Thứ Sáu, 13 tháng 5, 2016

Webster’s new world student writing handbook sharon sorenson

2  /  Introduction • The chapters detailing each method of development and each type of writing look at • characteristics of the method and/or type, • the process for developing the method and/or type, including prewriting, writing, revising, and proofreading, • writing samples to illustrate the characteristics and process of the method and/or type, • analyses of the writing samples describing their important features. • For every method of development and, where appropriate, for types of writing, the book includes six kinds of models to aid writing across the curriculum. Chapters include at least one in-text model with multiple additional samples available online at the Web address cited in the chapter. Together, the text and online sample papers model content appropriate for English Social Sciences Science Mathematics Workplace Writing Technical Writing • Wherever appropriate, all six samples for a specific kind of writing deal with the same general topic. The result illustrates how to tailor your writing to a specific audience. • The samples may also feature parallel topics to further understanding. For instance, using the same novel as the subject of a book review, a literary analysis, a synopsis, and a book report for the major disciplines makes clear how one kind of writing differs from another. • The practical, readable writing samples range from single paragraphs to fulllength research papers and address a wide variety of contemporary subjects. High school and college students have written many of the samples. Teachers in the respective disciplines agreed to the writing samples’ success. • The book includes numerous illustrations, examples, notes, hints, and warnings that help clarify solutions to common writing problems. • Cross-references within the book emphasize the relationships among the many facets of writing and help you understand terms or concepts that may otherwise hinder you. • Frequent references to online searches and data banks acknowledge the technical and electronic world in which you work. As a result of its organization, many cross-references, thorough treatment of each topic, and multiple models both within its pages and online, this book should meet any need in any writing situation. I hope you agree. But more importantly, I hope that what you find in these pages—and on supporting Web pages—improves your writing, in school, on the job, and in your personal life. When that happens, this book will have met its goal. S PA R T I D 3 BASICS OF GOOD WRITING G ood writing starts with process. So we’ll begin by telling you how to go about writing. How to get ideas. How to put them together. How to get them on paper. How to polish them into a fine piece of writing. Those are the four broad steps in writing anything: prewriting, writing, revising, and proofreading. • Prewriting: The prewriting process refers to the kinds of things you do to get ready to write. Helpful hints to suggest how to think. How to plan. How to make choices. Prewriting prepares you to write freely. • Writing: Suggestions for writing follow with details about how to use the building blocks of good writing: • good sentences • good paragraphs • good multi-paragraph papers. • Revising: Then we help you with probably the toughest part of writing: polishing your paper. Improving content. Improving structure. Improving emphasis. Improving continuity. • Proofreading: Finally, we show you how to eliminate those bothersome mechanical errors. Refer to this basics-of-writing section regularly, no matter what you write. In fact, you can find cross-references to the chapters in this section throughout the book, suggesting that you use it to supplement the book’s step-by-step processes. Chapter 1 Prewriting T hroughout Parts II and III of this book, you can find series of steps labeled Prewriting. The term generally refers to any kind of activity that helps you loosen up, think about your topic, focus on purpose, analyze your audience, and otherwise prepare to write. The prewriting steps vary with the kind of paper you are planning. Some papers are obviously more complicated than others, and so some steps for getting ready to write are also more complicated. For instance, one paper may require thorough primary or secondary research, while another may demand nothing more complicated than selecting and organizing appropriate details. In either case, prewriting activities lay the groundwork for a great paper. Usually, the prewriting activities help you find a good topic, narrow topics that are too broad, and look at purpose. You should finish the prewriting activities with at least a sentence and a list. Or you may have something as formal as a three-part thesis sentence and a fully developed outline. Either way, you’ll have laid the groundwork. STEP 1: Gathering Thoughts and Information What we write depends on what we think about. What we think about usually depends on what has happened to us, perhaps as a result of what we have read, heard, seen, or done. The first part of prewriting demands that we focus on our thoughts, perhaps expanding them by seeking additional information. Probably a dozen or so general activities help in finding a topic, but here we look at the following most common activities: • • • • • • • • reading (specific assignments, general background, and research) discussion (group and interview) personal reflection journal writing brainstorming list making graphic organizers daily experiences (what you see, hear, and do) Reading: Specific Assignments. Reading is one way to prepare for writing. Perhaps you have a reading assignment to which you must respond. Perhaps you are summarizing the assignment, reacting to it, or in some other way showing that you have Prewriting  /  5 read and understood it. The assignment may also be a springboard from which you can make mental leaps to topics of related but special interest to you. Reading: General Background. Frequently, however, the reading material is something other than a specific assignment. At one extreme, it may be general, almost casual reading that merely relates to classroom work and only indirectly applies to specific daily assignments. This reading material may be in the form of periodical articles or books, perhaps by authors renowned in their fields. But as these topics attract your interest, they suggest writing topics. Reading: Research. General background reading at the other extreme may be so comprehensive as to be labeled research. Your research may require the use of various periodical indexes, a card or computer catalog, electronic data searches, or any other of the many guides to sources found in the library or on the Internet. In these prewriting situations, you are responsible not only for the additional reading but also for finding the sources. All these reading activities—specific assignments, general background, and research—fall in the category of prewriting. The reading keeps your mind active, introduces new ideas, provides specific information, and helps you think of suitable writing topics. Discussion: Group. Prewriting activities may also be oral and include formal or informal discussion, in class or out. With classmates and friends familiar with the subject matter, you may discuss not only possible topics for your paper but also its possible content. Discussion: Interview. Discussion can also occur in an interview. While the interview may be similar to an informal discussion, it differs in that you will have sought out the authority with whom you are speaking. His or her comments may become the basis for your paper. Such discussion results in what we call primary as opposed to secondary research. [See primary research and secondary research in the Glossary.] Personal Reflection. Prewriting activities may also be in the form of personal reflection. If it is to result in writing, however, reflection usually needs direction. You can reflect on all manner of things, but without a general topic of concern or a specific assignment to address, reflection may be more akin to daydreaming than to prewriting and may never result in writing. Many writers use a variety of means for directing personal reflection, including journal writing, brainstorming, and list making. Journal Writing. Serious writers frequently keep daily journals. They write about whatever attracts their attention, seems worthy of note, merits observation. Ironically, they find that the more they record, the more they observe. Thus, they argue, keeping a journal makes them more observant and helps them generate ideas about 6  /  Basics of Good Writing which to write. The idea of journal writing may suggest a goal of creative writing, such as short stories or poetry, but that is not necessarily the case. Journalists, copywriters, even students who must respond on a regular basis to written assignments find that keeping a journal helps them stay in shape, so to speak, to write the most vigorous articles or papers. Brainstorming. Brainstorming also helps focus personal reflection. Brainstorming involves offering ideas freely, without fear of criticism, allowing one idea to suggest another and another. You can brainstorm alone, but obviously the process is more effective in a group. As one idea generates another idea, you come up with new approaches to old ideas. The trick to brainstorming effectively is to allow the mind the freedom to make connections between ideas, no matter how strange the connections may seem at the time. List Making. As a result of brainstorming, you may be able to generate lists that suggest writing topics and supporting ideas; however, lists evolve by other means as well. Generating lists helps you look critically at ideas and their relationships. You can create all kinds of lists: • • • • • lists of main ideas lists of supporting details lists of examples lists of arguments lists of reasons All these topics can be parts of a composition. A list that is revised and arranged in logical order is, for all practical purposes, an outline. In many of the prewriting activities in Parts II and III, you find that generating lists is a primary way to pick out main ideas and then to find appropriate supporting ideas. As a prewriting activity, list making helps you collect your thoughts, plan and arrange them in logical order, and clarify the direction of your paper. The result is organized, unified writing. But more on that later. [See Step 7 later in this chapter.] Graphic Organizers. Some writers work better with graphic organizers than with lists. Graphic organizers are drawings or maps that show how ideas connect. Using them will help you generate ideas and begin to put your thoughts on paper. Consider the example in Figure 1.1. Daily Experiences: What You See and Hear. Other kinds of prewriting activities occur almost as a coincidence of living. Sometimes you may be stimulated to write as a result of something you have seen: a film, an art exhibit, an accident, an animal in distress, a busy highway, a lonely farm pond, a thoughtful gesture, a construction site, a rare flower, a criminal act, a rude driver, a mime, a tornado, or a champion swimmer. For example, a film might have a powerful message that leaves you sad, Prewriting  /  7 FIGURE 1.1 Organizing your ideas graphically may help you generate more ideas. setting character plot Best Novels author reputation recommendations reviews joyful, remorseful, even furious—a feeling that may be worthy of a description, a comparison-and-contrast, a classification, or a persuasion paper. Television viewing may evoke a similar kind of reaction. You may react to news commentators and their methods of reporting the nightly news. You may react to a special report on a world crisis that evokes empathy and helps you write an opinion paper, or you may react to a variety show that stimulates your sense of humor and helps you write effective dialogue. Daily Experiences: What You Do. Likewise, sometimes you may be stimulated to write as a result of something you have done: visiting a city dump, watching a track meet, sitting in the rain, falling out of a boat, suffering from loneliness, facing tragedy, enjoying success, completing a task, dieting, building a hang glider, catching a big fish, finding a lost wallet, helping a stranger, having an accident, or being friends with someone special. For instance, sometimes having a conversation with someone particularly motivating may help you sort through your own feelings enough to react in written form. In summary, day-to-day activities, given attention, help you collect thoughts, gather information, and promote ideas for writing. Doing something as simple as taking an afternoon walk may suggest a dozen topics about which you can write. For example, children playing in the street invite danger by their behavior. You wonder why they have nowhere else to play. A driver coasts through a stop sign, neglecting the clear response that the traffic sign demands. His behavior makes you wonder about accident causes in your neighborhood. The neighbor’s dog bounces out to wag his greeting. You wonder how dogs have become the domesticated “man’s best friend.” Within a few minutes’ walk, you discover three possible topics to explore. STEP 2: Finding a Topic After exploring possible subjects by reading, talking, listening, observing, and thinking, choose a topic that is right for you. Perhaps you must tackle an assigned topic; perhaps you have the freedom to choose anything of interest. Name the topic. STEP 3: Narrowing the Subject After choosing a general topic, narrow a subject to suit the length of the paper you plan to write. Most writers have trouble narrowing a subject sufficiently for full

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