Bits and Pieces

Zinsser's chapter on "Bits and Pieces" covers a lot. And I mean a lot. I am sure you all noticed it was the longest chapter you read. I really think of it as the place where the writer shoved all the other things he wanted to cover that didn't fit into a chapter of its own. What I want to point out are, what I think, the most important parts of that chapter.

1. Active Verbs- When you use a verb make sure its active. This means one word is showing all the action. For example: The students are taught by the professor. This is a passive verb. Instead write The professor taught the students.

2. Adverbs are useless. If you have a good active verb you do not need adverbs.

3. Zinnser finds adjectives equally as useless as adverbs. If you are using adjectives make sure they are concrete and useful. For example pretty means nothing to your reader because everyones idea of what is pretty is different.

4. No exclamation points. I myself am a stickler for this. Exclamation points are the most useless piece of punctuation ever. Allow your word choices to convey the emotion you need.

Feel free to respond with any other thoughts or parts of the chapter you think were important.

Online Class Blog Assignment

I have placed each student into a group according to a chapter title (I will cover the Bits and Pieces section):

ch. 1 Transaction
Dylan
Jared
Laurel
Danny


ch. 2 Simplicity
Liz
Heather
Michelle
Pat


ch. 6 Words
Carla
NIck
Carly
Katya


ch. 8 Unity
Richard
Evan
Kevin Ward


Ch. 9 Lead and Ending
Niko
Zach
Jordan
Kevin Wery

Based on your assigned group you must write a short paragraph response about what one thing from the chapter you found most important and why. Think about what you thought was the most important tip Zinnser gave about your assigned topic. Please title your post with the chapter topic. Again, this must be completed by Friday night.

 You then must respond to at least one post from each group (including your own) by Sunday night. 

Blog writing prompt due 2/3

This week we have been reading in Zinnser's On Writing Well about methods, principles, and attitudes in writing non-fiction. Please choose one of the chapter topics: transaction, simplicity, words, unity, or lead and ending. Then find a sample paragraph from an essay online that does a good or bad job using the advice Zinnser gave. Please post the sample and discuss what was done well or poorly based on the topic you choose. Comment on this post with your response. Do not forget to comment on a classmates response. 

We will use blogs to reflect on the reading, writing, and discussion we do in class this semester. Details of blog requirements can be found on the course website under assignments then blogs.  Blogs should create a conversation outside of the walls of our classroom. In addition, be sure to take advantage of the affordances blogs have to offer. Use hyper links to link to material on other places of the web and put images, video, and any thing else available to you in your blog posts. Most importantly, have fun blogging!