WRITING ACTIVITIES

1. INTRODUCTION

Definition

Writing involves putting down in a continuous set of sentences, ideas or feelings that are real or imagined. It is a means of recording events, common chores and incidents, which could be referred to in future. It involves a combination of many skills by the writer in order to make himself easily understood by the readers. It is putting our thoughts and experiences on paper or on board the way it should be, for others to read, understand and make responses.

2. Purpose of Writing/Functions

Aside the functions writing performs, there are various purposes why people write.

1.       To bring the past to the present. Through writing, we regain the experiences of those who had lived before us as they were handed down and documented. Late Myles Monroe stated that many untapped brains are lying in the graveyards because most of what they carried was not reduced to writing.

2.       Without writing, there would have been no school or formal education. Teachers write what they have read about the acts of other people and students take down notes, which may serve as reference materials later.

3.       Note taking (writing) serves the purpose of prompting recollection when memory fails.

4.       In addition to writing experiences for permanence, transfer and easy retrieval, we use writing to maintain links with friends, members of a family and other group who desire interaction.

3. Purpose

Obanya (1981:19) lists some of the purposes of writing which include:

-         To persuade – argue, campaign rally, court.

-         To express doubt, sorrow, joy, annoyance or other emotions.

-         To describe a person, place, object, experience or situation.

-         To inform, warn e. g. road sign.

-         For identification – labels on bottles in laboratory, badges.

-         To instruct – how to use drug, electronic gadgets.

-         Letter for employment, to friends, business.

-         Our achievements, collections, event, etc i. e. in a diary.

-         Report of events, meetings, incidents, experiments, projects, etc.

Features of Writing

1.       Because the writer would not always be with the readers to explain things or use gesture to drive home his points, any piece of writing requires that the writer writes exactly what he intends to communicate to avoid confusing the readers.

2.       The grammar should be appropriate.

3.       Spellings and punctuation marks should be in order.

4.       A writer must have his readers in mind by adapting to their levels.

5.       The purpose must be stated and the language should tilt towards that.

6.       Paragraphing should be in order and coherent i. e. ideas should be in good paragraphs that are well linked.

All the above features if not followed constitute problems in writing and reduces candidate’s marks were it an exam issue. It should also be noted that there are different types of writings and a writer has to follow the features of each while writing.

4. Prewriting

Prewriting – this has to do with all the preparation the writer makes before the actual writing. The write considers what motivates him to write which is equivalent to purpose. He also considers who his readers will be and their interest, level of education, their class in society. He again thinks about the kind of book/work he wants to write – Novel, Poem, Drama, Thesis, Project, Article etc. After these considerations, he begins to gather his material from different sources

Outline  - after gathering enough materials for the work, the writer sift them to pick the ones that are relevant and then drop those that are not. An Outline (Table of Content) is drawn, for the development of the work. The writer then make the first draft called dummy/manuscript.

Proofreading and Editing – at this stage, the dummy is subjected to thorough reading with the hope of correcting mistakes in it. Even though no book is without mistakes but with proofreading and editing, mistakes could be reduced to a minimal level. Editing helps the writer to assess how the readers will see the work. It also helps him to adjust and check mechanical accuracy or inaccuracy of his words/constructions before taking the work to final printing.

Post-writing – this is the stage where other necessary things required in the work are added. Such things could be at the preliminary pages like: the Title page, the Publisher’s name/Copyright/ISBN number, the Table of Content, Preface, Dedication and Acknowledgement; Reference and Index could be behind the main work. When all these are in place, the work can then be published.

5. TYPES OF WRITING

1.       Narrative – the writer describes event or something else he has witnessed. It is usually written in the past tense.

2.       Descriptive – the writer describes something as it is or somebody exactly without adding or removing anything. It is usually written in present tense.

3.       Story – imaginative or real, it is also a narrative. The tense could be in the past for a past event or present for a true-life story that is still in progress.

4.       Argumentative or Persuasive – the writer attempts to convince the audience to drop the opponent points and take his by giving reasons to support his chosen side.

5.       Expository – this is also an explanatory writing in which the writer explains how a thing is done or process of doing something.

6.       Article – a writer addresses any given topic based on his own notion by marrying subjectivity with objectivity.

7.       Report writing – minutes of meetings, experiment, excursion, stewardship in office account.

6. SUMMARY WRITING AND NOTE TAKING/MAKING EXPLAIN THE CONCEPT OF SUMMARY WRITING

Summary simply means being brief or being concise. It is expressing in as few words as possible what has been said in very many words. It calls for brevity, i. e. whilst you are trying to be brief, your sentence must contain the important information being conveyed in the original passage.

For you to write a good summary, you have to read the passage with understanding and also be able to identify the topic sentence(s) (which is the theme of the discussion). The topic sentence is usually (but not always all the time) found at the first sentence in the passage or the paragraph (this is called deductive method). When the topic sentence appears at the last sentence in a paragraph or the passage, it is called inductive paragraph.

Other guide or things that may direct the attention of the reader to understanding the key points are Points Pointers/Clues words like: again, in addition, also, and, however, conversely, etc. It should also be pointed out that key points are found in paragraph and as such, one need to jot them down when reads.

          DISTINGUISH BETWEEN TYPES OF SUMMARY WRITING

There is not specific type of summary writing; rather questions on summary passage could be in form of:

1.       Summarizing in one sentence the central idea of the passage.

2.       Summarizing in one or more sentences aspects of the passage as required.

3.       The topic sentences may be the type that contrast themselves. For instance, stating merit or demerit, advantages and disadvantages of the issue being discussed.

7. LIST STEPS IN SUMMARY WRITING AND WRITING A GOOD SUMMARY OF A GIVEN PASSAGE

The two most important things to bear in mind in summary writing are:

1.       Following the rules

2.       Understanding the passage

When students master the rule of summary writing, it makes understanding of the passage easier. Reading is a complex act that needs also to be mastered in order to understand what is read. Reading should be with concentration and at the same time bad reading habit should be avoided.

BAD READING HABIT

1.       Reading with one’s finger or with biro

2.       Regression i. e. reading and going back

3.       Shaking of one’s head while reading

4.       Vocalization of the word – voicing out

RULES FOR GOOD SUMMARY WRITING

1.       In summary writing, there is no room for giving examples, illustration, analogy (comparism) and repetition. All these listed are meant to clarifying issues for someone to understand something. Whenever any of such words is used, the length of what is meant to be summarized would increase.

2.       There is no room for flowery language. That is use of figure of speech.

3.       Linking words are not also used. Words like furthermore, moreover, also, however, in addition, etc.

4.       Verbatim lifting of answer from the passage attracts a zero mark.

5.       Scoring points must be written in full sentences.

6.       Irrelevant or extraneous materials should be avoided – it attracts a reduction of one mark.

7.       Students should not give two answers to a question that demands one.

8.       Spelling and or any grammatical error attracts reduction of ½ a mark.

9.       Preamble is necessary but it is not compulsory. Preamble is that statement that refers to a given question. When preamble does not match with the scoring point, it could attract a zero mark or ½ of the allotted mark to that question.