#1
Assessing who you are as a Writer

Most of us have developed writing habits and attitudes towards writing that influence the way we write. I want you to think now about the kind of writer you are, using the questions below to help you do that. Do not attempt to answer these questions one by one. Instead, use them to help you get started. Writing about your writing practices and the attitudes you hold towards writing will enable me to help you plan your work. Work on this for 10 or 15 minute free writing periods. Take a break and go back to it again. Then, after you�ve thought and written about the questions in Part I for 45 minutes or an hour, move on to Part II. Step back and make an objective critique of who you are as a writer and what you need to do for yourself this semester to make you feel better about your writing self.

Part I.

In general, what is your attitude towards writing? How do you feel when someone asks you to write something. What does "writing" mean to you? If English is not your first language, how would you describe your attitude toward writing in your first language? In English?

What stages do you typically go through to write an essay for a class? Do you freewrite first? Outline first? Draft and revise? Do you write it in one sitting? Describe yourself from the time you receive an assignment up until you hand it in.

Where and when do you write? What tools do you use? (Pen, Paper, Computer?) What conditions are necessary? (Light, Noise, Music?)

What are your strengths as a writer? What kind of writing do you feel you do best? What kind of writing are you most comfortable with? Have you received positive comments or rewards for writing in the past. Explain.

What are your problems with writing? What kinds of writing makes you uncomfortable? What kind of writing do you currently do at school? Have you changed your attitudes towards your own writing based on recent experience with it? Do you feel more or less confident now than in the past?

What are your most memorable writing experiences? Any disasters? Describe? What writing experience did you most enjoy or learn from?

Do you think your reading has influenced your writing? In what way? What regular or important or enjoyable reading do you do now?

Part II

Reread what you wrote about yourself as a writer. What strikes you as significant, surprising, or interesting? Now write briefly about what the inventory seems to say about you as a student and thinker? What does this inventory suggest you should work on this semester? Write out a list of goals that YOU would like to achieve over the semester. The list might include items such as "gain confidence" or "procrastinate less" as well as "improve punctuation" or "organize paragraphs better." Your goals for writing may be closely connected to your personal or career goals, as well.

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#2
Brainstorming for Topics Steps: The Life Line

1. Draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper -- turn the paper so the line you draw is 11" long.

2. This line is your lifeline. Begin to fill in the events of your life in chronological order on the line. Here are some hints of different kinds of things to record:

A. Begin with major events -- birth, graduations, marriages, children's births, religious ceremonies and events, deaths of family members, friends, major important public figures.

B. Great moments in your life -- the pinnacles. Sporting firsts or major achievements, times you held the spotlight academically, your first musical "gig", family vacations, trips, camping experiences, family reunions.

C. Great moments in your life -- the nadirs. Embarrassments, abandonments, failures, disappointments, depressions, betrayals.

D. People. Who are the people in your life who have influenced you for good or for bad? Put them on the time-line at the point where they wielded the most influence over you. Your parents, relatives, teachers, friends, passing acquaintances, people you've only seen occasionally, but whose image sticks with you.

E. Places. Both public and private places that have had an effect on you. Hiding spots, getaway spots, public monuments, spots where something momentous happened that changed your life.

F. Things. Objects that you are attached to, objects that are sacred to you, objects that have hurt you, books that have changed your life, cars that have shaped your personality, objects that you covet.

G. Feelings. The most frightened you've ever been. The most awed you've ever been. The most joyful you've ever been. The most sad you've ever been. The most surprised you've ever been. The most angry you've ever been. The most defeated you've ever been. The most strong you've ever been. The most weak you've ever been. The most ashamed you've ever been. The most proud you've ever been.

H. Add your own categories. I'm sure I've forgotten something here that would prompt stories from you.

Make up your own categories. Work on this for 40 minutes or so, putting as many memories as you can on your life line. I've designed this exercise to get you started with personal writing, but it works well with academic or research subjects, too.

3. Chose one event from your list that you're most interested in right now. Begin to write about it -- just let your words pour from your head to your hand through your pen onto the paper. Don't censor or try to construct complete sentences or thoughts. Let descriptions, emotions, confusions, details, colors, sounds, all kinds of memories come out.

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#3
Lists -- or Brainstorming for Details:

Steps:

1. Choose one of the events from the life line and make lists of things and ideas and feelings that you associate with that event. You can make the lists in categories or you can just begin to write down everything that comes to you when you think of this event. Here are some suggestions:

A.Colors
B.Sounds
C.Things you felt with/on your skin.
D.Things you remember about the people you were with -- what were they wearing, what did they smell like, what did they say, what kind of glasses did they wear, shoes,
E.Where was the light coming from?
F.What did it smell like?
G.What did you feel? How did it connect with something someone had told you about what you would experience?
H.Cars.
I.Fears.
J.Fantasies.
K.Mysteries.
L.Mistaken beliefs, things you've learned about since then that have changed the way you think about the event.
M.Similar scenes. When in your life have you been reminded of the event you're writing about?
N.Make up your own categories.

Once you get started generating this list, you can throw my list away and just free associated, pulling up as many memories and details as you can.

2. Write for 15-20 minutes. Don't censor your list, don't judge it, don't try to understand it, just write it out.

3.After you've made the list, stop and look it over. Make some notes about the following: What surprises you about the list? What connections do you make between the items listed there? Can you put some of the items in categories? What connections do you see between the list and what you know already? What did you learn about the event that you didn't know before?

4.Write for 25-30 minutes about the event from your life line using the details on your list to help you tell your story.

5.At the end of the writing time, look over what you've written and think about where it seems to be leading. Is there any one thing that it seems you're trying to say that jumps out at you? Have you discovered a point you'd like to make about this event when you share it with someone? What's going on in your telling that seems most important to you? Would this be important to others? Why?

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#4
Clustering -- or Brainstorming for Connections

Steps:

1.Put the event you'd like to write about in a circle in the center of your paper. Begin to free associate from that event, recording memories, feelings, ideas, inside circles around the "main" event. As you record information, try to put things that go together in groups or clusters. Categorize by grouping or drawing lines between connected thoughts or images.

2.Work on this for 20 minutes. Then stop and do some writing about the ways your topic organized itself as you did this clustering. What did you learn about the sub-categories included in your topic? What directions could an essay go based on the clusters you found or the connections you made as you created your web?

3. Free write for 30 minutes to help you develop those ideas.

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#5
Titles -- Focusing the Writing

Steps:

1. Generating titles is a great way to begin to think about focus. A good title tells your reader what your topic is and it suggests your approach to the topic -- serious, humorous, witty, meditative, etc. Get yourself in the frame of mind for titles. Think about your topic. Get yourself to a space where you won't be interrupted for 7-10 minutes. Start writing. List as many possible titles as you can come up with in that amount of time. Then, take a break.

2. Look over your titles and make some notes about what the paper would be "about," what the main point would be, if you used each of the different titles you have listed there. How would the tone of the paper be different with different titles?

3. Then, go back at it. For another 7-10 minutes, create more titles.

4. Repeat step 2.

5. Keep this up until you've generated at least 50 titles.

6. Do you have a title that works? Put it at the top of a piece of paper and try writing an outline of the paper that would naturally follow from that title.

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#6
Tension -- Focusing the Writing

Steps: 1.One of the elements of good writing is "tension." The writer is dealing with his or her topic in a way that creates tension or recognizes the tension that resides in an event or situation. Take some time to answer the following questions about your topic.

Do you perceive changes in people or places that make up your story over the course of time? Do they grow? Toward what understanding? Do they change for the worse? Why?

Do you have two memories about your topic that tell two different stories? What are they?

Would the people involved in your topic have different points of view about the event you're writing about? Tell the story from these two different points of view.

At the time you were involved in this event did you have expectations for it that didn't pan out, that didn't match up against the realities? Describe your expectations and the realities.How have you changed since the event took place? What's your opinion now? What was it then? What caused you to change? What was the catalyst for your change?

What would happen if you told your story from the point of view of the "you" you were when it happened? What would happen if you told your story from the point of view of the "you" you are now? What would happen if you had someone else tell your story? Which of these three options is best for your story? Why?

What was most important to you about the event as it happened? As you look back at it now, what is most important? Why has that changed?

2. Look back over the writing you did. Does any of what you read there have more energy than any other parts of it? What seems to you to be the most exciting or surprising in this writing? Choose those pieces and continue to develop them.

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#7
Loop Writing -- Discovering Possibilities

I call this technique loop writing because you begin writing by focusing on a subject and then "loop" away from that focus. Don't worry about the finished product. It order for this process to work, you need to trust that the separate parts will definitely contribute to your thinking about a subject and may even result in a finished product at some point. Number each step as you begin it and skip space between steps. You may write for as long as you can at each step or allot 10-15 minutes for each step.

Steps:

1. Choose a topic you've already been exploring through the prewriting or the topics and tension exercises. Then write about it in response to the following prompts.

A. First thoughts, prejudices, preconceptions: Talk on paper (free write) about whatever comes to your mind about your topic. It may be helpful to use narrative thinking such as "When I think about this topic, I . . ." Express what you know already about this subject and your opinions on it.

B. Moments, Stories: Describe in detail a place, event, or moment that comes to mind. Try to be specific and concrete. Some students prefer to focus on only one place or event rather than several.

C. Portraits: Who are the significant people associated with your topic? Or, what person comes to mind right now, for whatever reason, regardless of whether they seem to be connected to this topic at all. Describe her or him in as much detail as possible.

D. Dialogue: Write down a conversation that comes to mind, for whatever reason. Just capture the exact words in dialogue. If now actual conversation comes to mind, make one up between yourself and someone you know, or between two others, or even between yourself and an inanimate object.

E. Variations on Audience, Writer, Time: Write to someone who doesn't understand your topic or who disagrees with your position. Or write to anyone who comes to mind. Or write as though you were someone else. Or write as though it were ten or twenty years ago or ten or twenty years in the future.

F. Lies and Sayings: Make a list of lies and sayings. Lies are statements you might make, but may not necessarily believe ("I don't mind losing." "It's no big deal."). Sayings are common expressions or truisms that you may or may not believe, but that we all hear and know (No pain. No gain." "The grass is always greener on the other side.").

When you have finished the loop writing, set it aside for a while if possible. When you come back to it, ask yourself as you read it, "What does this have to do with my topic?" Look for connections between the parts. Write in the margins about these connections. Ask one or two friends or acquaintances to read and comment on what interests them or surprises them in your loop writing. Consider how you might revise the loop into an essay. What might you keep? Reject? Add? Change?

Adapted from Peter Elbow's Writing With Power.

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#8
Other Shapes: Thinking about Organization and Purpose

We don�t often think of essays in terms of their visual shape, but occasionally it�s a good idea to shift to our view point about our work. To try to think about it in terms of another dimension. This exercise describes several �common� shapes essays take and then asks you to describe your own essay in these terms.

1.The Train. The five paragraph theme. Five paragraph themes begin with the engine, which contains the thesis statement, which gives the essay direction and provides impetus. The engine is followed by three paragraphs which contain passengers or freight -- examples, summaries, evidence to support the thesis. The final paragraph is the caboose -- it signals that the end has been reached and reiterates the main points of the essay.

2. Chronological or Linear Shape. You begin at the beginning of some episode or event and you follow it through to the end. First X happened, then Y, then Z.

3. Convergent Narratives. When you use this structure, you tell two stories at the same time -- or almost at the same time. You might begin one story, switch to another, come back to the first, return to the second, and then, in the end of your narrative, bring the two lines together.

4. Structure by function. If your structure your essay by function, the shape of the essay depends on the job you're trying to do. You might write about a person who does a certain job, but instead of telling their story by focusing on the chronology of their lives, you'd focus on the way their job gets done. You walk us around and show us what they do and how they do it. Another option here is to focus on how something develops. You tell the story of how a glacier forms by moving down from the top to the bottom of the glacier. You tell the story of a tornado, but beginning with the sunny day and then proceeding through the green light preceding the storm, and then moving to the whirlwind itself. In structure by function shapes, you take the shape the pieces of your story so that they take on the shape of the occupation or process you're defining or describing. The Structure depends on what happens.

5.. Trip Structure. Lots of times the stories we have to tell deal with trips or journeys or travel. Sometimes trips take us in a line, from point A to point B. Sometimes, trips take us in a circle -- we start out from home, we go somewhere, we return home. Along the way, in either case, we have adventures, which we stop to tell our readers about. You can use trip structure to tell about "real" trips, and you can use it to tell about metaphorical or philosophical or ethical journeys, too.

6. .Spiral Structure -- begins with one event, but spins out in a spiral to other connected ideas and events. The stories the essay tells are connected, sometimes very loosely. One leads to the other, leads to the next, leads to the next. The significance of the stories might link in a spiral shape. Because they are juxtaposed, they take on a more significant meaning. Usually, an author using this structure will unite the elements of the essay in the conclusion. The force that keeps the events united will be evident before the reader leaves the piece.

7. .Orchestrated or Hypertext Structure -- Layers of narratives. Like the spiral structure, the pieces of this essay make implied, rather than explicit connections. Instead of the stories spreading out in a spiral, however, the reader looks down through them as if they were in a tunnel or as if they were a stack of stories, one leading down into the next.

8. Mosaic Structure -- Tiles -- stories laid side by side. Each part is a story. And, added up they become a picture that means more, says more.

9. Idiosyncratic shapes. Sometimes your essay is just yours. It has it's own shape. Over the years my students and I have drawn pictures of our essays.

Think about your essay. What shape could it take? Draw several sketches of possibilities for your essay. How would each of these different shapes affect what you say? How you say it? The order in which you present your story? Which one do you think would be most effective? Choose two possible shapes for your essay and write up an outline that details the elements and organization of the stories/information in each of the essays those shapes represent.

Adapted from Theodore A. Rees Cheney's Writing Creative Nonfiction.

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#9
Interviewing

There are all different kinds of research. In exercises 1-8, we�ve been doing what I call personal research, looking into our lives, exploring our memories, observing the world around us for evidence to help us make our writing strong. But research, as you know, goes beyond the personal to make connections with others. In this exercise, we�re going to practice the interview as a research tool, and as a means to improving our writing.

All the topics you�ve been writing about involve others in some way. Other people have �been there� -- seen the event you�re describing, taken part in it with you, been influenced by it in some way. Their point of view can add a lot to your own re-telling of the event.

Listed below are some hints for effective interviewing. After you read them over, look at the drafts your working on and think about the people whose stories would be valuable to include in your own story. Call one or two of them up and ask if they�d be willing to talk to you, to share their point of view with you.

Interviewing Techniques

Reasons for interviewing:
1. Interviews add fresh ideas to your writing.
2. Different people provide different angles, views, perspectives, insights.
3. Those you are interviewing may know other people you could talk to or they may be able to recommend books, articles, websites for you to visit.
4. Stories from interviews can create scenes that will make your essay more effective, more alive.

Preparing for the interview:
1. Set up a time and a place and show up on time.
2. Prepare some questions you want to ask. Your questions may come from your own curiosity, from your own thinking about the subject and the individual, they may come from books on the subject you�ve read. What do you want to know? How can this person help enlighten you. Some advice about questions: 1) Ask questions that require more than yes/no answers. 2) Ask �why?�, �how come?�, �how�s that?�, �why do you feel that way?�
3) Don�t leave vague answers vague. Probe deeper; ask for details.
4) Don�t be afraid to ask �dumb� questions.
5) Try to encourage story telling.

The Interview.
1. Take a notebook, a couple of sharp pencils or a good pen. Be prepared to jot down phrases or ideas you don�t want to miss or that you want to follow up on. You don�t have to write down every word the person says, but you might want to capture phrases and ideas. If there is something you�re sure you want to quote directly, write it down right then and write in down right. Don�t hurry at this point and misquote later. Maybe you want to use a tape recorder.

2. As soon as you can after leaving the interview, sit down and record what you remember. Record not just their words, but also, descriptions of the person and the place where you met.

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#10
Research

Last week we interviewed someone to help us strengthen our essay. This week we�re going to do some library or web searches to help us find information that we can add to our essays to bolster our work. Listed below are several places where you can go to do searches on line and some advice about what to do with the information once you�ve got it.

Getting Started:

1. Make sure you know how to cite the sources you�ll be consulting. Refer to a good handbook for MLA citation conventions. There are several sites on-line that will be helpful here, too.

2. Record all the information you�ll need to cite the source correctly. The kind of information you need depends upon the type of source. Before you leave a site, check the handbook or tool you�re consulting about citation formats to make sure you have all the information you need.

3. Take good notes or print or copy the sources you think will be useful. You don�t want to get back home and not be able to read your notes. Or, to log off, only to find that you didn�t record the address of a really useful website.

A list of sources to consult:

(These sources are all available you to on-line if you�ve made a connection via e-mail with Mesa State College. If you�re unable to connect with these sources, make a trip to your local library and ask the libarian for help finding their on-line data bases. You may find that your local library offers you more options than Mesa State does. If so, take advantage of them. Many of the articles you find on-line will have the full text available for you to read. If that�s not the case, find out how to utilize inter-library loan through your computer or through your local library. )

1 Infotrac Search Bank --Expanded Academic Index --Business and Company ASAP
2. OCLC First Search --World Cat --Article First --Periodical Abstract --Maybe Eric or Medline -- depending on your topic
3. Mesa State College Library and Mesa County Library Book Collection or the Collection at your local library.
4. Web Search Engines I recommend Yahoo and Alta Vista, but there are several other useful search engines to choose from. For some tips on how to use search engines, click here and here for more specific information about search conventions.
5. Deja News (http://www.dejanews.com) For chat groups about your topic. Choose one or two of these data bases or search engines and search them using a key word or term that is connected to your topic. See what you can find -- other people�s stories, facts, figures, philosophy, related events and connected ideas, that might be useful to you in expanding and exploring your topic.

Record what you find during your search in your journal. How will you use this information in your 4th essay?

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#11
Interpretive Paraphrase

1. There is always more than one way to say something. For example, if you want to tell someone not to smoke, you can say �no smoking, please,� or �please, don�t smoke,� or �Smoking is allowed only in designated areas,� or �Crush the butt, will ya�,� or �Smoking is prohibited,� or �Tryin� to kill yourself, are ya�?� How does the meaning change when you change the words you use to make your request? Where do you respect the individual�s rights and where do you ridicule them? Where are you cruel? Where are you just plain blunt?

2. Each of the examples above is a paraphrase of the original phrase �no smoking, please.� When you paraphrase, you restate the text or passage or message in another form, using other words. When you do an interpretive paraphrase, you work with your own text to clarify or expand or rejuvenate the meaning of your prose. You�re working at restating in order to understand or explain, analyze connections and arrangements of words and ideas.

3. Look at a draft of one of your essays. Find a paragraph or a large chunk of writing (5-6 sentences) which is in some way a problem for you -- doesn�t say what you want it to say, sounds bad or funny, isn�t clear, or whatever. Rewrite (copy out) that chunk of writing on a new piece of paper.

4. Now think about that chunk of writing as meaning. What does it mean? How does it connect with what comes before and after? Write it out again, in an equally long or longer form, without looking at the original. You may add or delete any particular pieces of information you want. The �accuracy� of your paraphrase isn�t what�s important here, what�s important is the finding connections, new meaniing, more good stuff.

5. Okay. How did the meaning change in your paraphrase?

6. Repeat step 4, rewriting the new version of the paragraph. Repeat step 5. If you have the patience for it, do it again.

7 . Go back to your draft and find a place where the writing is really good, a place you are pleased with. Follow steps 3-6 with that piece of writing.

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#12
Revising a Draft through "Glossing"

This revision strategy is most useful when you've got a well developed draft, but you�re worried that you've repeated some ideas, maybe left something important out, or are missing connections between paragraphs, creating a "choppy" or "jumpy" sound as you read. Glossing is a way to outline after a draft has been written so you can see what you've said, where you've said it, what's been left out, what might be moved to another place.

1. Read your draft paragraph by paragraph. After each paragraph, ask, "What's the gist of this paragraph?" Write that gist in just a brief sentence in the margins. If there's more than one gist, write all down. Do this for all paragraphs in the draft.

2. Copy the gists you've written in the margins on another piece of sheet in a column down the page. The result is an outline--a skeleton of your draft.

3. Looking at your outline, ask the following questions and make notes: Do any of these paragraphs seem to belong together? Do any of these paragraphs seem to be repeating the same idea? What idea? Do any of these paragraphs seem to have more than one gist, and if yes, should each gist be given its own paragraph? Is anything missing from this draft and where should the missing part go? Is another order possible for this draft?

4. Using your outline and your responses to the above questions as a guide, you can begin to make any needed revisions.

5. Especially if you feel your draft sounds choppy, you can also ask this question as you read paragraph by paragraph: "How does this paragraph follow from the one before?" Jot down your response in the margins, and then consider, "How can I rework or add to this paragraph to make this connection clearer?" What plans can you make now for revising your draft? What questions or concerns about this draft do you still have?

Adapted from Ann Berthoff, Forming/Thinking/Writing

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#13
Revising by Focusing on the Good Stuff

This exercise helps you develop the content and organization of your ideas by expanding on works you have in progress. It�s most useful when you have something started, and you like parts of it, but you�re not sure about the whole thing. I use this activity as a means of generating more for a piece in progress and sometimes for clarifying the direction I want to take a piece of writing.

1. Read through your piece and mark the �good stuff� in it, and then use those sections as invitations to write more. What is your favorite part? When have someone else read it, what part to they point to as being particularly effective? Where are the details most clear and vibrant? Where are you most persuasive and forceful in yor argument?

2. Write for 10 minutes, expanding and clarifying one of the sections you marked.

3. Take what you�ve just written, the expansion or clarification, and find the good stuff in that. Write for 10 minutes from that chunk of writing.

4. Repeat step three.

5. Look at the whole draft and at the new stuff you�ve just produced. What will you excise from the previous draft? What pieces of the new writing will you move into the draft? Write yourself some directions about what more you can do with the piece the next time you come back to it.

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#14
Beginnings and Endings

Part I -- Beginnings What makes for a good beginning? How do writers hook their readers? What techniques can you use to create excitement? Look at the beginning paragraphs of the chapters in the books we�ve been reading. Can you make a list of devices you see there? What are some traditional beginnings?

--�It was a dark and stormy night. . .�
--�Once upon a time. . .�
--Anecdotes (�Last week I was running down the street. . . �)
--Direct Statements (�This essay is about . . .�)
--News, informing detail (�65% of Coloradans . . .�)
--Rhetorical Question
--Tension/negation (�For years it has been accepted practice to . . . (but that is not longer . . . �) --En Medias Res -- begin in the middle of your story
--Dialogue
--Description of mood
--The who, what, where why beginning
--Quotation
--A Joke

1. Look at the introduction of one of your essays for the semester. What technique have you used to hook your reader? Is it effective? Why or Why not? Put that intro aside, and try to construct three alternates. Create a scene, dig up some facts, find the tension, reconstruct a dialogue, find a good quote.

2. Which one works best? Why?

3. Look at other student�s essay beginnings. Which one�s grab you? Write them and tell them about why it works for you. Try to model one of your beginnings after theirs. Texas Tech has a nice handout on introductions that you might want to read through, as well. It includes examples of different kinds of introductions. Check it out.

Part II -- Endings When you write an ending, you want, above all else, to leave your reader thinking or thinking about acting. And, the ways to do this are very similar to the ways you hook your reader in the beginning. Look at the concluding paragraphs of the essays we�ve read throughout the semester. How do the writers make the readers feel �finished,� feel like the essay has come to an end? How do they send you away thinking?

1. Make a list of the techniques you observe in 5 or 6 different essays we�ve read. Look at several student essays. How are they ending their work? What is effective and what is not?

2. Look at the ending of one of your own essays. Choose two or three of the ending techniques from the list you made and rewrite your ending to imitate those techniques. Which one works best? Why?

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#15
Editing

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1. Physical Description, including characteristic mannerisms. (Charley Smith is never seen around the ranch without his Tigers baseball cap, which he uses to swat horseflies.)
2. Names and Nicknames. (Susan Jones, the highest ranking woman in a billion-dollar-a year company, insists that everybody call her "Pinky.")
3. The physical context of the character, including what she owns, her lifestyle, characteristic props. (Old flatwheeler slept in a cardboard-and-roofing-tin shack by the railroad and cooked his supper in a Maxwell House coffee can.)
4. Dialogue. What the person says and how, including favorite expressions. ("What's the diff?" she likes to say.)
5. The Person's statements. If she says she was "worried about her son" or "euphoric about the promotion," "feeling nostalgic for Kansas" or whatever.
6. The Person's written words -- in letters, diaries, or journals, memoirs, reports depositions, etc.
7. Any other artifacts created by and reflective of the character's essential qualities (a painting, a boat she built, a nonprofit organization she established).
8. Actions and Gestures -- what the person does: not just during an interview, but a work, in the course of daily life, reacting to what other's say and do.
9. What the person doesn't do or say that you might expect her to. (It began to rain heavily, but she just sat there on the park bench, knitting, as if she didn't notice.)
10. Background and Personal History. The person's resume as it illuminates the concerns of the piece. (But the age of twenty, she had already been a dog musher on tow polar expeditions.)
11. Anecdotes that illustrate character traits. (When the army failed to provide food for his men in Cuba, Teddy Roosevelt bought provisions for them out of his own pocket.)
12. What others say about the person -- Outloud or in writing. (One admirer called her a modern Florence Nightingale.)
13. What others say to the person -- and how they say it. ("You're a jerk," she said, laughing.)
14. How others react in the person's presence. (The young hard hats grudgingly made room for Alvin at the lunch counter.)
15. Juxtaposition -- putting two disparate elements side by side. (Rory slashed the man's tire with his Bowie knife. Later I saw him using the same blade to remove a porcupine quill from a stray dog's paw.)
16. Paradox and contradiction, often in juxtaposition. (Her married son says he hates her, but her teenaged daughter clearly adores her.)
17. Metaphor and figurative language. (Hap Jones drank whiskey like it was his job.)

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What bugs you? What endears you? What kind of humor do they have? What kind of clothes do they wear? What's her favorite movie (if you don't know, make one up that you think would be or should be)? What time of does she go to bed? What are the secrets of her past? What was his parent's relationship like? Describe his childhood. Was he abused? Spoiled? Is his grandfather his best friend and mentor? If not, who is? How did he like school? What will/did she study in college? Who does she admire? What's the worst thing she's ever done? the best? Is she moral/immoral? What's the source of that morality or immorality? What's his or her religion? Does she believe in God, UFO's, Astrology charts? Sex? What's his or her attitude towards sex? Is sex a part of your relationship with him or her? Has she ever been in love? What's she like in love? What's the worst trial she's ever faced? How did she handle it? What's her favorite food? Why? Does she have pets? What kind? How does she treat them? What's the most interesting thing you've ever talked about? The most boring? What kind of music does he like? Where and how does he listen to it? What kind of work does he do? Does he do it well? How does he spend his money? Is she a saver? A borrower? A lender? What sorts of reading does she do? What books? Magazines? Newspapers? What's her most interesting physical feature? How have her features changed over the years? What does she feel sorry about? What gives her the most pleasure in life? Has she ever betrayed anyone? Whom? Why? Describe his favorite place? His bedroom? Is he neat and tidy or messy? What kinds of idiosyncratic mannerisms does she have? Does she chew her nails, flip her hair, rub her nose, tap her feet? In one phrase, what would you say his philosophy of life is? "Live and let live." "The good die young." "Do unto others, . . ." "Don't get mad, get even." Describe her handwriting. What does it say about his personality? Is she a shopper? Describe a shopping trip with her? Does she make lists? Buy on impulse?

The purpose of a summary is to give a reader a condensed and objective account of the main ideas and features of a text. Usually a summary is brief -- between 1 to 3 paragraphs -- depending on the complexity and length of the original essay. Typically a summary will do the following:

1. cite the author and title of the text

2. indicate the main ideas of the text -- generally in a paraphrase

3. use direct quotation of key words, phrases, or sentences

4. include author tags (according to Barak, as Barak explains) Other good words here: argues, warns, asks, advises, posits, says, reminds us, mentions, suggests, shows, discovers, etc.

5. Avoid summarizing specific examples or data

6. Report the main idea as objectively as possible

A response requires your reaction and interpretation. Your own perspective -- your experiences, beliefs, and attitudes -- will guide your response. Good responses say what you think, then they provide evidence to support your thoughts, or they show why you think what you do.

Types of response:

1. Analyze the effectiveness of the text: Is the main idea clear? Is the argument well organized? Is the evidence of strong quality? Is the author's tone, style and voice effective?

2. Agreeing and/or disagreeing with the ideas in the text. Why do you agree or disagree?

3. Interpreting and reflecting on the texts. Explain key passages or examine underlying assumptions or the implications of the ideas. Reflect on how your own experiences, attitudes, and observations relate to the text.

Kinds of Evidence:

1. Personal Experience.

2. Evidence from the text

3. Evidence from other texts

Describe an essay you might write that would fit into the following narrative pattern.

1. Situation: Background for the action. What is happening in your story? Who is involved? What is the event you're about to describe?

2. Conflict: Friction. A problem. Something that needs to be dealt with or explained.

3. Struggle: The way the conflict is dealt with. This is plot; it's what happens.

4. Outcome: The result of the struggle.

5. Meaning: The significance of the story.

Situation: To celebrate my seventeenth birthday, I went to the Department of Motor vehicles to take my practical test for my driver's license.

Conflict: It was raining and my appointment was the last one of the day. The examiner was a serious, weary-looking man who reminded me of a bad boss I once had, and I was nervous.

Struggle: After grinding on the ignition because the engine was already on, I had trouble finding the windshield wiper control. Next I forgot to signal until after I had pulled away from the curb. As we crept slowly down the rain-glazed street, the examiner told me to take the emergency break off. All the while I listened to his pen scratching on his clipboard. "Pull over and park," he said solemnly.

Outcome: After I parked the car, the examiner told me to relax, and then he talked to me about school. When we continued, somehow I didn't make any errors, and I got my license.

Meaning: Relax! Or, calmness promotes calmness.