Monthly Archives: July 2014

Expository Writing: The Guts of an Introduction

As you move toward completing your final papers, I wanted to spend some time considering introductions. As I’ve said repeatedly throughout class, the introduction is always the last thing you should write: its primary job is to provide a reader … Continue reading

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Expository Writing: Reviewing the Amazon Reviews

After reading the first collection of Amazon.com reviews, I have some general comments.  1. When writing for the web, avoid the one large paragraph–it is more important to try and break paragraphs up into single ideas. While it would be … Continue reading

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Expository Writing: Amazon Book Reviews

This Friday you have to post your first of three book reviews to Amazon.com. I wanted to highlight my expectations for the reviews, and to provide some instructions for both 1) how to compose the reviews and 2) how to … Continue reading

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Expository Writing: First Sentences and Titles

20, maybe 30 words. That’s all you get. That is your opportunity to grab someone’s attention before they close your tab or click the next link. The first sentence, and before that your title, present a limited opportunity to capture … Continue reading

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Expository Writing: Essay Expectations

Starting tonight, I will ask you to compose the first of your four essays for medium.com. I want to spend a bit of time thinking about the expectations for these essays. This is a bit difficult for me, since all … Continue reading

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Expository Writing: Workshopping

Here’s the strategies I covered in the ad hoc handout last class: Audience To whom does this piece speak?Who isn’t included in the audience?What kinds of previous knowledge(s) does the author assume the audience to have? KairosWhy is the author … Continue reading

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Expository Writing: The Basics of Twitter

I feel like I should justify why I am making you use twitter in this class. So here goes.  Given that this is a writing class, it is my job to introduce you to a range of tools that help … Continue reading

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Expository Writing: Handling Sources

In class today we are going to focus on incorporating direct quotations into writing. Regardless of whether you are working in MLA, APA, Chicago Style, or not, there are general principles of handling sources that can improve the readability, clarity, … Continue reading

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Expository Writing: Developing a Topic

I wanted to point you towards some non-traditional resources for developing a topic for this class. Assuming you have a general idea of what you want to study, here’s a few tools you can use to begin identifying material.  Wikipedia … Continue reading

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