From Idea to Essay Notes

From Idea to Essay notes
Chapter 1 “The Writing Process” Pgs. 3-12
Expository writing * Type of writing that explains, discusses, describes, analyzes, and argues the bulk of everyday tasks that you’ll most likely be called upon to do in your career. * Includes every kind of workaday job, ranging from memos and descriptions to evaluations summaries and formal proposals. * Mostly pragmatic and unglamorous.
The AIM of good writing * CLARITY * Ways to achieve clarity: repeated writing * They key to composing a paper is by repeatedly going back and forth over the text until you have it ‘right’. This is known as Recursive. * Good writing cannot be taught, it can be learned.
Process and Structure of Writing * Process is the preparation made before putting the words down on paper. * This prewriting process involves exploring, inventing, scribbling at random, focusing ideas, or any other way of coming to terms with the writing assignment. * Structure is the form in which the writer’s ideas are molded and expressed (the essay).
How many rough drafts: Instructors suggest at least three.
Personal vs. Objective Writing * Personal is the writing in which you and your feelings and opinions take stage. The opinions you express in personal writing do not need to be supported or proved. * Objective focuses impartially on a subject. It expresses and supports your opinions on the subject. When an opinion is given, you must say why you hold it and justify it with facts with the views of others.
Generating Ideas with Journal Writing * Journal – personal record of your thoughts. It should be a collection of your personal observations and innermost feelings. * First step to journal writing: keep a notebook handy. Recording your thoughts on the spur of the moment is the key to journal writing. * Guidelines include: record your impressions about life, write on a fairly basis (when you feel like it), writing down anything you feel like saying. * The point is to connect your feelings with daily life.
Assembling a Portfolio * Method of gathering samples of your best work in a folder to be reviewed and judged later. This gives practice to you at evaluating your own writing. * It preserves samples of your college writing long after you leave school.
Chapter 3 “Elements of Writing” Pgs. 32-46
Purpose
* Always included in formal writing. A purpose may be implied in the presentation of the material or announced in the opening lines. * Forgetting one’s purpose is a common mistake that writers make. * Having a clear purpose for writing benefits both the writer and the reader. The writer starts out with a makeshift map that depicts the limits of coverage. If purpose is used the way it will the writer where to go and where not to. * This type of communication, particularly in writing is what practical readers expect. * What a writer should get from a well-composed purpose is a guide for choosing words, sentences, and details.
Audience
* It is in your best option to tailor your work to a specific audience. Tailoring your work means presenting it in a style and form appropriate to its readers. * Who are my readers? What do they know about my subject? What am I trying to say to them, and how can I best say it? These are the questions a write asks before beginning an assignment. * Who does the student right for? – Audience assigned by instructor.
Pattern
* Pattern is the specific rhetorical strategy you use to develop your idea into an essay. * The pattern serve a useful function by allowing the student a second way of conceptualizing the writing task. * There are nine rhetorical patterns.
Narration– A paragraph or essay that tells a story sometimes from the third-person point of view
Description– A paragraph or essay that uses dominant impression as central theme to unify its descriptive details
Example – A paragraph or essay that begins with a generalization, which it then supports with specific cases (the generalization occurs in the first sentence)
Definition- A paragraph or essay that focuses on specifying the characteristics of the subject- first by showing the general category it belongs to and then by distinguishing it from other items in the same category
Comparison/Contrast- A paragraph or essay that examines items for similarities and differences. (Ex: on the other hand, likewise, similarly)
Process- Any writing that gives step-by-step instructions on how to do something or how something happened
Classification- Must be based on a single principle, and be complete
Causal Analysis- Relates two events by asserting that the occurrence of one event is the reason for occurrence of the other
Argumentation- The final strategy for developing a paragraph or an essay, involves persuading the reader to the writers viewpoint
Narration– A paragraph or essay that tells a story sometimes from the third-person point of view
Description– A paragraph or essay that uses dominant impression as central theme to unify its descriptive details
Example – A paragraph or essay that begins with a generalization, which it then supports with specific cases (the generalization occurs in the first sentence)
Definition- A paragraph or essay that focuses on specifying the characteristics of the subject- first by showing the general category it belongs to and then by distinguishing it from other items in the same category
Comparison/Contrast- A paragraph or essay that examines items for similarities and differences. (Ex: on the other hand, likewise, similarly)
Process- Any writing that gives step-by-step instructions on how to do something or how something happened
Classification- Must be based on a single principle, and be complete
Causal Analysis- Relates two events by asserting that the occurrence of one event is the reason for occurrence of the other
Argumentation- The final strategy for developing a paragraph or an essay, involves persuading the reader to the writers viewpoint

What happened | Narration | What is the dominant impression? | Description | What are some typical instances of it? | Example | What is it? What does it mean? | Definition | How are they alike? How do they differ? | Comparison/contrast | How did it happen? How does it work?To what type/category does it belong? | Process Classification/Division | What caused it to happen? What was its effect? | Causal analysis | Why am I for it? Why am I against it? | Argumentation | Blending Rhetorical Patterns * Helpful guidelines for a beginning writer and should never be used to solely and rigidly dictate the final draft of your paragraph or essay.
Chapter 4 “Planning and Organizing the Essay” Pgs. 47-62
Finding a Topic * The first thing you have to do when writing an essay. * The topic is a miniaturization of the subject. * It is best to find a topic that you know stuff about. * If you cannot write about what you know, the next best approach is to known about what you write.
The Controlling Idea * The main though behind your essay; it is in effect a snapshot of what the essay will do ( argue, narrate, describe, classify.. etc) * The controlling idea will always be smaller and more focused than the topic. * Likewise, the topic will always be smaller than the subject
Freewriting
* The act of writing on the assignment creatively and without restrictions. * The goal: to put down every random idea, notion, thought, or opinion that pops into your head about the general subject. * Typically freewriting reveals a predisposition, a slight leaning toward one topic over all others.

Talking * Whether it may be by yourself or with a friend, talking can help you find a suitable topic. * Keep in mind that it must be purposeful talk.
Clustering
* Clustering is freewriting done in the style of a doodle. * It is a method of narrowing a broad subject into a manageable topic.
Writers Block * A condition in which afflicted writers are said to be unable to freely express their opinions on paper * Psychological reasons, physical reasons are both reasons for bad composing.
The Internal Editor * Each and every one of us is an internal editor who sits in silent judgment of our every sentence. * The solution: simply sit down and write.
Finding Your Thesis * Main function: to answer the question “What is this all about?” * In the thesis, you declare where you’re going, what you intend to do, and how you feel about a certain subject. * The usefulness of the thesis lies within you and your effort. * At times you may have to refine the thesis. It will not always occur to you before you start to write the essay. * A preliminary thesis, gives you a firm idea of what you want to say.
The Informal Outline * A rough sketch of the main points of your essay of what you intend to say in it and the sequence of the points you mean to cover. * Many students start the outline after they finish the paper.
The Formal Outline * Subdivides the controlling idea of the essay into smaller ideas, which are then developed in separate paragraphs. * Currently accepted form uses Roman numerals, capital letters, and Arabic numerals to order ideas according to their importance. * A typical outline keeps subdivide larger ideas into smaller ones.