rws

• Counterclaims


  Claims made to rebut a previous claim, providing a contrasting perspective to the main argument
• Evidences


  Allow you to validate assertions of the author and your own counterclaims as a response to reading
• Benjamin Franklin: 'Those who fail to plan, plan to fail'
• Pre-writing


  • Different techniques that help you discover ideas before writing
  • Begins with knowing the kind of paper
  • Determine the writing situation (purpose, audience, reason, expectations, background)
  • Choose your topic or specific issue
  • Consider the tone (feelings and emotions), POV, sentence structure and choice of words (denotation and connotation)
• Pre-writing strategies

  • Brainstorming
  • Clustering or mapping
  • Freewriting
• Brainstorming


  List down everything that comes into your mind
• Clustering or mapping


  Writing a word or phrase at the center of the page and encircle it
• Freewriting


  Connected ideas out of the writer's mind
• Thesis statement


  • Central idea of an essay, around which all other ideas revolve
  • Reflects your purpose for writing
  • Not the subject or topic itself but an interpretation of the topic
  • Product of thinking about your ideas, seeking evidence and looking for relationships between these
• Guidelines on writing thesis statements

  • Avoid making overly-opinionated stands
  • Avoid making announcements
  • Avoid stating only the facts
• Outline


  Summary that gives the essential features of a text
• Types of outline


  • Reading outline (used to get the main ideas of a text that is already written)
  • Writing outline (skeletal version of your essay, contains fundamental points, and different ideas that support them)
• Types of outline


  • Scratch (or topic) outline (simple lists of ideas that take the forms of words and phrases)
  • Sentence (or formal) outline (uses sentences to define the subject matter)
• Paragraph


  Group of sentences that deals with one particular idea, supporting the controlling idea
• Topic sentence


  Main idea of your paragraph, generally plans to propose, argue or explain, can be found in the beginning, middle or end, can be implicit or implied
• Supporting details


  Expound on the main idea and act as adequate support
• Characteristics of an effective essay

  • Unity - begin and end with one focus, clear and consistent connection to the topic
  • Adequate development - the topic sentence should be elaborated using concrete evidence, different examples, relevant facts and specific detail
  • Coherence - sentences are arranged in a logical manner, making them easily understood by the reader (can be arranged chronological, spatial or emphatic order)
• Signal devices (words and phrases that connect one idea to another)

  • Time (First, Then, later)
  • Sequence (moreover, furthermore, besides, also)
  • Space (above, behind)
  • Illustration (for instance, specifically, for example)
  • Comparison (similarly, likewise, too, also)
  • Contrast (but, despite, yet, although, otherwise)
  • Cause and effect (because, as a result)
  • Conclusion (thus, therefore, in conclusion)
• Revision


  General process of going back through your whole draft, from the start to end, and improving on or clarifying your writing subject's meaning
• Editing


  More meticulous process of clarifying meaning by revising each word and line of your draft, focusing on grammatical principles (subject-verb agreement, verb tense, noun and pronoun usage, preposition, sentence transitions and typographical matters like spelling, punctuation and capitalization)
• Proofreading


  Process of reviewing the final draft of a piece of writing to ensure consistency and accuracy in grammar, spelling, punctuation, and formatting
• CRITICAL READING AS REASONING
• Critical Reading


  Goes beyond passively understanding a text, because you process the author's words and make judgments after carefully considering the reading's message
• Critical Thinking


  Whenever you read something and you evaluate claims, seek definitions, judge information, demand proof, and question assumptions
• Critical Reading Strategies


  • Keeping a reading journal
  • Annotating the text
  • Outlining the text
  • Summarizing the text
  • Questioning the text
• Keeping a reading journal


  Similar to keeping a diary, allows you to relate to the essay and understand the author's ideas, develop your impressions of the text and connect them to your personal experiences
• Annotating the text


  Making notes on your copy of the reading, including highlighting, underlining important passages and writing notes, comments, questions, and reactions on the margins
• Outlining the text


  Creating a rough outline to see how the author structures, sequences, and connects his ideas
• Summarizing the text


  Getting the gist of the text, recognizing and differentiating major and minor points
• Questioning the text


  Asking specific questions on points that you are skeptical (doubtful) about
• Explicit information


  Clearly written and explained in the text so that the reader will not be confused