English Composition I

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English Composition I

• Professor Beamen
• Welcome!

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WritingHow is it defined?

• A PROCESS of communication involving the sending
  of a written message to a destination (READER)
• Ideas put into words
• Message is called CONTENT
• Readers (destination) are also called AUDIENCE

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Writers Audience

• Audience is made up of
• Your peers
• Your instructor
• Audience can be general or specialist you are
  writing for a general audience.

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The Purpose of Writing

• Most college writing is done to inform or
  persuade.
• Comp I focuses on the EXPOSITORY essay a form
  of discourse that explains or informs

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Types of Communication

• Three types
• Home
• Street
• Professional
• Communicate in a way that is universally
  understandable if unsure, be formal. Never
  assume an informal, conversational tone in
  scholarly writings/ communications.

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Writers

• Who or what is a writer?
• Someone who simply writes, or anyone who
  communicates in written form (many falsely
  believe that writers have to be professionals or
  people that get their works published).
• Writers write best about the subjects about which
  they care deeply.
• Writers learn to write by reading great books
  they imagine one ideal writer (or reader) when
  they write.

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To be a WRITER, you should

• Write (regularly)
• Read what you have written
• Invite responses from readers
• Think about choices made about communicating
• Explore possibilities for revision
• Revise
• critical thinking

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Critical Thinking Defined

• Questioning and analyzing the world around you
  taking apart an issue, idea, or problem and
  examining its various parts and reassembling the
  topic with a fuller understanding of its
  intricacies.

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The Writing Process

• Plan or Prewritediscover and compile
• Shape or Organizeput ideas in order
• Draft or Composeparagraphs and sentences
• EvaluateUse critical reading skills
• ReviseUse your preferred method
• Editpeer and self editing
• Publish!work is done (but can always be
  revised again)

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Rhetorical Strategies

• Techniques for presenting ideas to deliver
• a writers intended message with clarity
• and impact. They reflect typical patterns of
• human thought.
• (Also called Patterns of Development the
  Longman Reader is organized by patterns)

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Rhetorical Strategies, Contd

1. Description
2. Narration
3. Example/ Exemplification
4. Process Analysis
5. Division/ Classification
6. Definition
7. Compare/ Contrast
8. Cause and Effect
9. Argument/ Persuasion

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Learning Through Themes

• This semester is divided into themes which makes
  for not only a more lively discussion, but
  hopefully a better understanding of the unique
  ideas which each of the writers presents.
• Assigned essays usually share one of these
  themes, but there are certainly essays that fit
  several themes.
• Themes will connect the essays or readers may be
  able to relate them to personal experiences.
• Consider the writers purpose (which coincides
  with organization) and intended audience as well.
  

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Themes

• Theme 1 The Human Condition
• What does it mean to be human, and how does one
  fit into a particular culture, race, gender, or
  class? How are people related by their
  experiences and how do individuals search for and
  find meaning in their existence?
• A humanities-based approach to thinking, engaging
  philosophical, psychological, and sociological
  ideas.
• Many essays involve writers personal experiences
  and significant events which have helped them
  answer some of their own questions about life,
  which may aid readers in questioning, rethinking,
  and/or changing their own outlooks.

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Themes (contd)

• Theme 2 Technology and Communication
• Technology will always bring about changes in
  dialect and written word in how we relay messages
  to one another. How has technology aided or
  hindered human communication and what are its
  benefits and repercussions? What is the
  significance of how we communicate now and what
  is to come in the future?
• The Human Condition theme is related to this
  theme of Technology and Communication as it is
  important to consider the dynamic nature of how
  people connect with others.

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Themes (contd)

• Theme 3 Government and Society
• A broad theme that parallels well with the cause
  and effect rhetorical strategy. This theme can be
  used as a backdrop to more specific discussions
  on education, the environment, the economy,
  health care, peace and war, and social class (to
  name a few).
• A focus on the changing world evolving societal
  and political, and economic trends and whether
  our current status (nationally, globally, etc.)
  today is better or worse than that of previous
  generations.

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Themes (contd)

• Theme 4 Ethics and Morality
• This theme deals with often subjective questions
  of right or wrong, good or bad, reward and
  punishment, and fairness.
• Law, rules, regulations or anything that seeks to
  maintain a peaceful co-existence amongst humans
  may or may not coincide with religion, beliefs
  and values to which an individual or group might
  adhere.

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Writing Your Essays

• Be sure to keep the themes in mind when writing
  essays, and look to the structure (rhetorical
  strategies) of the assigned essays to see how
  those writers organize ideas.
• It has been proven that the more one reads, the
  better one writes, and the more one writes, the
  easier the task of writing gets.

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Writing Your Essays (contd)

• Follow all directions on the Essay Assignments
  Sheet and read the sample essays and comments I
  provide.
• Give yourself enough time work on essays a
  little bit each day and proofread or make small
  changes on the day the assignment is due. Dont
  wait until the last minute your writing (and
  your grade) will suffer.

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Good Luck this Semester!

• Please dont hesitate to ask me for help!