Narrative Writing Tells a story Chronological organization Beginning
Narrative Writing • • Tells a story Chronological organization Beginning, middle, end Entertainment, exposition, processes • What applications might this kind of writing have?
Sources and Their Reproduction • What is a source? • Relations between your writing and a source: – Direct quotation – Paraphrase – Summary
Direct Quotation • • • Based on a source (written or spoken) Reproduces the words of the source exactly Requires quotation marks Involves rules of punctuation Requires documentation/citation in research papers
Examples • The teacher asked: “Is it ‘Yes’ or ‘No’? ” “You have a fifty-fifty chance of guessing the correct answer, ” he added. • Martin Luther King, Jr. envisioned an America in which his children “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. ” • According to Milgram, “the dilemma posed by the conflict between conscience and authority inheres in the very nature of society” (179).
Works Cited King, Jr. , Martin Luther. “I Have a Dream. ” Washington, D. C. , 28 Aug. 1963. Speech. Milgram, Stanley. Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View. New York: Harper, 1974. Print.
Reminders • Double quotation marks and single quotation marks • Punctuation inside or outside of quotation marks
Paraphrase • • Based on a source Words not reproduced directly Written in your own words Gives main ideas (major ideas) Gives supporting ideas (minor ideas) About equal in length to the source Requires documentation/citation
Note • The second example is unusual—normally, paraphrase is used for phrases or possibly sentence-length sources. Paraphrase would almost never be used for multiple-sentence passages.
Example • Source: “The twelfth century saw the creation of a new popular literature which carried far and wide the conceptions of love and devotion” (Southern 246). • Possible paraphrase: Romantic love, appearing first in the 1100 s, became a widespread and tremendously attractive literary theme (Southern 246).
Example • Source: “The public function of satire is to expose folly and cause reform. Satirists address audiences who share the same moral and intellectual beliefs as themselves. From this standpoint of assumed agreement, individuals are targeted and revealed as aberrant and outside of the agreed norms of society” (Abrams 82).
Example • Paraphrase: Satire achieves its social purpose by showing social problems and stimulating social change. Satire is directed towards people who have a similar understanding of life as the author. With this assumption in place, the work shows how certain people stand outside this shared set of beliefs (Abrams 82).
Length • First example – The original passage is 22 words. – The paraphrase is 15 words. • Second example – The original passage is 45 words. – The paraphrase is 46 words.
Works Cited Abrams, M. H. The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1953. Print. Southern, Robert. The Making of the Middle Ages. New Haven: Yale UP, 1953. Print.
Main Idea/Supporting Idea • Main idea: satire criticizes and aims to reform • Supporting idea: relation to audience • Supporting idea: relation to norms
Source “The public function of satire is to expose folly and cause reform. Satirists address audiences who share the same moral and intellectual beliefs as themselves. From this standpoint of assumed agreement, individuals are targeted and revealed as aberrant and outside of the agreed norms of society” (Abrams 82).
Paraphrase Satire achieves its social purpose by showing social problems and stimulating social change. Satire is directed towards people who have a similar understanding of life as the author. With this assumption in place, the work shows how certain people stand outside this shared set of beliefs (Abrams 82).
Summary • • Based on a source Words not reproduced directly Written in your own words Gives main ideas Does not give supporting ideas Shorter than the source Requires documentation/citation
Identifying Main Points • Find main points in the examples. • Underline the ideas that should appear in a summary.
Source “Homicides cause the deaths of more children in Washington, D. C. than any other single type of injury, including car accidents, house fires, or drowning. Unfortunately, this does not only happen in Washington. The overcrowded neighborhoods of many big American cities, such as New York, Detroit, Miami, Chicago, and Los Angeles, are all plagued with senseless violent crime. Types of violent crime range from arson and burglary to assault, rape, and murder. The solution to this growing problem is not to build more and bigger prisons, but rather to examine and deal with the causes: easy access to guns, constant craving for drugs, and overwhelming poverty” (Auerbach and Snyder 87).
Main Points “Homicides cause the deaths of more children in Washington, D. C. than any other single type of injury, including car accidents, house fires, or drowning. Unfortunately, this is not only a problem in Washington. The overcrowded neighborhoods of many big American cities, such as New York, Detroit, Miami, Chicago, and Los Angeles, are all plagued with senseless violent crime. Types of violent crime range from arson and burglary to assault, rape, and murder. The solution to this growing problem is not to build more and bigger prisons, but rather to examine and deal with the causes: easy access to guns, constant craving for drugs, and overwhelming poverty” (Auerbach and Snyder 87).
Possible Summary Many residents of big U. S. cities are victimized by serious crimes. Instead of creating more jails, we should attack the sources of the problem (Auerbach and Snyder 87).
Source: Find Main Ideas “The tradition of theatre is a long one going back well over 2, 500 years. Over the centuries the nature of drama and the manner of its presentation have changed considerably; theatre has adapted and responded to changing times and sentiments. It has moved from ritual to easy naturalism, from religious fervour to bawdy entertainment, from being an outdoor activity to an indoor one, from periods of rare and occasional performance to twice-nightly ones. It has survived decades of outright condemnation and total prohibition—and continues to survive. In fact theatre today is going through one of its most striking periods of adaptability, and its forms and activities are more varied and widespread than they have ever been” (Cook 11).
Main Ideas “The tradition of theatre is a long one going back well over 2, 500 years. Over the centuries the nature of drama and the manner of its presentation have changed considerably; theatre has adapted and responded to changing times and sentiments. It has moved from ritual to easy naturalism, from religious fervour to bawdy entertainment, from being an outdoor activity to an indoor one, from periods of rare and occasional performance to twice-nightly ones. It has survived decades of outright condemnation and total prohibition—and continues to survive. In fact theatre today is going through one of its most striking periods of adaptability, and its forms and activities are more varied and widespread than they have ever been” (Cook 11).
Possible Summary • The dramatic tradition, although extensive, is varied in that it has undergone much change and adaptation. Today, it is still very dynamic (Cook 11).
Works Cited Auerbach, Barbara, and Beth Snyder. Paragraph Practice. Orlando: Harcourt, Brace, 1983. Print. Cook, Philip. How to Enjoy Theatre. Taipei: Bookman, 1983. Print.
Summary Objectives 1. Reproduce the main ideas of a source 2. Follow the order of ideas in the source 3. Be shorter than the source 4. Be written in your own words 5. Be objective (don’t interpret or give your opinion of the source material)
What to Leave out 1. Don’t summarize examples 2. Don’t summarize definitions 3. Don’t summarize digressions 4. Don’t summarize statistics and other numerical facts (except dates when necessary)
Keywords • In summary and paraphrase, we change the diction, grammar, and syntax. • To change the diction, we must locate keywords and find synonyms when possible. • We keep certain words for which there is no other way to express it
Example • High-tech products are a cornerstone of Taiwan’s economy. • Taiwan’s economy relies on advanced technology. • Advanced technology is central to Taiwan’s economic success.
Exercises 1. The automobile has become a suicidal conveyance. 2. Computers are essentially stupid. 3. The judge cruelly sentenced him to two years in prison. 4. His monthly expenditures were extravagant.
Primary and Secondary 1. The automobile has become a suicidal conveyance. 2. Computers are essentially stupid. 3. The judge cruelly sentenced him to two years in prison. 4. His monthly expenditures were extravagant
Main Point Exercise (B) • Identify the main points in the following passages by writing a number next to them. • Express the main points as a word or phrase (use your own words) in the blanks.
Solutions: Main Points • Main point 1: “People who believe in witchcraft think a witch can harm people in various ways. ” • Main point 2: “People once blamed witches for any unexplained misfortune …. ” • Main point 3: “Witchcraft has led to many widely believed superstitions. ”
Solutions: Summaries • Main point 1: Witches are commonly thought to be dangerous. • Main point 2: Terrible events were understood to be the product of witchcraft. • Main point 3: A number of superstitions are associated with witches.
Summary of Passage Two • The development of monarchy in England has a long history. • How does this passage differ from the first one?
Exercise 3: First Paragraph “During the second reading of a book, you should give some attention to the way the work is structured. The action, or plot, usually is spurred by some conflict involving the protagonist. Except in some modern works, most short stories and novels have a clear beginning, middle, and end, in which the conflict producing the action becomes increasingly intense, building to a climax that sometimes resolves the conflict, sometimes simply concludes it—often in catastrophe. Do not expect many happy endings in serious fiction. A somber conclusion is more likely
Important Parts “During the second reading of a book, you should give some attention to the way the work is structured. The action, or plot, usually is spurred by some conflict involving the protagonist. Except in some modern works, most short stories and novels have a clear beginning, middle, and end, in which the conflict producing the action becomes increasingly intense, building to a climax that sometimes resolves the conflict, sometimes simply concludes it—often in catastrophe. Do not expect many happy endings in serious fiction. A somber conclusion is more likely
Exercise 3: Second Paragraph Usually plots proceed in regular chronological order, following a time sequence similar to that in real life. But occasionally an author employs flashbacks, stopping the forward action to recount something which happened in the past, in order to supply necessary background material or to maintain suspense. Through a flashback in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, for instance, we learn of Jay Gatsby’s humble beginnings—and of possibly sinister involvements in his rise to wealth. And if William Faulkner had written “A Rose for Emily” chronologically, without the distorted time sequence, he could never have achieved the stunning impact of his morbid conclusion.
Important Parts Usually plots proceed in regular chronological order, following a time sequence similar to that in real life. But occasionally an author employs flashbacks, stopping the forward action to recount something which happened in the past, in order to supply necessary background material or to maintain suspense. Through a flashback in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, for instance, we learn of Jay Gatsby’s humble beginnings—and of possibly sinister involvements in his rise to wealth. And if William Faulkner had written “A Rose for Emily” chronologically, without the distorted time sequence, he could never have achieved the stunning impact of his morbid conclusion.
Exercise 3: Third Paragraph Since structure means broadly the way a work is put together, try to discover a framework or pattern that shapes the piece into a unified whole. The structure of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter can be described as being divided into three parts in which the action in each section relates to a crucial scene on the scaffold. But one critic sees the novel as structured in five parts, like a stage drama. Sometimes great works of fiction are more loosely put together. Hawthorne’s The Blithedale Romance, for instance, is structured around the seasons, beginning with the promise of spring, which is ominously blighted by a blinding snowstorm, and ending in the fall, which conjoins the dying of nature with the suicide of Zenobia. The structure of Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth is even simpler: the novel chronologically follows episodes selected to reveal the plight of the lovely, ill-fated Lily Bart. ”
Important Parts Since structure means broadly the way a work is put together, try to discover a framework or pattern that shapes the piece into a unified whole. The structure of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter can be described as being divided into three parts in which the action in each section relates to a crucial scene on the scaffold. But one critic sees the novel as structured in five parts, like a stage drama. Sometimes great works of fiction are more loosely put together. Hawthorne’s The Blithedale Romance, for instance, is structured around the seasons, beginning with the promise of spring, which is ominously blighted by a blinding snowstorm, and ending in the fall, which conjoins the dying of nature with the suicide of Zenobia. The structure of Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth is even simpler: the novel chronologically follows episodes selected to reveal the plight of the lovely, ill-fated Lily Bart. ”
Short Summary • Structure is very important in fiction. When re -reading, pay attention to the problems affecting the main character, the resolution of the problem, and the way the author uses time. Consider these points to understand the pattern of the complete work.
Longer Summary • When re-reading a book, examine the organization closely. The storyline usually concerns some problem or difficulty which affects the most important character. This problem becomes more and more serious and ends with the climax, which resolves the story. Sometimes this endpoint is a disaster. If the story follows normal time order, it has a beginning, middle, and end. Sometimes a writer interrupts normal time order to give information about the past in a flashback. Because the meaning of the complete work is often found in the structure, pay attention to the main problem (conflict), the main character (protagonist), and the use of time in this structure.
Works Cited Fry, Plantagenet Somerset. Kings and Queens of England Scotland. London: Dorling Kindersley, 1999. Print. Martin, Alex, and Robert Hill. Modern Plays. New York: Prentice Hall, 1995. Print. Mc. Mahan, Elizabeth, Robert Funk, and Susan Day. The Elements of Writing about Literature and Film. New York: Macmillan, 1988. Print.
For Next Time • Continue with Worksheet #7 • Read the story “Brilliant Silence” • I suggest that you read “The Boy Who Drew Cats”
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