Strategies for Successful Writing

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English IV Enriched Dual Credit Foss Alamo
Heights High School
Strategies for Successful Writing
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Strategies for Successful Writing

• Ch. 1
• Writing A First Look

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1. Why write . . .?
Strategies for Successful Writing

• Written word flourishes on campus in work world
  . . .
• Writing will become even more important . . .

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Advantages to writer and readers . . .
Strategies for Successful Writing

• Gives writers time to reflect on and research
  issues
• Makes communication precise effective
• Provides permanent record
• Saves the reader time

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Advantages . . .
Strategies for Successful Writing

• People will expect you to write for them
• College instructors
• reports, research papers, essays and essay exams
• Prospective employers
• (pre-hire post-hire)
• The ability to write will help you earn better
  grades, land the job you want, and advance in
  your career (3).

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Personal benefits . . .
Strategies for Successful Writing

• Medical or insurance reimbursement claims
• Request clarification . . .
• Document a demand for replacement of faulty
  product

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Why write . . .?
Strategies for Successful Writing

• In response to a situation
• Situation determines
• purpose, audience, content, style, organization
• We dont . . . write in isolation but rather to
  communicate with others who have an interest in
  our message (4).

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2. Purpose of Writing
Strategies for Successful Writing

• Some clear, authentic purpose must guide your
  writing
• fulfilling an assignment DOES NOT count!
• What do I want this piece of writing to do for
  both my reader and me (4)?

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Purpose . . .
Strategies for Successful Writing

• Purpose grows out of the writing situation
• A report for science
• An editorial for the school newspaper
• Proposal to replace outdated eqpt with a
  state-of-the-art model

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Purpose . . .
Strategies for Successful Writing

• 4 Common General Writing Purposes
• TO INFORM
• presenting info to fill in gaps in knowledge
• TO PERSUADE
• Sway readers towards a certain p.o.v

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Purpose . . .
Strategies for Successful Writing

• TO EXPRESS YOURSELF
• Personal essays, fiction, plays,
• poetry, journals, diaries
• Other writings, too everything you
• write offers you a chance to
• display your mastery of words and
• to enliven your prose.

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Purpose . . .
Strategies for Successful Writing

• TO ENTERTAIN
• Sheer entertainment OR entertainment with a
  serious purpose
• Lighthearted approach can help
• Satire

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Purpose . . .
Strategies for Successful Writing

• A specific purpose assists you at every stage of
  the writing process
• Define audience
• Select details, language approach that best
  suits their needs
• Keep on task avoid going off on tangents

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3. Audience
Strategies for Successful Writing

• Everything you write is aimed at some audience
  people you want to reach (6)
• Ultimate purpose of all writing . . . To have an
  effect on a reader even if it is you
• Purpose Audience are closely linked

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Audience . . .
Strategies for Successful Writing

• You must define that someone to whom you write
• Most often, you may not know your audience --
  businesses, customers, fellow townsfolk
• You will need to assess your audience before
  starting to write and/or later in the writing
  process (7).

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Audience
Strategies for Successful Writing

• Develop an Audience Profile
• 6 questions to ask yourself about your audience .
  . . (see p. 7).

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Audience
Strategies for Successful Writing

• The Effect of Audience on Your Writing
• Audience shapes all types of writing . . . (8).
• Differences in
• details
• language
• tone

different readers call for different approaches
(8).
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Audience
Strategies for Successful Writing

• Discourse Communities
• a group that shares goals, values, concerns,
  background information, and expectations
• custom dictates
• what info must be included,
• the pattern of organization,
• the style of the paper

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Audience
Strategies for Successful Writing

• Discourse communities . . .
• part of learning to write is becoming familiar
  with the values and customs of different
  discourse communities (8).
• Read carefully in the field
• Acquaint yourself with current issues / concerns
• Learn how to write about them

See the 10 questions on p. 8
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4. Qualities of Good Writing
Strategies for Successful Writing

• 3 ways to help ensure your prose meets your
  readers expectations
• Fresh thinking
• Sense of style
• Effective organization

these 3 qualities are weighted, or valued,
differently in different kinds of writing (10).
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Writing Ethics
Strategies for Successful Writing

• good writing is also ethical writing (11).
• Principles Writing should . . .
• be truthful
• tell whole truth
• not be presented as something different than what
  it is
• be clear to the reader
• not be intended to harm the reader

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Writing Ethics -
Plagiarism (new section of Ch 1 for 8th
edition)
Strategies for Successful Writing

• avoid plagiarism . . . taken material . . .
  an unacceptable practice . . . it is academic
  dishonesty (12).
• Why is plagiarism an important issue?
• See the 6 reasons on p. 12
• Consult Chapter 22, Documenting Sources
• (432-61) if you need to . . .

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Writing Ethics -
Plagiarism (new section of Ch 1 for 8th
edition)
Strategies for Successful Writing

• How can you avoid plagiarism
• and the failing grade that often
  
• comes
  with it (13)?
• See the list of 5 ethical strategies, pp. 13-14.

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• You must make a conscious effort to avoid
  plagiarism. Ignorance and carelessness are
  rarely accepted as an excuse . . . (13).
• It is easy to avoid the embarrassment and the
  dire consequences (13).

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Strategies for Successful Writing

• Review Chapter 3 for . . .
• tomorrow
• (You should read / have read Chapter 2
• on your own -- and for yourself)

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Work Cited

• Reinking, James A. and Robert von der Osten.
   Writing A
• First Look. Strategies for Successful
  Writing A Rhetoric,
• Research Guide, Reader, and Handbook.  8th
  ed.  
• Upper Saddle River, NJ Pearson Prentice
  Hall, 2007.
• 3-14.

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Strategies for Successful Writing

• Fin

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