Patterns for College Writing
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?
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/
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?
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
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?
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/
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?
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