Transcript Creativity Session

ORGANIZING
STRATEGIES
Part I: Using Invention Techniques
to Discover Order
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We use story telling (narrative) to create frameworks of
meaning in our lives.
A child remembers getting a kitten on her fifth birthday
A family cherishes stories about a grandmother from Haiti
A group of veterans recalls specific battles
A lot of story telling gets to the point of the story at the
END of the story.
We’re with friends and neighbors who wait patiently while
our stories are told and retold.
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In academic writing and other kinds of
public writing we announce our topic early
in the essay
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Our readers may be strangers. They may be:
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Tired
Hurried
Or hostile
Writing for strangers requires us to think about two
variables :
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Purpose (What do we want to accomplish)
Audience (What will our readers expect)
 In
this workshop, we’ll look at two very
different kinds of strategies to create
and emphasize order.
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First we are going to look at the “Big Picture”
You may have seen the following lists before, in your
textbook.
Here’s the key to becoming a better scholar:
You have to get comfortable with these patterns, and
make them your own.
So, let’s review. The Greek philosopher Aristotle used the
word “technique” to describe a process that blends craft and
art- practice and inspiration.
Whether we are asking ourselves questions, writing
paragraphs, or developing speeches or essays, we can look
for, and develop, the following techniques. I’m going to
describe these techniques as verbs rather than nouns,
because they are processes.
Technique and Examples
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Defining
What is emphysema?
What is induced labor?
Analyzing Cause And Effect
What are the effects of divorce on
young children?
What effect does metabolizing fat
have on blood sugar?
Evaluating
What’s the best Charlie Chaplin
film?
Is Paxil safe for children?
Comparing
Describe similarities between
George Bush and John Kerry
Contrasting
Describe differences between
George Bush and John Kerry
Classifying
(Breaks down a group into smaller
categories)
How are hurricanes rated by
categories?
Using Process Analysis
How do you draw blood?
How do you install a car stereo?
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The following are often included as invention
techniques
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Providing examples
Giving instances that
support analysis
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Providing facts
Using material that can be
proven true
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Providing close-focus description
I
including sensory detail that
involves readers
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Providing quotations
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Providing expert testimony
Quoting someone who has special
knowledge
Quoting someone whose voice
adds tone and flavor
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Here’s the key to “owning” these and using them with
comfort.
Using invention techniques is part of being human.
We’re used these same approaches since we were little
kids.
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Definition
Cause and Effect
Evaluation
Comparisons
Contrasts
Classification
Process analysis
What’s a sneeze?
Throwing food will make
mom mad
What is the babysitter like?
Dogs have four legs and so do
cows
Cows are LOTS bigger
Lets sort these crayons by color
How can I open this cookie box?
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Sometimes we use a number of techniques in
one paper
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We come back to the same question:
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What do we want to say?
What do our readers want to know?
Describing a heart bypass might include
definition, cause and effect, classification of
the risk of the procedures, evaluation ( of
resulting life quality), comparisons and
contrasts to other heart procedures, and
process analysis.
 Please
break up into groups of four or
five students.
 Choose
a topic or topics you have
written about in your classes, or expect
you will write about. Brainstorm for ten
minutes about the ways that one or
more of these techniques are used, in
your subject area.
Part II Using Ordering Strategies
to Show Relationships
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Ordering strategies help readers follow what we say. We often
add these strategies after we’re done with invention writing.
We’ve got what we need to say. Now what about that tired,
hurried, or hostile reader?
Emphasizing Coherence
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An essay should “cohere,” or hang together as a completed work
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Let’s take some brainstorming I did about my mother. I’ve used
some strategies to create coherence between parts of an essay.
These are good approaches when an instructor reads your
essay and says,
“I don’t understand how you got from this paragraph to the next.”
Creating Coherence
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My mother moved often when she was a child. She was in foster
homes from the time she was five until she turned eleven. Although she
moved from home to home, she stayed in the same school district, so
going to school became an important source of continuity.
Neighborhood schools gave her places where she had friends and
support form teachers.
Although her father disapproved of education for women, she
wanted desperately to go to college.
Her longing for a college degree meant her and her father often
argued. She would often stay late, studying at the library. Her father
fumed angrily at her disobedience.
His anger turned to action when he locked her out of the house.
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1. You see repeated keywords and phrases
2. You see some keywords changed to synonyms
(words with the same or similar meanings)
3. You see specific nouns, or noun phrases, are used at the beginning of paragraphs. A
reader can preview the “ladder” of noun phrases.
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fourth, often “hidden” strategy is often
used in school writing. Many instructors
expect this strategy, but don’t teach it.
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4. VERBS that appear in one paragraph become nounphrases in the next:
Although her father disapproved of education for women,
she wanted desperately to go to college.
Her longing for a college degree meant she and her father
often argued. She would often stay late, studying at the library.
Her father fumed angrily at her disobedience.
His anger turned to action when he locked her out of the
house.
Tuning verb phrases to noun phrases can
stress a ladder of ideas.
 Let’s
look at that verb to noun technique in
another context.
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See how the verb in one paragraph becomes a noun in the next
paragraph?
Since the police force funding was cut, some
citizens patrol the streets.
Citizen action is not always the answer to rising crime rates.
Brain surgery was first performed in Egypt, when surgeons
drilled holes through the skull to release pressure on the brain.
Trepanning is not found again in medical
records for centuries.
 What
should you remember from this
workshop?
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We’ve used invention techniques since we
were children.
We can use then unconsciously or
consciously.
As we study new areas, we use these
techniques in new settings.
Ordering strategies to help us communicate
with readers.
We learn both when we’re part of
LEARNING COMMUNITIES
My thanks to Maxine Hairston and Michael
Keene, authors of Successful Writing; 5th
Edition, and Rise B. Axelrod and Charles
R. Cooper, authors of the St. Martins Guide
to Writing, 7th edition.