Transcript IWA Concerns

IWA Concerns
Things to avoid; it’s
never too late
The Title
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Think about the title. Give your paper a creative
title. What is the purpose of a title?
Same font as the body
Same font size as the body
No underlining
No bolding
No italicizing
Mechanical Items
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Connecting sentences is a problem. Let’s review
the comma rules. Go to my website and print them
off.
Semicolons are a problem. Let’s review the
semicolon rules. Go to my website and print them
off.
(almost) Never put a comma before ‘because’
Formatting Items
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Spacing – the ENTIRE paper is double spaced.
That includes between paragraphs and after the title.
Let me introduce you to paragraphs. You need a
new paragraph each time the speaker changes, but
how about using them for other reasons?
Advice
Don’t just try to answer the prompt by just rambling
on and on.
Dreams are important. You have to have dreams. If
you don’t have dreams, you won’t know where you
are going. Blah, blah, blah…
 Yuck! Do you want to read those? I don’t either,
and they don’t say “anything”
 Take a compositional risk
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Compositional Risk Taking
Tell a story
 What kind of anecdote could you tell to convey
your message? Tell a story. Remember the
introduction and the conclusion are supposed to add
DEPTH to the essay. You want your reader to think,
and leave them with a thought.
Compositional Risk Taking
Use dialogue
 Include dialogue in your story, but use it properly.
 Start a new paragraph EVERYTIME the speaker
changes
 Commas and periods ALWAYS inside the
quotations
Question Marks & Quotations
If the sentence is a question, place the question
mark outside the end quotes.
Did Jennifer just say, “I don’t think so?”
 If the words in quotes are a question, place the
question mark inside the end quotes.
Jennifer asked, “What time do we have to leave?”
Note: The same procedures apply to the exclamation
point.
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Compositional Risk Taking
Take on another point of view
Use the voice of someone or something else
 How about speaking from the point of view of an
inanimate object or an animal?
 Perhaps telling a story (as mentioned earlier)
 Something different and risky – not extremely
boring
“be” Verbs
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Don’t use them. Any questions?
You CANNOT just delete them! (That is an
exclamatory)
You need to remove the passive voice created with
“be” verbs and use active voice (action verbs)
You have to DELETE the sentence(s) with “be”
verb(s) and create new sentences – May I suggest
the Five Brush Strokes?
A Note on Structure
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Formulaic introductions and conclusions are a BIG
– “NOT!”
Ideas for introductions? (see PowerPoint page on
website)
Conclusions – leave your reader with something
(New/Unknown/Not previously
revealed/Thoughtful)
Verb Tenses Must Agree
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Verb tenses must agree
Would you say:
I went to the store and get a newspaper.
I went to the store and get a newspaper.
Of course not – but that is how your sentences are
Proofreading
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Don’t turn something in to me that you haven’t
proofed. I don’t have time to be your editor.
I don’t have time to tell you to capitalize the first
word in a sentence or explain the difference
between plural and possessive – the list goes on.
When your paper contains horrendous errors that
anyone could have caught if they read it, it’s time to
adjust your procedures