WRITING
m carolan
UNDERSTAND THE ASSIGNMENT
 Identify SUBJECT words
 Indicate the CONTENT of the assignment
 What the assignment is about
 Identify DIRECTION words
 Your PURPOSE
 Which writing STRATEGY to use
DIRECTION WORDS
 Analyze
 Take apart and examine closely
 Argue
 Make a case for a particular position
 Categorize
 Place into meaningful groups
 Compare
 Look for differences, stress similarities
 Contrast
 Look for similarities, stress differences
 Critique
 Point out positive and negative features
DIRECTION WORDS
 Define
 Provide the meaning for a term or concept
 Evaluate
 Judge according to some standard
 Explain
 Make plain or understandable
 Illustrate
 Show through examples
 Interpret
 Explain the meaning of something
DIRECTION WORDS
 List
 Catalogue or number the steps in a process
 Outline
 Provide a short structure for important elements
 Prove
 Demonstrate truth through logic, fact or example
 Review
 Summarize a key point in your own words
 Synthesize
 Bring together or make connections among elements
 Trace
 Show a sequence of events
FINDING A SUBJECT/FOCUS ON A TOPIC
Find a broad subject you like
Narrow it down
SUBJECT: MUSIC
Music
Rap
White rappers
Eminem
Eminem
changed
Rap
Very general
Less general
General
More Specific
Very Specific
Topic: How Eminem changed rap music
WHAT’S YOUR PURPOSE
Why are you writing this?
Can’t just be because it’s your assignment
To express thoughts and feelings about life
experiences
To inform readers by explaining something
about the world around them
To persuade readers to adopt some belief
or take some action
KINDS OF PURPOSE
 Expressive Writing
Put your thoughts and feelings first
Clarify an important life experience
Share what you learned from it
 Informative Writing
Tell a reader something about the outside world
 Argumentative Writing
 Influence a reader’s thinking/attitude toward a
subject
 Move them to take action
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
Empathize with readers
Address their difficulties and concerns
Appeal to their rational (thinking) and
emotional (feeling) sides
Make decisions on
Content (what info to include or leave out)
Sentence structure
Word choice (diction)
WRITING FOR AN ACADEMIC AUDIENCE
Formal, standard English
Holds the readers attention
Interesting ideas supported with
 Facts
 Statistics
 Detailed information
QUESTIONS ABOUT AUDIENCE
 Who are your readers?
 What do you know about them (age, gender, education,
religion, economic status, political views)?
 What does your audience know about your subject?
 What does your audience need to know about your topic in
order to understand it?
 Will my audience be interested? Open -minded? Resistant?
Hostile?
 Is there any specialized language (jargon) I have to explain?
 Any language I should avoid?
 What do I want my audience to do as a result of reading my
essay?
STEP 2: GATHER IDEAS/FORMULATE A
THESIS
 Brainstorming
 List everything you know
 Write quickly
 Clustering
 Organizing main ideas and supporting ideas
 Researching
 Look it up!
 Ask someone
 Rehearsing ideas
 Talk it out!
FORMULATE A THESIS
 The most important point about your topic
 More general
 Focused enough to be covered in a short essay
 The so-called serious news programs are becoming too like tabloid
news shows in both their content and presentation.
 [WHAT I WANT TO SAY IS THAT]
 Sentence starter
 Last sentence of your intro
IS MY THESIS GOOD ENOUGH?
 Does it take a clear position? What is that position?
 Is it the most important point I make about my topic?
 Is it not too general or too specific? Can I support it within
the length guidelines?
ORGANIZE AND WRITE DRAFT 1
 Decide on an rhetorical (organizational) strategy:
 Narration, description, illustration, process analysis, comparison &
contrast, division & classification, definition, cause & effect analysis,
argumentation

Determine a strategy for developing your essay
RHETORICAL STRATEGY KEY WORDS
Key words/phrases
strategy
Give an account; tell story; relate events
narration
Describe; present a picture; discuss details
description
Show; demonstrate; enumerate; give examples of, discuss; illustration
Explain how; explain what; analyze the steps
Process analysis
Compare; contrast; explain differences; explain
similarities; evaluate
Comparison & contrast
Divide and classify; explains the components; analyze the
parts
Division &
classification
Explain; define a person, place, thing; give the meaning of
definition
Explain causes; explain effects; give reasons for; explain
consequences
Cause & effect
analysis
Argue for/against; make a case; state views; persuade;
convince; justify
argumentation
WHAT TO DO WITH AN OPEN
ASSIGNMENT
What if you’re just told “Write a 5 page
paper”?
State main idea in a single phrase or sentence
Restate the main idea as a question (the
question your essay will answer)
Look at the question and answer for KEY
words or CONCEPTS that go with a particular
strategy
 Develop a primary strategy
 Develop other strategies to support your primary
strategy
EXAMPLE: AMERICAN LIT
 MAIN IDEA: JD Salinger uses personal experiences in
his fiction.
 QUESTION: Using specific details demonstrate in
what instances does JD Salinger use personal
religion to tell further his narrative purpose?
 STRATEGY: Illustration. The phrase “in what
instances” suggests that it in necessary to show
examples of where Salinger uses personal
experience to tell his story.
 SUPPORTING STRATEGIES: Description. “Using
specific details” shows that you need to describe
sections of his book.
STEP 4: REVISING
 Do something else for a while (a couple of hours, a
day)
 Think of your first draft as a lump of clay
 Use the first draft to make something beautiful
 Revising does not mean just correcting grammar,
spelling and punctuation
 Decide if what you’ve written and the order in which
you wrote it and the words your wrote it with are
good enough and say what you want them to say
 Sometimes you have to START OVER
 Look at the BIG PICTURE
 READ IT OUT LOUD
BIG PICTURE IDEAS
Topic
Thesis statement
Writing strategy
Paragraphs
Opening
Conclusion
Have I accomplished my purpose?