Transcript Writing Workshop The Expressive Essay

Writing
Workshop:
The
Expressive
Essay
The Expressive Essay
A
type of descriptive writing,
expressive writing expresses your
thoughts, feelings, a reflection on
something.
 Written in first person (I, me, we, us)
 Less formal (rigid) style
 Use of descriptive language (think
with your five senses)
Get Organized
 The
point of an essay like this is not to fit your
feelings into a formula thesis and then prove your
feelings in the body of your paper. Instead, you
want to communicate a strong impression of
something personal.
 You
will, however, want to have some type of
organizational structure so that your readers
understand why they are reading your essay.
 In
addition, you should lead them through your
thoughts and impressions without losing them.
Conveying Your Feelings
 Use
feeling words like: love, happiness
(joy), sadness, pain (hurt), anger (fury),
fear, pleasure, loneliness, excitement,
comfort (safety, relaxation, contentment),
shock, pride, scorn (contempt), shame
(guilt, regret, modesty, shyness), boredom,
fatigue (exhaustion, feeling tired,
sleepiness), jealousy (envy, greed,
ambition) and interest (curiosity, desire), or
verbs describing these feelings.
Cut the Fat
 When
writing to impress, we often think
more is better…therefore, we overuse
adjectives and adverbs and large
vocabulary to “fluff” or “fatten” our work.
Make sure that your words have meaning,
and aren’t just verbal filler. In this type of
writing, every word of every sentence
should pull its own weight within the piece.
(This doesn’t mean skimp on powerful
words or descriptive language. Just make
it count!)
Be Active
Use
ACTIVE verbs!
Active verbs include almost
every English verb except the
“verb to be” (am, is, are, will
be), the verb “to go” (go,
going, went) and the verbs “to
have“ or “to get.”
The Challenge
What
does freedom
mean to me?