mastering academic writing spring 2014

8/12/2019 Mastering Academic Writing Spring 2014

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Effective Academic Writing:Being Concise and Precise

Academic Writing

Diction

Retronyms

Semantics

Connotation

Denotation

And since words survive thechops and

change of time longer than any other

substance, therefore they are the truest.

Buildings fall; even the earth perishes.

What was yesterday a cornfield is to-day

a bungalow. But words, if properly used,seem able to live for ever.

Virginia Woolf (1937)

Andrew Joseph Pegoda, A.B.D.

Lecturer

Department of History

University of Houston


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A VERY, VERY BRIEF AND SELECTIVEHISTORY OF

WRITING/COMMUNICATION


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Writing Around the World


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It is because the truth they try to catch is many-sided, and

they convey it by being many-sided, flashing first this way,

then that. Thus they mean one thing to one person,another thing to another person; they are unintelligible to

one generation, plain as a pikestaff to the next. And it is

because of this complexity, this power to mean different

things to different people, that they survive. Perhaps then

one reason why we have no great poet, novelist or critic

writing today is that we refuse to allow words their liberty.

We pin them down to one meaning, their useful meaning,

the meaning which makes us catch the train, the meaning

which makes us pass the examination. And when words arepinned down they fold their wings and die. Finally, and

most emphatically, words, like ourselves, in order to live at

their ease, need privacy.

Virginia Woolf (1937)


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UNIVERSITY WRITING:A WORLD OF DIFFERENCES


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Freedom

Evidence

Analysis

Originality

Revision

Five Characteristics

of College Writing:

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College A paper


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A VIEW OF ACADEMIC WRITING


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The Academic Essay

Content

Mechanics

Academic Writing


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Content

Thesis

Evidence

Organization

Originality

Clarity

Multiple Drafts

Research

Academic Writing


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Mechanics

Capitalization

Usage

Punctuation

Spelling

Diction

Sentence Structure

Format

Academic Writing


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Unlike math,

there are

countless correctanswers when it

comes to writing

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CLARITY:CLEAR, ACTIVE, & POWERFUL WRITING


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Words and Clarity?


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Words and Clarity?


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The book Carry Me Back: The Domestic Slave Trade inAmerican Life (2005) written by Steven Deyle discusses the

internal slave trade in the United States.

I need to call my grandmother at six p.m. in the evening on

the phone.

The restaurant McDonalds is taking applications at this point

in time.

I commute back and forth to the University of Houston.

The large meat packers were not seriously hindered by theresulting regulations, but many smaller packers were

bankrupted.

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Words and Clarity?


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handicapped

Illiterate

race

feminist

civilization Native American

slave

How is it used in society and by

individuals?

Strengths of this word/phrase?

Weaknesses?

Alternatives to this word/phrase?

Words and Loaded Language


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Were I to write ArntI a Woman? Today, I

would use the verb enslaved rather than the

noun slave to implicate the inhumane actionof white people. The noun slave suggests a

state of mind and being that is absolute and

unmediated by an enslaver. Enslaved says

more about what happened to black people

without unwittingly describing the sum total of

who they were. Enslaved forces us to

remember that black men and women were

Africans and African-Americans before they

were forced into slavery and had a new-and

denigrating-identity assigned to them.


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Hispanic

White

Black

Asian

American

Indian


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A iWhi


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Hispanic

White

Black

Asian

American

Indian

Hispanic

Hispanic HispanicBlack

AsianAsian

AsianWhite Black

Indian


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Writing with Clarity and Appropriate

Diction Activity

Does every sentence and every word and

every punctuation mark have a purpose?

And does it serve the rightpurpose?


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Video Clip,

Where is Matt?

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SEMANTICS:CONNOTATION VS. DENOTATION

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Connotation vs. Denotation

Whats up, man?Whats up, man?


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Connotation


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The World of Connotation

Body language and tone

Culture

Context

Historical events

Popular usage

Other words


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Connotation and Denotation

Class Activity

What is the shared denotation of the words?

What are the various connotations of the

words and appropriate/inappropriate uses?

desegregation, integration


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Class Activity




aggressive, assertive, domineering, dynamic,

pushy, forceful


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Class Activity




staggered, limped, waddled, crept, strolled


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Class Activity




homeless, vagrant, without a permanent address


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Class Activity




uprising, riot, demonstration,

unlawful gathering, protest, disturbance,

civil war, revolution, civil disobedience


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Class Activity




guerilla, freedom fighter, mercenary, soldier,

terrorist, activist, revolutionary

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Quickly skim the article

Looking at the assigned paragraph and bolded

words

Discuss the connotation of each word

Consider why other words were not used OR consider

if a better word could have been used

Consider different ways to write the same sentences Reflect on how this will inform your academic writing

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Group Activity


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Do not

use theInternet


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Before you

worry about

editing, just

write

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Read grammar books

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Show, dont tell

Don't say the old lady

screamed. Bring her on and

let her scream.


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Papers are never finished,

but always due

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Although clich,

practice makes perfect

Wh did l d b


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What did you learn today about

writing?

How are you going to actively take thisinformation and apply it?

What did you enjoy most, least? What

suggestions do you have?

Thanks.

Andrew Joseph Pegoda (AJP)

mastering academic writing spring 2014

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