Twenty-One Genres and How to Write Them

Contents

Contents Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix Introduction: Genres, Moves, and Never Getting Stuck Again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Part I: Genres 1. Abstract Brock Dethier, Abstract of Twenty-One Genres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Matthias Leopold et al., “Using Geophysical Methods . . .” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2. Annotated Bibliography Allie Anderson, Partial Annotated Bibliography for “The Logan Nunnery” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 3. Application Essay Alexis Maule, “Religion Reconsidered” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Corey Dethier, Law School Admissions Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 4. Application Letter Brock Dethier, Fantasyland Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Alyson Frederick, Independent Living Coordinator Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 5. Argument George Will, “What Price Clean Air?” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Katha Pollitt, “What’s the Matter with Creationism?” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Wilfred Owen, “Dulce et Decorum est” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 www.creationtips.com, “Problems for Atheistic Evolutionists” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 6. Blog Mark Edson, “Weather or Not We’re Ready, It’s Here” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 7. Email Anonymous, To Professor from Student . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 8. Gripe Letter Brock Dethier, Refund Request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Jennifer Sinor, Complaint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 9. Literary Analysis Diantha Smith, “Undressing King Lear” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Benedek Nyikos, “Luke Skywalker vs. Dracula” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 viii    contents 10. Literature Review Anne Wilcken, “Not Milk?” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 11. Op-Ed Essay Bruce Ballenger, “The Importance of Writing Badly” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Donald M. Murray, “What Is a Practical Education?” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Jennifer Sinor, “Soap Box” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 12. Personal Essay Sam Abbott, “Everybody’s Gotta Jump” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Jeffrey Howard, “Music in the Milking Barn” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 13. Profile Brock Dethier, “Stephen Laurent” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Michelle Theriault Boots, “What I Really Wanted” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 14. Proposal Undergraduate Research Grant Proposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Alyson Bernhisel and Kendra Homan, “The Impact that Level of Physical Activity . . .” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 15. Reflection Emmie Harmon, “Reflection” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 16. Report Report Headings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 17. Response to Reading B. Stihl, “Response to Marvin Swift’s ‘Clear Writing . . .’” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 18. Resume Johnathan B. Goode, Sample Resume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Alyson Frederick, A “Real” Resume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 19. Review Whitney Olsen, “Kamin Thai Cuisine” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Emilio Zamudio, “Not a Hard Decision” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 20. Rhetorical Analysis Greg Geddes, “The Trade of Scavenging” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Cambri McDonald, “Rhetorical Analysis Essay” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 21. Wiki Wikipedia, “Wiki” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Wikipedia, “Technical and Professional Writing Program Technology Wiki” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Contents    ix Part II: Moves 22. Solve Your Process Problems Finding an Idea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 move 1: Analyze the writing situation move 2: Ask the assigner for ideas move 3: Talk move 4: Look for help move 5: Lower the bar move 6: Read move 7: Sit move 8: Wait move 9: Play with your tools Caring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 move 10: Look for personal connection move 11: Find a human face move 12: Discover sources that you can exploit move 13: Reward yourself Overcoming Procrastination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 move 14: Figure out why you’re not writing move 15: Challenge the justification move 16: Write early in the process move 17: Take small steps move 18: Set aside ten minutes a day move 19: Deliberately invite procrastination into your writing schedule Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 move 20: Try these specific kinds of leads Quieting the Critic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 move 21: Recognize that we don’t need the critic to create move 22: Develop a mantra move 23: Blindfold your critic move 24: Find out what soothes your critic move 25: Follow through on your promises Writing Too Slowly? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Getting Unstuck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 move 26: Ask yourself if your brain is telling you something move 27: Change your tools or habits move 28: Write about the stuck place move 29: Outline/sketch move 30: Address your anxiety toward writing in general Reducing Writing Apprehension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 x    contents move 31: Discuss writing apprehension move 32: Name your writing fears move 33: Understand how important writing is to your career move 34: Banish the idea that good writers are just “gifted” move 35: Reduce negative self-talk move 36: Separate your creative and critical functions move 37: Challenge “rules” and myths about writing process move 38: Learn to play “the believing game” move 39: Give up romantic notions move 40: Keep in mind that apprehension may be situationspecific Knowing When to Stop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 Knowing How to Stop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 move 41: Look back at your first paragraph move 42: Ask yourself if you could end with the current last paragraph move 43: Skim through the text move 44: Change your perspective move 45: Bring yourself back into it Easy Does It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 move 46: Go back through the process you used to write a recent paper box: Conquering Process Problems—Communication 23. Discover Purposes of Discovering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Discovering Moves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Prepare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 move 47: Shut up the critic move 48: Ask your teacher or boss move 49: Explore with your senses move 50: Take a hike move 51...