Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Blog 9
Describe your favorite meal, using specific details and all five senses. Be certain to create a dominant impression. The meal could be your favorite because of the food--or maybe the occasion or ambience or other reasons....
Monday, June 16, 2008
Blog 8
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Please read the following and use this information to help shape your argument/persuasive essay due on the last day of class (at the beginning of class) in rich text format. For tonight's posting, please discuss your own personal history of writing arguments/persuasive essays.
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The Academic Essay
Though there are many essays forms, we are going to discuss something called the five-paragraph essay.
The five-paragraph essay is also known, among other names, as the persuasive or argumentative essay.
This essay can be used in many academic situations, and with additions or subtractions, it can be extended to more than five paragraphs or reduced to fewer than five paragraphs. But we will stick to the standard five paragraphs here. Get this down, and you can base many of your longer or shorter essays on these concepts.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One Big Block
Each paragraph in the argumentative essay should be about a page long--one big-block paragraph. Why a page long? Why a difficult-to-read block of words? Because academe, like any other animal group, marks its territory. In daily life, the average reader will seldom encounter this form of writing, these page-long paragraphs, and academe knows this. Most people outside the ivory tower read paragraphs surrounded by lots of white space, paragraphs that breath. But the academic paper discourages white space; it requires concentration and focus, like this paragraph you're reading right now. In a way, this tradition cuts out the "civilian” population, says to the world outside of academe that this style of writing, this huge rectangle of black squiggles, takes focus and concentration and intelligence to read, and this brand of writing belongs to the studied. This style identifies who the scholarly are. Yet at times, faced with such ponderous paragraphs, we come to understand Mark Twain's quote: "Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer." Right or wrong, we maintain the tradition.
Three Parts to Your Essay
The essay consists of three parts: one, the argument or thesis; two, that argument’s three points of support; and three, the summary, tying it all together, synthesizing the work and offering your opinion.
The Three Parts
1) Introduction: opener and the three points that you will use in the body of your paper (plan of development) and your thesis. Your thesis will be the last sentence of your first paragraph.
2) Body: analysis of the three points that promote your thesis mentioned in the opening. You will offer a one-page paragraph per point.
3) Conclusion: tying your thesis to your argument with an ending that includes your opinion (synthesis).
_________________________________
What Your Essay Will Look Like
Title
Short and sweet. No underline. No Quotes. Your title should summarize your essay in a few words.
Paragraph one: The Introductory Paragraph
This paragraph is the essay's introductory outline with your thesis as the last sentence.
In paragraph one, you will offer your opener, your three major points that support your thesis, listed in the order they will be presented, and your thesis. You want to grab and hold the reader’s attention in this paragraph. You want them to keep reading. To capture the reader’s attention, you can offer a story, a metaphor, a comparison, a straight statement, or even an overstatement. You need to write something unique. You want to persuade the reader that this essay is worth his or her time. (Scroll down for more in-depth tips on openers.)
Thesis statement: a one-sentence statement of the central idea of your paper. A good thesis statement does two things: First, it tells a reader the essay’s topic. Second, it presents the writer’s attitude about the topic.
Paragraphs two, three, and four: The Supporting Paragraphs
Here you put forth your three supporting points, which will be developed, point-by-point, in three separate paragraphs. You offered these three in your first paragraph, and you will discuss these in the order you offered them. Each of the paragraphs begins with the supporting point to be detailed in the paragraph, also called your "topic sentence." Just as the thesis sentence provides a theme for the entire essay, the topic sentence provides a theme for each supporting paragraph.
Each paragraph ends with a transitional sentence. You review what you wrote, and you look ahead to your discussion in the next paragraph. Make sure you stay focused and connected to your introduction and your thesis.
Paragraph five: Concluding Paragraph
Paragraph five--Conclusion/ synthesis: This is your summary, your synthesis, your fin where you will bring it all together. You will restate your thesis but not in the same words you used in your first paragraph, summarize your three supporting points, and finally offer your opinion. Stay on the thesis here, but never word your thesis the same way as in your first paragraph. Be creative. Offer your thesis in different words. This last paragraph will bring your paper full circle.
Creativity is most important here. You want your ending to sound graceful and natural, leaving the reader with the thought that he or she has read something unique.
________________________________________________
Introductory Paragraph
Introduction
Plan of development: points 1,2, and 3
Thesis Statement
The introduction must attract the reader.
The plan of development is a list of points that support the thesis. The points are offered in the order they are given.
Thesis: the main idea in two parts: topic and your opinion.
First Supporting Paragraph
Topic sentence (point 1)
Specific evidence (lots of it)
The topic sentence is the first supporting point for your thesis, and the specific evidence delves into you topic sentence.
Second Supporting Paragraph
Topic sentence (point 2)
Specific evidence (lots of it)
The topic sentence advances the second supporting point for your thesis, and the specific evidence develops that point.
Third Supporting Paragraph
Topic sentence (point 3)
Specific evidence (lots of it)
The topic sentence advances the third supporting point for your thesis, and the specific evidence develops that point.
Concluding Paragraph
Summary, conclusion or both
A summary is a restatement of the thesis and its main points. A conclusion is a final thought or two stemming from the subject of the paper.
Please read the following and use this information to help shape your argument/persuasive essay due on the last day of class (at the beginning of class) in rich text format. For tonight's posting, please discuss your own personal history of writing arguments/persuasive essays.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Academic Essay
Though there are many essays forms, we are going to discuss something called the five-paragraph essay.
The five-paragraph essay is also known, among other names, as the persuasive or argumentative essay.
This essay can be used in many academic situations, and with additions or subtractions, it can be extended to more than five paragraphs or reduced to fewer than five paragraphs. But we will stick to the standard five paragraphs here. Get this down, and you can base many of your longer or shorter essays on these concepts.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One Big Block
Each paragraph in the argumentative essay should be about a page long--one big-block paragraph. Why a page long? Why a difficult-to-read block of words? Because academe, like any other animal group, marks its territory. In daily life, the average reader will seldom encounter this form of writing, these page-long paragraphs, and academe knows this. Most people outside the ivory tower read paragraphs surrounded by lots of white space, paragraphs that breath. But the academic paper discourages white space; it requires concentration and focus, like this paragraph you're reading right now. In a way, this tradition cuts out the "civilian” population, says to the world outside of academe that this style of writing, this huge rectangle of black squiggles, takes focus and concentration and intelligence to read, and this brand of writing belongs to the studied. This style identifies who the scholarly are. Yet at times, faced with such ponderous paragraphs, we come to understand Mark Twain's quote: "Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer." Right or wrong, we maintain the tradition.
Three Parts to Your Essay
The essay consists of three parts: one, the argument or thesis; two, that argument’s three points of support; and three, the summary, tying it all together, synthesizing the work and offering your opinion.
The Three Parts
1) Introduction: opener and the three points that you will use in the body of your paper (plan of development) and your thesis. Your thesis will be the last sentence of your first paragraph.
2) Body: analysis of the three points that promote your thesis mentioned in the opening. You will offer a one-page paragraph per point.
3) Conclusion: tying your thesis to your argument with an ending that includes your opinion (synthesis).
_________________________________
What Your Essay Will Look Like
Title
Short and sweet. No underline. No Quotes. Your title should summarize your essay in a few words.
Paragraph one: The Introductory Paragraph
This paragraph is the essay's introductory outline with your thesis as the last sentence.
In paragraph one, you will offer your opener, your three major points that support your thesis, listed in the order they will be presented, and your thesis. You want to grab and hold the reader’s attention in this paragraph. You want them to keep reading. To capture the reader’s attention, you can offer a story, a metaphor, a comparison, a straight statement, or even an overstatement. You need to write something unique. You want to persuade the reader that this essay is worth his or her time. (Scroll down for more in-depth tips on openers.)
Thesis statement: a one-sentence statement of the central idea of your paper. A good thesis statement does two things: First, it tells a reader the essay’s topic. Second, it presents the writer’s attitude about the topic.
Paragraphs two, three, and four: The Supporting Paragraphs
Here you put forth your three supporting points, which will be developed, point-by-point, in three separate paragraphs. You offered these three in your first paragraph, and you will discuss these in the order you offered them. Each of the paragraphs begins with the supporting point to be detailed in the paragraph, also called your "topic sentence." Just as the thesis sentence provides a theme for the entire essay, the topic sentence provides a theme for each supporting paragraph.
Each paragraph ends with a transitional sentence. You review what you wrote, and you look ahead to your discussion in the next paragraph. Make sure you stay focused and connected to your introduction and your thesis.
Paragraph five: Concluding Paragraph
Paragraph five--Conclusion/ synthesis: This is your summary, your synthesis, your fin where you will bring it all together. You will restate your thesis but not in the same words you used in your first paragraph, summarize your three supporting points, and finally offer your opinion. Stay on the thesis here, but never word your thesis the same way as in your first paragraph. Be creative. Offer your thesis in different words. This last paragraph will bring your paper full circle.
Creativity is most important here. You want your ending to sound graceful and natural, leaving the reader with the thought that he or she has read something unique.
________________________________________________
Introductory Paragraph
Introduction
Plan of development: points 1,2, and 3
Thesis Statement
The introduction must attract the reader.
The plan of development is a list of points that support the thesis. The points are offered in the order they are given.
Thesis: the main idea in two parts: topic and your opinion.
First Supporting Paragraph
Topic sentence (point 1)
Specific evidence (lots of it)
The topic sentence is the first supporting point for your thesis, and the specific evidence delves into you topic sentence.
Second Supporting Paragraph
Topic sentence (point 2)
Specific evidence (lots of it)
The topic sentence advances the second supporting point for your thesis, and the specific evidence develops that point.
Third Supporting Paragraph
Topic sentence (point 3)
Specific evidence (lots of it)
The topic sentence advances the third supporting point for your thesis, and the specific evidence develops that point.
Concluding Paragraph
Summary, conclusion or both
A summary is a restatement of the thesis and its main points. A conclusion is a final thought or two stemming from the subject of the paper.
Blog 7
Words -- so innocent and powerless as they are,
as standing in a dictionary,
how potent for good and evil they become
in the hands
of one who knows how to combine them.
--Nathaniel Hawthorne
Please discuss the implications of this famous poem....
as standing in a dictionary,
how potent for good and evil they become
in the hands
of one who knows how to combine them.
--Nathaniel Hawthorne
Please discuss the implications of this famous poem....
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Blog 6
Show Who You Are
In his book, On Writing Well, William Zinnser posits that the average reader has a twenty-to thirty-second attention span. He therefore asks that our writing be concise. Concision, Zinnser argues, holds the reader’s attention. To back up his argument, Zinnser shows us William Strunk JR and EB White’s principle of “Omit Needless Words”:
"Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. . . .Every word [must] tell."
Here’s the best way to make your words “tell”: Write with strong nouns and colorful verbs. Let’s look at an example:
Jethro is eating his sandwich.
Not a bad sentence, yet it’s generic. It tells us little. It describes a scene, but it doesn’t paint a picture. Now, let's look at what happens when we add some strong nouns and colorful verbs to this sentence:
Jethro gobbles his hoagie.
Get it? Can you see the difference? The above example goes overboard to make a point: we replaced the passive, "is eating," with the colorful verb, "gobbles," and the all-encompassing noun, "sandwich" with the strong, specific noun, "hoagie." And guess what? We even shortened the original sentence by one word! You see? Vigorous writing is concise!
For today's blog, please write a vigorous and concise account of your most memorable evening.
In his book, On Writing Well, William Zinnser posits that the average reader has a twenty-to thirty-second attention span. He therefore asks that our writing be concise. Concision, Zinnser argues, holds the reader’s attention. To back up his argument, Zinnser shows us William Strunk JR and EB White’s principle of “Omit Needless Words”:
"Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. . . .Every word [must] tell."
Here’s the best way to make your words “tell”: Write with strong nouns and colorful verbs. Let’s look at an example:
Jethro is eating his sandwich.
Not a bad sentence, yet it’s generic. It tells us little. It describes a scene, but it doesn’t paint a picture. Now, let's look at what happens when we add some strong nouns and colorful verbs to this sentence:
Jethro gobbles his hoagie.
Get it? Can you see the difference? The above example goes overboard to make a point: we replaced the passive, "is eating," with the colorful verb, "gobbles," and the all-encompassing noun, "sandwich" with the strong, specific noun, "hoagie." And guess what? We even shortened the original sentence by one word! You see? Vigorous writing is concise!
For today's blog, please write a vigorous and concise account of your most memorable evening.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Day 5 blog
For tonight's blog, please read the following and then share your thoughts on Lanzbaum's position.
On Writing
by Leon Lanzbaum
All writing is a form of prayer.
-- John Keats
Graduate school: "We must write for our audience," says my rhetoric-and-writing professor. "We do not write for ourselves," he says. On this point, he is adamant, a rock. And on this same point, an ineffable tumult stirs within me as I sense most writers in academe submit to this professor's prescription, a prescription I'm not ready to swallow. As a student of the self-satisfied writers--Faulkner, Didion, White etc.--I learned the writer comes first. Not that writers shouldn't visualize their readers, but when purpose yields to audience, words lose their innocence. The writer holds back, does not give his or her all, or even worse, gives too much, and that's dishonest writing.
So what do we do as academic writers? Should we write for ourselves or write for an audience? I'll admit, I played the game. During my rhetoric-and-writing stint, I gave my professor what he wanted. I wrote for him! And my essays were the most antiseptic, fallow pieces I have ever written. But such is the nature of academic writing. It marks scholarly territory, territory devoid of the first person singular, territory that, for the most part, forces the writer to kill, or at least, hide his or her identity.
As someone who cares about writing, I loathe the writing of most rhetoric-and-writing departments. I abhore passive sentences and colorless verbs and narcoleptic nouns. I'm allergic to textbook writing and the convoluted, meandering language of lawyers and literary theorists. Writing is communication, the inside of one person speaking to another person. Writing is not a contest in whose word is bigger! I say that if we satisfy ourselves, an audience will find us. Read the words of Henry David Thoreau or Ernest Hemingway or Sandra Cisneros and you'll find writers who write for themselves yet still speak to the world.
But let’s face it, whether you're in English 101 or you write for a national magazine, you do write for some sort of audience--maybe your editor, maybe your readers, maybe your rhetoric-and-writing professor.
The Key: Respect the man or woman at the upper end of the keyboard, you!
Don't lose who you are. Lose yourself and you lose a unique voice, a voice that will never pass this way again.
So let's see what you can do to keep your unique voice, to write for yourself, yet still write for an audience.
On Writing
by Leon Lanzbaum
All writing is a form of prayer.
-- John Keats
Graduate school: "We must write for our audience," says my rhetoric-and-writing professor. "We do not write for ourselves," he says. On this point, he is adamant, a rock. And on this same point, an ineffable tumult stirs within me as I sense most writers in academe submit to this professor's prescription, a prescription I'm not ready to swallow. As a student of the self-satisfied writers--Faulkner, Didion, White etc.--I learned the writer comes first. Not that writers shouldn't visualize their readers, but when purpose yields to audience, words lose their innocence. The writer holds back, does not give his or her all, or even worse, gives too much, and that's dishonest writing.
So what do we do as academic writers? Should we write for ourselves or write for an audience? I'll admit, I played the game. During my rhetoric-and-writing stint, I gave my professor what he wanted. I wrote for him! And my essays were the most antiseptic, fallow pieces I have ever written. But such is the nature of academic writing. It marks scholarly territory, territory devoid of the first person singular, territory that, for the most part, forces the writer to kill, or at least, hide his or her identity.
As someone who cares about writing, I loathe the writing of most rhetoric-and-writing departments. I abhore passive sentences and colorless verbs and narcoleptic nouns. I'm allergic to textbook writing and the convoluted, meandering language of lawyers and literary theorists. Writing is communication, the inside of one person speaking to another person. Writing is not a contest in whose word is bigger! I say that if we satisfy ourselves, an audience will find us. Read the words of Henry David Thoreau or Ernest Hemingway or Sandra Cisneros and you'll find writers who write for themselves yet still speak to the world.
But let’s face it, whether you're in English 101 or you write for a national magazine, you do write for some sort of audience--maybe your editor, maybe your readers, maybe your rhetoric-and-writing professor.
The Key: Respect the man or woman at the upper end of the keyboard, you!
Don't lose who you are. Lose yourself and you lose a unique voice, a voice that will never pass this way again.
So let's see what you can do to keep your unique voice, to write for yourself, yet still write for an audience.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Blog 4
For tonight's blog, please compare yourself professionaly today to how you desire to be, professionally-speaking, in about five years. Be as specific as possible.
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