Writing Strategies
- 1. Writing Strategies Pathways to Proving Your Point
- 2. Writing Strategies are approaches to proving a point, ways to support a thesis, or patterns of communicating or thinking that are also known as: • patterns of development • patterns of inquiry • rhetorical modes When faced with a writing challenge, use these strategies to find the most effective way to prove your point.
- 3. ✦ Description details a person place or thing ✦ Narration tells a story, usually in chronological order ✦ Exemplification (or illustration) proves a point with examples ✦ Comparison and contrast distinguishes likenesses and differences ✦ Cause and effect examines reasons and outcomes ✦ Classification types or categorizes ✦ Process analysis explains a process or tells how something is done or happens ✦ Analysis (or division) examines the parts to better understand the whole ✦ Argument asserts a stance on a controversial issue
- 4. Analysis
- 5. When you write using analysis: •separate the whole into parts •carefully study each part •make a conclusion about the whole Using the chart on the previous slide, a coffee taster separately considers the aroma and the taste of a given sample.
- 6. This photo was taken in Wales in 1965 by For example, to analyze a photograph, consider: documentary photographer Bruce Davidson. To see more of •the focal point or central figure his photos, do a Google Image search. (Warning: •the background of the image not all images are “PG”) •the line of continuation or the progression of the viewer’s eye as she studies the photograph •What story is the photographer (obviously not a wedding photographer) telling through this image?
- 7. To analyze an advertisement, consider elements such as the following: •The focal point or central figure •The background of the image •The text •The use of color and light Do you find this ad confusing? Disturbing? Effective? How would you summarize the story this ad tells or the message it offers viewers?
- 8. Description
- 9. When you write using description: detail the subject of the description appeal to the reader’s five senses The Bellelli Family by Edgar Degas use figurative language to convey meaning use consistent details to establish a dominant impression When you study the details of the painting, what is your impression of the family in the painting? Does the painting convey a close family or does it communicate distance?
- 10. Narration There was an old woman who lived in a shoe... (illustration by Mary Engelbreit)
- 11. When you write using narration: tell a story focus the story- consider telling on a specific organization: point: this is called chronological order the narrative point; is the most it can be implied or common explicitly stated but should be clear to use literary devices the reader to guide your writing: conflict, character, setting, plot, theme
- 12. Exemplification
- 13. When you write in the exemplification strategy: • You prove a point with examples • convince the reader by detailing each example and relating it back to the main idea • use representative, substantial, compelling, and clear examples • What point could you make about toys marketed to children today using the three Bratz dolls pictured in the previous slide?
- 15. When you write using the comparison contrast strategy: distinguish between two or balance the comparison more subjects in order to and contrast support a main idea Consider the ads in the detail the likenesses and the previous slide: How do differences advertisers market cigarettes differently to explain the significance of men and women? the likenesses and differences
- 16. Classification When you write using the classification strategy: •break the broad subject (pizza, in this case) into categories •detail each classification, type, or category in order to make a point about the broad subject •What point could you make about pizza through a discussion of these four types or styles of preparation: New York, Chicago, California, and Neapolitan?
- 17. Cause and effect
- 18. When you write using the cause and effect strategy: •examine the reasons that led up to an event or condition •isolate a causal chain of events in which one thing leads to another •explain the effects that followed from an event or condition •make a point about the causes or effects or both Consider the previous images of hurricane Katrina: what combination of causes led to the degree of destruction inflicted by the storm? What steps might have been taken prior to the storm that were not? What are the lingering effects of the storm? All of these questions can be explored through cause and effect writing.
- 19. Definition
- 20. When you write using the definition strategy: The whole idea is to Consider the previous define a term, concept, photo: how would you custom, idea, position, define “mullet” for an view, or anything unfamiliar audience? unfamiliar to the reading audience. Often writers rely on description and Consider what the reader exemplification when needs to know in order writing definitions. to comprehend the larger point you are trying to make.
- 21. This is the McRib. This is the gordito. What distinguishes the gordito from the taco and the burrito? What are the defining McDonalds sells the McRib when it is not in characteristics the vault, so to speak, and the gordito is a Taco of this sandwich? Bell product.
- 22. Argument
- 23. When you use argument as a writing strategy: you take a stand on a How can the previous photograph be controversial or debatable issue considered an argument? It was taken by British photographer Julia you present clear evidence to Margaret Cameron in 1872, around the same time Romantic Era British support your point or stance poets were writing about the wisdom of children, cultural perceptions you objectively summarize and about childhood were changing, and then refute the opposition’s child labor laws were being passed to point of view or stance on the protect children from exploitation. issue.
- 24. Synthesis • Most writers use more • Any excellent college- than one of these level essay is going to strategies each time they feature analysis and write. most can be considered arguments. • Description is an important strategy to • When presented with a use when providing writing challenge, examples, telling stories, carefully consider how and presenting you might use each of arguments. these strategies to get your point across most effectively.