Developing Writing Skills - Part 1

​Developing Writing Skills:

Process-based Approach to Writing

• ​Planning the essay

  • ​Identifying topic, audience, purpose

​Narrative | Descriptive | Expository

Patterns of Essay Development

• ​Narration = a story of something that happened

• ​Description = a verbal picture of a person, place, thing, or experience

• ​Exposition = explanation of a particular subject with information

  • ​Exemplification - use examples to support your thesis

  • ​Process - explain the steps involved in an action, process, or event

  • ​Cause and effect - explain the causes or/and the effects of an event

  • ​Comparison or contrast - show how two items are similar or different

  • ​Definition - define and illustrate a term/concept

  • ​Division-classification - according to a single principle

• ​Argument = defend a position on which there is a difference of opinion

​One or more additional patterns may be involved.

Most essays will involve some form of argumentation.​

Narrative Essay

​Purpose

• to make a point by telling your audience a story

• ​Where is this story going? Is there a point here?

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​Topic

• ​Appeal to the audience

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Tips

• ​Involve human conflict - internal and/or external

• ​Use dialogues

• ​Limited in time

Descriptive Essay

​Purpose

• to make readers see, hear, taste, smell, and/or feel what you are writing about

• ​What message do you hope to convey to your audience? What is the dominant impression do you want to communicate?

​Topic

• ​If the topic is unfamiliar to the audience, provide some background information.

​Tips

• ​Visualize the subject

• ​Include people and events

• ​Include dialogues

Expository Essay (Exemplification)

• Use various types of examples

• ​Mention people, places, actions, and things

• ​Mention facts and events

• ​Include anecdotes (brief stories)

• ​Use only relevant examples

Expository Essay (Process)

• ​Start by explaining why it is important to learn about the process or something definitive about the process

• ​Use easy-to-follow language, not unnecessarily complex

• ​List the steps in chronological order

• ​Explain each step in a separate paragraph

• ​Use the correct verb tense

Expository Essay (Cause and Effect)

• ​Cause = the reasons for an event or situation

• ​Effect = the results of an event or situation

• ​Analyzing cause and effect can be complicated.

  • ​proximate cause vs ultimate/primary cause --> causal chain

  • ​immediate effect vs long-term effect

• ​Make your main point clear

• ​Signal the cause / effect

Expository Essay (Comparison or Contrast)

​Method 1: One side at a time

For one thing, going to the Chalet is more difficult than going to McDonald’s. The Chalet has a jacket-and-tie rule, which means I have to dig a sport coat and tie out of the back of my closet, make sure they’re semi-clean, and try to steam out the wrinkles somehow. The Chalet also requires reservations. Since it is downtown, I have to leave an hour early to give myself time to find a parking space within six blocks of the restaurant. The Chalet cancels reservations if a party is more than ten minutes late. Going to McDonald’s, on the other hand, is easy. I can feel comfortable wearing my jeans or warm-up suit. I don’t have to do any advance planning. I can leave my house whenever I’m ready and pull into a door-side parking space within fifteen minutes.​

​Method 2: Point by point

Ordinary studying during the term is another area where I’ve made changes. In high school, I let reading assignments go. I told myself that I’d have no trouble catching up on two hundred pages during a fifteen-minute ride to school. College courses have taught me to keep pace with the work.

Otherwise, I feel as though I’m sinking into a quicksand of unread material. When I finally read the high school assignment, my eyes would run over the words but my brain would be plotting how to get the car for Saturday night. Now, I use several techniques that force me to really concentrate on my reading.

Expository Essay (Definition)

• Main purpose: to explain your understanding of a key term / concept

• ​Secondary purpose: to persuade them that your definition is a legitimate one

• ​Conveys what the term means to you (the writer)

Expository Essay (Division-classification)

• Purpose: To present your own unique way of dividing and classifying a particular topic

• ​Come up with a unique sorting system, i.e. your own division principle

• Make the principle clear to the readers

• Provide details for each category​

Argumentative Essay

​Purpose

• to convince readers that your particular view or opinion on a controversial issue is correct

​Strategies

• ​Use tactful, courteous language

• ​Point out common ground

• ​Acknowledge differing viewpoints

  • cite opposing viewpoint in the thesis statement

  • use one or two sentences ​in the introduction

  • ​use a paragraph within the body of your essay to summarize opposing opinions in greater details

• ​When appropriate, grant the merits of differing viewpoints

• ​Rebut differing viewpoints

Open Ended

Identify the predominant pattern, topic, audience, and purpose.

Imagine that you have subscribed to an online dating service. Clients of the service are asked to create a detailed profile and submit photographs. Write a paper in which you describe yourself. Your goal is to give interested members of the dating service a good sense of what you are like.

Open Ended

Identify the predominant pattern, topic, audience, and purpose.

Imagine that you are working for a travel agency and have been asked to write a letter to prospective clients advertising a wonderful vacation destination you have already visited yourself.

Open Ended

Identify the predominant pattern, topic, audience, and purpose.

Imagine that a friend or sister or brother has to make a difficult decision of some kind. Perhaps he or she must decide how to deal with a troubled love affair, or a problem with living at home, or a conflict with a boss or coworker. Write a narrative from your own experience that will teach him or her something about the decision that must be made.

Open Ended

Identify the predominant pattern, topic, audience, and purpose.

Write the story of an incident in your life or in the life of someone you know that has strengthened your belief in the goodness, fairness, honesty, faithfulness, charity, or other positive qualities in people.

Open Ended

Identify the predominant pattern, topic, audience, and purpose.

Write a letter to your boss in which you compare your abilities with those of the ideal candidate for a position to which you’d like to be promoted. Discuss each desired qualification and then describe how well you measure up to it.

Open Ended

Identify the predominant pattern, topic, audience, and purpose.

Your younger sister or brother has moved to another city and is about to choose a roommate. Write her or him a letter about what to expect from different types of roommates.

Open Ended

Identify the predominant pattern, topic, audience, and purpose.

By the time many students reach high school, they have learned the basics in most subjects. Some still have much to gain from the education that high schools offer, but others might be better off spending the next five years in other ways. For their benefit, high school attendance should be voluntary. Do you agree?

Tutorial Task

1. Read the NINE essays in Google Classroom under Developing Writing Skills.

2. For each essay, identify the predominant pattern of essay development, topic, audience, and purpose(s).

3. ​We will discuss them in Week 8.

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​Don't forget to identify the topic, audience, and purpose of the writing tasks assigned to you for your Assignment Task IV: Writing Portfolio.

Open Ended

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