Lesson 1: Critiquing a Short Story

- Not primarily a summary; rather, it comments on and evaluate the work.

Introduction Introductory Paragraph

Body Development Paragraphs

Closure

Introductory Paragraph’s 3 Major Elements

Background – includes relevant information (5W’s)

Opinion – it contains your opinion about the story

Thesis – subject and opinion of the paper followed by the main points

Development Paragraphs

OPENING

Hooks – must grab your attention

Introduction of the Main Character – is the central character introduced in early enough in the story or
have you already imagined your own?

Scene Setting – can you picture the scene early enough in the story or have you imagine your own?

Problem Description – can you tell what problem confronts the central character soon enough or are
you left wondering what the story is all about?

CHARACTERIZATION

Main Character – is it really defined who is the main character?

Other Characters – are they easily definable or do they get confused with others? Do they seem
authentic?

SETTING

 If it is a real place, has the author researched it enough?

 If it is a fictitious place, has the author planned it carefully?

CONFLICTS

 Is it authentic? CLOSING PARAGRAPH

PLOT - General impression of the story.

Briefly summarization of all the
 Originality issues under the discussion. Any
ENDING additional opinions on the subject
would be appropriate at this time
 Still orginality as well as any final conclusions.
Lesson 2: Evaluating Spoken Text

Spoken Language

- involves the actual use of speech or related utterances that convey meaning to share thoughts
or other information
- usually has to be understood immediately whereas written language can be read many times.
- spoken language is grammatically less complex than written language.
- has fewer subordinate clauses, fewer sequences of prepositional phrases, and more active verbs
than written language.

Characteristics

Variation in Speed – generally

faster than writing

Loudness or quietness

Gestures - body language

Intonation

Stress

Rhythm

Pitch Range

Pausing and Phrasing

Fluency

- speaking easily, reasonably quickly and without having pause a lot.

Tone F – for
- how the character of your message comes thru in your words A – and
- the way you speak
N – nor
Cohesion
B – but
- the way your text is linked together
O – or
Coherence
Y – yet
- whether your statement makes sense or not
- how well does your text fits together S - so

Types of Cohesive Devices

Reflexive Pronouns

- refers to a pronoun that was previously mentioned in the text.