Roberto S. Leon Assignments & Activities Archive Assignment Description When students think about cohesion and coherence, many of them think about transition words. While transition words are useful, they are not the only coherence moves available, especially when it comes to longer essays. The purpose of this activity is to help students add to their […]
Beyond Transition Words Read More »
Elizabeth Blomstedt Assignments & Activities Archive Activity Description Students often rely on writing strategies that make their writing wordy and bloated—sometimes subconsciously, sometimes to make their writing sound more sophisticated, and sometimes to meet word count. Presenting students with concrete strategies for making their writing more direct, clear, and concise increases student awareness of their
Concise Writing Strategies Read More »
Craig A. Meyer Volume 3 Chapter Description This chapter focuses on incorporating imitation practices into a student’s writing toolbox. By encouraging students to look more rhetorically at writing through imitation, they learn to recognize that language is more dynamic, and they can approach writing tasks with more contemplative thought instead of as a dreaded task.
The Evolution of Imitation: Building Your Style Read More »
Craig Hulst Volume 3 Chapter Description This chapter focuses on grammar, specifically on understanding that grammar is much more than just the rules that we have been taught. Rather, grammar can be used rhetorically—with an understanding of the writing situation and making appropriate choices regarding the structure of the sentences, the use of punctuation, using
Grammar, Rhetoric, and Style Read More »
William T. FitzGerald Volume 3 Chapter Description Exposure to rhetorical figures, once central to writing pedagogy, has largely fallen out of favor in composition. This chapter reintroduces today’s students to the stylistic possibilities of figures of speech, drawing on an analogy to figure skating to illustrate how writing communicates with an audience through stylistic moves.
Writing with Force and Flair Read More »
Kate McKinney Maddalena Volume 1 Chapter Description In this essay, I argue against the common misconception that “I” has no place in formal writing. I discuss many theoretical and rhetorical ways (objectivity and intellectual integrity, and clarity and organization, respectively) in which first person, used prudently, can improve written argument. I then show some examples
I Need You to Say “I”: Why First Person Is Important in College Writing Read More »
E. Shelley Reid Volume 2 Chapter Description Writing is hard. It’s harder if your students think of it as a collection of arbitrary rules than if they think of it as a human communication process they already understand a lot about. Using comparisons to familiar events (doing laundry, making fruit Jell-O, writing thank-you notes, and
Ten Ways to Think about Writing: Metaphoric Musings for College Writing Students Read More »
