Writing Workshop 1

1. Writing Workshop 1

2. Grade Breakdown Papers where the majority of words came directly from the article received a 40%. 4- 95 3.5- 90 3- 85 2.5- 75 2- 70 1.5- 65 1- 59

3. What Works? • Good close reading • Making a T-chart Papers with t-charts were astoundingly better organized. • Quoting part of the article and then responding to that quote specifically Let’s look at one example of a 4 level paper.

4. Plagiarism What is it? Portraying someone else’s words as your own, either intentionally (on purpose) or unintentionally (not on purpose). How to avoid plagiarism: Become familiar with the topic so that you can write the paper without looking at the article. Double-check your paper for any wording that comes from another source. Cite information that did not come from your own brain.

5. Paraphrasing Paraphrasing occurs when you take the information found in the article, process it in your own mind, and spit it back out in your own words. This is acceptable if you cite the source. Paraphrasing is NOT moving a few words around in the sentence or using synonyms for a few of the key words. This is NOT acceptable unless you put their words in quotes.

6. 1. Direct Quotes How many direct quotes did you have in your paper from the article? Of these how many included the article title in the same sentence or had the citation after the quote?

7. 2. Self-References • Avoid stating the obvious: Get rid of all of the following: I think Personally In my opinion I believe that As you can see

8. 2. Take yourself out of the paper! • Instead of saying, “I also read in the article…” • Say “According to the article,” or “The article states,”

9. 3. Get Rid of 2nd Person Pronouns • That means ABSOLUTELY NO • You • We • Us in formal writing.

10. 4. Format • 12 pt. font, New Times Roman or Courier • Indent for new paragraphs • Double-spaced Heading Top left hand corner • Your Name • Teacher’s Name • Subject • Date Assignment is Due

12. 5. Dropped Quotes Quotes should never just be dropped in and left for your reader to decide how they relate. Do a quotation sandwich ALWAYS! Mrs. Wilson, the happiestteacher at BTWHS, states that writers should “always use a quotation sandwich when quoting from an article” (2). Quotation sandwiches help readers understand the author’s ideas more fully.

14. Inserting Quotes Remember TAG! Title Author Genre According to the article “Elon Studies the Future of ‘Generation Always-On’” by Dan Anderson, youth of today have a “thirst for instant gratification.” According to a study by Elon University, young people are living a “hyper-connected lifestyle.” Danah Boyd, senior researcher with Microsoft, stated, “There is no doubt that brains are being rewired.”

15. 6. Thesis Statements Highlight the last sentence of your first paragraph. The thesis statement is usually a single sentence at the end of your first paragraph that presents your topic or argument to the reader.

16. 6. Topic and Concluding Sentences • Highlight/Underline the first sentence and last sentence of your paragraph(s) in green • Check to see if your topic sentence could be improved by adding a strong verb and making sure that it states the idea of that paragraph • Check to see if your concluding sentence takes a stance or revisits the topic in some way

17. 6. Locate your Star Ideas • Highlight in yellow or place a big star next to your big ideas • If you have topic sentences, these are usually contained there. • If you have trouble finding them, chances are your reader (that’s me) will too.

18. 6. Elaboration Highlight the support for your Star Ideas in pink or underline in red Ask yourself: 1) Do you have enough support? 2) Is what you wrote even supporting a star idea or is it just rambling?

19. Numbers • Each number corresponds with a specific grammatical error • Locate the correct handout in your Writers’ Notebook and write the rule for the error you made. • Correct this error in your paper also.

20. Friday • Bring in your original paper. • Your corrections (the rules) written out. • Your Writers’ Workshop Checklist

21. Writers’ Workshop 2 Biggest areas of trouble Lack of evidence of engagement with the text Use of personal pronouns like “you, we, us” Use of contractions Organization of ideas Dropping Quotes Citations Let’s look at how to fix these issues.

22. Evidence of engagement with the text You MUST include the TAG of the article in the introduction! You MUST use quotes to drive your points. You can agree or disagree with them, but you have to show your understanding of the text with them. Remember the article is your best friend for this assessment.

23. Personal Pronouns DO NOT for any reasons use the following words: YOU US ME WE Instead of these, say teenagers or Americans or students or whatever label applies.

24. Contractions Avoid them in formal writing. Instead of saying “can’t” say “cannot” Instead of saying “won’t” say “will not” And so on…

25. Organization Do a t-chart/Plan out which quotes you plan to use to support your points. You must have an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion at the very minimum.

26. Dropping Quotes Quotes should never just be dropped in and left for your reader to decide how they relate. Do a quotation sandwich ALWAYS! Mrs. Wilson, the greatest teacher at BTWHS, states that writers should “always use a quotation sandwich when quoting from an article” (2). Quotation sandwiches help readers understand the author’s ideas more fully.

28. Quotations and Citations ANY words that are not your own MUST be put in quotation marks!!!!!!!! Citations You must use them when quoting from a source ALWAYS! See Citation Guide in your Writers’ Manual for specifics.