What Kind of Writing are You Doing? There are Differences to the Approach You Should Take!
The Progression from Reports to Essays to Papers
Your elementary and perhaps junior high studies sometimes required "reports". These reports were usually about an animal, a state, a country, a person, or a thing. The report usually dealt with facts (and photos)--those gleaned from various reference sources such as an encyclopedia set, books in the library, or those gleaned from an Internet search.
Essays and papers (particularly those in the college world), however, usually require more than an assortment of facts (no matter how well organized or presented). They require analysis and synthesis--your ideas and opinions about the material are an important part of the work. And if you can express your ideas and opinions well--through skillful use of vocabulary, grammar, and composition, you will find your college and work experience with writing a lot more enjoyable.
You can enhance your writing ability by reading from a wide variety of material. You will notice that there are poor writers and good writers in all fields--whether in sports, business, financial, science, and literature. By reading in all of these fields you are not only becoming familiar with the particular beat or rhythm in writing, but you are also picking up more vocabulary words through the context they are presented in.
Writer, Writer, on a Shirt! Or some other decoration, who knows?
Word Usage: Connotation versus Denotation
Writing by the Bay.... eBay, that is!
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"Knee-jerk" Words
Certain words get a rise out of your readers--sometimes no matter what their background, sometimes in particular because of their background. The words nuclear, evolution, abortion, humanism, terrorism, spotted owls, sales pitches, ecology and others can cause a knee-jerk reaction from the reader that closes off their brain to any further input.
Your reader's mind is already made up--if you write something that goes against what your reader already believes too soon in your writing, your reader will not want to continue with the reading. However, if you are skilled with your writing, you can "sneak-up-on-them" by presenting the material gently and in tune with your reader's background--then, after you "have your reader eating out of your hand", you can guide them to a new way of thinking about what you want them to know.
Students who have studied forensics (not the CSI stuff, but the debate stuff) may have an advantage in presenting their material most convincingly. This may also be referred to as "Aikido" writing--using the opponent's force (called "qi/ki" in Chinese/Japanese) in a gentle "redirection" in the way you want it to go. It takes many years to learn how to do this skillfully.
Pyramid versus Inverted Pyramid
Newspapers generally use the inverted pyramid method--they start with the big picture and the who, what, where, when, and why--and then add more and more details to support the first point. They do this mainly for two reasons:
- Busy folks may not have the time to read the whole article--this approach ensures that the essential information is more easily found.
- Sometimes the article must be cut to fit an allotted space--if it's a choice between article and advertising, advertising will generally win (because that's how the paper makes its money). Also, sometimes the dimensions of the space left within the pages (after all the advertising has been accounted for) require things to be cut. The stuff at the "point of the pyramid" can be cut without affecting the main gist of the article.
Time to Get Some "Writing Practice"! Write a Note Here!
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- d-artist d-artist Nov 15, 2008 @ 7:52 pm
- great lens...great information....5*
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- NAIZA NAIZA Mar 10, 2008 @ 1:26 am
- I really love writing and reading at the same time. Thank you for making this incredible lens about the technique in writing. I'll always keep that in mind.
by EditorDave
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