Draft and revise papers

Working towards independence

Why write?Strong writing opens doors!

– Students and professionals write to• Critique (movies, food, celebrities, sports …)• Explain (ideas, processes, patterns, history …)• Advertise (clothes, cars, apartments, schools …)• Prepare (notes, emails, memos, policy briefs …)

– In this class, your writing helps to prepare you for future opportunities

Get started

Good writers • Set a purpose for writing • Use each part of the writing process best accomplish

goals

Generally, teachers as you to• Explain ideas as if you are an expert• Tell what the text suggests (not just what it says)• Completely support each of your ideas with textual

evidence

How?

Key parts of this kind of writing (rubric categories) • Develop a strong central idea• Support every idea: use specific textual evidence to

show your understanding• Organize ideas: introduction, body paragraphs &

conclusion• Read out loud: look for the best words and grammar to

share your point• Submit with appropriate font size, heading, spacing and

works cited

I’m stuck | Ideas• No thesis? – Pull together several moments in the text that relate to

the prompt or topic. – Ask yourself: what do these suggest? – Push towards expert ideas

• No clue? – Scan worksheets or the back of the book – Resist the temptation to stop thinking for yourself.

Research beyond what we have finished or discussed in class

– Cite any borrowed ideas this inspires as you start writing (that includes ideas, not just copy-paste)

I’m stuck | Organization

• Don’t know where ideas go? – Use the outline to help – Group similar ideas

• Rambling? – Push your idea to the next level. – Thesis check: start with a strong thesis that

completely responds to the prompt. Then, be sure that each paragraph completely relates to your thesis.

I’m stuck | Voice• Don’t feel like an expert? – Revisit the parts of the text that relate to the prompt

and ignore everything else– Understand key terms; try to make a list of 10 words

you want to use in the paper

• Sounds like a conversation or advice?– Look in your text for more expert vocabulary– Push for specifics rather than general pronouns. Use

names instead of ‘he’ ‘she’ and ‘they.’ Name items, rather than using ‘it’ ‘that’ and ‘things’

I’m stuck | word choice• Feeling repetitive?– Use a thesaurus to help you find synonyms. Avoid

using words that you do not know or understand. Moody emotional, irritable, temperamental, unstable, grumpy

– Use different forms of the same word. Fear fearful, fearing, fearsome

• Don’t feel convincing?– Use strong verbs for your best ideas– Use simple sentences to get right to the point

I’m stuck | Sentence fluency• Writing fragments?– Look for a subject and verb in each sentence– Avoid using these words at the beginning of

sentences: how, when, if, since, because, and, so

• Every sentence sounds the same?– Move your expert phrases to a new place in the

sentence. Pollan effectively shows that ______ (can become) ______, as Pollan effectively shows.

– Make long sentences even more simple. Combine short sentences into longer ones.

I’m stuck | conventions

• Don’t understand conventions (apostrophes, commas, quotations, citations, etc)?– Use a writing manual (like your English textbook)– Visit the Writing Center

• Can’t choose the right version? – Try using Word’s spell check (avoid using the

grammar check – it does not work as well)– Reword the sentence into one you’re sure about

Goals

• What are your goals for your next paper?

• Which strategies will you try?

Cause-effect vocabulary

• Helpful phrases for explaining cause-effect.– B since A. OR Since A, B.– B, because A.– A. Consequently, B.– As a result of A, B.– A. Therefore, B. – A. For this reason, B.– B because of A.– B due to A. – A, so B.