English 101 : English 101 Lecture One: The need for Composition & Tony’s 12 Steps to Writing a Paper
Why do you need Composition?: Why do you need Composition? Writing is so important that you can do nothing else without it.
Writing allows info to be transmitted to anyone, in a form that can be reviewed quickly and easily, as often as needed.
Why do you need Composition?: Why do you need Composition? Writing is clearer than speech.
Writing can reproduce speech, when done correctly.
Good writing includes learning the rules of writing, such as punctuation, spelling, and grammar.
Tony’s Twelve Steps: Tony’s Twelve Steps To Writing A Paper
Step One: Define Your Purpose: Step One: Define Your Purpose as defined by the assignment
as defined by the prompt
answer the question: Why am I writing this paper?
helps to narrow range of topics
Step Two: Choose Your Topic: Step Two: Choose Your Topic sometimes defined by the assignment
if not, choose something that interests you (ie., not boring!)
answer the question: What would I want to write about?
only one rule: no abortion papers!
Step Three: Analyze Your Audience: Step Three: Analyze Your Audience figure out who you’re writing for, what they need to know, what they already know
knowing this can change the paper itself
answer the question: who am I trying to inform, convince, or peruasde?
prompts signal this
your audience is NEVER me and me alone
Step Four: Gather Preliminary Info: Step Four: Gather Preliminary Info read an essay, look at an article
freewriting, journaling, brainstorming, clustering, interviewing
gasp! The dreaded “R” word!
for in-class papers, read the assigned essays
Step Five: Define Your Research Question: Step Five: Define Your Research Question answer the question: what question am I trying to answer with this paper?
for in-class essays, the prompt IS the research question
may NOT actually involve research, despite the “R” word
Step Six: Answer That Question: Step Six: Answer That Question reread the material you’ve covered with a more focused eye towards answering the research question
look for info that proves your points and refutes those of the opposition
for in-class papers: answer the question using what you’ve read
Step Seven: Create Your Thesis or Main Idea: Step Seven: Create Your Thesis or Main Idea Research question? Thesis!
“Oh, no, it isn’t!”
NOT a statement of fact
NOT a statement of blinding obviousness
Step Eight: Organize and Outline : Step Eight: Organize and Outline outlines are NOT punishment!
nothing fancy – just state thesis, reasons, proof
form follows purpose
ALWAYS have an intro and conclusion
NEVER simply start writing!
Step Nine: Draft Your Paperr : Step Nine: Draft Your Paperr get it down on paper
don’t sweat the mistakes yet
put it away, then come back to it
Step Ten: Primary Revision: Step Ten: Primary Revision this isn’t your paper anymore – be brutal with it
take things out, fill in the blanks, get rid of stupidity
make the paper interesting
avoid the typical errors (they’re/their/there, where/were, too/to)
NEVER use “In today’s society”
Step Eleven: Peer Evaluation: Step Eleven: Peer Evaluation “Why should I let someone in here look at my paper?” Why NOT?
individuals make different types of errors
be constructive, be kind, be honest
“This is perfect, don’t change a thing” is the only statement you should NEVER trust
Step Twelve: Revise, Document, Turn It In: Step Twelve: Revise, Document, Turn It In revise according to peer comments
document sources at this point (Works Cited)
print and THEN proofread
do NOT trust spell check or grammar check!
Your diagnostics: Your diagnostics I will mark these based on how well you responded to the prompt and to show what errors you made.
These will be returned to you shortly - we will come back to these later!
DB #3 and 4: DB #3 and 4 What sort of writing process have you used in the past? What problems do you encounter when writing your own papers?
Respond to someone else’s post on these questions for DB #4.
Next week: Next week How to Read An Essay, along with some sample essays
Paper #1 Assignment Sheet
Paper #1 topics due