Unit 2: Craft and Structure

An essay can make you laugh. An article can make you cry. A speech can change your mind. Like all nonfiction, these forms of writing present facts or discuss real life.

In an essay, an author supports a thesis—a central idea about a topic. In doing so, the author conveys his or her point of view, or perspective, on the topic.

In an essay, an author supports a thesis—a central idea about a topic. In doing so, the author conveys his or her point of view, or perspective, on the topic.

In an essay, an author supports a thesis—a central idea about a topic. In doing so, the author conveys his or her point of view, or perspective, on the topic.

An author's approach to a topic depends on his or her purpose, or reason for writing.

• To inform, or provide facts and explain how they relate to one another

• To persuade, or try to influence an audience's attitudes or actions

• To entertain, or engage and move the emotions of an audience

• choosing language that makes ideas clear (as when writing to inform) or that creates tone, or conveys the writer's attitude (as when writing to persuade)

Diction: the author's word choice, including the level of formality and difficulty

...the use of figurative language, or language that is not meant to be taken literally

...and rhetoric, or the patterning of words

Narrative essays tell the story of actual experiences or events.

Expository essays inform readers about a topic and explain the ideas it involves.

Persuasive, or argumentative, essays attempt to convince audiences to accept an author's claim, or position on an issue, or to motivate audiences to take a particular course of action.

Persuasive, or argumentative, essays attempt to convince audiences to accept an author's claim, or position on an issue, or to motivate audiences to take a particular course of action.

Persuasive, or argumentative, essays attempt to convince audiences to accept an author's claim, or position on an issue, or to motivate audiences to take a particular course of action.

Descriptive essays give vivid details about a person, place, or thing to help readers picture it.

Reflective essays explore the meaning of an experience or offer the author's thoughts or feelings.

What a writer says in a speech is shaped by its occasion, or the event at which the speech will be delivered, as well as by its audience, or the people to whom the speech will be addressed.

Speech of Public Advocacy: a formal, prepared speech intended to persuade an audience to take action

Impromptu Speech: a speech presented with little or no preparation, often in a conversational style

Then, the author develops, or elaborates on, ideas, explaining them and showing the connections from one idea to the next.

• Statistics, or numbers used to compare members of a group of people or things

An author's purpose for writing will guide his or her choice of an overall structure, or pattern of organization, as in these examples...

• A news report about a space shuttle launch written to inform might present events in chronological order, or the order in which they happened.

By using technical language, or language specific to a discipline, an author can be precise.

By choosing words with strong connotations, or associations, an author can shape readers' views.

A simile is an indirect comparison of seemingly unlike things that contains the word like or as: It was as tricky as skateboarding during an earthquake.

A metaphor describes one thing as if it were another, without using the words like or as: Friendship is a warm place on a cold day.

Personification gives human traits—such as emotions, types of behavior, and even appearance—to a nonhuman subject: The winter wind slapped my face with its icy hands.

Repetition is the reuse of a key word, phrase, or idea: He plays with skill. He plays with passion. He plays in a style all his own.

Parallel structure, or parallelism, is the use of similar grammatical structures to express related ideas: The eagle soared above the treetops, into the heavens, and beyond reach.

Rhetorical questions are inquiries that have obvious answers and that are asked for effect: Is it really so much trouble to recycle? Isn't saving our planet worth your time?