The new edition of the Great Writing series provides clear explanations, extensive models of academic writing and practice to help learners write great sentences, paragraphs, and essays. With expanded vocabulary instruction, sentence-level practice, and National Geographic content to spark ideas, students have the tools they need to become confident writers. Updated in this Edition: Clearly organized units offer the practice students need to become effective independent writers. Each unit includes: Part 1: Elements of Great Writing teaches the fundamentals of organized writing, accurate grammar, and precise mechanics. Part 2: Building Better Vocabulary provides practice with carefully-selected, level-appropriate academic words. Part 3: Building Better Sentences helps writers develop longer and more complex sentences. Part 4: Writing activities allow students to apply what they have learned by guiding them through writing, editing, and revising. Part 5: New Test Prep section gives a test-taking tip and timed task to prepare for high-stakes standardized tests, including IELTs and TOEFL. The new guided online writing activity takes students through the entire writing process with clear models for reference each step of the way.
A different and much smaller genre of great benefit to the aspiring or professional writer is collected in books, interviews, and essays in which great writers talk about books, their own writing, or about writing in general. Standouts in this field include E. M. Forster's Aspects of the Novel or Stephen King's On Writing. For the writer of nonfiction, the choices are fewer. What I have cherished most in this slender category is the series of interviews published in the Paris Review called "The Art of Nonfiction". There are nine such pieces, as far as I know, in which unobtrusive, intelligent, and insightful interviewers sit down or correspond with the greats in a number of sessions and quiz them about their work. The subject of "The Art of Nonfiction No. 3" is New Yorker staff writer John McPhee, who is also the author of more than 30 books. His newest book is called Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process. Just as I love the interview with him in the Paris Review, I love this book.
great writing 4 from great paragraphs to great essays
I could easily have peppered this review with quotes from the essays, and it is tempting to include one or two juicy and memorable ones, but I will not. That is an easy way out. Here I am trying to follow McPhee's advice on the ideas of omission (what do you leave out?) and selection (what do you include?). There is hardly a paragraph in the book that does not yield a quotable nugget of insight about the what works or doesn't work in writing, and I don't want to give any reader the impression that reading my cursory review is a substitute for reading McPhee's book. It is, in the words of the jacket blurb, "a master class on the writer's craft" and it is a small masterpiece. If you aspire to feel confidently adept in the art of English prose, much of what you need to know is compressed between the covers of Draft No. 4.
This course requires four essays, totaling about twenty-five pages. At least two of those four will be submitted once and then resubmitted with significant revision. Each of the four essays will require a somewhat different approach from the others, but in every case, the goal is good academic writing. Such writing identifies a problem or a question that demands investigation, and then articulates that problem as clearly as possible, pursuing every reasonable route to its resolution. The best problems do not disappear in their solutions, but reach their point of greatest articulation. By completing assignments preliminary to the culminating essay in each phase of the course, you will examine and rehearse the writing process. These assignments will encourage you to ask questions, to consider the assumptions and definitions that underlie a conflict, to analyze and argue.
I must give some consideration to the ethnic heritage of my students. The following are some of the texts published for the slower reader. I teach at Roberto Clemente and the two biographies on him are popular. These books reinforce the theme of being Black, Puerto Rican, and proud. The students like reading about Clemente because of his ethnic origin as well as his ability as a great ball player. Wheelock has put together a collection of threeHispanic Heroes of the U.S.A.This is the fourth in a series of four collections on Spanish heroes. Newton has a book onFamous Puerto Ricans, thumbnail sketches of famous men like Roberto Clemente. The last book students would enjoy is thePicture Life of Herman Badillo, the first Puerto Rican elected to the Congress of the United States. Although English translations of Spanish literary works are limited in number the quality is present. With so few published writings to draw from, the Puerto Rican student is encouraged to be a pioneer in writing. You might have some describe what it was like to more from another country to New Haven. When I was gathering these materials some of my bi-lingual students spotted them and begged to bring them home to read. It was frustrating that there were so few books for me to offer to them as they were quite excited about reading about their people.
2ff7e9595c
Comments