The 4-Step Writing Process

1. The 4-Step Writing Process Planning Arranging Analyze Your Purpose Identify Your Audience Brainstorm for Things to Say Put Ideas in Logical Containers Make an Outline Edit Re-Write Proof Fill in the Gaps of the Outline Come up with Rough Draft Revising Drafting

2. Spelling, punctuation grammar don’t matter Creative Clustering Hand/Mind Why Cluster? No mistakes No lost thoughts Fast Easy All ideas at once Not logical 2 minutes

3. Pollution Potentially High Methods Criteria A Technical Cluster Sketch Introduction City Water Study Pine Valley Results Recommendation Bruce’s Basin Local Opposition Expensive to Drill Large Factory Plans to Drill Wells

4. A Legal Cluster Sketch This year’s trouble Ambiguities Client’s failure to report 2008 Statute Income tax reporting No state income tax 3 recent cases New quarterly reporting

5. An Idea Tree City Water Study Introduction Recommendation Results Methods Criteria Bruce’s Basin Pine Valley Expensive to drill Aquifer slow to change Large factory plant to drill wells Aquifer Pollution potentially high Local opposition

6. Building Better Paragraphs

7. Introductory Paragraphs Like roadmaps, they give your readers an overview of your document.

8. They do this by answering 3 questions: • What is this? • Why am I reading it? • What do you want me to do?

9. You answer by doing the following: • Set the context • State why the main idea is important • State your thesis/claim

10. First, I will define key terms for my argument, and then I will provide some background of the situation. Next, I will outline the important positions of the argument and explain why I support one of these positions. Lastly, I will consider opposing positions and discuss why these positions are outdated. I will conclude with some ideas for taking action and possible directions for future research. Forecasting Your Opening

11. In deciding this case, a court will consider three issues. First, a court will determine whether the statute applies. If it does not, the court will then determine whether the Oregon Wilderness Watchers had an easement. If the court determines that an easement had been created, the court will then decide the scope of the easement. Forecasting Your Opening

12. Other Effective Ways of Opening • With a quotation • With an anecdote • With a question • With a startling statement

13. Elements of Good Paragraphs • Unity • Coherence • Adequate Development

14. Includes a clearly stated topic sentence. Creates unity by making all the other sentences logically related to the topic sentence. Paragraph Unity

15. Announcing Main idea in Topic Sentence Our friendship was the source of much happiness and many memories. We danced and snapped our fingers simultaneously to the tunes of Lenny Kravitz and Sheryl Crow. We sweated together in the sweltering summer sun, trying to win the championship for our softball team. I recall the taste of pepperoni and sausage pizza as we discussed the highlights of our team’s victory. Once we even became attracted to the same person, but luckily we were able to share his friendship.

16. Paragraph Coherence Or getting your sentences to hold hands with each other by:

17. Repeating Key Terms • Restating or repeating key words helps make paragraphs coherent by reminding the reader what the topic is. • Repetition is not redundancy, which is the unnecessary, unconscious and distracting repetition of material.

18. In deciding this case, a court will consider three issues. First, a court will determine whether the statute applies. If it does not, the court will then determine whether the Oregon Wilderness Watchers had an easement. If the courtdetermines that an easement had been created, the court will then decide the scope of the easement. An Example of Repetition

19. Using Pronouns and Synonyms In deciding this case, a court will consider three issues. First, a court will determine whether the statute applies. If it does not, the court will then determine whether the Oregon Wilderness Watchers had an easement. If the court determines that an easement had been created, the court will then decide its scope.

20. Pronouns as Cohesive Devices A weasel is wild. Who knows what he thinks? He sleeps in his underground den, his tail draped over his nose. Sometimes he lives in his den for two days without leaving. Outside, he stalks rabbits, mice, muskrats, and birds, killing more bodies than he can eat warm, and often dragging the carcasses home. Annie Dillard

21. Using Parallel Grammatical Construction In deciding this case, a court will consider three issues. First, a court will determine whether the statute applies. If it does not, thecourt will then determine whether the Oregon Wilderness Watchers had an easement. If the court determines that an easement had been created, the court will then decide the scope of the easement.

22. Use Transitional Words and Phrases Expressions like however, therefore, in contrast, meanwhile, indeed, at first, finally, and so forth create specific connections between sentences.

23. Paragraph Development: Moving from general to specific information General Information: topic sentence Focusing direction of paper: telling Getting more specific: showing Supporting details: data Conclusions & Brief Wrap Up Also called warrant

24. Revising for Clarity, Conciseness, and Emphasis

25. Use Active Voice Sentences: SubjectVerbObject Active Voice: Actor --->Action--->Acted Upon Sidney Lumet directed The Verdict. I wrote the essay. I am writing the essay. I will write the essay.

26. Passive Voice Sentences: SubjectVerbObject Passive Voice: Acted Upon <---Action <---Actor The Verdict was directed by Sidney Lumet. The essay was written by me. The essay is being written by me. The essay will be written by me.

27. Why Avoid the Passive? • Passive takes more words. • Passive is not the way we normally speak. • Passive is harder to remember and follow. • Passive is impersonal and hides the actor of the sentence.

28. When You Want the Passive 1. When the agent is clear from the context. Students are required to take both writing courses.

29. When You Want the Passive 2. When the agent is unknown. 2. The comet was first referred to in an ancient Egyptian text. (We don’t know who wrote the text.)

30. When You Want the Passive 3. When the agent is less important than the action. 3. The documents were hand-delivered this morning. 3. The crystals were mixed in the lab.

31. When You Want the Passive 4. When a reference to the agent is embarrassing, dangerous, or inappropriate. 4. Incorrect data were recorded for the flow rate.

32. When You Want the Passive 5. When you want to help your readers move smoothly from one sentence to the next. 5. We must decide whether to improve business writing across the whole curriculum. This decisionfamiliar informationwill be influencedpassive verb by the value we give to better communication.

33. BE LEERY OF FORMS OF THE VERB “TO BE.” • Avoid the Hamlet syndrome: using too many forms of “to be.” • Use active verbs instead of “is.”

34. Examples of “To Be”: The surgeon isin vigorous opposition to the procedure. The surgeon vigorously opposes the procedure.

35. More Examples of “To Be” • They are still of the firm belief that the advertising is misleading to consumers. They remain convinced that the advertising misleads consumers.

36. Avoid Nominalizations Nominalizations are verbs made into nouns and adjectives ending in: ion, ence, ance, ity, ure, ery: There was an affirmative decision for program expansion. The director decided to expand the program.

37. Avoid Nominalizations for 3 Reasons 1) They create surplus words. 2) They require a form of “to be”—an empty verb. 3) They make your writing abstract, indirect, and difficult.

38. More Nominalizations The success of the project depends on the effectiveness of cost controls. Feels passive. Why? Wewill succeed with this project if wecan control costs.

39. More Nominalizations • Weak: One requirement for the installation of a new gate will be the relocation of the security office. • Improved: To install the new gate, we will have to relocate the security office.

40. More Nominalizations • Weak: Proper protection for fiber is essential due to the difficulty of splicing the cable. • Improved: Fiber must be protected due to the difficulty of splicing the cable.

41. Use Subjects to Name the Characters in Your Story. Here’s a fairy tale with a moral: 1a) Once upon a time, as a walk through the woodswas taking place on the part of Little Red Riding Hood, the Wolf’s jump out from behind a tree occurred, causing her fright.

42. Use Subjects to Name the Characters in Your Story. 1b) Once upon a time, Little Red Riding Hoodwas walking through the woods, when the Wolfjumped out from behind a tree and frightened her.

43. Subject a walk through the woods the wolf’s jump out from behind a tree Verb was taking place occurred What’s Wrong with this Sentence?

44. Subject Little Red Riding Hood The Wolf Verb was walking jumped Improved

45. The 7 Word Rule • Ignoring introductory phrases, underline the first 7 words in each sentence. • Look for 2 things: • Those underlined words contain abstract nouns • You have to read at least six or seven words before you get to a verb.

46. The 7 Word Rule 3. If you find sentences like that: • Decide who your cast of characters really are, particularly flesh and blood ones • Find the actions those characters perform • If the actions are nominalizations, change them back into verbs. • Make the characters the subjects of those verbs.

47. Do exercises on applying 7-word rule and passive voice

48. Poor The First Amendment protects freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and the press is required to be unfettered. Improved The First Amendment protects freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of the press. Keeping Identical Ideas Parallel

49. Parallel Structure • Unparallel: Our present system is costing us profits and reduces our productivity. • Parallel: Our present system is costing us profits and reducing our productivity

50. Eliminating Surplus Words and Phrases Be on the lookout for: • Meaningless Words • Inefficient Phrases • Strings of Prepositional Phrases