| Term | Definition |
|---|
| stages of the writing process | prewriting (also called planning or rehearsal), shapping, drafting, revising, editing, proofreading and publishing |
| prewriting | this stage of the writing process involve gathering and selecting ideas; teachers can help students in several ways: creating lists, researching, brainstorming,reading to discover more about the author's style, talking, collecting memorabilia or clips from other texts, and free-writing |
| drafting | in this stage, students begin writing, connecting, and developing ideas |
| revising | this is the stage of writing that involves rewriting or "re-seeing;" emphasis is place on examining sentence structure, word choice, voice, and organization of the piece |
| editing | this stage involves checking for style and conventions--spelling, grammar, usage, and punctuation |
| publishing | the "going public" stage of writing |
| evaluating | in this stage, the writer looks back at his/her work and self-evaluates, and the audience evaluates the effectiveness of the writing |
| writing activities | personal writing, workplace writing, subject writing, creative writing, persuasive writing, and scholarly writing |
| peer review | acting a referee; evaluating a colleague's work professionally |
| portfolios | examples of student's essays, created to organize and explain their selections for end-of-term writing; reveals how much students learn from such reflection; careful attention to students reflections invites instructors to change their approach so that it encourages the process of learning that students describe |
| holistic scoring | impressionistic; method based on theory that a whole piece of writing is greater than the sum of its parts; essays are read for a total impression they create, rather than individual aspects; grammar, spelling, and organization should not be considered as separate entities |
| scoring rubics | descriptive scoring schemes that are developed by teachers and other evaluators to guide analysis of the products or process of a a students efforts; scoring requires certain criteria to be met; example: (3) meets expectation (2) adequate (1) needs improvement (0) inadequate |
| self-assessment | can be used in a group work to assist students in raising their awareness about the quality of their contributions to the group; part of any writing assignment to summarize strengths and weaknesses they see in their writing |
| personal writing | students can express their innermost thoughts, feelings, and responses through a variety of personal writing, including journal writing, diaries, logs, personal narratives, and personal essays |
| workplace writing | middle and secondary level students learn how to prepare resumes, cover letters, job applications, and business letters |
| subject writing | middle and secondary level students learn how to write interviews, accounts, profiles, or descriptions to capture the meaning of the subject being written about |
| creative writing | provides students with the opportunity to play with language, to express emotions, to articulate stories, or to develop a drama for others to enjoy |
| persuasive / argumentative writing | students learn rhetorical strategies to persuade others, such as by writing editorials, arguments, commentaries, and advertisements |
| scholarly writing | essays, research papers, biographies--these types of writing are most prevalent in middle or secondary level classrooms |
| types of source material | reference works, internet, student-created sources, other |
| reference works | dictionaries, encyclopedias, writers' reference handbooks, books of lists, almanacs, thesauruses, books of quotations, and so on |
| internet | online: dictionaries, encyclopedias, writers' reference handbooks, books of lists, almanacs, thesauruses, books of quotations, and so on; various search engines and portals to gather ideas and information |
| student-created sources | a student's personal dictionary of words to know or spell, note cards, graphic organizers, oral histories, and journals |
| other sources | film, art, media, and so on |
| MLA | Salinger, J.D. 'The Catcher in the Rye.' New York: Little, Brown, and Company, 1945. |
| APA | Salinger, J. D. (1945) 'The Catcher in the Rye.' New York: Little, Brown and Company. |
| purposes of writing | to express yourself, to inform a reader, to persuade a reader, to create a literary work |
| audience | the particular group of readers or viewers that the writer is addressing |
| audience characteristics | age, gender, ethic backgrounds, political philosophies, religious beliefs, roles (student, parent, voter, wage earner, property owner, veteran), interests hobbies, level of education, amount of general or specialized knowledge about the topic, preconceptions brought to the material |
| general reading public | composed of educated, experienced readers, people who read newspapers, magazines, and books |
| tone | part of your writing that is established by what you say and how you say it |
| process writing | learning how to write by writing; is an approach which encourages students to communicate their own written messages while simultaneously developing their literacy skills in speaking and reading rather than delaying involvement in the writing process, as advocated in the past, until students have perfected their abilities in handwriting, reading, phonetics, spelling, grammar, and punctuation |
| shaping | calls for you to consider ways to organize your material |
| proofreading | calls for you to read your final copy for typing errors or handwriting legibility |
| ways to organize a passage | chronological order, classification, illustration, climax, location, comparison, cause and effect |
| chronological order | the writer shows order of time or the steps in a process |
| classification | the writer explains the relationship between terms and concepts |
| illustration | the topic sentence is stated and then followed by the details |
| climax | the details are stated first, followed by a topic sentence |
| location | the writer describes a person, place, or thing and organizes it in the description in a logical manner |
| comparison | the writer demonstrates similarities and differences between two or more subjects |
| cause and effect | the writer shows the relationship between events and their results |
| types of discourse | creative, expository, persuasive, argumentative |
| creative | speech or written form in which one expresses thoughts and feelings with imagination and creativity |
| expository | speech or written form in which one explains or describes |
| persuasive | speech or written form in which one sets forth to convince |
| argument | speech or written form that debates or argues a topic in a logical way |
| topic sentence | the first sentence of the paragraph; it gives the reader an idea of what the paragraph is going to be about |
| free writing | writing nonstop about anything |
| focused free writing | writing nonstop by starting with a set topic |
| brainstorming | listing all the ideas that come to mind associated with the topic |
| journalistic questions | who? what? when? where? why? how? |
| mapping | also called clustering and webbing; more visual and less linear |
| shaping | often called composing; putting together the ideas to create a composition |
| typical elements in informative essay | introductory paragraph, thesis statement, background information, points of discussion, concluding paragraph |
| introductory paragraph | leads into the topic of the essay, trying to capture the reader's interest |
| thesis statement | states the central message of the essay, accurately reflecting the essay's content |
| background information | gives basic material, providing a context for the points being made in an essay |
| points of discussion | supports the essay's thesis, each consisting of a general statement backed by specific details |
| concluding paragraphs | ends the essay smoothly, not abruptly, flowing logically from the rest of the essay |
| basic requirements for a thesis statement | subject, purpose, focus, specific language, briefly state subdivisions |
| subject | topic that you are discussing |
| purpose | either to give your reader information or to persuade your readers to agree with you |
| focus | your assertion that conveys your point of view |
| specific language | vague words are avoided |
| assertion | a sentence stating your topic and the point you want to make about it |
| formal outline guidelines | number, letters, indentations signaling groups and levels of importance; each level has more than one entry; all subdivisions are at the same level of generality; headings don't overlap; only first word (and proper nouns) of each entry capitalize; introductory and concluding paragraphs omitted, but thesis is state about the outline itself |
| revising | taking a draft from its preliminary to its final version by evaluating, adding, cutting, moving material, editing, and proofreading |
| drafting | gathering ideas onto paper in sentences and paragraphs |
| unity | achieved when all parts of the essay relate to the thesis statement and to each other |
| coherence | when the essay supplies guideposts that communicate the relations among ideas |
| steps of revision | shifting mentally from judgment; read your draft to critically evaluate it; decide whether to rewrite or revise current draft; be systematic |
| major activities of revision | add (insert needed words, sentences, paragraphs), cut (get rid of whatever goes off topic), replace (as needed, substitute words, sentences, paragraphs), move material around (changing sequence of paragraphs) |
| development | arrange a paragraph, and specific, concrete support for the main idea of the paragraph |
| plagerizing | is to present another person's words or ideas as if they were your own |
| quotations | the exact words of a source set off in quotation marks |
| paraphrase | a detailed statement of someone else's statement expressed in your own words and your own sentence structure |
| summary | a condensed statement of main points of someone else's passage expressed in your own words and sentence structure |
| source | a book, article, videotape, or any other form of communication |
| RENNS | a memory device to check for specific, concrete details: reason, examples, names, numbers, senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch) |
| techniques for coherence | use transitional expressions, use pronouns effective, uses deliberate repetition effectively, use parallel structures effectively |
| common transitional expressions and the relationships they signal | addition (also, in addition, too, moveover); example (for example, for instance, on the otherhand, nevertheless); contrast (but, yet, however, on the other hand); comparison (similarly, likewise, in the same way); concession (of course, to be sure, certainly, granted); result (therefore, thus, accordingly); summary (hence, in short, in brief, in conclusion, finally); time sequence (first, second, third, before, soon, later, subsequently, currently); place (in the front, in the foreground, in the back, at the side, adjacent, nearby) |
| direct quotation | repeats another's words exactly and encloses them in quotation marks |
| indirect quotations | reports another's words without quotation marks except around words repeated exactly from the source |
| evidence | facts, data, and opinions of others used to support assertions and conclusions |
| guidelines for evaluating evidence | is it sufficient? is it representative? is it relevant? is it accurate? are claims qualified? |
| compare and contrast | used to show similarities and differences (key words: although, but, still, yet, compared with, as opposed to, different from, either/or, neither/nor, in common, similarly |
| chronological order | a following of one thing after another (key words: after, next, afterward, during, preceding, finally, immediately, first, later, now) |
| spatial sequence | spatial, geometrical, or geographical arrangement of ideas according to their position in space (examples: left/right, top/bottom, circular, adjacent) |
| cause and effect | relationship occur whenever one event makes other events happen (key words: consequently, as a result of, accordingly,in order to, if/then) |
| problem and solution | informs the reader of the problem and suggests action to remedy problem (similar to a persuasive argument paper) |
| elements in an argument | introductory paragraph, thesis statement, background information, reasons or evidence, anticipation of like objections and responses to them, concluding paragraph |
| Toulman's model of arguement | the claim, the support, the warrant |
| guidelines for reasoning effectively in written arguement | be logical, enlist the emotions of the reader, establish credibility |
| generalizations | can overstate or understate a fact; can cause skepticism; undermine the writer's authority; (key words: all, everyone, always, many, never, nobody); creates inaccuracies; can produce false statements |
| ways to avoid generalizations | be specific, use facts/data/statistics, use/attribute quotes; quantify don't qualify; use of "it seems," try not to overstate situation, base writing on authority, break down the topic |
| graphic organizer | (some of which are also called concept maps, entity relationship charts, and mind maps) are a pictorial way of constructing knowledge and organizing information; they help the student convert and compress a lot of seemingly disjointed information into a structured, simple-to-read, graphic display; the resulting visual display conveys complex information in a simple-to-understand manner |
| rhetorical strategies | analogies, extended metaphor, appeal to authority, appeal to emotion |
| analogies | are comparison of two pairs that have the same relationship |
| extended metaphor | is a metaphor (a comparison of two unlike things) used throughout a work or over a series of lines in prose or poetry |
| appeal to authority | type of argument in logic in which an expert or knowledgeable other is cited for the purpose of strengthening the argument |
| appeal to emotion | type of argument in which the author appeals to the readers emotions (fear, security, pity, flattery) to prove the argument |
| rhetorical features | style, tone, point of view, sarcasm, counterpoints, praise |
| style | the way the an author uses words, phrases, and sentences to formulate ideas |
| tone | the overall feeling created in a piece of writing |
| point of view | the perspective from which a piece is written; first person, third person, omniscient, limited omniscient |
| sarcasm | use of positive feedback or cutting wit to mock someone |
| counterpoints | use of contrasting ideas to communicate a message |
| praise | use of positive messages to recognize or influence others |
| types of presentation strategies | performing speeches, plays, videos; making a speech, participating in debate; creating booklets, brochures, family scrapbooks, or personal web pages; publishing a school newspaper, magazine, or portfolio; submitting work for publication beyond classroom for a literary magazine, local newspaper, professional publication for writers |
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