V isible S peech a short course in the fundamentals of writing

1. Visible Speecha short course in the fundamentalsof writing By Joe Napora

2. Visible Speech:Writing Fundamentals A program of instruction in five parts: Part 1--What is an essay? Part 2--What is a paragraph? Part 3--What is a sentence? Part 4--Word confusions. Part 5--Punctuation. Click on the button to continue

3. Symbols Used in This Program Symbol Key:= Advance to next slide = Return to previous slide = Return to the first slide = Go to Part One = Go to Part Two = Go to Part Three = Go to Part Four = Go to Part Five 1 2 3 4 5

4. Visible Speech Instructor:Joe Napora College:Ashland Community College E-mail: joseph.napora@kctcs.edu Phone: 606-326-2037 Website:http://users.ashlandcc.org/jnapora/

5. WHAT IS ANESSAY? LESSON 1-5 Part One

6. Lesson 1: What is an essay? Symbol Key:= Return to “The Types of Introductions” slide = Return to “The Form of the Essay” slide Intro Form

7. What is an essay? What is an essay? Answer: Organized Writing

8. What is an essay? If an essay is organized writing, a good question to ask is “What is organized writing?” After all, isn’t all writing organized?

9. How is writing organized? All writing is organized; otherwise we could not read it. The writing we are concerned with is organized in a special way. Writing is organized according to audience. You or other people. Who is the audience? Couldn’t a machine be an audience? Yes. But we are only concerned with people.

10. What difference does the audience make? If you are the audience, writing is a form of memory: you are writing notes to yourself to help you remember. These notes may take the form of a diary (where the time of your writing is important), and they may just be nearly random ideas written on scraps of paper. This is the end of lesson one

11. Visible Speecha short course in the fundamentalsof writing / lesson 2 By Joe Napora

12. Symbols Used in This Program Symbol Key:= Advance to next slide = Return to previous slide = Return to the first slide = Go to Part One = Go to Part Two = Go to Part Three = Go to Part Four = Go to Part Five 1 2 3 4 5

13. What are the different forms of writing? If someone other than you is the audience, then what are the possible forms that writing can take? Below are some of the most common forms that writing can take. NotesE-mailLetters MemosSignsEssays ReportsAnnouncements Other

14. N o t e s Notes can be written to yourself or others, but notes usually depend on an intimate knowledge of the audience. When you write a note, you usually already know the audience; therefore you do not have to introduce yourself to the audience. An example of a note would be a message attached to your phone to remind someone in your family to call your mechanic. Forms

15. Notes, continued Question: Why is it not usually necessary to have an introduction in a note? Answer: It’s because you are the audience as well as the writer. You normally don’t have to introduce yourself to yourself. What are two examples of notes that you have written during the past week? Forms

16. M e m o s When you write a memo, you are given a form that simplifies the relationship between you, the writer, and the audience. Memo To: From: Re: The introduction and conclusion are in the form of TO: and FROM:. And the subject matter is simply introduced with RE:. Forms

17. R e p o r t s A report is like an expanded memo. The audience is determined by the subject matter. If you are doing a report in biology, your audience anticipates a report on some subject in biology. You, as the writer, do not have to get your audience interested in your topic because by the very nature of the subject, they are already interested. Forms

18. E – m a i l E-mail is a recent form of writing that was invented with the online computer. E-mail is a lot like letter writing, but it is also a lot like memo and report writing, plus a little like a telephone conversation. Forms

19. S i g n s A sign is a public form of writing that places a premium on getting the readers’ attention. A sign is formal in that it has a long history of design features that are proven to work. Forms

20. Announcements An announcement often relies on fancy paper or graphics to get the readers’ attention. Announcements are another type of formal writing. Forms

21. L e t t e r s Letters have a prescribed structure. The more formal the letter, the more standard the Introduction, the Body, and the Conclusion. Forms

22. E s s a y s Essays are also a formal type of writing. What we mean by “formal” is that the structure of the writing is more rigid than other forms of writing. This more rigid structure is not a restriction to our ability to communicate; in fact, it is an opportunity to be more creative than if there was a very loose structure. Forms

23. Other Forms of Writing Writing takes many forms, many more than the ones I have listed. We live in a literate age: we cannot go through a single day of our lives without the influence of writing in someform. Try to imagine a day without a direct or indirect connection with writing. This is the end of lesson two Forms

24. Visible Speecha short course in the fundamentalsof writing / lesson 3 By Joe Napora

25. Symbols Used in This Program Symbol Key:= Advance to next slide = Return to previous slide = Return to the first slide = Go to Part One = Go to Part Two = Go to Part Three = Go to Part Four = Go to Part Five 1 2 3 4 5

26. The Parts of the Essay The Introduction The Body The Conclusion Interest and Information Details Unity and a Lasting Image

27. Introduction The Introduction has two functions.The first function is to get the readers’ attention. It is the writer’s job (the most important one) to get the reader interested. The second function is let the reader know what the essay is all about. What are the two functions of the Introduction? Interest and Information

28. Introductory Techniques • There are at least a dozen ways to begin an essay that have been proven to work well in getting the attention of the reader. Half this many are most common, and it is these six that we are most interested in. • Ask a question or several questions. • Make an outrageous statement. • Give a detailed description. • Present a dramatic scene. • Use Dialogue. • Use a famous quote or historical reference.

29. Introductory Technique:Asking Questions ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? A question is like a ringing phone: it’s very hard not to answer it. A question involves the reader automatically into your essay. This is why asking a question or a series of questions is often a good way to begin your essay. Of course it has to be a question that is appropriate to your thesis. The thesis rules everything. Intro.

30. Introductory Technique:Outrageous Statement Writing is my worse subject! I hate writing! When I think of my writing teachers, I’m sure I believe in capital punishment. My writing classes in grade school were nothing but a form of child abuse. Writing! Who needs it? An outrageous statement gets attention. After you have the readers’ attention, then you can alter your statement. But it’s not as bad as getting beaten with barbed wire. But I hate mean people worse. Yet, I’m not so sure I want to see any of them hung. But then, most classes in grade school were that way. Unfortunately, now everyone needs it. Intro.

31. Introductory Technique:Detailed Description A detailed description acts like the pictures that accompany a story in the newspaper or in popular magazines: they get our attention and relate to the story. That’s why they work. We would expect the story with this picture to be about people at work in a white-collar job. Intro.

32. Introductory Technique:Dramatic Scene While the doctor listened for sounds that my only kidney is failing, I thought to myself, why had I given my other kidney to my worthless brother? The last time we saw each other he screamed at me, “I’d rather have a dog’s kidney than yours. Thanks for nothing!” Conflict always gets the readers’ attention. Intro.

33. Introductory Technique:Dialogue Beginning with dialogue puts the reader in the position of an eavesdropper: you listen to people talk even if you are not interested in them or what they are saying. You get drawn into their lives because of the power of the human voice. Dialogue gets the human voice onto the lifeless page. Intro.

34. Introductory Technique:Quotes & Allusions A stitch in time saves nine. Honor thy father and mother. Thou shall not kill. "To believe yourself to be brave is to be brave; it is the only essential thing.” --Mark Twain “Don’t panic!” --Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy “ x ” The X stands for anything you have quoted. And the X must be exactly, word for word, as it was in the original source. Intro.

35. B o d y Details Details Details Details Details Details Details Details The function of the Body of the essay is to provide the Details of what the essay is all about. The Body of the essay is divided into paragraphs that are organized around topic sentences. What is the function of the Body of the essay?

36. C o n c l u s I o n The function of the Conclusion of the essay is to unify the reading experience and to leave with the reader a lasting image that will recall to mind the essay after it has been read, perhaps years after it has been read. What are the functions of the Conclusion? Unity and Image This is the end of lesson 3

37. Visible Speecha short course in the fundamentalsof writing / lesson 4 By Joe Napora

38. Symbols Used in This Program Symbol Key:= Advance to next slide = Return to previous slide = Return to the first slide = Go to Part One = Go to Part Two = Go to Part Three = Go to Part Four = Go to Part Five 1 2 3 4 5

39. A n a l o g y The structure of an essay can be compared to the structure of the human body. Why would you want to make this comparison? It helps us to understand that communication is a very human act, and it helps us to remember the functions ofthe essay.

40. A n a l o g y, (the Head) The Introduction is similar to the Head. We normally look first at a person’s face; it is what interests us most. It is the head that rules the body.

41. A n a l o g y, (the Torso) The torso of the human body is what we usually refer to as our body. And it is the Body of the essay that is the essay’s heart, the center, where the real action is.

42. A n a l o g y, (the legs / feet) The body ends with the feet, but there is more. The legs and feet are what moves us on, connecting us to what is not with us at the moment, much as an image does.

43. P r o p o r t i o n Like the form of the human body, the form of the human essay has a pleasing proportionality. There is a lot of variety in the human form, just as there is a lot of variety in the human essay.

44. P r o p o r t i o n, continued We might think of an essay with very few details in the Body like a person with an extremely short torso.

45. P r o p o r t i o n, continued An essay with very many small paragraphs and only a few details is like a mal-nourished body. This is the end of lesson 4

46. Visible Speecha short course in the fundamentalsof writing / lesson 5 By Joe Napora

47. Symbols Used in This Program Symbol Key:= Advance to next slide = Return to previous slide = Return to the first slide = Go to Part One = Go to Part Two = Go to Part Three = Go to Part Four = Go to Part Five 1 2 3 4 5

48. The Structure of the Essay, Review Good writers organize the essay because readers expect it to be organized. Since we write in order to communicate with readers, we try to meet their expectations. Meeting readers’ expectations means writing according to an informed awareness of the function of the three parts of the essay. Review: What are the three main parts of the essay? Introduction, Body, and Conclusion

49. The Structure of the Essay, Review Interest and Information What is the function of the Introduction? What is the function of the Body of the essay? Details Unity and a Lasting Image What is the function of the Conclusion?

50. The Structure of the Essay, Review: Introductions What are the best six ways to begin an essay that have been proven to work well? • Ask a question or several questions. • Make an outrageous statement. • Give a detailed description. • Present a dramatic scene. • Dialogue. • Use a famous quote or historical reference. This is the end of lesson 5 and Part 1