Notes on Chapter 5- Writing to Explore

Explore various perspectives on issues:

• concept



• places



• people

This will help you to work your way through ideas and problems through:

• professional



• civic



• personal

Rhetorical Knowledge- when you write to explore, you can gain greater understanding and how you can help your readers understand your topic. As the writer, you decide what medium and genre will help you communicate in the most effective way to your audience. Also, what information you might need to include, how you would describe your exploration, what visuals, or examples you might use.

One of the most powerful ways to use writing as a tool:

• write to learn



• write to discover



• often your first response to or thoughts about a particular situation are not the best ones



• writing can help you discover new and sometimes better options

Rhetorical considerations for Exploratory writing:

• Audience- YOU are part of the audience along with your professor and classmates. Others may learn from your research and ask ?? and think of ideas that you had not considered



• Purpose- your purpose is to exploare various aspects of your topic in enough detail/depth to increase understanding



• Voice, tone, point of view- you already have your own ideas, knowledge, background and experiences. As you explore your topic, consider whether your preconceptions are accurate. You should be objective and open to different possibilities and then you will discover. You should be ?? what you can learn. Your tone can range from humorous -serious.



• Context, medium and genre- since you are interested in the subject, you will have the incentive to learnmore as you research and write. The knowledge you gain may benefit you later. Consider your audience as you write on the most effective way to present your info.

Critical Thinking, Reading and writing: Effective exploratory writing is based on reasonable options and uses info from solid research.

Learning the Qualities of Effective Exploratory Writing:

• Focus on a concept/question- more open ended. Try to answer a ??, lay groundwork for a solution to a problem or redefine a concept.



• An inquisitive spirit- ask ?? that you really want to answer and let the answers lead you to further ??



• Consider a range of perspectives in a subject- be willing to see it from different vantage points and consider its negative/positive anspects.



• Coverage of the subject- examine all aspects of the topic, often developing a profile of its subject.



• When considering and examining multiple viewpoints, you have the responsibility to the readers to present viewpoints as accurately as possible. You can express your opinions, responses and reflections; do not misrepresent the viewpoints of others.

Research to Explore your subject:

• you need to answer the ?? that you raise



• Answer who, what , where, when, why and how



• determine what kind of research you need to conduct to gather that information



• it's not about getting and giving information and simple answers



• exploration involves the hard work of experiencing and understanding different perspectives.



• you can conduct several kinds of research- web sites, newspapers, interviews, search and read blogs

Writing processes: writing is recursive ( you might start with an invention activity- conduct research- more invention work- first draft- more invention work- research- revise your draft. Writing is more circular, than a linear process. You keep coming back to your earlier work, adding to it, modifying to make it more accurate as you conduct further research and become more familiar with your topic.

Invention: to discover what you already know about the subject, utilize some of the activities on pg. 160

Reviewing your invention and research: review your work and think about the information that you have collected from outside sources. Decide on a thesis statement that summarizes the main point of your exploration. The thesis comes from your exploration. (Try listing, brainstorming, cluster, etc. )

Working with classmates: See pg. 165

Organizing your ideas and details: ask these ??

• Who is your audience?



• Why might they be interested in your writing or how can you make them interested?



• What is your purpose for writing?

Deciding on your organizational approach:

• you might want to ask a number of ??, then answer them in logical order



• you might present a situation and then follow with an understandable, chronological order



• you might define multiple perpectives and then explore the possibilities of each one

Constructing a complete draft: you are organizing your thoughts and research into some coherent form. Review the information you have gathered from your invention and research. Write your draft, exploring your subject in as much depth as possible and using the organizational scheme that works best, with as much detail as possible.

• Introduction- needs to grab and hold the reader's attention a) take the reader on a journey b) ask one or more ?? c) establish multiple perpectives



• Body- leads the reader through your exploration process. You can choose several different kinds of organization. a) classification- grouping ideas in like categories b) comparison/contrast- discover both similarities and differences c) cause/effect- xonsider whether one event has caused another event


• Conclusion- leave the reader's feeling "satisfied". a) if in your exploration you discover that there are consequences, you may choose to present these. b) if you discover that your exploration has led to even more ?? that need to be researched. c) if your exploration leads you to a reasonable conclusion, state that conclusion, explaining how that was reached.


• Title- it is often more useful to get a first draft down on paper/computer, then consider possible titles

Revising- reseeing and rethinking your exploratory text. The most effective way is to read it as though you are reading it for the first time. Be sure and include a questioning, probing and exploring attitude. You can also ask the ?? on Pg. 173-174.

Responding to reader's comments: first, consider carefully what your readers have to say about your text. You may reject some comments.

Knowledge of Conventions: when effective writers edit their work, they pay attention to conventions that help the reader move through the writing effortlessly. This includes genre conventions, documentation, format, usage, grammar and mechanics.

Editing: the final polishing of your document. Make changes to the sentence structure and word choice to improve your style and make your writing clearer and more concise. You also check your work to make sure it adheres to conventions of grammar, usage, puncuation , mechanics and spelling.

Genre, Documentation and format- fluctate these according to whom the writing is intended for.