Block- 2

Writing
Effectively
 Unit 1-
The Basics
of Writing
Introduction
 Block- 2 Writing Effectively
Unit 1 The Basics of Writing
Introduction

This is our practical need. But learning to write

effectively is important for other reasons as well.
Why do we think writing is important?
Well, writing helps you to think, to be creative yet
organized and logical. When you write, and this
pertains to any type of writing, you generate ideas
and content which you must arrange in systematic
ways to be an effective writer. By combining
words into phrases and sentences and often
joining them with conjunctions, a writer creates
complex new ideas.
For example, the word and brings out additions to
the point, but emphasizes differences and because
gives reasons for your ideas.
Since we have to write so much and in such
diverse forms and modes, why not do this task
really well. In this unit we will reflect on the
writing process and suggest ways to improve our
writing skill.
Understanding
How Writing
Helps
 Understanding How Writing Helps

How Writing Helps: - As you are probably

aware, writing helps you develop many skills
which are helpful for your academic life and
which will be useful later at your work life – when
you have to write letters, reports, proposals, etc.
Writing helps you remember what you are
studying, by helping you to make coherent
notes, analyse, synthesize, and summarise
information from different sources.
Writing as you read by taking notes,
summarizing, responding to assumptions or
arguments in a text, makes you a better reader.
This kind of reflection enhances your
understanding and helps you develop new
insights. It helps you become a critical thinker.
Attempting different kinds of writing
contributes to learning in different ways, giving
you an awareness of different genres, their
possibilities, and arrangements. An expository
composition helps you organise and present
what you have learnt with clarity. You are able
to marshal facts and array them in order of
 importance. A narrative helps you sequence
events and highlight the important ones.
Arguing a position teaches you not only to
support your reasons but also anticipate
objections to your arguments and learn to refute
them.
Can Writing be Learned: - Many people
believe that people who are good at writing do not
need to spend a lot of time learning to write – they
are born writers. Writing comes naturally to them.
However, this is not true. Writing research shows
that all good writers also keep learning how to
write and they constantly practice their skill. So,
learning to write is essential to developing the
writing skill. What do you need to do in order to
be an effective writer?
Learn to write by reading: - Reading
extensively will enable you to become a better
writer. All good writers are avid readers who
not only read for enjoyment and information,
but also to hone their craft. One of the important
ways in which reading helps is, it enables you
to understand a particular genre or type of
writing. Although individual texts of a
particular genre would be different from each
 other, they nonetheless will follow a certain
pattern that is quite predictable and these are
known as conventions.
One of the best ways to become a good
writer is by constantly writing: - Practice
will make your writing more thoughtful and
ideational. Fortunately, all of us use social
media. Blogging about your experiences or
your skills is a great way to improve your
writing. You could also keep a journal or a diary
of your special moments. This will also help
you write continuously, which will help you
write better.
An effective writer constructs a reader-friendly
plan by dividing the information into clearly
distinguishable parts or sub-topics. This gives
readers cues or road signs to guide them through
your assignment. So, a writer will use some of
these building blocks: defining, classifying, or
dividing, comparing, and contrasting, illustrating
with examples, reporting, explaining cause and
effects, and so on. Of course, you must only use
those building blocks as are required for your
assignment. To convince the reader of the
trustworthiness or authenticity of your
information, you must acknowledge the expert
writers that you have consulted. There are two
main ways in which you can do that: -
Discovering what you already know
about the subject: - Consider what you
already know about the subject and why you
find it interesting. Write quickly, without
planning and organizing. Check your class
lecture notes first, before you look at other
sources.
Doing research is essential: - To find
comprehensive, updated information of your
topic, you should locate it in relevant articles,
books, on the internet, etc. Doing an internet
search often creates a focus for your
assignment.
Bookmark websites that appear useful and be
sure to include the URL, the title of the site, the
date when the information was posted, and the
date you accessed it. Similarly, make careful
records of the author, title, publication
information, page number of the articles,
journals, and books you refer to.
This will help you go back to the sites as well
acknowledge them if you make use of them.
 Writers, therefore, plan and then revise their
plan, draft, and then revise their drafts, write,
and then rewrite.
This is known as the process approach to
writing and it is important to follow such an
approach: -
 Writing a plan: - It is important to write
an outline. This may be in points, and
remember these points will be changed if
required. In fact, your plan must be
dynamic and flexible.
 Writing a draft: - While writing a draft,
you will benefit from frequent pauses to
reread what you have written. Rereading
helps you to add an example, choose
different words and fill in a gap in the logic
of an argument. Rereading leads to
substantial rethinking and revising; i.e.
cutting, reorganizing, rewriting.
 Revising: - Review the comments of your
friends and teachers and incorporate them
if they are reasonable. Check for spelling,
punctuation, and grammatical errors.
another draft.
 Editing and
Proofreading
 Editing and Proofreading

Editing: - Editing is the process of selecting and

preparing written, photographic, visual, audible,
or cinematic material used by a person or an entity
to convey a message or information. The editing
process can involve correction, condensation,
organisation, and many other modifications
performed with an intention of producing a
correct, consistent, accurate and complete piece
of work.
Proofreading: - Proofreading is the reading of
a galley proof or an electronic copy of a
publication to find and correct reproduction errors
of text or art. Proofreading is the final step in the
editorial cycle before publication. Let us discuss
some tried and tested techniques of proofreading
which you could use on your draft.
Keep your dictionary and thesaurus handy to
check for spelling, usage, meaning of words
in doubt and synonyms. If you are working on
the laptop, be sure to use these tools.
Eliminate the common mistakes which all of
us make, such as it’s or its, lets or let us,
who’s or whose, and so on.
Look out for the problem areas in your
writing which your teachers have commented
on.
Reading aloud of your drafts also helps as you
get to hear what your eye may have missed.
Some of the grammatical errors you could
look out for are: fused sentences, misused
past-perfect verbs, order of adjectives,
adjective clauses with misplaced commas,
and so on.
 Thinking
Critically of
Your Writing
 Thinking Critically of Your Writing

Critical thinking is a way of thinking,

understanding, and expressing ourselves. See the
Critical thinking checklist. Critical thinking is
about using your ability to reason. It is about
being active in your learning and questioning
ideas, arguments, and findings.
As we said at the start, reflecting on your own
experience, knowledge, reading helps you
become a better and more versatile writer.
Reflecting enables you to be aware of what you
already know and what you still need to learn.
Reflecting helps you to be aware of your own
thinking process.
It will enable you to ask questions about the topic,
which genre it belongs to, what is the purpose of
writing and who is the reader. This will help you
to understand your writing process creatively and
expand your understanding of the genre.
 Unit-2
Developing
Different Types of
Paragraphs
Introduction
 Unit-2 Developing Different Types of
Paragraphs
Introduction

A paragraph is a self-contained unit of discourse

in writing dealing with a particular point or idea.
A paragraph consists of one or more sentences.
Though not required by the syntax of any
language, paragraphs are usually an expected part
of formal writing, used to organize longer prose.
In these longer pieces of writing, paragraphs
generally introduce new ideas to develop the
central theme. The division into paragraphs also
prevents boredom as it provides a physical break
on the page.
You know a paragraph is unified by a central,
controlling idea or theme. This idea or theme is
called the topic of the paragraph. It is sometimes
expressed at some place in the paragraph by one
sentence, which is usually called the topic
sentence. You can write the topic sentence in the
form of a statement or even a problem.
This topic sentence you can either write in the
beginning of a paragraph, or at the end or even in
the middle of the paragraph. Very often you can
find that there may not be a topic sentence in a
paragraph but it may be implied within the
paragraph.
Developing
The Topic
 Developing The Topic

In order to develop the central theme of a

paragraph, you have to expand the idea contained
in the topic sentence. This you can do by adding
more information, explanation, examples,
illustrations, etc. to the idea you have expressed
in the topic sentence. You will notice that this
paragraph is developed mainly by adding
examples and it can be analysed as follows: -
Topic sentence: “The vast majority of people,
wherever they live and whatever their occupation,
come in contact with animals in one way or
another and have to deal with them.”
Examples given to develop the paragraph:
the hunter
the farmer
the fishermen
the city-dweller
Summing up: This is done by stating that there is
a common bond between humans and other
creatures.
Coherence
 Coherence

When you look at different paragraphs, each

paragraph is developed slightly depending upon
the information that you want to convey to the
reader. Moreover when you write a paragraph of
your own, choose the topic and write down all the
points that you know about the topic.
As you make your list, do not stop to question
whether a detail fits or not, any of the points that
do not fit can be removed later. This will help you
generate new ideas, and also give you something
concrete to work on. However, when you start
writing, see that every sentence contributes to the
central idea, which is contained in the topic
sentence. Only then your paragraph will have
unity. Also to have unity in your paragraph, you
need to understand that other than topic sentences
and supporting details (the sentences which
support the topic sentence) it should be coherent.
In a coherent paragraph, you as a writer take the
reader logically and smoothly from one idea to
the next. The reader must clearly recognize that
sentence logically leads to the next.
Cohesion
 Cohesion

Another technique which brings about coherence

in a paragraph is the use of cohesive devices or
signal words or signposts between sentences or at
the beginning of sentences. These words or
phrases will help you as a writer to move
smoothly from one sentence to the next and show
logical relationship between sentences. The
following list includes other words and phrases
that function as cohesive devices or signal, words,
or signposts:
To express result: therefore, as a result,
consequently, thus, hence
To give examples: for example, for instance,
specifically, as an illustration
To express comparison: similarly, likewise
To express contrast: however, nevertheless, on
the other hand
To express addition: moreover, furthermore,
also, besides, in addition
To indicate time: now, later, meanwhile, since,
then, after that, before that time.
Organisation Of
a Paragraph
 Organisation Of a Paragraph

In the last section, you have read about how to

develop the topic in a paragraph. Now you are
going to deal in more detail with some of the
principles observed in organizing paragraphs.
These relate to chronological (time) sequencing,
spatial relationships, and class relationships.
Chronological Sequence: - What do you
understand by chronological sequencing? By
chronological sequencing you need to know that
you arrange the events in the order in which they
occur in time, beginning with the first event,
going on to the next event, and so on until you
come to the last event. This is the method that you
normally use when you tell a simple story,
describe a process, report incidents and events, or
write a biographical sketch.
Biographical Writing: - When you write
biographies, you will probably realize that the
cues used to organise the biographical details
chronologically are the dates mentioned in the
text. You will find that most biographies are
organized sequentially in a clear time frame,
according to the dates of important events. Your
daily lives are also generally organized in a
similar fashion, where you see time moving in
one direction – from the past to the present and
from the present to the future. Yet, there are
moments in your lives which are more important
than others and which you tend to highlight. If
you write about the events, you may break the
natural chronological sequence to emphasise
these occurrences.
Narrative
 Narrative

In more complex pieces of writing, you can

manipulate time if you wish. You can move
backwards and forwards through time, according
to the purpose in writing.
In general, writers use unexpected chronological
sequences when they want to emphasize
something other than the time sequence which is
usually used by the writers when they use the
narrative style of chronological sequence.
In the passage given below, the writer has used
such a complex time movement, why do you
think so? When you read the passage, you may
realize that it is because he wants to highlight the
happy and comfortable life of the protagonist and
his family lived in the past, in contrast to the
unfortunate circumstances they have fallen into
now.
Now let us analyse the movement of time in the
passage: -
The story begins at a particular time: - ‘He
returned home in the evening, …. behind the
Market.’
It flashes in the past: - ‘His wife would be
invariably be standing at the door….he would
come back home with magic fulfilment.’
In fact, here we see a complex use of different
times. Rama Rao uses his knowledge of the
past to anticipate the coming scene.
Again we see a complex interplay of the past
and the present: - ‘As he remembered the
futile way in which he searched for a job, ….
had less trust in him.’
Present time: - ‘His wife looked at his face,
…… see them in this condition.’
Process
 Process

Another type of writing which involves

chronological sequencing is what is known as
process analysis. Like narration, a process is
organized chronologically. But here, the natural
time order is strictly followed, i.e. starting at the
beginning of the process, and continuing step-by-
step to the end. It involves how to give
instructions and how to explain the process. Both
are different in manner of telling, in the first one,
you are telling someone to do something whereas
in the second one, you are mentioning step-by-
step procedure to complete the task.
When you tell someone how to do something,
how to perform a specific task you are giving
instructions. The instructions may involve giving
directions for preparing a recipe, or informing
someone about the procedure for conducting a
scientific experiment. If your instructions are
carefully thought out and planned, they should
enable your readers to carry out the task
successfully.
To write accurate and easily understood
instructions, you must keep the following things
in mind: -
You must thoroughly understand the process
that you are describing, and if possible, try it out
yourself. This will help you anticipate any
difficulties that might happen.
Inform your readers of the special tools or
materials needed for the job. These could be
mentioned right at the beginning, in a section
labelled ‘Tools Required’ or ‘Materials
Required’. This is to enable the reader to have
all his or her tools ready before making a
beginning.
Alert your readers to be careful with steps that
require precise timing or measurement.
Warn your readers of potentially dangerous
steps or materials. For example, if there are
some other materials which are flammable, let
your readers know before they reach that step.
Give illustrations if you think your instructions
will be better understood that way. Illustrations
can simplify instructions by reducing the
number of words necessary to explain
something. You will be able to focus your
 attention on the steps making up the
instructions, rather than on the description of
the various parts of the apparatus or equipment.
Use linking words which will make clear the
sequence in which events or the stages in a
process occur.
 Spatial
Relationships
 Spatial Relationships

In the section above, you have looked at how

paragraphs are organized according to a
chronological sequence. Paragraphs can be
organized according to space relationships.
Very often you have to write about the Location
of a place, how a place is to be laid out (e.g.
Proposals for landscape work) or how a set of
objects are connected (e.g. description of
laboratory equipment).
For this, you need to be aware of the spatial
relationships involved. In a spatial sequence, you
describe an object or a process according to the
physical arrangements of its features.
Thus, a paragraph developed through a proper
spatial relationship presents the point of view of
the writer and at the same time turns the reader’s
attention in a certain direction.
Supposing you were to write a paragraph
describing your university campus, you might
organise the description in different ways:
You might use some important landmark, for
example, the library, and describe other
 places in relation to it. The order in which you
discuss each place is not as important as its
relationship to the landmark.
You might use an important landmark as the
starting point, and move from it to the next
place, on to another, and so on, perhaps
ending at the original landmark.
Another type of development specially might
give importance to the boundaries of an area.
This would lead to a logical progression from
one location to another.
Still another spatial development might stress
the interrelationships between locations.
Then, the order of description is not
necessarily important.
 Class
Relationships
 Class Relationships

There are various ways in which people organise

the world around them. You have already read
about two such ways: time and space. Another
way to do it is by looking at relationships among
objects or ideas and classifying them into groups
according to their similarities and differences.
Why do you need to classify things? Without
classification systematic thought would be
difficult. For example, biologists classify forms
of life in order to describe them better. They
classify living things into plants and animals.
They classify animals into vertebrates (having a
back-bone) and invertebrates.
They classify vertebrates into mammals, birds,
reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Each class has its
distinct characteristics, and so, if a biologist
comes across some creature he has not met
before, he has at least some way of describing it.
When you organise, you are writing according to
class relationships, you must keep in mind the
following points: -
Use only one principle of classification, e.g. Cars
can be classified according to size, manufacturer,
price, and country of origin. Choose the principle
of classification suitable for your purpose.
Be consistent. Once you have decided on a
scheme of classification, stick to it throughout
your composition. Mixing different ways of
classification would cause a lot of confusion. For
example, if you are classifying television
programmes, do not put ‘morning shows,
afternoon shows, evening shows’ with ‘detective
serials, UGC programmes and children’s
programmes’.
Make the categories as complete as possible. All
individual units you are describing should fit into
one of the classes you have adopted. In some
cases, you may be faced with the prospect of an
endless number of classes. For example, if you
are discussing festivals celebrated in India, you
may end up with a long list of types. It may, then,
be a good idea to restrict yourself to, say, ‘Major
Festivals in India.’
 Types of
Paragraphs
 Types of Paragraphs

In the above sections, you have learnt the

elements that made a good paragraph and how to
organise a paragraph in terms of chronological
sequence, space relationship and class
relationship.
Now you will read about how to develop different
types of paragraphs. Paragraphs can be developed
in a number of ways, depending upon your
purpose, the topic, and the kind of reader you
have in mind. The different methods of paragraph
development can be considered in terms of two
broad categories: -
Those which stay strictly within the scope of
the topic: e.g. illustration, description,
definition, and cause and effect.
Techniques which involve a second topic: e.g.
comparison and contrast.
Illustration
 Illustration

Illustration is expressed in different ways,

sometimes through examples or through pictures,
figures, or tables. Giving examples is one of the
easiest ways of developing a topic. When you
give examples, you help the reader to understand
a rather difficult and abstract generalization
which may be contained in the topic sentence.
You are also able to persuade the reader that the
generalization is correct because there are
examples to support it. Examples also add to the
reader’s interest .Often examples are introduced
by using expressions like for example, for
instance, an example, etc.
When giving examples to support your topic
sentence, keep in mind that: -
There should be enough examples to support
your point
Each example should be logically related to
your main idea
Each example should be developed with
interesting details, (note that the writer of the
paragraph below does not merely list the
 examples, but tells us in what way each of these
animals is helpless, the results of their
helplessness and how they become self-
sufficient.)
The examples should represent a reasonable
cross-section of the group you are dealing with.
Description
 Description

You may never have to write descriptions which

are complete in themselves, but you may need to
include descriptions in other pieces of writing,
e.g. personal letters, narratives, reports, and
travelogues. You may like to describe people,
places, objects, habits, and conditions, as well as
scenes such as accidents.
Since description are concerned with detail, the
larger and more precise your vocabulary, the
better your descriptive writing will be. The
following items are usually included in
descriptive writing: -
Place and position, direction.
Measurements: weight, size, volume, distance.
Shapes and patterns.
Colours and textures.
Materials and substances.
Cause and
Effect
 Cause and Effect

Besides using illustration and description to

develop the topic of your paragraph, you may in
some cases need to use the technique of cause and
effect. You may, for instance, want to know the
cause of your poor grades, or of a bus accident, or
the effects or consequences of taking drugs, of
deforestation, etc.
Cause: - Analysing the cause can be quite a
complex task. For example, a daughter’s rebelling
against her father and leaving home may have an
apparent immediate cause, but there may also be
a chain of causes going back into the past. Thus,
there are likely to be many causes not just one.
The choice between one cause and several causes
is often not a free option. Usually your topic will
determine it. When you work with several causes
or reasons, you face the problem of arranging
them in a significant order. If the reasons follow
a logical pattern, i.e. if the main event is caused
by A, and A in turn by B, and B by C, the
organisation is predetermined. But sometimes the
reasons or causes may be parallel, all contributing
 to the same result. Then, a good strategy is to
begin with the least important cause and conclude
with the most important.
Effects: - Effects or consequences can be
handled in much the same way as you handle
reasons or causes. But keep in mind now the main
idea is regarded as causing the consequences
discussed in the rest of the paragraph. The
paragraph you may write deal with only a single
effect or refer to several effects. If several
consequences are listed, you must be careful to
distinguish between the major and the minor
ones. Read the example given below to
understand how effects are listed.
Cause and Effect: - In the above two examples,
you have read a paragraph which gives reasons to
support a topic, and a paragraph which deals with
effects. Often, however, you may note that cause
and effect are more closely related, forming a
chain where A gives rise to B, B to C and so on.
In such a link, B is both a consequence of A and
the cause of C.
Definition
 Definition

Often when you write, you need to explain what

something is or means, especially if you feel that
your reader may not be familiar with it. This
generally happens when you use technical terms
or when you want to give your own meaning to
an ordinary word. The simplest way to define a
term is by giving a synonym or by placing the
word in a general class and then distinguishing it
from others in that class. For example: -
Term Class Differentiation
Widow a woman whose husband died
Surgeon a doctor who performs operation
Such definitions are rather formal in style and are
generally found in dictionaries. Some concepts or
ideas you know that cannot be defined in such a
manner, and for this purpose extended definitions
are useful. Topic sentences which relate to
concepts such as ‘freedom’, ‘democracy’, etc.
need the support of specific examples. In fact,
both in your thinking and writing, you often
require extended definitions.
This can be done by adding details like uses,
component parts, examples, being similar to
something else, being different from something
else, and stating what it is not.
Comparison
and Contrast
 Comparison and Contrast

So far you have seen ways of developing

paragraphs which deal with only one topic.
Sometimes a topic can be developed by showing
how two things are alike or how they are
different.
Do you know that comparison and contrast are
common devices in writing? Mainly because we
tend to think that way! You know our decisions
are often based on comparison and contrast.
For instance, comparison and contrast dominate
your thought if you decide to join a particular
college or university, when you choose a career
or a job, and even when you buy a particular
brand of toothpaste.
In your mind, you often try to compare your
teachers, your neighbours, the cities that you have
been to, the food served at different restaurants
and so on. Hence comparison and contrast are a
continuous process in everyone’s lives.
Generally two items are compared and contrasted
for three basic purposes: -
To point out distinctions in order to give
information about the two things.
To clarify the unfamiliar by comparing it
with the familiar
To show the superiority of one thing over
another, for example comparison between
two cars