Strategies For College Writing: Sentences, Paragraphs, Essays
Second Edition
Jeanette Harris, Texas Christian University
Ann Moseley, Texas A&M-Commerce
Appropriate Courses
Designed for courses in Developmental Writing and Basic Writing.
Summary
Strategies for College Writing offers full coverage of the basics of writing essays, paragraphs, and sentences with a focus on preparing students for academic writing and reading assignments.
The book starts with detailed attention to the writing process at a pace that is comfortable for the developmental student. It emphasizes the importance of the controlling idea, the process of gathering information from both personal experience and other sources, the structure of an essay, and the way in which ideas are arranged and connected. In Part Two, students learn how to use models for each of the patterns of development. The sentence/grammar material is self-contained in Part Three for flexible use by students studying independently or by teachers who might want to focus on a particular topic. Students learn how to construct different types of sentences and how to use appropriate punctuation. Ample exercise material reinforces the instruction. Part Four, Critical Reading Strategies, focuses on the process of reading and relates it to the process of writing and provides students with effective strategies for summarizing, note-taking, and annotating reading material.
Features
An emphasis on academic writing and reading assignments prepares students to deal successfully with college work.
Integration of reading and writing instruction reinforces how these two fundamental skills complement each other and helps students deal more effectively with academic discourse.
Abundant exercise work includes group activities called “Participating in the Academic Community” at the end of each chapter to help promote active learning through collaboration.
Chapters on doing research and conducting interviews and observations support students' efforts to look outside themselves for writing topics.
A separate section of readings is grouped thematically and offers material from academic and popular sources for practicing critical reading and writing skills.
Sentence exercises, including cloze and sentence-combining types, allow students to focus on the discrete skill being taught and then to work with the skill in the context of a paragraph or essay in passages provided in the text and in their own writing.
Extensive examples of student writing are included in the writing sections of the book to provide examples that are accessible to students.
An extensive instructor's manual supports a variety of course methods and emphases.
Contents
Each chapter ends with “Chapter Review,” “Participating in the Academic Community,” and “Writing Assignment.
In the article, “Understanding Writing Assignments: Tips and Techniques,” author Dan Melzer shares with his audience seven useful suggestions to keep in mind when starting any writing assignment. Melzer’s first tips are for readers to examine their rubrics for any key verbs that will tell writers what approach and genre their paper should have. Knowing what kind of writing your teacher wants will not only help a writer get started, it will also inform a writer what they can research to view examples. Next, he tells his readers to write for their specific audience, to make sure they know their teacher’s expectations, and to take into account what they have learned in class. In these sections, Melzer stresses the importance of asking a teacher
Writing with Readings and Handbook. 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2013. 52-57. Print.
Dewey Dell’s conflict Dewey Dell is the fourth child, and the only daughter, of Anse and Addie Bundren in As I Lay Dying. “Dewey Dell monologues are characterized with unarticulated wishes, powerful but poorly misunderstood emotions, and weakness.” From the dialogue, Darl said to Dewel Dell that Addie is going to die and she will die before they get back from the lumber job. Based on the story As I Lay Dying, does Dewey Dell hates Darl or she doesn’t? If yes, what is the reason?
In our modern society, we have forgotten the art of writing. When we write, we think to ourselves, the longer the sentence, the more intelligent I will sound. Many may say it is by writing long sentences. But is it all that true? In this piece of writing I would like to focus on an essay written by Verlyn Klinkenborg, Several Short Sentences About Writing. In this essay he explains how and why when we write, we should keep our sentences short. he also explains why students should be assigned essays that are not determinate on other sources as evidence. I will also be comparing this to a piece written by Sarah Manguso, Ongoingness. I will be comparing these two pieces on their writing style, and their essayistic ideas. My belief is that we need
Transitioning from high school to college can be overwhelming. Before English 1301, I thought that I did not have to worry about being prepared for college. I quickly realized that my little background in writing essays was not going to be enough for college. Writing is not just something that I will use in English classes. In college, I will have to use effective writing skills in all my classes to complete research papers, essay tests and communicate to professors. Throughout my education, writing strategies persisted to be something that did not come easy to me. I dreaded writing because I could never find ways to get my thoughts down on paper. Ironically, a class that petrified me due to the amount of writing that was required ended up helping me in so many ways. English 1301 and my professor prepared me so much for college and real life.
Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum, Brief Edition (2nd Edition) (2 ed., pp. 413-429). New York: Longman.
Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Tenth edition. Edited by Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. New York: Longman Publishers, pp. 371-377, 2008.
Reading, Thinking, Writing: Resources for Teaching. By Michael Meyer. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012. 15-16. Print.
Begrens, Laurence; Rosen, Leonard J. Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. 7th ed. New York, Longman, 2000. 320-322.
Students in Eleventh Grade College Preparatory English classes will be able to read a writing prompt and understand what it is asking them to do. They will demonstrate this by being able to restate the prompt into a topic sentence and articulate their response with an appropriate thesis statement. In addition they will be able to organize their paper and support their ideas with evidence from the text provided.
Encouraging writing, Methuen & Co. Ltd, London, U.K. Ferneaux, C. Process writing, http://www.rdg.ac.uk/AcaDepts/cl/slals/process.htm (26.11.01) Writing Development, http://www.english.uiuc.edu/405/Witt/Writing_Project/writing_development.htm (26.11.01)
Amanda Spake, “Chapter Eight” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum, (New York: Pearson, 2007) 337-337
Writing is an important part of everyone’s life, whether we use it in school, in the workplace, as a hobby or in personal communication. It is important to have this skill because it helps us as writers to express feelings and thoughts to other people in a reasonably permanent form. Formal writing forms like essays, research papers, and articles stimulates critically thinking. This helps the writer to learn how to interpret the world around him/her in a meaningful way. In college, professors motivate students to write in a formal, coherent manner, without losing their own voice in the process. Improving your writing skills is important, in every English class that’s the main teaching point; to help students improve their writing skills. Throughout my college experience I have acknowledge that
I have learned many things throughout the course of the term, including such things as: how to write an essay and how to improve on essays that I have already written, how to locate and composite better research through the use of numerous resources found at the campus library, the internet, and the “Common Sense” textbook, how to cite research, examples, and quotations properly within the contents of my research paper as well as document it accurately according to MLA standards. Through the exploration of the “Subjects and Strategies” textbook, I have learned nine different methods used when writing an effective essay and how the different writing styles affect the overall theme and tone of the essay when used properly. This past semester, I have encountered many difficulties when trying to write these essays, but through the use of the textbooks, the aide of the instructor, and once I was able to classify the different types of essays and styles, I found them possible to overcome.
As I look back on my schooling I can’t believe how many papers I’ve written throughout my life. Naturally as I’ve grown up, my writing has developed from learning how to write sentences all the way up to the pages of essays that consist of deeper criteria. I know for a fact that I’m a better writer now than I was before. College writing is more challenging and I’ve had to learn how to adjust to it.