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updated: 4/17/13

4-18 The Art of Writing: bring Faigley, anthology volume 1, and whatever you want help with: P1 with edits and my rubric sheets, your draft of P2, critiques or ..............

 

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[2E] WRITING. GOAL  OF THE OLD AS WELL AS THE NEW CURICULUM: “Every graduate of the University is expected to be able to express himself or herself clearly and correctly in writing” (U. T. “Basic Education Requirements”)

[2E1] To get a taste of what it is like to be a professional writer aiming at perfection and adopting the necessary time management, rewriting, and proofreading to become a great writer.

 [2E2] To get a taste of writing as a work of art. We practice informal writing as way to overcome writer’s block and as a foundation for becoming good writers. Our formal writing is writing as art, and thus the best writing you can possibly do. Think of your project as, say, a statue: you want it to have as few flaws as possible, to be as “perfect” as possible.

[2E3].  To experience writing as discovery learning, especially as one connects parts of the essay, usually while rewriting.

[2E3a]. Only connect! . . .Live in fragments no longer.” E. M. Forster, Howards End (1910).

[2E3b]. “‘One day when I was twenty-three or twenty-four this sentence seemed to form in my head, without my willing it, much as sentences form when we are half-asleep, ‘Hammer your thoughts into unity’. For days I could think of nothing else and for years I tested all I did by that sentence [...]” William Butler Yeats (cited in Frank Tuohy, Yeats, 1976, p.51 )

 [2E4] To practice writing energized by positive rather than negative motivations, by love of your work of art rather than fear of deadlines, by creativity rather than going through the motions, by curiosity rather than compulsion.

 [2E5] To practice the new writing as the product of conscious, deliberate collaboration as well as isolation, drawing on the help and advice of your fellow students as well as your instructor.

 [2E6] To experience writing as inspired by and contributing to something greater than the individual ego. In addition to most of the formal writing assignments, writing for the internet is a good example of this. You must first find your "place" is this complex verbal and visual ecosystem. Then you make your contribution and see it in its place in this greater whole.

 [2E7] To get a taste of the new world-wide writing, the instant publication of web writing. To face the changes in writing computers demand. Computers don’t do what you want them to do: they do what you tell them to do, and in their coding they demand perfection. They have no forgiveness for errors in code. Hence, proofreading and attention to detail becomes even more important.

 [2E8] To practice the new multimedia writing which appeals to multiple intelligences, the right as well as the left side of the brain.

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TODAY'S TOPICS: How can I improve my writing?

Take the time to do it right:

Paris Review: How much rewriting do you do?

Hemingway: It depends. I rewrote the ending to A Farewell To Arms, the last page of it, thirty-nine times before I was satisfied.

Paris Review: Was there some technical problem there? What was it that stumped you?

Hemingway: Getting the words right

Specific questions to consider:

• Are the transitions from one point to the next harsh, or do they transition naturally?
• Is the order developed and sustained within and across paragraphs using transitional devices?

• Has the author used punctuation as the traffic signals of the language: telling us to when to slow down, what to notice, when to detour, when to stop? Has the author used punctuation to guide you through the essay without hesitating or stumbling (and thus making you retrace your steps and read a sentence again)? Has the author used punctuation the way a composer uses musical notation to show you how to perform the prose in your mind?

  Has the author read and understood the relevant readings in the course anthology (Eats, Shoots, and Leaves) and handbook on punctuation, such as the following? Are the paired bracketing devices - - parentheses, dashes, quotation marks, appositives (paired commas) - -complete? Has the author avoided comma splices? Does the author make good use of colons and semicolons? Does the author know how to use hyphens with compound adjectives and numbers? Does the author know when to use quotation marks and how they work with other forms of punctuation? Does the author know when to use ellipses and when to use brackets instead of parentheses? Has the author read and understand the sections on punctuation in the anthology and in the Penguin handbook covering not only the issues above but also periods, apostrophes, exclamation points, slashes, etc. ?

• Is the best word in the best place throughout this essay? How many words do not seem to be the very best possible choices? Has the author been as specific as possible? Has the author used examples and “word pictures” as needed, that is, “illustrations, analogies, vivid quotations, metaphors, similes” (Trimble 76)? Does the prose delight the reader with wit, fresh phrases, new insights, fresh images? Has the reader avoided empty abstractions?

TODAY'S ACTIVITIES: Writing Workshop

REQUIRED READING:

Faigley, Penguin book

 Unity, Coherence, and Flow   Word Choice     Dangers of Abstraction   Conciseness

Anthology: 250-288; 302-321

• WRITING BASICS High School to College Writing: Making theaking the Transition……250-­‐1 Researching…………………………………………………………………252-­‐3 Paraphrasing vs. Plagiarism………………………………………254-­‐255 WRITING AS DISCOVERY LEARNING, AS ART O= 2. Organization and Logical Order of the Prose +V = 4. Integration of Verbal and Visual Rhetoric Writing Well is Thinking Well………………………………..………….256 Rhetorical Fallacies…………………………………………………257-­‐258 Yeats, “Hammer Your Thoughts”…………………………………….259 Forster, “Only Connect”……………………………………… ………260 Creating a Strong Thesis…………………………..…………..……..261-­‐2 Structure of a Professional Research Paper……………..………263 “COMPOSITION,” the meaning of………………………………..…….264 Introductions and Conclusions…………………………………………265 T= 1. UNITY, COHERENCE, AND FLOW Flow and Transitions……………………………………………..…266-­‐267 COHERENCE, sign of an ‘A’ paper……………………………………..268 Transitional Expressions………………………………………..…………269 Focusing on Transitions……………………………………………………270 W=8.WORD CHOICE Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford Reference Online………..271-­‐2 Verbs that Take Prepositions………………………………..………273-­‐4 Rough Guide to Prepositions……………………………………………275 PUNCTUATION: P= 7. Punctuation Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: commas, semicolons ………….276-­‐286 Quick Guide to Commas……………………………………………287-­‐288

  • REWRIITNG Rewriting Instructions………………………………………………….302-­‐3 DOC= 6. Documentation CMS: Formatting Your Paper…………………………….….………306-­‐7 REVISING, Rewriting as Discovery Learning ………………………..…………….308 W= 8. Word choice+ S= 3. Specificity worth 24 points: Hemingway on Rewriting ………………………………………………..309 Revisions Checklist…………………………………………………………310 Saying What You Mean…………………………………………….311-­‐312 C= 9. Conciseness Diction and Conciseness……………………………………………313-­‐314 Eliminating Wordiness…………………………………………….315-­‐316 Readability and Clarity……………………………………………………317 Tips for Improving Readability………………………………………..318 P =Proofreading Proofreading ……………………………………………………………319-­‐321

  • You will find the Chicago Manual of Style Online in any of three places on the UT Libraries website:

    1. On the lists of Databases:

    English Literature: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/indexes/titles.php?subject=English+Literature

    Comparative Literature: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/indexes/titles.php?subject=Comparative+Literature

    Rhetoric: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/indexes/titles.php?subject=Rhetoric

    2. On the list of Style Manual Quick Guides: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/refsites/style_manuals.html (You can navigate from the CMOS Quick Guide to the full guide.)

    3. From Catalog entries for any of the copies of the 15th or 16th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style; use the Find It @ UT button to search for the online version.

 

REVIEW, CONNECT, HAMMER INTO UNITY: your prose and your passion

LOOKING AHEAD: P2C: 200 points!

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