Writing Traits

Writing Traits Comments

from http://www.brighthub.com/education/k-12/articles/16136.aspx

Ideas/Development

1. Too much summary and not enough analysis.
2. Shallow commentary.
3. Facts do not support your main topic.
4. You have no facts to support this.
5. How does this support your thesis statement/topic sentence?
6. Good idea.
7. Excellent development.
8. Good use of citations.
9. Excellent commentary.
10. I agree.
11. I hadn't thought of that.
12. Thesis statement is unclear.
13. Topic sentence is unclear.
14. Show. Don't Tell.

Organization

1. Good formatting.
2. Excellent attention grabber.
3. Good thesis statement.
4. Well organized.
5. Good transition.
6. Unclear.
7. Show how your point supports your thesis statement.
8. You're rambling.
9. This makes little sense.
10. Try rearranging these sentences.
11. Mix in a paragraph every now and then.

Voice

1. Way too passive.
2. Excellent use of the active voice.
3. Use stronger verbs.
4. Too many "to be" verbs.
5. Are you a robot or a person?
6. Way to involve and relate to the reader.
7. Excellent word choice.
8. Use a more specific word.
9. Too many simple sentences.
10. Good sentence variety.

Conventions (you can use proofreading marks for most problems)

1. Proofread more carefully.
2. Mechanically sound.
3. Your poor mechanics interfere with an otherwise good piece of writing.
4. Shoot me now, please (on second thought, leave this one out depending on where you teach).
5. Verb tense disagreement.
6. It's either the past or the present. It can't be both.
7. Pronoun antecedent issues abound.
8. Review apostrophes.
9. Review commas.

Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/education/k-12/articles/16136.aspx#ixzz130fQcavz

TFY C2 -- Word Precision Map

TFY C2 -- Word Precision Map

Critical Thinking -- Why Important

Critical Thinking -- Why Important

-- 08 -- Evaluations; Inference

Evaluations Inference

TFY C7, Evaluations

CRCB C7, Inference

TFY Chapter Seven Evaluations

This is a chapter about one variety of opinion called evaluations. Evaluations can be openly stated or remain hidden and manipulative. They can be based on explicit or vague criteria, clear or vague feelings. Their effects are powerful. When we mistake them for facts or are influenced by them unawares, we get into trouble. This chapter teaches how to both recognize and detach from evaluations. Exercises and discussion in this chapter will show you how evaluations express and influence feelings, how they can be used covertly to persuade or directly to advise. The writing application in this chapter gives you a choice of analyzing evaluations in advertisements or of writing a critical review. One concluding reading evaluates the monetary evaluation of human life; a second reading evaluates the use of pornography for profit.

TFY Glossary Chapter 7
Evaluate	To determine the value or worth of something.
Evaluations in word connotations	Highly connotative words can be chosen to convey a person’s likes and dislikes under the guise of offering facts.
Expectations	Mental constructs that anticipate the way things will be or should be.
Infer	To use imagination and reasoning to fill in missing facts. To connect the dots.
Opinion	Opinion is a word used to include an unsupported belief, a supported argument, an expert’s judgment, prevailing public sentiment, and a formal statement by a court.
Premature evaluation	To judge something before one has finished examining it.
Principal claim and reasons	These are the two parts of an argument. The principal claim is the thesis or conclusion. The reasons support this claim through evidence or other claims. A claim is an assertion about something.
Propaganda	Propaganda is the manipulation of public opinion for the benefit of the propagator.
Relativism	Relativism is the belief that concepts such as right and wrong are not absolutes but depend on situations and the cultures.
Skilled Evaluations	Skilled evaluations are opinions formed by experts after a careful and impartial study.
Thinking	Purposeful mental activity such as reasoning, deciding, judging, believing, supposing, expecting, intending, recalling, remembering, visualizing, imagining, devising, inventing, concentrating, conceiving, considering.

Web Links Chapter 7 back to top FRANK ACKERMAN AND LISA HEINZERLING If you want to know more about cost-benefit analysis, read these interviews with the authors of Priceless. http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/23/priceless.html MOVIE REVIEWS Enjoy reading from this wide assortment of movie reviews. Select a film that you have already seen. Evaluate the review. http://rottentomatoes.com PUBLIC RELATIONS This site offers a critical account of Edward Bernays’ creation of the U.S. public relations industry. http://www.americanidealism.com/articles/edward-bernays-forger-of-the-public-relations-industry.html SOME PROPAGANDA BASICS This website can get you started learning more about propaganda. http://www.propagandacritic.com/ WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY In this 1999 Salon interview, learn more about the career of author of Porn, Pervasive Presence: The Creepy Wallpaper of Our Lives. http://www.salon.com/people/feature/1999/09/03/wfb/ WORLD WAR II PROPAGANDA In hindsight, propaganda can seem quaint and obvious. Study the posters shown in this website and see if you agree with this statement. http://www.teacheroz.com/WWIIpropaganda.htm ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

CRCB C7, Inference

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER GOALS

After learning Chapter 7, you should be able to demonstrate:

What inference is.

Strategies you can use to infer an author’s meaning as you read.

What limits the amount of information you should infer.

How to identify implied main ideas.

What is Inference?

Inference is the process of making assumptions and drawing conclusions about information when an author’s ideas are not directly stated.

Inference Strategies

Understand an author’s purpose.

Note comparisons and implied similarities.

Understand an author’s use of tone.

Detect an author’s bias.

Recognize information gaps.

Tips For Recognizing Information Gaps

Consider all information presented.

Note author’s use of key words and phrases.

Identify when an author leaps from one idea to the next, and mentally fill in the blanks.

Knowing How Much to Infer

Recognize author’s perspective.

Use the text to support your conclusion.

Chapter Vocabulary

inference

diction

imply

purpose

tone

author’s bias

information gaps

implied main idea

Reading for Thinking Exercises

-- 08 -- Evaluations; Inference

Evaluations Inference

TFY C7, Evaluations

CRCB C7, Inference

TFY Chapter Seven Evaluations

This is a chapter about one variety of opinion called evaluations. Evaluations can be openly stated or remain hidden and manipulative. They can be based on explicit or vague criteria, clear or vague feelings. Their effects are powerful. When we mistake them for facts or are influenced by them unawares, we get into trouble. This chapter teaches how to both recognize and detach from evaluations. Exercises and discussion in this chapter will show you how evaluations express and influence feelings, how they can be used covertly to persuade or directly to advise. The writing application in this chapter gives you a choice of analyzing evaluations in advertisements or of writing a critical review. One concluding reading evaluates the monetary evaluation of human life; a second reading evaluates the use of pornography for profit.

TFY Glossary Chapter 7
Evaluate	To determine the value or worth of something.
Evaluations in word connotations	Highly connotative words can be chosen to convey a person’s likes and dislikes under the guise of offering facts.
Expectations	Mental constructs that anticipate the way things will be or should be.
Infer	To use imagination and reasoning to fill in missing facts. To connect the dots.
Opinion	Opinion is a word used to include an unsupported belief, a supported argument, an expert’s judgment, prevailing public sentiment, and a formal statement by a court.
Premature evaluation	To judge something before one has finished examining it.
Principal claim and reasons	These are the two parts of an argument. The principal claim is the thesis or conclusion. The reasons support this claim through evidence or other claims. A claim is an assertion about something.
Propaganda	Propaganda is the manipulation of public opinion for the benefit of the propagator.
Relativism	Relativism is the belief that concepts such as right and wrong are not absolutes but depend on situations and the cultures.
Skilled Evaluations	Skilled evaluations are opinions formed by experts after a careful and impartial study.
Thinking	Purposeful mental activity such as reasoning, deciding, judging, believing, supposing, expecting, intending, recalling, remembering, visualizing, imagining, devising, inventing, concentrating, conceiving, considering.

Web Links Chapter 7 back to top FRANK ACKERMAN AND LISA HEINZERLING If you want to know more about cost-benefit analysis, read these interviews with the authors of Priceless. http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/23/priceless.html MOVIE REVIEWS Enjoy reading from this wide assortment of movie reviews. Select a film that you have already seen. Evaluate the review. http://rottentomatoes.com PUBLIC RELATIONS This site offers a critical account of Edward Bernays’ creation of the U.S. public relations industry. http://www.americanidealism.com/articles/edward-bernays-forger-of-the-public-relations-industry.html SOME PROPAGANDA BASICS This website can get you started learning more about propaganda. http://www.propagandacritic.com/ WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY In this 1999 Salon interview, learn more about the career of author of Porn, Pervasive Presence: The Creepy Wallpaper of Our Lives. http://www.salon.com/people/feature/1999/09/03/wfb/ WORLD WAR II PROPAGANDA In hindsight, propaganda can seem quaint and obvious. Study the posters shown in this website and see if you agree with this statement. http://www.teacheroz.com/WWIIpropaganda.htm ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

CRCB C7, Inference

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER GOALS

After learning Chapter 7, you should be able to demonstrate:

What inference is.

Strategies you can use to infer an author’s meaning as you read.

What limits the amount of information you should infer.

How to identify implied main ideas.

What is Inference?

Inference is the process of making assumptions and drawing conclusions about information when an author’s ideas are not directly stated.

Inference Strategies

Understand an author’s purpose.

Note comparisons and implied similarities.

Understand an author’s use of tone.

Detect an author’s bias.

Recognize information gaps.

Tips For Recognizing Information Gaps

Consider all information presented.

Note author’s use of key words and phrases.

Identify when an author leaps from one idea to the next, and mentally fill in the blanks.

Knowing How Much to Infer

Recognize author’s perspective.

Use the text to support your conclusion.

Chapter Vocabulary

inference

diction

imply

purpose

tone

author’s bias

information gaps

implied main idea

Reading for Thinking Exercises

Do You Speak American?

http://www.pbs.org/speak/transcripts/2.html

Assumption -- Identify Hidden

Identify the likely hidden assumptions in these arguments:

1. We should reduce the penalty for drunken driving, as a milder penalty would mean more convictions.
2. Moby Dick is a whale. So Moby Dick is a mammal.
3. Giving students a fail grade will damage their self-confidence. Therefore, we should not fail students.
4. It should not be illegal for adults to smoke pot. After all, it does not harm anyone.
5. There is nothing wrong talking on a mobile phone during lectures. Other students do it all the time.
6. Killing an innocent person is wrong. Therefore, abortion is wrong.
7. Traces of ammonia have been found in Mars' atmosphere. So there must be life on Mars.
8. There cannot be more than one God. Otherwise, there would be two Gods equally powerful, or one is more powerful than the other. 

from http://philosophy.hku.hk/think/arg/hidden.php