The READING and WRITING Process Our first lesson from Patterns

The Reading Process- Reading is a Two-way Street Read Passages Critically It is your responsibility to (1) evaluate the ideas of others (2) to form your judgments (3) to develop original points of view (4) support your interpretation using text evidence DO NOT: distort the writer’s words or overlook significant details

While Reading 1- HIGHLIGHT the text * mark the text with symbols * underline important ideas * box key terms * number repeated images, statements * circle unfamiliar words

2- ANNOTATE * write in the margins or on any white space * ask questions * comment on the writer’s style * summarize key events

3- Come to LOVE STICKY NOTES * mark important passages so you can easily find them * mark pending questions * do not overuse

WRITING IS P-plan O-organize W- write E-edit R-revise POWER Planning includes prewriting and developing a thesis statement Organize by arranging your thoughts, graphic organizers Write at least two drafts of your essay before turning it in Editing gives you chance to detect spelling errors, grammatical errors, and mechanical errors Revisions allow you to refine your writing style

The Assignment: invent by understanding the assignment It’s a FACT: A well-written essay that does not address the assignment will “miss the mark.” Consider length, purpose, audience, occasion, and your knowledge of the subject.

Length Every assignment has a required length, the question is why are some papers 10 pages while others are only 2 pages? Page limit has a direct bearing on your paper’s focus. For example: a two page paper will have a narrower topic than a 10 page paper. A research paper on the Romantic Era vs. a paper where you compare and contrast main characters.

Purpose Limits what you say and how you say it! -classify your purpose according to your relationship with the audience 1- Expressive Writing: diaries, journals, personal letters, often narratives and descriptive essays 2- Informative-exams, lab reports, expository essays, research papers, and persuasive writing which includes editorials and essays **This is your chance to show what you know and more importantly how you know it.

Audience An audience can be an individual (your teacher), it can be a group (your classmates), or a specialized group (a group of medical doctors, the college board), or a general/universal audience where the members have little in common (readers of the newspaper) Considering your audience allows you to know how much to tell them (For example, students writing a paper on Symbols in The Scarlet Letter can assume that I do not need plot summary because I have already read the novel, but if you were writing on the Puritan Code of behavior then you may want to include a brief summary because I did not major in Sociology nor History.

Occasion The occasion is your purpose in writing. It will most likely be in-class writing or an at-home assignment Knowledge What you know and don’t know about the subject limits what you can say about it. Ask these 3 Questions 1- what do I already know? 2-what do I need to know? How much research is involved? 3- What do I think about the subject?

Don’t be Intimated by Writing, it’s just a process.

Exercise One: Decide whether of not each of the following topics is appropriate for its stated limits. Write a few sentences explaining why or why not. 1. A two to three page paper: a history of animal testing in medical research 2. A one-hour in class essay: An interpretation of Andy Warhol’s paintings of Campbell’s soup cans 3. A letter to your school newspaper: A discussion on your schools abortion rate

Exercise Two: Make a list of the different audiences to whom you speak and write to a daily basis (friends, family, boss, teachers, coachers, etc.) 1. Do you speak or write to each person the same way? If not, how does your approach differ for different groups. 2. List some subjects that would interest some of these people but not others. How do you account for these differences?

RECALL Reading is a ________ street. Label the writing process: POWER Describe two methods you can use to become a better reader. This ______: Limits what you say and how you say it! List one question to ask yourself concerning your knowledge of the subject.