Effective vs Ineffective Writing

As an instructor, it is not enough to simply "teach the textbook." As educated people with higher order thinking, we need to view textbooks as the organized thoughts and ideas of other people. Thus, textbooks have limitations and may be categorized as excellent, strong, average, sub-par, and down right weak.

Once instructors develop their own independent thinking, they can decide how to incorporate textbooks: as is due to excellence, or tweaked so that information is more easily understood by students, or to synthesize and streamline strong information which filters out weaker or more convoluted areas.

Below is a simple two page (front and back) handbook I developed which synthesizes hundreds of pages of the many books I have incorporated throughout the years at the high school college prep and AP level as well as the college level. Instead of wading through hundreds of pages (which on rare occasion may be necessary as some texts are long but wonderfully dense; but, usually it is not i.e. most books are long just to be long and to be sold), students have a quick reference guide.

Note: Below is the information of my two page handout, but due to format issues the information appears much longer. If anyone would like this handout, please write me at [email protected] and I will be happy to send it to you.

Effective

Context—the writer understands the context of the reading prompt (author, culture, intended audience, historical time period, fictional or non-fictional text, etc.)

1.      Usually, a writing task is assigned as a response to a literary passage or informational text

2.      Writing addresses the most important issue or issues of the prompt question

3.      The response accurately matches the literary passage (by quoting and mentioning aspects of the literary passage) or the informational text (by referencing pertinent information)

4.      The writer is aware of peripheral issues surrounding the prompt passage or topic (societal, political, religious, etc.)

Ineffective

Context—the writer demonstrates no awareness of context

1.      The writing response is off topic or at least fails to address the most important aspect(s) of the prompt question

2.      The writer is unaware of the peripheral issues regarding the prompt passage and question (societal, political, religious, etc.)

Effective

Specific audience—the writer is able to actually visualize his/her audience and place the audience into categories or roles

1.      of age, nationality, educational level, and at times even time period (past, present, future)

2.      of evaluating reader or interested peer or general audience

3.      of antagonistic, neutral, or sympathetic reader

Ineffective

Unknown audience—the writer has not even considered to whom he/she is writing or simply assumes the audience is the teacher

1.      He/she assumes the reader agrees or understands and thus fails to provide important contextual details necessary

2.      The ideas and/or evidence and/or diction is inappropriate for the audience

Effective

Tone—the writer makes a conscience decision based on the prompt subject and the audience as to what tone is most effective. The tone is interesting, provocative, and intellectual. The reader sees a face behind the writing

1.      didactic

2.      inspirational

3.      poetic

4.      sarcastic

5.      humorous

6.      solemn

7.      etc.

Ineffective

Tone—inappropriate or non-existent

1.      The writer is unaware that his/her tone is offensive or at least ineffective (for example: “I believe that all women should have a legal right to abortion because circumstances may arise when they must murder their babies in order to maintain their happiness. This writer fails to understand the emotionally charged words of murder and baby as well as the fact that happiness in this context (juxtaposition with murder and baby) portrays a superficial meaning

2.      The writer has no tone. Basically, there is no face to the writer—it appears that anyone or even a computer may have given an automated response to the prompt

Effective

Register—The writer decides on a certain register (diction) that will be most effective for the writing task and the intended audience

1.      Academic diction is incorporated

2.      Colloquial diction is only incorporated if necessary to create rhetorical influence by way of cultural words (even a foreign language) or idiomatic words

Ineffective

Register—The writer does not understand the appropriate register for the writing task and the intended audience

1.      Typically, the writer uses a colloquial style marked by general or vague words (good stuff or many things or lots of ways) which removes the academic forcefulness of the writing.

Effective

Argument Frames are solid. The writer emphasizes what is the most important and impactful

1.      Appeals are evident (ethos, logos, pathos) and most effectively used in response to the writing task and the intended audience where the writer challenges the reader to respond ethically, logically, or emotionally

2.      Arguments are supported by one or more of the main normative ethical schools of thought (deontological, teleological, utilitarian, universal, virtue)

3.      Arguments may be qualified (a qualified response where a position qualifies when and how and under what circumstances a position is taken and allows for exceptions) to wisely deal with complex issues that do not have a simple solution. Thus, the writer juxtaposes the pros and the cons on a scale and makes a final decision as to which side outweighs the other

4.      Arguments show depth in understanding the opposing side and explaining why the opposing side is not as strong as the supported position

Ineffective

Argument Frames are weak or even nonsensical. Writing is marked by superficial points and issues that never touch depth

1.      No appeals are incorporated or the appeal which is incorporated is ineffective (for example: A logical appeal citing statistics (numbers) against child abuse is not as effective as an emotional appeal (pathos) where real names are used and graphic details are provided to move the reader)

2.      Arguments display no consistent ethical system but rather are characterized by common logical fallacies such as non-sequiturs, bandwagon ethics, personal bias, etc.

3.      Arguments are one-sided and simplistic in nature. Thus, arguments are typically composed of circular reasoning (falsely assumed premises leading to false conclusions)

4.      Arguments do not mention the other side, do not allow for exceptions, or use Straw Man or Overgeneralization fallacies

Effective

Voice—A consistent voice occurs throughout (usually in academic writing 3rd person and 1 person plural)

1.      3rd Person: Personal names, he/she/they, one, society, people, many people, few people

2.      1st Person Plural: We, most of us, all of us, our

Ineffective

Voice is inconsistent and changes from overly personal “I” to “you” and “your” (2nd person as a general rule should not be used in academic writing as it removes the dream effect and fails to analyze either informative text or fictional characters)

1.      How would a male reader feel upon reading the following: “When you became pregnant and decided to have an abortion, you were essentially asking the doctor to murder the baby you carried inside your womb”?

Effective

Evidence—specific in nature and related directly or peripherally to the prompt text and/or question. Also, the writer correctly cites (credits) sources to avoid plagiarism.

1.      Specific descriptions (imagery) are made so that the reader’s five senses are stimulated (through the mind i.e. imagination). For example, “Humanitarian Sally Wallace reported that she looked down to see two small girls lying in the gutter of the crowded Haitian street. Clinging to each other in order to stay warm, they were obvious victims of poverty and apathy. Miss Wallace stated, “I knew instantly that if I did not rescue them and bring them to the mission, they would be stomped on by older boys and men, they would be abused, and they would slowly starve to death.”

2.      Specific detailed data (facts, statistics, examples) is provided. For example, “In Germany, the current legal drinking age of alcoholic beverages in public is 14, the legal drinking age to purchase beer is 16, and the legal drinking age to purchase wine, knows as spirits, is 18. Yet, the DUI percentage per 100k in Germany was 15.1 compared to 18.5 in the United States, where the legal drinking age of all alcoholic beverages is 21.”

Ineffective

Evidence—general and vague in nature and either too obscure to be of any use (obscure allusions or quotes that are unknown to the audience) or too disconnected to possess any power. The writer unknowingly plagiarizes by quoting sources without citing an author and/or text from where he/she obtained the quote (statistic, fact, etc.)

1.      General/Vague: Words such as “things” and “ways” are used often. Pronouns without antecedents are used often, which causes confusion

2.      References are given to evidence but no real concrete evidence is actually given. For example, “This causes many bad things to happen” or “Most people do not believe that way” or “Many countries do not support what he said” or “Everyone knows that this is a bad idea.”

--What things? Which people? What way? Which countries? What did who say? Who is everyone? What idea?

3.      Obscure evidence (unknown quote or reference of an obscure text)

4.      Disconnected evidence (false comparisons): “

Effective

Broad Perspective: The writer exhibits the ability to explore thoughts and events outside of himself/herself

1.      He/she incorporates historical and current thoughts and experiences from respected individuals of various cultures throughout the world

--alludes (references) to historical or current events

--alludes to historical or current research by providing accurate, relevant, and specific data (facts and statistics)

Ineffective

Narrow Perspective: The writer is confined to personal experience

1.      He/she is confined to speaking only of his/her personal experience, which is typically limited to

--the experiences of a town or city

--a single culture (ethnicity, nation, religion)

--a particular peer group

--a particular level of education/knowledge