Add to that the enormous amount of writing that is accessed by hundreds of millions of people on the internet. For one reason or another, we want to get into that stampede, and there is more need than ever to understand what it takes to get a piece of writing out. This guide touches on all aspects of producing an essay or a printed piece and tries to include what is involved in making it acceptable to a teacher, a newspaper, a journal magazine publisher, or whoever else may be the agent for disseminating it.

For those who are writing for a classroom teacher, these helps are particularly valuable. You will be surprised at how quickly you will fill a page, especially if you have followed these steps. Just keep in mind that with a computer, you can always go back and make changes elsewhere he observes that 34 the distinguishing mark of the basic writer is that he works outside the conceptual structures that his more literate counterparts work within 34 writing on the margins. In the article 34 who are basic writers? 34 1990 , andrea lunsford and patricia a. Sullivan conclude that 34 the population of basic writers continues to resist our best attempts at description and definition.

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Also see: 34 mina shaughnessy had much to do with encouraging the acceptance of basic writing as a distinct area of teaching and research. Which continues as one of the most important vehicles for the dissemination of research articles. In 1977, she published one of the most important scholarly books on the subject, errors and expectations. A book that remains the most important single study of basic writers and their prose.

O ne of the values of her book is that she showed teachers how they could, by viewing errors as linguistic misconceptions, determine the causes of writing problems that on the surface might appear confusing and unconnected. Greenwood press, 1990 speaking and writing the language of the university 34 every time a student sits down to write for us, he has to invent the university for the occasion invent the university, that is, or a branch of it, like history or anthropology or economics or english. He has to learn to speak our language, to speak as we do, to try on the peculiar ways of knowing, selecting, evaluating, reporting, concluding, and arguing that defines the discourse of our community. Then, would be to determine just what the community 39 s conventions are, so that those conventions can be written out, 39 demystified, 39 and taught in our classrooms, teachers, as a result, could be more precise and helpful when they ask students to 39 think, 39 39 argue, 39 39 describe, 39 or 39 define.

39 another response would be to examine the essays written by basic writers their approximations of academic discourse to determine more clearly where the problems lie. If we look at their writing, and if we look at it in the context of other student writing, we can better see the points of discord when students try to write their way into the university. 34 when a writer can’t write: studies in writer’s block and other composing process problems. Guilford press, 1985 34 t he real challenge for us as teachers of basic writing lies in helping our students become more proficient at abstracting and conceptualizing and hence at producing acceptable academic discourse, without losing the directness many of them now possess. 34 andrea lunsford, quoted by patricia bizzell in academic discourse and critical consciousness. University of pittsburgh press, 1992 where do basic writers come from? 34 t he research does not support the view that basic writers come from any single social class or discourse community.

Their backgrounds are too complex and rich to support simple generalizations about class and psychology to be particularly useful in helping to understand these students. Greenwood, 1990 the problem with the growth metaphor 34 many early studies of basic writing in the 1970s and 80s drew on the metaphor of growth in order to talk about the difficulties faced by basic writers, encouraging teachers to view such students as inexperienced or immature users of language and defining their task as one of helping students develop their nascent skills in writing. The growth model pulled attention away from the forms of academic discourse and towards what students could or could not do with language. It also encouraged teachers to respect and work with the skills students brought to the classroom. Implicit in this view, though, was the notion that many students, and especially less successful or 39 basic 39 writers, were somehow stuck in an early stage of language development, their growth as language users stalled.

34 yet this conclusion, pretty much forced by the metaphor of growth, ran counter to what many teachers felt they knew about their students many of whom were returning to school after years of work, most of whom were voluble and bright in conversation, and almost all of whom seemed at least as adept as their teachers in dealing with the ordinary vicissitudes of life. What if the trouble that they were having with writing at college was less a sign of some general failing in their thought or language than evidence of their unfamiliarity with the workings of a specific sort of academic discourse? 34 joseph harris, 34 negotiating the contact zone. Lawrence erlbaum, 2001 rule 1. use concrete rather than vague language. vague: the weather was of an extreme nature on the west coast. this sentence raises frustrating questions: when did this extreme weather occur? what does of an extreme nature mean? where on the west coast did this take place? concrete: california had unusually cold weather last week. rule 2. use active voice whenever possible. rule 5. use consistent grammatical form when offering several ideas. This is called parallel construction. correct: i admire people who are honest, reliable, and sincere. note that are applies to and makes sense with each of the three adjectives at the end. Most of us learned spelling and grammar in elementary school and brushed up on the rules occasionally in junior high or middle school.

Once we entered high school, it was assumed we knew and remembered all of the essentials and slowly we discovered that although there were some rules we just had to look up, we simply stopped worrying about the minor details. It's time to relearn those minor details that can help you write, and read more effectively. Using single and double quotation marks appropriately involves an understanding of three instances when quotation marks are appropriate. Using quotation marks basic usage dialogue usage exceptions strong and weak punctuation refer to exclamation points and question marks along with periods and commas. Placement of these markings are always inside quotation marks: i told jack to fetch a pail of water, jill told her mother. The only exception to this rule is when making a citation or mentioning a reference book in writing such as a dictionary, thesaurus, or encyclopedia. Following a shorter quotation, weak punctuation is allowed outside quotation marks, after the citation.

Placement of commas within quotation marks is done when there are two clauses statements and one is dependent on the other. For example: instead of telling him what to do, why did you not help him? asked jill's mother. The first part of the sentence, instead of telling him what to do is a dependent clause because it relies on the second part, why did you not help him? in order to make sense. Therefore, the second part is an independent clause because it could stand alone and still be logical.

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This revised example shows proper use of commas with quotation marks note: sentence structure changes appropriately : instead of telling him what to do, jill's mother began, why did you not help him? placement of exclamation points and question marks also vary with the sentence, depending on what is being focused on. Consider these two examples: did she just say, i left jack alone at the well ? and frantically, jill just said, i left jack alone at the well! both of these examples show people talking but the focus in the first example is not on what the person being talked about said, but rather the question asked by the speaker. short works refer to texts such as: songs, short stories, lectures, magazine articles, book chapters, episodes of television or radio shows, or one act plays. As the following examples demonstrate: sounds of silence by simon and garfunkel song bernice bobs her hair by f. Scott fitzgerald short story encounter at farpoint from star trek: the next generation episode in the last example, encounter at farpoint, notice how star trek is italicized rather than enclosed in quotation marks.

The reason why is because it is not an episode of a television show, but rather the name of a series, or what is considered a longer work. In cases of mentioning longer works in writing, either italics or underlining is appropriate. Consider these examples: literary scholars often discuss tragedy with reference to aristotle. Having quotation marks around the word tragedy in the first example reminds readers the term is not being used in its conventional definition, but rather from a literary standpoint. Readers may believe literary scholars discuss the terminology in the same context as everyday people, referring to bad instances. Similarly, in the second example, homey is not a standard english word so quotation marks are needed for distinction.