It’s SHOW TIME !!!!!!!

Welcome to our first Live Session

How is everyone?

Why We Have Live ChatsWhy We Have Live ChatsThese chat sessions offer the These chat sessions offer the opportunity for me to present opportunity for me to present

additional information beyond the additional information beyond the classroom and to discuss the classroom and to discuss the

readings and assigned questions. readings and assigned questions. They also offer you the opportunity They also offer you the opportunity to discuss any questions you might to discuss any questions you might

have.have.

Live Chat Rules You're welcome to use the first few

minutes of the seminar to greet each other, but once we begin, let's stick to the lesson.

If you have a question, please type ??? after the question, so that I will see it easier. If I should fail to answer your question, please email it to me.

Please be respectful of everyone in the class. Writing is a scary thing for many, and we want everyone to feel free to ask questions and not feel intimidated.

How many of you would like to get an A?

Tips for Getting Good Grades #1) Keep Up with Work #2) Check Email Daily

Keep up with your work. It is very hard to catch up if you get behind. If you have a problem, please email me.

Also, please feel free to email me questions about your work. I had a student one term who didn't understand what I had written on her paper, but was embarrassed to ask. No one was born knowing how to write. I had to go to school to learn all of this stuff, so PLEASE, just ask.

Be sure to check your school email at least ONCE A DAY!

Tips for Getting Good Grades: #3) Post Answers to the Discussion Questions

Posting is a significant percentage of your grade, so don't throw away grade points!!!!

To get good grades on discussion, you must answer every question. In addition, you must comment twice to two separate discussion answers of two students

Tips for Getting Good Grades: #4) Try To Come To Live Chats

• In the Announcements on the Course Home page, I may at times be posting topics that I intend to talk about in our Live Chat. (See weekly announcement.) These live sessions can really help answer any issues or questions that you have

• .

Tips for Getting Good Grades: #5) Read the Directions#6) Number of Pages

Projects: The NUMBER ONE reason that students lose points on projects is by NOT following the directions. Read the directions. Read them again and again. Then while you are writing, keep reading them. It is very easy to think you are doing the project correctly when you are not.

When doing a writing project, make sure you are within the required page limits. If the assignment calls for 3-5 pages, do not email me fewer than 3 full pages of essay. The page requirements refer to the actual essay, not the title page or reference page.

Tips for Getting Good Grades: #7) Follow APA Format

Use 12-point font (type size) for the entire paper. This includes the title page.

Do NOT center or right justify the body of your essay. To right justify means to have the right margin end in an even line instead of ending naturally as you type.

Do not use any font larger than 12 and do not use bold. When you use APA, think boring and you will probably get it right. (LOL)

If you need help with format, download the Using Microsoft Word document that I have posted. That document covers margins, font size, indenting, double-spacing, etc.

The Price of Poor Writing Poor writing costs you and me a

lot of tax dollars. According to a 2004 report, states spend

$221 million annually on remedial writing training, sometimes sending workers to $400-per-employee classes.

The indirect costs of sloppy writing probably hurt taxpayers even more. Poor writing not only confuses citizens, but

also slows down the government as workers struggle with unclear instructions or have to redo poorly written work.

Do you want to get a good job? According to the survey

Two-thirds of companies said writing was an important responsibility for workers.

100 % of the states agreed that writing was important.

More than 75 % of those responding said they take writing skills into account when hiring.

According to an article in Personnel Today, 42% of employers complain about the basic writing skills of applicants.

Poor Writing CostsCompanies $$$$$$

Example: Did you ever hear of the Adam Computer? In 1983, its manufacturer Coleco lost $35 million in one quarter and almost went out of business because customers who purchased its new line of computers found the instruction manuals unreadable, so they return their computers.

Example: An oil company spent hundreds of thousands of dollars developing a new pesticide, only to discover that the formula had already been worked out five years earlier by one of the same company's technicians. He wrote his report so poorly that no one had finished reading it.

Clear, concise writing can save companies time and money.

Example: Ground-operation manuals revised in plain language saved Federal Express an estimated $400,000 in the very first year.

Example: Computer manufacturer Allen-Bradley found that the second most important reason that customers bought their product was because of the clarity of product instructions.

Moreover, plain-language revision of their manuals reduced support calls from 50 a day to two per month.

Writing in the Digital World

Writing is extremely important today for businesses because it is possible to have business associates that you never see or even talk to, but know only through e-mail.

Since 70% of today’s business writing involves e-mail, the words you write give powerful impressions of not just yourself, but also of your company.

What impression does this e-mail give? What did you mean by what the highlights of 

sites that we chose.?  I thought that i did that. what part of the apa format did i not folow?

Are you willing to learn? Today's writing challenges include not only

e-mail, but also the challenges of the Internet.

Online documents must be clearly written. Web sites must be clearly written, user friendly,

and motivate Internet surfers to become customers.

Careless, mistake riddled writing drives people away.

Potential customers look at the writing and ask themselves: “If the company can not hire people who can write well, can they deliver quality products and services?”

Effective writing does not come naturally. It requires instruction, practice, and a willingness to learn.

In writing, why is In writing, why is knowing your purpose knowing your purpose

and the audience and the audience important?important?

AUDIENCE AND CONTEXT

Writing does not occur in a vacuum. Everything is written to someone for some purpose. The email you send to your sister should be written differently than a proposal you send to a business client.

Knowing the audience, purpose, and the context is vitally important to good writing. Ask yourself: “Why am I writing this? Who is my reader? What am I trying to say?”

What is Standard What is Standard American English?American English?

What are the benefits to What are the benefits to learning Standard learning Standard American English?American English?

Standard American English Standard American English is the common

language, spelling, grammar, and punctuation used in the United States. It is the type of speech and writing that is expected in higher education and the workplace.

When you use Standard American English, people can understand you no matter what part of the county they come from. Also, using Standard American English presents you as being an educated person.

Using Standard American English shows respect for the reader and a desire to be someone the reader can relate to.

When should you use When should you use Standard American Standard American

English?English?

When You Should Use Standard American English

You should use Standard American English most of the time if not all the time. You want to get into the habit of using it.When speaking or writing to your friends or family, you are free to use dialect, slang, or any type of English (or other language) that you desire.However, in the "real world," the world of work, school, and careers, there are different expectations.

Some people have fallen into bad habits because of email!

Here's an example of the type of email that I often receive:

"im not sure how to double space can u help me with this thanks."

This type of email is inappropriate in a school or business setting.Get in the habit of using Standard American English in your communications. This includes capital letters, spelling out words, and punctuation. Practicing this will help you to succeed in life.

Academic, formal, and informal writing

Academic/formal Informal

Uses standard American English (no slang, contractions)

Carefully edited and revised

Academic writing references and cites credible sources using conventions of a field (APA, MLA, etc.)

May use slang, abbreviations, contractions

Often not edited for grammar, mechanics, spelling

Examples: text messages, e-mails, Facebook entries, Tweets, diary entries

Your toolbox

USE! BE CAREFUL!

MS Word

Dictionary

Thesaurus

Bartleby.com

School Library (live chats, Q & A, paper review, library)

Returns from internet searches

Blogs

Wikipedia

Why do we botherto write?

What is the purpose of writing?

Writing

Writing is a form of communication. As with any form of communication, writing has a purpose: the message. The writer is trying to get a message to the reader.

We write to inform, to persuade, to entertain, and/or to express an opinion.

Why do we study writing?

Why We Study Writing

We study writing to learn to write clearly. When I speak to you, my message comes across through my words, my tone of voice, my gestures, and my body language. If you don't understand, you can ask me questions.

When I write to you, you have only the words that I have written. You do not have my tone of voice, my gestures, or my body language, and you may not be able to ask my questions regarding what I have written.

Therefore, I want to make sure that what I write has ONE meaning and ONLY ONE! When you read what I have written, I want you to understand my meaning. Most of us do not write that clearly naturally.

Writing Is the Key

If you wanted to learn to play the piano, what would you do? You would take lessons and practice. That is what you will be doing in this class. Anyone can learn to write. Learning to write simply requires lessons and practice.

Sometimes students start a writing class believing that what they will learn in it will only help them to do better in the writing class.  On the contrary, writing is a skill you will need not only in every class you take, but in every career, and good writing is the key to getting a great job, keeping it, and being promoted.

Why write?

Inform Persuade Entertain Deal with specific audiences

Advantages to writing

Writing gives you time to reflect and research – shape and reshape material.

Writing makes communication more precise. Writing provides a permanent record of

thoughts, actions, and decisions. Writing saves time-- we absorb information

more swiftly when we read than when we hear.

What to know before you write

Creating a Timeline

• If you wish to write a credible paper, you will need to give yourself adequate time.

• If your normal writing habit is to simply sit down and do everything on the night the paper is due, you are not likely to be successful in this class.

• Therefore, it would be a good idea to map out when you plan to complete the varying parts of the paper.

What is the writing process?

Writing Is a Six Step Process.

• Prewriting• Organizing• Drafting• Cooling• Revising• Editing

The Process• PREWRITING helps you to get ideas flowing.

There are a number of techniques for prewriting, including free writing, clustering, journaling, brainstorming, and others.

• ORGANIZING means that you take the ideas generated from the prewriting and begin to put them into some sort of order, starting with grouping similar ideas. After the ideas are grouped, you put them into a rough outline that includes the main idea and the supporting details.

The Process (continued) DRAFTING is getting what you have to say down

on paper. When you write your first draft, just write. Do not worry about details such as spelling, grammar, punctuation, or even if you are saying exactly what you want to say in the manner you want to say it.

COOLING is when you put your writing aside. Overnight is best, but you should put it aside for at least 5-10 minutes. After you have completed your draft, walk away, and then come back and reread your essay. It will look different to you when you reread it.

The Process (Slide 3) REVISING means rereading and rewriting what

you have written. You will need to revise everything you write, at least for this class. You will need to learn to always revise what you write..

EDITING begins when you are pleased with what you have written. Check spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. Use spell and grammar check or a dictionary. Check that you have followed proper APA format. Do not begin to edit until you are done with all of your revisions. Why waste time?

Prewriting Techniques Freewriting Brainstorming Bubbling Clustering Listing Informal outlining Annotating Questioning

Freewriting Simply write and write about a topic. You record your thoughts, ideas,

impressions, and feelings without interruption and without any concern for spelling, grammar, punctuation or even logic.

The only problem with this style is that it really has no organization and you have to rewrite several times for organization.

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Methods You Can Use to Find Your Point: Freewriting

When free writing, write whatever comes to you. Don't evaluate your ideas; just write FAST! After you are done, read through your writing. Something you wrote may be the direction (point) in which you want to go.

Bubbling

Listing (sample topic: Banning cigarettes)

Main points Support from sources?

Audience concerns to address

Examples I could use

Cigarettes are bad for everyone’s health, smokers and non-smokers alike

Surgeon General (warnings), medical reports on second-hand and third-hand smoke effects

Should the government outlaw everything that is bad for us (fast food, etc.?)

Childhood asthma and allergies, even ear infections, often tied into parents’ smoking

Those horrible pictures they showed in elem. School of black lungs of smokers!

Outlining We use an outline because it provides the structure we

need to create an organized essay. Although our writing can use creativity, the essay that the

outline will help you write is not creative writing. It is persuasive writing based on your own ideas. However, you must use facts, examples, and quotes from experts to support any claims that you make!

The outline can help you decide what to include and where it would be most effective to place particular points.

Another purpose of the outline is to determine how outside sources will fit into your paragraphs.

You can use the formal (Roman Numeral) outline structure or a less formal version of the outline.

Informal 0utline example

I. Introduction: The United States should ban smoking.

A. Danger to health of smoker

B. Danger to health of non-smoker

C. Contributions to rising health costs in U.S.

II. Smoking is dangerous to the health of smokers.

A. Lung cancer risks

B. Asthma and other breathing disorders

C. Heart problems

Any questions?

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