Why is it so hard to just say what you want to

say?

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Julie Tonnesen

Major: Middle Grades Education with concentrations in Language

Arts and Social Studies

ENG 110 Prof:Paula PatchHometown:

Salisbury, NC

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TABLE OF CONTENTSTitle SlideInfo about authorFraming ConceptProject DescriptionMy ResearchEnglish 110 ObjectivePurposeAudienceVoiceAwarenessHow they work togetherChallengesWhat I learned

THE PROJECT: Framing Concept

“Many of our conceptions, or common-sense understandings, of

writing are actually misconceptions that don’t hold

up under close scrutiny.” –Elizabeth and Doug Downs, Writing about Writing

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PROJECT DESCRIPTIONMy concept:

“Writing is hard because I know what I want to say, I just don’t know how to say it.”

To figure out why it is so hard to figure out how to say it, I interviewed several peers about their own writing processes and read several articles pertaining to this subject in Writing About Writing.

I found that students have a hard time figuring out how to say it because they are too concerned with answering the prompt in the first paragraph, writing an excellent first draft, and pleasing their teacher/professor.Table of Contents

MY RESEARCHGreg: High School sophomore, football

player, hates reading/writing.

Katie: Middle school 7th grader, horseback

rider, loves to write but not for

school.

Wes: NCSU freshman, Civil Engineering

major, really hates reading but good

writer.

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ENGLISH 110 OBJECTIVE

• A more sophisticated understanding of the relationship of purpose, audience, and voice, and an awareness that writing expectations and conventions vary within the academy and in professional and public discourse.

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PURPOSE

• To figure out: – Why students of all ages have difficulties verbalizing their thoughts

– If students of different ages facing the same difficulties

– What causes these difficulties

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AUDIENCE

• Professor Patch• My classmates• Writing Scholars• Anyone who is interested in the writing process

• My research subjects

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VOICE• Formal but conversational

– Important to use proper grammar and punctuation, but not overdo it because I was “entering a conversation” about writing.

• Informative– Had to present what I learned

• Positive– Wanted struggling writers, particularly research subjects to rest assured they weren’t only ones who struggled, and it’s possible to alleviate their difficulties

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AWARENESS

• Didn’t have to be as formal as a research thesis

• Wide range of people had to be able to understand it

• Able to break some rules, but had to take extra caution with others

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HOW THEY WORK TOGETHER

• Awareness of audience and how to say it shaped purpose

• Purpose gave flexibility to use real voice; not put on show

• Audience made me aware of discourse community

• Voice was affected by who would be reading paper

Voice

Audience

Awareness

Purpose

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CHALLENGES

• Trying NOT to be too conversational

• Accepting that my first draft was going to stink and would need to be revised

• Listening to and learning from constructive criticism

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WHAT I LEARNED• It’s hard for students to say what they want to say because:– Too focused on answering the prompt in the first sentence

– Expect their first drafts to be their final drafts

– Too concerned with limits and guidelines placed by the teacher

– Too concerned with giving an answer their teacher will like instead of what they actually think

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