Today’s goals Introduce elements of writing style Discuss our publications and current events for the WTI essay Begin analyzing our publications to assist in creating our WTIs

Informative writing skills What skills are important for informative writing? How might this be different from reflective writing? Would we consider most informative writing to be open or closed form prose? Formal or informal?

Informative writing skills Verify your facts and data Use specific facts, details, and examples Make the information interesting Organize information appropriately Be concise; do not include unnecessary information

Closed form prose overview Introduction Hook Thesis Forecasting Body Transition Topic sentences Supporting material (Repeat for several topics/paragraphs) Conclusion Clincher

Article Vocabulary Closed form prose Thesis Hook Soft lead Hard lead Buried lead Inverted pyramid structure:

Article Vocabulary Hook: an attention grabber, usually located in the first few sentences of a piece of writing Soft lead: A strategy for starting news writing that begins with an attention grabbing strategy to pull the reader in. This is often done with description, narration, or anecdotes. This is the alternative to a hard lead. Hard lead: A strategy for starting news writing that begins with the thesis or main idea of the article in the first few sentences. This the alternative to a soft lead. Buried lead: A strategy for news writing that delays stating the thesis until the middle or end of the essay, also called delayed thesis prose. This holds the reader in suspense until the thesis is given Inverted pyramid: A structure of newspaper writing in which the most important information is given first followed by information of decreasing importance

Wti process Select a publication Analyze the publication in blog entry 4 Select a current event or topic. Find at least 2 sources on this topic Summarize the sources you have found in Blog Entry 5 Outline your essay. Make sure to identify: Your thesis and hook Your organizational strategy for body paragraphs A works cited page with your sources You may also wish to consider: what is your angle of vision and degree of advocacy? WTR Draft 1 250+ words WTR Draft 2 300-500 words WTR Final Draft Due 11-5

Class discussion- article composition For the next few class periods, we will be working together to create a web article as a class to guide you as you draft your own web articles Today we will focus on selecting a topic and writing an outline. Spend the next 10 minutes looking for a current event online that you find interesting. Each group may propose two current event topics and then the class will take a vote on which topic to write about. Note: This must be a “big” story that several news companies have written about

Group activity- current event research In your unit 2 groups Read through your selected article and answer the following questions What is the thesis or main idea of the article? What is the article’s hook? How does it grab your attention? Does the article use a soft lead, hard lead, or buried lead? What are the three most important pieces of information you find when reading the article? Be specific here with direct quotes or data.

homework Read A&B p. 50-52 Blog Entry 5 Focus: WTI Research summary First, identify the names and publications for each of the web articles that you will use with your WTI essays Next, provide a brief summary of what you think are the main points of each article or what makes your chosen current event interesting. Explain any differences or similarities you find in the articles’ information Finally, what is your perspective on this topic? Which side of the issue would you support if writing about it?