Pre-Writing ExercisesTo get your creative juices flowing, pre-writing is necessary. This process also helps a writer organize his thoughts prior to writing. Writers use different techiques, and the choice really depends on the individual writer. Probably the 3 most popular pre-writing techniques are:
1. Free listing or brainstorming 2. Creating a web or graphic organizer 3. Creating an outline You can these and additional pre-writing strategies in the Hightower High School English Department Toolkit:
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Revising your WorkYou have now written your ideas into a textual format, it is time to revise your content. Revision allows you to add, take away, reorder , and rethink how you are wording your ideas.
It is important that your ideas don't sound choppy or vague. You need to use solid references and concrete details. Your voice needs to match your intent. Your diction (choice of words) is extremely important. Choose descriptive wording with the right connotation (feeling behind the word). Vary your syntax so that ideas flow naturally. You may refer to the HHS English Dept. Toolkit under Pre-writing to get several revision approaches. |
Editing your WorkNow you are going to access your inner English teacher. This is where you are required to check your spelling, grammar, sentence structures. We are so used to our word-processing programs doing this for us... but not everything is caught by these ingenious computers!
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Publishing a Final CopyA final product of writing needs to be fully polished and ready to publish. Final writing must be formatted to meet publishing requirements.
In school, English courses use the Modern Language Association (MLA) pagination rules. The best resource for MLA guidelines for publicaton are found at the On-line Writing Lab at Purdue Univeristiy (OWLatpurdue.com) Click on the below document for a quick reference guide for pagination and research citations.
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Assessing Your WritingIn the College Board Advanced Placement English course, we use the AP National Rubric Scale. This scale creates a distiction between upper- level, mid-level, and lower-level papers on a 1-9 scale. Papers are holistically graded.
Upper-level papers (9, 8, 7) are distinguished by utilizing sophisticated diction, syntax, and stylistic devices. Profound connections are established with ease and cohesion. They are professional sounding papers. Mid-level papers (6, 5, 4) are good papers, but lack the sophistication of an upper level paper. There may be inconsitencies, or moments of awkward development of syntax or wording. Parts may seem "choppy" because transitions are not fluid. Ideas are solid and well-established, but not neccesarily profound and insightful. Students must score a 5 or above on all essays on the AP exam to pass with an overall exam score of a 3+ . Lower-level papers (3, 2, 1) are poorly developed papers that usually contain major development errors. Diction may be too simplistic, and syntax may be awkward. Ideas wander, or become off topic. Ideas are not supported. Vague comments are used. They may not fully address the correct topic. Click on the below document to see each rubric standard and the grade associated with each standard:
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