Writing StyleStyle is an intrinsic, yet elusive quality in all writing.The cartoon at the left riffs on the fact that, although many different writing styles exist, and hold value in their own right, each situation calls for a distinct one.
Read this passage from Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five and think about how the author uses style to convey meaning. Remember, style equals more than just the sum of the words and punctuation marks.
“{Billy}....turned on the television. He came slightly unstuck in time, saw the late movie backwards, then forwards again. It was a movie about American bombers in the Second World War and the gallant men who flew them. Seen backwards by Billy, the story went like this:
American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation . . .
When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody again.”
Engage: Video clip, select visual media via powerpoint, and verbal prompting used to elicit and maintain engagement
Explore: Personal reading and analysis of a passage from a popular book allows students to explore knowledge and unknowns about style
Explain: A short lecture on types and features of style, along with a description of professional style, gives information to fill in unknowns and emphasize relevancy
Extend: The Paramedic Method is introduced as a procedure for making writing more concise, consistent with the professional style
Evaluate: Students use the Paramedic Method to edit sample sentences in professional style
E-search: Students must visit This website on proofreading and read sections 1-5. They must then analyze their own writing styles by proofreading their recent English papers. As an assignment, they must create a list of errors or conventions used consistently and incorrectly throughout the paper, and, for each item on this list, detail a short strategy they could use to correct the errors. They must also identify several conventions considered "correct" in professional writing, such as specific punctuation patterns, that characterize their personal style. The pages assigned, along with those on Sentence Variety, Punctuation, and Appropriate Language offer explanations of aspects of good professional writing, and offer suggestions for improvement. Students should also apply the Paramedic Method where applicable.
Explore: Personal reading and analysis of a passage from a popular book allows students to explore knowledge and unknowns about style
Explain: A short lecture on types and features of style, along with a description of professional style, gives information to fill in unknowns and emphasize relevancy
Extend: The Paramedic Method is introduced as a procedure for making writing more concise, consistent with the professional style
Evaluate: Students use the Paramedic Method to edit sample sentences in professional style
E-search: Students must visit This website on proofreading and read sections 1-5. They must then analyze their own writing styles by proofreading their recent English papers. As an assignment, they must create a list of errors or conventions used consistently and incorrectly throughout the paper, and, for each item on this list, detail a short strategy they could use to correct the errors. They must also identify several conventions considered "correct" in professional writing, such as specific punctuation patterns, that characterize their personal style. The pages assigned, along with those on Sentence Variety, Punctuation, and Appropriate Language offer explanations of aspects of good professional writing, and offer suggestions for improvement. Students should also apply the Paramedic Method where applicable.
No comments:
Post a Comment