PR Writing

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PR Writing

• PUR 4100, Day 3
• Robinson, Spring 2005

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• Announcements
• News
• Share your descriptive paragraphs

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Descriptive writing exercise

• Describe scissors how they work (1 ½ page
  minimum, double spaced)
• Introduce them as if your reader has never seen
  scissors before
• Dont forget to edit!

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Grammar, punctuation spelling

• Chapter 6

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Why do we care?

• A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich,
  eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in
  the air.
• Why? asks the confused waiter. The panda
  produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual. Im
  a panda, he says. Look it up.
• Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal,
  native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves. --
  Truss, 2003

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Grammar

• A. Ambiguity and grammar
• That versus which
• Subject-verb agreement
• B. Myths of grammar
• Split infinitives
• Sentence-ending propositions

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• C. Using words wisely
• Usage manuals
• Verbs
• Emotive and cognitive meaning
• D. Other pointers
• Global English?
• Always check again, again, again
• E. The essentials
• Spelling punctuation

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Punctuation Exercises

• Complete the sheet

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Thomas McCormack

• Punctuation to the writer is like anatomy to the
  artist He learns the rules so he can
  knowledgeably and controlledly depart from them
  as art requires. Punctuation is a means, and its
  end is helping the reader to hear, to follow.

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Charles Dickens

• My dear Joe,
• I hope you are quite well. I hope I shall soon
  be able to teach you, Joe and then we shall be
  so glad. And when I am apprenticed to you, Joe
  what larks! Believe me, in affection,
• Pip

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Types of writing

• Taken from The practice of writing (3rd edition)
  by Scholes Comley (1989)
• Writer-oriented Forms
• Expression (e.g. on love, art)
• Reflection (self as object)
• Reader-oriented Forms
• Direction (guiding your reader)
• Persuasion (moving your reader)

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• Topic-oriented Forms
• Narration (organizing time)
• Description (organizing space)
• Classification (organizing data)
• Argumentation (presenting a thesis)
• Analysis (taking things apart)
• Synthesis (putting things together)

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Next time

• Read chapter 4
• Quiz on them
• We will start discussing the communication plan