The Writing Process
Reading Actively and Efficiently
The first step in the writing process is reading actively. To read actively, you need to find the main points in what you read and work out a way of recording them so that you will be able to find them easily later on.
How do we know what the main points in a written text are? We first need to realize that all expository writing – the kind that explains something or argues a position – has a special shape. You can even draw it: it looks something like the chart below. The dark areas represent general statements, ones that serve to introduce the reader to what’s coming next. The first paragraph or so is, of course, the introduction, telling the reader what the whole essay or article will be about. The following paragraphs (however many there are) usually begin with their own general statements, a sentence or two called the topic sentence, which tells the reader what to expect in the paragraph.
How do we know what the main points in a written text are? We first need to realize that all expository writing – the kind that explains something or argues a position – has a special shape. You can even draw it: it looks something like the chart below. The dark areas represent general statements, ones that serve to introduce the reader to what’s coming next. The first paragraph or so is, of course, the introduction, telling the reader what the whole essay or article will be about. The following paragraphs (however many there are) usually begin with their own general statements, a sentence or two called the topic sentence, which tells the reader what to expect in the paragraph.
Why do writers use topic sentences? Read the following sentence and ask yourself if you know what it’s supposed to mean.
She was really annoyed, but she decided she had to go.
Obviously, you don’t know who “she” is or why she was annoyed, or where she was supposed to go. Now read the same sentence with another one preceding it:
Joanne received an invitation to her ex-boyfriend’s wedding. She was really annoyed, but she decided she had to go.
Now we can understand the second sentence (though we would have to read further to learn why she decided she had to go). Linguists, people who study language, call this issue “text coherence” – that is what makes pieces of writing understandable. The same text coherence issue that works between sentences also works in paragraphs. Read the following paragraph:
The spectators enjoy the sun or the evening, chat, drink beer or soda, cheer or boo as the occasion demands, and hope for a victory by the home team. The analysts keep score, watch each pitch intently, note the strengths and weaknesses of the players, and follow managerial strategy with microscopic attention.
You may or may not have been able to figure out what this paragraph is supposed to be about. The problem is that it isn’t coherent. Making a reader guess about a paragraph’s meaning is not what writers want to do, because their readers will get irritated at having to do all that guessing and stop reading. (Or, in a classroom, the instructor may read it score it as a D or F). Readers don’t want to have to figure out each paragraph. That’s why we use topic sentences; they make paragraphs more coherent, easier to read. Here’s the incoherent paragraph again, but this time with a topic sentence:
At every baseball game, there are basically two kinds of fan – the spectators and the analysts. The spectators enjoy the sun or the evening, chat, drink beer or soda, cheer or boo as the occasion demands, and hope for a victory by the home team. The analysts keep score, watch each pitch intently, note the strengths and weaknesses of the players, and follow managerial strategy with microscopic attention.
This is how most informational paragraphs work; they usually begin with a general statement telling us what’s coming up and then get into the specifics of their subject. Here is another example. Which sentence contains the general point of the paragraph, which the specific?
We [students] were forever being organized into activities that, I suspect looked good on paper and in school board reports. New programs took over and disappeared as approachesto child education changed. One year we would go without marks, on the theory that marks were a “poor motivating factor,” “an unnatural pressure.” . . . Another year every activity became a competition, with posters tacked up on the walls showing who was ahead that week, our failures and our glories bared to all the class. Our days were filled with electrical gimmicks, film strips and movies and overhead projectors and tapes and supplementary TV shows, and in junior high, when we went audio-visual, a power failure would have been reason enough to close down school.
Joyce Maynard, Looking Back: A Chronicle of Growing Up Old in the Sixties
In this case, the first two sentences are the general introductory ones, and the rest are specific. The point of most paragraphs lies in a combination of their general and specific statements. Joyce Maynard’s general sentences (the first two) introduce us to the idea that child education in the sixties didn’t follow any set principles, and her specific sentences then give us illustrations of that idea, showing us that education was governed by gimmicks. If we summarized this paragraph for someone, we would include its main point, without going into its details. (If we covered all the details, we’d just be recopying the paragraph, not summarizing it). We might write our summary this way:
Education in the 60s was ruled by gimmicks that looked good on paper rather than real principles.
As the two examples paragraphs indicate, one clue as to which points are most important lies in the way in which most paragraphs are organized; their general sentences usually come first and their specifics follow them. Sometimes it will be impossible to make an outline of a text just by noting the first two or three sentences of each of its paragraphs. It is important to remember, however, that not every paragraph works this way. The main exception is the paragraph in which all the sentences are about specifics; in these cases, the generalization covering them may be in a previous paragraph of the specifics may be so important that each one should be note
She was really annoyed, but she decided she had to go.
Obviously, you don’t know who “she” is or why she was annoyed, or where she was supposed to go. Now read the same sentence with another one preceding it:
Joanne received an invitation to her ex-boyfriend’s wedding. She was really annoyed, but she decided she had to go.
Now we can understand the second sentence (though we would have to read further to learn why she decided she had to go). Linguists, people who study language, call this issue “text coherence” – that is what makes pieces of writing understandable. The same text coherence issue that works between sentences also works in paragraphs. Read the following paragraph:
The spectators enjoy the sun or the evening, chat, drink beer or soda, cheer or boo as the occasion demands, and hope for a victory by the home team. The analysts keep score, watch each pitch intently, note the strengths and weaknesses of the players, and follow managerial strategy with microscopic attention.
You may or may not have been able to figure out what this paragraph is supposed to be about. The problem is that it isn’t coherent. Making a reader guess about a paragraph’s meaning is not what writers want to do, because their readers will get irritated at having to do all that guessing and stop reading. (Or, in a classroom, the instructor may read it score it as a D or F). Readers don’t want to have to figure out each paragraph. That’s why we use topic sentences; they make paragraphs more coherent, easier to read. Here’s the incoherent paragraph again, but this time with a topic sentence:
At every baseball game, there are basically two kinds of fan – the spectators and the analysts. The spectators enjoy the sun or the evening, chat, drink beer or soda, cheer or boo as the occasion demands, and hope for a victory by the home team. The analysts keep score, watch each pitch intently, note the strengths and weaknesses of the players, and follow managerial strategy with microscopic attention.
This is how most informational paragraphs work; they usually begin with a general statement telling us what’s coming up and then get into the specifics of their subject. Here is another example. Which sentence contains the general point of the paragraph, which the specific?
We [students] were forever being organized into activities that, I suspect looked good on paper and in school board reports. New programs took over and disappeared as approachesto child education changed. One year we would go without marks, on the theory that marks were a “poor motivating factor,” “an unnatural pressure.” . . . Another year every activity became a competition, with posters tacked up on the walls showing who was ahead that week, our failures and our glories bared to all the class. Our days were filled with electrical gimmicks, film strips and movies and overhead projectors and tapes and supplementary TV shows, and in junior high, when we went audio-visual, a power failure would have been reason enough to close down school.
Joyce Maynard, Looking Back: A Chronicle of Growing Up Old in the Sixties
In this case, the first two sentences are the general introductory ones, and the rest are specific. The point of most paragraphs lies in a combination of their general and specific statements. Joyce Maynard’s general sentences (the first two) introduce us to the idea that child education in the sixties didn’t follow any set principles, and her specific sentences then give us illustrations of that idea, showing us that education was governed by gimmicks. If we summarized this paragraph for someone, we would include its main point, without going into its details. (If we covered all the details, we’d just be recopying the paragraph, not summarizing it). We might write our summary this way:
Education in the 60s was ruled by gimmicks that looked good on paper rather than real principles.
As the two examples paragraphs indicate, one clue as to which points are most important lies in the way in which most paragraphs are organized; their general sentences usually come first and their specifics follow them. Sometimes it will be impossible to make an outline of a text just by noting the first two or three sentences of each of its paragraphs. It is important to remember, however, that not every paragraph works this way. The main exception is the paragraph in which all the sentences are about specifics; in these cases, the generalization covering them may be in a previous paragraph of the specifics may be so important that each one should be note
Assignment: Continue by using "The Writing Process" content to complete the "Reading Actively and Efficiently - Exercise." Open "Reading Actively & Efficiently - Exercise." Follow the directions to highlight introductory/topic sentences, mark supporting sentences, and write a summarizing statement for each the passage.
Reading Actively and Efficiently - Exercise | |
File Size: | 41 kb |
File Type: | doc |
Steps to Writing a Summary
Summarizing nonfiction can be hard. Not only do you have to read and understand the text, but you also have to figure out what's important, how to put the ideas in your own words, and how to organize the summary.
Our summaries will consist of four or five sentences which focus a reader’s attention on the main ideas of a piece of writing. Each sentence centers on a strong action verb. It also focuses the reader’s attention to the author’s main idea, the author’s development, the author’s purpose, and the intended audience.
Here is a four step process we will use to write a summary. First, let's read an article and then follow the steps to write a summary. Open a new document with an MLA format (1 inch margins, double-spaced, stacked heading) in preparation for writing your summary.
Our summaries will consist of four or five sentences which focus a reader’s attention on the main ideas of a piece of writing. Each sentence centers on a strong action verb. It also focuses the reader’s attention to the author’s main idea, the author’s development, the author’s purpose, and the intended audience.
Here is a four step process we will use to write a summary. First, let's read an article and then follow the steps to write a summary. Open a new document with an MLA format (1 inch margins, double-spaced, stacked heading) in preparation for writing your summary.
Soda at School: How Parents Can Get Kids to Choose Healthier Drinks
Nancy Shute
Soft drinks and other sugary beverages are often blamed for the big rise in childhood obesity, yet it's surprisingly easy for kids to buy sugar-sweetened drinks at school. That's true even for second-graders; almost half of elementary school students can buy drinks like sodas, sports drinks, and high-fat milk, all of which the Institute of Medicine says contribute to the obesity epidemic.
The fact that elementary schools are more and more likely to have vending machines or a store where kids can buy unhealthy drinks is part of the problem; 14 percent of public elementary school students and 38 percent of private elementary school students can buy sugar-sweetened beverages at school, according to a new study published online in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. And the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that schools offer only unflavored 1-percent or nonfat milk because even milk can be unhealthy if it's loaded with sugar. Chocolate and other flavored milks are recommended only if they are nonfat.
Parents who don't want their kids tanking up on Dr. Pepper or chocolate-flavored whole milk during the school day should first find out their schools' policies on drinks, says Lindsey Turner, a clinical health psychologist and senior research specialist at the Institute for Health Research and Policy at the University of Illinois-Chicago, who led the study. Some schools don't allow any sugared drinks to be sold, while others are much more permissive. "I have two kids in elementary school, so it's certainly a subject near and dear to my own heart," Turner says. Once you know what drinks your children have access to at school, Turner recommends these options:
Serve healthy drinks at home. "Children who are not served chocolate milk at home will potentially not choose it at school," Turner says. Drinking skim or 1-percent milk at home gets children used to the idea that that's what milk really tastes like.
Talk to your kids about healthy choices. For instance, many kids think sports drinks are healthy, when in fact they're nothing more than flavored sugar water. Juice should say "100 percent juice"; a "juice drink" is code for "almost no actual juice."
If your child has access to sugary or high-fat drinks at school, talk to the principal about making changes, or join a parent advisory council. All schools have policies on cafeteria food, vending, and store sales. If parents push hard enough, the menus will change, Turner says.
Turner tracked school beverage choices for three consecutive school years starting in 2006 and was surprised that the number of schools offering sugary drinks didn't decline at all. At the same time, the number of schools where children could buy drinks from vending machines, stores, and snack bars increased from 49 percent in the 2006 school year to 61 percent in the 2008 school year. Access to higher-fat milk also increased, from 37 percent in 2006 to 39 percent in 2008, with 2-percent and whole milk being offered more often in à la carte cafeteria lines.
It's hard to imagine that a second grader would be willing to pay attention to fat percentages in milk as he shuffles down the cafeteria line; his focus is much more likely to be on whether it's pizza day. Far better would be to have plenty of choices, all healthy. Some schools are experimenting with marketing mini-carrots and other healthy foods like junk food, but nutrition experts agree that the best tactic is to get the junk food—and drinks— out of schools, so the healthy food won't have unfair competition.
Soft drinks and other sugary beverages are often blamed for the big rise in childhood obesity, yet it's surprisingly easy for kids to buy sugar-sweetened drinks at school. That's true even for second-graders; almost half of elementary school students can buy drinks like sodas, sports drinks, and high-fat milk, all of which the Institute of Medicine says contribute to the obesity epidemic.
The fact that elementary schools are more and more likely to have vending machines or a store where kids can buy unhealthy drinks is part of the problem; 14 percent of public elementary school students and 38 percent of private elementary school students can buy sugar-sweetened beverages at school, according to a new study published online in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. And the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that schools offer only unflavored 1-percent or nonfat milk because even milk can be unhealthy if it's loaded with sugar. Chocolate and other flavored milks are recommended only if they are nonfat.
Parents who don't want their kids tanking up on Dr. Pepper or chocolate-flavored whole milk during the school day should first find out their schools' policies on drinks, says Lindsey Turner, a clinical health psychologist and senior research specialist at the Institute for Health Research and Policy at the University of Illinois-Chicago, who led the study. Some schools don't allow any sugared drinks to be sold, while others are much more permissive. "I have two kids in elementary school, so it's certainly a subject near and dear to my own heart," Turner says. Once you know what drinks your children have access to at school, Turner recommends these options:
Serve healthy drinks at home. "Children who are not served chocolate milk at home will potentially not choose it at school," Turner says. Drinking skim or 1-percent milk at home gets children used to the idea that that's what milk really tastes like.
Talk to your kids about healthy choices. For instance, many kids think sports drinks are healthy, when in fact they're nothing more than flavored sugar water. Juice should say "100 percent juice"; a "juice drink" is code for "almost no actual juice."
If your child has access to sugary or high-fat drinks at school, talk to the principal about making changes, or join a parent advisory council. All schools have policies on cafeteria food, vending, and store sales. If parents push hard enough, the menus will change, Turner says.
Turner tracked school beverage choices for three consecutive school years starting in 2006 and was surprised that the number of schools offering sugary drinks didn't decline at all. At the same time, the number of schools where children could buy drinks from vending machines, stores, and snack bars increased from 49 percent in the 2006 school year to 61 percent in the 2008 school year. Access to higher-fat milk also increased, from 37 percent in 2006 to 39 percent in 2008, with 2-percent and whole milk being offered more often in à la carte cafeteria lines.
It's hard to imagine that a second grader would be willing to pay attention to fat percentages in milk as he shuffles down the cafeteria line; his focus is much more likely to be on whether it's pizza day. Far better would be to have plenty of choices, all healthy. Some schools are experimenting with marketing mini-carrots and other healthy foods like junk food, but nutrition experts agree that the best tactic is to get the junk food—and drinks— out of schools, so the healthy food won't have unfair competition.
STEP 1 - Establish the text and author's argument
Begin the summary with a sentence that includes the name of author, genre (essay, article, chapter, etc), and title of work and an accurate verb such as “argues,” “claims,” “suggests,” or “describes,” and a THAT clause containing the major assertion (thesis statement) of the work.
In her article "Soda at School: How Parents Can Get Kids to Choose Healthier Drinks" Nancy Shute argues that . . .
STEP 2 - Explain the author's support
In the next sentence(s) explain how the author develops and/or supports the thesis, usually provided in the same order as the work itself.
Author supports her thesis with ______ , ______, and _______.
STEP 3 - Identify the author's purpose
A statement of the author’s apparent purpose, followed by an “in order” phrase.
Author purpose is to ________ in order to ________.
STEP 4 - Describe the audience
End the summary with a description of the intended audience or the relationship the author establishes with the audience.
The author's intended audience is __________ who she reaches by . . . .
Assignment: Writing Summaries - "Soda at School" Article
After reading the article "Soda at School: How Parents Can Get Kids to Choose Healthier Drinks," use our 4-step process to write a summary of the article. Open a new Word document with MLA format - be sure to double-space your text and put a stacked heading.
Assignment: Writing Summaries - Security Survey Article
Read the article included in the document through once; read a second time annotating the article in preparation for writing a summary. In class, compare and discuss your annotations with the members of your group. Finally, use your annotations and our 4-step process to write a summary of the article. Include your summary at the bottom of the document containing the annotated article. Submit your work to the labeled dropbox.
Read the article included in the document through once; read a second time annotating the article in preparation for writing a summary. In class, compare and discuss your annotations with the members of your group. Finally, use your annotations and our 4-step process to write a summary of the article. Include your summary at the bottom of the document containing the annotated article. Submit your work to the labeled dropbox.
Writing Summaries - Security Survey Article | |
File Size: | 45 kb |
File Type: | doc |
Assignment: "Legal Article Summary"
Use the law book hyperlink on the right to access law-related articles. Select an article to summarize. Copy and paste the title and text of the article into a new document which contains your MLA style format. Use the highlighting, underlining and/or comment functions to annotate your text. Below the annotated text, use our 4-step process to write a summary of your article. |