Lecture: The Fourth Step in Essay Writing, the Four Bases of Writing Essays

1. Lecture: The Fourth Step in Essay Writing, the Four Bases of Writing Essays Chapters 5 & 6

2. Step 4 Revise and Edit Your Work Strategies for revising sentences: • Use parallelism. • Use a consistent point of view. • Use specific words. • Use active verbs. • Use concise words. • Use varied sentences.

3. Use Parallelism By balancing the items in a sentence, you will make the sentence clearer and easier to read. Example: My job includes checking inventory, calling initialing orders, and to call the suppliers.

4. Use a Consistent Point of View: Verbs Do not shift verb tenses unnecessarily. Example: Jean punched down the risen dough. dumped Then she dumpsit onto the worktable.

5. Use a Consistent Point of View: Pronouns Do not shift point of view unnecessarily. Example: One of the fringe benefits of my job is that youI can use a company credit card for gasoline.

6. Use Specific Words To be an effective writer, you must use specificwords rather than general words. • General:The dog ran down the street. • Specific:The mangy stray loped down Broadway, dodging cars and startled pedestrians.

7. Specific Sentences 1: Use exact names. (Not “the boy,” but “Vince.”) 2: Use lively verbs. (Not “ate,” but “slurped.”) 3: Use descriptive words. (Not “the car,” but “the rickety old Buick.”) 4: Use sense descriptions. (“Vince slurped his ice-cold chocolate milkshake while sitting on the squeaking front seat of his rickety old Buick.”)

8. Use Active Verbs Prefer theactive voice. When the subject receives the action, the verb is in the passive voice. The netbookwas boughtby Hakim. When the subject of a sentence performs the action of the verb, the verb is in theactive voice. Hakim bought the netbook.

9. Use Concise Words Prefer concision. Wordiness -- using more words than necessary is often a sign of lazy or careless writing. Too Wordy:In this paper, I am planning to describe the hobby that I enjoy of collecting old comic books. Revision:I enjoy collecting old comic books.

10. Vary Your Sentences Effective writingis writing that is variedand interesting.. Vary your sentences by: 1: Adding a second complete thought. 2: Adding a dependent thought. 3: Beginning with an opening wordor phrase. 4: Placing adjectives or verbs in a series.

11. Adding a Second Complete Thought Transform simple sentences(which can be monotonous) -- Greg worked on the engine. The car still wouldn’t start. intocompound sentences: Greg worked on the engine, but the car still wouldn’t start.

12. Adding a Dependent Thought Transform simple sentences(which can be monotonous) – The library was very quiet. I couldn’t concentrate. intocomplex sentences: Although the library was very quiet, I couldn’t concentrate.

13. Beginning with an Opening Word or Phrase ...transforms simple sentences(which can be monotonous) -- Paul was concerned about his daughter’s fever. Paul called a doctor. intovaried sentences: Concerned about his daughter’s fever, Paul called a doctor.

14. Placing Adjectives or Verbsin a Series ...transforms simple sentences (which can be monotonous) – The truck bouncedoff a guardrail. It sideswipeda tree. It plungedinto the ditch. intovaried sentences: The truck bounced off a guardrail, sideswiped a tree, and plunged into the ditch.

15. Editing Sentences After revising, check for mistakes in grammar,punctuation,mechanics,usage, and spelling. Edit according to the conventions of written English, akasentence skills.

16. Proofreading Check the edited draft of your paper for typosand other careless errors.

17. Use the Four Bases 1) UNITY Advance a single point and stick to it.

18. Use the Four Bases 2) SUPPORT Support your point with specific evidence.

19. Use the Four Bases 3) COHERENCE Organize and connect the specific evidence.

20. Use the Four Bases 4) SENTENCE SKILLS Write clear, error-free sentences.