Writing Strategies and Applications

Active voice

describes a sentence construction in which the subject's sentence performs or undertakes the verb's action. Whenever possible, it is better to write using active voice than passive voice. Active voice enlivens writing, quickens its pace, and improves word economy. Sometimes you can convert a sentence written in passive voice to active voice simply by rearranging its components: The president received visitors. The children enjoyed the milk and cookies. Other times you'll have to specify a previously unnamed subject or object, which requires greater modification: Someone posted the flyer to the bulletin board. I did not receive your package.

Combining Short Sentences: Participial Phrase

A dependent clause beginning with a participial verb form separated from an independent clause by a comma. Example: The mayor appeared on TV last night, Fielding questions and plugging his agenda.

Setting

The context in time and place in which the action of a story occurs.

Preposition examples

in, after, before, under, beside, down, through, by, for...

Compound-Complex Sentence

two or more independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses joined together by punctuation and conjunctions. Example: After buying gum, Antwan started chewing it, and he started blowing bubbles.

Final Note on Evaluating

when you're grading for grammar and mechanics, it's important to develop a consistent, standardized system of copy-editing marks. You should provide your students with a key that explains these marks and use the same marking system every time you grade your students' essays.

in-text citation

-use parenthetical reference containing authors name and page number to indicate a citation. - references are placed between the last word of a sentence and the period. - every work cited in an in-text citation is documented in detail in the Works Cited page. An in-text citation looks like this: . . evidence of Lear's madness (Smith 37).

A footnote in text would look like this:

. . . evidence of Lear's madness.1

The Importance of Sentence Variety

It's important to intersperse each of those types of sentence throughout your writing. An essay composed entirely of simple sentences would be choppy and simplistic, while an essay made up exclusively of compound-complex sentences would be verbose and overly dense. Mixing up your constructions will enhance the flow, rhythm, interest, and continuity of your writing. You can place a short simple sentence after a string of longer sentences to emphasize and call attention to the content of the shorter sentence. Longer, more complicated sentence structures are better suited to explaining difficult concepts. In particular, the structure of a compound-complex sentence naturally lends itself to explaining the coordination and subordination of related ideas. By expressing the most important ideas in independent clauses and the subordinate ideas in dependent clauses, a writer can use sentence structure to mirror and reinforce conceptual relationships.

Factors to consider when evaluating student writing

Organization Coherence of ideas Clarity of sentence structure Sentence variety Use of evidence and details Transitions Point of view Word choices Grammar and Mechanics

four key elements of good composition to inform and structure your comments.

Organization Transitions Point of View Word Choice, Grammar, and Mechanics

Looping

Selecting one or two of the best ideas and then free-write again on those specific topics. This can help writers narrow down their thinking to a usable thesis.

Steps for Planning Your Essay

The best way to begin is by reading the work actively. Read with your pen in hand and underline examples of figurative language and characterization. Make notes in the margins about the plot and the setting. After you've finished reading, pick two or three elements that stand out as the most interesting to be the focus of your discussion.

run-on sentence

The joining of two independent clauses into one sentence without punctuation or conjunctions. example: I love to write papers I would write one every day if I had the time.

literary elements

Theme Plot Characterization Setting Figurative language

How to identify sentences written in passive voice

You can identify sentences written in passive voice because they: Use a "to be" verb (am, is, are, was, were, be, been, being) Closely follow the "to be" verb with a preposition (by, from, to, etc.)

how to best engage with and respond to your students' written work.

Your encounters with your students' writing need to serve multiple purposes. You need to assess their progress and abilities and evaluate and grade their work. You also must be able to provide feedback and suggestions that enable your students to improve and grow as writers. Your suggestions about how students can revise their writing need to explain clearly the specific improvements that students could make to their essays. You can rely on four key elements of good composition to inform and structure your comments.

Participial

a verb that can be used as an adjective

A works cited entry for a book with one author...

contain the author's name, the book's title, and its publication facts. For example: Smith, Bill. A Textual Analysis of King Lear: Interpretation and Interpolation. New York: Smith Publishing, 2005. Rules for formatting works cited entries vary based on the publication type and number of authors.

works cited

in-text citation is the most common method for crediting citations in the body of a paper.

two specialized types of paragraphs

serve specific organizing functions. The first paragraph in an essay, the introductory paragraph, should grab the reader's attention and introduce the essay's subject matter and central thesis. Introductory paragraphs help create a recognizable beginning to an essay by narrowing its topic focus. The final paragraph in an essay, the concluding paragraph, should unify the essay's key ideas and use them as evidence for the essay's primary conclusion or thesis. The concluding paragraph provides a sense of completion by explaining the implications of the essay's argument. In other words, a good concluding paragraph definitively answers the heuristic question "So what?"

Elements of Good Composition

Paragraphing: Sentence Structure Sentence Variety: Transition Words and Phrases Organization and Structure: Voice Use of Evidence and Details: Vocabulary and word choice Tone: Research Citation

Descriptive Structure

Purpose: To provide a clear picture or description - Introduce topic - Most important details come first - Expand and embellish

Narrative Structure

Purpose: To tell a story - Clear progression: beginning, middle, end - Consistent voice and point of view

Persuasive Structure

Purpose: to advance an opinion and demonstrate it's legitimacy - Introduce the opinion - Evidence the opinion - Refute opposing arguments

Proofreading

The process of reading over a final draft of a written work to ensure that both the form and the content are of sufficient quality. The purpose of this step is to catch any errors you may have overlooked previously. Each of the previous four stages introduced a new consideration into the writing process. This step is your chance to go over your work with a proverbial fine-tooth comb and ensure that you have not overlooked anything. This step is the time to check for spelling errors your word processor's spell-checker would not catch, such as substituting too for to, or read for red, and to scrutinize your grammar, mechanics, and style. You should also make sure that your arguments are tight and well organized.

Conclusive Transition Words

Thus, therefore, hence, as a result

Heuristic Questioning

an adjective describing a device or technique used to guide an investigation or inquiry. This Technique is a prewriting process in which writers pose a series of questions whose answers are relevant to the topic of their writing. After posing the questions, writers then jot down answers in an effort to clarify their thinking. If they are not able to answer one or more of the questions satisfactorily, they know where they need to focus their research.

four basic sentence types

independent and dependent clauses are combined in various ways to produce the four basic sentence types: Simple Sentence Compound Sentence Complex Sentence Compound-Complex Sentence

Plot

the sequence of events in a literary work. It's what happens in a story.

Theme

A dominant idea or motif in a literary work: extra texts contain multiple themes. Some examples of themes include heroism, innocence, progress, war and it's effects, aging, gender roles, violence, and exile.

comma splice

A mistaken attempt to "splice" or connect two independent clauses using only a comma instead of a period, a semicolon or a comma and a conjunction. example: I love cats, i love dogs

Expository Structure

Purpose: to present facts and information - Introduce it's topic - Explain unfamiliar terms - illustrate each point with concrete details.

A strong essay

Will engage various literary elements, but not necessarily all of them. Instead of simply reciting the various themes, describing the setting, and recounting the plot, your essay should go a step further and analyze how the author's use of these various elements contributes to the overall effect of the work

Characterization

the process by which the writer reveals the personality of a character. This is done by showing what the character says and does, but also by description and details.

Complex Sentence

An independent clause and a dependent clause joined together by punctuation, a conjunction, or both. Example: After buying some gum, Antwan started chewing it.

Brainstorming

the process of generating ideas and information based on word associations. This technique involves generating a list of words, phrases, names, and anything else that comes to a writer's mind when he or she thinks about the topic at hand. During this process, writers don't need to worry about the utility of the items on their lists. Brainstormed lists serve as raw material for the writing process; the main goal is to think of as many ideas as possible. After brainstorming a list, it's helpful to go back through the list and try to group similar items together. After grouping the items, try to create a label for each group.

Heuristic Questions

Who? What? When? Where? How? Why? So What?

example of misused transition words and phrases.

Yesterday's city council meeting featured a busy agenda. There was the bill to raise bus fares, although there was a motion to censure one of the council members for unbecoming conduct. However, no vote was taken on the censure motion. First, the debate over the bus-fare increase took hours, and then the council's senior member made a speech paying tribute to her dog's birthday. "although" is misused.

other idiosyncratic factors that influence word choice.

an essay's purpose and the writer's voice both should influence the vocabulary of a piece of writing. Because those factors vary from essay to essay, there are no hard and fast rules that dictate which word choices are prudent and which ones are not. Specialized vocabulary and highly technical terminology would be appropriate in an article in a trade publication, for example, but not in an expository essay targeted toward neophytes. Including colloquialisms and slang might be crucial to the believability of some narratives but antithetical to the aims of a literary analysis.

Revision and Editing

the process of altering and modifying the substance of the argument in your paper. The purpose of revising is to streamline and tighten the arguments you make in support of your thesis. As you revise, you'll pay attention to your essay's organization and how well you've evidenced each of your key claims. Editing is the process of reviewing your work to ensure that it comports with rules of formal English. The purpose of editing is to create clarity of writing and economy of expression. As you edit, you'll pay attention to usage, grammar, and style.

An example of a sentence that employs an erroneous construction

A region-wide transition to democratic governance is vital to future stability, the current concentration of dictatorships and military regimes is a tinderbox poised to explode into conflict. it is an example of a comma splice: A mistaken attempt to "splice" or connect two independent clauses using only a comma instead of a period, a semicolon or a comma and a conjunction.

Stages of Writing a Paper

Prewriting Outlining Composition Revision and Editing Proofreading don't expect to move through this sequence once and then be finished with your paper. Written works are not created with a straightforward and orderly technique. Rather, writing is a recursive practice. It involves a series of iterations through the above steps, with each pass revealing a different component of the final work. Oftentimes, for example, it is easier to write a paper's introduction once the body of the work is complete. This is because the writer then has a more concrete grasp of the paper's key points. Similarly, in the course of exploring and analyzing a particular topic, writers often come across ideas and concepts they overlooked in their prewriting; incorporating these new ideas requires a new move through each stage.

activity that would be appropriate to the composition phase of the writing process.

Writing a description of how a scene from the book you're analyzing supports your overall thesis Composition encompasses the nuts and bolts of writing.

Prewriting

the generation of ideas preliminary to formal writing. The purpose of prewriting is to come up with a large volume of ideas that you can use as raw material for your paper. During this step, your focus should be on creating and keeping track of ideas. There's no need to worry about which ideas are most relevant, innovative, or feasible. You can sharpen your focus later. During prewriting, you're just hoping to jumpstart your thought process and begin honing in on a thesis.

Transition words

segue between sentences and paragraphs while communicating to readers the logical connection between ideas. Rhetorically, they smooth out your writing and make it easier to read. Logically, they create and reinforce relationships between the crucial ideas in your work. Different transition words and phrases serve different functions. It is important to pick transition words that are germane to the relationships they illustrate.

Review of Principles of Composition 1

1 Outlining is a transitional writing technique designed to help writers move from the idea-generation phase of writing to the formal construction and composition phase. Principles of composition are guidelines and rules that help writers create prose that is topic-appropriate and enjoyable to read. A paragraph is a group of sentences that address a single major thought or idea. An introductory paragraph is the first paragraph in an essay that grabs the reader's attention and introduces the essay's subject matter and central thesis. A concluding paragraph is the final paragraph in an essay that unifies the essay's key ideas and uses them as evidence for the essay's primary conclusion or thesis. Transition words are words that segue between sentences and paragraphs while communicating to readers the logical connection between ideas.

Review of principles of composition 2

2 An independent clause presents a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence. A dependent clause does not present a complete thought and cannot stand alone as a sentence. An appositive is a word or phrase that serves as an explanatory equivalent to a previously referenced article in a sentence. A participial phrase is a dependent clause beginning with a participial verb form separated from an independent clause by a comma. A prepositional phrase is a phrase consisting of a preposition and its object that has adjective or adverbial value. Parallel structure is a sentence structure that employs consistent construction in relation to all of its verbs, subjects, and objects. A comma splice is a mistaken attempt to "splice" or connect two independent clauses using only a comma instead of a period, a semicolon, or a comma and a conjunction. A sentence fragment is a group of words used as if it were a sentence but is not a sentence because it does not include a subject, verb, or some other vital component. A run-on sentence is the joining of two independent clauses into one sentence without punctuation or conjunctions. Passive voice describes a sentence construction in which the subject of the sentence is the receiver or object of the verb's action. Active voice describes a sentence construction in which the subject's sentence performs or undertakes the verb's action.

Principles of Composition Review 3

3 In-text citation is a method of crediting others' work that includes an author's name and a page number in a parenthetical note at the end of a sentence. Bibliographic footnotes are a method of citing others' work that includes a number in the text that corresponds to a numbered note at the bottom of the page that contains citation information. Bibliographic endnotes are a method of citing others' work that includes a number in the text that corresponds to a numbered note on a "Notes" page at the end of the essay.

Footnote example

A footnote that represents the first citation of a work would contain the author's name, the title of the work, its publication facts, and the page number of the reference and look like this: 1Bill Smith, A Textual Analysis of King Lear: Interpretation and Interpolation (New York: Smith Publishing, 2005) 37. And subsequent footnotes that refer to the same work would read: 8 Smith 96-99.

sentence fragment

A group of words used as if it were a sentence but that is not a sentence because it does not include a subject, verb or some other vital component. Example: Swam into the ocean. (missing subject) The white plastic chair. (missing verb) As in the lives of many. (missing both subject and predicate)

Combining Short Sentences: Prepositional Phrase

A phrase consisting of a preposition and it's object that has adjective or adverbial value: that is, it serves to describe, modify and enrich the meaning of a sentence. Example: The mayor talked throughout the evening about her agenda.

Word Choice, Grammar, and Mechanics

Not until a student has submitted the final draft of an essay is it time to evaluate and grade the student's mastery of grammar, mechanics and the conventions of Standard English. Prior to the submission of a complete, polished essay, your primary focus should be on the content and structure of the essay. That's not to say that you shouldn't mark errors in grammar and mechanics in early drafts. The only time grammar and mechanics can be completely disregarded is during prewriting, when idea generation is the sole focus. At every other step along the way, it's important that students be cognizant of the usage mistakes they're making so that they have a chance to correct them. But such mistakes should only affect a student's grade on an essay's final draft. When a student hands in a rough or first draft that contains grammatical and mechanical errors, you should mark the error and tell the student the source of the error or the usage rule he or she has broken. However, with an early draft, don't go so far as to correct the error on the page. Instead, the burden should be on the student to look up the rule and think through a suitable correction. By doing so, students will internalize and gain mastery over the rules of Standard English.

Organizing Your Essay

Once you have selected the elements you'd like to write about—for example, characterization and the theme of lost innocence in Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants"—organize your notes around those elements. Think about how the elements you've selected relate to each other and the overall effect of the book. As you organize your notes, you should be working on some kind of outline that sketches out your argument and points toward a thesis. For instance, if you were writing about "Hills Like White Elephants," you might argue that Hemingway uses the element of characterization to develop the theme of the loss of innocence. In a standard five-paragraph essay, you might decide to spend one paragraph on characterization, one paragraph on how characterization reveals the theme of innocence lost, and one paragraph on the importance of the theme.

Writing Process Review

Prewriting is the generation of ideas preliminary to formal writing. Outlining is the creation of a structured plan for a piece of writing. Composition is the actual construction of a piece of writing. Revision is the process of altering and modifying the substance of the argument in your paper. Editing is the process of reviewing your work to ensure that it comports with rules of formal English. Proofreading is the process of reading over a final draft of a written work to ensure that both the form and the content are of sufficient quality. Brainstorming is the process of generating ideas and information based on word associations. Free-writing is an unstructured, associative form of writing that closely mirrors the process of brainstorming. Looping is the process of performing several rounds of free-writing on increasingly narrow topics. Heuristic questioning is a prewriting process in which writers pose a series of questions whose answers are relevant to the topic of their writing. Clustering explores the relationship between ideas by creating a physical "map" of concepts and their relationships to one another.

Transitions

The revisions you suggest must be concrete. Isolate and discuss specific examples from a student's essay. Instead of making a general comment at the end of a paper, such as "transitions are unclear," you should make notes in the margins near relevant portions of the essay. Your suggestions should make clear exactly what kind of correction the student needs to make without actually making it for him or her. When you're reading a student's essay for the purpose of suggesting revisions, pay particularly close attention to the presence or absence of transition words and phrases. Why? They serve as concrete, easy-to-identify markers of a larger, more abstract quality: the overall organization and coherence of ideas in an essay. An abundance of transition words, phrases, and sentences suggests that the writer took the time and effort to think through the relationships between his or her sentences and ideas. A lack of transitional elements usually belies a hastily constructed essay with insufficient consideration to the progression of its argument. When you're reading a student essay with the goal of suggesting revisions, make a note in the margin to the effect of "transition needed" whenever you see consecutive sentences whose relationship is unclear. By attempting to address this simple formal element, students will be compelled to consider larger questions of organization and argument structure. Adding transitional words and phrases also will improve the clarity and continuity of their writing.

The footnotes themselves appear at the bottom of any page whose text contains a note. In the footnotes section:

There are two double spaces between its top line and the bottom line of the body of the paper. Each footnote begins with the superscript numeral from the text to which it corresponds. The first line of each footnote is indented one tab. Additional lines of each footnote are flush with the left-hand margin. Footnotes are single spaced, and there should be one space between each entry.

Passive voice uses

This is not to say that it's never appropriate to write in the passive voice. Scientific writing, for example, often employs passive voice to foster a detached, objective tone. Passive voice is also appropriate in sentences that seek to direct attention toward their objects: Side effects such as nausea and headaches were observed. The painting was stolen from the museum. However, those situations are rare. As rule of thumb, consistent use of active voice makes for stronger writing.

Parallel sentence structure

a sentence structure that employs consistent construction in relation to all of its verbs, subjects, and objects. A telltale sign that a sentence employs parallel structure is that the verb phrases or subjects could switch places in the sentence without creating any grammatical errors. For example, the following sentences exhibit parallel structure: When you get home tonight, make sure to feed the dog, lock the door, and turn off the lights. It matters not whether they come by land, by air, or by sea! While this sentence employs a faulty and inconsistent construction: When you get home tonight, make sure to feed the dog, that the door is locked and the lights are turned off. It matters not whether they come by land, air or by sea! The precision of parallel structure adds clarity to your writing. It also enhances your writing's readability by maintaining a natural cadence to your language

Free-writing

an unstructured, associative form of writing that closely mirrors the process of brainstorming. The idea behind free-writing is to designate a period of time—say ten minutes—during which you won't stop writing, even forcing yourself to continue when you feel like you have no ideas. Like brainstorming, this technique allows a writer to focus on generating ideas without worrying about style and grammar. There's no need to censor ideas; the goal is to write whatever you're thinking and sort it out later. Once the designated period of time has elapsed, the writer can choose to read through the free-writing, select one or two of the best ideas and then free-write again on those specific topics. This process is called looping. Several rounds of looping can help writers narrow down their thinking to a usable thesis.

Other outlining techniques

can help you sift through your ideas and begin formulating a coherent thesis. For example, Write down each of the ideas you hope to discuss in your paper on individual note cards. When you're finished, group the note cards by topic. Each grouping can become a paragraph or related series of paragraphs. Create a display that visually represents the relationships between key ideas. Put the most important idea at the top and work your way down; be willing to adjust the positioning of various ideas as you work. Whether you draft detailed outlines before you begin writing or compose a rough draft first and then create an outline that you use for your final draft is a matter of preference and style. Outlining is a tool to improve the structure, organization, and focus of your writing. Use it whenever you find it most helpful.

Clustering

explores the relationship between ideas by creating a map of concepts and their relationships to one another. Physically rendering the relationships between topics and ideas helps clarify thinking as well as reveal new directions for inquiry. If you already know what your main topic or thesis is, you can put it in the circle that's at the center of your cluster map and work outwards. If you don't yet know your thesis, you can use the cluster map to get a sense of which topics are most important (Which circles have the most lines drawn to them?) Each group of connected circles represents a larger topic that can become a paragraph in an essay or paper. Circles in a cluster map also can include questions that arise during the course of creating the map.

Sentences are made up two kinds of clauses:

independent clause and dependent clause An independent clause presents a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence; it has both a subject and a predicate. A dependent clause does not present a complete thought and cannot stand alone as a sentence (most often because it does not contain a subject). These two types of clauses are combined in various ways to produce the four basic sentence types.

Paragraphing

the building blocks of writing, the most basic element of organization. Paragraphs help readers navigate and understand a written work by clearly delineating separate thoughts and points of transition. A paragraph is a group of sentences that address a single major thought or idea. A complete paragraph will address its topic idea clearly and thoroughly enough that the paragraph could be removed from the essay in which it appears and still make sense as a stand-alone composition.

Outlining

the creation of a structured plan for a piece of writing. The purpose of outlining is to select the best ideas you generated in your prewriting process and to organize them into the order in which you will present them in your paper. This step helps you focus your inquiry and organize your paper. Making decisions about how to the order in which you will present information also imparts a better understanding of the logical relationship between the various components of your argument.

Comparative Transition Words

Similarly, likewise, also

Bibliographic Footnotes

(an alternative to the in-text citation method.) - Use superscript numerals in the body of the paper to indicate a citation. - Numerals are placed directly to the right of a period. - Numerals are a reference to numbered notes found at the bottom of each page. - Notes are numbered consecutively throughout the paper. - Footnotes contain explanation of and sources for materials in the body of the work. - The first footnote to a particular source contains full publication information. - subsequent footnotes citing the same source contains only the author's last name and page number.

"Works Cited" Entries

- compiled on a page at the end of the document that is titled "Works Cited." - They begin flush with the left-hand margin. - Additional lines of each entry are indented one tab. - Each entry is double-spaced, and there is a double space between each entry. - Entries are listed alphabetically by the last name of the author.

Combining Short Sentences: Appositives

A word or phrase that serves as an explanatory equivalent to a previously referenced article in a sentence. It expands on and clarifies the counterpart word or phrase. Example: The mayor, a wildly popular figure, appeared on TV last night.

preposition

A word that shows the relationship of a noun or pronoun to another word

Analysis

After you've cited specific details from the text to support your claims about the elements of a literary work, it is important to provide analysis as to why the theme (or plot device or metaphor) you are discussing is important. One of the questions you should ask yourself as you write your essay is, "So what? Why is this important? What's the larger implication of my argument?" Again, a good way to think about the importance of literary devices is in terms of the literature's overall effect or purpose. There are no absolute answers here; you are providing an interpretation of the work. However, your thesis, your use of details and the quality of your analysis will determine the strength or weakness of your interpretation.

Organization

Although the term revision usually describes changes to an already-written paper, students can and should begin revising their work even in its earliest stages. A teacher's primary role while students are prewriting and outlining is to help the students articulate, refine, and focus their thoughts and ideas about their selected topic. By the time students start writing their first drafts, they should have a clear thesis statement and an organized approach. When students come to you seeking suggestions during prewriting or outlining, it's important to center your comments on the ideas they have brought to you and avoid inserting your own opinions and arguments into the discussion. As long as the student has not proposed a topic that is incoherent, irrelevant or inappropriate, you should concentrate on helping the student express his or her ideas in a logical, organized fashion. Students will work harder on a paper over which they feel ownership, and the best way to engender that feeling is to make the student ultimately responsible for the paper's content.

The Best Prewriting Techniques

By bracketing out concern for anything other than generating ideas, good prewriting facilitates creativity and lateral thinking. Even though the process is designed to elicit free-flowing ideas, it's important that prewriting have some structure. Otherwise, it can degenerate into unfocused daydreaming. The best way to give structure to the prewriting process is to take notes on the ideas that are being generated. The following are some note-taking methods specific to the prewriting process that highlight the relationships between ideas and increase the likelihood of producing useful material. Brainstorming Free-writing Heuristic Questioning Clustering

Sentences to Avoid in My Writing

Comma Splice Run-on sentence Sentence fragment

Evidence that can support literary interpretation

Details from the text opinions of experts Biographical information about the author. Personal Experience and knowledge Depending on what kind of essay you are writing, you might be able to employ other types of evidence as well. In a research paper, for example, you could research the author's biography and cite episodes from his or her life to support your argument. You could also cite articles from experts in the field. However, the strongest evidence is evidence that comes directly from the text you're analyzing.

How Do I Organize and Structure My Essay?

Every written work needs to be appropriately organized for its purpose and audience. It wouldn't make sense to take the same approach to writing a short story that you would to writing a business letter. Each major essay type has a corresponding standard structure. In addition to these purpose-driven organizing principles, there are some fundamentals of composition that lend structure to essays in every genre.

Contrasting Transition Words

However, but, yet, on the other hand

Continuing Transition Words

In addition, plus, what's more

Evidencing Your Arguments

In any form of writing, it is imperative that you provide evidence to support your arguments and interpretations. In literary essays, that evidence usually takes the form of specific examples from the text. The examples you cite from the text need to be concrete and thoroughly detailed. In addition to supporting your judgment and analysis of the text, the examples should convey a distinct image that will help readers form an impression of the work.

figurative language

Language that cannot be taken literally since it was written to create a special effect or feeling. Includes: symbolism, paradox, personification, hyperbole, understatement, metaphor, simile, synecdoche, metonymy, and imagery.

Paragraph tip

Limiting paragraphs to one major idea each and writing transition sentences that demonstrate the relationships between those ideas will help you maintain a consistent topic focus throughout your essay.

Temporal Transition Words

Meanwhile, previously, immediately

Spatial Transition Words

Next to, among, beyond, under

Evaluating Final Draft

Once a student has handed in a final draft, there are myriad elements you should consider when evaluating mechanics and grammar. Specifically, Spelling Punctuation Verb forms Verb tense Subject-verb agreement Pronoun-antecedent agreement Determining the elements you emphasize in your grading depends on the audience and purpose of a piece of writing. A college essay, for example, does not need to abide by the presumption against use of the first person as strictly as, say, a formal research paper.

Exegesis Structure

Purpose: Critical explanation and analysis of a text. - Analysis of translated words - Study if historical and cultural context - Determination of passage limits.

Simple Sentence

The most elemental sentence type: one independent clause made up of a subject and a predicate. Example: Antwan bought some gum.

Compound Sentence

Two independent clauses joined together by a conjunction, punctuation, or both. Example: Antwan bought some gum, and then he started chewing it.

rules of vocabulary and word choice

Use concrete terms instead of abstract ones whenever possible. Use descriptive action verbs instead of generic, everyday verbs. Minimize your use of adverbs. If you think an adverb is required, try picking a new verb instead. Use adjectives sparingly. Those you use should be specific and descriptive.

passive voice/active voice

Visitors were received by the President. / The president received visitors. The milk and cookies were enjoyed by the children. / The children enjoyed the milk and cookies. The flyer was posted to the bulletin board. / Someone posted the flyer to the bulletin board. The package was not received. / I did not receive your package.

questions to keep in mind because their answers should strongly influence your writing's vocabulary:

Who is my audience? What is their level of interest in and knowledge of this topic? What is the purpose of this writing? Am I explaining? Persuading? Analyzing? Summarizing? Do the connotations of my adjectives and verbs match up with the overall connotation of my work?

example of appropriate transition words and phrases.

Yesterday's city council meeting featured a busy agenda. In addition to the bill to raise bus fares, there was a motion to censure one of the council members for unbecoming conduct. However, no vote was taken on the censure motion. First, the debate over the bus-fare increase took hours. Then, the council's senior member made a speech paying tribute to her dog's birthday. "In addition to," "however," "first," and "then" all capture the relationship between the sentences they connect.

Combining Short Sentences

You can add sentence variety to your writing by combining short, related sentences into a single longer one.

Outlining

a transitional writing technique that helps writers move from the idea-generation phase of writing to the formal construction and composition phase. The process of creating an outline forces writers to organize their thoughts, posit a thesis, and plan the order in which they will introduce their arguments. The most widely recognized type of outline is the traditional, formal outline.

Bibliographic Endnotes

are very similar to bibliographic footnotes. The only difference is that endnotes are listed on a separate page at the end of a piece of writing, whereas footnotes are listed at the bottom of each page. Bibliographic endnotes are listed on page that is simply titled "Notes." The first line is one double space below the title, and the rules for formatting each entry are identical to the rules for formatting footnotes. All the other rules for placing the numbers in the text and formatting initial and subsequent citations are the same. The choice between endnotes and footnotes is a matter of taste. Each serves the same function: to document details in the text.

A well-written paragraph needs to:

fit smoothly into the structure of the essay in which it appears utilize every sentence to discuss its topic; no tangents or digressions add detail, color, and evidence present those details in a logical order transition into the next paragraph

most common and easily avoidable mistakes in sentence writing...

overuse of sentences written in passive voice. Passive voice describes a sentence construction in which the subject of the sentence is the receiver or object of the verb's action. Visitors were received by the President. The milk and cookies were enjoyed by the children. The flyer was posted to the bulletin board. The package was not received.

Point of View

position or angle a writer takes relative to the subject matter of his or her writing. A fiction writer has a choice of three basic points of view: First person ("I did," "happened to me," etc.) Second person ("You did, "happened to you," etc.) Third person ("She did," "happened to them," etc.) There are variations within each of those categories—third-person omniscient vs. third-person objective—but a student's work of fiction should pick one of those points of view and stick with it. Inconsistencies in point of view are a sign of a poorly constructed, disjointed work of fiction. Much like calling attention to a lack of transition words forces students to think about their essay's organization, calling attention to shifts between different points of view forces students to unify the narrative and clarify the perspective of a work of fiction.

Composition

the actual construction of a piece of writing. The purpose of this step is to flesh out the ideas you've generated in greater detail and to complete an initial draft of your final work. In addition to the substantive work of building your argument, composition also introduces a host of formal and stylistic concerns. Effective composition includes attention to details of grammar, sentence structure and variety, flow and readability, and research attribution.

traditionally structured paragraph

will begin with a topic sentence that states the paragraph's focus, the major idea it will discuss. After several supporting or detail sentences that explain and illustrate the major idea, a concluding or transition sentence ties up one paragraph and leads into the next one.