Chapter Seven

Introduction to Essay Development

College Writing Skills with Readings, 9/e

John Langan

College Writing Skills with Readings, 9/e Foreign Language Teaching And Research Press .
 Chapter 7

Important Considerations in Essay Development

• Understanding the length and nature of

the assignment
• Knowing your subject
• Knowing your purpose and audience
• Determining your point of view
• Using peer review
• Doing a personal review

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College Writing Skills with Readings, 9/e Foreign Language Teaching And Research Press .
 Chapter 7

The Length and Nature of the Assignment

• What kind of paper does the

instructor have in mind?
– Research summary?
– Comparison?
– Original work?
– Something else?
• How long should the paper be?
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 Chapter 7

Subject of the Paper

Try to write on something that
interests you -- if possible,
make it a subject you already
know something about.

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 Chapter 7

Purpose
Most writing has one of three
purposes:
purposes
•to inform,
•to persuade, or
•to entertain.
In order to achieve your purpose, you will
need to know your audience.
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Audience
Your instructor and classmates stand in
for a general audience:
audience educated adult
readers.
You will need to practice writing for
more specific audiences,
audiences as well – an
employer, a church group, the City
Council, etc.
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College Writing Skills with Readings, 9/e Foreign Language Teaching And Research Press .
 Chapter 7

Point of View
1) First-person approach
I like comfort when I’m camping.
camping
This is most common in narrative essays.
2) Second-person approach
First, find your flashlight.
This is generally appropriate only for giving instructions and
direct explanations, as in process essays.
3) Third-person approach
The camper found his flashlight.
This is most common in academic writing.

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 Chapter 7

Peer Review
1) Identification: On a sheet of paper, write the
author’s name and the title of the paper you read.
2) Scratch Outline: “X-ray” the paper for its inner
logic by making a scratch outline.
3) Comments
• Where did the paper “snag”? Suggest ways to fix
problems.
• Are there problems with support, unity, or
organization? Try to help.
• Note something you really liked about the paper.

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 Chapter 7

Personal Review
Follow these steps to practice your
personal review:
1) While you write and revise, evaluate
for unity, support, and organization.
2) After you’ve finished the next-to-last
draft, check it for sentence skills.

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 Chapter 7

Patterns of Essay Development

• Description
• Narration
• Exposition
• Argumentation
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College Writing Skills with Readings, 9/e Foreign Language Teaching And Research Press .
 Chapter 7

Description

Description is a verbal
picture of a person, place,
or thing.

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College Writing Skills with Readings, 9/e Foreign Language Teaching And Research Press .
 Chapter 7

Narration

Narration is an account of
something that happened.
happened

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Exposition
In exposition,
exposition the writer
explains a certain subject.
Patterns of exposition include:
• Examples • Comparison and
• Process contrast
• Definition
• Cause and effect
• Division and
classification
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Argumentation
In argumentation, a writer
attempts to
•support a controversial
point, or
•defend a position on which
there is difference of
opinion.
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Two Points to Remember

1) While many essays involve one
predominant pattern,
pattern most make use
of more than one pattern.
pattern

2) Most essays involve some form of

argumentation;
argumentation that is, they attempt
to convince the reader that a point is
valid.
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