3.15 Activities For Further Reflection

Your instructor may ask you to complete one or more of the following exercises.

1. Pick a mood like “happy” or “nervous” or “bored.” Then, go outside and write down 10 details that you see that could convey that mood. For example, if you were standing in your classroom and were happy, you might see bright clothing, friendly faces, delicious cups of coffee etc. If you were bored, you might see white walls, a dreary day outside, too much text on the Powerpoint slides, a clock ticking slowly. Use your 10 details to write a short paragraph that conveys the mood you were trying to express without saying it. You can also consider your sentence length and rhythm. When you’re done, read your work out loud and see if someone can guess the mood.

2. If you can write in more than one language, write a paragraph or two that reflects on the difference between what is seen as “good writing” in the different languages you speak. Do all cultures value plain language? What features does good writing have in other languages you speak?

3. Pick an assignment you’ve recently completed or some writing you’ve done in the workplace. Underline the topic sentence of each paragraph. If you don’t have a topic sentence, write one in the margins. Next, number the rest of the sentences within your paragraph from most to least important. When you’re done, take a look at your paragraphs. Do you notice any trends? Are all of the paragraphs organized from most to least important, or did you use a different organizational pattern? Based on what you’ve learned, rewrite any paragraphs that could use stronger organization.

4. Pick an assignment you’ve recently completed or some writing you’ve done in the workplace. In the margins, write the purpose of each paragraph (or why it exists in the document). Next, take out a highlighter and highlight any sentence that fulfills the purpose. Look at your document. Does everything in the paragraph meet the purpose? If not, edit your document. You might split one paragraph into two or create a new paragraph.

5. Pick an assignment you’ve recently completed or some writing you’ve done in the workplace. Try the Reverse Outlining technique described in this chapter.