New Concepts
Rhetorical Situation Concepts:
Design Plan
Audience:
Purpose:
Context:
Medium:
Strategies:
Arrangement:
Testing:
Writing Process Concepts
Freewriting: Writing without stopping for a certain amount of time.
Brainstorming: listing every idea and detail that comes to your mind.
Clustering a type of freewriting and brainstorming which draws on free association and unedited work by combining writing and nonlinear drawing.
Asking Questions: Asking yourself a set of questions about a subject and then writing out the answers
Revising:
Editing:
Proofreading:
Peer review:
Literary Concepts
Character: Any representation of an individual being presented in a dramatic or narrative work through extended dramatic or verbal representation.
Climax: The critical point in the story which changes the course of events or the point in the story where the main character faces a crisis and must make a crucial decision that will effect the outcome of the story.
Description: Description details the sensory qualities of a person, scene, thing, or feeling using concrete and specific words to convey a dominant mood, illustrate an idea, or achieve some other purpose.
Dialogue: The lines spoken by a character or characters in a play, essay, story, or novel, especially a conversation between two characters, or a literary work that takes the form of such a discussion (e.g., Plato's Republic). Bad dialogue is pointless. Good dialogue either provides characterization or advances the plot.
Flashback: A break in the continuity of a story to introduce an earlier event
Foreshadow: A hint or clue to future events in the story
Metaphor: A comparison or analogy stated in such a way as to imply that one object is another one, figuratively speaking. When we speak of "the ladder of success," we imply that being successful is much like climbing a ladder to a higher and better position.
Plot: The structure and relationship of actions and events in a work of fiction. In order for a plot to begin, some sort of catalyst is necessary. While the temporal order of events in the work constitutes the "story," we are speaking of plot rather than story as soon as we look at how these events relate to one another and how they are rendered and organized so as to achieve their particular effects.
Point of View: The way a story gets told and who tells it. It is the method of narration that determines the position, or angle of vision, from which the story unfolds. Point of view governs the reader's access to the story. Many narratives appear in the first person (the narrator speaks as "I" and the narrator is a character in the story who may or may not influence events within it). Another common type of narrative is the third-person narrative (the narrator seems to be someone standing outside the story who refers to all the characters by name or as he, she, they, and so on).
Setting: The general locale, historical time, and social circumstances in which the action of a fictional or dramatic work occurs; the setting of an episode or scene within a work is the particular physical location in which it takes place.
Simile: An analogy or comparison implied by using an adverb such as like or as, in contrast with a metaphor which figuratively makes the comparison by stating outright that one thing is another thing.
Literacy Narrative Peer Review
You will be graded on the comments and suggestions you make. So please make sure that you make at least two specific suggestions for the author so that s/he can improve his/her narrative and do not forget to make positive comments. Do not forget to write your name on the paper you review. I expect to see some changes from the first draft to the final draft.
Reviewer:
Writer:
Specific Suggestions
Checklist for revision
Purpose
What is the essay’s purpose? Does it conform to the assignment? Is it consistent throughout the paper? (See pp. 6–8.)
Thesis
What is the thesis of the essay? Where does it become clear? How well do thesis and paper match: Does the paper stray from the thesis? Does it fulfill the commitment of the thesis? (See pp. 14–16.)
Structure
What are the main points of the paper? (List them.) How well does each support the thesis? How effective is their arrangement for the paper’s purpose? (See pp. 17–21.)
Development
How well do details, examples, and other evidence support each main point? Where, if at all, might readers find support skimpy or have trouble understanding the content? (See pp. 6–7, 45–49.)
Tone
What is the tone of the paper? How do particular words and sentence structures create the tone? How appropriate is it for the purpose, topic, and intended readers? Where is it most and least successful?
Unity
What does each sentence and paragraph contribute to the thesis?
Where, if at all, do digressions occur? Should these be cut, or can they be rewritten to support the thesis? (See pp. 20–21, 39–40.)
Coherence
How clearly and smoothly does the paper flow? Where does it seem rough or awkward? Can any transitions be improved? (See pp. 20–21, 40–44.)
Title, introduction, conclusion
How accurately and interestingly does the title reflect the essay’s content? (See below.) How well does the introduction engage and focus readers’ attention? (See pp. 50–51.) How effective is the conclusion in providing a sense of completion? (See pp. 51–53.)
Checklist for editing
Clarity
How well do words and sentences convey their intended meanings?
Which if any words and sentences are confusing? Check especially for these:
Exact language (3 pp. 167–75)
Parallelism (3 pp. 152–55)
Clear modifiers (4 pp. 271–77)
Clear reference of pronouns (4 pp. 256–59)
Complete sentences (4 pp. 278–82)
Sentences separated correctly (4 pp. 283–87)
Effectiveness
How well do words and sentences engage and focus readers? Where does the writing seem wordy, choppy, or dull? Check especially for these:
Emphasis of main ideas (3 pp. 141–50)
Smooth and informative transitions (pp. 43–45)
Variety in sentence length and structure (3 pp. 156–59)
Appropriate language (3 pp. 160–66)
Concise sentences (3 pp. 177–82)
Correctness
How little or how much do surface errors interfere with clarity and effectiveness? Check especially for these:
Spelling (6 pp. 345–51)
Verb forms, especially -s and -ed endings and correct forms of irregular verbs (4 pp. 210–24)
Verb tenses, especially consistency (4 pp. 225–31)
Agreement between subjects and verbs, especially when words come between them or the subject is each, everyone, or a similar word (4 pp. 237–42)
Pronoun forms (4 pp. 244–50)
Agreement between pronouns and antecedents, especially when the antecedent contains or or it is everyone, person, or a similar word (4 pp. 251–54)
Sentence fragments (4 pp. 278–82)
Commas, especially with comma splices (4 pp. 283–87) and with and or but, with introductory elements, with nonessential elements, and with series (5 pp. 298–308)
Apostrophes in possessives but not plural nouns (Dave’s/witches) and in contractions but not possessive personal pronouns (it’s/its) (5 p. 327)
The thesis statement
To add or show sequence
again, also, and, and then, besides, equally important, finally, first, further, furthermore, in addition, in the first place, last, moreover, next, second, still, too
To compare
also, in the same way, likewise, similarly
To contrast
although, and yet, but, but at the same time, despite, even so, even though, for all that, however, in contrast, in spite of, nevertheless, notwithstanding, on the contrary, on the other hand, regardless, still, though, yet
To give examples or intensify
after all, an illustration of, even, for example, for instance, indeed, in fact, it is true, of course, specifically, that is, to illustrate, truly
To indicate place
above, adjacent to, below, elsewhere, farther on, here, near, nearby, on the other side, opposite to, there, to the east, to the left
To indicate time
after a while, afterward, as long as, as soon as, at last, at length, at that time, before, earlier, formerly, immediately, in the meantime, in the past, lately, later, meanwhile, now, presently, shortly, simultaneously, since, so far, soon, subsequently, then, thereafter, until, until now, when
To repeat, summarize, or conclude
all in all, altogether, as has been said, in brief, in conclusion, in other words, in particular, in short, in simpler terms, in summary, on the whole, that is, therefore, to put it differently, to summarize