1. Week Two
Dr. Stephen Ogden
LIBS 7001

2. Orwell-Ogden’s Rules for Immediate Written Accomplishment
Ogden: “If a word is not necessary for grammar or meaning, always cut it out”
Orwell (‘Politics & the English Language’):
(i) Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
(ii) Never us a long word where a short one will do.
(iii) If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
(iv) Never use the passive where you can use the active.
(v) Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
(vi) Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

3. Ladder of Critical Reading Right Way versus Wrong Way
Analyse (re-read with notation)
Describe
Evaluate (compare)
Against examples &/or standards.
Judge
Read (or not!)
Judge (Praise or Damn)

4. Critical Reading: Critique & Evaluate
Does the main point agree with your knowledge & experience? (not with just your opinion.)
Does evidence support claims made?
Are the ideas reasonable?
Is there bias or bigotry? Is there a case of Kaus’ Rule of Journalism (“Always generalise wildly from personal experience.”)
Is the essay in a dialectic with another work or social, political, or ideological voice?

5. Course Method I will adhere very reliably and directly to:
the Course Outline
the Weekly Guide
the two Course Texts
SSW + Course reader
This will allow you to:
very directly prepare for the weeks’ lecture
Very directly review the lecture material
Lecture slides will:
Add enlightening material
Recast terms & concepts into practical, plain-language, real-world form.

6. Double-Aspect of the Course
The course has two, complementary, sides.
How to Write Effectively
How to Read Effectively
Knowing effective (sp) writing methods creates the ability to effectively read and analyse writing.
Knowing effective reading & analytical methods creates the ability to effectively write.
A Natural pairing:
(a.) every written work has a writer;
(b.) every writer wants an audience (even if it is himself)

7. Aristotle (4th C. BC): Founder of Scientific Method
Aristotle’s teacher Plato studied ‘why things are.’
Search for perfection
Aristotle himself instead looked at how things are.
“What is the purpose of this?”
“How does it operate best?”
Pragmatic, not ‘Ideal’

8. Aristotle’s Universal Relevance
(Alexander the Great’s teacher)
The Physics
The Politics
The Ethics (x3)
The Mechanics
The Soul
The Universe
The Rhetoric
On Animals
On Logic
The Poetics
‘That Book Filed Beside The Physics’ = The Metaphysics.
The Poetics: Literature is
that which pleases and sustains interest of the audience. Has:
Mimesis: fundamental part of human nature, from our desire to know. I.e. homo sapiens.
Hamartia: injury committed unknowingly.
Catharsis: reordering of the emotions.
Peripateia: reversal of circumstance
Anagnorisis: recognition
The 3 Unities: Place, Time, Action

9. Aristotle: writing is Techne—a science with order & rules.
Middle-Ages through to (British) present: Trivium
Grammar: how words work
Rhetoric: how to arrange words to get them to do what you want.
Dialectic: how ideas are arranged in writing
Thus, Good Writing is judged essentially by its EFFECTIVENESS
Cf: With Quadrivium = ‘Seven Liberal Arts.’

10. Aristotle: Teleology Aristotle kept focus on Telos: Gr.=Ends
Colloquial = ‘goals’, ‘designs’, ‘purpose’
Aristotle:
What is the purpose of this writing or reading project?
Us:
[Formal]— What to I want to accomplish with this writing or reading project?
[Informal]— What’s in it for me?

11. Some General Purposes To Inform:
some situations, to demonstrate your understanding (our 2-sided aspect)
To Persuade:
Rhetoric
To Express Oneself:
Self expression includes display one’s mastery of subject
Impose one’s Will
To Entertain
A valuable aspect or component of many type of writing

12. Some General Purposes, con’t
The various purposes can be (often are) mixed.
What are some types of writing purposes (types of writing) suitable to the various types?
What are some sub-categories of each?
Is an apology “self-expression’?

13. Specific Purposes Define your audience Select salient details
Know your audience exhaustively!
An Excellence point
Select salient details
Choice of language & diction
Correct approach:
How do I pitch this? What appeal do I use?

14. Specific Purpose: Audience
Remember: Job 1 is “Affect the reader”
So, purpose & audience are united
Writing is communication that lacks body language & social cues.
Explains the popularity of Emoticons ;--)
“Never write anything online you don’t want to see on the front page of the NYT.”
So, develop an audience profile

15. Specific Purpose: Audience, con’t
Types of audience are often obvious, but can be subtle:
Real audience vs apparent audience
A technical document may be to intimidate colleagues
A Press Release may be for Shareholders
Institutional vs Conventional
the historical culture of the shop, office, department, organisation may not be the same as fresh conventions or of sub-cultures (ethnic, old-school, club, etc.)
Awareness of the available audiences is Power

16. Audience: Develop a Profile
Education type and level
Economic status (esp. outside North America)
Ethnic, political, sexual, age, (other) profile
Why will this be read? (Reader’s position)
Attitudes, needs, expectations, prejudices
Expected (formal) vs Unexpected (conceivable) responses
Knowledge level on the topic

17. Audience Profile: “discourse community”
Education type and level
Economic status (esp. outside North America)
Ethnic, political, sexual, age, (other) profile
Major concerns?
Cultural values?—includes expectations
Cultural conventions? Beyond just the reading itself.
Salutation?
Reciprocities?
Common works read?

18. Levels of Diction Again, purpose—audience combination
Use common sense.
Err on the side of formality in any professional setting
Formal: ‘3rd Person’ — ’one’, no slang, OED, no contractions (‘I am’), respectful.
Informal: contractions, some slang, light occasional humour.
Mixed: only with familiarity & certain knowledge
Technical: a species of formal w. added jargon.
Colloquial or Slangy. Avoid. Always potential trouble.
Again, purpose—audience combination

19. Qualities of Good Writing
Fresh Thinking:
easy to overdo
safety first: ‘least said soonest mended.’
add personal insights or perception
Sense of Style:
even easier to overdo.
communicate rather than impress
clarity is the best style
Powerful and vivid word-choices are the most effective stylistic device. OED.
Effective Organisation:
The rhetorical structure always works.

20. Ethical Writing Plagiarise here at your peril
Familiarise with BCIT policy
Same ‘out there’. ‘Cheating is self-defeating’.
Be accurate
Be clear
Be honest (esp. with self-representation)
Be fairly-intentioned
Be free of deliberate omission.
Supressio veri and Suggestio falsi

21. Strategies for Planning & Drafting
Planners vs Explorers: nosce te ipsum!
Understand the task (purpose again.)
Get help: documents, examples, other people
Laser in on a TOPIC:
Impossible to be too simple.
Use personal experience and interests
Freewrite: just write for five minutes. Pick out the best.
Brainstorm: list bullet-point ideas, words, sentences, fragments, etc.
Then Cluster or Branch these.
Pick out the best.

22. Strategies for Planning & Drafting: Ask Questions
W.W.W.W.W.?
Narration: the backsto
Description
Illustration: famous cases
Process: how to use
Analysis: parts
Functional Analysis: usefulness
Causal: history
Classification: the diff. kinds
Definition: formal
Argument: why use this?
Gather Information
Brainstorm
Read w. notation
Talk: , phone, visit
Organise
Key points
Cicero rhetorical form
‘Flexible notes’ system

23. Strategies for Planning & Drafting: Ask Questions con’t
Aristotle’s Four Causes:
Material cause: the physical properties involved.
Formal cause: the aggregate of underlying properties which amount to its unique identity.
Efficient cause: the initial motion or action which began the event.
Final cause: the event's function or purpose -- its end.
Playing Billiards.
Material cause is the solid construction of the table, balls, &c.: if the cue ball were tissue and the black jello, the event (the potting of the black) would not take place. Formal cause is the rules of billiards, the shape of the table, cue, rack, and all the other contributing elements that shape and frame -- i.e. that form -- the event. Efficient cause is the mechanics behind the cue hitting the cue ball.
Final cause is the reader winning the match and having his universal supremacy at billiards re-affirmed for posterity . Or something like that.

24. Strategies for Planning & Drafting: Thesis Statement
One or two sentences expressing main idea.
A general half & a specific half
“The lack of qualified engineers retards economic recovery. Increased funding for BCIT is essential.”
Topic + Question
T. Engineers & Economic recovery
Q. How to correct?
Unity: can’t be too simple. Use a single point.
Tailored Scope: consider the length of the writing project
Your POV: be explict (to yourself) about your own attitude
Thesis statement can be changed during review & revision

25. Strategies for Planning & Drafting: First Draft
Writers’ Block. Distractions. Slackness ;--)
Just get writing!
Don’t write your first (thesis or introduction) or your last (conclusion) paragraphs….until later.
Look for the arrangement (next week)
Make sure transitional terms & sentences exist
‘But’, ‘Therefore’, ‘In addition’, ‘As I have said…’
Keep a notes pages or (better) note cards.