Writinng terms

sub claim

A claim forming part of a larger claim.

Signal phrase

A short phrase within a sentence that introduces the source of a quotation, paraphrase, or summary. Here are several examples: 1. Mayor Williams asserted, "We are making good progress on renovating the town hall and should have the job completed by summer." 2. According to the Centers for Disease Control, wearing face masks is critically important for reducing the spread of the virus within a community.

Claim

An arguable idea or opinion; a statement of such an idea or opinion (noun). To state an arguable idea or opinion (verb).

revising

Making changes to a written draft. There are various ways of differentiating between "big picture" revising of a draft ("global" issues, "higher-order concerns," or HOC) and "detail-oriented" copy editing ("local" issues, "lower-order concerns," or LOC). This general distinction is useful, although it can be hard to be precise about when one is revising versus editing. Revising generally refers to making changes to a composition at the level of ideas and themes, or to moving, adding, or deleting sentences or paragraphs. Often, writers will be advised to revise "big picture" elements of content and structure before focusing on editing sentences.

Ethos

has to do with assuring the audience/readers of the credibility of the speaker/writer. How can the speaker or writer show the audience that they are trustworthy, honest, fair, well-informed, objective?

Citation

The act or product of citing information from a source used when writing or speaking. A citation documents the title and other pertinent information about the source, such as publication details. Different disciplines use different styles of citing; the most common are MLA (Modern Language Association), APA (American Psychological Association), and Chicago. For college students, it is important to find out from the professor which style is appropriate for your piece of writing. For publishing, the writer should follow the style used by the target publication. Using an online citation machine or app can make citing much easier.

Audience

The people who will hear or read what a writer has written. The people a writer wants to read their writing or imagines might read it. When writing, a writer will often consider the perspectives and knowledge of their intended audience; this is known as audience awareness.

Drafting

The process of composing sentences and paragraphs for a piece of writing; getting ideas and details out on paper (or computer, etc.). Drafting can be considered part of generating. This term also implies that writing tasks may be composed through a series of different drafts, each improving on the previous one (becoming more focused, clear, and coherent). Anne Lamott famously discusses the importance of allowing oneself to write "Shitty First Drafts," which are similar to Peter Drucker's "zero" drafts (Murray 195).

tertiary source

These are sources that index, abstract, organize, compile, or digest other sources. Some reference materials and textbooks are considered tertiary sources when their chief purpose is to list, summarize or simply repackage ideas or other information.

Purpose

What a writer aims to accomplish with a piece of writing or a speech. There are four general purposes for any rhetorical act: to express oneself, to inform, to persuade, or to entertain. Other purposes may include to reflect, think, explore, or learn.

Thesis

a formal, often original, written composition, for example, a senior thesis. Alternately, thesis can refer to the central, controlling idea of a piece of nonfiction, prose writing. The thesis can be the answer to a central question. A thesis may be directly stated (explicit) or may not be directly stated (implicit). Sometimes a thesis is described as having two parts: the writer's topic and the writer's slant, opinion, or claim about the topic. Other terms with similar meanings to thesis are central claim, hypothesis or conclusion.

Kairos

a person's need or reason to respond to a situation, problem, statement, action, or event by speaking or writing about it.

Summary

a short restatement of the main ideas of a text that was written by another author; it may also include key details or examples. The length depends on the purpose of the summary and can range from a sentence to several pages. Summarizing also involves paraphrasing and may include selective quoting. When doing academic research, you might come upon the terms precis or abstract, which are essentially summaries of academic essays or articles.

Rhetorical appeals

are ways a writer can use evidence and language to achieve an effect on or reaction from the audience.

Pathos

has to do with appealing to the emotions of the audience/readers. How is the writer trying to get the readers to care or feel an emotional connection to the topic?

Primary source

is a first-hand artifact or account, such as a text, picture, or set of data, that one or more persons consult for information about a topic they are studying/ researching. Examples include autobiographical writing, travel logs, reports, or literary or artistic works.

Outlining

is a strategy that speakers or writers can use to produce a written or typed record representing the different sections of a speech or paper, what information or ideas will go into each section, and in what order the sections will be presented. Outlines can be simple or elaborate, but they usually indicate what will be said in the beginning, middle, and end of the piece of writing. A writer may outline at any point in a writing process, before, during, or after drafting. An outline that is done post-drafting is sometimes called a "reverse outline."

Brainstorming

is a strategy that writers use to quickly generate information, usually in list form. The list might be potential topics or ideas or words. Items generated may or may not be used when writing, but brainstorming can be a productive way to begin a writing process or consider multiple options at the prewriting stage.

Freewriting

is a technique in which a writer writes continuously for a set period of time without regard to spelling, grammar, or topic. This type of prewriting or generative writing may record a free association of ideas. The process and the raw material produced through freewriting can often be used to discover or narrow a topic and as the basis for a more focused composition. When a writing topic is already known or assigned, the writer can do what is often called focused freewriting. Practicing freewriting is often recommended for writers experiencing anxiety or difficulty getting started on a writing task.

Prewriting

is a term that can encompass any generating, organizing, or planning activities done in preparation for drafting a piece of writing, such as brainstorming, freewriting, outlining, notetaking, mapping, drawing, talking and discussing, etc.

Mapping

is a visual way of generating and organizing ideas and information for writing, often presented as circles or squares containing words or phrases and connected by lines. Mapping can be drawn by hand or created using an app/software such as X-Mind or Inspiration.

Secondary source

is an artifact, such as a literature review, annotated bibliography, essay, article, or book produced by a writer who has read or examined primary sources but not carried out primary (original) research.

Comparison

is done to analyze and explain how two or more things, people, or ideas are similar or different. The structure can follow subject-by-subject and/or point-by-point and usually includes both similarities and differences. An analogy is an extended metaphor that compares a subject—something less familiar—to something more familiar that has similar elements in order to make the subject more understandable.

Description

is done to present an image of a person, place, object, feeling, or experience to a reader using sensory details, often in spatial order.

Paraphrasing

is done when a speaker or writer restates another author or speaker's idea or key information without using the exact words of the author. A paraphrase is roughly the same length as the original statement (sentence). Paraphrasing can help writers simplify the original wording, demonstrate understanding, and maintain their own voice while incorporating ideas of others within their piece of writing.

Editing

is sometimes used interchangeably with the term revising but is more likely used to refer to changes made to a composition at the sentence and word level, or to correcting any mistakes to grammar, usage, or mechanics. (An example of the gray area between revising and editing might be changing words in a sentence. This could change the meaning of the sentence or the entire work, leading to a clearer or new focus and a need for other changes to support the shift of meaning that results.)

Cause and effect

is used to examine and explain why (causes) an event, action, situation, or problem happened, happens, or will happen, and/or its consequences (effects). For example, cost/benefit or problem-solution analyses usually examine causes and effects.

Illustration

makes a general statement and supports it by providing a specific example or examples.

Context

may include the time, place, and factors such as environmental, historical, cultural, social, political, or economic conditions or expectations. For example, writing an analytical essay for a college literature class differs from writing an analytical article for a business presentation; writing a short story in 19th-century London differs from writing a short story in 21st-century Beijing.

Narration

means telling a story. Narratives are usually in chronological order.

Quoting

means that a writer or speaker is copying (or repeating) another author or speaker's exact wording and placing quotation marks "" around it (in a speech, saying "quote" and "end quote"); or, if it is a long quotation in writing (as with an entire paragraph), presenting it in block style, leaving off the "" marks. Quotations should fit grammatically and logically within the writer's text and be introduced and cited properly.

process

often refers to the steps a writer takes to produce a written document. There are many prescriptive models for how to write, but it is more useful to take a descriptive approach to explaining the multiple steps and activities that can make up a writing process. Writing is flexible, recursive, strategic, and individualized. Processes vary by writer, task, and context; there is no "right" way to produce writing. For example, some writers tend to engage in planning first and then follow their plan while drafting. They may also do other kinds of prewriting, such as brainstorming or freewriting. Other writers just dive into drafting and are generating, developing, and organizing while they write. In either case, using a multi-draft process that includes revising can ensure the best results. Some writers use dictation software or an app to record their ideas and language.

Evidence

refers to information that supports or backs up the thesis or claim stated in a speech or piece of writing. Some examples of evidence would be facts, examples, statistics, expert testimony, experimental data, survey results, quotations, and personal observation or experience. Creating informative diagrams or charts to present specific data or facts is a way of incorporating supporting evidence.

Annotating

refers to the act of making notations in response to an established text, and can be part of an active reading, writing, or citing process. Annotations can be questions, paraphrases, summaries, descriptions, evaluations, or commentaries. In some circumstances, as in annotated bibliographies, specific structures and styles of annotation are determined by the citation expectations of certain disciplines.

Logos

refers to the facts presented and the logical reasoning underlying the message/thesis. Does the writer provide sufficient credible and relevant information and use logical, reasoned argument to reach conclusions?<

Proofreading

usually refers to the process of reviewing a piece of writing to find and correct errors. Such corrections do not change the meaning of what is written and could entail replacing a word that was used by mistake for a similar word that was intended, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and formatting. A writer can proofread at any point in a writing process, but experts often recommend that proofreading mostly be saved for the last step, after their piece of writing has its final structure, meaning, and wording.