8th class
Brad Johnson’s English 81, 8th class
DEBRIEF FROM YESTERDAY
How did class feel
Out of the comfort zone
Some thought it was intriguing
Learned there are many different writing styles
Workshops are humbling, intimidating, fun, special informative, helpful, enlightening, memorable.
They help a person’s writing to improve.
They are in a safe environment – in a small group –more comfortable, less intimidating.
Will have large group later
PRL (personal response letter): some wrote much, others wrote less, will get better as you move along – you will be giving constructive criticism to others in your group. This criticism doesn’t need to be negative, but helpful. You can write this criticism in such a way so that you are not rewriting but helping to make the other person’s paper better. You do not have to be concerned with grammar, but be concerned with the topic sentence and support. You could say that some of the grammar mistakes and some sentences didn’t make sense. You see where the writer is going with ideas. You liked certain phrases, words. These gave the support needed in the paper.
Brad is challenging and questioning some students with the audience. Tell what is important (e.g. story about family listing names, ages, physical characteristics – could be boring to the reader. Instead, find something engaging about one family member and describe it – don’t bore the audience) Cultural relevance – in some cultures what is OK, in others, what is not OK. Determine in your writing what is important from your culture, but don’t bore the audience. Put yourself in the shoes of the reader.
FOUR CORNERSTONES OF GREAT WRITING
Remember: Topic sentence (or thesis, the controlling idea) is the most important in your writing. The topic sentence dictates what goes in and what stays out. It limits and controls what goes in and what stays out.
1. Unity: every single sentence supports the topic sentence, and every sentence is
relevant.
2. Support: how do we give support: use examples, detailed imagery, sight sound, smell,
touch. Ask: in what ways, how so, because of this, when, what, why. When you answer
these questions you show that the topic sentence is an assertion, a claim. You need to
back it up, prove it. Use anecdotes, data, reports.
3. Coherence: use transitions, to cohere – to make your ideas stick together. Put ideas in
a logical order. For example: when you are skiing you do not go straight down the
hill, but you curve your skis – this applies to transitions.
4. Sentence skills: spelling, punctuation, and grammar is very important in first sentence.
The person reading says: no time for this. Your writing doesn’t reflect your intelligence.
Read over your paper to correct these errors (Example: Person reading many job applications, skims them, starts looking for mistakes and throws away those papers with grammar problems.)
Have the application perfect so paper is not thrown away.
Website, pp. 1-11: talks about what business people are doing – why people don’t get an interview. The reason is: the application is not done well, has many errors. Many businesses ask for a written essay. This essay shows how well you write and think. Writing is a reflection of your thinking. The assumption is that those who think poorly make many mistakes.
Brad, himself, realized how important it is to be good at writing, to master it. Don’t let writing master you. Need to write well.
REVIEW
*5 stages of writing process: 1. PW (pre-writing) 2. Rough Draft 3. Revision 4. Rewrite (make additions, deletions, changes), 5. Final copy/product.
*3 parts of triangle: audience, tone, purpose
*4 cornerstones of Great Writing (see above notes)
CHAPTER 25, COORDINATION AND SUBORDINATION
IC= independent clause , complete clause , complete sentence, SVO= subject, verb, object
ic,ic = need to have punctuation in between independent clauses (don’t use comma/splice – don’t have run-on sentence). If you have no punctuation between the two sentences, this shows that you do not know where a pause should take place. Using a comma shows the reader you know there is a pause. To make it correct, use a period. Make two separate sentences. Use a comma (,) or a fanboy (f). Better to have many short sentences then long sentences. Use long, medium, short sentences in your paper – mix it up, give short, long, combining sentences.
7 coordinating conjunctions: fanboys= for, and, not, but, or, yet, so
f = fanboys
f, = ,fanboys
ic.ic = independent clause, period, independent clause: He went to the store. He bought ice cream.
ic,fic = independent clause, comma, fanboy independent clause: He went to the store, and he bought ice cream.
ic;ic = independent clause, semicolon, independent clause: He sent to the store; he bought ice cream.
FINAL WORDS: What stage are we in – the class is in the writing process: the workshop.
HW – due on Thursday: 1. Make a visual change on paper: bold or italicize anything that you have changed – topic sentence, transitions, etc. Bring tomorrow. Bring in this revision for tomorrow --Thurs. Double spaced, italicized 2. Read “On the Rez”, page 561 and do the questions on p. 563.
DON’T MISS CLA
Remember that the Tutoring Center is open on the second floor of library. Go with specific questions. Treat your paper like a Triage - one that has problems. Go to the part of the paper that has the most problems and ask the tutor for specific help on that part of the paper.
