An Elephant's Idea: A Basic Companion for Writers
Edition: 2
Copyright: 2018
Pages: 252
Edition: 2
Copyright: 2018
Pages: 252
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A college-level writing course can be a stressful, intimidating experience, especially in a student's first year. This text aims to alleviate those feelings. My belief is that native English speakers know our language very well; however, the translation from speaking to writing causes us all many challenges. This text assists students and instructors to address these challenges with greater authority and confidence.
Each chapter of An Elephant's Idea: A Basic Companion for Writers covers a part of the writing process; a writing purpose with prompts; a piece of writing, often written by a college student or instructor; a component of grammar or mechanics; and engaging exercises. This second edition has more exercises and new essays and visuals.
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Author
CHAPTER 1 Choices
The Writing Situation
Prompt 1.1
Expectations of Students vs. Expectations of College Professors
Prompt 1.2
Prompt 1.3
Survey of Academic Writing Experiences
Commonly Confused Words
Exercise 1.1—Confusing Words
Exercise 1.2—Confusing Words
CHAPTER 2 Focus
Reading Actively
“Civility in the Networked Age”
Prompt 2.1
Prompt 2.2
Checking Your Reading Comprehension
Reaction to Writing
Prompt 2.3
Prompt 2.4
Prompt 2.5
Differences between Writing and Speaking
Academic Writing vs. Non-Academic Writing
Academic Stance in Writing
Parts of Speech
Table 2.1—Common Prepositions
Exercise 2.1—Parts of Speech
The Basic Sentence
Subjects
Box 2.1—Subjects
Exercise 2.2—Subjects
Predicates
Exercise 2.3—Subjects and Predicates
CHAPTER 3 Independence
Advice for First-Year College Students
Prompt 3.1
Narration—Reporting, Describing, and Telling Your Story
The Use of “I”—First-Person
Chronological Order
Table 3.1—Transitions for Time
Creativity
Narration—An Example
Reaction to Writing
The Writing Process—Brainstorming
Topic Sentences
Prompt 3.2—Narration Prompts
Brainstorming Your Topic
Fragments
Table 3.2—Words That Can Create Dependent Clauses
Because
Box 3.1—Five Ways Fragments Occur
Exercise 3.1—Finding Fragments
Exercise 3.2—Finding Fragments
Active Learning
Prompt 3.3—Active Learning
CHAPTER 4 Details
Description—Showing, Not Telling
Prompt 4.1
Developing Details and Topic Sentences
Prompt 4.2—Description Prompts
What’s the Point?
Developing Details Worksheet
S.E.N.S.E.
Run-Ons and Comma Splices
Comma Splices
Fixing Run-Ons and Comma Splices
Box 4.1—FANBOYS and Their Meanings
Box 4.2—Four Methods to Fix Run-Ons and Comma Splices
Exercise 4.1—Finding Comma Splices and Fragments
Exercise 4.2—Fixing Comma Splices and Run-Ons
Illustration—Showing Examples
Illustration—A Student’s Paragraph
Prompt 4.3—Illustration Prompts
The Writing Process—Drafting
Adjectives and Adverbs
Adjectives
Exercise 4.3—Finding Adjectives
Adverbs
Good, Well, Bad, and Badly
Every Day, and Everyday
Some Time, Sometime, and Sometimes
More Adverbs
Exercise 4.4—Choosing Adjectives or Adverbs
“Class War”
Checking Your Reading Comprehension
Reaction to Writing
Prompt 4.4
CHAPTER 5 Connection
Unity
Exercise 5.1—Unity
Writing a Concluding Sentence
Coherence
Box 5.1—Transitional Expressions and Their Relationships
Exercise 5.2—Transitions
Exercise 5.3—Repetition
Analysis—Examining
Analysis—A Student’s Paragraph
Prompt 5.1
A Plagiarist’s Viewpoint
Semicolons
Exercise 5.4—Semicolons
The Writing Process—Revising
Process Analysis—Asking How?
“A Strategic Education”
Reaction to Writing
Prompt 5.2
Edited American English and Nonstandard Language
Exercise 5.5—Correcting Nonstandard Language
CHAPTER 6 Action
Evaluation—Making Judgments
Box 6.1—Qualifying Words
Prompt 6.1
Evaluation—A Book Review
“The Ups and Downs of ‘iGen’”
Reaction to Writing
Prompt 6.2
Trusting What You Think—Avoiding Plagiarism
Using Sources Pre-Quiz
Avoiding Plagiarism
Quoting, Summarizing, and Paraphrasing
Box 6.2—Signal Verbs
Guidelines for Writing a Paraphrase or a Summary
Additional Guidelines for a Summary
Exercise 6.1—Summarizing
“A Professor’s Campaign against Plagiarism”
Reaction to Writing
Verbs
Table 6.1—Strong Action Verbs
Exercise 6.2
Subject Verb Agreement
Exercise 6.3
Exercise 6.4
Table 6.2—Indefinite Pronouns
Box 6.3—Common Collective Nouns
Exercise 6.5
Exercise 6.6
Verb Tense
Exercise 6.7
Table 6.3—Common Irregular Verbs
What’s Not a Verb?
Exercise 6.8
The Writing Process—Editing
Checklist for Evaluating Your Paragraph
CHAPTER 7 Change
Writing the Academic Essay
Creating a Working Thesis Statement
Writing Introductions
“Why Are the Skies Blue?”
Reaction to Writing
Prompt 7.1
Cause and Effect—Analyzing Consequences
“It’s Called ‘Compassion Fatigue.’ It’s Wise to Take Breaks from Bad News—Here’s How”
Reaction to Writing
Exercise 7.1—Causes of School Violence
Table 7.1—Cause/Effect Verbs
Organizing Your Ideas
Prompt 7.2
“FONFI”
Reaction to Writing
Pronouns—Agreement
Box 7.1—Personal Pronouns
Box 7.2—Possessive Pronouns
Table 7.2—Indefinite Pronouns
Exercise 7.2—Identifying Pronouns
Pronoun Antecedent Agreement
Exercise 7.3—Identifying Pronouns and Their Antecedents
Box 7.3—Four Ways to Fix Sexist Language and Pronoun Antecedent Disagreement
Box 7.4—Common Collective Nouns
Exercise 7.4—Fixing Pronoun Antecedent Disagreement
CHAPTER 8 Balance
Compare and Contrast—Making Decisions
A Poor Example
Prompt 8.1
“A Marriage of Unequals”
Reaction to Writing
Prompt 8.2
Developing Body Paragraphs
Using Specific Words
Box 8.1—Vague Words
The Writing Process—Peer Review
“The Halloween We Know”
Reaction to Writing
Pronouns—Case and Reference
Box 8.2—Pronoun Case
Subjective Pronouns
Objective Pronouns
Compound Subjective Pronouns and Compound Objective Pronouns
Possessive Pronouns
Exercise 8.1
Pronouns with Linking Verbs
Who, Whom, Whoever, and Whomever
Exercise 8.2
Pronouns in Comparisons
-self Pronouns
Box 8.3— -self Pronouns
“Third Person”
Relative Pronouns
Pronoun Reference
Unclear Pronoun References
Exercise 8.3
Using You
Exercise 8.4
Exercise 8.5
CHAPTER 9 Belief
Persuasion—Taking a Position
Ethos, Pathos, and Logos
Table 9.1—Persuasive Appeals in Visual and Textual Literacy
Prompt 9.1
Reaction to Cartoon
Response Paper—A Student Example
Reaction to Writing
Finding a Topic
Opinions
“Watch What You Say on OC’s Boardwalk”
Reaction to Writing
Prompt 9.2
Making Claims
Collecting Evidence
Exercise 9.1
Testing and Organizing Your Evidence
Prompt 9.3
Prompt 9.4
Shifting Sentences and Paragraphs
Exercise 9.2
Writing Conclusions to Essays
Guidance for Writing Assignments
Commas
Box 9.1—Transitional Words and Expressions
Additional Comma Rules
Exercise 9.3
Exercise 9.4
CHAPTER 10 Confidence
Persuasion—Proposing a Solution
Prompt 10.1
Prompt 10.2
Analyzing a Proposal Claim
President Obama’s Farewell Speech
Reaction to Writing
Turning Singular Nouns into Plural Nouns
Exercise 10.1
Apostrophes
Apostrophes Used to Show Possession of Nouns and Indefinite Pronouns
Box 10.1
Apostrophes Used to Show Measurement and Time
Apostrophes Used in Contractions
Box 10.2—Common Contractions
Apostrophes Used to Make Letters Plural
Exercise 10.2
Exercise 10.3
Conciseness and Clarity
Wordy Expressions
Empty Sentence Starters
Redundant Phrasing
Using Gargantuan (Big) Words
Making Nouns from Verbs
Exercise 10.4
Evaluating Your Persuasive Essay
Introduction
Background Information
Support
Opposing Viewpoints
Conclusion
CHAPTER 11 Discovery
Persuasion—Evaluating an Issue
A Student’s Essay
Reaction to Writing
Final Draft
Reaction to Writing
Prompt 11.1
Casting Stereotypes
Exercise 11.1
Prompt 11.2
Prompt 11.3
A Student Example
Persuasion—Evaluating an Issue
Reaction to Cartoon
Prompt 11.4
Colons, Dashes, and Other Punctuation
Colons
Exercise 11.2
Dashes
Exercise 11.3
Parentheses
Hyphens
CHAPTER 12 Future
Persuasion—Elevating an Issue
“The College Dropout Boom”
Reaction to Writing
Prompt 12.1
Dr. Mika Q. Shipley (formerly Troutman) received her Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware. She spent many years in banking before returning to her goal of teaching college writing. She earned her Master’s degree in writing from Towson University in Towson, Maryland, in 1999. At that time, she started teaching writing courses at Towson University and York College of Pennsylvania. She earned her Ph.D. at the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, in 2003. After completing her doctoral degree, she taught at Loyola University of Maryland in Baltimore, Maryland, until 2006.
Dr. Shipley is now a Professor of English at Wesley College in Dover, Delaware, where she has been teaching since 2006. She lives near Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlantic coast with her husband, Matt, and their cat, Sammie. In addition to teaching and writing, Dr. Shipley enjoys traveling, cooking new and often strange recipes, and socializing with friends.