The rest of the story
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark professionals built the Titanic. Since 1946, an American newscaster named Paul Harvey has been broadcasting a radio segment called The Rest of the Story. It always begins as a quaint, apparently historical tale about someone that seems very average until the very end, when Harvey dramatically exposes a missing element that reveals the deeper significance hidden within. Then he concludes And now you know . . . the rrrrest of...
Selfdeception
Self-deception is related to social desirability but in this case respondents do not deviate from the truth consciously but rather because they also deceive themselves and not just the researcher . As Hopkins et al. 1990, p. 312 point out, human defense mechanisms cushion failures, minimize faults, and maximize virtues so that we maintain a sense of personal worth. People with personality problems might simply be unable to give an accurate self-description, but the problem of self-delusion may...
Timed Writing Workshop
I am indebted to Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down the Bones, for what has become one of the staples of my own writing practice. Though I don't do timed writing quite the way she says most of the time, I still find it essential to cutting through the murkiness of my own mind when I'm stuck, and for sharpening images while I'm working on a book. I prefer working at a keyboard to writing in longhand, so I almost always type my timed writings directly into the computer. If you don't like...
Sequencing referring backwards or forwards
Time relationships may be signalled by various phrases and words, such as adjectives, adverbs and verbs or noun phrases. These can also be used to show the logical relationship between ideas or to connect what you are saying with something you said previously. Words and phrases include _ so far, earlier, previous ly , before that, until now, already, formerly at present, presently, meanwhile, at this point first of all, to begin with, to start with finally, eventually, afterwards, later, above...
Firstperson Subjective Viewpoint
The first-person narrator is always writing from a subjective viewpoint . The first-person narrator has access to one character, the narrator, who is himself a character in the story. He may be the protagonist, the antagonist, or any other character. In Cuckoos Nest the story is narrated by the Chief, a minor character. Lolita is narrated by the protagonist, Humbert Humbert. First-person narrative has many attractions, especially for the beginning novelist. A beginner often feels comfortable...
How Do I Test My Humor
Humor can't be tested in a vacuum. You need an audience, and it must be an audience receptive to humor. If you can't find a comedy audience, try it on another humor professional writer or performer. Don't walk up to a stranger and ask, What d'ya think of this The only thing worse is to try it on your friends, your spouse, your parents, or your children. They are too subjective, too critical, and, instead of just relaxing and enjoying it, they turn into pseudo-analysts. Only one out of every ten...
The Dynamo
At Yellowstone I saw a geyser spew its water in the air, this was but an appetizer the park attendant, debonair, saw me wearing polyester, knew at once that I was lost how'd he guess my name was Esther Then I saw the name embossed On the tag the park required When I drove here. I'm retired. He explained what rangers know Geysers steam before they blow As you can see, if used in this manner, the rhyming dictionary composes mostly nonsense. You begin a work wanting to capture the essence of a...
Preparing for Orals
I'm excited to talk about my study, now that it's done I sat at orals with people who had been my teachers and finally saw myself as a quasi-peer. When you've decided, I've done the best I can do, there is one more step in the completion of your dissertation. You have probably heard it referred to in some of these ways Your institutions terms may reveal important insights. If we look more closely at the names, we will note subtle potential differences in the focus of this culminating...
Sympathy
Sympathy is often given little more than a passing nod by the authors of how-to-write-fiction books. Gaining the reader's sympathy for your characters is crucial to inducing the fictive dream, and if you don't effectively induce the fictive dream, you haven't written a damn good novel. Sympathy is a frequently misunderstood concept. Some how-to-write-fiction authors have made a pseudo-rule that says that for a reader to have sympathy for a character, the character must be admirable. This is...
Modifiers
are an important source of emphasis. A special class called intensives do nothing but stress the term they modify great, greatly, extremely, much, very, terribly, awfully, and many, many more. But on the whole intensives are not very satisfactory. They quickly become devalued, leading to a never-ending search for fresh words. Imaginative writers can and do discover unusual and effective ones, as in this description of the modern superstate These moloch gods, these monstrous states . . . Susanne...
Transposition
The question is not whether shock words should be used, but when. The borderline of good taste in humor is as subjective as sex between consenting adults. However, humor has so many forms, it's easy to avoid words that might offend the audience. There are as many euphemisms for hard-core words as there are for a man's penis I call mine by its God-given name 'Vesuvius,' remarks Robert Wohl . Another device is transposition, as illustrated by the following story One doctor to another I've got to...
Start by outlining your content with headings
I'm nottalking about formal outlining with roman numerals, letters, and so on. Just put down the headings in order. If you use more than one level, indent a bit for the second level. You can then see the patterns you are creating at a glance. This is the same advice that I gave in Chapter 6, Checklist 6-1, where I suggested starting by putting down the questions that people would ask. Here I'm elaborating a bit to say that sometimes you'll keep those questions as your outline, and, therefore,...
Or Serve It With a Twist
If the outcome, or the crisis itself, seems too predictable, like the traditional western gunfight, you can throw in maybe one surprise element not attacking guerrillas, but something you've carefully refrained from hinting about. If you've set the stage for a duel, deliver a duel, all right but fought with dynamite instead of guns. If your build-up has promised an explosion at a bank, deliver an explosion but one that not only opens the safe but sets fire to the thieves' getaway car. Never...
Common Word Roots
Many English words are derived from Greek and Latin roots. A knowledge of some of these common roots will give you a key to thousands of English words and will help you to increase your vocabulary. evidence, provide, vision, visual, video
Excerpt B
People argue a lot nowadays abou whether or not works of art from one country should be sold to another, don't think they should be. If they are then the people in the country of origir lose out on the chance to see stuff tha really belongs to them. This just isn' right. It's a problem, too, when you ses works of art in the wrong place. I mean the Parthenon friezes look boring th lt way they show them in the Britisl Museum. That's just not where the belong. But if you could see them oi the...
Repetition
In a strict sense, repetition is a matter more of diction than of sentence structure. But since it is one of the most valued means of emphasis we shall include it here. Repetition is sometimes a virtue and sometimes a fault. Drawing the line is not easy. It depends on what is being repeated. Important ideas can stand repetition unimportant ones cannot. When you write the same word or idea twice, you draw the reader's attention to it. If it is a key idea, fine. But if not, then you have...
Using The Text In Ex. 3 As A Model Describe Your Favourite
d The soloist lifted the small 1 wood wood- en violin and settled it carefully under his A chin. Then his 2 slender skinny bow began W to dance over the 3 taut distraught strings J while his left hand moved to a different rhythm at the other end of the instrument creating a 4 raspy sweet sound which filled the entire concert hall. 3 Read the model below and underline the words which are used to describe the family album, then give the paragraph plan. Describe a family album and explain its...
Endings
a jo conclude, traditional values are clearly necessary for the, proper func- T tioning of society. However, it cannot be - denied that society is evolving, and values should also change with the times If this were to happen, perhaps people would no longer look back nos- S lalgically to the past and talk about the Good old days. bf To sum up, I strongly believe that, what ever changes may occur in society, wi must fight to maintain our traditions sense of right and wrong. As Pope Pai VI said'...
Sample Journal
QUOTATION FROM TEXT sentence, phrase, or passage MY RESPONSE connection, appreciation, question, interpretation p. 213 If you want to know the truth, I don't know what to think about it. I'm sorry I told so many people about it. About all I know is, I sot of miss everybody I told about. Even old Stradlater and Ackleey,, for instance. I even miss that old Maurice. It's funny. Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you'll start missing everybody,. Holden spent so much energy hatting...
Convenience or opportunity sampling
The most common sample type in L2 research is a convenience or opportunity sample, where an important criterion of sample selection is the convenience for the researcher Members of the target population will be selected for the purpose of the study if they meet certain practical criteria, such as geographical proximity, availability at a certain time, or easy accessibility. If we decide, for example, to study a class group because we have good contacts with the particular school, that would be...
Make the alt text meaningful
If the illustration is meant to convey substantive information, be sure to convey the information in the alt text, too. To write good alt text, you have to know why you are using the illustration. I hope that working through the continuum in this chapter has helped you think about illustrations, their uses, and their meaning. To test whether you have a good description of each illustration, the World Wide Web Consortium accessibility guidelines suggest that you imagine reading the web page...
Figurative Language
Whenever language is simple, plain, direct, whenever it employs words in their conventional meaning, we say that it is literal. Literal comes from the Latin litera, letter what is literal is according to the letter. Consider, for example, this statement A writer's style should be purposive, not merely decorative. It is to be read literally the words mean nothing more, and nothing less, than what they say. In figurative language the same idea has been expressed like this Style is the feather in...
Descriptive Suspense And Label Titles
A descriptive title depicts content, a suspense one sparks interest, and the label variety is just that a word or two as on a can of vegetables Beans or Creamed Corn. Let's use a poem by Judson Jerome Oil of the Pecos Valley to illustrate how each functions. Study the above title for a moment. Now imagine it in a trade publication, accompanying an article on drilling in the Southwest. A magazine editor would call this a descriptive title because it informs the audience what the content is going...
Assessment Reports
1 D You will hear two business people discussing an employee who they may recommend for promotion. Look at the table below, then listen to the cassette and fill in the missing information. Finally, use the notes to talk about the employee's strengths and weaknesses. to evaluate suitability of Sylvia Wells for promotion to position of Manager POSITIVE FEATURES NEGATIVE FEATURES reliable, hard-working sometimes tends to be polite amp friendly. a little too competitive occasions top salesperson...
The coding frame
The coding frame is a classification scheme that offers a numerical score for every possible answer to an item see Sample 4.2 on page 100 . The minimum number of categories is two, as with yes no questions or gender data 'Yes' and 'male' are usually coded '1,' whereas 'No' and 'female' are coded '2.' For some open-ended questions e.g., What foreign languages have you learned in the past the coding frame can have many more categories - in fact, as many as the number of different answers in all...
Authority Through Realistic Details
Thinking back a few pages to Joan Didion's essay about the Santa Ana winds, recall how she brought the scene alive partly by including some specifics, some details about the phenomenon. When, for example, she wrote that the Santa Ana is a hot wind from the northeast whining down through the Cajon Pass, we begin already to understand it. Just telling us that it's a northeast wind helps us imagine it. When it comes whining down, we can hear it. When we learn then that it's whining through Cajon...
Basic Structure
Expository paragraphs deal with facts, ideas, beliefs. They explain, analyze, define, compare, illustrate. They answer questions like What Why How What was the cause The effect Like what Unlike what They are the kinds of paragraph we write in reports or term papers or tests. The term paragraph has no simple definition. Occasionally a single sentence or even a word may serve as an emphatic paragraph. Conventionally in composition, however, a paragraph is a group of sentences developing a common...
Metaphor
Like a simile, a metaphor is also a comparison. The difference is that a simile compares things explicitly it literally says that X is like Y. A metaphor compares things implicitly. Read literally, it does not state that X is like Y but rather that X is Y Cape Cod is the bared and bended arm of Massachusetts. Thoreau writes is, not is like. However, we understand that he means the Cape resembles a human arm, not that it really is an arm. The metaphor has simply taken the comparison a step...
Forming Your Dissertation Committee
I realized that getting along with people was even more important than being academically talented. I really enjoyed being a student. If I had this attitude during my undergraduate years, it would have been a better experience. Perhaps maturity does have its advantages. The process of identifying your dissertation committee is probably the most significant decision you will make in your program. Before suggesting criteria for selecting your committee, we need to understand the roles and...
Let pictographs show numerical relationships in a visually symbolic manner
Pictographs are essentially bar graphs composed of pictures. They can be very visually effective. Pictographs are of two basic types. In one, each symbol corresponds to a specific quantity Fig. 3.5 . In the other, uniformly sized symbols each represent a given quantity with a key provided that explains their meaning Fig. 3.6 . Often the precise actual numbers are posted at the end of each row or column, since such graphs present an approximation. Perhaps because their construction historically...
Consider giving an oral presentation
Spoken presentations are overwhelmingly common in the scientific and technical professions. They take many forms, from conference presentations, departmental seminars, and job interviews to classroom presentations, brown-bag lunches, and public talks. Treat each opportunity with respect. Each has its own role to play in a scientist's life, equally valuable in its own way to communication through formal peer-reviewed publication. At a point partway through your study, seek out an opportunity to...
step one becoming the reader
Although you may have revised sections of your story as you wrote them the beginning scene, for instance , this is your first chance to consider the strengths and weaknesses of your manuscript as a whole. The first step in doing this is to not do it immediately. Put the story away for a while a few days or a week or a month, depending on how long you need to get some distance from it. When you no longer think it is a absolutely brilliant, or b absolutely stupid different writers have different...
Paired or Field Definition
Occasionally the sense of one word or concept is intimately tied to that of a second or of several so that the terms can be defined only by reference to one another. Such words comprise a field of meaning for example, think of the titles designating commissioned rank in the United States Army captain cannot be understood without reference to first lieutenant and major the ranks on either side and these in turn imply second lieutenant and lieutenant colonel and so on through the entire series of...
Use TimeSensitive Vocabulary to Increase Urgency
Certain time-related words and phrases inspire action, such as now, today, before the deadline passes, right away, time is of the essence, and by the end of business today or in an hour, or by any other specified deadline . This time-sensitive vocabulary creates a sense of urgency while maintaining a professional, business-like tone. While the above and similar phrases create a sense of timeliness, try to avoid the clich d generic phrase as soon as possible or its abbreviation, ASAP . It is...
Plain English at Work
New York Oxford OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1996 Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bombay Calcutta Cape Town Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madras Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi Paris Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Copyright 1996 by Edward P. Bailey, Jr. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc., 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All...
The Fine Art Of Flashbacking
The flashback is the most misused and overworked device in fiction writing. Readers are totally absorbed by what happens next. That is one way storytelling works its magic. The author gets the reader interested in a character and situation, plunges the characters into conflict, and soon the reader is caught up in the characters' lives. The reader can't wait to find out how the mess the author got the characters into is going to turn out. Say Sam Smoot, your hero, is finally coming to terms with...
Paragraph Problem Solution
7 For each topic ill exercise 3 on page 50, write one or two conditional sentences that explain the problem. Compare your sentences with a partner. Did you have similar or different ideas 8 Choose one topic from exercise 3 on page 50. Brainstorm more idea6 if necessary, then write a paragraph about it. Use conditional sentences. O How to link a solution paragraph to a problem paragraph The first paragraph the problem paragraph explains the problem. The topic sentence of the second paragraph the...
I Opinion Essays
1 What are your views on the question, Should people convicted of minor crimes do community service rather than go to prison 2 Bl Read the viewpoints and reasons mentioned in the table below, then listen to the cassette and match each of the viewpoints with the appropriate reason. Then, identify which aspects of the Discussion Clock on p. 59 the points relate to. Finally, using the notes, give a one-minute talk on the subject, using words from the following list. I firmly believe The reason for...
You Have Seen An Advertisement In The Newspaper For The Position Of Hotel
I am writing to apply for would like to be considered for further details of my education qualifications to date, a copy of my degree diploma etc. I hope that you will consider me for entry admission to 6 First, read the instructions below and underline the key words. Then, read the model and check if all the information required by the instructions has been included. Finally, identify the topic of each paragraph. You wish to apply for a course of study in Britain. Write a letter of application...
Exaggerated Numbers
Math is logic, but when there's a lapse in logic, it's ludicrous. I want to live to be a hundred, because you rarely read any obituaries about people over a hundred years old. If there's anything instinctive about humor writing, it's being able to answer the constant questions When is exaggeration excessive, and what's the right balance of reality and distortion It's the same instinct news editors use daily to determine what is news Their answer I know it when I see it. Exaggerated numbers are...
Marketing is likely to be ignored on a pathway page
Short descriptions may help people choose well, but pathway pages are not the time for lengthy marketing messages. You market best when you help your site visitors have successful experiences. Most web users don't want to stop to read even your friendly, welcoming messages while they are still hunting for the page they need. Consider the pathway page in Figure 4-4. It tells home buyers and homeowners all about the various types of information and help they can get from FannieMae.com. Why not...
To Enclose Parenthetical Matter
Parenthetical matter is a word or construction which may or may not be grammatically related to the rest of the sentence sufficiently remote in relevance to require a stronger pause than a comma would supply Even for those who can do their work in bed like journalists , still more for those whose work cannot be done in bed as, for example, the professional harpooner of whales , it is obvious that the indulgence must be very Occasional. G. K. Chesterton Parenthetical remarks of this may also be...
Sentence Structure
Earlier, you learned that a sentence is a group of words that contains at least one subject and one verb and expresses a complete thought. Now you will begin to learn about the different kinds of sentences in English. There are four basic kinds of sentences in English simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, and compound-complex sentences. A simple sentence is a sentence that has one subject-verb combination. The subject in a simple sentence may be compound My brother and I are...
Introductory Remarks
Nothing helps you to be a better listener than knowing you're going to be the next one called to the podium. And then a little humility helps I was flattered by our toastmaster's introduction. The hardest thing for a speaker to remember is not to nod his head in agreement when the toastmaster praises him. But not too much humility. The audience gets suspicious of those too pious. Golda Meir once said to a colleague after an introduction Don't be so humble. You're not that great. Even an...
Stay within your allotted time limit
If questions continue and the moderator doesn't end them, do so yourself. Make a final summarizing statement if possible, and thank the audience one more time. You're finished, and you survived POSTER PRESENTATIONS A HAPPY HYBRID A drug is a substance that when injected into a white rat produces a scientific Poster presentations were almost unknown before being introduced into scientific meetings in the United States in the mid-1970s. Since then, however, they have rapidly become a major format...
Concreteness and Abstraction
Abstract words signify things that cannot be directly perceived honor, for instance, is an abstract word, as are generosity or idea or democracy. Concrete words refer to perceptible things a rose, a clap of thunder, the odor of violets. No hard-and-fast distinction exists between abstract and concrete. Often it is a matter of degree. Depending on its context the same term may now be used abstractly, now concretely, like rose in these sentences CONCRETE On the hall table a single yellow tea rose...
The WellWritten Sentence Concision
Aside from being grammatical, a well-written sentence must be clear and interesting. Clarity means that it says to the reader what the writer intended to say interesting, that it reads well, attracting us by its economy, novelty, sound, and rhythm. To a considerable degree these virtues are a matter of diction, that is, of word choice and in the section on diction we shall look at them again from that point of view. But they also depend on sentence structure. In this chapter and the next we...
Grab opportunities to learn new things
once a week, go someplace in your town that you've never been. Go to a church or synagogue that you don't belong to, in a religion other than yours. stop by that little one-man museum curated by the old guy at the end of the street. Pick up a book on growing roses just because you've always thought it would be cool to try, and learn all about organic fertilizers and the uses of ladybugs and praying mantises. Take a class in stained glass work or CPR or bookkeeping. Learn to ice skate or tango....
Alternative Design
Michael Alley and various colleagues have been leaders in the search for a more effective slide format to substitute for PowerPoint's bulleted text approach. As part of this search, Alley and Neeley 2005b undertook a four-year study that involved interactive critique sessions of more than 400 technical presentations. The result was an approach the two researchers call simply Alternative Design. It includes the guidelines shown in Table 4.2. The two most striking differences between traditional...
Analogy as Clarification
In exposition the most common function of an analogy is to translate an abstract or difficult idea into more concrete or familiar terms. That is certainly one of the aims of O'Connor's analogy, as it is of this longer example, in which an astronomer explains the philosophy of science Let us suppose that an ichthyologist is exploring the life of the ocean. He casts a net into the water and brings up a fishy assortment. Surveying his catch, he proceeds in the usual manner of a scientist to...