How measure quality in writing? Predictors of quality in writing: density of modification in paragraphs; absence of run-on sentences. P DiStefano & R Marzano in RL Larson. College Composition and Communication (May 79), 200.
How should students prepare for writing? Rhetorical situation: Why are you writing? Who is your audience? What is the occasion? What is your purpose? What is the means of publication? What particular constraints seem to be operating? Students must complete the “rhetorical situation” before turning in papers. LS Ede. College Composition and Communication (Oct. 79)
How can teachers help their students learn to write? Teachers should review and comment on preliminary drafts. W U McDonald, Jr. College Composition and Communication (May 78), 167-170.
How should students prepare for writing? Some writers seem to work more in their head, and others more on paper. DM Murray. College Composition and Communication (Dec. 78), 377.
How can students become more conscious of their writing process? Students keep diaries in which they reflect on their writing processes. S Crowley. College Composition and Communication (May 77), 166-169.
How should students prepare for writing? Heuristics are lists of questions about topics that enable students to produce information on the topic and prepare them to write compositions on the topic. JM Lauer. College Composition and Communication (Oct. 79), 268-269.
What are the processes that writers in all fields use in producing their writing? We have interviews with imaginative writers about the writing process, but rarely interviews with science writers, business writers, political writers, journalists, ghost writers, legal writers, medical writers—examples of effective writers who use language to inform and persuade. DM Murray. College Composition and Communication (Dec. 78), 380.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Professional Journals on Writing 27
Writing exercise. Talk to another person for 20 minutes. Then write a portrait of your partner. A Bloom. The Writer (Apr. 07), p. 29.
Pre-writing. Before beginning, decide on where and with whom and how you are going to do your research. S Gruen. The Writer (Apr. 07), pp. 30-33.
Form for writing. There is a difference between reports and stories. RP Clark, The Writer (Apr. 07), p. 42.
Organization for writing. Build your work around a key question. RP Clark. The Writer (Apr. 07), p. 44.
Publishing. “In some cases, writing the book is the easy part—selling it is what is truly challenging.” K. James-Enger, The Writer (Apr. 07), p. 50.
Teaching writing. Writing can be taught. The desire to write cannot be taught. R Rendell, The Writer (Apr. 07), p. 55.
Writing reviews. End a review of a book with the “best line” from the book. J Broderick, The Writer (Apr. 07), pp. 59-61.
How To write. “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all—that’s read a lot and write a lot.” Stephen King, The Writer (Apr. 07), p. 60.
Pre-writing. Pay attention to letters to the editor of magazines—they’re your audience. H Hoff, The Writer (Apr. 07), p. 63.
Pre-writing. Before beginning, decide on where and with whom and how you are going to do your research. S Gruen. The Writer (Apr. 07), pp. 30-33.
Form for writing. There is a difference between reports and stories. RP Clark, The Writer (Apr. 07), p. 42.
Organization for writing. Build your work around a key question. RP Clark. The Writer (Apr. 07), p. 44.
Publishing. “In some cases, writing the book is the easy part—selling it is what is truly challenging.” K. James-Enger, The Writer (Apr. 07), p. 50.
Teaching writing. Writing can be taught. The desire to write cannot be taught. R Rendell, The Writer (Apr. 07), p. 55.
Writing reviews. End a review of a book with the “best line” from the book. J Broderick, The Writer (Apr. 07), pp. 59-61.
How To write. “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all—that’s read a lot and write a lot.” Stephen King, The Writer (Apr. 07), p. 60.
Pre-writing. Pay attention to letters to the editor of magazines—they’re your audience. H Hoff, The Writer (Apr. 07), p. 63.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Professional Journals on Writing 26
Beginning your writing. “Always begin your story with a short, strong sentence.” WH Hills., The Writer (Apr. 07), p. 8.
Publishing “Then [1887 at the founding of The Writer] as now (alas), few writers got rich off their words.” C Leddy, The Writer (Apr. 07), p. 9.
Writer’s Block. Running is a way to generate ideas, according to Malcolm Gladwell of the New Yorker: "I explicitly use this time to work out writing problems.” K. Elde. The Writer (Apr. 07), p. 9.
Ideas for writing. Listen to others’ stories and write them. PM Avery, The Writer (Apr. 07), p. 16.
Writing process Most writers write in order to discover. R Bausch. The Writer (Apr. 07), p. 23.
Audience. “Readers shall take what they will or won’t; I can’t allow myself to worry about it. Truly, it’s just the story, telling the story with as much vividness and exactness and force as I can.” R Bausch. The Writer (Apr. 07), p. 25.
Writer’s block. Try writing a 1,000 word sentence without concern for punctuation, spelling, etc. J McCorkle. The Writer (Apr. 07), p. 28.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Professional Journals on Writing 25
What is meant by revising? Students have been so intimidated in their grade-school classrooms by Mrs. Grundy’s standards of neatness that they may interpret our assignments to revise as requests merely to recopy an original to improve the appearance on the page. EP Maimon. College Composition and Communication (Dec. 79), 367.
How teach revision? Give students copies of our own first drafts with revisions so that they can visualize the process of revision. EP Maimon. College Composition and Communication (Dec. 79), 367.
How define revision? …identifies two kinds of revision: external revision (preparing the writing for a reader) and internal revision (discovering meaning, structure, preferred word choices, voice in what one has written). DM Murray in RL Larson. College Composition and Communication (May 79), 208.
How define revision? Revision is usually equated with cleanliness; to revise is to groom, to polish, to order, and to tidy-up one’s writing. The message communicated to students is that revision is the act of cleaning prose of all its linguistic litter. NI Sommers. College Composition and Communication (Feb. 79), 48. [RayS: I define the use of a knowledge of grammar in editing as the process of polishing prose. I define revision as adding, deleting, substituting and moving words, phrases, clauses, sentences and paragraphs.]
How define revision? The use of such temporal phrases as ‘the final aspect of the composing process is revision…’ or ‘after a writer writes, he revises…’ equate revision with an activity that is separate in quality and isolated in time from writing. NI Sommers. College Composition and Communication (Feb. 79), 48. [RayS: In my sequence of the writing process, students, once they have defined their thesis sentence, complete a quick first draft that is then revised and edited. I consider it important to put down a first draft right to the summarizing paragraph—a first draft that is then reworked. Sommers seems to envision a process that begins at the beginning with the introductory material and works steadily through the thesis, the middle paragraphs and the final summarizing paragraph, revising and editing as she goes. That’s not the way I write, but I can understand that once people understand the structure of expository writing, they might prefer to write in that way.]
How teach revision? Give students copies of our own first drafts with revisions so that they can visualize the process of revision. EP Maimon. College Composition and Communication (Dec. 79), 367.
How define revision? …identifies two kinds of revision: external revision (preparing the writing for a reader) and internal revision (discovering meaning, structure, preferred word choices, voice in what one has written). DM Murray in RL Larson. College Composition and Communication (May 79), 208.
How define revision? Revision is usually equated with cleanliness; to revise is to groom, to polish, to order, and to tidy-up one’s writing. The message communicated to students is that revision is the act of cleaning prose of all its linguistic litter. NI Sommers. College Composition and Communication (Feb. 79), 48. [RayS: I define the use of a knowledge of grammar in editing as the process of polishing prose. I define revision as adding, deleting, substituting and moving words, phrases, clauses, sentences and paragraphs.]
How define revision? The use of such temporal phrases as ‘the final aspect of the composing process is revision…’ or ‘after a writer writes, he revises…’ equate revision with an activity that is separate in quality and isolated in time from writing. NI Sommers. College Composition and Communication (Feb. 79), 48. [RayS: In my sequence of the writing process, students, once they have defined their thesis sentence, complete a quick first draft that is then revised and edited. I consider it important to put down a first draft right to the summarizing paragraph—a first draft that is then reworked. Sommers seems to envision a process that begins at the beginning with the introductory material and works steadily through the thesis, the middle paragraphs and the final summarizing paragraph, revising and editing as she goes. That’s not the way I write, but I can understand that once people understand the structure of expository writing, they might prefer to write in that way.]
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Professional Journals on Writing 24
In what ways can teachers respond to student writing? 7 methods of responding to student writing: correcting, emoting, describing, questioning, reminding, suggesting, assigning [another paper based on what the student has written]. EO Lees. College Composition and Communication (Dec. 79), 370-374. Use questions in responding to students’ papers. L Odell, 1976. College Composition and Communication (May 77), 189. Give student writers positive encouragement in what they are doing well. EF Haynes in RL Larson. College Composition and Communication (May 79), 203.
How prepare students for peer review? Teachers need to model how to respond to students’ writing in order for their students to respond effectively to other students’ writing. R VanDeWeghe. English Journal (Sept. 04), 95-99.
How can the teacher become a real audience for student writers? The teacher emphasizes that he is a “dumb reader.” Make your writing so clear that even a dumb reader like me will understand it. W Gibson. College Composition and Communication (May 79), 192-195.
What are student assumptions about writing? …since very few of our students understand how writers behave, they may initially resent the assignment to write multiple drafts because they believe that good writers get things right the first time. EP Maimon. College Composition and Communication (Dec. 79), 367.
What are the characteristics of good writers? “The ability to reflect on what is being written seems to be the essence of the difference between able and not-so-able writers, from their initial writing experience onward.” [Teach students the habit of reflecting on their writing.] S Pianko. College Composition and Communication (Oct. 79), 277.
How prepare students for peer review? Teachers need to model how to respond to students’ writing in order for their students to respond effectively to other students’ writing. R VanDeWeghe. English Journal (Sept. 04), 95-99.
How can the teacher become a real audience for student writers? The teacher emphasizes that he is a “dumb reader.” Make your writing so clear that even a dumb reader like me will understand it. W Gibson. College Composition and Communication (May 79), 192-195.
What are student assumptions about writing? …since very few of our students understand how writers behave, they may initially resent the assignment to write multiple drafts because they believe that good writers get things right the first time. EP Maimon. College Composition and Communication (Dec. 79), 367.
What are the characteristics of good writers? “The ability to reflect on what is being written seems to be the essence of the difference between able and not-so-able writers, from their initial writing experience onward.” [Teach students the habit of reflecting on their writing.] S Pianko. College Composition and Communication (Oct. 79), 277.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Professional Journals on Writing 23
How help students simplify technical writing? Students given passage in science. They must replace technical words with common words that explain the technical term. CR Elliott. College Composition and Communication (May 78), 184.
What is style? Emerson in “Poetry and Imagination”: Write, that I may know you. Style betrays you, as your eyes do. We detect at once by it whether the writer has a firm grasp on his fact or thought. Qtd by G Cowan. College Composition and Communication (Oct. 77), 262. [Strunk and White: Style is a matter of attitude.] Strunk and White: Style takes its final shape…more from attitudes of mind than from principles of composition. CS Stepp in Rev. of B Ross-Larson’s "The Web’s Impact on Writing…." American Journalism. Issue 8, 2002, p. 2.
How help the reader follow the writer’s thought? [B Ross-Larson] favors ‘engaging titles and subtitles,’ powerful section headings. CS Stepp in Rev. of B Ross-Larson’s "The Web’s Impact on Writing…." American Journalism. Issue 8, 2002, p. 2.
What is the most significant problem in teaching the research paper? “One of the problems with a traditional research paper has been the wedding…of inquiry-based research with thesis-driven persuasive writing.” J Strickland. English Journal (Sept. 04), 23.
What is the role of footnoting in the modern research paper? An agonizing review of the complexities of footnoting and the new edition of The Chicago Manual of Style. [How do modern writers organize their material? The author, who is a regular book reviewer for The New Yorker, has a curious method of organizing his material. He most definitely does not use the “Tell them…” approach to organizing. In this review, he begins with an agonizingly vivid retelling of his experience of typing footnotes on a typewriter, launches into a diatribe against Word for Windows and finishes with his description of the frustrations that await users of the new edition of The Chicago Manual of Style.] L Menand. New Yorker (Oct. 6, 03), 120-126. [File.]
What are some alternatives to the traditional research paper? Students do research but use different genres in reporting on that research. J Conrad. Classroom Notes Plus (Aug. 04), 8-10.
What is style? Emerson in “Poetry and Imagination”: Write, that I may know you. Style betrays you, as your eyes do. We detect at once by it whether the writer has a firm grasp on his fact or thought. Qtd by G Cowan. College Composition and Communication (Oct. 77), 262. [Strunk and White: Style is a matter of attitude.] Strunk and White: Style takes its final shape…more from attitudes of mind than from principles of composition. CS Stepp in Rev. of B Ross-Larson’s "The Web’s Impact on Writing…." American Journalism. Issue 8, 2002, p. 2.
How help the reader follow the writer’s thought? [B Ross-Larson] favors ‘engaging titles and subtitles,’ powerful section headings. CS Stepp in Rev. of B Ross-Larson’s "The Web’s Impact on Writing…." American Journalism. Issue 8, 2002, p. 2.
What is the most significant problem in teaching the research paper? “One of the problems with a traditional research paper has been the wedding…of inquiry-based research with thesis-driven persuasive writing.” J Strickland. English Journal (Sept. 04), 23.
What is the role of footnoting in the modern research paper? An agonizing review of the complexities of footnoting and the new edition of The Chicago Manual of Style. [How do modern writers organize their material? The author, who is a regular book reviewer for The New Yorker, has a curious method of organizing his material. He most definitely does not use the “Tell them…” approach to organizing. In this review, he begins with an agonizingly vivid retelling of his experience of typing footnotes on a typewriter, launches into a diatribe against Word for Windows and finishes with his description of the frustrations that await users of the new edition of The Chicago Manual of Style.] L Menand. New Yorker (Oct. 6, 03), 120-126. [File.]
What are some alternatives to the traditional research paper? Students do research but use different genres in reporting on that research. J Conrad. Classroom Notes Plus (Aug. 04), 8-10.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Professional Journals on Writing 22
How should teachers respond to students’ errors in writing? See if students’ errors cluster in patterns. Is there an underlying pattern that unites the errors? MP Shaughnessy. College Composition and Communication (May 78), 190-191.
Should English teachers write? “English teachers should write. They should write even when they have papers to correct, lesson plans to make, reading to do, committee meetings to attend, Anacin to buy for their headaches, TV programs to watch, spouses to love, meals to eat, a face to prepare to meet the faces they must meet. Yes, English teachers must write even if there is little time to write. Because writing is important, they must find time to write.” EF Suderman. College Composition and Communication (Dec. 77), 357. When I share with the students my own frustrations and problems in writing, a barrier begins to come down. CA Jacobs. Teaching English in the Two-Year College (Sept. 04), 43. Teacher says that to teach writing well, one must write—along with the students—in order to share the experience of the process with them. The teacher becomes a student in her classroom. J Domuragli. English Journal (Sept. 04), 22.
How should teachers give writing assignments? “Some of us would benefit if we adopted the procedure of never assigning a paper which we ourselves have not attempted.” EF Suderman. College Composition and Communication (Dec. 77), 357.
How relate writing and literature? “The teacher [or student] who has tried to write a sonnet can more easily appreciate Shakespeare’s mastery of the form….” EF Suderman. College Composition and Communication (Dec. 77), 357.
What can students learn from analyzing the work of professional writers? Study passages from a particular writer. What rules about writing can be inferred? L Garrigues. English Journal (Sept. 04), 59-65.
Should English teachers write? “English teachers should write. They should write even when they have papers to correct, lesson plans to make, reading to do, committee meetings to attend, Anacin to buy for their headaches, TV programs to watch, spouses to love, meals to eat, a face to prepare to meet the faces they must meet. Yes, English teachers must write even if there is little time to write. Because writing is important, they must find time to write.” EF Suderman. College Composition and Communication (Dec. 77), 357. When I share with the students my own frustrations and problems in writing, a barrier begins to come down. CA Jacobs. Teaching English in the Two-Year College (Sept. 04), 43. Teacher says that to teach writing well, one must write—along with the students—in order to share the experience of the process with them. The teacher becomes a student in her classroom. J Domuragli. English Journal (Sept. 04), 22.
How should teachers give writing assignments? “Some of us would benefit if we adopted the procedure of never assigning a paper which we ourselves have not attempted.” EF Suderman. College Composition and Communication (Dec. 77), 357.
How relate writing and literature? “The teacher [or student] who has tried to write a sonnet can more easily appreciate Shakespeare’s mastery of the form….” EF Suderman. College Composition and Communication (Dec. 77), 357.
What can students learn from analyzing the work of professional writers? Study passages from a particular writer. What rules about writing can be inferred? L Garrigues. English Journal (Sept. 04), 59-65.
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