Final Review What you need to know for Thursday!

Your final will consist of three sections: A short answer section that will review major course concepts A section that will address common grammatical mistakes A short essay section letting you choose between 3 possible prompts based on the writing strategies covered in class (persuasion, cause and effect, problem solving)

Short Answer Section This section will cover major course concepts from our text You will be expected to answer the questions in two to three sentences Partial credit will be given

The Star Approach Subject Audience Purpose Strategy Design

Subject Consider the message you want to convey. Select a subject that matches the guidelines of the assignment. Narrow your subject if necessary. Always consider your audience and purpose.

Audience Consider your audience and what they may or may not already know. Be aware of relevant discourse communities. Consider both your primary and secondary audience. Always consider your audience and purpose. Determine relevant audience characteristics. If online, use netiquette when addressing both instructor and classmates.

Purposes Writing to inform ◦ Provide useful information about a subject. ◦ Teach your audience how to do something. Writing to persuade ◦ You may argue a point. ◦ You may persuade your audience to do something. Writing to interpret ◦ Help your audience better understand something. ◦ Your opinion is important.

Purpose continued Writing to entertain ◦ Entertain the audience. ◦ Many times you address another purpose. Writing to express feelings ◦ You may communicate positive feelings. ◦ You may express dissatisfaction about something. Combined purposes ◦ You may use more than one purpose. ◦ The purposes may overlap.

Strategy Narrating Describing Explaining a process Comparing or Contrasting Explaining causes or effects Persuading Evaluating Solving a problem

Design Genre ◦ The writing style (e.g., essay, story, paper, memo, letter, etc.) ◦ Consider your task. Length ◦ Know the instructor’s requirement. ◦ Make sure all points are clearly supported. Format ◦ The structure of your writing (e.g., typed, hand- written, documentation style, etc.) ◦ Follow the instructor’s guidelines closely.

Design continued Appearance ◦ Show similarities or differences between two people, places, or objects. ◦ Make a worthwhile point. Visual aids ◦ The pictures, charts, or graphs used to enhance your paper. ◦ Determine if a point would be more effective with a visual image.

Seven Steps of the Writing Process 1. Discovering 2. Planning 3. Composing 4. Getting feedback 5. Revising 6. Editing 7.Proofreading

1. Discovering Brainstorming Listing Freewriting Questioning Journaling Sketching Talking Reading Viewing

2. Planning Narrowing your focus Clustering Creating a graphic organizer Determining main points Ordering ideas Outlining (informal and formal)

3. Composing Use your discovery and planning stage ideas to create a rough draft. Use your cluster or outline as a guide. Focus on the first four points of the rhetorical star. Concentrate on getting your ideas on paper and not on the presentation. Write the easiest part first to build your confidence. Don’t expect perfection. Write until you’ve covered all of the main points you’ve planned to address. Save your rough draft or place it in a safe location. Take a break.

4. Getting Feedback Conferences ◦ Meet with your instructor for feedback. ◦ Don’t expect your instructor to correct your paper for you. ◦ Learn to revise and edit your own papers. Peer review ◦ Provide and accept constructive criticism. ◦ Utilize peer review with writing on the job.

5. Revising Adding and deleting ideas ◦ Determine if all of the main points are covered. ◦ Remove points that are unnecessary. ◦ Watch for unneeded repetition. ◦ Choose your main points carefully.

5. Revising (contd.) Developing ◦ Check to make sure you have enough details and examples to support your main points. ◦ Try additional discovery techniques. ◦ Make sure you have enough support to prove your thesis.

5. Revising (contd.) Arranging ◦ Determine if the order of your ideas makes sense. ◦ Move sentences or paragraphs around to create the best flow. ◦ Consider saving different versions of your draft if you’re working on a computer.

6. Editing Sentence Structure ◦ Determine if sentences sound awkward. ◦ Check for sentences of varying length. ◦ Watch for choppy sentences. ◦ Clarify long, unclear sentences. Grammar ◦ Check for subject/verb agreement. ◦ Look for the proper use of pronouns. ◦ Determine if the adjectives selected provide enough description. ◦ Watch for correct adverb usage.

6. Editing (contd.) Punctuation ◦ Check for ending punctuation. ◦ Make sure quotation marks are used correctly. ◦ Look for semicolon, colon, and comma usage. ◦ Determine if special punctuation marks are appropriate for the writing. Spelling ◦ Use a spelling check tool. ◦ Make sure to watch for spelling issues that would not be caught with the spelling check tool. Mechanics ◦ Check capitalization. ◦ Look for abbreviated words. ◦ Make sure numbers are spelled out if needed.

7. Proofreading Check the smallest details. Read your paper aloud. Consider reading from the last sentence to the first sentence. Get an additional peer review for further feedback. Review the paper guidelines provided by your instructor.

Steps for Writing an Analyzing Causes and Effects Essay Begin by identifying the cause or effect you are analyzing Explain the cause and effect relationship convincingly Organize the causes and/effects effectively (three patterns) Use sound logic Conclude effectively (don’t over generalize)

Steps for Writing Persuasively Introduce the issue you are debating. Make a claim about your subject. Support your claim with evidence that appeals to your audience. Use your supporting evidence logically and ethically. Organize your supporting evidence effectively. End your essay effectively.

Steps for Writing an Evaluative Essay Begin by describing the subject you are evaluating. Make a claim about the subject you are evaluating. Choose several criteria for your evaluation. Make a judgment about each criterion. Support your judgments with specific evidence. Be fair with your judgments. End with a final claim about your subject.

Writing a Proposal to Solve a Problem Identify a problem and demonstrate that it exists. Appeal to your audience. State your claim. Propose a solution to the problem. Organize your solution(s) effectively. Persuade your audience that your solution is feasible and worthwhile. End with a call to action.

Vocabulary Thesis statements clearly and concisely state what you will show in your essay Sentence variety (writing sentences with various lengths and patterns) is more effective Unity is achieved when all ideas in a paragraph relate to the main idea and all paragraphs relate to the thesis Topic Sentences make the main idea of a paragraph clearer Transitions connect ideas, sentences, and paragraphs

Vocabulary continued Research papers must be carefully researched and documented Plagiarism occurs anytime a quote, paraphrase, or summary occurs without citation. Critical reading requires careful reading and analysis of the material Evaluating sources requires careful analysis of the author and their credibility

Grammar section This section will cover three sections: Editing sentences ( ) Editing Grammar ( ) Editing punctuation ( )

Grammar continued Common questions will deal with the following: fragments and run on sentences faulty parallelism pronoun usage dangling and misplaced modifiers subject verb agreement pronoun usage commas, semicolons and colons

Essay section You will be asked to turn in a typed response of words on one of three possible topics. The topics will be based upon using your strategies from chapters 9,10, and 12 (pick one) You will begin this section once you have turned in the completion and grammar sections

Good luck on your Final To do your best: Review your writing strategies and the major steps involved in them Review the rhetorical star Review the writing process Review the pages mentioned in the grammar section