Gary Muschla - Exploring Writing

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT Exploring Writing

Gary Robert Muschla

Copyright 2011, by Gary Robert Muschla. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-07-174837-7

MHID: 0-07-174837-7

The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: ISBN: 978-0-07-174715-8, MHID: 0-07-174715-X.

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Learning to write is a challenging, multiskilled process. Students must learn how to identify, analyze, and develop ideas. They must learn how to compose sentences, build paragraphs, and express ideas within the standards of written English. They must discover their voice and learn how to precisely say what they want with fluency, clarity, and energy.

Practice Makes Perfect: Exploring Writing can be a valuable resource for developing writing skills. It can be used by both students and teachers. Students (working alone or with their parents) can work through the exercises and worksheets to improve their writing, while teachers will find the materials of the book to be useful for classroom instruction or to supplement their writing program.

The teaching exercises and worksheets provide students with meaningful writing assignments and activities. They will learn how to find and focus ideas for writing, how to write a draft, how to revise their writing, and how to proofread their work. This book, which is based on the stages of the writing process, will give students the practice they need to acquire the skills for effective composition and to grow as young writers.

Learning to write is a difficult task. It is my hope that you will find this book useful in that demanding and rewarding challenge.

Practice Makes Perfect: Exploring Writing is divided into four parts that concentrate on writing skills, from developing ideas to proofreading. The book includes exercises, worksheets, and an answer key.

Finding and Developing Ideas for Writing begins with the understanding that solid ideas are the foundation of good writing. Ideas are all around, and you need to learn how to identify and develop ideas for writing. This section includes information on idea development, six exercises, and one hundred reproducible worksheets designed to help you develop material for writing. The worksheets are broken down into seven sections: Personally Speaking, Among Friends, School Days, Near and Far, Leisure Time, Recreation, and Weird, Strange, and Unbelievable. Each worksheet offers a topic and guidelines you can use to explore and develop the topic.

Writing the Draft focuses on skills that will help you write clearly. Along with information on the characteristics of good writing, eleven exercises and twenty worksheets address topics such as using proper sentence structure, combining and varying sentences, constructing paragraphs, using active constructions and strong verbs, and choosing a point of view.

Revision focuses on skills necessary for revision. Two exercises, some Guidelines for Revision, and twenty-five worksheets are included. Worksheets, which include both fiction and nonfiction, show you the types of weak composition that can slip into your writing. You are required to revise the weaknesses on the worksheets.

Proofreading examines the skills necessary for proofreading. Three exercises, some Guidelines for Proofreading, and twenty-five worksheets are included in this section. The worksheets, both fiction and nonfiction, have errors in mechanics. As you find and correct the errors on the worksheets, you will gain skills for proofreading your own work.