Writing Workshop

1. Writing Workshop • FORMAL WRITING • For school • For college • For business • In applications • This is a different tone than informal, and it has different rules.

2. Take Notes! • Do NOT address your reader as “you.” • Wang Lung is not as uneducated as you might think; his schooling was a difficult life. • Wang Lung is not as uneducated as one might think. • Wang Lung is not as uneducated as he might appear to be. • A reader might mistake Wang Lung for being uneducated.

3. I • Do NOT use the word “I” in any way. • I am going to explain the ways in which “Everyday Use” and The Good Earth are similar. • Something I found interesting was the way Wang Lung and Mama both make sure at least one child receives an education. • The Good Earth and “Everyday Use” are similar in characterization of parenthood, sentimental value of common objects, and differing opinions when a generation gap is present. • It is noteworthy that both Wang Lung and Mama find a way to get an education for at least one child.

4. contractions • A contraction is a shortcut; in formal writing, we do not take shortcuts. Do NOT use contractions: it’s, can’t, doesn’t, etc. Write them out: it is, cannot, does not.

5. What does this mean for my future papers? • Edit your paper and replace all contractions with the full wording. • Take out any instances of “I” or “you.” • Edit your paper for slang, and replace with more formal wording.

6. Slang • Lotus goes ballistic when she does not get her way. • Wang Lung decides to bail on waiting for rain and head south. • When Wangero is told she cannot take the quilts, she begins to freak out. • In the two stories, kids cause both joy and pain for their parents. • Please remove the word HUGE from your writing.

7. What is wrong with this? • “In this paper I am going to tell you how the story “Everyday Use is like the novel The Good Earth.” • “As I said before, the two works focus on family dynamics.”

8. This is better! • Pearl S. Buck’s novel The Good Earth and Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use” are similar in symbolism, theme, and narrative style.

9. Remember! • When writing about a novel, you MUST mention the author’s name and the title of the book in your FIRST paragraph!

10. Speaking of quotes…. • When writing about a novel, one uses quotes from that novel for support. Here is an instance of quote use: • O-lan simply endures the emotional pain Wang Lung causes her when he takes the pearls away: “… when the tears dropped slowly and heavily from her eyes she did not put up her hand to wipe them away” (Buck 186).

11. Present tense verbs • When one writes about literature, one writes in the PRESENT tense: • It sounds like this: • When Wangero comes into her mother’s house she does so with the air of someone who is entitled to be there. In front of her friend, she makes sure to point out the things she remembers, like who carved the benches. She asks for things only as a formality; it does not seem to occur to her that she will be told “no” to any of her requests.

12. Parenthetical Documentation • When you use a quote in your paper, you must cite the page number. • Because this paper is about two works, you must clarify which you are quoting. • The author’s last name, one space, and then the page number go in parenthesis, after the last word and quotation marks, and before the period. • “She stood there with her scarred hands hidden in the folds of her skirt” (Walker 321). • “Time after time men fled from the land and came back to it” (Buck 159).

13. Book TitlesShort Story Titles • When one is typing, book titles are always, always, always in italics. • The Good Earth. • However, when one is handwriting, book titles are underlined. • The Good Earth • Short stories are in quotation marks in both typing and handwriting. • “Everyday Use”

14. Plot Summary • Plot summary means retelling the story. Giving too much plot summary is like a “book report” from elementary school. • Stick to your topic. Do not get sidetracked into the retelling or summarizing of the novel.

15. Use the correct word! • there, their, they’re • to, too, two • your, you’re • do, due, dew • hear, here • where, wear

16. Reminders • Even an in-class essay is still formal writing. You must adhere to all you know about writing in an academic way.

17. Things I should NOT have to tell you, but find myself telling you anyway! • Use a CAPITAL letter at the beginning of a sentence and a piece of punctuation at the end! • Do NOT use lower case (or capital) letters in order to be cute, lazy or different. For example, do no leave lower case the personal pronoun i or intentionally spell your name with all lower case: jodi day. • A random up and down of capital and lower case is difficult to read and juvenile. • Write in complete sentences! • Do not use the common abbreviations of text messaging and other social media. I do not want to see & to mean and or + to mean plus or @ to mean at.