Formal WritingAcademics

CareerOpinion/Editorial

Essays

•Creative writing is not formal writing, but formal writing can be creative.

First, learn formal writing skills

•Formal writing patterns are standard much like mathematical formulas.

Formal like a formula or recipe.

•If you want this→

You must use this -----Recipe

• Servings20 Yield20 cupcakes • 1 1⁄2 cups flour• 1 cup sugar• 1 teaspoon baking soda• 1 teaspoon salt• 1⁄2 cup cocoa powder• 1 cup water• 1⁄2 cup vegetable oil• 1 teaspoon vinegar

• Directions• Mix all of the dry

ingredients well with a mixer or wooden spoon first then add in all your liquid ingredients. It should be brown and smooth, free of lumps.• Bake at 350 F for 15-17

minutes if you are baking cupcakes for a cake I'd say 17-25 minutes.

• If you simply assemble ingredients that you know are part cupcakes and mix them without measuring or organizing them, you will get this

•Of course, no one wants the same old cupcake.

We like variety. We want to be excited.So…

•Use the recipe to create a basic, delicious cup cake; then get creative

First, do this

Then you can do this.•It’s still a cupcake. •But a better one, •perhaps.

If you want to do this

First you must do this• Read the play book; learn the plays and

the rules

Then get creative

If you want to compose an effective essay

•First learn the rules and plays.

Effective, memorable essay• Zeugma Chiasmus

• Anaphora Epistrophe

• Rhetorical fragment • Rhetorical question

• Alliteration Onomatopoeia

• Simile Metaphor

Zeugma Chiasmus

Anaphora Epistrophe

Rhetorical fragment

Rhetorical question

Alliteration Onomatopoeia

Simile Metaphor

thesis

•What do want to convince your reader of?

• Say it clearly and succinctly.

• Three tiered or single tiered

• Each tier becomes a topic sentence.

•thesis•Too many candidates vying for the republican presidential nomination weakens the importance of the big issues, diminishes the integrity of the process, and confuses the voters.

Topic sentence 1: diminishes the integrity of the process,

•Explain--Examples--Concrete evidence

Topic sentence 2: confuses the voters, and • Explain--Examples--Concrete evidence

Topic sentence 3: weakens the importance of the big issues.• Explain--Examples--Concrete evidence

•INTERPRET AND CONCLUDE

•SEXI

•SEXEXEXI

•Statement—TOPIC SENTENCE•Explain•Example•Interpret and conclude

•Too many candidates vying for the republican presidential nomination weakens the importance of the big issues, diminishes the integrity of the process, and confuses the voters.

Let’s do it—body paragraph 1•Nine or ten candidates reduce the veracity

of the most prominent issues.E: A strong republican platform should be clear about its goals and principles; with so many different people in the mix, the fundamental message becomes blurred.

• Examples: differing republican views on health care and immigration—facts, statistics, expert authorities• Interpret: too many discrepancies within a party

can send the message that the republican party is, in fact, uncertain of its direction.

Page 4 in Style book, etc.

•Choose a topic from page 7, or use your own topic.

•Compose a thesis statement.•Use the composition paper to draft your thesis. Polish the thesis so that it is parallel and succinctly worded.•NO I or you.

•Give it to the person next to you to read once you have polished it.

• Is the thesis clearly worded, or is it cumbersome and awkward?

•Discuss

Return to writer

•Using each tier as a guide, compose three topic sentences.

• (On the composition paper)

November 4 or 5

•The Crucible•The Prime Stage Theater (in the city)•Miss periods 3—11

•$10-$15 plus cost of lunch