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Introduction to Writing
Writing, as we know it, is one of the most effective forms of communication. Unlike speaking, writing lives on throughout the ages as long as the medium is preserved. But what exactly is writing good for? The underlying importance of writing is to disseminate information for others to view for educational purposes, to inform, or to entertain people.

Course Objective
This short introductory course is aimed at helping students understand the nature of writing, it's importance, and the differences between different types of writing. It is also designed to serve as a guide for anyone wanting to write for any reason, may it be for a class project, an article, or even to write a story and publish it.

Projects

 * Start up your very own blog.
 * Start a dream journal
 * Join a website for publishing material. e.g. www.poetry.com, www.wordpress.com, etc.
 * Set up your very own writing schedule.

Topics

 * 1) Types of Writing
 * 2) Fiction and Nonfiction
 * 3) Informal vs Formal
 * 4) Voices
 * 5) The 4 Writing Styles
 * 6) Plagiarism

Types of Writing
In the world of writing there exists many types. They range from news paper articles, instructional books, short stories, among many others. Before you engage in your rewarding journey of writing, you must first understand the reason as to why you want to write. Do you need to write a letter to a friend? Perhaps you must write an essay for one of your university or high school classes? Or maybe you simply wish to write short stories or even a book. Writing can be a very rewarding way to express yourself, your ideas, and / or your imagination. The most common reason people write is because they are told to do so in one of their school's classes. The following are a few types of writing pieces that people can accomplish:


 * Academic Essay
 * Newspaper Article
 * Short Stories
 * Journal

Academic Essay
Academic essays are widely used to help students learn how to effectively express their ideas on paper. Student's generally follow a 5 step guide:

For essays that are longer, you can still use the 5 step guide but with more paragraphs. Each paragraph becomes it's own section.
 * Introduction - The introduction is used to establish the reason as to why the student is writing the essay. It also helps establish the thesis or motif.
 * 1st paragraph - This first paragraph is used to describe one of the ideas that will lead to he conclusion
 * 2nd paragraph - Just like the first paragraph, the second helps add more ideas to the mix, as long as it is relevant and flows continuously.
 * 3rd paragraph - The third paragraph is used to add the last idea or ideas that will help bring the essay to a close. These typically help establish a more effective argument.
 * Conclusion - The last part is used to bring the final argument of how everything is related and ultimately closes the deal on the argument.

Assignment: For your first assignment you will write an academic paper (5 pages long) on any controversial subject and state your point of view (thesis) in a clear and concise manner.

 * Page 1: Introduction 3/4 of page with a clear and strong argument. Either argue for or against (topics of controversy range from birthcontrol, gun laws, profiling and many others) In 3rd person.
 * Page 2: supporting argument
 * Page 3: supporting argument
 * Page 4: final supporting argument
 * Page 5: conclusion (learn how to bring everything to a close). Please note that you do not necessarily have to use three arguments, but doing so helps you formulate a very argument for or against the topic.

Fiction and Non fiction
The difference between writing fiction vs nonfiction is that when ever you choose to write nonfiction, you cannot use anything that is not true. Basically, fiction is anything that is not true even if it closely resembles something that is. For example, you might write a story about the city of New York and famous landmarks or even people from that place, but the whatever happens in that story might not necessarily be true. On the other hand, for nonfiction you cannot or should not lie about what you are writing about. Writing fiction and selling it as nonfiction is seen as a very bad thing to do in the world of publishing, so avoid doing so at all costs. If you choose to write nonfiction, you will need to make sure that all of your information has been fact checked and cross referenced.

Informal vs Formal
It is very important to understand the difference the informal and formal voice when writing an item. If you are to write an academic paper it will most likely be with the formal voice, which means that you will write it in third person and will object from writing personal opinions or assumptions. Informal writing can be done in all three voices depending on how you want to express your ideas. It can also include personal opinions, assumptions, and viewpoints.

Informal: writing fictional stories; nonfictional memoirs or autobiographies; journal; opinions to the editor, etc. Formal: academic writing; educational books; newspaper articles, etc.

Voices
Before writing your item, you must consider what type of voice you are going to choose. Will it be in the first person, second or third?

When you write in first person, you are basically telling a story or relating information from your point of view. It is very hard to write in second person, but it can be done. In second person the narrator, you, speak directly to the reader and tell him what to do or what is going on. In third person, the narrator is basically a voice narrating what is going on from a view where he/she does not intervene with what is going on. When you use the third person, you must also decide whether the narrator will be an all knowing, meaning he/she will know everything that is taking place, or will be limited to how everything is taking place at that point in time. Please note that it is most common in fiction to be able to choose from the three with ease.

1st person: the narrator is you. This voice is limited to knowing partial elements (only what you know)

2nd person: the narrator is you. This voice is limited to knowing partial elements (only what you know) but with the emphasis on speaking directly to the reader

3rd person: the narrator can be anyone (in non fiction it is you) but the way you engage the readers differs. In nonfiction you can only be formal but not vice versa. In fiction however, you can choose whether the narrator knows it all or doesn't. and be formal or informal.