Answer Key to accompany CHAPTER 1: PREPARING TO LEARN ABOUT WRITING PRACTICE 1 PHOTOGRAPHIC ORGANIZER: PREPARING TO LEARN The following pictures represent one student’s effort to prepare to learn about writing. Write a caption for each photograph that identifies her efforts to prepare to learn. What is this? Pencil and book: Dictionary What is this? Materials: Notebook, pen, ruler What is this? Study space What is this? Study group What’s the point? To be prepared to learn about writing, you should have the books you need such as a dictionary; supplies like a notebook, paper, ruler, and pens; a place to study; and a study group for support. One Student Writer’s Response The following paragraph records one student’s efforts to prepare to learn about wr iting. As you read the paragraph, underline specific steps he took that you might use as well. Answers may vary. 1 Prepared to Learn (1) I began preparing to learn about writing on the first day of class. (2) First, I read the course syllabus, which listed the books and materials I needed; later that day, I bought everything listed, and I brought everything I needed with me to every class. (3) I found three people who wanted to learn as much as I did so we formed a study group. (4) We helped each other a lot throughout the whole semester. (5) If one of us was sick, we made sure he or she got the notes and assignment for that day, and we read each other’s papers to make sure they made sense and didn’t have any careless errors. (6) I also used a daily planner to record assignments and set aside time to study and write. (7) I arrived a few minutes early when possible, so that when class began, I was prepared to get to work. (8) I have to admit I had to work on my attitude. (9) I was so shy and afraid of sounding silly that asking questions in class was really hard, so for a while, I stayed after class to ask my questions, but eventually, I gained enough confidence to ask them during class. (10) I also had to learn how to deal with feedback on my papers. (11) I worked so hard on each essay, yet for a long time, my papers came back to me with grades and edits that showed I still needed to improve. (12) It took a while for my hard work to pay off, but I was determined to succeed. (13) I am proud to say, all my preparation and hard work paid off. (14) Not only did I earn an “A,” but I also improved my ability to write. As you prepare to learn about writing, take some time to evaluate yourself as a student writer. Think about your attitude, ways you can become an active learner, your relationship with your teacher, your study plan, and how you will track your growing writing abilities. The more you reflect and the more you prepare, the more likely you are to learn about writing and to become an effective writer. PRACTICE 2 ADOPT THE ATTITUDE OF LEARNING Read the following reflection written by a student that records how she feels about writing and why. On a separate sheet of paper, write a letter to the student, giving advice to help her overcome her anxiety. Answers may vary. The very thought of writing an essay and turning it in for a grade makes my stomach churn. I have pretty painful memories of writing classes. In one class, the teacher gave my paper back by handing it to the person in the front o f the row to pass back. Everyone in my row got to see the large red “D” at 2 the top of my paper and all the red marks pointing out each one of my errors. I never could bring myself to read the comments, and I was too embarrassed to ask questions. It didn’t seem to matter, anyway because I just can’t write. PRACTICE 10 CREATE A PORTFOLIO OF YOUR WORK Write an e-mail to a classmate who was absent. Explain the portfolio process. Explain how portfolio assessment will improve your writing skills. Answers may vary. Academic Learning Log: Chapter Review QUESTIONS FOR PREPARING TO LEARN ABOUT WRITING To test and track your understanding of what you have studied, answer the following questions. 1. What are some of the materials and supplies needed by a writing student? dictionary, thesaurus, notebook and pen, computer 2. What are the three attitudes of learning discussed in this chapter? positive self-talk, active learning, trust 3. What three general steps can you take to create a study plan? gather tools, set goals, take action 4. What are the four phases of exchanging information in the reading-writing cycle? The first phase is the writer composes a message. The second phase is the writer sends the message to the reader. The third phase is the reader receives the writer’s message. The fourth phase is the reader responds to the writer’s message. 5. What is the reading process represented by SQ3R? The reading process of SQ3R is a series of phases in the reading and thinking process. A reader can loop back or repeat stages as needed. The stages are Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and Review. 6. What is a portfolio? A portfolio is a collection of all the work a writer does organized in a notebook or electronic folder. 3 7. What is included in a portfolio? A portfolio may include class notes and activities, textbook notes and exercises, grammar tests, lab activities, reflective journal entries, and writing drafts. 8. What is a reflective journal entry? A reflective journal entry is a piece of informal writing in which an individual analyzes some aspect of his or her writing. 4 CHAPTER 2 THINKING THROUGH THE WRITING PROCESS PRACTICE 1 PHOTOGRAPHIC ORGANIZER: REASONS TO WRITE Academic success Economic power Political expression Personal expression What’s the point of writing well? Writing well increases academic success, economic power, political expression, and personal expression. 5 PRACTICE 2 ASSESS THE WRITING SITUATION: TOPICS Skim a newspaper, a magazine, and a textbook and write a list of five topics from each one. Then, share your list with your class or in a small group. Answers may vary. TOPICS FROM A NEWSPAPER: TOPICS FROM A MAGAZINE: TOPICS FROM A TEXTBOOK: PRACTICE 3 ASSESS THE WRITING SITUATION: PURPOSE State the purpose of each of the following topic sentences. Discuss with your class or in a small group how a writer’s purposes may be combined in certain situations. Answers may vary. 1. My experience and education make me an excellent candidate for this job. To persuade a prospective employer to hire the writer 2. Adult stem cell research should be funded by the government. To persuade the reader to support government funding for stem cell research 3. The gentle breeze, the lapping water, and the dappled shade soothe the human soul. To express the power of the beauty in nature 4. Eating disorders fall into several categories based on their symptoms. To inform the reader about the types and traits of eating disorders 5. Based on my unit exam, I need to review the following topics. To reflect upon academic progress and set study goals 6 PRACTICE 4 ASSESS THE WRITING SITUATION: AUDIENCE Based on your first thoughts about the audiences represented by the four pictures on page 24, write a brief response to the following questions. Then, discuss your answers with your class or in a small group. Answers may vary. • What are the most important traits of each audience represented by the pictures? • Did your main points differ based on the audience? Why or why not? • Will your word choice or examples differ based on the audience? Why or why not? PRACTICE 5 ASSESS THE WRITING SITUATION: AUDIENCE Each of the following four pieces of writing appeals to one of the audiences depicted by the photos on this page. Write the letter of the piece of writing in the picture that shows its audience. A. Scientists funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a federal government agency, have found that the damage to the brain’s thinking abilities that results from smoking marijuana can last up to 28 days after an individual last smoked the drug. B. Marijuana use today starts at a younger age — also, today stronger forms of the drug are available to you. Marijuana use is a serious threat — do not use it! C. Under the influence of marijuana, you can forget your best friend’s phone number, watch your grade point average drop like a stone, or get into a car accident. 7 D. Welcome to the Mothers Against Drugs speaker series. During today’s speaker panel, we’ll investigate the fascinating facts about marijuana. You may have heard it called pot, weed, grass, ganja, or skunk, but marijuana by any other name is still a drug that affects the brain. B C D A PRACTICE 6 ASSESS THE WRITING SITUATION: TOPIC AND AUDIENCE The following writing prompts apply an academic topic to a real audience. Write the name of the college course(s) for each prompt and describe the traits of each audience. Discuss your answers with your class or in a small group. Talk about how each audience affects the writer’s choice of words and details. 8 1. Write a letter to the editor of a newspaper that supports or opposes a political candidate. COURSE(S): political science AUDIENCE: general audience of various races and cultures with varying ages, levels of income, and years of education 2. Write a report for the school board that explains the benefits of smaller class sizes. COURSE(S): education, psychology AUDIENCE: educated, mature audience of various races; well informed about local educational issues 3. Write an e-mail to a classmate explaining the five steps for problem solving. COURSE(S): mathematics, science AUDIENCE: Answers may vary. 4. Write a memo to a new, young employee at a fast food restaurant that explains how the cost of his insurance is based on his age. COURSE(S): mathematics, business AUDIENCE: male, little ex perience, probably in high school or just beginning college PRACTICE 9 USE THE WRITING PROCESS: PREWRITE BY QUESTIONING Assume you are a reporter at the scene of a car accident. Using the box “The Writing Process Step by Step: Prewriting by Asking Questions,” write a list of questions to identify your point and generate details. Share your ideas with the class or in a small group. Answers may vary. 9 PRACTICE 10 USE THE WRITING PROCESS: PREWRITE BY QUESTIONING Ask questions to brainstorm your first thoughts about one of the following topics: Answers may vary. • Road Rage • Graffiti • Drug Abuse • Positive Thinking • Workplace Stress PRACTICE 11 USE THE WRITING PROCESS: PREWRITE BY FREEWRITING Read the following two freewrites. Discuss with your class or in a small group how ideas develop using freewriting and focused freewriting. What are the advantages of freewriting? What are the disadvantages? Answers may vary. Okay, the essay is due in two days. The topic is my choice, and I have no idea what to write about. My mind is a blank. Dr. Reese says just start writing and don’t stop and pretty soon something will come to you. No luck yet. Okay, what’s going on in the w orld? Lots of people looking for work not many jobs are out there that’s why I’m in school to get prepared for a good paying job. But life isn’t all about work. Sure I want a good job, but I don’t want a job that takes it all out of me. I want time for fam ily and fun, too. I love to travel. If I won the lottery, I would spend a lot of time traveling. My favorite vacation was snorkeling in the Florida Keys. It would be so much fun to snorkel other places like in Hawaii and Australia. Focused Freewrite When I was a boy, my family went to the Florida Keys on a snorkeling vacation. That vacation remains one of my favorite memories. My brother and I were like prunes we were in the water so much. The water was the prettiest, clearest blue- green you’ve ever s een. You can see all the way to the bottom. And the fish and coral are so colorful. We watched schools of colorful fish shimmer in the water as they darted around. They varied from yellow with black stripes, to neon green, to brown speckles. Did you know that coral is a living thing? And it grows in all shapes and colors. Some look like purple fans waving in the current. 10 Others look like grey brain matter. And others look like electric orange honeycombs. I’ll never forget when we saw a shark. My brother kep t screaming “shark, shark.” But his screams were muffled sounds of panic because he was screaming into his snorkel. Boy, we made it back to the boat in record time. Dad said he never knew we could move so fast. What a great time we had! PRACTICE 12 USE THE WRITING PROCESS: PREWRITE BY FOCUSED FREEWRITING Step 1: Choose one of the following topics and freewrite for five minutes. Ask and answer the reporter’s and reflective questions before you begin freewriting. • Popular Music • Useful Technology • Reality TV • An Influential Person Step 2: Read your freewrite and highlight ideas. Write a focused freewrite for an additional five minutes using the idea(s) you highlighted. Answers may vary. PRACTICE 13 USE THE WRITING PROCESS: PREWRITE BY LISTING Prewriting for an academic course: The following lists are based on the table of contents of two textbooks. Identify the academic courses to which each list is related. Then, brainstorm a list of additional writing topics based on an idea from each list. COURSES: Mass Communication or COURSES: Health Political Science List 1 List 2 Mass Media and Politics Coping with Stress The Power of the Media Eating Smart Sources of the Media Maintaining Proper Weight Bias in the Media Keeping Fit Freedom versus Fairness Controllable Health Risks 11 New Lists of Additional Ideas New Lists of Additional Ideas Answers may vary. Answers may vary. Prewriting for Business Writing: Assume you have just been given two weeks’ notice because your company is downsizing and eliminating your job. To locate job opportunities, take the following steps: Answers may vary. Step 1: Go to your favorite job search site (for example, your local newspaper likely has listings online). Step 2: Choose one of the advertised positions and list the skills needed to compete for the job. Step 3: List the skills you already possess that qualify you for the job. Step 4: On your own paper, repeat steps 2 and 3 for each of the jobs you listed in Step 1. PRACTICE 14 USE THE WRITING PROCESS: PREWRITE BY MAPPING The writer of the following paragraph used a concept map to brainstorm ideas. Read the paragraph. Then, recreate her concept map by filling in the appropriate blanks with ideas from her paragraph. Discuss how the concept map differs from her final draft. 12 Ballroom dancing can have many positive effects. The most obvious of these is physical fitness through exercise. Your body becomes more toned and that, in turn, can make you feel better about your appearance. However, several other less obvious effects are just as important. First, confidence is a big factor in dancing. It takes a lot of confidence to dance in front of people, or even to go out onto the floor and dance with someone you do not know very well. For someone who does not have a lot of self-assurance to begin with, dancing causes them to quickly build up their confidence. Next, improved coordination, balance, and posture are a few more positive effects of ballroom dancing. Practicing patterns in each dance forces you to develop better coordination as you try to get the steps in the right order. Technique makes you develop better balance and posture as you focus on holding your frame while performing the correct steps. Another subtle but important effect is a better understanding of the different types of rhythm in music. Listening to songs over and over again as you practice your dances and having to understand the timing in each one makes you aware of the various rhythms that exist among different types of music. A final and very beneficial effect of ballroom dancing is relieving stress. If you enjoy dancing, it can become a huge help in relieving stress. Dance is a fun challenge and a welcome break from your hectic day. Therefore, there are various benefits caused by dancing that, when combined, create an enjoyable pastime for anyone. 13 PRACTICE 15 USE THE WRITING PROCESS: PREWRITE BY OUTLINING The following reflection and concept map was created by a student during the prewriting phase of an assignment. Complete the outline with ideas from the concept map. Laura’s First Thoughts: I am going to write about the topic “My Ideal Mate,” and my classmates are my audience. I am going to focus my topic by discussing three traits of an ideal mate and how my boyfriend is a perfect example of an ideal mate. My purpose is to let the reader know what a great boyfriend I have. Main idea statement: My boyfriend Kelly is my ideal mate. A. Kelly is one of the smartest people I know. 1. He excelled in high school and college. 2. He is people smart. B. Kelly is funny. 1. We goof around together. 2. He keeps me laughing. 3. He lifts my spirits. C. Kelly has goals . 1. He is working toward a singing career. 2. He wants a family. 14