for the kind of vibe that best fits the audience and purpose, and find effective ways to solicit those emotions. Choose details that summon the right mood, just as gold leaf and Bohemian crystals convey the classy feel of Abravanel Hall

sequence and pacing of your plot—the order of the events and the amount of time you give to each event, respectively—will determine your reader’s experience

Imagery is a device that you have likely encountered in your studies before: it refers to language used to “paint a scene” for the reader, directing their attention to striking details.

experienced writer’s build critical distance into their writing process and view early drafts as something to be reworked.

Investigate the Source

Paraphrase is a restatement of an idea in roughly the same length as the author originally described it. It’s the information in your own words. Paraphrasing gives a writer more control over incorporating a source into their writing and contributes to the cohesiveness of a draft

similar strategy to MEA(L) is the “Quote Sandwich,” perhaps more accurately termed the “Info Sandwich.” This paragraph framework is very similar to MEA(L) but might feel more intuitive for those writing in the humanities, where more space is dedicated to unpacking key quotes from a text:

Sometimes you are the best source for your paper, such as when writing a personal narrative

heart of a persuasive essay is a claim supported by reasoning and evidence.

The basic idea behind a proposal argument seems pretty straightforward: we state what we think should happen and then marshal evidence to support that proposal. Seems easy, right?

Genre is one element of rhetoric. Genre, in its most basic meaning, means “a type, or kind” of text

Logic. Reason. Rationality. Logos is brainy and intellectual, cool, calm, collected, objective.

exigence refers to the perceived need for the text, an urgent imperfection a writer identifies and then responds to through writing

The author of visual media will need to account for the audience’s need for both information and how that information is intended to be taken as within a larger communicative context.

Considerations of audience are vital for Facebook posts as well as job interviews

can analyze authors, subjects, issues, images, and texts of all kinds using various methods of analysis.

last thing to note about key sentences is that academic readers expect them to be at the beginning of the paragraph. That helps readers comprehend your argument.

The point is, your reader, even if they are intensely familiar with your topic, or deeply interested in your progress as a writer, needs a starting place, so take a page out of The Sound of Music, and start at the very beginning.

One answer to this important question may be “long enough”—long enough for you to address your points and explain your main idea.

A sentence outline is the same as a topic outline except you use complete sentences instead of words or phrases. Complete sentences create clarity and can advance you one step closer to a draft in the writing process.

Specificity Precision Ability to be argued Ability to be demonstrated Forcefulness Confidence

brainstorming outlining drafting revising editing

Brainstorming is similar to list making. You can make a list on your own or in a group with your classmates. St

Read each sentence closely. If something sticks out to you or seems important, highlight it. Similarly, if you are struggling to understand something, highlight that as well, perhaps using a “?” to note the difficult passage.