Patterns for a Purpose 3-8
• Description
when writers use words to create mental pictures
• Exemplification
when you use specific examples, or instances, to clarify a point, add interest, or persuade.
Quotations
-a speaker's or writer's exact words
• Expressive details-
-present a more subjective, personal, or emotional view.
Writing a Critical Analysis
-reports on one or more of the conclusions you drew during your critical reading and demonstrates the soundness of your conclusion(s). • To write a critical analysis, you can consider the validity of one or more ideas in the reading, or you can evaluate the worth of the piece, or you can judge how well the piece is written by evaluating one or more of the strategies an author uses to make his or her points.
Direct quotation
-reproduce the author's exact words within quotation marks. • You should limit the number of quotations you use because with too many quotations, your writing may seem choppy and will lack your distinctive style. • Ways to use direct quotations: o Use ellipses to indicate that something in the orginal text has been left out. o Use brackets to add clarification or to make changes needed to work the quotation into your sentence. o Use single quotation marks for a quotation within a quotation. o Reproduce italics that appear in the source. o Set off long quotations (more than four lines in your paper) by indenting instead of using quotation marks. o Include a parenthetical citation and works cited entry
• Anecdote-
a brief narrative that is often a secondary pattern in essays developed primarily with patterns other than narration.
Parenthetical Citation
a citation located on the Works Cited page at the end of the paper, which gives complete publication information on the source from which the paraphrase, summary, or quotation was taken.
Journalist Questions
a narration usually includes the answers to theses questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how • The narration explains who was involved, what happened, when it happened, where it happened, why it happened, and how it happened. • Narration often included descriptive detail that supports the answers being emphasized.
Plagerism
a serious academic offense, occurs if you download, purchase, borrow, or otherwise use someone else's work and pass it off as your own. • Plagiarism can occur as a result of uncredited borrowing of as little as a few words of someone else's work, and it need not be intentional. • To avoid plagiarism: o When you paraphrase and summarize rewrite the author's ideas in your own words; do not imitate the author's style. o Introduce your paraphrases, summaries, and quotations with a phrase that gives the author and/or source of information. o When you paraphrase or summarize, do not add ideas or change the meaning in the source. o When you quote, place quotation marks around the author's exact words. o Be sure to quote accurately, using ellipses and brackets as needed. o Include a parenthetical citation and works cited entry.
Works Cited
an in-text notation, given in parentheses after the paraphrase, summary, or quotation, to direct readers to a complete citation of the source on the Works Cited Page.
• Narration
another name for a story
• Objective details-
give a factual, impartial, unemotional account of your subject.
Summary
giving the main points of a reading in your own words
Description beyond the Writing Classroom
o In academic writing and reading o At work and in the community
• Kinds of Academic Writing
o Lecture Notes o Notes from textbooks o Outlines of course content o Summaries of important readings o Journal entries o Solutions to problems o Essays o Essay exam answers o Online discussions o Self-reflection essays for portfolios o Oral presentations o Book or article reviews o Lab reports o Case studies o Research papers o Idea generation o Collaborative Writing
Writing a Personal Response
o What does the reading make you think of? How does it make you feel? o What similar experiences have you had? o What have you observed that is or is not compatible with ideas in the reading? o What did you learn from the reading?
Paraphrase
restating ideas in a reading in your own words
Quotation
restating the words in a reading
A personal response essay is not
the license to write just anything and defend it by saying, "Well that's how I feel." You must give reasons for your response, which you can do by citing the text and explaining your ideas, relating your relevant experience, and noting your pertinent observations. • Any meaning, personal response, or association you have is valid and important-as long as you can back it up with evidence from the text, along with your ideas, experience, or observation.
Dominant impression
to keep complex descriptions manageable, use one notable quality and write only those details that express that impression. • The quality is dominant because it is the characteristic your description will focus on.
Purpose for a personal response
• A personal response essay expresses feelings and relates experiences. It can also inform your instructor about how you are reacting to a text and the understanding you are taking from it.
The Purpose of Summarizing
• A summary can be a stand-alone piece of writing. In addition, summarizing has many uses in the classroom. It is a valuable study strategy because writing out the major points of a reading or chapter gives you a study guide for that material and helps set learning,
Organizing Details
• An essay developed with description often included a thesis that mentions both what is being described and the dominant impression. • You can use spatial order, progressive order, or chronological order.
Thinking Critically about Exemplification
• Are the examples real or made up? • Are there enough examples in enough detail?
Organizing details
• Arranging narrative details usually involves placing the events in chronological order. For some stories, you may want to begin at the end or in the middle, then shift back to the beginning, using flashback. • To signal chronological order, move smoothly through your time sequence, and help your reader follow the events in your narrative, you can use transitions.
Using description for a purpose
• Description can entertain, express feelings, relate experience, inform, and persuade. • Because well-written description can move a reader's emotions, it is often used to convince a reader to think or act a particular way. • Description is most often expressive, helping writers share their perceptions and thus their feelings and experiences with them. • A secondary source purpose of description is often to entertain.
Dialogue
• Dialogue can advance the story and make it more vivid.
Thinking Critically about Description
• Does the dominant impression misdirect the reader? • Does the descriptive language manipulate readers inappropriately? • Is the descriptive language accurate and complete? • Does the writer and reader share the same meaning for descriptive language?
Using the Idea Generation Strategies
• Examine a concept in your notes or textbook from different angles to explore its significance and to remember more about it? • Use listing to help remember material. • Use clustering to see the relationships among ideas in your notes or textbook • Use freewriting to explore important ideas.
Exemplification beyond the writing classroom
• Exemplification helps writer's achieve their purpose in many writing situations. o In academic writing and reader. You will use exemplification in most of your academic writing, including essay examinations and required papers. o At work and in the community. Workplace writing also requires examples.
Hypothetical Examples
• Hypothetical examples-not actual examples drawn from real life but are examples created by the writer as typical examples based on knowledge, experience, observation, and so on, • To be effective, hypothetical examples must be plausible, and they must not be overused. They should be clearly recognized as hypothetical examples.
Deciding on a Dominant Impression
• If you describe something small and uncomplicated, such as a chair you can probably describe all its features. However, if you are describing something larger or more complex, including all of its features would be difficult for you and overwhelming to your reader.
Organizing details
• In an exemplification essay, you might have as your thesis the generalization your examples will prove or clarify. • You can arrange your examples in progressive order, chronological order, or spatial order.
Visualizing an Exemplification Essay
• Introduction o Creates interest in the essay o States the thesis, which can embody the generalization that will be supported with examples • First body paragraph o Gives one or more examples, which can be introduced with a topic sentence and can take the form of simple fact, explanation, narration, or description o May include brief or extended examples o May include hypothetical examples o Arranges details in progressive, chronological, or occasionally spatial order • Next body paragraphs o Continue until all the examples, which may take whatever form is most appropriate, are given and developed o Arrange details in progressive, chronological, or occasionally spatial order • Conclusion o Provides a satisfying finish o Leaves your reader with a strong final impression
Visualizing a narration essay
• Introduction o Creates interest in the story o Can state the thesis, indicating the point of the story • First body paragraph o Begins the story o Answers the appropriate journalist's questions o May include description o May include background information or explanation o May include dialogue o Arranges details in chronological order; arrangement may include flashback • Next body paragraphs o Continue until the story is complete o Answer the appropriate journalist's questions; may include description, background information or explanation, and dialogue o Arrange details in chronological order; may include flashback • Conclusion o Provides a satisfying finish o May state the point of the story if not done elsewhere
Visualizing a Descriptive Essay
• Introduction o Creates interest in what you are describing o Can state your thesis (underlined in the example), which indicates what you are describing and your dominant impression • First Body Paragraph o Begins the focus on the dominant impression o Included objective and/ or expressive details o Included specific words and sensory details o May include similes and metaphors o Arranges details in a suitable order, which may be spatial, chronological, or progressive • Next Body Paragraphs o Continue until the description is complete o Continue the focus on the dominant impression; include objective and/or expressive details, specific words and sensory details and possibly similes and metaphors o Arrange details in a suitable order, which may be spatial, chronological, or progressive • Conclusion o Provides a satisfying finish o Leaves your reader with a strong final impression
Thinking critically about narration
• Is the story truth or fiction? • Is the purpose of the narration hurtful? • Is the narration original?
Summarizing
• Like a paraphrase, a summary restates an author's ideas in your own words and style, but unlike a paraphrase, it condenses an entire piece or large part of a piece to convey only the main ideas. • Summary is useful when you want to give just the highlights or gist of a piece as a part your supporting detail. • When you summarize you should: o Use your own wording and style. o Use quotation marks if you include exact words. o Avoid adding ideas or changing meaning. o Include parenthetical citations and a works cited entry.
The Purpose of Critical Analysis
• Most critical analyses try to persuade readers by convincing them of the truth of an analysis or assessment.
Using Narration for a Purpose
• Narration can entertain because a good story can amuse readers and help them forget about themselves for a time. Through narration you can express your feelings and relate your experience, and you could also persuade the reader through your narration.
Narration beyond the Writing Classroom
• Narration helps writers achieve their purpose in many writing situations. o In academic writing and reading. o At work and in the community
Using Exemplification for a Purpose
• No matter what your writing purpose, examples will clarify, support, or explain a generalization, which is a statement of a general point you consider to be true in your own life or in a broader context.
Rewriting Lecture Notes and Class Readings in New Ways
• Rewrite your lecture notes after class, while your abbreviations and jottings still make sense. Try to use parahrpah formats with topic sentences, supporting details, and transitions to understand how ideas relate to one another. • Outline your lecture notes and class readings to foreground the main ideas and most important supporting details. • Put your lecture notes or class readings into an outline tree for a visual depiction of important points. • Summarize sections of your notes or textbook. Placing the material in your own words will help you retain it. • Paraphrase definitions and difficult concepts to be sure you understand them
Process Guidelines: Strategies for Writing Description
• Selecting a topic • Establishing a dominant impression • Drafting • Revising
Process guidelines for exemplification
• Selecting a topic • Shaping a thesis • Generating ideas • Organizing details • Drafting • Revising
Process Guidelines: Strategies for Writing Narration
• Selecting a topic. • Establishing the point. • Generating ideas. • Drafting • Revising
Guidelines for a critical analysis
• Step 1: As you read critically, think about which aspect of your analysis and assessment you want to consider in your written critical analysis. Answering these questions can help: -Would you recommend the reading to others? Why or why not? -Which features help the writer achieve his or her purpose? Which do not? How do these features help or hinder? • Step 2: Identify the evidence in the reading that will support the assertion you will make in your critical analysis. • Step 3: Draft a preliminary version of your thesis and an outline to guide your draft. Draw on one or more of the patters on development if they can help you support your analysis or assessment. • Step 4: Check any paraphrases, summaries, and quotations to be sure you cite them properly.
Process Guidelines: Strategies for Writing a Synthesis
• Step 1: Be sure you understand everything in all the sources you are dealing with. • Step 2: Underline or list the major ideas in each source. • Step 3: Review all major ideas and determine how they relate to each other. • Step 4: Decide how you want to use the material in the sources. • Step 5: Draft a preliminary version of your thesis and an outline to guide your draft. • Step 6: Check any paraphrases, summaries, and quotations to be sure you cited them correctly.
Process Guidelines: Strategies for Writing a Personal Response
• Step 1: If you need help deciding on the response to write about, reread the notes you made when you read and studied the text. • Step 2: Follow the procedures you learned in Chapter 2 to generate ideas, develop a thesis, and order your ideas. • Step 3: Follow the procedures you learned in Chapter 3 to draft and revise your essay. To support your point, remember to cite the text and draw on your own ideas, personal experience, and observation. In addition use one or more of the patterns of development. • Step 4. If you used paraphrase, summary, or quotation, be sure you did so according to the conventions explained on pages 106-112 and that you provided parenthetical citations and a Works Cited page as explained in Chapter 15.
Process Guidelines: Strategies for Writing a Summary
• Step 1: Read the material over as many times as necessary in order to understand it. Look up unfamiliar words and get help with any passages you do not understand. • Step 2: Identify the major points and underline them in the text or list them on a piece of paper. You can omit examples, description, repetition, or explanations that support major points, unless these are necessary for clarification, Be sure to identify all the major points so your summary is complete. • Step 3: Draft an opening sentence that mentions the author's name, the title of the piece you are summarizing, and one, two, or three of the following: the author's thesis, the author's purpose, the author's point of view. • Step 4: Following your opening statement, draft your summary by writing out the major points you underlined or listed. Bes surer to express these points in your own distinctive style by using your own wording and sentence structure. • Step 5: To keep your summary flowing smoothly, use transitions to show how ideas relate to each other. In addition, repeat the author's name with a present-tense verb as a transition device. • Step 6: Check to be sure you have altered wording and style without adding or changing meaning. • Step 7: IF you have quoted, be sure you followed the conventions beginning on page 108. Also provide a parenthetical citation and a works cited entry.
Supporting Details
• Supporting details in a descriptive essay should give your reader a clear mental image of your subject. In addition, they should convey your dominant impression of your subject and establish why you formed that impression.
The Purpose of Synthesis
• Synthesis is important in academic work, because in addition to helping you learn information and understand concepts, it helps you connect information and concepts and understand those connections. • You will use synthesis to inform and persuade in many types of classroom writing.
Writing a Synthesis
• Synthesis-integrates material from a source with your own ideas and/ or with material from one or more other sources.
Supporting Details
• The examples you use to support a generalization can come from a variety of sources: personal experience, observation, general knowledge, class lectures, reading research, and so forth. • Examples can also take the form of a narration
Writing Explanations and Definitions for Different Audiences
• To learn difficult concepts, vocabulary and specialized terms, write explanations and definitions so different audiences will understand
Paraphrasing
• To paraphrase, you restate author's ideas, using your own style and wording. • When you paraphrase you should: o Use your own wording and style, not the source's. o Use quotation marks around keywords or phrases that are the author's distinctive expression, if these are included in the paraphrase. o Avoid adding ideas or changing meaning. o Provide a parenthetical citation and works cited entry.
Integrating Paraphrases, Summaries, and Quotations
• Use sources to help you fulfill your writing purpose. • Introduce the paraphrase, summary, or quotation with the author and/or source of information. • Vary the verbs in the present tense to work in the paraphrase, summary, or quotation. • Indicate the purpose of each paraphrase, summary, and quotation by choosing verbs and including language to demonstrate how the source material relates to the ideas before or after.
Descriptive Words
• Whether you are writing objective or expressive description, choose your words carefully. Most often this does not mean turning to the dictionary or thesaurus. • To write effective description language, expect to work through a series of refinements as you revise your drafts. Look for opportunities to use modifiers and to substitute specific nouns, verbs, and modifiers for more general ones.
Supporting Details
• Your narration should make a point and have a purpose. Be sure to choose supporting details that convey your point and purpose, or may go off on a narrative tangent which will cause readers ask themselves what the point of the essay is.
Writings in Response to Reading
•will engage with a text in many ways-for example, by considering its meaning judging its worth, connecting its ideas to other concepts, and determining its usefulness. This writing will also enable you to connect with other readers, by exchanging ideas, debating points, and collaboratively coming to new understandings.
