Welcome
Week 1 – Freshman Composition
• Welcome and Intros
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Syllabus Review
Icebreakers
Basic Writing Purposes and Elements
Grammar Review
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Who Am I? Who are You?
What’s this Class About?
Parts of Speech
Pronouns
Characteristics of a Narrative Essay
Go over Assignment Sheet: Narrative Essay
In-Class Brainstorming Session – Narrative Essay
Wrap Up
Who Am I?
• Instructor with 18 years experience
teaching and preparing instructional
curriculum
• Teaching Experience
• Orange County Public Schools
• Florida Virtual School
• Florida Metropolitan University
• University of Florida
• Educational Background
• Northwestern University
(Undergraduate)
• Rollins College (Master’s Degree)
• University of Florida (Doctorate)
Who Are You?
Icebreaker 1
• Get into pairs (Find a Partner)
• Individually, look in your purse/wallet/backpack and find
something that is significant to you.
• Share with your partner why the item is significant to you.
STOP
• When done, you’ll introduce your partner and share
something significant about them.
Icebreaker 2
Find a different partner
Complete the following sentence:
“If I could have dinner with any person, living or dead, it
would be____________ because_____________."
Share with your partner.
STOP
• When done, you’ll introduce your partner and share who
they would have dinner with and WHY.
What Will I be Doing?
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Writing and Revising
Personal Narrative
Descriptive Essay
Definition Essay
Comparison and Contrast Essay
Argument
 Presenting
 Conducting Peer Reviews
 Grammar Review and Exercises
What Will I Need to
Succeed?
Textbooks
Bullock, Richard and Francine
Weinberg. The Little Seagull
Handbook. New York: W.W.
Norton & Company, 2014.
Buscemi, Santi and Charlotte
Smith. 75 Readings Plus. Tenth
Edition. New York: McGrawHill, 2013.
How Will I Be Graded?
Essays Turned in Late
Deduction of 10% per day
Four days late = 0
Basic Writing
Elements
Week 1 – Freshman Composition
Parts of Speech
Pronouns
Let’s See What You Know
Review the sentences on the handout.
Write the word that is the part of speech indicated in parenthesis
Example:
exploded
___________(verb)The Blue Streaks running back exploded off the line of
scrimmage.
• Expository – provides information or an explanation
about a topic
• Narrative – tells a story
• Descriptive – describes a subject using sensory details
• Persuasive – attempts to change someone’s viewpoint
about a subject
4 Writing Purposes
Point of View – how the author tells his story
• First person – narrator as a major character; narrator as a
minor character – the narrator may be naïve or insane –
the narrator uses first person pronouns (I, my, mine, we,
our, etc.)
• Second person – narrator involves the reader through the
use of second person pronouns (you, yourself, yours, etc.)
• Third person – omniscient, selective omniscient,
objective – third person pronouns are used (he, she, him,
her, they, them, etc.
Point of View
A story told from the first person point of view involves the narrator as part of the
story, and usually features the following pronouns: I, me, mine, our, we, us,
Example: For one whole semester the streetcars and I shimmied up and scooted
down the sheer hills of San Francisco. I lost some of my need for the Black ghetto’s
shielding-sponge quality, as I clanged and cleared my way down Market Street, with
its honky-tonk homes from homeless sailors, past the quiet retreat of Golden Gate
Park and along closed undwelled-in-looking dwellings of the Sunset District.
(From I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou)
First Person Point of View
Instructions and directions are usually written from a second-person
point of view.
Uses the pronoun “you”
Remember, any tool that you can use against an enemy may also be
used against you. Ninjas train on special courses that really mess with
their perception of space, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make your
own mini gauntlet to increase your skills.
The Ninja Handbook
Second Person Point of
View
Third person point of view is told by a narrator who is not
part of the story and generally uses pronouns such as: he,
she, it, they, them, him, her, its, etc. There are three type of
third person narration: omniscient and limited.
Third Person Point of
View
No character’s thoughts are revealed – only their actions
and dialogue.
Third Person Objective
“Omniscient” means all-knowing. If a person is all-knowing, he or she knows
the thoughts and feelings of everybody. Third person omniscient occurs when a
story is told by a narrator who is not part of the story but knows the thoughts
and feelings of all the characters in the story. In other words, a third person
omniscient narrator is inside the hearts and heads of the characters, exposing
their thoughts and/or feelings.
Example: The next semester the writing professor is obsessed with writing from personal experience. You must
write from what you know, from what has happened to you. He wants deaths, he wants camping trips. Think
about what has happened to you. in three years there have been three things: you lost your virginity; your
parents got divorced; and your brother came home from a forest ten miles from the Cambodian border with
only half a thigh, a permanent smirk nestled into one corner of his mouth.
Third Person Omniscient
Point of View
Third person limited is similar to the omniscient point of view, but it is a limited viewpoint. The
narrator only knows the thoughts and feelings of one character.
Example: J.K. Rowling uses third person limited in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
The reader witnesses what Harry sees and knows his thoughts and feelings but without ever
hearing first-person narration from Harry. Check out the excerpt below.
Harry had taken up his place at wizard school, where he and his scar were famous ...but now
the school year was over, and he was back with the Dursleys for the summer, back to being
treated like a dog that had rolled in something smelly.
The Dursleys hadn't even remembered that today happened to be Harry's twelfth birthday. Of
course, his hopes hadn't been high?
In this excerpt from the novel we are able to know how Harry Potter is feeling, what he's
thinking, and what is happening.
Third Person Limited
Point of View
Let’s See What You Know
Point of View Activity
• Introduction (with thesis statement)
• Body (Supporting paragraphs)
• Conclusion
Basic Organization of
Essays
Why bother writing a good introduction?
• You never get a second chance to make a first
impression.
• Ideally, your introduction will make your readers
want to read your paper.
Introduction
Source: The Writing Center, The University of N.C. Chapel Hill.
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/introductions/
• Your introduction is an important road map for the
rest of your paper. It should convey:
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What your topic is
Why your topic is important
How you plan to proceed with your discussion
Contains a THESIS
Introduction
Source: The Writing Center, The University of N.C. Chapel Hill.
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/introductions/
• Open with an attention grabber
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An intriguing example
A provocative quotation
A vivid ancedote
A thought-provoking question
• Try writing your introduction last.
Strategies for Writing a
Strong Introduction
What is it?
• a one- or two- sentence statement that explicitly outlines the
purpose or point of your paper.
• placed at or near the end of the introductory paragraph.
What does it do?
• must contain an arguable point.
• it should point toward the development or course of argument
the reader can expect your argument to take
Thesis
• Poor: Stephen King writes readable books.
• Good: Stephen King’s books are so good because
they are about normal people who get into
supernatural situations.
Example (in an Argument
Paper)
What is it?
• a sentence or group of sentences that support one main idea.
Every paragraph in a paper should be:
• Unified: All of the sentences in a single paragraph should be related to a
single controlling idea (often expressed in the topic sentence of the
paragraph).
• Clearly related to the thesis: The sentences should all refer to the
central idea, or thesis, of the paper (Rosen and Behrens 119).
• Coherent: The sentences should be arranged in a logical manner and
should follow a definite plan for development (Rosen and Behrens 119).
• Well-developed: Every idea discussed in the paragraph should be
adequately explained and supported through evidence and details that
work together to explain the paragraph’s controlling idea (Rosen and
Behrens 119).
Supporting Paragraphs
• Narration: Tell a story. Go chronologically, from start to
finish.
• Description: Provide specific details about what something
looks, smells, tastes, sounds, or feels like. Organize spatially,
in order of appearance, or by topic.
• Process: Explain how something works, step by step. Perhaps
follow a sequence—first, second, third. Classification:
Separate into groups or explain the various parts of a topic.
• Illustration: Give examples and explain how those examples
prove your point.
Ways to Organize a
Paragraph
Description: Provide specific details about what something
looks, smells, tastes, sounds, or feels like. Organize
spatially, in order of appearance, or by topic.
Piranha are omnivorous, freshwater fish, which are mostly known for their
single row of sharp, triangular teeth in both jaws. Piranhas’ teeth come together
in a scissor-like bite and are used for puncture and tearing. Baby piranha are
small, about the size of a thumbnail, but full-grown piranha grow up to about 610 inches, and some individual fish up to 2 feet long have been found. The many
species of piranha vary in color, though most are either silvery with an orange
underbelly and throat or almost entirely black.
Example – Descriptive
Paragraph
• Should help your reader see why all your analysis and
information should matter to them after they put the paper
down.
• allows you to:
• have the final say on the issues you have raised in your
paper
• summarize your thoughts
• demonstrate the importance of your ideas, and
• propels your reader to a new view of the subject
Conclusion
• Return to the theme or themes in the introduction. This
strategy brings the reader full circle.
• Synthesize, don’t summarize: Include a brief summary of the
paper’s main points, but don’t simply repeat things that were in
your paper. Instead, show your reader how the points you
made and the support and examples you used fit together. Pull
it all together.
• Propose a course of action, a solution to an issue, or questions
for further study.
• Do NOT begin with overused phrases such as “in conclusion”,
“in summary” or “in closing”
Strategies - Conclusion
Personal
Narratives
• Assignment:
• Write an essay about a significant event in your life.
• Choose an event that will be engaging for readers and that will,
at the same time, tell them something about you.
• Tell your story dramatically and vividly, giving a clear
indication of its autobiographical significance.
• Use first-person, singular (“I”) narration for this essay
• Structuring your essay using a chronology may also be a good
idea, in many cases.
• Rough Draft
• Peer Review
• Final Draft
Assignment 1: Personal Narrative
• A personal narrative recreates a specific
experience or event in
your life.
• To write an effective
narrative, select an
experience that you feel
strongly about.
What is a Personal Narrative?
Basics in a Box
Personal Narrative at
a Glance
Beginning
Introduces the incident
including the people and
place involved
Middle
• Describes the event
using descriptive details
and possibly dialogue
• Makes the significance
clear
End
• Tells the outcome or
result of the event
• Presents the writer’s
feelings about the
experience
RUBRIC Standards for Writing
A successful narrative should
• focus on a clear, well-defined
incident
• make the importance or
significance of the event clear
• show clearly the order in which
events occurred
• use descriptive details that appeal to
the senses to describe characters
and setting
• use dialogue to develop characters
• maintain a consistent tone
Writing Your Personal Narrative
1
Prewriting
Your life, though it may seem average to
you, is a new and exotic world to other
people. Don’t be afraid to write about
your personal experiences .
Joe Hasley, student writer
Writing Your Personal Narrative
1
Prewriting
How can you find ideas?
 Think about interesting or unusual
events that really happened.
 Recall personal experiences that have
been funny, sad, frightening, or
unforgettable.
 Brainstorm similar incidents you have
heard about from others.
Planning Your Personal Narrative
1. Analyze the nature of the incident. What
was its significance? Why does it stand out
in your mind?
2. Decide on the tone you want to create.
How did the incident make you feel when
you experienced, saw, or heard about it?
What is the main feeling you want to create
in your audience?
Planning Your Personal Narrative
3. Make a time line. List all the parts of the
event in time order. For each part, stop and
list who was involved, where it happened, and
some of the significant details. When the list is
finished, decide which parts to include in your
narrative and which parts you can condense
or skip in order to keep the narrative focused
and lively.
Planning Your Personal Narrative
4. Decide which parts of the narrative to
enliven with dialogue or with details that
appeal to the senses. What details could
help you show what happened rather than
simply telling about it? What dialogue would
move your narrative along and make it more
realistic?
Writing Your Personal Narrative
2 Drafting
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Begin by describing the setting or an
important character.
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Give background information or flash
forward to an event further along in the
narrative.
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Use your time line to help you remember
the order of events.
Writing Your Personal Narrative
2 Drafting
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Keep in mind what tone you want to create.
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Use dialogue and plenty of descriptive
details to help move the narrative along.
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End by telling the outcome.
Writing Your Personal Narrative
3 Revising
WORD CHOICE
Pay attention to word choice to make your
narrative more lively and interesting. Try using
 Specific nouns, verbs, and modifiers—
words like chuckle, snicker, giggle, guffaw,
or roar.
Writing Your Personal Narrative
3 Revising
WORD CHOICE
Try using
 Modifiers, like velvety or shrill, that appeal
to the senses.
 A thesaurus to find specific synonyms for
vague words.
 A dictionary for the precise meaning of words.
Writing Your Personal Narrative
4 Editing and Proofreading
PRONOUN-ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT
In your narrative, make sure each pronoun you
use agrees with its antecedent in
 number
 gender
 person
Tips from Little Seagull Handbook (see pages 5961)
1. Describe the setting
• Describe what you remember seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and
feeling
• Remember to SHOW rather than TELL
2. Think about the key people
• Describe the people (movements, posture, facial expressions)
• Try writing lines of dialogue between two people in your narrative.
3. Consider each of 5 Ws (Who? What? When? Where? Why? )
4. Consider the SIGNIFICANCE of the event
The Little Seagull Handbook
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Read W-1 (Writing Contexts), W-2 (Academic Contexts), W-3 (Writing
Process)
Narrating (pages24-25)
W-10 Personal Narratives (pages 58-61)
S-6 Pronouns p. 277
75 Readings Plus
Narration
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Read Chapter 1: “Narration” (p.1)
Read “Superman and Me”
by Sherman Alexie
George Orwell “Shooting an Elephant”
Homework - Read
• Complete Rough
Draft Essay #1
Narrative Essay
• Be Prepared for Quiz
on 75 Readings Plus
Readings
Homework –Turn In