COMMUNICATION & WRITING STRATEGIES

USING QUOTATIONS

• Quote words of others word for word
• Use "..." Marks
• He/she said "_______"
• Quote experts, friends, family, characteristics, etc.

SUMMARIZING MAIN POINTS

• Essential facts or major points
• Paragraph=topic/clincher
• 5p essay = thesis statement or restatement
• Don't be redundant

SONG LYRICS & POETIC DEVICES

• Quote a song or poem
• Use rhyme/rhythm
• Play with word puns: alliteration, assonance, simile/metaphor, repetition

TRANSITIONS

• Make language flow
• Appear everywhere
• Words, phrases, even whole sentences

THANK YOU STATEMENTS

• People like to be thanked
• People like to feel appreciated
• Thank people!

ISSUING A CHALLENGE OR CALL TO ACTION

• If you want someone to do something ask!
• Challenge people
• Call to action
• Be clear and specific about your request
• Ex: you give a speech on helping the community and at the end challenge your audience to do something to help their community

ASKING QUESTIONS

• Get audience thinking
• Engage people.
• If appropriate, let audience answer
• Rhetorical ? = need not answer them bc it is obvious

APPEAL TO SELF-INTEREST OF AUDIENCE

• Talk directly to the people in the audience
• "You..."
• Things that motivate: competition, love, fun, learning, choice, freedom
• Ex: motivate audience with learning by telling them a cool rare known fact.

MOTTOS AND MANTRAS

• Words to live by!
• Adages= wise sayings; proverbs
• Mottos& mantras are good to have, they keep us focused

FACTS & STATS

• Facts: validate what you say or write. Cite sources for even more credit.
• Stats: statistics
• Give your audience the numbers!

REFERENCE TO AN OCCASION, EVENT, OR TIME

• Occasion: special ones like holidays and birthdays
• Events: sporting, concerts, parties, plays and festivals
• Time: "remember the time..." Personal or historical

VISUAL AIDS

• Eye catchers focus audience
• They enliven, enhance and emphasize
• Make V.A.s big and bold, so people can see
• Don't pass V.A.s around

USING STORIES

• Everyone loves a good story, so tell one!
• Some long & detailed
• Some short and sweet
• Anecdotes are tidbits/ side notes

USING SUSPENSE

• Give hints and clues but not all
• Answer throughout
• Tease audience...
• Be sure to give all info by the end
• cliffhanger

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

• Get familiar with the subject or topic
• Acquire knowledge
• What's the history?
• The scoop?
• The 411?

CODE SWITCHING

• Change the way you speak or write depending where you are and who you are with
• Consider audience & purpose
• Formal vs. informal
• School vs. home

APPEAL TO EMOTION

• Connect on an emotional level...FEELINGS
• "In ELA 8, we practice sympathy and embrace empathy."
• Mad,sad,glad,bad,rad, FABulous

ABSTRACT

• The art of summary
• Summarize a piece of written work usually a book or article, in a paragraph.
• 3 synonyms: synopsis, outline, wrap-up

TEXT CITATION

• Copy the text word for word, surround it with "quotation marks" and put the page number in (parenthesis)
• Cite books, short stories, poems, articles, songs, etc.
• Explain the text quoted

PARAPHRASE

• In writing: use your own words, but you still cite the text ( book, poem, short story...PAGE NUMBER)
• With people: be sure to get it right! Don't put words into other people's mouth...
• Example: on page 34 the main character talks about _______ and discovers that _____.