Information Competencies For Effective Writing

John A. Cagle Professor of Communication California State University, Fresno

Purpose and Decision to Start

Problem exigency gives rise to need for solution and communication

Build your personal motivation for the tasks ahead

Purpose of writing determined: informative, persuasive, entertaining

Plan how to use your time well

Research

FindingInformation

Need for Information

Before you can speak, you've got to have something to say.

Speaking and writing should be based on truth.

Use scholarly tools to facilitate research -- the quest for information and knowledge.

Problem Question Purpose, interests, what you know about

your topic and are interested in Process begins with forming a problem

question to guide your research. The problem question is what we expect

to answer through our research. Often the question is initially general, but

it gets refined as you begin and continue your research.

Generate Information Needs and Questions

What kinds of things will you need to know to answer the question? Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? What are the facts? What are the critical events? What is the timeline in the history of the problem? What are the causes and effects in a problem?

identify topics or specific questions seek information to answer by using personal,

documentary, library, and Internet resources

Techniques to Explore, Discover, and Develop Ideas

brainstorm lists focused freewriting clustering thinking

Access Research Sources

Reads, Notes, and Records

Critically Analyze and Evaluate Information

Organize and Synthesize Information

Academic writing in all fields today still follows the basic organizational plan recommended by Cicero• Exordium

• Narratio

• Partitio

• Confirmatio

• Conclusio

Invention

Planningwhat to say

Thesis

State WHAT you want to say in the speech in a single sentence.

The central idea of the speech or essay is called a thesis.

Remember that the thesis should be appropriate to the scope and purpose of the assignment and the occasion.

Development

Development is the expansion of the thesis, identifying the main lines of development, the major arguments proving your point, and so forth.

Types of developmental material include definitions, facts, quotations, statistics, comparisons, contrasts, examples, illustrations, and so forth.

Criteria for Developmental Materials

Audience attitude Timeliness Authoritativeness Relevance or

appropriateness

Organizing

Planning the introduction, body, & conclusion

Introduction

Exordium: Secure attention and interest. Narratio: Give needed background on

topic (what does audience need to understand to appreciate your points?

Partitio: State the purpose of speech and preview the major parts

Partitio

Orient audience to the thesis or purpose of essay: state the thesis directly • "The purpose of this paper is to. . . ."

"Preview" the major developmental parts of the essay: state this directly • "First, the history of the problem will be

explored; second, the consequences. . . ."

Body (Confirmatio)

Body of paper contains the main ideas of the essay and appropriate developmental material.

Arrangement of the main ideas/developmental material should be determined by the subject matter and purpose.

Conclusion (Conclusio)

Summarize thesis and main points Show relevance to the course (or reason

you wrote paper) Stimulate audience to want to know

more, do something, think of the implications of your paper, etc.)

Writer’s own thought

Summary of findings

Signal phrase before quotation

Transitional Material

Throughout paper, the thesis should be abundantly clear.

Relate each main idea to thesis and to other ideas.

Use transitional “sign post” words (therefore, however, first, etc.)

Outline

Outline to see the structure of your ideas Typical forms of outlines:

• Key word outline

• Sentence outline

Revise Carefully

Check for word appropriateness & meaning

Use stylistic devices to improve use of language

Check for content: logically sound? points well developed? details sufficient? enough illustrations & examples? support?

Check for overall structure--be sure introduction and conclusion are effective

Check for transitions--are there enough? Assess the speech as you think your

audience will