Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Dull verbs
be, do, get, go, have, make…
Clumsy modifiers
misused or misplaced adjectives, adverbs, etc.
Where do I find the words?
EVERYWHERE!
Formal sources: reference books,
professional journals, news media, etc.
Informal sources: peers, TV, Internet
blogs, videos, novels, poetry, podcast
interviews—especially with
writer-performers
Accurate Nouns?
Confusing placement:
The damaged student’s car
My generous neighbor.
Our attention is drawn to the neighbor’s generosity, not
sense of humor or annoying habits.
Revising Adjectives
He was a nice guy.
What’s your definition of nice?
Process Reports
Include what has an effect on the outcome
Make every statement NEW information
Characterization in Profile Essays
States of mind: mood, emotions, personality
Physical expressions show readers
e.g., fast heartbeat, twitchy smile, bright eyes
Speech mannerisms
Quality of dress: neat, frumpy, expensive,
cheap . . .
Can show class, gender, etc.
Tools for Revising 3
Engage your best writing tools: a thesaurus
and a dictionary!
1) Find an alternate related to your first word.
2) Look up the meaning of the alternate to see
if it really fits.
3) If it doesn’t fit, rinse and repeat!
Take Time to Brainstorm!
Visualize
Feel your own emotions
Giving physical sensations “shows”
readers instead of just “telling” readers
Consider several words
for the same topic
Recall your own experiences
Questions to ask while drafting
What did it look like?
Where was it in relation to other things?
What did you smell? Hear? Taste?
How did you feel at the time? Afterward?
Physical sensations
Emotional sensation
Drafting
Draft and put aside for a while