1. ENGLISH COMPOSITION 101 / Ris / Summer 2011
CRITICALREADING CRITICAL WRITING

2. GOALS
The process of reading closely and thoughtfully can help you practice the following:

Recognizing relevant information 3. Prioritizing that information 4. Matching author strategies to purpose and audience

Avoiding Distraction to Read More Closely

Choose your environment as one where reading can occur with the least amount of distractions 5. Less audio and visual input has been shown to facilitate retention of information

Any Distractions Are Still Distractions
*
Food
Friends and Family
Pets
Worries
* In Germany, beer is part of a food group
6.Annotating to Read Closely

Underline Important Words Or Responses To Questions 7. Circle Or Highlight Words Or Claims You Dont Understand 8. Ask Questions Or Make Comments in the Margin 9. Add Notes That Make Connections With The Course, With Other Texts, And With Ideas About The Significance Of This Text

WRITING RESPONSES
10. Writing as Mountain Climbing

You may be uncertain about how to begin 11. The beginning may be easy, but the journey gets more difficult the further you go 12. You may feel that once you start, theres no turning back 13. You can easily lose sight of your goal 14. It may feel like a very lonely venture 15. If you get lost, you may not know how to find your way back to known territory

Getting Started

Start enough ahead of schedule that you can complete your work and have time for revision 16. Read the assignment carefully and know what you need to do 17. Take a few notes or outline your response to be sure you include the material requested

Moving Ahead

Dont be afraid to write shitty first drafts (see Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird) 18. Complete your draft and put it aside for an hour or more 19. Re-read your work.Is it:

Complete?
Well-stated?
Responsive to the questions asked?
20. Continuing the Journey
Make a wrong turn?

Remind yourself of your goal by re-reading the assignment 21. Recheck and/or modify your notes or outline to take into account new or changing goals 22. Remember that writing = thinking and new thoughts can be valuable

Almost There!
23. Completing the Journey

Print your work to read and revise a hard copy 24. Read it aloud:pay attention to sentences and movement from idea to idea 25. Have someone read it and tell you what youre saying OR explain your goals and ask if you have achieved them 26. Revise or edit again, checking for focus, organization, support, and mechanics.

Remember:Its the Process

Be willing to continue to revise & re-vision (See the portfolio process, SG 25-26) 27. Help each other improvesaying everything is good doesnt help us understand what needs work (see peer review, A&B 498-505) 28. Ask, and if you still dont understand, ask again