ACT Writing

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ACT Writing
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Preparing for the ACT

• Take tough classes
• If you take easy ones, your GPA will look great,
  but you wont know the tough ACT questions
• Richard Ferguson, ACT CEO
• Not only is the number of courses important, but
  it is the quality and intensity of these classes
  that will determine if a high school student is
  ready for college work.

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Context

• Context is everything
• Here is the thing about context
• What you write depends on what you are writing
• Know your audience
• Know what to say

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Best Practices Advanced Approach

• Practice writing
• Take any writing prompt and imagine that you are
  writing based on these principles for the ACT
  readers
• Read practice essays as much as possible
• Understand how the essays will be graded and by
  whom
• Cut the clutter out of your writing
• Use great transitions between sentences

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Hyperbole

• Avoid hyperbole at all costs on the ACT
• The worlds largest ball of yarn.
• Avoid using absolutes
• Always, never, all, every
• I never procrastinate.
• I always eat healthy
• Young writers exaggerate in the thesis statement

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Thesis

• Your thesis does not have to be a huge claim
• Dont paint yourself into a corner with a
  statement that you cannot prove
• Look at the following two thesis statements and
  decide which is better

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Which is Better?

• Examples
• The prairie dog was one of many new animal
  species that fascinated Lewis and other members
  of the expedition. The way Lewis studied this
  creature reveals much about his attitude toward
  science and nature.
• The prairie dog had a huge impact on the Lewis
  and Clark expedition. The prairie dog was the
  species that fascinated and impacted the
  expedition members more than any other animal.

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Grammar Laws

• Grammar laws come and go
• Some laws are true in some situations but not in
  others
• Some laws, that normally apply to formal writing
  are OK on the ACT essay
• Follow the following laws to break up the
  monotony of the essay

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Incomplete Sentences are Incorrect

• This is true in formal writing
• On the ACT some are OK for style
• You cannot have incomplete thoughts
• Sentence fragments can help to break up your
  prose
• Example
• Mankind is the only animal that blushes. Or
  needs to. Twain
• Dont overdo this!

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Sentences Should Not Start With There

• There can be used to set the stage for whats to
  come
• If you use there too many times, the ACT reader
  will get confused and your writing will lose
  energy

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Sentences Should Not End With A Preposition

• This is a rule for formal writing
• Many ACT readers do not live in the past with
  rules like this
• Present day writers do this
• It is OK if it fits and helps move the writing
  forward

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The Audience

• Writers have many different ways of thinking
  about the people who will read their work
• You will find the right words to use and detail
  your approach properly if you know what the
  audience is looking for
• The typical ACT reader is an accomplished English
  teacher

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The Audience

• Ask yourself the following questions as you write
  for the ACT audience
• Is my choice of subject appropriate?
• Am I giving my reader new information?
• Is my material too easy or difficult?
• How can I connect my message to my readers
  interests?
• Dont ever talk down to an ACT reader
• Also, make sure to use an attention getter in the
  first sentence

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One Idea Per Sentence

• You should always only give the reader one idea
  per sentence
• Examples
• The choices we have in the school cafeteria are
  wonderful and the kitchen is open at convenient
  times for everyone unless you have a class in the
  middle of the day which is uncommon here at
  Wesleyan since Wesleyan students like to get a
  head start on their day with early morning
  classes.

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One Idea Per Sentence

• Example 2
• The cafeteria offers students a wide choice of
  times to eat. Early dining hours, for example,
  are especially convenient for students with
  morning classes. Students who choose to eat in
  the middle of the day may encounter some crowded
  lines, but few have conflicts with classes at
  those hours.

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One Idea Per Sentence

• If you said example 2 is better you are right
• Julius Caesar once said, I came. I saw. I
  conquered.
• Put your fait in the declarative sentence and you
  cant go wrong

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Hold It Together

• Keep the subject close to the verb in your
  sentences
• Do not make readers go back to the start of your
  sentences too many times to see what your
  sentence was about
• Find a way to put the doer close to whats being
  done

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Hold It Together

• Examples
• My brother Louis, whom nobody really likes
  because he is immature but has to tag along with
  us anyway, is going to the movie with us tonight.
• We shortly after that found out who wanted to go
  water skiing with us.
• Soon afterward, we found out who wanted to go
  water skiing with us.

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Dovetailing

• Many young writers have trouble making sentences
  and ideas flow together
• This art, dovetailing, separates the good scores
  from the bad on the ACT
• There are many ways to achieve this, some you
  should already know and be doing in all writing

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Dovetailing

• Repeat a word from your first sentence in your
  second sentence
• At the Gap, a basic black sweater ran around 44
  plus tax. This sweater was made of wool, cotton,
  and a bit of cashmere.

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Dovetailing

• You can use a pronoun to refer to something in
  the first sentence
• At the Gap, a basic black sweater ran around 44
  plus tax. This sweater was made of wool, cotton,
  and a bit of cashmere. It had a ribbed neckline,
  sleeves, and waist.

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Dovetailing

• You can use an adjective that connects the
  sentences together so that the next sentence can
  head off in a new direction
• In the play, Mrs. Savage is a former actress who
  is now very old, very rich, and very spiteful.
  Her husband has passed away, and her greedy
  children are searching for the ten million
  dollars in bonds that she has hidden.

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Dovetailing

• 4. Reference a concept by restating it in a new
  way
• As with many musicians, the rap artist frequently
  has something to say. Rap is usually criticized
  because of its message of violence, sex, drugs,
  and obscenity.

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Ordering Ideas

• When you order you main support details
• Your 2nd best support should be first
• Your best support should go last
• All others should go in the middle
• This works at the sentence level too
• The most powerful position in a sentence is the
  last word
• It will linger in the readers mind because of
  the period

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Ordering Ideas

• Examples
• Does Austin save the day or does Dr. Evil
  prevail?
• Only Nelly could sing a song about shoes and have
  it be a hit.

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Syntax

• Consider the sentence
• Eight choir robes are currently needed, due to
  the addition of several new members and to the
  deterioration of some older ones.
• What is wrong with this sentence?

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Syntax

• Faulty word order is a problem
• Word order effects clarity
• Sentences can be loose or periodic
• Loose
• Grammar is simple and straightforward
• Effective in short quick bursts
• Technical information
• Directions
• Logic
• Periodic
• Grammar is complex and not resolved to the end
• Resemble a thinking mind
• Withholds main idea until end

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Syntax

• Examples
• I have been wondering about something for a
  month. You hardly ever come to our meetings.
  Why?
• Why you hardly ever come to our meetings is what,
  for a month, I have been wondering.
• Eventually, after telling his English teacher
  that he wasnt interested in kindergarten
  policy and his physics teacher that physics
  represent zero in relation to psychics-the real
  science, he was allowed to graduate on the
  merits of his earlier work-on the condition that
  he didnt come to school anymore.

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Sentence Structure

• If the writer wants the reader to think something
  is true, express it in the shortest possible
  sentence
• End paragraphs with short sentences
• Short sentences create humor too
• Journalists make money on the short sentence
• The occasional fragment is OK when used in good
  taste
• Ali
• Only last week, I murdered a rock. Injured a
  stone. Hospitalized a brick. Im so mean, I
  make medicine sick.
• Its OK to break the rules if you know you are
• Be judicious

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Subject-Verb-Object

• Watch movie clip Yoda and Luke
• What Yoda does in speech is invert our natural
  order
• Verb and/or object before subject
• You can use this effect yourself
• Sometimes this leads to the passive voice, so be
  careful
• Passive voice can help, though, if you are trying
  to avoid blame
• Mistakes were made
• The pedestrian went under my car

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Ambiguous Reference

• Like in the Whos on first routine
• A very common writing error
• Need to develop a critical awareness of this
  problem in order to solve it
• Example
• Gary first became acquainted with Marc one year
  ago when he enrolled in the lecture and lab
  sections of his molecular biology course.
• Whats wrong with this sentence?
• Whos teaching whom?
• Who is the student?

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Ambiguous Reference

• Pronouns should only be used when their reference
  is clear
• Example
• Gary first became acquainted with Marc one year
  ago when Marc enrolled in the lecture and lab
  sections of his molecular biology course.
• Who is the teacher now?
• Gary is
• Saying Professor Gary might make this even clearer

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Ambiguous Reference

• Referential Ambiguity Example
• To be sure that the children saw her notes,
  Mother stuck them under the magnet on the
  refrigerator.
• Whats the problem?
• Are the children under the magnet or the notes?
• To be sure that her children saw them, Mother
  placed her notes under the magnet on the
  refrigerator.

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Replacing You

• Writing is about reading
• We want to make the ACT or college professors
  job as easy as possible
• Want to avoid me, my, I, myself, I think that, I
  believe, or in my opinion as much as possible
• Which is better
• I came to college to get a job and this class did
  nothing to help me with that.
• This particular class will not help students
  prepare for a career.

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Replacing You

• How about In this case
• Like I said, to make a movie series and have it
  be good, the plot line should be very similar,
  but new characters, new problems, and different
  settings should all be used.
• For a movie series to be successful, the producer
  needs to add new characters, problems, and
  settings while continuing a familiar plotline.
• The second one is better because the first one
  can be dismissed by the reader as the writers
  opinion easily

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Gender Rules

• It is difficult, sometimes ridiculous, to try to
  eliminate all sexist pronouns
• Solution Examples
• If a student studies hard, he will succeed on the
  ACT.
• Or
• If a student studies hard, he/she will succeed on
  the ACT.
• Popular change and OK for short sentences, but
  bad in long ones where he is used many times
• Does each student have their book?
• Grammatically incorrect
• The average student is worried about his grades.
  Ask the student to turn in her work on time then.
• Too confusing when alternating

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Gender Rules

• What the NCTE suggests
• Drop pronouns all together
• The average student is worried about grades.
• Rewrite the sentence in the passive voice
• Work should be handed in promptly.
• Make the singular noun plural
• Give the students their grades right away.

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Inventing Words

• Hundreds of words come into our language every
  year
• Bush invents words constantly
• Misunderestimate is his favorite
• 11,000 examples of this word are now in print in
  professional publications
• You can coin a word too if its meaning is clear
  and you are sure it fits
• Mostly stick to real words though on the ACT
• What is the most used word on our planet?
• OK

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Concrete Nouns

• On resumes word choice is the difference between
  the pay line and the unemployment line
• You must explain, in words, why you are the best
  candidate for a job
• Twain
• The difference between the right word and the
  almost right word is the difference between
  lightning and lightning bug.

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Concrete Nouns

• Use the specific over the general at all times
• General worker, restaurant, food
• Concrete assistant manager, Chuckie Cheese,
  strawberry waffles
• Example
• His ability to absorb himself into his character
  truly gives us an example of pure acting talent.
• Depp wears thick eyeliner, gold teeth, and
  matted, nasty hair to bring his character, pirate
  Jack Sparrow, to life.

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Vague Wording

• Vague qualifiers must be eliminated to get a good
  score
• Really, very, truly, basically, and totally are
  out
• Writing is not the same as speaking where these
  words are acceptable
• Replace these words with something more concrete
  that explains what you really mean

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Writings Goal

• What is the goal of any writing
• To transfer some meaning from the writer to the
  reader
• On the ACT this must be done clearly and in the
  fewest words possible
• We need
• Simple and direct language
• Short sentences and paragraphs
• Great topic selection
• Find the right balance between complex words and
  sentences and economical language
• Average sentence length
• Select 100 consecutive words from a passage
• Divide by the number of sentences in that passage
• The result will be the average sentence length
• Should be no more than 16-17 words

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Cut the Clutter

• Dont repeat yourself
• It causes the ACT reader to waste time
• Reduce these phrases to one or two words
• On one occasion
• A small number of
• Went on to say
• All of a sudden
• A large amount of
• Was able to make his escape

once
A few
continued
suddenly
many
escaped
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Cut the Clutter

• Weight loss is a constant battle in which it
  seems there is no end. A friend of mine recently
  told me that she used to have an eating disorder
  and continues to struggle with it currently.
• Now reduce this
• Weight loss is a constant battle. A friend told
  me she is still struggling with an eating disorder

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Style

• Style The writers voice
• Voice implies personality
• Every choice you make in writing effects style
• There are three forms
• Sweet talk Very nice. 1-3 syllable words.
• Tough talk Concerned with self. Use
  one-syllable words.
• Stuffy talk Express no concern for self. 2-3
  syllable words

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Style

• Determine your own style
• Take one paragraph of your own work
• Count the words and syllables of those words
• If 75 are 1 syllable you are a Tough Talker
• If 66 are 1 syllable you are a Sweet Talker
• If 50 are 1 syllable you are a Stuffy Talker
• The goal is to adjust your style based on the
  writing task and audience
• On the ACT use a combo of stuffy and tough

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Tone

• The emotional quality of the work
• Atonal No emotional coloring whatsoever
• Government writes like this
• Precise descriptions
• Dehumanized characters and descriptions
• Need a balance between tone and atonal
• Use irony to achieve this balance
• Irony adds color, but no too much and it is easy
  to switch directions or transition after an
  ironic description

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Mental Pictures Imagery

• Words have power to influence our thinking
• When we hear a song on the radio it puts a
  million different pictures into a million minds
• This is not so with TV
• Use metaphors and similes to help the ACT reader
  to take what you say seriously
• Similes
• I felt as if I were drowning in homework.
• Metaphors
• I feel the chains of stress weighing down my
  spirit.
• Of course metaphors are more challenging to write
  because they have to be original

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Support Statements

• Three is usually a good number on any essay for
  support
• Speechwriters, persuasive writers, and even
  journalists use three examples most of the time
• The order
• 2nd strongest (to make people think)
• Weakest (to make people think)
• Strongest (the clincher)
• Three examples ask the reader to triangulate
• On the ACT strive for six examples, but have no
  less than three

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The Semicolon

• Neglected and misused
• Joins two related sentences together
• Must have something in common
• What is the difference below
• He liked all kinds of vegetables peas, beans,
  collards, and potatoes.
• He liked all kinds of vegetables he particularly
  liked peas, beans, collards, and potatoes.
• Use the semicolon if you find yourself using
  and too often on any essay

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Parentheses

• Used to whisper
• Used to add a comment in the middle of a sentence
• Used to set off material that the author does not
  think is necessary to understand the meaning of
  the sentence
• Help the writer to develop a double voice
• Can even include irony
• Class time is (unfortunately) used to maximum
  potential.
• An exclamation mark within parentheses can evoke
  a powerful contrast for the reader
• Then he stroked my nose (I tell you he really
  loves me!), thought the dog.
• Dont overdue this on the ACT

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Proofreading

• Essential
• Proofreading Pointers
• Check spelling, errors here state that you dont
  care about your essay
• Reread once for sense
• Reread once for spelling, grammar, punctuation

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Vocabulary

• If you are going to use a word, know what it
  means
• What is wrong with each of the following
• This class is fun and inciteful.
• The class has stretched my limitations.
• He lets me think anteliticly about the books I am
  reading.
• My only quam in this class

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Plan B Suggestions

• What if the ACT question makes no sense to you?
• You must use what you already know to get the job
  done
• The question should give you enough information
  to use what you have recently been studying in
  school
• You could also write about your own past
  experiences

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Plan B Suggestions

• You should read a lot around test time
• Editorial pages
• Short stories
• Novels
• Homework
• It has been proven that those students who win
  scholarships based on ACT test scores read twice
  as much as students who dont
• Take difficult classes and let those teachers
  influence your thinking

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Tell the Truth

• The truth is the first requirement on ACT essays
• Then it becomes the way you tell the truth that
  matters
• Use quotes and factual support
• Do not overstate the obvious
• Avoid sky is blue support
• Use a true story of someone else
• Want the ACT reader to believe it is true, like
  you, and root for you

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Connect the Dots

• Persuasive writing is successful when writers
  have control of their arguments
• You must provide information, pay attention to
  it, and make sense of it
• Aristotles three ways to appeal to people
• Logical Proof
• Analysis and factual support to prove a position
• Emotional Proof
• Strike a chord with audience risky must show
  not tell
• Ethical Proof
• Show reader that you have a natural honesty about
  you doing what is right matters

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The Information

• You concern should not be with how much
  information to put in the essay, but how good the
  information is
• The information has to make sense
• Of the six examples suggested earlier, make sure
  that you have two knock-out examples
• Be specific
• Mallison (who has graded standardized tests since
  1979) says Use specifics. The problem lies in
  support and vividness.
• Be memorable
• Use humor, action, controversy, or an unexpected
  twist

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Sentence Structure

• Varied sentence structure is important to ACT
  readers
• One test is to look at writers and see which
  ones lips are moving as they write
• Writers use clauses, verbals, and combine
  sentences to break up patterns of the same old
  thing
• Well crafted sentences are difficult to construct
  given the time constraints, use one or two per
  paragraph

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Using Literary Allusions

• You should use allusions to give life, prove
  scholarship, and present vivid details
• Use allusions you know
• Passage must be recognizable
• If you memorize a few allusions that could apply
  in varies situations, you are on the right track
• Select not-so-well-known- passages from famous
  works
• Make creative connections to topic
• Tack-On Quotes are Tacky
• Be Simple Be direct Be firm

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Avoid Slang

• The average ACT reader doesnt know slang
• ACT readers consider word choice, so should you
• Restrain yourself from using fancy words
• Preferring long words doesn't make you a better
  writer
• Must have appropriate grammar and punctuation
• Use high energy verbs

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Making the Reader Like You

• From the first sentence you want the reader to
  think that your essay is a 6
• You also want the first sentence to make the
  reader want to read on
• The last thing that the reader reads stays in the
  mind the longest, make it good

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Revision and the ACT

• Time constraints make revision almost impossible
• Prethinking is your best strategy
• Before you write
• Think about the topic
• Get a central idea
• Formulate a thesis
• Decide on evidence and support
• Then start to write

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Revision and the ACT

• As you are writing
• Make sure your thesis is good and that all
  support is directly connected to it
• Am I clear?
• Am I precise?
• Am I interesting?
• Am I genuine?

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Next Step Topic A

• Should teachers reveal their political views to
  their classes? On the one hand, they may unfairly
  influence what their students think on the
  other, if they're up-front about their own views,
  they may encourage students to talk more and be
  alert for any bias the teacher may have.
• Assignment In your essay, take a position on
  this question. You may write about either one of
  the two points of view given, or you may present
  a different point of view on this question. Use
  specific reasons and examples to support your
  position.