Writing Workshop: Tips & Strategies for College Essays

1. English 111, Week 2 Tuesday, March 29

2. Week 2 Quiz

3. Plan for Tonight • Section 1 (5:15-6:45) • Quiz & Review of Week 1 • Brief Introduction to Writing • Discussion of Chapters 2-7 in Patterns for College Writing • Section 2 (7:00-8:30) • Discussion of Angelou and Chopin readings • Mini Grammar Lesson on commas and misplaced modifiers • Sample Workshop of Literacy Autobiography • Section 3 (8:45-10:15) • Workshop of Literacy Autobiography Drafts • Instructions for submission of essay • Homework

4. Introduction to Writing

5. Writing is Difficult • Dr. Seuss got many rejection letters. One editor wrote, “Too different from other juvenilia on the market to warrant its selling.” • One editor said of Anne Frank’s diary writing, “The girl doesn’t, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the curiosity level.” • An editor commented that Alice in Wonderland would only puzzle rather than enchant children because it was a stiff, silly, and overwrought story. • Stephen King’s first book was rejected by forty publishers.

6. Writing is Never Finished • Ernest Hemingway said, “The first draft of anything is $#!*” and revised the end of A Farewell to Arms 39 times. • Herman Melville said, “Everything is a revision of a revision of a revision.” • However, there is a time when you must let your work go and let it stand on its own.

7. Writing is an Important Form of Communication • As such, you must consider: • Purpose: Your intended objective. Your motivation. • Argument: Your point. • Audience: How your written thoughts will be interpreted by others.

8. Patterns for College Writing Chapters 2-7

9. Invention (ch 2) • Invention or Prewriting • Decide what to write about • Gather information to support or explain what you want to say. • Invention Exercises (pp. 20-29) • Asking Questions • Ask Why/Why Not & How • Freewriting • Brainstorming • Journal Writing • Clustering • Informal Outline

10. Arrangement (ch 3) • Arrangement is deciding how you are going to organize and structure your ideas. • An essay typically includes the following aspects: • Introduction: Introduces your essay and presents your thesis statement. • Body paragraphs: Develop and support your thesis. • Conclusion: Reinforces your thesis and provides closure for your essay. • See example on Pg. 46

11. Arrangement (ch 3) • Thesis Statement • Main idea of your essay or its central point • Holds the structure of your essay together • Is the center around which the rest of your essay develops • Stating your thesis and developing ideas that explain and expand it are central to college writing. • An effective thesis statement: • Clearly expresses your essay’s main idea, • Communicates your essay’s purpose and organization, • Carefully considers word choice.

12. Drafting, Revision, and Editing (ch 4 & 5) • Drafting includes getting your ideas down on paper so that you can react to them and work with them • Tips for Drafting (pp. 51-52) • Begin with the body paragraphs • Get your ideas down quickly • Take regular breaks as you write • Write with revision in mind • Leave yourself enough time to revise

13. Drafting, Revision, and Editing (ch 4 & 5) • Revision is a process in which you consider • Logic and clarity of your ideas • How effectively they are presented • Reexamine and rethink what you have written • Revision Activities (pp. 54-57) • Revising with a checklist – something you can opt for between now and next week • Revising with an outline – we may do this today • Revising with a peer workshop – we’ll do this today • Revising with instructor’s comments – you’ll get these by Friday

14. Drafting, Revision, and Editing (ch 4 & 5) • Editing is a process to correct • Grammar • Punctuation • Spelling • Mechanics • Chapter 5 includes a number of useful mini-lessons on common errors

15. Narration (ch 6) • Narration tells a story by presenting events in an orderly, logical sequence. • Any time you tell what happened, you are using narrative • Narration can be • The structure for an entire essay • A strategy used in other types of essays • Narrative essays use purpose statements • Purpose Statements • Address • Significance of the narrative • Why you are sharing it • Help you to select and arrange the details included in the narrative

16. Narration (ch 6) • Important Strategies for Writing a Narrative Essay • Include Enough Detail • Need rich, specific details to be convincing • Each detail should help to create a picture for the reader; even exact times, dates, and geographical locations can be helpful. • Details or description give narratives authenticity and generate interest • Vary Sentence Structure • Narrative will be more engaging if the sentences don’t all sound the same

17. Narration (ch 6) • Important Strategies for Writing a Narrative Essay • Maintain Clear Narrative Order • A narrative can either unfold chronologically or use flashbacks (shifts into the past) • Use Accurate Verb Tenses • Past tense for actions or events that occurred in the past, such as flashbacks. • Present tense to express current thoughts or events. • Use Transitions • First, second, next, then, later, at the same time, after, three year later, after two hours, etc. • Student example of Narrative Essay (with explanation of structure and technique) on pp. 89-93

18. Description (ch 7) • Description • General Definition • tells readers about the physical characteristics of a person, place, or thing • relies on the five senses—sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell • Types of Description • Objective Description • focus on object itself • give literal picture • Subjective Description • incorporates your personal response, even if not explicitly stated • personal response can be made clear through what details you choose to include and the significance of those details

19. Description (ch 7) • Techniques of Description- Figures of Speech • Simile uses like or as to compare two dissimilar things. • Ex. My love is like a red, red rose. • Ex. Life is like a rollercoaster. • Metaphor compares two dissimilar things. • Ex. Life is a rollercoaster. • Ex. The democratic candidate is a political rock star. • Personification speaks of concepts or objects as if they were endowed with life or human characteristics. • Ex. The wind whispered • Ex. The engine died

20. Description (ch 7) • Girls in Front of 9/11 Mural by Vincent LaForet • Exercise: Provide your own descriptive paragraph for this image. • Also, in your opinion, what is this image arguing?

21. Discussion Questions • Maya Angelou, “Finishing School” • What discourse communities are present in Angelou’s story? • Give a brief description of each discourse community you identify. • Kate Chopin, “The Storm” • Choose two descriptive moments in Chopin’s story. • In each, consider what sense(s) and literary terms are included.

22. Mechanics Commas & Misplaced Modifiers

23. Commas • A fused or run-on sentence occurs when two sentences are incorrectly joined without punctuation. • Ex. My mother’s name is Marta my father’s name is George. • Ex. Success is their goal happiness comes a close second.

24. Commas • A comma splice occurs when two sentences are incorrectly joined with just a comma. • Ex. The train picked up speed, the scenery flashed by. • Ex. Salmon swim upstream, they leap over huge dams to reach their destinations. • Ex. Some parents support bilingual education, however, many oppose it.

25. Commas • Corrections for Comma Splices and Run-ons • A period • Ex. My mother’s name is Marta. My father’s name is George. • Semi-colon • Ex. Success is their goal; happiness comes a close second. • Ex. Some parents support bilingual education; however, many oppose it.

26. Commas • Comma and coordinating conjunction • Ex. The train picked up speed, and the scenery flashed by. • Add a subordinating conjunction • Ex. As salmon swim upstream, they leap over huge dams to reach their destinations. • -ing participle • Ex. Salmon swim upstream, leaping over huge dams to reach their destinations.

27. Commas • Exercises: • The hummingbird is amazing its wings beat fifty to seventy-five times per second. • Woodpeckers look for insects in trees, they do not intentionally destroy trees. • The beavers dammed up the river, the rise in the water level destroyed the trees.

28. Misplaced Modifiers • A misplaced modifier appears to modify the wrong word because it is placed incorrectly in the sentence. • Misplaced: E.B. White’s son swam in the lake wearing an old bathing suit • Correct: Wearing an old bathing suit, E.B. White’s son swam in the lake.

29. Essay 1 Peer Workshop

30. Sample Peer Workshop • Read “Literacy Autobiography: Dance Dance Revolution” • Use questions from Workshop Sheet, but don’t write on it. • Together discuss the Before Reading questions. • Groups • First Reading • Second Reading • Third Reading

31. Peer Workshop • Working in groups of 3-4, complete the Literacy Autobiography Workshop Form for each person in the group. • Regardless of the number of people in your group, you’ll read two drafts and receive feedback from two people. • Spend 20-30 minutes on each essay you review. • At the end, discuss the feedback and questions you have about your reviewers’ comments.

32. Essay 1 Suggestions for Revising and Submitting

33. Things to Consider for Essay 1 • Don’t just simply skim over objectives of the assignment. Remember to address these points with clarity, depth, and careful consideration. • Ex. The community aspect of the Literacy Autobiography • Consider the evidence. Make sure your points relate back to your thesis and address the objectives of the assignment. • Carefully consider your thesis. Does it address the objectives of the assignment and the issues you bring up in your paper?

34. More Things to Consider for Essay 1 • Proofread! • Read your paper out loud. This practice often helps you catch a wide range of mistakes, including sentence structure, word choice, format, and grammar errors. • Read your paper backwards, one sentence at a time. This practice often helps you catch errors you might miss when reading the essay from the beginning. When reading, we tend to skip over some errors without realizing it. • Review grammar rules. • At this point you should be working toward correcting your own punctuation. • If you are having trouble with grammar, ask someone you know to review your paper. It helps if their grammar skills are strong.

35. TurnItIn.com • Creating an Account: • To turn papers in electronically, you must first create a user profile and log on to Turnitin. In order to create your user profile, you must have our class ID and enrollment password. • Class ID #: 3919570 • Class Enrollment Password: PatrickS2011 (this password is case sensitive) • Do you already have a profile with Turnitin? • If so, you should login and enroll in this course. • If not, you’ll need to create an account. See instructions on next slide. • Create an account tonight to be sure it works

36. TurnItIn.com • Instructions for Creating an Account • Go to http://turnitin.com/newuser_type.asp?type=student • Enter class id (3919570) and enrollment password (PatrickS2011) in the appropriate fields • Enter your first name, your last name, and the e-mail address you would like associated with your Turnitin account (this will be your user name) • Enter (and re-enter) the password you would like to use as your Turnitin login password • Select a secret question using the secret question pull down menu, enter an answer • Review the Turnitin user agreement and click to agree and finalize user profile creation • Click to exit the profile creation wizard and sign in to Turnitin

37. TurnItIn.com • Submitting a Paper: • Click on the class name • Click on the Submit button to the right of the assignment name • Select “single file upload” from the “choose a paper submission method:” pull down menu • Enter the paper title for the submission in the appropriate field • Click browse to find the file on your computer • Find the file on your computer and click open • Click upload • Review the file and click on the “Submit” button to finalize the submission

38. Homework Due in Week 3 • Essay 1 • Before Class, submit essay to TurnItIn.com (you will be unable to submit your paper to TurnItIn.com after the 5:15 deadline) • Bring 1 hard copy of essay to class OR Email me your essay as an attachment • You MUST submit both versions for me to accept your essay! • Read: Chapter 14 (Argumentation)