Transcript Raciocination

BEFORE WE BEGIN
Have your most recent draft
Highlighter
Colored pencil (not the color of
the pen you wrote with)
Ratiocination
It’s the little things!
Highlight the first
word of every
sentence
List Words in the Margin
In the margin of your paper, list the
words you have highlighted next to
the paragraph in which they are
found.
If you have more than two sentences
in the SAME paragraph beginning
with the same words, you need to
change the beginning of your
sentence.
FANBOYS
Check the beginnings of your
sentences, and change any sentence
beginning with for, and, nor, but ,
or, yet, so
If your sentence begins with:
There is/was
There are/were
It is/ It was
Change them!
If your sentence begins with any of the
following, you need a comma between
clauses!
as, after, although
because, before, despite
even if, even though, how
if, in order to
once, since
though, that
until, unless
while, when, whenever, where,
wherever, whether, why, who, which
With your colored pencil, draw a
circle around
am
is
are
was
were
be
being
been
Include
contractions:
I’m, They’re,
It’s
Transitions
Do you have any transitions between
sentences or paragraphs? Underline all
your transition words. Use the green
sheet with all the transition words.
With “to- be” verbs,
Put total at top of your paper.
Now, edit your paper to get rid of
HALF the “to be” verbs
Text/IM Talk and Spelling
Check your paper for words like
gonna, wanna, 2, cuz.
Spell out “and” instead of using the
short-hand symbol.
Leads
Do NOT write in your
introduction/lead:
This story is going to be about . . .
I am going to tell you about . . .
This is my story of how I . . .
EXAMPLE:
There were not many people on the street. As
Elise and I were walking, we noticed the two
men following us.
“We’ve got to get away from them,” I said to
her. I was so afraid!
“Let’s go into the subway,” Elise suggested,
“We’ll probably be able to find a police officer.”
We ran into the subway as a train pulled up. It
was our life line, so we quickly jumped on.
Circle the “dead” words and add
more descriptive words.
Big
Afraid
Happy
Fun
A lot
Good
Bad