Learning to write good
Transcript of Learning to write good
Learning to Write Good
How to know what you rock at and what you don’t so much rock at
Well
WRITING IS HARD TO MEASURE
Writing should adapt to your
audience
This class teaches you how to write for an
ACADEMIC audience
WHAT DO ACADEMIC READERS VALUE?
WHAT DO ACADEMIC READERS VALUE?
Sophistication
ClarityInsight
Ambivalence
WHAT DO ACADEMIC READERS VALUE?
The text as a Window
Classic Style
Other Styles
Romantic Oratorical Reflexive Practical
How to evaluate your own writing
6 Traits + 1IdeasVoice Sentence Fluency
Word Choice
Organization Conventions
RESEARCHIdeasVoice Sentence Fluency
Word Choice
Organization Conventions
9-point Scale
1 3 5 97Deficit Emerging
High School Standard
Honors Standard
College Standard
1 3 5 97Deficit Emerging
High School Standard
Honors Standard
College Standard
Ideas VoiceWord Choice
Sentence Fluency
Organization Conventions
Score your Own
Sentence Fluency
5
7
9
Over reliance on the same lengths. Lack of variety. Little use of branching. Minimal use
of semicolons, colons,dashes.
Varied sentence lengths. Multiple types. Good use of
branching. Regular use of semicolons, colons,dashes.
Creative and sophisticated use of sentence types to create
artistic effect.
;
—
:
Connecting two related sentences or using THEREFORE
Strong comma. Used to set off important clauses.
I love danger; therefore, I became an English teacher.
When I became a teacher—nearly 2
years since the war started—I decided to
battle the forces of darkness.
Indicates a list is coming or an example. Left side is a full
sentence. The right side is not.
I have little time to rest: my next
appointment is in one hour.
Count the number of words per sentence.
Note the type of sentences you used. Left, middle, right
branching? Compound sentence?
Indicate the overall effect of your sentence flow. What could be
combined or broken up to give your writing more variety.
Analyze your
writing
Sentence Fluency
It was there when he woke up. Presumably also when he slept. The blot. Standing
alone at the back of the sparsely populated ferry to Kladow, mercifully sheltered
behind safety glass against the chill of the lake at evening, Alexander Bruno could no
longer deny the blot that had swollen in his vision and was with him always, the
vacancy now deforming his view of the receding shore. It forced him to peer around its edges for glimpses of the
mansions and biergartens, the strip of sand at the century-old lido, the
tarpaulined sailboats. He’d come to Berlin , half the circumference of the world, two
weeks ago, whether to elude his fate or to embrace it he couldn’t know. from A GAMBLER’S ANATOMY
by Jonathan Lethem
It was there when he woke up.
Presumably also when he slept.
The blot.
Standing alone at the back of the sparsely populated ferry to Kladow, mercifully
sheltered behind safety glass against the chill of the lake at evening, Alexander
Bruno could no longer deny the blot that had swollen in his vision and was with him
always, the vacancy now deforming his view of the receding shore.
Short Sentence (6)
Fragment (5)
Super short fragment (2)
It was there when he woke up.
Presumably also when he slept.
The blot.
Standing alone at the back of the sparsely populated ferry to Kladow, mercifully
sheltered behind safety glass against the chill of the lake at evening, Alexander
Bruno could no longer deny the blot that had swollen in his vision and was with him
always, the vacancy now deforming his view of the receding shore.
Short Sentence
Fragment
Super short fragment
Long sentence: (54)
Delayed subject with two clauses
It was there when he woke up.
Presumably also when he slept.
The blot.
Standing alone at the back of the sparsely populated ferry to Kladow, mercifully
sheltered behind safety glass against the chill of the lake at evening, Alexander
Bruno could no longer deny the blot that had swollen in his vision and was with him
always, the vacancy now deforming his view of the receding shore.
Short Sentence
Fragment
Super short fragment
Long sentence:
Relationship to the “blot”
It was there when he woke up.
Presumably also when he slept.
The blot.
Standing alone at the back of the sparsely populated ferry to Kladow, mercifully
sheltered behind safety glass against the chill of the lake at evening, Alexander
Bruno could no longer deny the blot that had swollen in his vision and was with him
always, the vacancy now deforming his view of the receding shore.
Short Sentence
Fragment
Super short fragment
Long sentence:
Added dependent clause
It forced him to peer around its edges for glimpses of the mansions and biergartens, the strip of sand at the century-old lido, the tarpaulined
sailboats.
He’d come to Berlin , half the circumference of the world, two
weeks ago, whether to elude his fate or to embrace it he couldn’t know.
Medium Sentence (26)
Three items in a series Asyndeton
It forced him to peer around its edges for glimpses of the mansions and biergartens, the strip of sand at the century-old lido, the tarpaulined
sailboats.
He’d come to Berlin, half the circumference of the world, two
weeks ago, whether to elude his fate or to embrace it he couldn’t know.
Medium Sentence (26)
Three items in a series Asyndeton
Medium Sentence (25)
2 Middle branching phrases
Your Turn
Short Sentence (6)
Fragment (5)
Super short fragment (2)
Long sentence: (54) Delayed subject with two clauses
Medium Sentence (26) Three items in a series Asyndeton
Medium Sentence (25) 2 Middle branching phrases
Ideas
5
7
9
Vague specifics hinted at rather than provided. Sometimes lacking
in relevance. Over-reliance on personal or hypothetical examples.
Evidence is specific with sensory details. Ideas connect
clearly with the point being made. Avoids cliche.
Ideas are surprising, creative, and sophisticated. Often come
from sophisticated sources and are applied in intriguing ways.
Read Bill Gates’s This I Believe:
Unleashing the power of Creativity
Read T. Susan Chang’s This I Believe:
The Imperfect traces by Human hands
Chang GatesThere are still far too
many people in the world whose most
basic needs go unmet. Every year, for
example, millions of people die from
diseases that are easy to prevent or
treat in the developed world.
But something was changing in me. As the world went digital and the Matrix movies played to packed houses, I found myself drawn to fountain pens, clothbound books and bargain-priced LPs.
Rewrite Gates. Choose 2
paragraphs to improve by adding
specific details.
Show don’t TellGetting better ideas
MetaphorsSensory Elements
StoriesAllusionsDialogue
Word Choice
5
7
9
Sometimes uses cliches or is too wordy. Can lack clarity or
misuse words. Lacks sophistication and surprise.
Mostly avoids cliche and wordiness. Generally clear.
Vocabulary is correct though perhaps not yet academic.
Almost every sentence uses surprising, erudite
vocabulary.
Read out loudGetting better Word Choice
Attack verbs firstCut back uselessness
Judiciously use thesaurus
Balance
I had a bad cold. In point of fact, it was horrible. I
was sick as a dog and stuck on my couch
forever. I went through a gazillion Kleenex and
coughed and sneezed all day.
Make this better
Onto QuestionPress
Voice
5
7
9
The writer behind the words is barely evident. Writing seems
colorless and unispired.
A clear personality is present in the writing. The elements
of writing comnbine to imbue the diction with energy.
The writer behind the words is revealed as an intriguing,
unique individual.
Neal Stephenson SnowCrash
The Deliverator’s car has enough potential energy packed into its batteries to fire a pound of bacon into the Asteroid Belt. Unlike a bimbo
box or a Burb beater, the Deliverator’s car unloads that power through gaping, gleaming,
polished sphincters. When the Deliverator puts the hammer down, shit happens. You
want to talk contact patches? Your car’s tires have tiny contact patches, talk to the asphalt
in four places the size of your tongue. The Deliverator’s car has big sticky tires with
contact patches the size of a fat lady’s thighs. The Deliverator is in touch with the road,
starts like a bad day, stops on a peseta.
Marianne Robinson
Gilead
I really can't tell what's beautiful anymore. I passed two young fellows on the street the other day. I know
who they are, they work at the garage. They're not churchgoing, either one of them, just decent rascally young fellows who have to be joking all the time, and
there they were, propped against the garage wall in the sunshine, lighting up their cigarettes. They're
always so black with grease and so strong with gasoline I don't know why they don't catch fire
themselves. They were passing remarks back and forth the way they do and laughing that wicked way
they have. And it seemed beautiful to me. It is an amazing thing to watch people laugh, the way it sort
of takes them over. Sometimes they really do struggle with it.
Vladmir Nabokov
Lolita
“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue
taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet
ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always
Lolita. Did she have a precursor? She did, indeed she did. In point of fact, there might
have been no Lolita at all had I not loved, one summer, an initial girl-child. In a princedom
by the sea. Oh when? About as many years before Lolita was born as my age was that
summer. You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style.
PG Wodehouse Jeeves in the
Springtime
I don't know if you know that sort of feeling you get on these days round about the end of April and the beginning of May, when the sky's a light blue,
with cotton-wool clouds, and there's a bit of a breeze blowing from the west? Kind of uplifted
feeling. Romantic, if you know what I mean. I'm not much of a ladies' man, but on this particular
morning it seemed to me that what I really wanted was some charming girl to buzz up and ask me to
save her from assassins or something. So that it was a bit of an anti-climax when I merely ran into
young Bingo Little, looking perfectly foul in a crimson satin tie decorated with horseshoes.
Improving Voice
Know who you want to beChoose the details carefully Swerve from the expectedLearn the rules…then break them
Tell a story about losing your dog in the voice of TWO of these personas
•Optomistic and bubbly lover of life
•Wise-cracking cynical introvert
•Fearful worrier
•Sad, depressed fatalist
Organization
5
7
9
Over-reliance on predetermined essay
patterns.
Some variance within 5-paragraph style.
Uses organization for creative, artistic, and
intellectual effect.
Alternatives to the
5-paragraph Essay
SpatialChronological
Cause/EffectComparativeSome people think
—> I thinkAnecdote/Reflection
Conventions
5
7
9
Contains a substantial number of convention errors and /or
spelling mistakes
Mostly avoids errors, but is also somewhat simple.
Correctly uses a variety of sentence types, vocabulary
and punctuation.
Most Common Errors
Comma ErrorsPronoun AgreementRun-on SentencesSpelling Confused words
FragmentsModifiers
Parallelism
Final NoteWe are all apprentices in a craft
where no one ever becomes a master.”
—Ernest Hemingway