Link to a Useful Document About Brainstorming

The following link will take you to a useful document about brainstorming that is published by the University of Texas Learning Center:

http://www.utexas.edu/student/utlc/tc/si/manual/writing/writing-warmups.pdf

Narrative Essay

In essays, authors often have discuss personal experiences that changed their lives. Some of these experiences were initially negative, yet they helped the author achieve something extraordinary in the end. Other experiences may have been positive. Others may have been humorous. Still others have enabled the authors to come to a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them.
Write a 500-600 word essay about an experience that was important to you. Ideally, it will be an experience that has changed your life or your view of the world in some way. Focus on a very brief part of this experience—ideally, a five-to-ten-minute part of it. When writing the essay, use vivid, specific, concrete details to describe this experience for the reader. Use details and dialogue (if appropriate) so your readers can see, hear, and feel what happened. Be sure to identify other people who were involved (if appropriate). Don’t moralize, but write in such a way that readers know how the experience affected you, either immediately or over time, or both. The audience for your paper will be your instructor and classmates: in other words, a general, college-level reading audience.

Editing Day—Things to Consider About the Paper You’re Reading

Constructive criticism is expected throughout!

Thesis and Introduction:
· What is the thesis? Is it clear? Is it appropriate? Is it in the right place?
· Put an X in the margin next to the sentence you feel is the thesis.
· Is the introduction interesting? Does it avoid the problems we’ve discussed? Is it a funnel paragraph? How can it be improved?
Organization—Overall and Paragraphs:
· Is the paper focused? Is it well-organized? How might the overall organization be improved?
· Are the paragraphs well-developed? Are any too short or too long? Are any paragraphs incomplete or “rambling”? Point out the places where you find these problems.
Development:
· Does the author use specific and concrete examples and details? Can you suggest any places where more or better details might be used?
· What could the writer do to improve overall development?
Conclusion:
· Is the conclusion interesting? Does it avoid the problems we’ve discussed? Is it a summary?
· How can it be improved?
Sentences:
· Does the paper contain any fragments? Does it contain any run-ons?
· Are the sentences varied in lengths and structures?
· Can you find any places where the sentences seem short and choppy? Point out these places to the author.
Words:
· Are the word choices clear, varied, and appropriate? Can you suggest any places where better word choices might be used?
· Are the words spelled correctly?
Mechanics and Usage:
· Are there errors in punctuation, grammar, usage, etc.?
· Point these out to the author.
Clarity and Tone
· Is the paper clear, overall?
· Does the paper sound too formal or “forced”? Does it sound too informal?
· Can you suggest ways to improve clarity and tone?
Overall:
· Does the paper respond to the assignment? If not, how might the author change the paper so that it does respond.
· Does the paper seem too long or too short?
Finally:
· What is the weakest aspect of this paper? How can this weakness be improved?
· MANDATORY: What is the strongest aspect of the paper? What did you like best?

Questions to Ask in Evaluating a Piece of Your Own Writing

CONTENT
Have I thought carefully about what I’m saying here?
Have I attempted to do some original thinking on my own?
Is this piece of writing appropriate to this situation?
Does it fulfill the assignment, or answer the questions?
Do I really know what I’m talking about here, or do I need to use other resources?
Is what I’m saying true? Are my facts correct?
Have I exaggerated, or have I left out important information?
Have I included any unnecessary or inappropriate information?
Is my writing clear or “foggy”?
VOICE, TONE, PURPOSE, AND STYLE
Does my writing sound natural?
Am I talking down to my reader?
Am I trying too hard to impress my reader, and am I sounding pretentious as a result?
Is my tone (whether comic, somber, informative, etc.) appropriate to my subject?
Am I clearly aware of the purpose of this piece of writing? Does everything in this piece of writing relate to and help develop that purpose?
Did I KISS (“Keep It Simple, Sweetheart”)? Do I need to KISS?
INTRODUCTION AND CONCLUSION
Does my introduction arouse interest?
Does my introduction include a thesis statement?
Is the thesis statement in the right place?
Is my introduction appropriate?
Does my conclusion sound like a conclusion?
Does this piece of writing end too abruptly?
Does the conclusion do more than just summarize or restate the thesis?
BODY
Is my organization effective? Is there another, more effective way to organize the material?
Have I used specific and concrete examples and details to make my points?
Does each paragraph develop one main idea clearly related to the thesis?
Within a paragraph, does each sentence clearly relate to the main idea or topic sentence of the paragraph?
Have I left anything important out of the paragraphs?
Does each paragraph contain at least three sentences (exception: dialogue)?
MECHANICS, USAGE, AND SPELLING
Are my word choices clear, varied, and appropriate?
Do my sentence structures show variety and fluidity?
Are my paragraph beginnings varied?
Are any words misspelled? Have I run a spell-check? Have I asked someone to proofread for me?
Are my verb tenses consistent?
Have I eliminated sentence fragments and run-on sentences?
Have I checked my punctuation carefully?
Have I checked for other problems, such as grammatical and usage errors?
AND FINALLY,
Does this piece of writing represent me at my very best, as a careful and intelligent person?

Link to pdf about Concrete and Specific Language

A useful pdf document with information about concrete and specific language can be found at the following url:

http://www.isu.edu/ctl/writing/handouts/docs/editing/concrete.pdf

Concrete Language

Concrete Language
Concrete terms refer to objects or events that are available to the senses. [This is directly opposite to abstract terms, which name things that are not available to the senses.] Examples of concrete terms include spoon, table, velvet eye patch, nose ring, sinus mask, green, hot, walking. Because these terms refer to objects or events we can see or hear or feel or taste or smell, their meanings are pretty stable. If you ask me what I mean by the word spoon, I can pick up a spoon and show it to you. [I can't pick up a freedom and show it to you, or point to a small democracy crawling along a window sill. I can measure sand and oxygen by weight and volume, but I can't collect a pound of responsibility or a liter of moral outrage.]
While abstract terms like love change meaning with time and circumstances, concrete terms like spoon stay pretty much the same. Spoon and hot and puppy mean pretty much the same to you now as they did when you were four.
You may think you understand and agree with me when I say, "We all want success." But surely we don't all want the same things. Success means different things to each of us, and you can't be sure of what I mean by that abstract term. On the other hand, if I say "I want a gold Rolex on my wrist and a Mercedes in my driveway," you know exactly what I mean (and you know whether you want the same things or different things). Can you see that concrete terms are clearer and more interesting than abstract terms?
If you were a politician, you might prefer abstract terms to concrete terms. "We'll direct all our considerable resources to satisfying the needs of our constituents" sounds much better than "I'll spend $10 million of your taxes on a new highway that will help my biggest campaign contributor." But your goal as a writer is not to hide your real meanings, but to make them clear, so you'll work to use fewer abstract terms and more concrete terms.
General and Specific Terms
General terms and specific terms are not opposites, as abstract and concrete terms are; instead, they are the different ends of a range of terms. General terms refer to groups; specific terms refer to individuals—but there's room in between. Let's look at an example.
Furniture is a general term; it includes within it many different items. If I ask you to form an image of furniture, it won't be easy to do. Do you see a department store display room? a dining room? an office? Even if you can produce a distinct image in your mind, how likely is it that another reader will form a very similar image? Furniture is a concrete term (it refers to something we can see and feel), but its meaning is still hard to pin down, because the group is so large. Do you have positive or negative feelings toward furniture? Again, it's hard to develop much of a response, because the group represented by this general term is just too large.
We can make the group smaller with the less general term, chair. This is still pretty general (that is, it still refers to a group rather than an individual), but it's easier to picture a chair than it is to picture furniture.
Shift next to rocking chair. Now the image is getting clearer, and it's easier to form an attitude toward the thing. The images we form are likely to be fairly similar, and we're all likely to have some similar associations (comfort, relaxation, calm), so this less general or more specific term communicates more clearly than the more general or less specific terms before it.
We can become more and more specific. It can be a La-Z-Boy rocker-recliner. It can be a green velvet La-Z-Boy rocker recliner. It can be a lime green velvet La-Z-Boy rocker recliner with a cigarette burn on the left arm and a crushed jelly doughnut pressed into the back edge of the seat cushion. By the time we get to the last description, we have surely reached the individual, a single chair. Note how easy it is to visualize this chair, and how much attitude we can form about it.
The more you rely on general terms, the more your writing is likely to be vague and dull. As your language becomes more specific, though, your meanings become clearer and your writing becomes more interesting.
Does this mean you have to cram your writing with loads of detailed description? No. First, you don't always need modifiers to identify an individual: Bill Clinton and Mother Teresa are specifics; so are Bob's Camaro and the wart on Zelda's chin. Second, not everything needs to be individual: sometimes we need to know that Fred sat in a chair, but we don't care what the chair looked like.

From grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/abstract.htm

"University Days," by James Thurber

University Days
by James Thurber

Another course that I didn’t like, but somehow managed to pass, was economics. I went to that class straight from the botany class, which didn’t help me any in understanding either subject. I used to get them mixed up. But not as mixed up as another student in my economics class who came there directly from a physics laboratory.
He was a tackle on the football team, named Bolenciewcz. At that time Ohio State University had one of the best football teams in the country, and Bolenciecwcz was one of its outstanding stars. In order to be eligible to play it was necessary for him to keep up in his studies, a very difficult matter, for while he was not dumber than an ox he was not any smarter. Most of his professors were lenient and helped him along. None gave him more hints in answering questions or asked him simpler ones than the economics professor, a thin, timid man named Bassum. One day when we were on the subject of transportation and distribution, it came to Bolenciecwcz’s turn to answer a question.
“Name one means of transportation,” the professor said to him.
No light came into the big tackle’s eyes.
“Just any means of transportation,” said the professor.
Bolenciecwcz sat staring at him.
“That is,” pursued the professor, “any medium, agency, or method of going from one place to another.”
Bolenciecwcz had the look of a man who was being led into a trap.
“You may choose among steam, horsedrawn, or electrically propelled vehicles,” said the instructor. “I might suggest the one which we commonly take in making long journeys across land.”
There was a profound silence in which everybody stirred uneasily, including Bolenciecwcz and Mr. Bassum.
Mr. Bassum abruptly broke this silence in an amazing manner. “Choo-choo-choo,” he said, in a low voice, and turned instantly scarlet. He glanced appealingly around the room.
All of us, of course, shared Mr. Bassum’s desire that Bolenciecwcz should stay abreast of the class in economics, for the Illinois game, one of the hardest and most important of the season, was only a week off. “Toot, toot, too-tooooooot!” some student with a deep voice moaned, and we all looked encouragingly at Bolenciecwcz. Somebody else gave a fine imitation of a locomotive letting off steam. Mr. Bassum himself rounded off the little show. “Ding, dong, ding, dong,” he said, hopefully.
Bolenciecwcz was staring at the floor now, trying to think, his great brow furrowed, his huge hands rubbing together, his face red.
“How did you come to college this year, Mr. Bolenciecwcz?” asked the professor. “Chuffa chuffa, chuffa chuffa.”
“M’father sent me,” said the football player.
“What on?” asked Bassum.
“I git an 'lowance,” said the tackle, in a low, husky voice, obviously embarrassed.
“No, no,” said Bassum. “Name a means of transportation. What did you ride here on?”
“Train,” said Bolenciecwcz.
“Quite right,” said the professor, “Now Mr. Nugent, Will you tell us---”