recommended children's books

2009 Summer Reading List


Students Entering Grades 6-9
http://www.pkwy.k12.mo.us/panda/subjectlinks/midreading.html

Students Entering Grades 9-12
http://www.pkwy.k12.mo.us/panda/subjectlinks/secreading.html


I hope they're useful

source: http://childrensbooks.about.com/od/forparents/tp/summer_reading.htm

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The date of commemoration is not known to be Jesus' actual birthday, and may have initially been chosen to correspond with either a historical Roman festival or the winter solstice. Christmas is central to the Christmas and holiday season, and in Christianity marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days.



Although traditionally a Christian holiday, Christmas is widely celebrated by many non-Christians, and some of its popular celebratory customs have pre-Christian or secular themes and origins. Popular modern customs of the holiday include gift-giving, Christmas carols, an exchange of greeting cards, church celebrations, a special meal, and the display of various decorations; including Christmas trees, lights, and garlands, mistletoe, nativity scenes, and holly. In addition, Father Christmas (known as Santa Claus in North America and Ireland) is a popular mythological figure in many countries, associated with the bringing of gifts for children.

Because gift-giving and many other aspects of the Christmas festival involve heightened economic activity among both Christians and non-Christians, the holiday has become a significant event and a key sales period for retailers and businesses. The economic impact of Christmas is a factor that has grown steadily over the past few centuries in many regions of the world.

History

For many centuries, Christian writers accepted that Christmas was the actual date on which Jesus was born. However, in the early eighteenth century, scholars began proposing alternative explanations. Isaac Newton argued that the date of Christmas was selected to correspond with the winter solstice, which in ancient times was marked on December 25. In 1743, German Protestant Paul Ernst Jablonski argued Christmas was placed on December 25 to correspond with the Roman solar holiday Dies Natalis Solis Invicti and was therefore a "paganization" that debased the true church. In 1889, Louis Duchesne suggested that the date of Christmas was calculated as nine months after the Annunciation (March 25), the traditional date of the Incarnation.


source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is a harvest festival. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. It is a holiday celebrated primarily in Canada and the United States. While perhaps religious in origin, Thanksgiving is now primarily identified as a secular holiday.

The date and location of the first Thanksgiving celebration is a topic of modest contention. The traditional "first Thanksgiving" is the celebration that occurred at the site of Plymouth Plantation, in 1621. The Plymouth celebration occurred early in the history of what would become one of the original thirteen colonies that became the United States. The celebration became an important part of the American myth by the 1800s. This Thanksgiving, modeled after celebrations that were commonplace in contemporary Europe, is generally regarded as America's first. Elementary school teacher Robyn Gioia has argued that the earliest attested "thanksgiving" celebration in what is now the United States was on September 8, 1565 in what is now Saint Augustine, Florida. Today, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. Thanksgiving dinner is held on this day, usually as a gathering of family members and friends.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving

Halloween

Halloween (also spelled Hallowe'en) is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints. It is largely a secular celebration but some have expressed strong feelings about perceived religious overtones.



The colours black and orange have become associated with the celebrations, perhaps because of the darkness of night and the colour of fire or of pumpkins, and maybe because of the vivid contrast this presents for merchandising. Another association is with the jack-o'-lantern. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and attending costume parties, ghost tours, bonfires, visiting haunted attractions, pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.

source:http://msp212.photobucket.com/albums/cc141/andee_sur_13/halloween.jpg

Labor Day

"Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker".


source:http://www.dol.gov/OPA/ABOUTDOL/LABORDAY.HTM

Chapter 16 Writing the Research Paper

Chapter 16 Writing the Research Paper

The Research Paper Defined

The research paper is a long documented essay based on a thorough examination of your topic and supported by your explanations and by both references to and quotations from your sources. The traditional research paper in the style of the Modern Language Association, typically called MLA style, includes a title page (sometimes omitted), a thesis and an outline, a documented essay (text), and a list of sources (called "Works Cited," referring to the works used specifically in the essay).

Ten Steps to Writing a Research Paper

Step 1 Select a Topic

Select a topic and make a scratch outline. Then construct a thesis as you did for writing an essay by choosing what you intend to write about (subject) and by deciding how you will limit or focus your subject (treatment). Your purpose will be wither to inform (explain) or to persuade (argue).

• Your topic should interest you and be appropriate in subject and scope for your assignment.
• Your topic should be researchable through library and other relevant sources, such as the Internet. Avoid topics that are too subjective or are so new that good source material is not available.

Step 2 find Sources

Find sources for your investigation. With your topic and its divisions in mind, use the resources and the electronic databases available in your college library and on the Internet to identify books, articles, and other materials pertaining to your topic. The list of these items, called bibliography, should be prepared on cards in the form appropriate for your assignment.

Books

Today most academic and municipal libraries provide information about books on online computer terminals, with databases accessible by author, title, subject, or other key words.

Printed Material Other Than Books

For the typical college research paper, the main printed nonbook sources are periodicals, such as newspapers, magazines, and journals.

Computerized Indexes and Other Online Services

Computerized indexes, such as Infor Trac, Periodical Abstracts, and Newspaper Abstracts Ondisc, can be accessed in basically the same way as the online book catalogs, using key words and word combinations.

Step 3 List Sources

List tentative sources in a preliminary bibliography

Bibliography and Works Cited, MLA Style

You will list source material in two phase of your research paper project: the preliminary bibliography and the Works Cited list. The MLA research paper form is commonly used for both the preliminary bibliography and the list of works cited. This format is unlike the format used in catalogs and indexes.

Step 4 Take Notes

Take notes in an organized fashion. Resist the temptation to write down everything that interests you. Instead, take notes that pertain to divisions of your topic as stated in your thesis or scratch outline. Locate, read, and take notes on the sources listed in your preliminary bibliography. Some of these sources need to be printed out from electronic databases or from the Internet, some photocopied, and some checked out. Your notes will usually be on cards, with each card indicating key pieces of the information:

• Division of topic (usually Roman-numeral part of your scratch outline or the divisions of your thesis)
• Identification of topic (by author's last name or title of piece)
• Location of material (usually by page number)
• Text of statement as originally worded (with quotation marks; editorial comments in brackets), summarized or paragraph (in student's own words, without quotation marks), and statement of relevance of material, if possible.

Step 5 Refine Your Thesis and Outline

Refine your thesis statement and outline to reflect more precisely what you intend to write.

Step 6 Write Your First Draft

Referring to your thesis, outline, and note cards keyed to your outline, write the first draft of your research paper.

Plagiarism

Careful attention to the rules of documentation will help you avoid plagiarism, the unacknowledged use of someone else's words or idea. You can avoid plagiarism by giving credit when you borrow someone else;s words or ideas.

Step 7 Revise Your First Draft

Evaluate your first draft and amend it as needed (perhaps researching an area not well covered for additional support material and adding or deleting sections of your outline to reflect the way your paper has grown).

Use the writing process guidelines as you would in writing any other essay.

• Write and then revise your paper as many times as necessary for coherence, language (usage, tone, and diction), unity, emphasis, support, and sentences (CLUESS).
• Correct problems in fundamentals such as capitalization, omissions, punctuation, and spelling (COPS). Before writing the final draft, read your paper aloud to discover any errors or awkward-sounding sentence structure.

Step 8 Prepare Your Works Cited Section

Using the same form as in the preliminary bibliography, prepare a Works Cited section (a list of works you have referred to or quoted and identified parenthetically in the text).

Step 9 Write your final Draft

Write the final version of your research paper with care for effective writing and accurate documentation. The final draft will probably include the following parts:

• Title pager (sometimes omitted)
• Thesis and outline (topical or sentence, as directed)
• Documented essay (text)
• List of sources used (Work Cited)

Step 10 Submit Required Materials

Submit your research paper with any preliminary material required by your instructor. Consider using a checklist to make sure you have fulfilled all requirements.

Notes:

The research paper is a long documented essay based on a thorough examination of a topic and supported by explanations and by both references to and quotations from sources.

The research paper is no more difficult than other writing assignments if you select a good topic, use a systematic approach, and do not get behind with your work.

Asystematic approach involves these then steps:

• Select a topic
• Find sources
• List sources.
• Take notes.
• Refine your thesis and outline
• Write your first draft
• Revise your first draft
• Prepare your Works Cited section
• Write your final draft.
• Submit required materials.

Your library almost certainly mixes traditional and electronic indexes and sources; you should become familiar with them.

MLA styple for works cited differs from that used in traditional and electronic indexes.

You can avoid plagiarism by giving credit when you borrow someone else's words or ideas.

Source:Brandon, Lee. Brandon, Kelly. Paragraphs and Essays with Integrated Readings, Tenth Edition. Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008

Chapter 15 Argument: Writing to Persuade

Chapter 15 Argument:
Writing to Persuade

Writing Argument

Persuasion is a broad term. When we persuade, we try to influence people to think in a certain way or to do something.

Argument is persuasion on a topic about which reasonable people disagree. Argument involves controversy. Whereas exercising appropriately is probably not controversial because reasonable people do not dispute the idea, an issue such as gun control is. In this chapter, we will be concerned mainly with the kind of persuasion that involves argument.

Techniques for Developing Argument

Statements of argument are informal or formal. An opinion column in a newspaper is likely to have little set structure, whereas an argument in college writing is likely to be tightly organized. Nervertheless, the opinion column and the college paper have much in common. Both provide a proposition, which is the main point of the argument, and both provide pupport, which is the evidence of the reasons that back up the proposition.

For a well – structured college paragraph or essay, an organizing plan is desirable. Consider these elements when you write an argument, and ask yourself the following question as you develop your ideas:

• Background: What is the historical or social context for this controversial issue?
• Proposition (the thesis of the essay): What do I want my audience to believe or to do?
• Qualification of proposition: Can I limit my proposition so that those who disagree cannot easily challenge me with exceptions? If, for example, I am in favor of using animals for scientific experimentation, am I concerned only with medical experiments or with any use, including experiments for the cosmetic industry?
• Refutation (taking the opposing view into account, mainly to point out its fundamental weakness): What is the view on the other side, and why is it flawed in reasoning or evidence?
• Support: In addition to sound reasoning, can I use appropriate facts, examples, statistics, and opinions of authorities?

Your Audience

Your audience may be uninformed, informed, biased, hostile, receptive, apathetic, sympathetic, and empathetic – any one, several, or something else. The point is that you should be acutely concerned about who will read your composition. If your readers are likely to be uninformed about the social and historical background of the issue, then you need to set the issue in context. The discussion of the background should lead to the problem for which you have a proposition or solution. If your readers are likely to be biased or even hostile to your view, take special care to refute the opposing side in a thoughtful, incisive way that does not further antagonize them. If your readers are already receptive and perhaps even sympathetic, and you wish to move them to action, then you might appeal to their conscience and the need for their commitment.

Kinds of Evidence

In addition to sound reasoning generally, you can use these kinds of evidence: facts, examples, statistics, and authorities.

• First, you can offer facts. Some facts are readily accepted because they are general knowledge – you and your reader know them to be true, because they can be or have been verified. Other “facts” are based on personal observation and are reported in various publications but may be false or questionable.
• Second, you can cite examples. Keep in mind that you must present a sufficient number of examples and that the examples must be relevant.
• Avoid presenting a long list of figures; select statistics carefully and relate them to things familiar to your reader.
• Third, you can present statistics. Statistics are numerical facts and data that are classified and tabulated to present significant information about a given subject.
• Fourth, you can cite evidence from, and opinions of, authorities. Most readers accept facts from recognized, reliable source – governmental publication, standard reference works, and books and periodicals published by established firms. In addition, they will accept evidence and opinions from individuals who, because of their knowledge and experience, are recognized as experts.

In using authoritative source as proof, keep these points in mind:

• Select authorities who are generally recognized as experts in their field.
• Use authorities who qualify in the field pertinent to your argument.
• Select authorities whose views are not biased.
• Try to use several authorities.
• Identify the authority's credentials clearly in your essay.

Logical Fallacies

Certain thought patterns are inherently flawed. Commonly called logical fallacies, these thought patterns are of primary concern in argument. You should be able to identify them in the arguments of those on the other side of an issue, and you should be sure to avoid them in your own writing.

Eight kinds of logical fallacies are very common.

• Post hoc,ergo proter hoc (“after this, therefore because of this”): When one event precedes another in time, the first is assumed to cause the other. “If A comes before B, then A must be causing B.”
• False analogy: False analogies ignore differences and stress similarities, often in an attempt to prove something.
• Hasty generalization: This is a conclusion based on two few reliable instances.
• False dilemma: This fallacy presents the readers with only two alternatives from which to choose. The solution may lie elsewhere.
• Argumentum ad hominem: (argument against the person): This is the practice of abusing and discrediting your opponent rather than keeping to the main issues of that argument.
• Begging the question: The fallacy assumes something is true without proof. It occurs when a thinker assumes a position is right before offering proof.
• Circular reasoning: This thought pattern asserts proof that is no more than a repetition of the initial assertion.
• Non sequitur: This fallacy draws a conclusion that does not follow.

The basic pattern of a paragraph or an essay of persuaion or argument is likely to be in this form:

Proposition (the topic sentence of the paragraph or the thesis of the essay)

I. Support 1
II. Support 2
III. Support 3


Source:Brandon, Lee. Brandon, Kelly. Paragraphs and Essays with Integrated Readings, Tenth Edition. Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008

Chapter 14 Definition: Clarifying Terms

Chapter 14 Definition:
Clarifying Terms

Writing Definition

Most definitions are short; they consist of a synonym (a word or phrase that has about the same meaning as the term to be defined), a phrase, or a sentence. For example, we might say that a hypocrite is a person "professing beliefs or virtues he or she does not possess." Terms can also be defined by etymology, or word history. Hypocrite once meant "actor" (hypocrites) in Greek because an actor was pretending to be someone else. We may find this information interesting and revealing, but the history of a word may be of no use because the meaning has changed drastically over the years. Sometimes definitions occupy a paragraph or an entire essay. The short definition is called a simple definition; the longer one is known as an extended definition.

Techniques for Writing Simple Definitions

If you want to define a term without being abrupt and mechanical, you have several alternatives. All of the following techniques allow you to blend the definition into your developing thought.

• Basic dictionary meaning.
• Synonyms.
• Direct explanation.
• Indirect explanation.
• Analytical or formal definition.
• Techniques for Writing Extended Definitions

Essay of definition can take many forms. Among the more common techniques for writing a paragraph or short essay of definition are the patterns we have worked with in previous chapters. Consider each of those patterns when you need to writ an extended definition. For a particular term, some forms will be more useful than others; use the pattern of patterns that best fulfill your purpose.

Techniques for Writing Extended Definitions

Each of the following questions takes a pattern of writing and directs it toward definition:

• Narration: Can I tell an anecdote or a story to define this subject (such as jerk, humanitarian, or citizen)? This form may overlap with description and exemplification.
• Description: Can I describe this subject (such as a whale or the moon)?
• Exemplification: Can I give examples of this subject (such as naming individual, to provide examples of actors, diplomats, or satirists)?
• Analysis by division: Can I divided this subject into parts (for example, the parts of a heart, a cell, or a carburetor)?
• Process analysis: Can I define this subject (such as lasagna, tornado, hurricane, blood pressure, or any number of scientific processes) by describing how to make it or how it occurs? (Common to the methodology of communicating in science, this approach is sometimes called the "operational definition.")
• Cause and effect: Can I define this subject (such as a flood, a drought, a riot, or a cancer) by its causes and effects?
• Classification: Can I group this subject (such as kinds of families, cultures, religions, or governments) into classes?
• Comparison and contrast: Can I define this subject (such as extremist or patriot) by explaining what it is similar to and different from? If you are defining orangutan to a person who has never heard of one but if familiar with the gorilla, then you could make comparison-and-contrast statements. If you want to define patriot, then you might want to stress what it is not (the contrast) before you explain what it is: A patriot is not a one-dimensional flag waver, not someone who hates "foreigners" because America is always right and always best.

When you use prewriting strategies of develop ideas for a definition, you can effectively consider all the patterns you have learned by using modified clustering form. Put a double bubble around the subject to be defined. Then put a single bubble around each pattern and add appropriate words. If a pattern is not relevant to what you are defining, leave it blank. If you want to expand your range of information, you could add a bubble for a simple dictionary definition and another for an etymological definition.

Order

The organization of your extended definition is likely to be one of emphasis, but it may be space or time, depending on the subject material, you may use just one pattern of development for the overall sequence. If so, you would use the principles of organization discussed in previous chapters.Introduction and development.

Introduction and Development

Consider these ways of introducing definition: with a question, with a statement of what it is not, with a statement of what it originally meant, or with a discussion of why a clear definition is important. You may use a combination of these ways or all of them before you continue with your definition.

Development is likely to represent one or more of patterns of narration, description, exposition (with its own subdivisions), and argumentation.

Whether you personalize a definition depends on your purpose and your audience. Your instructor may ask you to write about a word from a subjective or an objective viewpoint.

Notes:

Simple Definition

• No two words have exactly the same meaning
• Serveral forms of simple definitions can be blended into your discussion: basic dictionary, synonyms, direct explanations, indirect explanations, and analytical definitions.
• For a formal or an analytical defintion, specify the term, class, and characteristic(s).
• Avoid "is where" and "is when" definitions, circualr definition, and the use of words in the defintion than the word being defined.

Extended Definition

• Use clustering to consider other patterns of development that may be used to define your term.
• The organization of your extended definition is likely to be one of emphasis, but it may be space or time, depending on the subject material. You may use just one pattern of development for theoverall organization.
• Consider these ways of introducing a definition: with a question, with a statement of what it is not, with a statement of what is originally meant, or with a discussiton of why a clear definition is important. You may use a combination of these ways before you continuse with your definition.
• Whether you personalize a definition depends on your purpose and your audience. Your instructor may ask you to write about a word within the context of your own experience or to write about it from a detached, clinical viewpoint.

Source:Brandon, Lee. Brandon, Kelly. Paragraphs and Essays with Integrated Readings, Tenth Edition. Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008

Chapter 13 Comparison and Contrast: Showing Similarities and Differences

Chapter 13 Comparison and Contrast:
Showing Similarities and Differences

Writing Comparison and Contrast

Defining Comparison and Contrast

Comparison and contrast is a method of showing similarities and differences between subjects. Comparison is concerned with organizing and developing points of similarity; contrast serves the same function for difference. In some instances, a writing assignment may require that you cover only similarities or only difference. Occasionally, and instructor may ask you to separate one from the other. Usually, you will combine them within the larger design of your Paragraph or essay.

Working with the 4 Ps

Regardless of nature of your topic for writing, you will develop your ideas by using a procedure called the 4 Ps: purpose, points, patterns, and presentation.

Purpose

In most of your writing, the main purpose will be either to inform or to persuade.

Informative writing

If you want to explain something about a topic by showing each subject in relationship with others, then your purpose is informative.

Persuasive Writing

If you want to show that one actor, one movie, one writer, one president, one product, or one idea is better than another, your purpose is persuasive.

Points

The points are the ideas that will be applied somewhat equally to both sides of your comparison and contrast. They begin to emerge in freewriting, take on more precision in brainstorming, acquire a main position in listing, and assume the major part of the framework in the outline.

• Indicate your points of comparison or contrast, perhaps by listing.
• Eliminate irrelevant points.

Using listing as a technique for inding points is simple.

• Select one side of your two-part subject (the side you know better) and compose a list in relation to a basic treatment you expect to extend to your comparative study.
• Make a list of points (about Hitler as a fascist dictator).
• Decide which points can also be applied in a useful way to the other subject, in this case, mussolini. (You can also reverse the approach.)
• Select the points for your topic sentence or thesis.
• Incorporate these points into a topic sentence or thesis. (Your final topic sentence or thesis need not specify the points.)

Patterns

Now you willl choose two basic pattern of organization: (1) subject by subject (opposing) or (2) point by point (alternating). In long pagers you may mix the two patterns, but in most college assignments, you will probably select just one and make it your basic organizational plan.

Select the subject-by-subject or the point -by-point pattern after considering your topic and planned treatment. The point-by point pattern is usually preferred in essays. Only in long papers is there likely to be a mixture of patterns.

Compose an outline reflecting the pattern you select.

Use this basic outline for the subject-by-subject pattern:

I. Subject X
A. Point 1
B. Point 2

II. Subject Y
A. Point 1
B. Point 2

Use this basic outline for the point-by-point pattern:

I. Point 1
A. Subject X
B. Subject Y

II. Point 2
A. Subject X
B. Subject Y

Presentation

The two patterns of organization-subject by subject and point by point-are equally calid, and each has its strengths for presentation of ideas.

Practicing Patterns of Comparison and Contrast

Shorter sompositions such as paragraphs are likely to be arranged subject by subject, and longer simpositions such as essays are likely to be arranged point by point, although either pattern can work in either length. In longer works, especially in published writing, the two patterns may be mixed.

Give each point more or less equal treatment. Attention to each part of the outline will usually ensure balanced development.

Use transitional words and phrases to indicate comparison and contrast and to establish coherence.

Use a carefully stated topic sentence for a paragraph and a clear thesis for an essay. Each developmental paragraph should have a topic sentence broad enough to embrace its content.


Source:Brandon, Lee. Brandon, Kelly. Paragraphs and Essays with Integrated Readings, Tenth Edition. Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008

Chapter 12 Classification: Establishing Groups

Chapter 12 Classification:
Establishing Groups

Writing Classification

To explain by classification, you put persons, places, things, or ideas into groups or classes based on their characteristics, Whereas analysis by division deals with the characteristics of just one unit, classfication deals with more than one unit, so the subject is plural. To classify efficiently, try following this procedure:

• Select a plural subject.
• Decide on a principle for grouping the units of your subject.
• Establish the groups, or classes.
• Write about the classes.

Selecting Subject

When you say you have different kinds of neighbors, friends, teachers, bosses, or interests, you are classifying; that is, you are forming groups.

In naming the different kinds of people in your neighborhood, you might think of different grouping of your neighbors, the units. For example, some neighbors are friendly, some are meddlesome, and some are private. Some neighbors have yards like Japanese gardens, some have yards like neat-but-cozy parks, and some have yards like abandoned lots. Some neighbors are affluent, some are comfortable, and some are struggleing. Each of these sets is a classfication sysytem and could be the focus of one paragraph in your essay.

Using a Principle to Avoid Overlapping

All the sets in the preceding section are sound because each group is based on a single concern: neighborly involvement, appearance of the yard, or wealth. This one concern, or controlling idea, is called the principle. For example, the principle of neighborly involvement controls the grouping of neighbors into three classes: friendly, meddlesome, and private.

Establishing Classes

As you name your classes, rule our easy, unimaginative phrasing such as fast/medium/slow, good/ average/bad, and beautiful/ordinary/ugly. Look for creative, original phrases and unusual perspectives.

• Subject: Neighbors
• Principles:Neighborhood Involvement
• Classes: Friendly, Meddlesome, Private

• Subject:: Neighbors
• Principles:Yard upkeep
• Classes: Immaculate, neat, messy

• Subject: Neighbors
• Principles:Wealth
• Classes: Affluent, Comfortable, Struggling

Using simple and complex forms

Classification can take two forms: simple and complex. The simple form does not go beyond main division in its grouping.

Subject:Neighbors

Principles:Involvement

Classes:I.Friendly

........... II.Meddlesome

........... III.Private

Complex classification are based on one principle and then subgrouped by another related principle. The following example classifies neighbors by their neighborly involvement. It then subgroups the classes on the basis motive.

I. Friendly

A. Civic-minded

B. WAnt to be accepted

C. Gregarious


II. Meddlesome

A. Controlling

B. Emotionally needy

C. Suspicious of others


III. Private

A. Shy

B. Snobbish

C. Secretive


Notes:

Avoid uninteresting phrases for your classes, such as good/average/bad, fast/medium/slow, and beautiful/ordinart/ugly.

Avoid overlapping classes.

The Toman-numeral parts of your outline will probably indicate your classes.

• Class one
• Class two
• Class three

If you use subclasses, clearly indicate the different levels.

Following your outline, give somewhat equal (however much is appropriate) space to each class.


Source:Brandon, Lee. Brandon, Kelly. Paragraphs and Essays with Integrated Readings, Tenth Edition. Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008

Chapter 11 Cause and Effect: Determining Reasons and Outcomes

Chapter 11 Cause and Effect:
Determining Reasons and Outcomes

Writing Cause and Effect

Cause and effects deal with reasons and results; they are sometimes discussed together and sometimes separately. Like other forms of writing to explain, writing about causes and effects is based on natural thought processes. The shortest, and arguably the most provocative, poem in the English language – “I/ Why?" – is posed by an anonymous author about cause. Children are preoccupied with delightful and often exasperating "why" questions. Daily we encounter all kinds of causes and effects. The same subject may raise questions of both kinds.

The car won't start. Why? (Cause)

The car won' start. What now? (Effect)

Exploring and Organizing

One useful approach to developing a cause-and-effect analysis is listing. Write down the event, situation, or trend you are concerned about. Then on the left side, list the causes; on the right side, list the effects. From them you will select the main causes or effects for your paragraph or essay.

As you use prewriting techniques to explore your ideas, you need to decide whether your topic should mainly inform or mainly persuade. If you intend to inform, your tone should be coolly objective. If you intend to persuade, your tone should be subjective. In either case, you should take into account the views of your audience as you phrase your ideas. You should also take into account how much your audience understands about your topic and develop your ideas accordingly.

Composing a Topic or a Thesis

Now that you have listed your ideas under causes and effects, you are ready to focus on the causes, on the effects, or, occasionally, on both. You controlling idea, the topic sentence or the thesis, might be one of the cause:"It is not just chance; people have reasons for joining gangs." Later, as you use the idea, you would rephrase it to make it less mechanical, allowing it to become part of the flow of your discussion.

Writing an Outline

Your selection of a controlling idea takes you to the next writing phase: completing an outline or outline alternative. There you need to

• Consider kinds of causes and effects.
• Evaluate the importance of sequence.
• Introduces ideas and work with patterns.

In its most basic form, your outline, derived mainly from points in your listing., might look like one of the following:

Paragraph of causes

Topic sentence: It is not just chance; people have reasons for joining gangs.

I. Low delf-esteem (Cause 1)

II. Surrogate family (Cause 2)

III. Protection (Cause 3)

Essay of effects

Thesis: One is not a gang member without consequences.

I. Restricted vocational opportunities (Effect 1)

II. Life of crime (Effect 2)

III. Drug addiction (Effect 3)

IV. Ostracism from mainstream society (Effect 4)

Considering Kinds of Causes and Effects

Causes and effects can be primary or secondary, immediate or remote.

Primary or Secondary

Primary means "major," and secondary means "minor.” A primary cause may be sufficient to bring about the situation (subject). For example, infidelity may be a primary (and possibly sufficient by itself) cause of divorce for some people but not for others, who regard it as secondary. Or, if country X is attacked by country Y, the attack itself, as a primary cause, may be sufficient to bring on a declaration of war. But a diplomatic blunder regarding visas for workers may be secondary importance, and, through significant, it is certainly not enough to start a war over.

Immediate or Remote

Causes and effects often occur at a distance in time or place from the situation. The immediate effect of sulfur in the atmosphere may be atmospheric pollution, but the long – range, or remote, effect may be acid rain and the loss of species. The immediate cause of the greenhouse effect may be the depletion of the ozone layer, whereas the long – range, or remote, cause is the use of CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons, commonly called Freon, which are found in such items as Styrofoam cups). Even more remote, the ultimate cause may be the people who use the products containing Freon. Your purpose will determine the causes and effects appropriate for your essay.

Evaluating the Importance of Sequence

Order

The order of the causes and effects you discuss in your paper may be based on time, space, emphasis, or a combination.

• Time: If one stage leads to another, as in a discussion of the causes and effects of upper atmospheric pollution, your paper would be organized best by time.
• Space: In some instances, causes and effects are best organized by their relation in space.
• Emphasis: Some cause and effects may be more important than others.

In some situations, two or more factors (such as time and emphasis) may be linked; in that case, select the order that best fits what you are trying to say, or combine orders.

Introducing Ideas and Working with patterns

In presenting your controlling idea--probably near the beginning for a paragraph or in an introductory paragraph for an essay--you will almost certainly want to perform two functions:

Discuss your subject. For example, if you are writing about the causes or effects of divorce, begin with a statement about divorce as a subject.

Indicate whether you will concentrate on causes or effects or combine them. That indication should be made clear early in the paper. Concentrating on one--causes of effects--does not mean you will not mention the other; it only means you will emphasize one of them. You can being attention to your main concern(s)--causes, effects, or a combination--by repeating key words such as cause, reason, effect, result, consequence, and outcome.

Notes:

Do not conclude that something is an effect merely because it follows something else..

Emphasize your main concern(s)-causes, effects, or a combination-by repeating key words such as cause, reason, effect, result, consequence, and outcome.
Causes and effects can be primary or secondary, immediate or remote.

The order of causes and effects in your paper may be based on time, spacem emphasis, or a combination


Source:Brandon, Lee. Brandon, Kelly. Paragraphs and Essays with Integrated Readings, Tenth Edition. Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008

Chapter 10 Process Analysis: Writing About Doing

Chapter 10 Process Analysis: Writing About Doing

Writing Process Analysis

If you need to explain how to do something or how something was (is) done, you will engage in process analysis. You will break down your topic into stages, explaining each so that your reader can duplicate or understand the process.

Two Types of Process Analysis: Directive and Informaitive

• Directive process analysis explains how to do something. As the name suggests, it gives directions for the reader to follow. It says, for example, "Read me, and you can bake a pie [tune up your care, read a book critically, write an essay, take come medicine." Because it is presented directly to the reader, it usually addresses the reader as "you," or it implies the "you" by saying something such as "First [you] purchase a large pumpkin, and the [you]...." In the same ways, this study addresses you or implies "you" because it is a long how-to-do-it (directive process analysis) statement.
• Informative process analysis explains how something was (is) done by giving data (information). Whereas the directive process analysis tells you what to do in the future, the informative process analysis tells you what has occurred or what is occurring. If it is something in nature, such as the formation of a mountain, you can read and understand the process by which it emerged. In this type of process analysis, you do not tell the reader what to do; therefore, you will seldom use the words you or your.

Working with stages

Preparation or Background

In the first stage of firective process analysis, list the materials or equipment needed for the porcess and discuss the necessary setup arrangements. For some topics, this stage will also provide technical terms and definitions. The degree to which this stage is detailed will depend on both the subject itself and the expected knowledge and experience of the projected audience.

Informative process analysis may begin with background or context rather than with preparation. For example, a statement explaining how mountains form might begin with a description of a flat protion of the earth made up of plates that are arranged like a jigsaw puzzle.

Steps or Sequence

The actual process will be presented here. Each step or srquence must be explained clearly and directly, and phrased to accommodate the audience. The language, especially in directive process analysis, is likely to be simple and concise; however, avoid dropping words such as and, a, an, the, and of, and thereby lapsinig into "recipe language." The steps may be accompanied by explanations about why certain procedures are necessary and how not following directions carefully can lead to trouble.

Order

The order will usually be chronological (time based) in some sense. Certain transitional words are commonly used to promote coherece: first, second, third, then, soon, now, next, finally, at last, therefore, consequently, and-especially for informative process analysis-words used to show the passage of time such as hours, days of the week, and so on.


Basic Forms

Consider using this form for the directive process (with topics such as how to cook something or how to fix something).

How to prepare Spring Rolls

I. Preparation

A. Suitable cooking area

B. Utensils, equipment

C. Spring roll wrappers

D. Vegetables, sauce

II. Steps

A. Season vegetables

B. Wrap vegetables

C. Fold wrappers

D. Deep-fry rolls

E. Serve rolls with sauce

Consider using this form for the informative process (with topics such as how a volcano functions or how a battle was won).

How Coal is Formed

I. Background or context

• Accumulation of land plants
• Bacterial action
• Muck formation

II. Sequence

• Lignite from pressure
• Bituminous from deep burial and heat
• Anthracite from metamorphic conditions

Combined Forms

Combination process analysis occurs when directive process analysis and informative process analysis are blended, usually when the writer personalizes the account.

Useful Prewriting Procedure

All the strategies of freewriting, brainstorming, and clustering can be useful in writing a process analysis. However, if you already know your subject well, you can simply make two lists, one headed Preparation or background and the other steps or sequence. Then jot down ideas for each. After you have finished with your listing, you can delete parts, combine parts, and rearrange parts for better order. That editing of your lists will lead directly to a formal outline you can use in Stage Two of the writing process. Following is an example of listing for the topic of how to prepare spring rolls.

Notes:

Listinig is a useful prewriting activity for process analysis. Begin with the romannumeral headings indicated in basic forms.

The order of a process analysis will usually be chronological (time based) in some sense. Certain transitional words are commonly used to promote coherence: first, seond, third, then, soon, now, next, finally, at last, therefore, and consequently.


Source:Brandon, Lee. Brandon, Kelly. Paragraphs and Essays with Integrated Readings, Tenth Edition. Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008

Chapter 9 Analysis by Division: Examining the Parts

Chapter 9 Analysis by Division:
Examining the Parts

Writing Analysis by Division

Procedure

If you need to explain how something works or exists as a unit, you will write an analysis by division. you will break down a unit (your subject) into its parts and explain how each part functions in relation to the operation or existence of the whole. the most important word here is unit. you begin with something that can stand alone or can be regarded separately. the following procedure will guide you in writing an analysis by division: Move from subject to principle, to division, to relationship.

• Step 1. Begin with something that is a unit (subject).
• Step 2. State one principle by which the unit can function.
• Step 3. Divide the unit into parts according to that principle.
• Step 4. Discuss each of the parts in relation to the unit.

Organization

In an essay of analysis by division, the main parts are likely to be the main points of your outline or main extensions of your cluster. If they are anything else, reconsider your organization..

Sequence of Parts

The order in which you discuss the parts will vary according to the nature of the unit and the way in which you view it.

• Time: the sequence of the parts in your paragraph or essay can be mainly chronological, or time-based (if you are dealing with something that functions on its own, such as a heart, with the parts presented in relation to stages of the function.)
• Speace: If your unit is a visual object, especially if, like a pencil, it does nothing by itself, you may discuss the parts in the relation to speace.
• Emphasis: Because the most emphatic location of any piece of writing is the end( the second most emphatic point is the beginning), consider placing the most signigicant part of the unit at the end.

Two Uses of Analysis by Division

From the wide range of uses of analysis by division mentioned in the introduction, two are featured in the chapter: the restaurant review and the short story review.

Restaurant Review.

Definition

The restaurant review is an article of one or more paragraphs that describes three elements: ambiance, service and food.

• Ambiance is the atmosphere, mood, or feeling of a place. For restaurant, it may begin with landscaping and architecture. Ambiance is certainly produced by what is inside, such as the furnishing, seating, style, upkeep, sounds, sights, smells, behavior of other customers, and management style--whatever produces that mood or the feeling, even if it is franchise plastic and elevator music.
• Service is mainly concerned with food delivery and those who do it: their attitude, manners, helpfulness, promptness, accuracy, and availability. Self-service or pickup establishments would be judged by similar standards.
• Food is the emphasis--its variety, quality, price, and presentation.

Writing the Review

• Use first person (I) as you relate your experience in a particular restaurant chain.
• If possible, base your evaluation on more than one item.
• While you are dining, use a simple outline or listing to make sure you have information on ambiance, service, food.
• You need not separeate comments on ambiance, service, and food or present them in a particualr order, but be specific in your details and examples.

Shot Story Review

A short story is a brief, imaginative narrative, with numerous functional elements (all of which can be analyzed): setting, conflict, character, plot, theme, and point of view.

The overarching element of the short story is usually the plot. In the simplest terms, the plot begins when a character in a setting experiences (with or without being aware) a conflict. The plot develops as the character deals with the conflict in a single scene or sequence of scenes. All of the narrative is related from a first person (I) or a third person (he, she, they) point of view. The entire presentation has a theme, the underlying generalization or fictional point.

Short stories are fiction, meaning they are a report of what has actually happened, though they may be based squarely on an author's experience.

Writing the Short Story Review

Develop your ideas by referring directly to the story; by explaining; and by using summaries, paraphrases, and quotations. Avoid the temptation to oversummarize.

Use the present tense in relating events in the story. For example, "Jude is trying to survive," not "Jude was trying to survive." Use quotation marks around the words you borrow and provide documentation if firected to do so by your instructor.

A short story review is mainly analytical, it may include your speculation and call forth references to your personal expericence.

Notes:

The restaurant review will almost vertainly use the analysis-by-division pattern.

• The main parts of a typical review are ambiance, service and food.
• The review should contain specific descriptive details, examples, and information form the menu.

The short story review is likely to include analysis by division.

• In a short paper, you would usually use one or more of the short story's elements: setting, conflict, characters, plot, point of view, and theme.
• Develop your ideas by referring directly to the story; by explaining; and by using summaries, paraphrases, and quotations.
• Use the present tense in relating events in the story.

Source:Brandon, Lee. Brandon, Kelly. Paragraphs and Essays with Integrated Readings, Tenth Edition. Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008

Chapter 8 Exemplification: Writing with Examples

Chapter 8 Exemplification:
Writing with Examples

Writing Exemplification

Exemplification means using examples to explain, convince, or amuse. Lending interest and information to writing, exemplification is one of the most common and effective ways of developing ideas. We also need to know the characteristics of good examples. As supporting information, the best examples are specific, vivid, and representative. In the end, let's mention that the techniques for finding example are listing and clustering.

Use examples to explain, convince, or amuse.

Use examples that are vivid, specific, and representative.

• Vivid examples attract attention.
• Specific examples are identifiable.
• Representative examples are typical and therefore the basis for generalization.

Tie your examples clearly to your thesis.

Draw your examples from what you have read, heard, and experienced.

Brainatorm a list or cluter of possible examples before you write.

The order and number of your examples will depend on the purpose stated in your topic sentence or thesis.

Use the writing process

• Write and then revise your paragraph or essay as many times as necessary for coherence, Language (usage tone and diction), Unity, Emphasis, Support, and Sentence (CLUESS).
• Read your work aloud to hear and correct any grammatical errors or awkwardsounding sentences.
• Edit any problems in fundamentails, such as Capitalization, Omissions, Punctuation, and Spelling (COPS).

Source:Brandon, Lee. Brandon, Kelly. Paragraphs and Essays with Integrated Readings, Tenth Edition. Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008

Chapter 7 Descriptive Narration: Moving Through Spece and Time

Chapter 7 Descriptive Narration:
Moving Through Spece and Time


Writing Descriptive Narration

As patterns of writing, description and narration are almost always associated. We would almost never describe something without relating it to somenthing else, especially to a story, or narrative.

What is the Narrative?

The narrative is an account of an incident or a series of incidents that make up a complete and significant action.

Narrative Patterns

• Situation - is the background for the action.
• Couflict - is friction, such as a problem in the surroundings, with another person, or within the individual.
• Struggle - which need not be physical, is the manner of dealing with conflict.
• Outcome - is the result of the struggle.
• Meaning - is the significance of the story, which may be deeply philosophical or simple, stated or implied.

Verb Tense

• Most narratives (often summaries) based on literature are written in the present tense.
• Most historical events and personal experiences are writtem in the past tense.

Point of View

Point of View shows the writer's relationship to the material and the subject, and it usually doesn't change within a passage.

Dialogue

Dialogue is used purposefully in narration to characterize, particularize, and support ideas.

Descriptive Patterns

Descriptive is the use of words to represent the appearance or nature of something.

Types of Descriptive

• Effective Objective Description presents the subject clearly and dirctly as it exists outside the realm of emotions.
• Effective Subjective Description is also concerned with clarity and it may be direct, but it conveys a feeling about the subject and sets a mood while making a point.

Techniques of Descriptive Writing

• Emphasize a single point (dominant impression).
• Choose our words with care
• Eatablish a perspective from which to describe our subject (point of view).
• Position the details for coherence (order).

Use these techniques or devices as appropriate

• Images that appeal to the senses (sight smell taste hearing touch) and other details to advance action.
• Diaglogue
• ransitional devices (such as next,soon,after,later,then,finally,when,following) to indicate chronological order.
• Give details concerning action.
• Be consistent with point of view and verb tense.
• Keep in mind that most narratives written as college assignments will have an expository purpose, that is, they explain a specific idea.
• Consider working with a short time frame for short writing assignments. The scope would usually be no more than one incident of brief duration for one paragraph. For example, writing about an entire graduation ceremony might be too complicated, but concentrating on the moment when you walked forward to receive the diploma or the moment when the relatives and friends come down on the field could work very well.

Description

In objective description, use direct, practical language appealing mainly to the sense of sight.

In subjective description, appeal to the reader's feelings, especially through the use of figurative language and the use of images of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch.

Use concretem, specific words if appropriate. Apply these questions to your writing:

• What is the subject?
• What is the dominant impression i am trying to convery?
• What details support the dominant impression?
• What is the situation?
• What is the order of the details?
• What is the point of view? (first or third person? Involved or objective?)

Consider giving the description a narrative framework. Include some action.


Source:Brandon, Lee. Brandon, Kelly. Paragraphs and Essays with Integrated Readings, Tenth Edition. Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008

Chapter 6 Writing the Essay

Chapter 6 Writing the Essay

The Essay Defined in Relation to the Developmental Paragraph

The main parts of the developmental paragraph are the topic sentence (subject and treatment), support (evidence and reasoning), and, often, a concluding sentence. Now let us use that framework to define the essay: The essay is a group of paragraphs, each withthe function of supporting a controlling idea called the thesis.These are the main parts of the essay:

• Introduction: presents the thesis, which states the controlling idea--much like the topic sentence for a paragraph but on a larger scale.
• Development: introduces evidence and reasoning-- the support.
• Transition: point out division of the essay (seldom used in the short essay).
• Conclusion: provides an appropriate ending--often a restatement of a reflection on the thesis.

Essay may also assume different patterns. It may be primarily one form of discourse: narrarion, description, exposition, or argumentation. It may also be a combination, varying from paragraph to paragraph and even within paragraphs. Regardless of its pattern, the essay will be unified around a central idea, or thesis. The thesis is the assertion or controlling purpose. All with the paragraph, the main point-here, the thesis-will almost certainly be stated, usually in the first paragraph, and again-more often then not-at the end of the essay. The essay on Elvis illustrates this pattern.

The only difference in concept between the topic sentence and the thesis is one of scope: The topic sentence unifies and controls the content of the paragraph, and the thesis does the same for the essay. Because the essay is longer and more complex than the typical paragraph, the thesis may suggest a broader scope and may more explicitly indicate the parts.

Special Paragraphs Within the Essay

Introducations

A good introductory paragraph does many things. It attracts the reader's interest, states or points toward the thesis, and moves the reader smoothly into the body paragraphs, the developmental paragraphs. Here are some introductory methods:

• Direct statement of the thesis
• Background
• Definition of term
• Quotation
• Shocking statement
• Question and Definition

A combination of two or more methods on this list

Conclusions

your concluding paragraph should give the reader the feeling that you have said all you want to say about your subject. Like introductory paragraphs, concluding paragraphs are of various types. Here are some effective ways of concluding a paper:

• Conclude with a final paragraph or sentence that is a logical part of the body of the paper; that is, one that functions as part of the support.
• Conclude with a restatement of the thesis in slightly different words, perhaps pointing our its significance or making applications.
• Conclude with a review of the main points of the discussion--a kind of summary. This is appropriate only if the complexity of the essay makes a summary neccssary.
• Conclude with an anecdote related to the thesis.
• Conclude with a quotation related to the thesis.

There are also many ineffective ways of concluding an essay. Do not conclude with the following:

• a summary when a summar is unnecessary
• a complaint about the assignment or an apology about the quality of the work
• an afterthought--that is, something you forgot to discuss in the body of the essay
• a tagged conclusion- that is, a sentence beginning with such phrases as In conclusion, To conclude, I would like to conclude this discussion, or Last but not least
• a conclusion that raises additional problems that should have been settled during the discussion

The conclusion is an integral part of the essay and is often a reflection of the introduction. If you have trouble with the conclusion, reread your introduction. Then work for a roundness or completeness in the whole paper.

You can depend on the three stages of the writing process to help you write paragraphs and essays. In the first stage, you are encouraged to explore relevant ideas and perhaps generate a topic sentence or thesis. In the second stage, you move naturally to a precise statement of your topic sentence or thesis and to an organized plan for your support material. Finally, you do the actual writing, revising, and editing of your paragraph or essay. This process also allows for recursive movement: You can go back and forth as you rework your material.

Source:Brandon, Lee. Brandon, Kelly. Paragraphs and Essays with Integrated Readings, Tenth Edition. Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008

Chapter 5 Writing the Paragraph

Chapter 5 Writing the Paragraph


The Paragraph Defined

Defining the word paragraph is no easy task because there are four different kinds of paragraphs, each one having a different purpose:

• Introductory: Usually the first paragraph in an essay, it fives the necessary background and indicated the main idea, called the thesis.
• Developmental: A unit of several sentences, it expands on an idea.
• Transitional: A very brief paragraph, it merely directs the reader from one point in the essay to another.
• Concluding: Usually the last paragraph in an essay, it makes the final comment on the topic.

Basic Paragraph Patterns

The most important point about a developmental paragraph is that it should state an idea and support it. The support, or development, can take several forms, all of which you already use. It can:

• give an account (tell a story).
• describe people, things, or events.;
• explain by analyzing, giving examples, comparing, defining, showing how to do something, or showing causes.
• argue that something should be done or resisted, that something is true or untrue, or that something is good or bad.

You will not find it difficult to write solid paragraphs once you understand that good writing requires that main ideas have enough support so that your reader can understand how you have arrived at your main conclusions.

Usually the developmental paragraph will be indented only one time. However, you will note in your reading that some writers, especially journalists, break a paragraph into parts and indent more than once in developing a single idea. That arrangement, called a paragraph unit, is fairly common in magazine and newspaper articles (frequently with each sentence indented) but less so in college writing.

The development paragraph is a group of sentences, each with the function of stating or supporting a controlling idea called the topic sentence.


The developmental paragraph contains three parts: the subject, the topic sentence, and the support.


The two main partterns of the developmental paragraph are (A) topic sentence and support, and (B) topic sentence, support, and cocluding sentence.

Pattern A Pattern B

Topic sentence ....................................Topic sentence

Support ................................................Support

Support ................................................Support

Support ................................................Support

..................................................Concluding sentence.


The topic sentence includes what you are writing about-the subject-and what you intend to do with that subject-the treatment.

The outline is a pattern for showing the relationship of ideas. It can be used to reveal the structure and content of something you read or to plan the structure and content of something you intend to write. The following topic outline shows how the parts are arranged on the page as well as how the ideas in it relate to one another.

Main Idea (will usually be the topic sentence for the paragraph or the thesis for the essay)

I. Major support
A. Minor support

1. Details (specific information of various kinds)
2. Details

B. Minor support

1. Details
2. Details

II. Major support

A. Minor support

B. Minor support

1. Details
2. Details
3. Details

Source:Brandon, Lee. Brandon, Kelly. Paragraphs and Essays with Integrated Readings, Tenth Edition. Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008

Chapter 4 The Writing Process: Stage Three Writing/Revising/Editing

Chapter 4 The Writing Process: Stage Three
Writing/Revising/Editing

Writing the First Draft

In Stage Three of the writing process, your work begins to assume tis final form. Use your outline, or alternative form of organization, as a guide in composing your paragraph or essay. For college work, your controlling idea should almost always be clearly stated early in the paper. The Toman-numeral parts of the outline will provide the framework for the main ideas of a paragraph assignment or for the topic sentence ideas in an essay. Supporting information-details, examples, quotations-is likely to be used in approximately the same order as it appears in the outline. Keep in mind that you should not be bound absolutely by the outline. Outline often need to be redone just as your initial writing needs to be redone.

Most writers do best when they go straight through their first draft without stopping to polish sentences or fix small problems. Try that approach. Using the information in your outline and ideas as they occur to you, go ahead and simply write a paragraph or an essay. Do not be slowed down by possible misspelled worlds, flawed punctuation, or ungraceful sentences. You can repair those problems later.

Whether you write in longhand or on a computer depends on what works best for you. Some writers prefer to do a first draft by hand, mark it up, and then go to the computer. Computers save you time in all aspects of your writing, especially revision.

Revising

The term first draft suggests quite accurately that there will be other drafts, or versions, of your writing. Only in the most dire situations, such as an in-class examination when you have time for only one draft, should you be satisfied with a single effort.

What you do beyond the first draft is revision and editing. Revision includes checking for organization, content, and language effectiveness. Editing (discussed later in this chapter) involves a final correcting of simple mistakes and fundamentals such as spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. In practice, editing and revising are not always separate activities, although writers usually wair untill the next-to-the-last draft to edit some minor details and attend to other small points that can be easily overlooked.

Successful revision almost always involves intense, systematic rewriting. You should learn to look for certain aspects of skillful writing as you enrich and repair your first draft. To help you recall these aspects so that you can keep them in mind and examine your material in a comprehensive fashion, this is offers a memory device-an acronym in which each letter suggests an important features of good writing quickly. Soon you will be able to recall and refer to them automatically. These features need not be attended to individually when you revise your writing, although they may be, and they need not be attended to in the order presented here. The acronym is CLUESS (pronounced "clues"), which provides this guide: Coherence, Language, Unity, Emphasis, Support, and Sentences.

Coherence

Conherence is the orderly relationship of ideas, each leading smoothly and logically to the next. You must weave your ideas together so skillfully that the reader can easily see how one idea connects to another and to the central thought. This central thought, of course, is expresed in the topic sentence for a paragraph and in the thesis for an essay. You can achieve coherence efficiently by useing the following:

• Overall pattern
• Transitional terms
• Repetition of key words and important ideas
• Pronouns
• Consistent point of view

Overall pattern

Three basic patterns prevail: time (chronology), space (spatial arrangement), and emphasis (strss on ideas). Sometimes you will combine patterns. The coherence of each can be strengthened by using transitional words such as the following:

• For a time pattern: first, then, soon, later, following, after, at that point
• For a space pattern: up, down, right, left, beyond, behind, above, below
• For an emphasis pattern: first, second, third, most, more

Transitional Terms

By using transitional terms you can help reader move easily from one idea to another.

Repetition of Key Words and Important Ideas

Reapeat key words and phrases to keep the main subject in the reader's mind and to maintain the continuity necessart for a smooth flow of logical thought.

Pronouns

Pronouns, such as he, her, them, and it, provide natural connecting links in your writing. Why? Every pronoun refers to an earlier noun (called the antecedent of the pronoun) and thus carries the reader back to that earlier thought.

Consistent Point of View

Point of view shows the writer's relationship to the material, the subject, and it susally does not change within a passage.

Language

In the revision process, the word language takes on a special meaning, referring to usage, tone, and diction. If you are writing with a computer, consider using the thesaurus feature, but keep in mind that no two words share precisely the same meaning.

Usage

Usage is the kind of general style of language we use. All or almost all of us operate on the principle of apropriateness.

Usage is animportant part of writing and revising. Judage what is appropriate for your audience and your purpose. What kind of language is expected? What kind of language is best suited for accomplishing your purpose?

Tone

Tone means that the sound of speaker's voice and maybe the language choices conveyed disrespect to the listener. The tone could have represented any number of feelings about the subject matter and the audience. Tone can have as many variations as you can have feelings: it can, for example, be sarcastic, humorous, serious, cautionary, objective, groveling, angry, bitter, sentimental, enthusiastic, somber, outraged, or living.

Diction

Diction is word choice. If you use good diction, you are finding the best words or a particular purpose in addressing a certain audience. There is some overlap, therefore, between usage and diction.

Unity

A controlling idea, stated or implied, establishes unity in every piece of good writing. It is the certral point around which the supporting material revolves. For a paragraph, the elements are the topic sentence and the supporting sentences.

Do not confuse unity and coherence. Whereas coherence involves the clear movement of thought from sentence to sentence or paragraph to paragraph, unity means staying on the topic. A unified and coherent outline would become incoherent if the parts were scrambled, but the outline trchnically would still be unified. These qualities of writing go together. You should stay on the topic and make clear connections.

Emphasis

Emphasis, a feature of most good writing, helps the reader focus on the main ideas by stressing what is important. It can be achieved in several ways buy mainly through placement of key ideas and through repetition.

• Placement of ideas

The most emphatic part of any passage, whether a sentence or a book, is the last part, because we usually remember most easily what we read last. The second most emphatic part of a passage is the beginning, because our mind is relatively uncluttered when we read it. For these reasons, among others, the topic sentence or thesis is usually at the beginning of a piece, and it is often restated at the end in an echoing statement.

• Repetition of Key Word and Important Ideas

Repetition is one of the devices in your writer's toolbox. The words repeated may be single words, phrases, slightly altered sentences, or synonyms. Repetition keeps the dominant subject in the reader's mind and maintains the continuity necessary for a smooth flow of logical thought.

Support

A good developmental paragraph fulfills its function by developing the topic sentence. An essay is complete when it fulfills its function of developing a thesis. Obviously, you will have to judge what is complete. With some subjects, you will need little supporting and explanatory material. With some subjects, you will need little supporting and explanatory material. With others. you will need much more. Incompleteing enough support, be sure that the points of support are presented in the best possible squence.

Sentences

In the revision process, the word sentences refers to the variety of sentence patterns and the correctness of sentence structure.

• Variety of Sentences

A passage what offers a variety of simple and complicated sentences satisfies the reader, just as various simple and complicated foods go together in a good meal. The writer can introduce variety by including both short and long sentences, by using different sentence patterns, and by beginning sentences in different ways.

• Length

In revising, examine your writing to make sure that sentences vary in length. A series of short sentences is likely to make the flow seem choppy and the thoughts disconnected. However, single short sentences often work very well. Because they are uncluttered with supporting points and qualifications, they are often direct and forceful. Consider using short sentences to emphasize points and to introduce ideas. Use longer sentences to provide details or show how ideas are related.

• Variety of Sentence Patterns

Good writing includes a variety of sentence patterns. Although there is no limit to the number of sentences you can write, you may be pleased to discover that the conventional English sentence appears in only four basic patterns.

Each of the four sentence patterns listed has its own purposes and strengths. The simple sentence conveys a single idea. The compound sentence shows, by its structure, that who somewhat equal ideas are connected. The complex sentence shows that one idea is less important than another; that is, it is dependent on, or subordinate to, the idea in the main clause. the compound-complex sentence has the scope of oth the compound sentence and the complex sntence.

• Variety of Sentence Beginnings

Another way to provide sentence variety is to use different kinds of beginnings. A new beginning may or may not be accompanied by a changed sentence pattern. Among the most common beginnings, other than starting with the subject of the main clause, are those using a prepositional phrase, a dependent clause, or a conjunctive adverb such as therefore, however, or infact.

• Problems with Sentences

A complete sentence must generally include an independent clause, which is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb and can stand alone. Some groups of words may sound interesting, but they are not really sentences. Three common problem groupings are the fragment, the comma splice, and the run-on.


Editing

Editing, the final stage of the writing process, involves a careful examination of your work. Look for problems with capitalization, omissions, punctuation, and spelling (COPS)

Because you can find spelling errors in writing by others more easily than you can in your own, a computerized spell checker is quite useful. However, it will not detect wrong words that are correctly spelled, so you should always proofread. It is often helpful to leave the piece for a few hours or a day and then reread it as if it were someone else's work.

Source:Brandon, Lee. Brandon, Kelly. Paragraphs and Essays with Integrated Readings, Tenth Edition. Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008

Chapter 3 The Writing Process: Stage Two Writing the Controlling Idea/Organizing and Developing Support

Chapter 3 The Writing Process: Stage Two
Writing the Controlling Idea/Organizing and Developing Support

The most important advice can offer you is state your controlling idea and support it. If you have no controlling idea-no topic sentence for a paragraph or thesis for an essay-your writing will be unfocused, and your readers may be confused or bored. But if you organize your material well, so that is supports and develops your controlling idea, you can present your views to your reader with interest, clarity, and persuasis.

Stating the controlling idea and organizing support can be accomplished effectively and systematically. How? This capter presents several uncomplicated techniques you can use in Stage Two of the writing process.

Defining the Controlling Idea

If you tell a friend you are about to write paragraph or an essay, be prepared to hear the question "What are you writing about?" If you answer, "Public schools," your friends will probably be satisfied with the answer but not very interested. The problem is that the phrases public schools offers no sense of limitation or direction. It just indicates your subject, not what you are going to do with it. An effective controlling statement, called the topic sentence for a paragraph and the thesis for an essay, has both a subject and a treatment. The subject is what you intend to write about. The treatment is what you intend to do with your subject.

Writing the Controlling Idea as a Topic Sentence or Thesis

The effective controlling idea presents a treatment that can ne developed with supporting information. The ineffective one is vague, too broad, or too narrow.

In writing a sound controlling idea, be sure that you have included both the subject and the treatment and that the whole statement is not vague, too broad, or too narrow. Instead, it should be phrased so that it invites development. Such phrasing can usually be achieved by limiting time, place, or aspect. The limitation may apply to the subject (instead of schools in general, focus on a particular school0, or it may apply to the treatment (you might compare the subject to something else, as in "do as well academically"). You might limit both the subject and the treatment.

Organizing Support

You have now studied the first part of the even-word sentence "State your controlling idea and support it." In the first stage of the writing process (described in Chaper 2), you explored many ideas, experimented with them, and even developed some approaches to writing about them. You may also have gathered information through reading and note taking. The trchniques of that ifrst stage have already given you some initial support. The next step is to organzie your ideas and information into a paragraph or an essay that is interesting, understandable, and compelling.

Three tools can help you organize your supporting material: listing (a form of brainstorming), clustering, and outlining. You will probably use only one of these organizing tools, depending on course requirements, the assignment, or individual preference.

Listing

Lists are the simplest and most flexible of the organizing tools. Listing need be nothing more than a column of items presenting support material in a useful sequence (time, space, or importance). As you work with your supporting material, you can cross out words or move them around on the list. By leaving vertical space between items, you can easily insert new examples and details.

Clustering

Chains of circles radiating from a central double-bubbled circle from a cluster that shows the relationship of ideas.

Outlining

Outlining is the tool that most people think of in connection with organizing. Because it is flexible and widely used, it will receive the most emphasis in this stage of the writing process. Outlining does basically the same thing that listing and clustering do. Outlining divides the controlling idea into section of support material, divides those sections further, and establishes sequence.

An outline is a framework that can be used in two ways: (1) It can indicate the plan for a paragraph or an essay you intend to write, and (2) it can show the organization of a passage you are reading. The outline of a reading passage and the outline as a plan for writing are identical in form. If you intend to write a summary of a reading selection, then a single outline might be used for both purpose.

The two main outline forms are the sentence outline (each entry is complete sentence) and the topic outline (each entry is a key word or phrase). The topic outline is more common in writing paragraphs and essays.

In the following topic utline, notice first how the parts are arranged on the page: the indentations, the number and letter sequences, the punctuation, and the placement of words.

The most important advice this book can offer you is state your controlling idea and support it. If you have no controlling idea-no topic sentece for a paragraph or thesis for an essay-your writing will be unfocused and your readers may be confused or bored. But if you organize your material well, so that it supports and develops your controlling idea, you can present your views to your readers with interest, clarity, and persuasion.


An effective controlling statement, called the topic sentence for a paragraph and the thesis for an essay, has both a subject and a treatment. The subject is what you intend to write about. The treatment is what you intend to do with your subject.

Three tools can help you organize your supporting material: listing, clustering, and outlining.

• listing presents support material as a column of items in a useful squence (time, speace, or importance).
• Clustering uses chains of circles radiating from a central double-bubbled circle to show the relationship of ideas.
• Outlining can be used in two ways: to plan the structure and content of something you intend to write and to reveal the structure and content fo something you read.

Main Idea (will usually be the topic sentence for a paragraph or the thesis for an esasy)


I. Major support

A. Minor support

• Explanation, detail, example
• Explanation, detail, example

B. Minor support

• Explanation, detail, example
• Explanation, detail, example

II. Major support

A. Minor support

• Explanation, detail, example
• Explanation, detail, example

B. Minor support

• Explanation, detail, example
• Explanation, detail, example

Source:Brandon, Lee. Brandon, Kelly. Paragraphs and Essays with Integrated Readings, Tenth Edition. Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008