Category: The Act of Writing

A Job You Have Had

Think of a job you have had.

Write a page of rough notes about it, then, looking these over, decide how socially useful or useless the job was.

Now write an inductive argument showing the evidence for your conclusion.

After a rapid first draft, examine what you have said: Do the examples support your thesis? If not, change your thesis to reflect what you have discovered while writing.

Are your examples fully enough explained to make sense to the reader? If not, elaborate. Or is there deadwood? Trim it out.

Read your second-to-last version aloud to help fine-tune its style.

Read the final version aloud to the class.

High-Tech Invention

Choose one high-tech invention that you have used, and write an inductive essay that praises or condemns it.

First freewrite on your subject for at least five minutes – automatically, never letting your pencil or keyboard stop – then look over what you have produced in order to learn your point of view.

Now, take more notes, gathering examples. Arrange these in order from least to most important, and from this rough outline write a draft.

In the second draft adjust your tone: Is your whole argument serious or objective? Is it argumentative? Or is it more humorous, subjective, and therefore persuasive? Whichever it is, be consistent.

Now read your argument aloud to family members or classmates, revise any part that fails to work on your audience, then write the final version.

Government Cutbacks

Choose one example of governmental spending which has been or soon will be “cut back.”

Produce a page of notes, then conclude from them whether you favour or oppose the cutback. Now write an inductive essay to support your opinion.

Apply at least three techniques of persuasion.

After a quick “discovery draft,” check to see if you have left out any good points from your notes. Has writing led you to discover new points? If they are good, add them.

In further drafts, revise for conciseness, concrete language, and consistent tone.

Test your prose aloud before publishing the final version.

A Group That Has Been Poorly Treated

Identify a group that you believe has been poorly treated by Canadian society (for example the handicapped or disabled, the elderly, native peoples, farmers, immigrants, refugees, single parents, etc.).

Take notes, then write an inductive argument in which you present the evidence that led to your belief.

In your next draft revise to seek an effective balance of argumentation and persuasion.

Now share this draft and apply your classmates’ best advice.

At home, read aloud to detect wordiness and awkwardness. Edit.

Finally, read your good version to the whole class and be prepared to answer questions.

Argumentation and Persuasion

Develop one of the following topics into an essay of argumentation and/or persuasion, choosing the side you wish to take. (See also the guidelines that follow.)

1. Companies (should/should not) be held liable for their own pollution.
2. Adopted children (should/should not) be told who their “birth parents” are.
3. The government (should/should not) require less foreign programming on television.
4. Compulsory retirement at 65 should be (continued/abolished).
5. Pit bulls should be (legal/illegal).
6. “Streaming” of students in the high schools should be (increased/maintained/reduced/abolished).
7. Canadian foreign aid should be (increased/maintained/decreased).
8. The government (should/should not) require that all plastic containers be biodegradable.
9. The minimum driving age should be (raised/maintained/lowered).
10. Private ownership of handguns should be (allowed/prohibited).
11. Free trade between Canada and the United States will (increase/decrease) opportunities in the career I hope to enter.
12. Racism in Canada is (increasing/decreasing).
13. Canada should (permit/prohibit) irradiation of food.
14. Municipal recycling should be (optional/required).
15. Car insurance (should/should not) cost the same for males and females.
16. There (is/is not) life in outer space.
17. The Canadian Senate should be (maintained/changed/abolished).
18. Public transit (should/should not) be free.
19. Canada should (increase/maintain/decrease) its level of immigration.
20. Chemical additives to food (should/should not) be allowed.
21. The minimum drinking age should be (raised/maintained/lowered).
22. Medical experimentation on animals (should/should not) be permitted.
23. Official censorship of films should be (increased/maintained/decreased/abolished).
24. Canada should (increase/maintain/decrease/abolish) passenger rail service.
25. Stores (should/should not) be required to close on Sundays.

Process in Writing: Guidelines
Follow at least some of these steps in writing your essay of argumentation and/or persuasion.

1. Choose a good topic, then go to either 2 or 3 below.

2. DEDUCTION: Do you already know your point of view because of a moral or intellectual principle you hold? First examine that principle, the foundation of your argument: Is it extreme, or is it reasonable enough (and clear enough) that your AUDIENCE can accept it? If the latter, proceed. Make notes, then write a rapid first draft showing how the principle supports your point.

OR

3. INDUCTION: Did experience or observation teach you the point you wish to make? First generate a page of notes. Then put these experiences or observations into the order that led you to your conclusion. Now transfer this argument to a rapid first draft.

4. You have probably organized your draft through a pattern. Cause and effect is a natural for either deduction or induction, and so is comparison and contrast. You have probably used examples, perhaps narrating or describing them. You might also have classified your subject, or cast your logic in a process analysis. Apart from analogy, which appeals more to emotion than to logic, your approach can serve deduction or induction. Use whatever works. If your first draft makes partial use of a major pattern, consider revising to extend the pattern and strengthen its effect.

5. As you look over your first draft, add any missing examples, especially if your argument is inductive (the more evidence, the better). Heighten your logic with signals such as “however,” “therefore,” “as a result,” and “in conclusion.”

6. Now Judge how argumentative or persuasive your approach has been so far. Does your cold logic need a little colour and life? If so, add it, consulting techniques of persuasion: WORD CHOICE, EXAMPLE, REPETITION, HYPERBOLE, ANALOGY, IRONY, APPEAL TO AUTHORITY, FRIGHT, CLIMAX. Or do your emotional appeals dominate your argument? Do they even encourage the audience not to think? If so, revise towards a more blended stance in your second draft.

7. Now cut all deadwood. Check for details of spelling and grammar. Write your good copy, then proofread it word by word. Save the essay in case your teacher suggests further revision.

Process Analysis

Tell your reader how to perform one of these processes. (See also the guidelines that follow.)

1. How to avoid debt
2. How to survive driving in city traffic
3. How to windsurf
4. How the average person can help to reduce pollution
5. How to choose your style in clothing
6. How to avoid burnout in a high-pressure job
7. How to take a good picture
8. How a woman breaks into a male-dominated profession
9. How to find low-cost entertainment in the city
10. How to train a dog (or other pet)
11. How to get a raise from your employer
12. How to avoid criminal attack in the big city at night
13. How to decorate a room on a low budget
14. How to become a Canadian citizen
15. How to survive eating at the school cafeteria

Explain how one of these processes is performed, or how it occurs. (See also the guidelines that follow.)
16. How a piano works
17. How a fax machine works
18. How a television set works
19. How a transistor works
20. How paper is recycled
21. How the human circulatory system functions
22. How the human liver functions
23. How food is metabolized in the body
24. How a muscle functions
25. How animals hibernate
26. How a bird flies
27. How a plant synthesizes food
28. How hail is formed
29. How sedimentary rock is formed
30. How ______________________. (If you choose your own topic in this final item, check it with your teacher before proceeding.)

Process in Writing: Guidelines
Follow at least some of these steps in writing your essay of process analysis.

1. Choose the topic that most appeals to you, so your motivation will increase your performance.

2. Visualize your audience (see step 6 below), and choose the level of terminology accordingly.

3. Fill a page with brief notes. Scan and sort them to choose the steps of your process analysis, and their order.

4. Write a rapid first draft, leave extra white space, not stopping now to revise or edit. If you do notice a word that needs replacing or a passage that needs work, underline it so you can find and fix it later.

5. A. When this draft has “cooled off,” look it over. If you are giving actual directions (topics 1-15), are all steps there? Do TRANSITIONS introduce them? Have you defined any technical terms that may puzzle your audience? Revise accordingly.

5. B. In explaining how your process is carried out or occurs (topics 16-30), have you provided enough examples and IMAGES to interest your audience? Revise accordingly.

6. Share the second draft with a small group of classmates. Do they think they could actually follow these directions? Or do they show interest in a process performed by others? Revise accordingly.

7. If you have consulted books, sites, or periodicals to write this paper, follow standard practice in quoting and in documenting your sources.

8. Now edit for spelling and grammar. Write the good copy and proofread word by word. Save the essay in case your teacher suggests further revisions.