Roll
For roll…
 Your name
 Do you have a tattoo?
 Would you ever get a tattoo?
 If so, what would you get, or what do you have?
 If not, why not?
Your Essays
 Overall, the class did fairly well.
 There were 9 check pluses, 2 check/check pluses, 3
checks, 4 check minuses, and 3 NPs.
 Remember: In order for your essay to stay in the
grade range your draft was at, you must
significantly revise your essay and make sure it
meets the criteria of the assignment found in the
Student Guide (page 33).
 Look at the differences between the draft essays and
the final portfolio versions.
Good Writers…
 Make purposeful stylistic choices.
 What comes to your mind when you think about
style?
 How can you insert your own persona into your
writing while still remaining true to your audience
and purpose?
Style is…
 A complex composite of many factors, and the way
that these factors work together in a piece of writing.
A&B page 68
 Ways of Shaping Sentences
(long/short, simple/complex, word order)
 Types of Words
(abstract/concrete, formal/conversational)
 Voice or Persona
(expert/layperson, outsider/insider)
 Tone
(personal/impersonal, angry/calm, ironic/literal)
Abstract v. Specificity (General v.
Concrete)
 A&B page 70
 Abstract writing is useful in theoretical or
professional approaches.
 Concrete writing uses vivid, sensory details for
narrative or illustrative writing.
Show Don’t Tell
 Concrete details can be effective for “closed form
writing,” including the use of quotations and
statistics.
 Even when writing academic or professional
documents, the style can vary between abstract and
concrete.
Streamlining Your Writing
 When writing a first draft, ideas are still being
formed. Sentences are wordy and lengthy, as the
writer attempts to fully express their ideas.
 In revision, wordy sentences should be condensed
into stronger, more precise statements.
Creating a Persona
 Do not write like you would speak.
 Writing should be plain and clear, while maintaining
an engaging and enthusiastic tone.
 Be careful not to “inflate” your writing by using
language you are not comfortable with (i.e. know the
vocabulary you are using in your paper).
Document Design
 Fonts,
 titles,
 Page numbers,
 and cover pages
 Choose wisely.
Angle of Vision
 Small group activity, page 90 in A&B.
 Work in 3 (2 groups will have 4).
 Each group will tackle one of the questions on page
90.
Strategies to Create a Persuasive Effect
 State your meaning or intended effect directly.
 Select details that convey your intended effect and
omit those that don’t‘.
 Choose words with connotations that convey your
intended effect.
 Use figurative language (metaphors, similes) that
conveys your intended effect.
 Use sentence structure to emphasize or deemphasize your ideas. (Page 97 A&B)
Writing Assignment
 Take five minutes to describe a scene in your life this
week in two different ways.
 For the first five minutes, describe the scene in a
positive light, making it appear attractive.
 For the second five minutes, describe the scene in a
negative light, making it appear unattractive.
Show Don’t Tell
 Tell words:
“There was a pleasant tree in the backyard” or “there
was an unpleasant tree in the backyard”.
Show words:
“A spreading elm tree bathed the backyard with shade.”
Or “An out-of place elm, too close to the house,
blocked our view of the mountain.”
If we were revising…
 Look at your two descriptions. Did you use
adjectives and verbs that invoke positive or negative
emotions?
 Where could you add or change words or phrases to
invoke your intended effect?
 Where can you add details to change your writing
from telling to showing?
Use this same strategy in revising your essay.
Teenagers and Tattoos
 Page 110 in A&B
 Hold up your fingers (1-5) 1 means strongly agree
and 5 means strongly disagree.
 1) Getting a tattoo is a fad like Uggs or Sperrys.
 2) Teenagers who get tattoos have psychological
needs.
 3) Because tattoos are common among teens, they
are no longer a form of rebellion.
 4) With the growth of tattoo removal, people no
longer see tattoos as irreversible.
 5) An article from a 1997 psychiatry journal can
provide useful insights into current trends in
American teens’ choices to get tattoos.
Teenagers and Tattoos
 What are your thoughts on the article?
 What is Martin’s argument/ thesis?
 What stood out to you about Martin’s argument?
 Do you agree/ disagree with Martin?
 What rhetorical devices does he use to convince you,
or where does he fail to convince you?
Discussion Continued
 Did Martin’s article cause you to change your
opinion? Or change how you would have answered
the earlier questions?
 If you can recall from your blackboard responses,
what were the most insightful points in this article?
 How might a psychiatrist writing in 1997 differ from
a psychiatrist writing in 2011?
College Level Reading is Difficult…
 Vocabulary (technical language, or course specific
lingo)
 Unfamiliar rhetorical context (Knowing an author’s
purpose, occasion, and audience)
 Unfamiliar genre (textbooks, newspaper articles,
scientific reports, scholarly articles)
 Lack of background knowledge (you may have to do
research on a topic to understand the on-going
conversation)
Reading Strategies
 Find out the genre to reconstruct the rhetorical
context. Understand the author’s motivations,
audience, and purpose.
 Take notes in the margins as you read (instead of
highlighting which doesn’t cause you to form your
own opinion).
 Look up words that you don’t understand.
Especially when using the quote in your paper.
A&B 116
 Speed up your reading when skimming or scanning
for information (in long assignments). Slow down
for a detailed analysis, when it is needed.
 Read a text more than once. Pay attention to the
introduction, attempt to find the thesis, and read the
conclusion (which sums up the main point).
With the Grain/ Against the
Grain
 Reading with the grain means trying to see the
world through the author’s eyes.
 Reading against the grain means trying to question
and rebut the author’s ideas, even when you like
them.
 In strong response, you will need to read against the
grain. You should present alternative reasoning,
deny the writer’s alues, or raise points that the writer
omitted.
Summary Writing
 Summaries (or abstracts) are condensed versions of
texts that extract and present main ideas in a way
that does justice to the author’s intentions. (A&B
117)
 Summary writing demonstrates your understanding
of a text, and your relationship with it.
 Summaries should condense complicated and
lengthy ideas into short, clear statements.
Citing Summary
 A&B page 118
 Make sure you look at the article on page 118, which
shows how to correctly attribute the ideas of the
author, paraphrases, and textual quotations.
Criteria for Effective Summary
 A&B 119
 Accurate and fair,
 Direct and concise,
 Objective and neutral,
 Balanced and proportional,
 Uses quotations sparingly,
 Cites and documents the writer’s ideas.
Strong Response
 The strong response essay will build upon the
rhetorical analysis article.
Homework
 Read the Tannen article.
 Read the Baron article.
 Print both and bring them to class.
 Read pages 120-140 carefully in the A&B. We may
have a quiz!
 Post on the blackboard blog:
 100 word summary of the Tannen article, and a 100
word summary of the Baron article.
Strong Response
 P122-123
 Strong response as rhetorical critique
Strong Response
 P 124-125
 Strong Response as Ideas critique
Strong Response
 P 126-129
 Strong Response as a blend
Thesis
 Page 136
 Strategies for rereading to stimulate ideas for a
strong response
Thesis
 P138-139
 Writing a thesis for a strong response essay
Revision Strategy
 See page 71 of the Student Guide.
 Make an outline of your essay, see if your outline is
organized sufficiently and clearly.
Reflecting
 Page 72, SG
 1-2 page reflection about the writing process.
Example Essays in SG