You Got the Write Stuff, Baby!
You know how to go through the writing process, but do you know how to write effectively in each stage?
There are six traits, or qualities, that will help you write better:
ideas,
organization,
voice,
word choice,
sentence fluency,
and conventions.
Ideas
What is an idea? It is the aim or purpose.
You must begin with an idea when you write your paper.
That is where step one in the writing process, prewriting, comes in handy. You are essentially finding the purpose and central message of your assignment.
Writing should be original and unique to your own experience. The content of the writing should include descriptive details to support the main message.
A good writer creates showing sentences instead of telling ones. The aim is for clarity in the details.
One of the sentences below is clear and detailed, one is vague and ambiguous. Which one is which?
1. Mom was in a bad mood.
Answer: vague and ambiguous
2. Mom slung open the squeaky door to my room where I saw her green eyes glaring at the dog slurping the chocolate milk that lay puddled on the hardwood floor.
Answer: clear and detailed
Organization
Are you an organized person? Do you put things in order that make sense?
Your paragraph or essay should always be organized. The paper is usually organized by space, time, content, or perspective.
A paragraph has a topic sentence that introduces the main idea, three or more supporting details that make up the body, and a conclusion or transition statement that closes the paragraph. You would not begin a new topic unless you started a new paragraph.
Outlining your thoughts helps organize your essay.
I. Paragraph One: Introduction Hook your audience to topic by providing startling statistics, an anecdote, a quotation, etc. Your thesis statement will be the last sentence in the introduction
II. Paragraph Two: Body The body provides vivid details supporting the thesis statement.
III. Paragraph Three: Conclusion The conclusion restates your thesis and closes the essay leaving the reader feeling satisfied. You can end with a profound thought, a surprise, a quote, or a challenge.
Read the paragraph.
Answer the questions about this paragraph in the next few slides.
Which transition should be added to make the sentence below more effective?
1. If I finish my lunch early, my friends and I can spend the last few minutes outside soaking up the energizing sun in the refreshing air.
Answer: Finally. The word finally is a conclusion transition, and this sentence is finishing its thought on being in the cafeteria.
2. Which sentence does not belong in the paragraph?
Answer: Sentence 8. This sentence doesn't have any significant value of whether the cafeteria has pleasant or unpleasant days.
3. Which sentence is the topic of the paragraph?
Answer: Sentence 1. The topic of the paragraph is that the cafeteria has had pleasant days and unpleasant days.
4. Which sentence is the conclusion of the paragraph?
Answer: Sentence 11. The conclusion sums up the entire topic of the paragraph.
Voice
Does your voice change when you write instead of speak?
Well, it's not exactly the same thing. Your speaking voice has pitch and tone that you can actually hear.
Your writing voice has tone and style that you can't physically hear, but it comes from within you, and readers associate you with a distinct voice.
Your voice is coming through the words that you create.
Your authentic voice should shine through in each piece that you create.
Word Choice
The words you choose to include in your writing have a huge impact on the reader. Take the sentence below for an example.
The car is fast.
Pretty boring, huh? You don't have enough information about the subject.
The car is fast.
You know the subject is a noun car ; the verb is a linking verb is , and the word car is a predicate adjective fast .
If you want your readers to think the same way you do about the car, you must choose the words carefully to evoke that image to the readers.
Zooming first across the finish line, the car is fast.
The author simply added an introductory participial phrase Zooming first across the finish line so the sentence would be better.
Watch Part Three: Participles (1:20) to learn how participial phrases act as modifiers for subjects or objects.
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Sentence Fluency
Do you like variety in your life? Many people do.
Variety means that there is no monotony; there is change or diversity in what you are doing.
Writing is no different. If you have sentence variety, you create different types of sentence patterns, lengths, and rhythms.
This provides a flow and helps create a unique voice for you.
You can incorporate variety in your writing by combining sentences so that you won't have an enormous amount of choppy sentences.
There are four simple steps to good diction.
1. Varying word choice
2. Avoiding unnecessary repetition
3. Choosing words that fit the tone of the writing
4. Making sure all words mean exactly what they intended to mean
Look at the following sentences.
I played tennis.
I hit the ball.
I ran to the net.
I missed the lob.
What do all of these sentences have in common I ?
When there is no variety in sentence structure, the reader becomes bored and there is no connection to the main idea.
Read the paragraph below.
When I played tennis on Saturday afternoon, I smashed the ball to my opponent; running clumsily to the net, I missed the lob her forehand returned to me.
Do you see a difference in structure?
Which is smoother? The sentence above or the four previous sentences?
Think back to that simple sentence about the race car.
- The car is fast.
This is a bland and uncolorful sentence. - Zooming first across the finish line, the vibrant red car, on a crowded racetrack, outside in the misting rain, is extremely agile and efficient. If you scaffold your sentences to embellish the uninspiring ones, then the content jumps off the page and into the mental picture you create.
Conventions
When you hear the word convention in this lesson, it means the commonly accepted rules of Standard English.
When you are examining your writing conventions, you are looking at punctuation, capitalization, spelling, grammar, and neatness.
Visit the sites below to learn more about each convention
What are the correct meanings of these well-known texting abbreviations?
1) TTYL
Answer: talk to you later
2) BTW
Answer: by the way
3) DUR?
Answer: Do you remember?
4) L8r
Answer: later
5) W4u
Answer: waiting for you
6) FITB
Answer: fill in the blank
7) Cul
Answer: see you later
That wasn't hard because you probably write that way a great deal.
Teenagers spend most of their time writing in 140 characters or less. No wonder you get confused when trying to write an essay!
If you think about to whom you are writing, or your audience, then you will remember to keep to diction either informal or formal.
Sequence the forms of communication below on a scale from 1-10; 1 being the least formal and 10 being the most formal.
1) Class notes
Answer: 4
2) Sticky notes
Answer: 1
3) State writing test
Answer: 8
4) Thank you note
Answer: 6
5) Research paper
Answer: 9
6) Email
Answer: 5
7) Phone message
Answer: 3
8) Text message
Answer: 2
9) School assignment
Answer: 7
10) Scolarship or college essay
Answer: 10
Don't rely on your computer's spell check for everything.
Eye don't no if ewe halve noticed, butt spell cheque dos knkow recognize awl miss steaks.