Reading and Writing

• Discourse is a formal and often lengthy discussion of a topic, originating from the word discursus
• Critique:

  • States a writer's opinion about the good and bad parts of another piece
  • Uses formal language
• Diary:

  • A daily record of someone's personal experiences and thoughts
• Purposes of Discourse:

  • To inform: provides a descriptive and comprehensive discussion on the topic
  • To entertain: aims to amuse its readers and provide a source of entertainment
  • To persuade: tries to convince readers that the proposed claim or solution is better than any other proposal
• Analyzing a Discourse:

  • Consider factors that may have influenced the writer to make certain claims
  • Factors include biases, philosophy, educational and professional backgrounds, among others
• Culture:

  • Beliefs, customs, attitudes, language, and other defining aspects of culture may influence the author's perspective on various issues
• Experiences:

  • Personal accounts or firsthand experiences establish credibility and reliability of information presented in any discourse, despite being subjective
• Social Environment:

  • The author's physical surroundings, social relationships, and the culture of the time may have influenced their writing
• Types of Discourse:

  • Argumentation: process of making and presenting arguments for or against an idea to persuade the audience with valid claims
  • Description: based on the author's main impression about the topic, aiming to transmit that impression through concrete, colorful, and vivid language
  • Exposition: aims to inform, clarify, and explain a phenomenon
  • Narration: aims to relate a series of events, recalling events chronologically and may have linear or non-linear structure
• Literary Discourse:

  • Creative works such as poetry, short stories, novels, plays, and non-fiction
  • Used strictly for business communication such as letters, memos, and resumes
• Types of Literary Discourse:

  • Poetic Discourse: focuses on how language is used to form themes and convey ideologies, making ordinary words poetic
  • Expressive Discourse: found in academic journals, letters, diaries, and blogs, typically in the first person point of view revealing something about the writer's identity
  • Transactional Discourse: commonly found in instructional materials, advertisements, and editorial articles, providing detailed information on how something is done or achieved to encourage readers to take action
• Academic Discourse:

  • Expository or argumentative in nature
  • Presents an individual insight regarding a concept or method in a scholarly way
• General Format of Academic Discourse:

  • Introduction: states the significance of the topic
  • Body: discusses methods of gathering info and contains arguments with evidence
  • Conclusion: writer's claims and asserts their stand
• Organizing Info:

  • Graphic Organizer: visually organizes information showing how ideas relate to each other
  • Graphic Organizer: visually organizes information showing how ideas relate to each otherDifferent kinds of Graphic Organizers:
  • Mind Map: represents knowledge of a concept or idea, useful for brainstorming
  • Venn Diagram: shows similarities and differences between two or more people, objects, or ideas
  • Flow chart: shows different steps in a process
  • Hierarchical topical organizer: shows the order of information
• Writing a Topic Outline:

  • Topic Outline: list of ideas arranged in a specific order, showing how info is presented in writing
  • Divided into 2 levels: headings (Roman numerals) and subheadings (capital letters - A.)
  • Sub-subheadings specify details or concrete examples of supporting ideas
• Writing in the Sciences:

  • Features of a Good Scientific Text:
  • Objectivity: focuses on facts, not influenced by personal views, in third person
  • Jargon: technical terminology used in the field
  • Hypothesis: an idea or theory supported by evidence
  • Research: process of collecting quantitative info, essential in scientific writing
  • Case Study: intensive study of a specific subject or variable
  • Laboratory Report: formal documentation of experiments
  • Field Report: analyzes behavior patterns based on specific theory
• Purposes of Business Writing:

  • To incite action: shares information to prompt specific actions
  • To elicit responses: gathers necessary responses to improve operations
• Characteristics of Business Writing:

  • Strict format
  • Objective
  • Formal
• Common Writings in Business:

  • Memorandum (memo): informs or conveys messages to concerned people or departments
  • Résumé: shows a person's educational and professional background
  • Letter of Request: convinces a person in authority to grant permission for an action
  • Circular Letter: informs a large number of readers at once
  • Cover Letter: explains the contents of accompanying documents
  • Minutes of the Meeting: records discussions or events during a meeting