planning a process essay?

  • Accommodating Your Audience

    • Be clear

    • Use illustrations

    • Flow of essay

• What does a thesis statement do for a process essay?

  • Sets up the instructions and process explanations

• What transitions should be used?

  • First, second, meanwhile, after this, next, then, at the same time, when you have finished, and finally

• Introduction: identifies the process and indicates why and under what circumstances it is performed

• Body: each treats one major stage of the process

• Conclusion: a shorter essay may not need a formal conclusion; if there is a conclusion, it will briefly review the procedure’ s major stages

  • Useful if the technical procedure may seem complicated

  • Conclusion also reinforces the thesis

• Grammar - consistent in:

  • Verb tense (past or present)

  • Person (first, second, or third)

  • Voice (active or passive)

  • Mood (statements or commands)

• Unnecessary shifts in tense, person, voice, or mood can confuse readers and make it difficult for them to follow your process.

Quiz 6 (Cause and Effect, 321-331)

• Cause and Effect analyzes why something happens

• What do cause-and-effect essays do?

  • Examine causes, describe effects, or BOTH

• Cause and effect links situations and event together with causes preceding effects

• Cause and Effect is more than sequence, but also why something happened, or is happening, and predicts what probably will happen

• When you write about situations, you need to give a balanced analysis

  • Not just the most obvious situations

• Main cause: most important

• Contributory causes: other causes that had some effect

  • Understanding the distinction between main and contributory is ESSENTIAL

• Immediate cause: closely precede an effect and is therefore easy to recognize

• Remote cause: less obvious, perhaps because it involves something in the past or far away.

• Assuming the most obvious cause is always important can be dangerous as well as short-sighted

• Casual Chain: where A causes B, B causes C, etc.

• In casual chains, the result of one action is the cause of another

  • Leaving out any links in this chain, destroys the logic and continuity of the chain

• Post hoc reasoning: equates a chronological sequence with causality

• Do not mistake coincidence for causality

• Three Basic Options:

  • Discuss causes

  • Discuss effects

  • Discuss both!

• A cause-and-effect essay presents and supports a particular thesis

  • Thesis Statement: identifies the relationships among the specific causes or effects you will discuss

• Options of Arrangement:

  • Chronological Order

  • Main Cause 1st, then Contributory Causes

  • Contributory Causes 1st, then Main Cause

• Transitions: allow readers to distinguish main from contributory causes. also essential in a casual chain, for sequencing purposes

  • First cause,

  • Second cause,

  • One result,

  • Another result,

• Editing:

  • Focus on grammar, mechanics, and punctuation

  • Avoiding faulty reasons

  • Using affect and effect correctly

Quiz 7 (Argumentation, 524-541)

• Argumentation is a process of reasoning that asserts the soundness of a debatable position, belief, or conclusion.

• Argumentation takes a stand - SUPPORTED BY EVIDENCE - and urges people to share the writer’s perspective and insights

• Argumentation can be used to convince other people to accept (or at least see the validity of) your position.

• Persuasion is a general term that refers to how a writer influences an audience to adopt a belief or follow a course of action.

• Argumentation is the appeal to reason (logos).

• What is the primary purpose of Argumentation?

  • To demonstrate that certain ideas are valid and others are not.

• How is argumentation unlike persuasion?

  • Argumentation has a formal structure

• What are the usual appeals in arguments?

  • Main: reason

  • Secondary: emotions

• True or false? In an argumentative essay, choosing the right topic is important

• Purpose: what you expect your argument to accomplish and how you wish your audience to respond

• Thesis: state the position you will argue

• True or false? Your thesis must take a stand - be debatable.

• What is a good way to test the suitability of your thesis?

  • Formulate an antithesis: a statement that asserts the opposite position

• What is best to assume?

  • Some of your readers are skeptical

• What is the dual challenge in an argumentative essay?

  • Appealing to readers who are neutral or even hostile to your position

  • Influence those readers to be receptive to your viewpoint

• True or false? You MUST provide evidence that will support your thesis and establish a line of reasoning

• Evidence: facts and opinions in support of your position

• True or false? Evidence can be fact only

  • Can be opinions as well

• Facts: statements that most people agree are true and that can be verified independently

• What are the most commonly used type of evidence?

  • Facts - specifically, statistics

• Opinions: interpretations of facts

• True or false? Not all opinions are equally convincing

• What kind of evidence might change readers’ minds?

  • This depends on the readers, the issue, and the facts at hand

• Criteria for Evidence:

  • Evidence should be RELEVANT

  • Evidence should be REPRESENTATIVE

    • Examples and Expert opinions should be typical, not deviate from the thesis or argument

  • Evidence should be SUFFICIENT

• True or false? Whether you use such evidence, you have to document it by providing the source of your information.

• Documentation: gives readers the ability to evaluate the sources you cite and to consult them if they wish

  • Helps you avoid plagiarism

  • Common knowledge: information you could easily find in several reference sources

• True or false? You should always try to identify the most obvious - and even the not-so-obvious - objections to your position.

  • By directly addressing these objections, you will help convince readers your own position is valid

• Refutation: the act of saying or proving that a person, statement, opinion, etc. is wrong or false

  • Refute by showing these viewpoints are unsound, unfair, or weak

• Straw man: distorting an opponent’s argument by making it seem weaker than it actually is - [this is a bad thing]

• True or false? All arguments should be confrontational

• What does the Rogerian argument suggest?

  • Considering those who disagree with you as colleagues, NOT adversaries

• Deductive reasoning: proceeds from a general premise or assumption to a specific conclusion

• Inductive reasoning: induction proceeds from individual observations to a more general conclusion

• Syllogism: the basic form of a deductive argument

  • Major premise: general statement

  • Minor premise: related but more specific statement

  • Conclusion: drawn from these premises

• Self-evident: so obvious that it needs no proof

• When a conclusion follows logically from the major and minor premises, then the argument is said to be VALID

• True or false? If the syllogism is not logical, the argument is not valid

• Undistributed: it covers only some of the items in the class it denotes

• Distributed: it covers all the items in the class it denotes

• Sound: a syllogism must be both logical and true

• Inference: statement about the unknown based on the known

• Jumping to Conclusion: when the gap between your evidence and conclusion is too great

• Inductive leap: crucial step from evidence to conclusion

• Inductive conclusions are never certain, only highly probable

  • Since inductive conclusions are just inferences and opinions

• Toulmin logic: tries to describe how argumentative strategies a writer uses lead readers to respond the way they do:

  • Claim: main point of essay

  • Grounds: material a writer uses to support the claim

  • Warrant: inference that connects the claim to be grounds

• Fallacies: illogical statements that may sound reasonable or true but are actually deceptive and dishonest

• Analogy: form of comparison that explains something unfamiliar by comparing it do something familiar

• Jumping to Conclusion = Hasty or Sweeping Generalization

• Transitional words are phrases are EXTREMELY important in argumentative essays

  • Examples that support your argument:

    • First

    • Second

    • Third

    • In addition

    • Finally

  • Examples that refute opposing arguments:

    • Still

    • Nevertheless

    • However

    • Yet

  • What transitional words are useful when presenting your argument's conclusion?

    • Therefore

    • For this reason

Quiz 8 (Classification and Division, 435)

• Division is the process of breaking a whole into parts

• Classification is the process of sorting individual items into categories

• Through classification and division, we can make sense of seemingly random ideas by putting scattered bits of information into useful, coherent order.

• When you _____, you begin with individual items and sort them into categories

  • Classify

• The principle of classification you choose, which is the quality your items have in common, depends on _________________.

  • How you wish to approach the members of this diverse group

• True or false? Division is the opposite of classification

• When you divide, you start with a whole and break it into its individual parts

• True or false? Eventually, when dividing, you have to identify a principle of classification to help break them into their parts

• Classification and division is used to bring order to the invention stage of the writing process

• What words suggest classification and division?

  • Types

  • Kinds

  • Varieties

  • Aspects

  • Categories

• Thesis statement: should identity your subject, introduce the categories you will discuss, and perhaps show readers the relationships of your categories to one another and to the subject as a whole.

• Transitional words in classification and division essays do?

  • Introduce your categories

  • Move readers from one category to the next

  • Show relationships between categories

    • If one category is more important than another

• Introduction: orient readers + thesis

• Body Paragraphs: discuss your categories one by one, in the same order in which you mentioned in your introduction.

• Conclusion: restate thesis and sum up the points made

• What is a grammar mistake common in Classification and Division?

  • Using a colon to introduce your categories without a complete sentence following the colon

  • In any list or series of three or more categories, the categories should be separated by commas, with a comma preceding the and that separates the last two items

Quiz 9 (Comparison and Contrast, 371)

• Comparison shows how two or more things are similar

• Contrast shows how they are different

• In most writing, comparison and contrast are used together

• Analogy: explains one thing by comparing it to a second, more familiar thing

• Key Words signifying contrast/compare?

  • Similarities and differences

  • Relative merits

  • Advantages and disadvantages

  • Greater or lesser

• When you evaluate a subject, you often use compare and contrast

• Before you can compare and contrast two things, you MUST establish a basis for comparison: that two things have enough in common to justify the comparison

• When two subjects are very similar, contrast may help

• When two subjects are very different, comparing may help

• You need to select points for discussion between the two subjects

• Thesis statement: should tell readers what to expect in your essay, identifying not only the subjects to be compared and contrasted but also the point you will make about them.

• A thesis statement should highlight the essay’s central concern

• Two Strategies:

  • Subject-by-Subject

    • Separate essay about each subject, but discuss the same points for both subjects

  • Point-by-Point

    • Make a point about one subject and follow it with a comparable point about the other subject

• Transitions:

  • Compare:

    • In comparison

    • In the same way

    • Like

    • Likewise

    • Similarly

  • Contrast:

    • Although

    • But

    • Conversely

    • However

    • In contrast

• Issue in compare and contrast essays:

  • Parallelism: the use of matching nouns, verbs, phrases, or clauses to express the same or similar ideas

    • Not being specific enough to know what a noun/verb/pronoun is referring to?

Quiz 10 (Definition, 489)

• Definition: tells what a term means and how it differs from other terms in its class

• Formal Definitions: brief, succinct explanations

• Extended Definitions: explaining what something or someone is

• True or false? All definitions have three parts

  • 1. The term to be defined

  • 2. The general class the term is a part of

  • 3. The qualities that differentiate it from other terms in the same class

• True or false? Many extended-definition essays include short formal definitions

• An extended definition does not follow a set pattern of development, but utilizes the most beneficial strategy

• True or false? Providing a formal definition of each term you use is usually not necessary or desirable.

• Definitions can explain abstractions, controversial terms, and slang terms

• Slang Terms: informal expressions whose meanings may vary from locale to locale or change as time passes.

• The thesis of a definition essay needs to make it clear to readers the larger purpose for which you are defining the term.

• What are the 5 types of Pattern of Development?

  • Exemplification

    • Examples to explain a term

  • Description

    • Explain the nature of something by describing it

  • Comparison and Contrast

    • Compares/Contrasts a term with something else to allow a reader to better understand it

  • Process

    • Explains a conceptual process

  • Classification and Division

    • Define both formal and extended definitions

• Whatever form your definition take, make certain that they clearly define your terms

• Careful attention to the language and structure of your definition will help readers understand your meaning

• Intro: identifies the term to be defined

• Body:

  • Defines the term through synonyms

  • Defines the term by using negation

  • Defines the term by using an analogy

  • Defines the term by discussing its origin and development

• Conclusion: reminds readers why you have chosen to define the term

• When editing a definition essay, be sure to avoid when and where